Please turn to the Gospel according to John, Chapter 1. We will read from John 1:19-27.
And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?
And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.
They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.
And they had been sent from the Pharisees.
And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth One whom ye know not, even He that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.
May we look to the Lord in prayer.
Dear heavenly Father, we do gather here in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise and thank Thee that we have ready access to Thy throne of grace. We thank Thee that Thou hast accepted us in Thy Beloved, so we dare to approach Thee with full confidence.
Knowing that Thou art with us, we ask, Lord, that Thou wilt speak to our hearts. Give us understanding, that we may know Thy mind and Thy heart. Move us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may give ourselves to Thee, that Thou mayest have a testimony and a witness upon this earth for Thyself.
We commit this time into Thy hands, and we trust for Thy blessing. To Thee be the praise and glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We do thank the Lord for gathering us in these days. There is something very precious to our God, and it is very important to all of us. This is what we would like to share together: Who are we, and what is the testimony God has entrusted to us?
In other words, we would like to examine ourselves before the Lord. The psalmist said, “In Thy light shall we see light.”
It is vain if we try to examine ourselves in our own light. But if we place ourselves in the light of God, then we will receive light, and then we will know what we really are. God may then be able to have us completely for Himself.
Isaiah says in Isaiah 50:10-11:
Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of His servant,
that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and stay upon his God.
Behold, all ye that kindle a fire,
that gird yourselves about with firebrands,
walk ye in the flame of your fire,
and among the brands that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have at My hand;
ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Now, if we kindle our own light and try to walk in the sparks of our own light, the result will be that we will lie down in sorrow. So it is not wise for us to examine ourselves under our own light.
The apostle Paul says that it is not intelligent to compare yourselves with yourselves. Self-introspection will do us no good. It is not our desire that during these days we should examine ourselves under our own light.
If we do, it will result in either of two things. Either we will see ourselves as more than what we really are, and we become proud of ourselves; or we will see ourselves as less than what we really are, and we fall into despondency and despair. Self-introspection never does any good.
But if we examine ourselves in the light of God, then we will be able not only to know ourselves, but even to know God Himself. This is what we would like to do in these days.
I hope that, brothers and sisters, you will be praying before the Lord that He will give us light, that we may really see light. This is the only way that we can please Him.
We would like to use the story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness, and he baptized people with water. While he was doing that, he stirred up the whole nation of Israel.
For four hundred long years, God was silent to His people. God did not speak a word to His own people, but everything seemed to go on as usual. Many of the Jewish people had returned to the promised land. The temple was rebuilt, the priests were serving in the temple, and the Law of Moses and the prophets were being read.
Outwardly, they seemed to be a very religious people. But God did not speak to them because God knew their hearts. God was completely silent to them. Yet these people considered themselves very religious and pious because they sacrificed in the temple, kept the Sabbath, and read the Law and the prophets.
During those four hundred years, things had become rather traditional. Everything just went on as usual, and there was nothing to disturb them. Their consciences were lulled into silence; spiritually, they were asleep.
Then suddenly a voice came in the wilderness, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is drawing near.” This voice electrified the whole nation. The people were stirred up, and many flocked to the River Jordan to receive the baptism of John.
Of course, the ecclesiastical authorities in Jerusalem heard about these things. They felt that peace was being disturbed, and they felt it was their duty to investigate the case. So they sent some Pharisees and Levites to interview John.
They asked him, “Now, who are you?” Most likely they asked him, “Are you the Christ?” The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to come, although their concept of the Messiah was political, not spiritual. They were under Roman rule at that time and looked forward to the Messiah delivering them from the yoke of Roman power and making them the first of the nations in the world.
When they saw John preaching and baptizing, they wondered if he was the Messiah to come. So they asked, “Are you the Christ?” John answered, “No, I am not.”
Then they asked again, “Are you Elijah?” They knew from the Old Testament that before the Messiah came, God would send Elijah to turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. John said, “No, I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?” Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 that God would raise up a prophet from among their brethren, and they must hear Him. If they did not hear Him, they would perish. They wondered if John was that prophet also. To their surprise, John said, “No, I am not.”
All their religious speculation came to an end. They were really puzzled because they had exhausted all their religious speculations. So they said, “Tell us, who do you say you are?”
Brothers and sisters, we do the same thing. When we see a person, we would like to know who he is. But before we listen to what he says, we try to speculate who he is. Often, what we speculate is wrong. It is much wiser to hear what he says himself.
“You are not the Christ. You are not Elijah. You are not the prophet. Now, who are you?”
John said, “I am a voice in the wilderness, to prepare the way of the Lord.”
John the Baptist said, “I am a voice.” A voice is nothing. A voice will come and vanish. You cannot catch a voice. But what the voice speaks is most important, because he came to prepare the way of the Lord.
In his life, in the truth that he proclaimed, he called people to repent and to prepare the way, that they might be ready to receive salvation. That is what John the Baptist said concerning himself.
Because John the Baptist knew himself, he also knew the Lord. His testimony for the Lord was most complete.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are using that as our background. Our question tonight is this: Who are you?
We are not asking this question merely of you as an individual. We ask it of you as a corporate body, as those who are gathering together. Who are you?
Do you know who you are individually? I am afraid many people do not even know who they are individually. I do not mean that you do not know your name, your background, or your ancestors. Spiritually, do we really know who we are?
It is very important for us to know who we are—not in our own light, not in the light of the world, not according to what people say we are, and not according to what we ourselves say we are—but according to what God says we are.
Individually, do you know who you are? Corporately and collectively, do you know? I feel that this is very, very important, especially that we should know who we are as a corporate body at the present time.
We do not want to examine ourselves under our own light, but we do want to examine ourselves in the light of God. Where can we find that light under which we may place ourselves?
We know that God is light. We know that God reveals Himself to us, and His revelation is given to us in this Book, the Word of God. God’s revelation is His light, and in that light we shall see light.
We want to place ourselves under the light of the Word of God and under the light of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may shine upon God’s Word and shed light upon us. This is the only way that we can really see who we are.
For our time together, our emphasis is not upon individuals, though that is important and fundamental. Our burden is to know ourselves as a corporate body—to see who we are in God’s light, or, to put it another way, who we are as ordained by God.
In Ephesians 3:11, we are told that God has purposed a purpose in His Son, even before the foundation of the world. Before there was time, before there was creation, before there was man, before there was anything, God purposed a purpose in His Son.
What does it mean that God purposed a purpose in His Son? It means that God’s purpose concerns His Son. It means that God’s purpose can only be fulfilled and realized in His Son.
Before the foundation of the world, God had a purpose concerning His Son, for His Son, and to be fulfilled only through His Son. With that purpose in mind, God set down a plan. Scripture calls it the counsel of God. Throughout time, God works according to that counsel, using wisdom and power to work out His purpose.
God’s purpose never changes. His counsel always stands, and His wisdom and power never fail. So He will obtain what He has purposed in His Son.
It is a mystery. In other words, God had not told anybody else. He kept the secret within Himself. God knows how to keep secrets; we do not. We tell people, “This is a secret,” and the secret is out. But God knows how to keep His secret.
For ages and centuries, nobody knew what God’s purpose really was. It was hidden through the ages. We saw His hands, but we did not know His mind, because it was hidden. But thank God, in the fullness of time, it was finally revealed.
Paul said that it has been revealed to the prophets and apostles. The secret is now out, and everybody should know what the secret is. We will come to that.
God began to create the universe, and on the sixth day the last thing He created was man. When He created man, He created man in His own image, after His own likeness. That was something God had never done before.
When He created the universe, He spoke a word and it was done. Even when He created angels, He did not create angels in His own image after His likeness. But when He created man, He created man in His own image after His own likeness.
I believe the angels were wondering, “What is this? Why did You create man so differently? What are You doing with this thing?” God had a purpose. God’s purpose is related to man.
Because God had purposed a purpose in His Son, that purpose was related to man. But unfortunately, man sinned and came short of the glory of God. Yet God did not give up. God began to work again.
Our Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” From the Garden of Eden to the flood, to the call of Abraham, to the raising up of the nation of Israel, God continued to work. But people did not know what He was really after.
Until, in the fullness of time, God sent His own Son into this world. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth. Our Lord Jesus walked on earth for thirty-some years, and finally He was crucified on the cross.
Because our Lord Jesus died on the cross, He redeemed fallen man. He reconciled them back to God. He raised up a new people—a people, a nation, a church, a body—for His beloved Son.
The secret is out. The purpose that God has purposed in His Son is simply this: He wants to give man to be His Son’s companion, a life companion, a helpmeet to share in His life, to share His responsibility, and to share His glory.
God wants a people for His Son, that we may be conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son and be one with His Son. That is God’s eternal purpose.
Brothers and sisters, that is what you are according to God’s eternal will. You are to be a people for God’s possession. You are to be a holy nation. You are to be a kingly priesthood. You are to be a chosen race. You are to be the church of the living God. You are to be the body of Christ.
That is what you are in God’s will. But are you that? Do you know that this is who you are?
Let me ask a backward question: Who were you? Turn to Ephesians 2:1-3. We will read it very slowly, and I hope you will get it.
And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;
among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
You were dead. Physically, you were alive, but spiritually, you were dead. You once walked according to the age of this world. In other words, you conformed to the fashion of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
You did not know that you were actually under the rule of the power of darkness. We also once had our manner of life in the lusts of our flesh, doing what the flesh and the thoughts willed to do. In other words, we simply walked in the flesh, according to the lusts of the fallen nature.
Brothers and sisters, that is what you were before. Whoever you might be, you might hold a very high position in the world, have a high degree, or have a large company under your rule. But you were dead in sins and trespasses. You walked according to the fashion of this world, under the dominion of the evil one. You were a child of wrath. That is what we were.
Now let us see what we are in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6 says:
But God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved),
and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
In the mercy of God, He has made us alive. He forgave our sins and gave us new life. He has raised us up with Christ Jesus and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, that is what you are today in Christ Jesus. Have you been made alive? Have you passed out of death into life? Have you been raised up together with Christ Jesus?
When Christ died, did you die? When He was raised from the dead, were you raised with Him from the dead? The apostle Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.” Is that what you are today?
Are you today seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus? Are your enemies under your feet? Do you live a victorious life in Christ Jesus? Is that what you are today?
This is what you are as ordained by God. This is what you are in Christ Jesus. This is what Christ has done for you.
We believe in the finished work of Christ. Because He shed His blood, our sins are atoned for. Because He gave His life, we receive a new life. Because He died, our old man was crucified with Him. Because He was raised from the dead and lives unto God, we are dead to sin and alive unto God.
In the power of His resurrection life, He has set us free from the power of sin, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly places. All our enemies are now under our feet. We are not a defeated people. We are people in the train of the triumph of the crucified One.
How glorious this is! This is what you are. But, dear brothers and sisters, there is more to come. This is what you are individually as an individual believer. This is what you are in God’s light.
From Ephesians 2:11-22, we find that you are not only individually in Christ Jesus, enjoying all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places; we also find that when our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He took away not only our enmity with God, but also the enmity between one another.
He broke down the wall of partition. There is no wall of partition higher and stronger than that between the Jews and the Gentiles. In the temple, the Gentiles could come to the court of the Gentiles, but signs were posted: “Gentiles, stop here.” Beyond the court of the Gentiles was the court of the women, and those women were Jewish women.
The wall was very high. The Jews had nothing to do with the Gentiles, and the Gentiles hated the Jews. But when Christ died on the cross, He broke down that wall of partition and brought the two into one new man.
Today in Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bondman nor freeman. Christ is all and in all.
Who are we? We are one new man. The old man was crucified. Now we are one new man, and in that one new man there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The worldly distinctions were eliminated by the cross.
Now we are in Christ Jesus, and He is in us. He is all and in all. That is what you are. Brothers and sisters, is that true with you?
When you come together, do you still think you are Chinese? Do you still think you are Filipinos? Do you still think you are Americans? If you still think in that way, you are not what God ordained you to be.
Because in Christ there is one new man. There is neither Jew nor Gentile—no Filipinos, no Chinese, only Christ. When a Chinese person enters into Christ, the Chinese disappears. In Christ, there is no Chinese; there is Christ.
Brothers and sisters, these distinctions were eliminated. We are one people, one new man.
Let us go into this in more detail. Let us listen to Peter. What does Peter say we are? Turn to 1 Peter 2:9.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Who are you? You are a chosen race. Why are you a chosen race? Because that old Adamic race has already been set aside. That Adamic race was crucified on the cross.
You remember, our Lord Jesus is the second Man and the last Adam. In the sight of God, there are only two men, even though we see billions and billions of people. The first man is Adam; the second Man is Christ. Christ is also the last Adam.
What does that mean? It means that when Christ was crucified on the cross, the Adamic race was finished, because He was the last Adam. That race was gone, extinguished, no longer there. And because He is the second Man, in Him a new chosen race comes forth.
Brothers and sisters, you do not belong to the Adamic race. You belong to that new Man. You are a chosen race. God has chosen you in Christ Jesus.
Do not boast that you are a Jew, or that you are the descendant of some emperor. That was extinguished. But boast in this: you are a chosen race. We have been chosen by God in Christ Jesus. This is our race.
Peter says not only that we are a chosen race, but also that we are a kingly priesthood. What is priesthood?
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, before He gave them the Law, He said to the people of Israel in Exodus 19, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”
What does it mean to be a nation of priests? A priest is one who is set apart to serve God. A priest does not live for himself; he lives for God. God said that the whole nation would be a priesthood, from the oldest one to the youngest one. That was what God wanted Israel to be.
But unfortunately, they worshipped the golden calf, so they disqualified themselves from serving God. Serving God is the highest honor. Just think: nothing is higher than to serve the only God in the universe, the Majesty on high.
They disqualified themselves, so God used an emergency measure. He raised up the family of Aaron and the tribe of Levi to be the priesthood. But, brothers and sisters, that was not the original intention.
After Christ Jesus came and accomplished full salvation, He recovered everything back to God’s original design. Now every believer is a priest. Every believer lives for God. You do not live for yourself anymore; you live for God, and you live to serve God’s purpose.
It is a kingly priesthood. In other words, you do not serve out of duty or obligation. You serve God out of love. A kingly priesthood—that is what you are.
Today, you do not see this in Judaism. They have rabbis because there is no temple. In the Catholic Church, there are so-called fathers who serve God as the priesthood, while the members simply come and are served. In Protestant churches, the same thing happens: only the clergy serve, and all the rest are merely members to be entertained.
In the sixteenth century, there was the great Reformation. God raised up Martin Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others. God used them to give us an open Bible, so that we can read the Bible ourselves. They gave us justification by faith.
But during the time of the Reformation, they also preached the universal priesthood of believers. Unfortunately, this was not accepted and was not practiced. So today you do not find this kingly priesthood.
Brothers and sisters, do you go to the meetings just to be served? Do you simply come on Sunday and sit there and listen to a message? If the brother gives a good message, you nod your head; if he does not give you a good message, you shake your head. You are being entertained. You do not serve God.
Whom do you serve, then, if you do not serve God? You must be serving mammon, because there are only two masters. You either serve God or serve mammon. How you have forfeited your privilege when you look for a pastor to take care of everything for you spiritually, while you do not take up your responsibility.
That is not what God called you to be. Every believer is a priest and must rise up and function as a priest. We should not look for any brother or sister to serve God for us. We shall serve God.
We should rise up and worship Him. We shall give Him praise and glory. We should pray together, preach Christ together, and serve one another. A kingly priesthood is what you are.
We are a holy nation. Even though physically we live in the Philippines, Asia, Europe, or elsewhere, spiritually we are aliens here. Our citizenship is in heaven.
We have our nation: it is a holy nation. We all belong to a holy nation. What is holy? Separated unto God. We are different from all the nations in the world, and we belong to that nation: one people, one church, one body.
Who are we? We are a people for God’s possession. We are a peculiar people—not peculiar in the sense of being strange, but peculiar because we are different from the world. The world does not possess us; God possesses us. We belong to Him.
For what purpose? Peter says that we may show forth the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. We are chosen, set apart as priests, made a holy people, and made a possession for God. What is it all about? That we may set forth the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
We do not preach ourselves. We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is what Peter says we are. May we be what we really are. Do not be what you are not. Be what you are in Christ Jesus.
Let us listen to Paul. God’s light comes to us through the apostle Paul. Turn to Ephesians 1:22-23.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
Here we find that we are the body of Christ. When Christ was on earth, He took a personal body to Himself. He was born of the virgin through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit; therefore, the One born was holy. He took upon Himself a physical body.
In that body, He spoke, walked, and worked. In that body, He accomplished the work of salvation. After He was raised from the dead, He ascended to heaven. He is now in heaven, but He took upon Himself a corporate body, a spiritual body.
In His resurrection, He took upon Himself another body—a corporate body, a spiritual body. This corporate body is spread all over the world, from the first century until the present century. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus is a member of that body of Christ.
Christ is the Head. The Head is in heaven, and the body fills the earth. The body has filled two thousand years already. You can find the body everywhere. Wherever there are God’s people, there is the body. Christ is the Head, and the Head and the body are one.
If you touch the body, you touch the Head. Saul persecuted the church, and on the road to Damascus he saw a light brighter than the sun and heard a voice saying, “Why persecutest thou Me?” Saul might have said, “You are in heaven, and I am on earth. How can I persecute You?” But in God’s light he understood: because he was persecuting the body of Christ.
If you touch the body, you touch the Head. We know that Christ is the Head of the church. How many heads do you have? One. If you have more than one head, you are a monster. How many bodies do you have? One body. If you have more than one body, you are not normal.
Brothers and sisters, what are we? We are one body under one Head. That is what we are. Is that what you are?
We are a spiritual house, the holy habitation of God. We are no longer strangers to each other. We belong to the same household. We are one family, and we are being built together as a holy habitation of God.
God dwells among us in the Spirit. His presence is with us. You remember our Lord Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” He is in our midst. He is present with us. He dwells among us.
If this is the case, how holy we must be, because He is holy. Therefore, be holy.
Let us listen to John the apostle. What will he tell you that you are? He will tell you that you are the family of God. If you read the first epistle of John, you find that we are God’s family.
In God’s family, there are little children, newly born babes. There are young people, strong in the Word. And there are fathers, who know Him that is from the beginning. That is what a family is.
The church is not a kindergarten in which all are babies with life but without growth. If the church is full of babies, who is going to serve these babies? Babies are very dear; I love babies. But babies are dreadful because they are very selfish.
If they want to sleep and are disturbed, they cry. If they are hungry and you are a little slow in warming the milk, they get angry with you. If the church is full of babies, what do you think of that church? This is not the family of God.
Even if the church is full of young people, it is like an army, and you will find them fighting against each other. If they are all fathers, then you find it very quiet.
Brothers and sisters, we are the family of God. There will be babies to be taken care of. There will be young people, very active. And there will be fathers who keep charge of the testimony of God.
The law of the family is love. Love is the law of the family. “See how they love one another.” That was the testimony of the early church. The world looked at these people and said, “See how they love one another.”
Brothers and sisters, that is what we are.
If you read the Gospel according to John, you find that we are the bride of Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom. He came into this world to find His bride.
Our Lord Jesus spent much to find His bride. In Adam, God sought a helpmeet for him but could not find one. So God came down and made one for him, building the woman from Adam’s side.
We are the bride of Christ. Today we are His body. He nourishes this body. He sanctifies this body. He cherishes this body. When the body is fully grown, then He will come back and receive her as His bride.
Brothers and sisters, may we really grow fast. He cannot marry a baby; He can only marry a mature woman. The church has to be built—organically built. The church has to be perfected. It has to mature.
When it is mature and like Him, He will acclaim her as His bride. Brothers and sisters, you ought to be a part of that bride. What glory that is!
This is what you are. This is what God has ordained for you. This is what Christ has accomplished for you. This is what the Holy Spirit is working in you.
Brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, let us be what we are. May the Lord help us.