Because the Lord loves the Laodicean generation, He still counsels them. He says, “You cannot see, but I see your real condition. I counsel you.”
“I counsel you to buy gold refined by fire, that you may become truly rich.” How many today think they are rich? They say, “We have gold. We have the truth. We have all the teachings here. In other places in the world, you cannot hear these things. We have the gold.”
But, brothers and sisters, this gold is false gold. It is not the real gold.
It may be the creed, the doctrine, the rules, or the letters. You lay hold of the letters and say, “Oh, yes, we are the canonical ones. We have kept the word of the Lord.”
But inside there is no living faith, no fellowship with the living Lord. When you speak of the so-called truth, it is only an objective thing. It is all hearsay. You do not have subjective fellowship with the Lord.
What is living faith? Living faith has to be tried. You have to pay a price. They are not willing to pay the price.
They think they have inherited it from the previous generation, and now it belongs to them. But, dear brothers and sisters, to me this is obsession.
If we want to pursue spiritual reality, we have to pay the price. If you do not pay the price, you cannot have the gold refined by fire.
The Lord says, “You shall buy white garments, that you may clothe yourself, that the shame of your nakedness be not made manifest.”
They are like Adam and Eve. They cover themselves with fig leaves. But when the Lord came, they said, “We are naked.”
Dear brothers and sisters, by their own righteousness, they think they are better than anybody. But before God, they are naked. Only the Lord is our righteousness. There is nothing for us to be proud of. We are the first among sinners; we are saved by grace.
So we put on Christ as our righteousness, so that Christ becomes our righteousness. The life of Christ is constituted in us. It becomes the righteousness of the saints.
The bride is clothed in fine linen, the garment of fine linen. This is her garment for the wedding. What is that fine linen? It is the righteousness of the saints.
It is not the right thing that you have done according to your natural life, but the life of Christ in you, taking away the unrighteousness in you, so that you become a righteous person before God.
Before God, God says, “You are right.” This is the garment for the wedding.
You cannot go to the wedding naked. You have to put on that white garment, washed by the blood of the Lord. It expresses the character of the Lord.
It is constituted by the Lord in you. It is embroidered by the Holy Spirit in you. Then you can join the wedding.
So you have to buy this. You have to pay the price.
The Lord said that you have to buy eye salve to anoint your eyes, so that you can see. When you are obsessed, you are blind.
You know, obsession has to do with the mind. In your mind, you are obsessed, and you cannot turn around. You have this concept, and because of your obsession your eyes are blind; you cannot see.
Other people may see clearly from the side, but you are not clear.
So the Lord says that you have to buy the eye salve to anoint your eyes. You have to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
You have to pay a price to listen to the word of the Spirit to the churches. In the end time, ears become itching. People want to listen to what they like to hear; they do not want to pay the price.
But you have to pay a price in order to hear the word of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to anoint our eyes so that we can see.
But sometimes, even if you are entreated, it is of no use; it is in vain. So the Lord said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”
Dear brothers and sisters, when one is obsessed, even if you advise him, he cannot receive it. Proverbs says that sometimes you have to use a stick to strike a foolish child so that he can wake up.
He is not awake. But when you use the stick, then he wakes up.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we see that the stick of the Lord is striking every place. We thank God that some are awake, but so many have not awakened.
The Lord said, “Repent.” You have to lay down your previous concept.
What is it to repent? To repent is to change the mind. There has to be a change in your mind.
Originally, you had this concept, thinking that you lacked nothing. You despised others. Now you see that you have nothing. Everyone is better than us.
If you humble yourself before the Lord, you humble yourself before your brothers.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord said, “Behold, I stand at the door.” The Lord is at the door.
Your obsession has rejected the Lord outside your door. But when you return, the Lord shall come in to sup with you, to fellowship with you.
Dear brothers and sisters, the one who is obsessed has lost fellowship with the Lord; he has lost the Lord. He has gotten hold of things that are outside of the Lord, but he has closed the door on the Lord.
But when we become awake, the Lord shall come in and sup with us.
Dear brothers and sisters, the most precious thing is the presence of the Lord. The most precious thing is fellowship with the Lord. It is enough to have the Lord. Let them have everything; that is all right. Let us have the Lord.
The Lord is here. He is calling us not to be obsessed. To return, we have to return to spiritual reality.
When the Lord is walking among the churches, what He is looking for is Himself. If He can find Himself, His heart is satisfied. If He cannot find Himself, one day the lampstand shall be taken away.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
Lord, we thank You and praise You, because You truly love us. We cannot believe that You love the church and gave Yourself for the church. You are so patient. You are so tolerant. You have dealt with us with great mercy and loving-kindness.
Thank You, because Your Spirit is still calling, calling for us to return—return to Yourself. Because You are life, You are the way, You are all for us.
Lord, we thank You and praise You that at this time we can gather before You, that we can pursue You again. And You say, “Seek, and ye shall find.”
So, Lord, we lay ourselves in Your hands. Lead us so that we can see You in all things.
Then, Lord, obtain a group of people who love You with a pure heart, with a faithfulness unto death, and follow You to the end. Oh, our Lord. Oh, our Lord.
We praise You. We thank You. We know Your Holy Spirit is working in this matter. You shall have what You want. Your glory shall fill the whole earth. We worship You in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Before our brother makes a further announcement, I feel that, although my brothers and sisters have not asked me to be their representative, I would like to represent you and say some words.
This time, the brothers and sisters in Southern California have come. They have laboured, not only during this conference, but for a week before the conference and a week afterward.
Because they love the Lord and love the brothers and sisters, they have put themselves into this service. We have nothing, but the Lord has been here with us.
On one hand, we thank the Lord. They have done this thing with one accord. On the other hand, we want to thank those brothers and sisters who have laboured to serve.
May the word of the Lord apply to them: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And I thank the brothers and sisters.