It is a joy to be here in Richmond with brothers and sisters. When we meet together in the presence of the Lord, indeed, we are at home with each other.
When Stu was sharing that greeting at the opening time, it was so wonderful, so precious. I thought, “Well, those short words, really, that is all we need for today. There is no further sharing from my part.” And if Stu has part two of that, he can continue. I think he should continue.
But we are thankful to the Lord to be here together this morning. What I would like to share is just a few thoughts about what the Lord has been doing in our fellowship in South Jersey.
The Lord, in recent months, has brought us into some real intense spiritual conflict—conflict that we never faced before. It is wonderful to see how the Lord brought us through.
So I also want to share a little about what we went through these last few months, with brothers and sisters in Richmond. Maybe we can be mutually encouraged, to praise and to go on with the Lord.
Let us turn to God’s Word and read a few portions. Let us turn first to 2 Corinthians 10. We will read just two verses, verses 3 and 4.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh;
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God,
and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Verse 3 says that even though we walk in the flesh—we live in this physical body—another translation says, “Even though we live a normal human life.” But when it comes to warfare, we do not fight the normal way. That is man’s way.
Paul says that our weapons are not carnal. That means our weapons are spiritual, mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.
Let us turn to Ephesians 6, verse 10.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Let us turn to two short passages in 1 John. First John 4:4:
Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
And 1 John 5:4-5:
For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.
And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
And just one verse from John 16, the very last verse, John 16:33:
These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
Now, brothers and sisters, God’s Word tells us that what is real is spiritual. What is spiritual is real.
Paul says to us that what is visible is temporal; the invisible is the real. This morning, when we worship, we say that the God we do not see, we love. He is very real to us through the eyes of faith. We know He is with us. We do not see Him, yet it is real. God is real to us. We can love Him; we can worship Him.
So, through the Scriptures, we notice one thing: what is unseen is real. What we can see and feel can be very deceptive and unreliable.
For example, our new birth. In John 3, we are all born of the Spirit. People cannot see it; we cannot see it. But we know it is real. From our fellowship, we know we are all born of the Spirit. We are certain. We do not see it, but it is very real.
John 6 says that it is the Spirit that gives life. We know that our life is in the Spirit. We are quickened by the Holy Spirit. We are alive before God.
Externally, when you walk down the street in Richmond, we are not different from the rest of the people of the world. But there is something real in us: we have the life of God. They do not see it, but we know it is real.
And the Lord said, “The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.” This Book, to us, is a different Book altogether from any other book. When we read this Book, it is God’s Word to us. It is God’s breath. When we read this, we touch life; we touch spirit.
So we have spiritual life that cannot be seen, yet it is very real. And we have spiritual food of which we partake. It is just as real, because the life is Christ and the food is also Christ. People cannot see it, but it is very real.
We walk by the Spirit; we do not walk according to the flesh. Our whole life is governed by a new law, a spiritual law: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Everything we do, we exist spiritually because it is real.
Individually, as well as corporately, this is true. For example, when we meet together, we are a spiritual house, indwelt by God through the Holy Spirit. Together, we are a holy priesthood. We can offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.
You know, when we meet this way, people wonder what we are doing here. They cannot figure us out. We are a mystery to the world. Yet what we do is one hundred percent real, because in the Spirit it is real.
On the other side, the spirit of this world—the evil spirit—is also just as real. Paul says that when we fight this spiritual war, it is not flesh and blood. Our adversary has no flesh for us to wound and no blood for us to spill.
The unseen is very real. When we meet people who live an unclean life, we know that behind that person there is an unclean spirit. There is something behind it. What we see is simply a manifestation of the unseen.
Rebellion is a spirit. Pride is a spirit. Lying is a spirit. The spirit of antichrist is everywhere.
The Apostle John warns us that in these days there is a spirit in this world that will discredit the work and the Person of the Lord Jesus. That is everywhere. That is the spirit of antichrist.
When Paul wrote his epistle to the Ephesians, he shared his whole heart. He shared what was in his heart: God’s eternal purpose, the greatness of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and how the church fits into God’s purpose.
At the end of the epistle, Paul said, “Be prepared.” Wherever there is a group of people who will take the ground of Jesus Christ, and take that ground for the Lord on this earth, Paul says, “You will be assaulted. You will be attacked.”
Paul therefore calls us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and to put on the whole armor so that we can stand.
Now, brothers and sisters, wherever the Lord is building His church, where two or three are gathered together in the name of our risen Lord and determine in their hearts to give preeminence to God’s Son, they are built up together.
When we take the ground of the testimony of the Lord Jesus—not just a loose fellowship here and there, but taking the ground of the Lord’s headship—immediately that signals the attack of the enemy.
The spiritual church, the true church, the invisible church, exists for the bringing in of God’s kingdom, for displaying God’s kingdom in their midst, and for bringing everything that is due to Him and rightfully at His feet.
That speaks for the undoing of the adversary, and he will not stand for that. He has lost his ground, and he wants to regain that ground in us.
That is why Paul says, “Stand. Stand on your ground.” You do not have to look for fights; fights will come to you. When they come, Paul says, stand and take your ground. And after you have won the fight, still take your ground and stand.
Brothers and sisters, if we have something here that is of the Lord Himself, we do not need to go out and look for fights. Fights will come to us. The word of the Lord is to take that stand, take that ground for the Lord, defend it, and, having won the victory, still hold on to that ground.
The Lord said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
When the Lord is building His church, when we are being built together as living stones by the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, you can be sure that the threat of death is always there. The power of darkness is always there.
But thank God, His life overcomes death. The light that we receive—His light—will swallow up and overcome the darkness. Darkness cannot overcome light, and death cannot overcome His life.
This is the experience the Lord allowed us to go through in recent months in South Jersey.
It is so easy to take our meetings casually. We are used to meeting on the Lord’s Day, so we just come. Our prayer meeting is on Wednesday, and we just come casually. We do not prepare to fight. The devil can relax; he can take his nap.
When we come to our Bible study, we can also come casually. The Lord has blessed us for so long and so well that we become used to it. It becomes routine. That is our great danger.
We are like a computer that is programmed. Somehow, on the Lord’s Day, automatically we just come. On Wednesday, automatically we come, without knowing why we are here.
And sometimes the Lord, in His gracious way, uses something to awaken us. The way the Lord does it is often very different from what we expect.
He will send something, or someone, totally beyond our expectation, to wake us up and stir us up. In that way, the Lord is even using our adversary.
You see, the enemy is also a created being. Whatever he is doing to us, God is using that for good. We need to see that. We need to see that.
That is the reason why, sometimes, we have difficulty understanding why it took forty years for the Israelites to go into Canaan after they came out of Egypt. There was a shorter way. If you look at the map, they could have gone into Canaan in ten or eleven days—very direct.
But somehow it took them forty years, and one generation did not enter in. They perished in the wilderness. But the Lord said that He was using those forty years to test them, to try them, and to prove them.
Brothers and sisters, the times we go through are actually wonderful times for the Holy Spirit to deposit something of Christ in us—to educate us, train us, and mature us spiritually.
Those whom He loves, He disciplines.
So in South Jersey, we went through—and we are still going through—some very tough times. But it is easy to see how the Lord turns things around for good.
I will give just a few practical, tangible examples of the things we went through. First, it was in our Bible study time.
For many months, our Bible study time seemed to be on an even keel. There was not much excitement. Everybody was more or less unprepared and just shared what they could at that moment, without preparation.
The brother who was responsible more or less became used to the situation, because there was nothing challenging, nothing that upset anybody enough that we had to really do something.
But, in God’s sovereignty and in His love, He sent a person to us.
Every time he opened his mouth, it brought death. The spirit was very argumentative, always challenging. So we detected that there was a spirit of antichrist there.
What do you do? One brother said, “If we do not take the ground of Christ—take that ground and take that stand—you will not discern the spirit of the adversary.”
Yes, when you take that ground for the Lord Jesus, then you discern. A lot of others do not discern that spirit because they do not take that ground for the Lord, for the testimony of the Lord.
But a few of us who really took the ground for the Lord in that locality discerned that there was something wrong with this person. There was something wrong in that spirit. It was always challenging, and challenging the headship of the Lord Jesus.
It was very obvious. For the first few months, the brother responsible for that time and his wife both came to me and said, “Brother Jose, I do not see how much more we can do with this. I do not see how my husband can take it anymore.”
But the amazing thing was that every time he came to me, shaking his head and discouraged, somehow he could keep sticking with it. He could not give it up.
And the more the challenge increased, the more committed this brother and his wife became to the things of the Lord. Because of the challenge of the adversary, their prayer time became a real time for spiritual battle, a time to exercise their faith, and a time to claim the victory that is always in Christ Jesus.
The Bible became a living Book, becoming a source of life to them individually. When that Lord’s Day came, they had to face brothers and sisters.
I tell you, it is amazing how this sister and her husband both grew in the Lord in the last few months. When things looked so dark, when life was threatened, the Lord’s life came through and His light came through.
It is very comforting to read T. Austin-Sparks’ writings. He says that when Solomon’s throne was challenged by Adonijah, then Solomon was brought into view.
So, through this difficult time, the fellowship in South Jersey has gained a deeper appreciation of who the Lord Jesus Christ really is. We have come to realize how we have to hold on to the centrality of Christ.
There is a deeper appreciation of who He is and of His work. So we thank God for the adversary. What he is trying to do, he means for evil, but God means for good—because all God does is good.
More than that, at the moment when our brothers and sisters were discouraged and the Lord became more real, the Word was not merely alive; it was really living and powerful.
The Lord also brought amazing spiritual reinforcement through other brothers and sisters. At this very moment, the Lord brought two families to us.
These two families loved the Lord. They were very pure. They just loved the Lord. Initially, they did not come very much to the Bible study, but just their presence there made a difference.
The Lord was there in a fuller way. They took a measure, and they overcame because of life and because of light.
Is it not our experience that when you are down, down, down, somehow a brother or sister calls you, writes to you, or something happens? Life comes as spiritual reinforcement, strengthens you, and you can stand firm in the Lord.
So we experienced not only inward strengthening; we were also strengthened from without through our brothers and sisters. It is so beautiful.
The other difficult thing we encountered was our prayer time.
The Lord has been teaching us how to pray in recent months. Some call it executive prayer—prayer in authority.
For many of us, we had to pray for the prayer time. We had to take that prayer time by faith for God’s purpose and for God’s will to be done. Before, we just came to pray. But now we had to pray for our prayer time. By faith, we took that time for the Lord.
The presence of this person often brought our prayer to a very low level. Sometimes, during our prayer time, we had to, by faith, recover that link with the throne.
The spirit that this person brought to the prayer meeting was so obvious. Even our brother Christian, who came from Taiwan, noticed it the first evening he was with us during prayer time. He said, “That prayer from that person sounds very strange.”
He said, “You are all singing in one key—the key of Christ—and then all of a sudden he is singing a different tune, in a different key.” The brothers and sisters noticed that something was not quite normal with this person.
So our prayer time became a real challenge. We needed to pray that the Lord would come through, and we had to pray for the prayer time.
What we learned was this: if we bring Christ with us and bring His life, if we come with a purpose and open our hearts to the Lord, and if we put Christ at the center and His needs above all our needs, then this person cannot enter into our prayer.
Life swallows death. Light swallows up darkness.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord allows some of these negative things to teach us the positive things. When I was student teaching in Minnesota, my supervisor was writing a thesis on learning—how we learn.
He said that sometimes, to learn what is right, we have to learn what is wrong first. He would play a tune for the students, the right tune, and then ask a student to play it. But the notes written before the student would be slightly off—wrong, incorrect.
The amazing thing was that the student noticed right away. When he played something wrong, it was not in line with what he had heard. He knew right away.
So the Lord often has to teach us the wrong things in order that we may appreciate the right thing and know the right thing. We gained a deep appreciation of prayer time. It became more meaningful because it had really been challenged. We had to take it back to the Lord, and it became a very precious time.
We thank the Lord for the reinforcement He brought to us through these two new families. Since they came into our fellowship, they joined us in every prayer time.
So we learned, brothers and sisters, that individually we cannot cope with the adversary. This matter of spiritual warfare is a corporate matter. We need to stand together. We need our brothers and sisters. We need them.
Our worship time is often also a battle. Oh, we thank the Lord for hearts that really love Him and want to worship.
We thank the Lord not only for the two families He brought to us, but also for a group of Chinese brothers and sisters visiting us from Delaware from Lord’s Day to Lord’s Day. When they came, they brought the Lord to us, and that strengthened our worship time.
Every time in worship, if the Lord is central, if the Lord is what we are here for, brothers and sisters, we experience the victory.
There is no disruption. There is a tremendous open heaven before us. There is a flow of praise and worship. We are very thankful.
If the Lord has something here that is of Himself, He will preserve it. I am sure He does.
We will face tough times together. But thank God, those tough times are for good. They are for our spiritual education and for spiritual discipline. God is training us. He is maturing us.
Now let me share a couple of words to encourage our hearts. At the end of his life, in 2 Timothy, Paul said, “I have fought the good fight.”
To fight this spiritual warfare, brothers and sisters, we need to have an adequate comprehension of what the Lord has accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary. Otherwise, there is no ground and no way we can fight. That is absolutely essential.
Our battle is not physical, with flesh and blood. It is spiritual; it is in the unseen. So it is a matter of faith.
We have brethren in our fellowship who, when they look at the condition of our country—moral, economic, educational—become very depressed.
What about you? Is our hope in this world? Is our hope in our educational system, our economic system, or our governmental system? Where lies our hope?
In a sense, I do not expect any good out of this world. So when there is no good, I am not disappointed. But if you expect something good from this world system and you do not get it, you become disappointed.
Our hope is in the Lord. Our hope is a Person.
And this Person, for whom we hope, has done it all. So there is ground for victory. But we have to see and adequately understand what the Lord Jesus has done for us on the cross of Calvary.
He did not only save us and forgive our sins. On the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus won for us a total and decisive victory over our adversary—sin, the world, and Satan. He won a total victory.
Paul stood on that ground. He kept the faith to the end, and he knew something of the victory of the Lord Jesus. We need to see that. We need spiritual sight to see that.
That is why Paul, when he wrote Ephesians 6, said that we have to be strong in the Lord and in the might of His power. We have to put on the whole armor, and later we can take it up and use it.
But in Ephesians 6:12, he says that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of this age.
Brothers and sisters, these are not ordinary demons. They are the great powers of the underworld. You and I have no way to cope with those principalities, but only in Christ Jesus.
That is why Paul says, “Put on.” Put on Christ. Put on the whole armor.
But the interesting thing in verse 12 is that Paul says we wrestle. When you think about armor, it is a military term. You have all the armaments—the shield, the sword, and so forth.
But when it comes to actually engaging in the spirit, Paul says it is wrestling. It becomes a sport: two people, hand in hand, wrestling with each other.
Paul says that is what we are engaging in. When you wrestle with somebody, your intention is not to kill that person, because it is not warfare in that sense; it is a sport.
The way you win in wrestling is to make sure that the other person falls down and you get on top of him. Then you have won. They count, “One, two, three,” and that is it. You win. That is the point.
Let me go back to what I just said about the victory of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Of course, it was totally decisive, but it is spiritual because our adversary is spiritual.
But, brothers and sisters, He will come. What is invisible will be visible when He comes. He will display His total victory one day when He comes. But today it is spiritual and invisible.
Today Paul says that our wrestling is, in a sense, a hand-to-hand struggle. He is saying that you are not going to slay your enemy. Your objective is not to kill him, because God is using your enemy to make you stronger and stronger.
Get him down and sit on top. That is what you do.
That is what we do individually, and it is what we do as the church. Watchman Nee, in his book on spiritual warfare, said that people wonder why the Lord allows the devil to be around. The Lord can take care of him just like that.
But the Lord allows him so that we can experience the victories that are ours in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, how can we experience victory without engaging in some kind of fight?
So, brothers and sisters, our wrestling is not to kill our adversary, but to sit on top of him. That is a matter of faith. The Lord Jesus on the cross has already thrown him down to the ground.
And He is telling the church, “Sit on top of him.” That is your testimony.
You know, when you say, “Jesus is Lord,” what does it mean? It means that He is on top of the situation. That is what it means.
We cannot say, “Jesus is Lord,” and then feel that we are under something. There is nothing wrong with Him. It is a battle thing. “Jesus is Lord” means that He is on top of the situation.
The formation of the man-child in Revelation 12 is very interesting. When the red dragon is standing in front of the woman, we notice that there is a man-child being formed in that woman.
I have taken great comfort in recent days. When we face that dragon, overcomers are formed in the church to overcome the adversary.
Later in that chapter, it says that they overcame him because of the word of their testimony. Christ, the word of their testimony, is this: “Jesus Christ is Lord.” He is on top of the situation.
That should be the declaration of our individual lives as well as of the church.
Last night, as we were sitting and having a cup of tea, Percy told me that two of our sisters went to visit the Mike Mans and the Caromans. If I am not correct, please correct me.
I was told that when the naval officer came with news concerning the death of a young brother, the thought was that he had died accidentally.
I was told that our brother invited the naval officer to come in and pray. I think our brother was sure that, even if it happened accidentally, the Lord knew about it. He knew about it.
Now, brothers and sisters, that is being on top of the situation. Nothing can be beyond Him. When there is a threat and Satan says, “No,” the Lord knows about it. It is all in His good hands.
I know some of you are facing job situations and employment situations. Brothers and sisters, who is in charge of our lives?
When I was teaching in school, I tried to stay neutral because I did not want to get involved with politics and all kinds of things. Every few years, they had to renew their contracts, and they always fought for more pay.
When it came to me, they asked me to go, and I always tried to remain neutral. Not to discourage them from going, but I would say, “If you feel you have to go, you go. But I am okay.”
I did not join because I felt that my livelihood was not in the hands of the board of education. They do not determine how I live.
But thank God, we belong to Him, and He is Lord of all. Brothers and sisters, whatever you face, our testimony is that He is Lord, because He is on top of every situation.
At the end of John 16, the Lord says, “In the world ye have tribulation; but in Me ye have peace.” Then He says, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Those who are of God overcome the world. How do they overcome? By faith—the faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is true.
As we approach the end time, brothers and sisters, things will get darker and darker. Our conflicts will become more intense. But should we be fearful? No.
As we go into this final age and it gets darker and darker, I will tell you this: those who are watchful will see the morning star rise in their hearts. That is our hope.
I always thank the Lord for the brothers and sisters in Richmond and for how you have supported us in South Jersey all these years in prayer. I hope you see the Northeast region, how we are really one.
We are in this struggle together. What you face, we all face together. We need to be faithful. We need to fight this battle of faith.
Whatever we face, brothers and sisters, our declaration must be loud and clear: Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God. When that is declared and believed, then God is glorified.
So may the Lord help us. Shall we bow our heads?
Lord, we confess that we are people of little strength, but You are our great God. We worship You.
We commit these feeble words into Your hands, that the Holy Spirit will make them real in our hearts and in our lives.
Lord, may our confession before the enemy, even within ourselves, be that our Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of all; that He is our Lord and He is the Head of the church. He is in control. We worship You.
We pray again for this afternoon’s memorial service. We look to You that You will get glory, that You will get what You are after.
Lord, we give You our time. Use our brother to speak Your Word from the throne, the word of the kingdom, the gospel, to deliver men and women from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Your beloved Son, the Lord Jesus.
We worship You for what You will do this afternoon. We give praise and glory to You. We ask in the precious name of the Lord Jesus.