The things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
— 2 Timothy 2:2
Then we go back to the first verse:
Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
— 2 Timothy 2:1
I would like to read to you a different translation:
As for you, therefore, my child, be clothed with strengthening by the grace which is in Christ Jesus; and the things which you heard from me personally in the presence of many witnesses, these things commit as a trust to trustworthy men, who are of such a character as to be competent to teach others also.
I repeat it:
As for you, therefore, my child, be clothed with strengthening by the grace which is in Christ Jesus; and the things which you heard from me personally in the presence of many witnesses, these things commit as a trust to trustworthy men, who are of such a character as to be competent to teach others also.
The second letter of Paul to Timothy is a personal letter. We know that Paul wrote many letters. Some of these letters were to the churches, and some were to individuals. Now, this Second Timothy was a personal letter of Paul to his son Timothy. It was his last letter.
There is a kind of unconscious wrong impression about Paul. Because Paul was such a great apostle, such a great man of God, and God had used him so mightily, we unconsciously look at him as a Superman. But, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that Paul was a human being just as we are.
Now you find that the Apostle Paul was in his last days. He was in prison in Rome. As he looked forward, he could see in his spirit that his days on earth were numbered.
Under such a situation, naturally he longed to see his son Timothy come. He would like to have Timothy’s company with him at that moment.
Now you remember our Lord Jesus—yes, even our Lord Jesus. On that night before He was betrayed, how He led His disciples into the garden of Gethsemane. He left eight of His disciples behind, and He took three with Him. He said, “I am sorrowful even unto death. Come with Me. Wait with Me. Pray with Me. Watch with Me.”
In other words, you find it is just human. When a person is in such a time, naturally he longs for company. He longs to have someone whom he really loves, really knows, and really can trust to be with him. That would be a comfort, an encouragement, and a strength.
So Paul, being human, before he died wrote his letter to Timothy, longing to see Timothy before his departure. He urged Timothy to come to him as hurriedly as possible, because he knew that there was not much time left.
And the same thing was with Timothy. Because after Paul was taken away from Timothy in Asia, naturally Timothy felt so lonesome being left behind. As we mentioned before, all Asia had left Paul, and Timothy was left behind trying to rescue the situation, trying to bring the church back to the testimony and back to its feet.
Timothy naturally felt such a great loss. He naturally felt so lonesome. He longed to be with Paul. So here you find that it was, first of all, a letter that really expressed the longing in the heart of Paul, as well as in the heart of Timothy. May God grant this opportunity, that they would be together before Paul was martyred.
Now, in history we do not know whether this opportunity was given. But anyway, you find the second letter to Timothy was a very personal letter.
But Paul was more than just a human being. He was a man of God. He was a veteran in the work of God. And even though, at this last hour, Paul was not so much thinking of himself, there was a place where he longed for the company of Timothy. It would be a great comfort to him before he died.
Yet, as you read this personal letter of Paul, there was something deeper than his personal interest. You find that Paul’s heart was concerned with the testimony of Jesus. He had carried the torch of the testimony of Jesus for a number of years. He had carried it from Asia to Europe and back to Asia. He had been faithful in his testimony of Jesus.
And now he knew that his time was numbered. He was to let go of that torch and hand it over to somebody else. He was thinking especially of Timothy and people who were like him. So you find in the second letter to Timothy there was a much deeper concern in the heart of Paul than his personal interest.
Because of that, he left with Timothy his last will and testament. He tried to convey to Timothy the secret, the strength, that would enable a man to be faithful to the very end. He left behind him a legacy, and with that legacy you find how one can be a trustworthy person in the testimony of Jesus.
And this is what we are really interested in. Dear brothers and sisters, we mention again and again that today we are living in a time as difficult as the time in which Paul lived.
In a sense, dear brothers and sisters, we do not know how much time we still will have. We do not know. We only sense in our spirit that the time will not be long.
Dear brothers and sisters, I do not know whether in your spirit you feel an urgency within you. I do not know whether in your spirit you find that something has to be done now, because there will not be much time left. We cannot afford to sit back and be passive.
In this short period, in this last hour, dear brothers and sisters, before we go, we must see that the testimony of Jesus is maintained. It is our duty and our responsibility—not only that we may be faithful to the end, but that we may be able to hand over the torch of the testimony to some faithful ones.
It is our responsibility that we not only ourselves be trustworthy, but that we must find trustworthy people. We must build up other people who are trustworthy, people who will have a good deposit, know what the testimony of Jesus is, and carry on after we leave.
Dear brothers and sisters, I feel there is an urgency there. We do not have much time.
He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
— Hebrews 10:37
And yet, in this short period, we are going through very difficult days. We see around us that everything seems to be falling apart. We find that this is true in the world. We find that it is true in the Christian world.
We find that not only do people of the world love pleasure, love the world, and love self, but even among believers there is love for self, love for the world, and love for pleasure. There is very little love of good and love of God.
We find it is very difficult even to survive as a Christian. How can we maintain our Christian life on this earth, not to say, how can we maintain the testimony of Jesus? Brothers and sisters, because we are under such a situation, Second Timothy becomes very real, very living, and very important to us.
We mentioned on the first evening that, in order that we may be able to be those faithful men—not only faithful ourselves, but even able to teach others—first of all, we must remember the calling. We must remember that we are called with a holy calling.
We come to the Lord not by chance. We have never volunteered for the kingdom of God. But God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which He gave to us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. It has been manifested by the appearing of our Lord Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we who are living in such a time, we who are desiring to be faithful and to make other people faithful, first of all must remember the calling. We must know our calling. We must have a vision of our calling.
I have to say, dear brothers and sisters, this is something very much lacking among God’s people. God’s people do not know their calling. God’s people do not know that they are called with a holy calling—an uncommon calling, according to that which their ears have never heard, their eyes have never seen, and their minds have never thought about.
They do not know that they have a heavenly calling, an on-high calling, a glorious calling, an eternal calling. They do not know that God has called us to be the Body of Christ. They do not know that God has called us to be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
That is the Body: that Christ may be the firstborn among many brethren, that all of us may take our character from Christ. It takes all of us to manifest Who Christ is and what He is. Dear brothers and sisters, it is a tremendous calling.
This is God’s purpose concerning our life. Our life on this earth is not just living for this thing and for that thing. Our life on earth is not just living to do this thing and to do that thing. Brothers and sisters, our life on earth is to live for that calling, to live for that purpose.
Anything that is not related to that purpose and that calling is a waste.
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose.
— Romans 8:28
Remember, all things do not work together for good if you do not love the Lord, if you are not called according to purpose. Oftentimes we cannot see how things can work together for good. On the contrary, we find that they work together for death. Why? It is because we do not know our calling. We do not know that we are called according to purpose.
If you can see God’s purpose, if you know your calling, dear brothers and sisters, there is nothing that will happen to you, nothing that will come into your path, that is not ordained by God for the sake that you may fulfill your calling. Indeed, all things work together for good.
That is the only way that we can get through. If you do not remember your calling, you will be overwhelmed by the things that happen to you. You will complain, and you will murmur. You will be offended; you will fall. My dear brothers and sisters, remember your calling. You are called according to purpose.
Number two, we mentioned last night: not only do we need to remember our calling, but we need to keep the deposit. God has called us, and then He began to deposit something in our lives.
You know, we are a vessel. We are a depository. From the time we are saved, beginning with salvation, you find God is continually depositing something good into us. It is called a good deposit. He is depositing something good into us.
And what is that deposit we mentioned last night? It is the outline of healthy words. But the outline of healthy words which we have heard is not merely some teaching or some doctrine. No, actually that deposit is the Son. God is depositing Christ into us.
And because it is Christ being deposited in us, it cannot be just a mental thing. It cannot be just through tradition. It cannot be just something that we take up. It has to be something revealed, something wrought into our very life. This is the way to know Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, how much deposit has God been able to deposit in your life? In the time of testing and trial, that which has not been deposited in you by God will all be shaken off. It cannot stand the test. But only that which is deposited in you will remain.
Remember from last night: even though you may fall, you will bounce back. If you have no deposit, that is the end.
Whatever God has deposited in us has to be kept in the Holy Spirit. You cannot look back to five years ago, when you had an experience of Christ, and try to live on that experience today. Dear brothers and sisters, it is gone. It is old. It is stale. It has lost its power.
What God has deposited in us must be kept in the Holy Spirit. It is only the Holy Spirit Who gives freshness and power to that deposit. Every time you try to use the deposit, there has to be a fresh anointing. Otherwise, it is history. It is memory. It is no longer living. It is no longer operative.
So the deposit that has been deposited in us, dear brothers and sisters, has to be continually kept in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And at the same time, as Paul said:
For I know Him Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
— 2 Timothy 1:12
That is the perseverance of the saints. I mentioned last night that the perseverance of the saints is taught in the Scripture, but the perseverance of the saints is not in us. It is in God. It is God Who is able to keep us from falling. It is God Who is able to keep us holy and blameless before Him in that day.
A good deposit. This evening we would like to come to the third ingredient, if we are to be trustworthy and even to instruct other people: be strong in grace.
Here you find Paul wrote to his son Timothy, and he said:
Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
— 2 Timothy 2:1
Another translation is, “Be clothed with the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Take upon yourself the grace which is in Christ Jesus.”
Do not think that Paul was a Superman. Do not think that because he had such a strong personality, therefore he was able to be faithful to the very end. Dear brothers and sisters, no matter how strong a person is, remember: you have an enemy who is stronger.
If Paul had been left to himself, he would not have been able to persevere. Even if you read Romans Chapter 7, with such a strong determination as Paul had—an iron will—you find that in the commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” he could not overcome that thing. Why? Because sin is a law, and his will is no match for a law.
Dear brothers and sisters, the reason why you find the Apostle Paul such a trustworthy man of God, so faithful to God and faithful to the very end, is because he was one who really knew grace.
I believe that, of all people, Paul was one who knew grace, if I may say so, the best.
From the very beginning of his Christian life, he came into contact with grace. When the grace of God was not known by him, what kind of person was he? He was not an ordinary man. Not only was his background most unusual; he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was born in the great city of Tarsus. He was a Roman citizen by birth.
He was trained not only in Greek culture, but he was trained in Judaism under the teaching of Gamaliel, the great teacher of his time. Paul was a most unusual man, and he could say that among his contemporaries he excelled every one of them.
He became a blasphemer. He became a persecutor of the church. But he said, “I did it in ignorance.” He thought that he was accumulating merit, so that if he should die, his good deeds would go before him to God and speak a good word for him.
I attended two funerals of Orthodox Jews, and in both funerals that is what I heard. The rabbi would say, “Now here, this man is dead. There is no hope. The only hope is that his good deeds will go before him to God and speak good for him.” Probably that was the mentality of Paul too. He was trying to accumulate as much merit as possible to prepare for his future.
My dear brothers and sisters, what did he say? You find Galatians Chapter 1:
But when it was the good pleasure of God, Who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.
— Galatians 1:15-16
He said that God called him by His grace. And if you turn to 1 Timothy Chapter 1, you find that he said:
I thank Him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that He counted me faithful, appointing me to His service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
— 1 Timothy 1:12-14
Dear brothers and sisters, no one knew grace more than the Apostle Paul. Why? Because if it had not been for the grace of God, he would never have been called. He was an enemy of God, a blasphemer, a persecutor, an arrogant and proud person. He thought that he did not need grace. He thought he was sufficient in himself. He did not know he was heading for destruction.
And it was the unmerited grace of God that called him back. Dear brothers and sisters, you can almost see it. There was Saul, riding probably on a horse, followed by a group of people with their documents from the high priest, going into the Gentile city of Damascus, trying to seize those followers of the Lord Jesus.
You can almost see that this would go on until he died. But God arrested him on the road to Damascus. What arrested him? The grace of God—the grace of God surpassingly overabounded toward him in Christ Jesus.
Oh, he did not know how to say it, so he used all these superlative expressions: “surpassingly,” “overabounding,” toward him in Christ Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, he knew the grace of God.
Not only that, but you find that through Paul’s life he was a person who knew God’s grace. If you read Romans Chapter 5, there you find that he mentioned something. He said:
But where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
— Romans 5:20-21
Here you find that Paul not only knew the grace that saved him; he knew the grace that overcame sin, the power of sin. It is grace reigning in life unto righteousness. Dear brothers and sisters, do you know the grace of God that reigns in life unto righteousness? Do you know that grace will not only save you, but grace will give you the power to overcome even the power of sin and of death? Paul knew that.
If you read 1 Corinthians Chapter 15—there is just too much, I have to skip over it and mention only a few—you find that he said:
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
— 1 Corinthians 15:9-10
You know, Paul could never forget that. It humbled him very much. He said, “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” But by God’s grace, I am what I am.
Here, brothers and sisters, was a person who knew the grace of God. It was the grace of God that strengthened him to go through sufferings, persecution, even death. He knew the grace of God. And because of that, he exhorted his son Timothy, “Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.”
You know, Timothy, as we mentioned before, was naturally very different from Paul. He was naturally timid and introverted. And if Paul needed the grace of God to keep him faithful to the end, surely Timothy needed the same grace.
In other words, Paul was trying to tell Timothy, “Do not be afraid. Do not think that you cannot continue on.”
You know, a number of people came to me and asked me such a question: “If persecution should come to this country, do you think I can stand?”
Suppose today somebody told you that to believe in Christ Jesus is a crime, and then they bring you to death, and probably a sword is upon your neck, and they say, “Deny, or confess.” Now what will you do? Is there anyone who is so sure of himself that when that moment comes, you will be able to confess Christ?
If you think you stand, the Bible says, “Be careful, lest you fall.” We have an example in Peter. Peter said, “Surely, Lord, if all the rest fall away, I will go with You even unto death.” And he said it honestly. But he denied the Lord before a little maid.
Oh, brothers and sisters, the only answer is not in you and me. The only answer is in the grace of God.
Timothy tended to look within himself. I could almost feel it. When Paul was taken away from him, as Timothy looked around at the brothers and sisters left behind, the picture was dark, very bleak.
Then Timothy began to look within himself, and he said, “Oh God, what will happen to me? Will I be among those who will desert Thy Son? Will I be among those who will even deny the faith? I have no confidence in the flesh. I do not know.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, such thoughts must have gone through Timothy many times. Paul knew him. Paul knew Timothy. So he wrote and said, “My child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.”
You are not able. I am not able. But there is grace there. The grace of God in Christ Jesus is available—only if you will take it, clothe yourself with it, claim it, and be strengthened by the grace of God.
And you know, if you are strengthened by the grace of God, there is nothing you cannot do, because it is He Who does it. Brothers and sisters, is it not time that we know more of the grace of God?
Now, what is grace? This very word grace in Greek carries with it at least three meanings, and these three are one.
Number one: grace means something that is inherent in a thing or in a person, which will cause delight, pleasure, and satisfaction to those who look at it or look at him.
As you come into this hall, you find that there are flowers there. There is in these flowers something beautiful. Not only is the color beautiful; the form is even more beautiful. There is a truth there. There is a reality there. There is something inherent in these flowers.
Whenever you come into this room and look at them, immediately it sends within you a sense of pleasure, delight, and satisfaction. Dear brothers and sisters, in other words, there is something true and beautiful in the flower.
If there is nothing beautiful there, if there is no truth there, when you look at it there is nothing. It is blank. So, first of all, grace means that there is something beautiful in that thing or that person. Because the beauty is there, whoever comes into contact with it immediately receives a delight, a pleasure, and a satisfaction.
Now, that is the first meaning of grace. What is grace? There is something beautiful. There is something true in Christ. Because in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, there is something in Him that can give to others that sense of delight and pleasure. Now, that is grace.
Number two: because there is something beautiful in Him, therefore you find that He is willing to give that which is beautiful of Him to other people.
And because it is grace, it has to be free, and it has to be universal. In other words, when God gives grace to men, He gives it freely. Grace is not a debt. Grace is not a reward. Grace is not something that God owes. Grace is not something that God gives because you do something.
It is grace. In the giving of grace, it has to be free—absolutely free, no charge. And not only free, but it has to be universal. In other words, if you give this man grace and do not give the other man grace, if you choose whom you will give to, that is not grace.
Now, how much grace can we give to people? When we give, we may say, “Well, I freely gave it to you.” But why did you give to this person and not to that person? There is some reason behind it. It is not grace anymore.
But when the grace of God comes to the world, it is free for all. No one is excepted. Now, whether you receive it or not, that is up to you. But so far as God’s giving is concerned, He gives to all. Universal. That is the second meaning.
The third meaning of grace is this: those who receive grace—grace will create in them a heart of thankfulness and will so transform them according to grace that they too begin to be gracious, as God is gracious.
You know, oftentimes when we sit down to eat, we say, “Let us say grace.” Now what does that mean? Does it mean that you are giving grace to God? Well, it simply means, let us give thanks.
You know how different the Bible is. We say, “Let us say grace,” which means, “Let us thank God.” And the Bible says that grace means thanks.
Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.
— 2 Corinthians 9:15
In the original, it says, “Grace be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” In 2 Corinthians you find Paul saying that they had grace, that they might have a part in that grace—that is, they wanted to give. My dear brothers and sisters, that is grace.
We cannot receive the grace of God without being transformed to be more gracious. Grace has not completed its work if grace does not transform you to be gracious, like God is gracious.
That is the reason why, in that parable, when a servant owed his master so much and said, “Give me time, and I will repay you”—though even if he had eternity, he would not be able to pay that amount—it was just an excuse. But the master, out of mercy, forgave him.
He came out and saw another servant, a fellow servant, who owed him something. He took him by the throat and said, “If you do not pay, I will put you in prison.” And the result was that he was put in prison. Why? Because he received grace but was not gracious like his master.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is grace? If you see what grace is, you will find that grace is not only in Him, and grace is not only given to us freely and universally, but when we receive grace into us, it so changes and transforms us that people like us begin to be gracious. Now, is that not wonderful?
And in the New Testament, all these meanings are included in that word grace. Dear brothers and sisters, do we know grace? Are we clothed with grace?
If we really know the grace of God, you find that we will be strengthened inwardly, and we will be able to be faithful and trustworthy.
Now another thing that we should see here is that Paul said, “My child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.” Be strong. That word means, “Strengthen yourself in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
So far as grace is concerned, it is always available. Dear brothers and sisters, the grace of God in Christ Jesus is always here. There will never be a time, never an occasion, never a trial, where the grace of God is not there, not ready, not available. It is always here.
But grace needs to be taken actively. Not because the grace of God is not there, but because grace is something that is not mechanical. It is something that is not automatic. You take it by faith—not only by faith, but by obedience.
This can be illustrated in the life of Abraham. You find that Abraham was such a person that he would rise up in faith and obedience and take the grace of God. This is something that we must do.
Brothers and sisters, we find that grace is something which you cannot take mechanically. It does not come to you automatically. It has to be something that you rise up and take by faith and obedience. Then it is yours.
This is the reason why people often say, “Why is it that when I need grace, the grace of God is not available?” It is not because the grace of God is not available. It is because you do not exercise your faith and your obedience.
Bishop Moule says, “The grace which is in Christ Jesus.” You see grace in Christ Jesus. How can you separate grace from Christ Jesus? He said, “What is grace? Grace is Christ in action and in presence.” I like that. Grace is Christ in action and in presence.
And this is what we need in our days: that we may see Christ in action, that we may see Christ in presence. When this is something that we have taken upon ourselves, you find we are inwardly strengthened, and we are able to pass the test and be faithful to the very end.
You know, there is a book in the New Testament that Paul wrote which is very much misunderstood. It is the letter to the Galatians. When you read the letter to the Galatians, probably your first impression will be that it is the worst letter Paul ever wrote, because it was written with a wrong spirit.
You find that Paul seemed to lose his temper in writing that letter. It sounds like that. There seems to be bitterness, injury, haste, temper. He could not stand it anymore.
But, dear brothers and sisters, probably in Paul’s writing there is no letter that speaks of grace more completely than the letter to the Galatians. No wonder Martin Luther said, “The letter to the Galatians is my Catherine”—that is, my wife.
You know, we often think of Martin Luther in connection with Romans: “The just shall live by faith.” But actually, Martin Luther was led through Galatians, not Romans. He found in Galatians the very principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Because here you find Paul was so agonized over the situation that happened in Galatia. If we are correct, the churches in Galatia were the first churches that Paul planted in Asia. It was during his first trip.
He and Barnabas came through Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and these places. There you find that God raised up churches in these areas. So, in a sense, these were the churches of his first love. He loved them so much. He nearly gave his life to them, because he was stoned to death at Lystra.
And yet, within a short period, you find that half of the Galatian believers were enticed away from him to these Judaizers. People came and said, “Now, it is very good that you believe in Jesus Christ, but that is not enough. You have to be circumcised. You have to keep the law, and then you are perfect.”
In other words, people came to teach another gospel, which was not the gospel of grace that Paul preached. So here you find, in this letter, he was trying to win them back to the gospel of grace. There is no book in the New Testament that speaks of grace more clearly than the letter to the Galatians.
Now, do not look at a book with a negative attitude. Look at the book with a positive attitude, and then you will find something most beautiful.
Now, what is the gospel of grace that Paul tried to impress upon the Galatian believers? In a very simple way, we may say it includes three things.
Number one, you find in Galatians Chapter 1 the verse that we read before:
But when it was the good pleasure of God, Who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.
— Galatians 1:15-17
First of all, he said, this is grace: God has called me by His grace. In the sense that it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. Brothers and sisters, that is the beginning of grace.
When does grace begin in your life? It begins at the time when God reveals His Son in you.
Before that revelation came, Saul, the great Pharisee, was walking a path opposite to God’s will, and he did not know it. But one day the grace of God called him. How did the grace of God call him? God revealed His Son.
Christ revealed—that is grace. Now, is it not true in our own life? You may be brought up in a Christian family. You may be educated in Christian schools. You may have joined a Christian church. You may even be active in Christian activities.
If God has not revealed His Son in you, you do not know what grace is. Everything is objective. Everything is distant and remote. Everything is just theory, a concept—beautiful, but unreal.
Not until one day, when it pleases God to reveal His Son in you, does it make all the difference. I often say that Paul had the best tradition that a man could ever have. Why? Because the tradition of Judaism was the best of all traditions.
Paul had that tradition, but that tradition only led Paul to destruction. It is revelation from above that makes the difference. So how important it is, dear brothers and sisters, that we must begin with Christ revealed. It pleases God to reveal His Son. That is the beginning of grace.
But grace does not stop there. Oftentimes you find among God’s people it seems as if the grace of God stops at that point and goes no further. But no. If you read Galatians Chapter 2, verse 20, Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me. I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought.
— Galatians 2:20-21
Is it not true that after Christ is revealed in us, and we are called by the grace of God, how easy it is for us to set aside, to push aside, the grace of God, as if we do not need it now? We had it; now we do not need it.
How true it is that after we are saved, we try to perfect ourselves by keeping the law, by good works, by our own efforts. Even though no Judaizer has ever come into our midst to teach us that it is not enough just to believe in the Lord Jesus, that we must be circumcised and do this and do that, yet, dear brothers and sisters, we find this is true among believers. We find it is true in the church today.
After we have received the grace of God, we immediately set it aside as if we do not need it. How are we going to live as Christians? How are we going to live a life of righteousness, to be right before Him? How are we going to meet God’s standard? How? We work. We try.
We make our own laws and regulations. As if this is not enough, people add rules and regulations to us. By keeping these things and doing these things, then we think that we can live righteously before God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, you have set aside the grace of God. That is, you have not used the grace of God. The grace of God is here. Use it.
In what sense? Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live; it is Christ Who lives in me.”
You know, as a Christian begins to live as a Christian, he finds that the whole problem with his Christian life is himself. We often blame our circumstances. We say, “Now, if our circumstances were different, we would be different.” We even blame other people. “If we had better company, we would be different.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we even blame Satan, our enemy. “If he were not there, we would be different.” But remember, as you go on in life, sooner or later you will discover that your greatest problem is the self.
I always remember what Melanchthon said. Melanchthon was a man working together with Martin Luther. Melanchthon was the theologian of the Reformation. Once he said, “The old Adam is too much for young Melanchthon.”
Brother and sister, we need to discover this. We need to discover that it is the “I” that is the whole problem. But is there the grace of God? There is.
Why? Because when Christ died on the cross, grace had already done the work. He put the old Adam on the cross.
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin.
— Romans 6:6
Brothers and sisters, not only on the cross did Christ bear in His body our sins so that, when we believe in Him, our sins are forgiven; but when Christ died on the cross, He took you and me in Him. When He was crucified, we were crucified.
It was done—not in you, not in me, but in Christ. That is the reason why, when you look into yourself, you find yourself very much alive; but if you look to Christ, you find that you are crucified with Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, the grace of God is there. He has already done it. All you need to do is see it, take it by faith. Paul said, “I have been crucified. No longer I.” The “I” is taken off. It is Christ Who lives in me.
That “I” life is taken away. The vessel is there, but it is the treasure—it is Christ. And I now live in the flesh. I still live on earth. I still live in the flesh, but I live by faith—not my faith, but the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Dear brothers and sisters, “Christ lives in me” is the second stage of grace. We need not only to know Christ revealed in us; we need to know Christ lives in us.
There is no question that Christ is in you. But the question is: Does He live in you? Do you give Him opportunity to live His life? Do you stand aside and let Him live?
In other words, it is the cross. How we need the cross. It is by knowing the cross of the Lord Jesus that we enter into the second stage of the grace of God: not I, but Christ Who lives in me.
Then, in Galatians Chapter 4, verse 19:
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
— Galatians 4:19
Brothers and sisters, what is the grace of God? The grace of God is not only Christ revealed and Christ living in you, but the grace of God is Christ formed in you.
What is meant by Christ being formed in you? Whenever a form comes forth, you can see it. In other words, the life of Christ has so lived in you that His character begins to be shown in you. You are being conformed to the image of God’s Son.
Christ begins to be found in you. He begins to be expressed by you. People begin to see Christ in you. Then His grace is at work. Grace will not stop working until Christ is formed.
But for Christ to be formed, it takes travail. It takes travail. It not only takes the travail of Paul, so that Christ may be formed in the Galatian believers; even Paul himself had gone through travail in order to find Christ formed in him.
In other words, the law of travail governs the formation of Christ in us. How much travail do we go through for the sake of Jesus?
Dear brothers and sisters, there is a travail, and travail is a suffering. You know, like a mother who is in travail trying to bring forth a child, it is pain, it is suffering.
He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.
— Isaiah 53:11
It is out of the travail of our Lord Jesus that the church is born. How He travailed when He became a man. You know, brothers and sisters, we can never understand the meaning of incarnation. For God to become a man, there must be much travail.
We remember the travail of our Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Oh, He was sorrowful even unto death. His sweat came down as drops of blood. If it had not been for God sending angels to support Him, it seemed that He might have died in the garden. His physical body could not sustain the travail.
How He travailed on Calvary’s cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Out of the travail of His soul, the beautiful church is born. Out of the travail of Paul, these churches were born.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how much do we know today? It is true: for Christ to be formed in us, we must go through travail.
This is what we have been trying to say in different ways. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 4, Paul said:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
— 2 Corinthians 4:7
Brothers and sisters, we have Christ in us. We are the earthen vessels; Christ is the treasure. But the earthen vessel is opaque. There is not much radiance there. Really, it is darkness.
But the treasure within us is full of radiance, full of brightness, full of power. Unfortunately, it is being confined within us. When people see us and touch us, they touch the vessel. They do not see the treasure. Why? Because Christ is not formed.
Now, how can the surpassing power of the treasure be manifested? How can Christ be formed in us? Here Paul said:
We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed.
— 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“I am surrounded, but I am not frustrated.” Naturally, if you are surrounded, you are frustrated. Suppose you are surrounded. You go to the south and you hit a wall. You go to the north and you hit a wall. You go to the east and you hit a wall. You go to the west and you hit a wall. Then you hit walls on every side.
Brothers and sisters, when you are walled in, are you frustrated? This is why we are frustrated. But Paul said, “I am surrounded, but I am not frustrated.” Why?
“I am at my wit’s end, but not at my hope’s end.” I love that translation. Oftentimes you find God will bring us to our wit’s end. Remember Jacob—a man full of wits. But one day he came to his wit’s end. He did not know what to do. But that is not the end; it is the beginning of hope.
“Persecuted, but not forsaken; knocked down, but not knocked out.”
Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
— 2 Corinthians 4:10
Oh, that I die daily for Jesus’ sake. Remember, this is not something related to sin. No. It is not because you are trying to overcome a sin. No. It is for Jesus’ sake, that the Jesus-life may be manifested, that Jesus may be formed. For the sake of Jesus, I die daily. I am willing to go to death. It is worth it.
Dear brothers and sisters, we call this the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it is the Holy Spirit Who brings all these walls around you to bring you to your end.
But when you find yourself in an impossible situation, you look up, and there He is. His grace is waiting for you.
Dear brothers and sisters, how we need to be brought again and again to our end for Jesus’ sake. How we need to know brokenness for Jesus’ sake. So far as we are concerned, we are broken, we are crushed, we are shattered, we are reduced.
But so far as Christ is concerned, He is formed, He is increased, He is reproduced, He is magnified. Are we willing to go through such travail?
You cannot experience the formation of Christ in you without going through travail. The law of travail governs the formation of life.
And this is grace. Brothers and sisters, the grace of God is here. Will you take it?
It is true: the grace of God is free. But it is costly. It is not only costly to God; if you really allow grace to work in your life, you will find that it costs you your life. But it brings forth the life of Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, as we are living in these days, we need to know more of grace. We need to humble ourselves before God, because God gives grace to the humble.
If we feel that we are sufficient, there will be no grace. But if we humble ourselves and say, “Lord, we need You,” then you find His grace is sufficient for you.
Oh, heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that the grace of God in Jesus Christ is a fact. How we praise and thank Thee that the grace of God is always there. It is just waiting for us to discover and to take, to believe and to obey.
Oh, our Father, we do pray that Thou wouldst stir within our hearts a desire that we may know the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus. May it be grace upon grace, more grace. May we be clothed and strengthened inwardly with the grace of God.
It is only by Thy grace that we are able to stand. Oh, our Lord, we do pray that we may see: it is not we ourselves; it is the grace of God.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.