Will you please turn to Proverbs 29:18?
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
The book of Job, chapter 42. Job 42:5-6:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth Thee:
Wherefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.
The prophet Habakkuk, chapter 2, from verse 1 through verse 4:
I will stand upon my watch,
And set me upon the tower,
And will look forth to see what He will speak with me,
And what I shall answer concerning my complaint.And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision,
And make it plain upon tables,
That he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time,
And it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie:
Though it tarry, wait for it;
Because it will surely come, it will not delay.
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
But the righteous shall live by his faith.
And finally, the book of Acts, chapter 26, verse 19. Acts 26:19:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Lord, our hearts are full of gratitude. Who are we, that Thou shouldst look upon us, that Thou shouldst call us together into Thy presence to hear Thy word?
Lord, we are unworthy. Thou art the One who is worthy, forever and forever. We realize that we are standing on holy ground. Thou art here.
Lord, we bow our hearts before Thee and say, “Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear.” May Thy name be exalted. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together here at this time. I feel that it is such a privilege that, in these days, we can still come together. These are very special days. The coming of the Lord is imminent.
And every time when they allow us to gather together, it is His mercy. Think of many places in the world where God’s people have no such privilege. So our hearts are really grateful, and we just look to the Lord that we will treasure such time together.
As you read on the brochure, there is a verse from Genesis 26:18. Isaac dug again the wells that his father Abraham had dug in his days, but the Philistines came in and filled these wells with earth.
So Isaac re-dug these wells of living water. And not only did he dig again the wells that his father had dug, but he dug new wells. They were contested by the people of Gerar, but finally they dug a well of living water, and it was not contested. They called its name Rehoboth.
So, brothers and sisters, as we gather at this time, this is our inner feeling. As our brother mentioned last night, by the grace of God we have been gathering like this for twenty-seven years.
And during those twenty-seven years, we dug and dug and dug. Thank God, by His grace and mercy, we found living water.
But after all these years, I wonder whether the Philistines have come in and begun to fill these wells with dirt.
Dear friends, brothers and sisters, I feel that probably, and very likely, our Philistines—our flesh—somehow during these days and years may have come in and filled the wells of these living waters with dirt.
The living waters are there. The fountains are there. And yet the wells have been filled with dirt, so the water is hidden.
And I wonder whether this is the time, this time when we gather together before the Lord, that it is time for us to re-dig the old wells.
You remember our Lord Jesus. He said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:14:
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;
But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.
Our Lord Jesus is the living water. In Him is a fountain of life. He is always there.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we have a responsibility. Our responsibility is to dig the well. We need to repent. We need to remove the dirt that has covered our souls.
And by the grace of God, by His Spirit, all this dirt that has filled the wells will be removed. Then we will find the living water springing again.
And maybe this is the reason why the Lord gathered us old-comers together.
And you know, for Isaac to re-dig the old wells of Abraham, it was much easier than when Abraham first dug these wells.
So, for the coming generation, brothers and sisters, you need to dig. Even though your forefathers had dug the wells and found the living water, unfortunately your Philistines have filled them with dirt.
And you need to rediscover what your fathers had discovered.
In a very real sense, spiritually there is no second generation. There may be a next generation, but no second generation. Every generation has to be the first generation.
Abraham had to dig to get living waters. Isaac had to re-dig these wells. And thank God, he did more than re-dig the old wells. He found a new well, Rehoboth—broad places.
So our desire is that those young brothers and sisters who are here, you are like Isaac. At this time God has gathered you together here, not only to rediscover what your parents had discovered in their lives, how they enjoyed the living waters in their lives, but you are here to re-dig them.
Unfortunately, the parents are not able to pass on to you the living water. They can tell you that they have found living water, but you have to dig the wells for yourselves.
For your Philistines have filled them with dirt. You need to repent. You need to seek the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to work deeply in your life, to remove anything that may hinder the springing forth of the living water.
The water is there, but you need to re-dig them. And thank God, we believe that you will find new wells of living water. Every generation may make an advance over the former generation.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is our feeling, this is our burden, and this is our prayer: that as we gather at this time, may we not just be here trying to hear something, but we are here to dig the well.
Remove all hindrances and rediscover the living water—our Lord Jesus Christ.
The well that we want to dig this time is the well of vision. We need vision.
Some of us need to have our vision renewed, refreshed, recovered. Somehow, through the years, our spirits get dull. It is no longer living and fresh as it should be. And we need to re-dig this well.
And to some others, maybe this is the first time that the Spirit of God will move you to dig the well of living water, that you may catch a vision that your fathers caught in their days.
Brothers and sisters, vision is extremely important to us. If you read through the Bible, you will find that all those men and women of God, their lives were governed by the vision they saw.
The first book, chronologically speaking, is the book of Job, because Job lived in the time of the patriarchs.
And Job, in his generation, there was no one like Job. He was perfect and upright, feared God, and abstained from evil. He was such a good man that one day, when the angels of the Lord gathered around the Lord, Satan also came among them.
And God asked Satan, “Where have you been? What have you been doing?” Satan said, “I am going up and down, to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
Now, do you think that Satan is a world traveler? He just likes to travel? Not at all. He does not travel for pleasure. He travels with a purpose. He is considering, he is watching, he is screening, he is searching.
So our Lord said to him, “Have you observed My servant Job?” The Lord knew that he must have, and probably Job was a special object of his observation.
So the Lord challenged him and said, “Have you observed My servant Job? There was no one like him in his generation: perfect, upright, fearing God, and abstaining from evil.”
And this is what Satan always is. Satan replied, questioned God, and said, “Well, does Job fear You for nothing? You put a hedge around him. You bless everything that belongs to him. No wonder he fears You.”
God took up that challenge. God said, “All right, I give you permission to take away everything that Job has, but do not touch him.”
Satan thought that by taking away the blessings that God had given to Job, Job would curse God to His face. So he went out, and he did evil.
In one day, Job lost everything—not only his cattle, his sheep, his camels, most of his servants, but all of his seven children in one day.
I do not believe that even today anyone would suffer in one day such great disaster as Job.
You know, when we meet a little affliction, immediately we murmur. But look at Job. When all these things happened, Job shaved his head, fell down before the Lord, and said:
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Another day, when the angels gathered around God, God again said to Satan, “Now, you have done all that you were permitted to do. For the utmost, now how about it?”
You know, sometimes I wonder whether today there is a person in whom the Lord has such confidence, to challenge Satan in such an utter way. I wonder.
And so evil is Satan. He said, “You allowed me to take away all his things, but You have not allowed me to touch him. If You allow me to touch him, immediately he will curse You to Your face.”
The Lord accepted the challenge and said, “All right, you can touch him, but you cannot take his life away.”
And Satan gladly ran ahead with his evil intention. He attacked Job. His whole body was full of boils. He sat in the ashes, scratching himself with potsherds.
His wife even suggested to him, “Curse God, and die.” And Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away.” He did not sin with his mouth.
Dear brothers and sisters, here was a man who suffered more than anybody else on this earth, except One—our Lord Jesus Christ.
His three friends came to comfort him. They saw him, and they could not say anything, because they had never seen anything like this. They sat with him for seven days in silence.
Job was able to bear all the attacks of the enemy. Take away all his belongings, even his children—Job was able to bear. With affliction all over his body, Job was able to bear.
But before his friends, he broke down. How human this is.
He began to curse his day of birth. He dared not curse God, but he cursed himself. He could not understand. He was in the dark. He knew there was something there, but he did not understand.
He asked for a hearing before God. If only he could reason with God: why?
And his three friends tried to comfort him, but instead they were used by the enemy. They condemned him. They brought forth accusations. They increased his suffering instead of relieving him. And this went round and round and round.
On the one hand, Job did not understand. Yet, on the other hand, he said, “Even if God shall slay me, I will still trust in Him. I know that I have a Redeemer, a Mediator.”
He was on the verge of breaking down. But at that very moment, the Lord appeared to him.
The Lord did not explain to him why. Job did not know that there was something going on in the invisible world. He could not see the invisible. He could not see the conflict between God and Satan.
He could only see what happened to him. He could only see his circumstances. He could only feel the piercing words of his friends.
But the Lord came. He did not explain to him why. Does the Lord need to explain? Does He not have the right to do whatever He wishes?
Instead of explaining to Job why, God just revealed His glory—His glory in creation—to Job. He is the God of glory.
And, dear brothers and sisters, when Job saw the glory of God, he bowed down and said, “Lord, I heard of Thee in the past. All my past was based upon hearing. I believed, but that is not enough. Now I have seen Thee. I have seen Thy glory.”
“I repent in dust and ashes. I abhor myself.”
Thank God, he was delivered from himself, delivered from self-righteousness. He was delivered totally unto God. And that was Job.
It was the vision of the glory of the Lord that brought Job through. It not only enabled him to overcome all these unanswered questions, but the glory of God solved all his problems and brought him into sonship, double blessing, and glory.
His vision delivered him. So we need vision. Without vision, the people perish. How true that is.
Oftentimes we are at a point of perishing, but thank God, when He reveals Himself to us, that brings us through in glory.
Think of Abraham. He was in Ur of the Chaldees, a land of idols. Tradition says that his father was an idol-image maker.
But one day, the God of glory appeared to Abraham. Brothers and sisters, just one appearing—one appearing of the glory of God—brought him out of Ur, out of his kindred, into a place where the Lord led him.
He went out, not knowing whither. And there in the promised land, he lived as a sojourner, as a stranger. He lived in tents all his life.
What sustained him? What is the secret of that life? If he wanted to return, he could. Sometimes the situation became so difficult that he was tempted. He went to Egypt. He went to the south land.
But somehow the Lord kept him, because he was looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you read the life of Abraham, what is the secret of that life? Vision. He saw the Lord. He saw the purpose of God. He saw the New Jerusalem.
And this vision sustained him throughout his long life. Vision—that is what we need.
Think of Moses. He was brought up and reared in the palace of Pharaoh. He learned all the learning of Egypt. He was mighty in words and deeds.
He had everything that the world could offer. It was all at his feet. And yet, he would rather suffer with the children of God than have all the pleasures of sin in Egypt.
He considered the reproach of Christ much more worthy than all the treasures of Egypt. Brothers and sisters, I wonder if we know a little bit of the treasures of Egypt.
You know, through excavation they have found in these tombs all these treasures. We do not know how much these treasures of Egypt were worth.
But strangely, you find here was a man who esteemed the reproach of Christ more worthy than all the treasures of Egypt.
What can you find in the reproach of Christ? Rejection. Crucifixion outside the city of Jerusalem. Desertion. Even His heavenly Father crushed Him on the cross. That is the reproach of Christ.
How could he consider the reproach of Christ more worthy than the treasures of Egypt? One reason: he saw the Invisible One. He saw the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, that is the reason. There is power behind it. Vision is important.
Think of David. Quite a life he had. He went through adversity. He went through prosperity. He was hunted like a fugitive. He was on the throne of Israel.
I wonder if there is anyone on earth who experienced such varied things in his or her life as David. He passed through everything that you can think of.
Read the Psalms—how he expressed what he had gone through. And yet there is always a note there. No matter what happened, he was a man after God’s own heart, who knew all His will. Why?
What is the secret of his life? You read Psalm 27:4:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
“My heart said unto Thee, Seek ye My face. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”
Dear brothers and sisters, throughout the life of David, what sustained him, gave him strength, disciplined him, and gave him purpose and meaning to life was the face of God.
He saw His face. If God should hide His face from him, he was as one dead. He sought His face. He knew the heart of God, and he was able to do the will of God in his generation.
Brothers and sisters, it is vision. Our problem is that we see people, we see problems, we see difficulties, we even see ourselves; but we fail to see the face of God—the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
If we can see His face continuously, brothers and sisters, nothing on earth can move us. Vision: that is what we need.
Think of the prophet Habakkuk. He lived in very difficult times, when the children of Israel rebelled against God and sinned against God.
And being a prophet, he stood with God. He wondered, and he prayed, “Why do You not judge this wicked people? You are the God of righteousness. Look at Your people, stiff-necked, rebelling against You. You need to do something.”
“Judge them. Arouse their conscience. Bring them to conviction. Why do You not do something?”
And the Lord answered him, “I am doing. I will do it. I will send the Chaldeans to come and punish them, to destroy them.”
Now that just made it more difficult for Habakkuk. He was concerned for his own people. “Why do You let these people go on sinning against You? Do something. Stop it. Even if it means judgment, fine, because Your judgment will restore us.”
But to his surprise, the rod of judgment that God used was the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans were more wicked than the children of Israel. Now, how can You use a more wicked people to judge a wicked people? That is not fair.
Habakkuk could not accept it. He was in a dilemma. He did not know what to do. He did the only thing that he could do: he went up to the watchtower. He would watch. He would wait upon the Lord.
And there the Lord revealed to him what God was doing, that He might answer him in his complaint. While he was there watching, the word of the Lord came to him and said, “I give you a vision. Write it out, that those who read may run.”
“This is a vision that is for the future, but it is coming. It may delay, but it will come in the end.”
True, the Chaldeans were proud of themselves, forgetting that they were just instruments. But the righteous shall live by his faith. That is the vision.
The righteous shall live by his faith. And, dear brothers and sisters, with that vision Habakkuk could see that even if everything seemed to have gone—the fig tree did not bear, the vine did not produce, the stalls were empty, everything was finished—yet, “I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Dear brothers and sisters, vision is the vision that enabled this prophet to overcome all disappointment and hope in God. We need vision.
Think of the apostle Paul. What is the secret of his life and ministry? One thing: the heavenly vision. That is it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we need to dig the well of vision.
Why is vision so important? Because vision gives us direction. Without vision, we have no direction. Our life will be just floating, wandering, drifting.
Vision gives us direction. We know where we are heading.
Vision gives us meaning in life. What is the meaning of life? Without vision, life has no meaning.
Vision gives us strength. In times of affliction and opposition, that gives us strength to get through.
Vision disciplines us. Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. You know, if you have no vision, you just do whatever you like, because there is no discipline, nothing that constrains you and restrains you.
Without vision, the people perish. You cannot live spiritually if you do not have vision, or if you lose the vision God has given you. You cannot live for a moment.
And it is vision that binds us together. Without vision, the people disintegrate. We are just scattered all over, each going his own way. But it is vision that joins us together.
So, dear brothers and sisters, vision is a must.
You know, even with the people in the world, vision is important. The people of the world will not succeed in anything unless they have vision.
“I have a dream.” That is a vision. Because without vision, it is meaningless, purposeless—no direction, no control. Your life will be just drifting.
But with the people of the world, their vision is earthly. Some people’s vision is that they may succeed in a certain area—politically, perhaps; financially, perhaps; educationally, perhaps; or even morally or religiously.
But there is something that pushes them, urges them, and enables them to sacrifice everything to get it. It enables them to endure. That is vision.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we as God’s heavenly people, do we have the same dream, the same vision, as the people of the world?
We who are redeemed of the Lord—is our life motivated by money, success in this world, position, power, or even becoming a great man or woman of some kind?
If we have the same vision as the people of the world, how we have lost our dignity.
We, as the children of God, as God’s redeemed, the heavenly people of God, need a heavenly vision.
Our vision is heavenly. Our vision is spiritual. Our vision is eternal. It is not like the people of the world. It is earthly, temporal, and passing away. It is nothing.
Even if you arrive at it, it is catching wind—vanity of vanities.
But, dear brothers and sisters, here we catch the heavenly vision. That is spiritual, heavenly, eternal.
What is the vision? You know, thank God, some people of God tell us that God has given them a vision. They have the vision to evangelize the world, and because of this vision, they are willing to sacrifice themselves.
Thank God for such sacrifice. When you read the lives of all the early missionaries, your hearts are moved. Thank God for them.
How were they able to endure all the sufferings, the opposition, the misunderstanding? They even gave their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God for that.
Some had a vision of planting churches. They went everywhere to plant churches.
Some had visions to open orphanages and schools for the poor, for the blind, for the deserted. Thank God for these brothers and sisters.
And because of these visions, they were propelled, compelled to press on. And God blessed them.
But, brothers and sisters, is that the heavenly vision that the Bible talks about?
We will not say no, and yet we cannot say yes. They are secondary.
The vision that the Bible talks about is not a thing. It is not a work. It is a Person. It is living.
It is not evangelism. It is Christ. It is not any good work. It is Christ Jesus. He is the vision.
It is the glory of God. It is the eternal purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see Him. We need to have our hearts filled with Him. We need to be fully drawn to Him.
He must block out anything and everything from our hearts. Christ, Christ—nothing but Christ.
When we are caught by Him, when we are caught by His glory, when we are caught by His purpose, brothers and sisters, all the other things will be for Him.
We may be engaged in evangelism, but not for evangelism’s sake—for Christ’s sake. We may be engaged in good works, but it is not good works; it is for Christ’s sake.
He is the vision. There is nothing else.
Dear brothers and sisters, may our hearts be just filled with Him and block out anything else. Unfortunately, we are too much occupied with things, with people, with ourselves, and they block out Christ from us.
I remember one brother said, “What we need is an overall vision.”
We all have small visions—vision of this, vision of that. “God has called me to do this. God has called me to do that.” But, you know, these are the details.
They should fit in with a large picture. As the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:13, “the pattern of sound words.” We need to see the outline. We need to see the general picture.
It is the picture of Christ—God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. That is the outline. That is the heavenly vision.
And then you will find that we each fit into that picture, but all are related to this one vision. It is like a jigsaw puzzle. You have many pieces. The pieces are in themselves of no meaning, but when you are able to put them together, you see the face of God in Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the heavenly vision.
And to get to that vision, we need to dig. The vision is already given. It is revealed in the Word of God.
But unfortunately, the enemy has piled so much dirt upon it that we fail to taste the living water.
So may the Lord help us, brothers and sisters, during these days. May the Holy Spirit touch our hearts and enable us to do some dirty work.
Dig. Dig. Cast off, cast away, the dirt, and let the living water spring forth to eternal life.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, Thou hast the words of eternal life. Where can we go? We are stuck with Thee.
Lord, we pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see that Thou art the only One who is worthy, worthy of all.
Deliver us from the many things that have occupied our vision. Remove them.
We want to repent in dust and ashes. And may the living waters of God spring into eternity, to the praise and the glory of God.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.