I do thank the brothers and sisters who invited me to this young people’s conference year after year, because attending such a conference really makes me feel younger. And I do thank you all for this grace.
I told the young people before that I did not come as a speaker. I come as a fellowshipped one. In other words, I would like to have fellowship with you, dear brothers and sisters.
Every time I attend such a young people’s conference, it reminds me of my younger days. I thank the Lord that you are more privileged than I was in my younger days. So we really need to treasure such a time.
Now, in your handbook, I know there is a question there: Do you know the truth? That question awaits an answer from everyone who attends this conference. I do not know, up to the present moment, what your answer is.
About two thousand years ago, there was a man who asked a similar question. When our Lord Jesus was delivered by the Jews to the Roman governor, Pilate, Pilate asked our Lord Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Our Lord Jesus said, “Is this something that you say yourself, or is it something that people told you?” The Roman governor said, “I am not a Jew. But are You the King of the Jews?”
Our Lord Jesus said, “You have said it. I came for that purpose. I was born to be King, but My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My people would fight for Me and would not allow this to happen. My kingdom is not of this world. I have come to bear witness to the truth, and all that are of the truth will hear Me.”
Then Pilate asked this important question: “What is truth?” But unfortunately, he did not wait for the answer from our Lord Jesus. How very different it would have been if he had waited to hear the answer. But he did not wait. He asked the question, went out, and made his own decision.
What a serious mistake he made, because he delivered an innocent Man to death.
There is a story about Pilate. Of course, it is only a story. Pilate knew that our Lord Jesus was innocent. As a matter of fact, he was trying to save Jesus. But the Jews insisted, and being a politician, he wanted to please the people.
Finally, before he gave judgment, he washed his hands in a basin, saying, “I am clean of this crime, because you insisted on it.” The legend says that Pilate, in hell, is always washing his hands; but whenever his hands come out of the basin, blood flows from them. That was a legend—but it speaks of a serious mistake.
So I wonder, brothers and sisters, you who are so privileged in these days: How are you going to answer this question? Do you know the truth?
Perhaps you say, “Of course I do.” Probably many of you were brought up in Christian families, just as I was. I was brought up in a Christian home. My father was a pastor, and he loved the Lord.
From my childhood, I knew Bible stories. I attended Sunday schools, studied in mission schools, attended church meetings, and knew the gospel of Jesus Christ. If people had asked me, “Do you know the truth?” I would have said, “Of course I do. I know the true teaching of the Lord Jesus—that He came into this world to save sinners.”
But even so, did I know the truth at that time? Speaking truthfully, I did not. I knew all about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I did not believe in Him.
I thought I was too good to need to be saved. Other people needed a Savior, but I did not. So I did not know the truth.
But thank God, by His grace, when I was fifteen years old, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit of my sins. I sought the Savior, and He saved me.
Now, did I know the truth then? To a certain degree, yes.
But you will notice the portion that is mentioned a number of times. It is in John 8:30-32. Will you please turn to John 8?
As he spake these things, many believed on him.
Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples;
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
—John 8:30-32
Here you find our Lord Jesus telling those who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you shall be My disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
The truth here is something more than the basic truth of knowing the Lord Jesus as the Savior. Thank God that we know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world—and not only the Savior of the world, but my Savior. Thank God for this truth, because this truth saves us.
But what our Lord Jesus is saying here is addressed to believers, to those who have already believed Him as Savior. The Lord says, “If you abide in My word.”
What is meant by abiding? The word simply means making your home in it. In other words, you make your home in the Word of God. You stay in His Word. You continue in His Word. You do not merely hear it; you stay in it, keep it, observe it, and follow it.
“If you abide in My word,” the Lord Jesus said, “then you are My disciples.” It is more than merely being a believer. That is the beginning. But after you believe, you are to abide in His Word, follow Him, and be His disciple.
If you are His disciples, what will happen? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
The truth here is something more than knowing a fact. The truth here is something that can set you free. The truth has power—a power to liberate you, to free you from all bondage.
The truth here is not merely teaching, however correct it may be. Right teaching is important, but behind the teaching there is a reality, a power, and a life. This truth will set you free.
So remember: Do you know the truth? What we mean here is, do you know the truth that sets you free?
You are a believer. You are free from eternal death. But are you free from committing sins in your daily life? Are you free from temptations? Do you yield to temptations, or do you overcome temptations?
Are you free from the power of the world—the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life? Are you free from the power of the world?
Are you free from yourself, from your flesh, from your lust, and from your passions? Are you free from all these things? Are you free from the temptations that come from Satan, the enemy?
Do you live a Christian life that is free? Do you live a life that overcomes? Are you able to do what you know you should do, and able not to do what you should not do?
Is your Christian life a free life, a liberating life, a living life, a glorious life, a happy life? What is your Christian life today?
I remember, after I was saved—that was back in 1930—I was deeply touched by the love of Christ.
Every morning, while I was in high school, I got up before all the other family members. I spent an hour on my knees, reading the Bible and praying. I was zealous for the Lord.
We organized Christian meetings in our school. We went to the villages to preach the gospel to the people. I was very zealous for the Lord, and I was even determined to go to Mongolia to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Did I know the truth that set me free? I tried to serve God according to what I thought He should be served. It was all my own zeal for Him.
I read the Bible, yes, but I was not able to get behind the Word of God and reach its reality.
You remember our Lord Jesus, after He was raised from the dead, met with the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. There He said:
All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you:
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
—Matthew 28:18-20
We usually call this the Great Commission. To many minds, the Great Commission means going to the nations to evangelize them, preaching the gospel, bringing them to the Lord Jesus, and making believers of them. Thank God, this is included.
But our Lord has a higher call. His call is: “Go, disciple all nations.” Not merely evangelize them, but disciple them. You need to believe before you can become a disciple and follow, but the Lord wants disciples.
The initiation into this discipleship is baptism. People ask, “I believe in the Lord Jesus and I am saved, so why should I be baptized?” You need to be baptized because baptism is the initiation into discipleship, into the school of Christ.
“Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
I can recall that when I was a baby, I was sprinkled. I did not know anything at the time. I do not know whether I cried or not.
But after I was saved, I was challenged. One of my schoolmates had been baptized by immersion after believing in the Lord Jesus. He challenged me and said, “You need to be baptized.”
“Why?” I asked.
He said, “Because the Bible says, ‘Believe and be baptized.’ When you were sprinkled as a baby, you did not know what believing was. You need to believe yourself and then be baptized, because that is a testimony.”
I argued with him. I said, “I have already been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I should not do it again.”
Later, another friend challenged me, and I argued with him again. I said, “I have been baptized, so I should not do it again.”
But deep within my heart, as I read the Bible, I knew that when I was a baby and was baptized by sprinkling with water, that did not really count, because it was not according to the Word of God.
I had to believe myself and then express my faith in baptism. But I refused to do that.
Why? Because I loved my father. My father was the pastor of a Methodist church, and in the Methodist church, of course, we used sprinkling. I felt that if I were baptized by immersion, what would happen to my father?
So I refused. I knew in my heart that I should be baptized according to the Word of God—“Abide in My word”—but I could not do it.
I still remember one day when a friend talked to me about baptism. Again, I argued with him. He thought I was hopeless and left me alone.
I sat there praying. I said, “Lord, I know I should be baptized, but it is not convenient. After I graduate from college, after I become independent, then I will be baptized.” I tried to bargain with God.
Then I heard a voice, almost audibly—not with my outward ear, but I could clearly hear it. A word came to me:
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
—Matthew 10:37
You love your father, or do you love the Lord more?
When that word came to me, I had to yield. I said, “Lord, You first.”
I immediately went next door, where a dear brother lived. I knocked on his door and said, “I want to be baptized.” I was baptized the next day.
But, dear brothers and sisters, why do I say this? I did not know that baptism initiated me into the school of Christ. I did not know that. But I can testify that after I was baptized, it seemed that a spiritual world, a spiritual realm, began to open up to me.
In other words, Christianity is not merely an external thing. I found that in the Word of God there is a reality. There is spiritual reality there.
Spiritual understanding began to come upon me. I began to understand—still in a limited way—that behind what you can see and hear, there is something deeper and more real. It opened my inner eyes.
So I realized that baptism is an initiation into discipleship.
Dear brothers and sisters, why is it that sometimes you feel that you have heard so much, but so little is real to you? Why is it that you know about all the teachings, and yet very few teachings become your experience in your own life?
Why is it that what you know in your mind does not become life to you? Your Christian life is unreal, superficial, and still an outward walk of life—not an inward walk of life, not a living relationship with the Lord Jesus.
You need to go beyond the words you read in the Bible and receive the power out of them.
Brothers and sisters, where is the secret? What makes the difference? It is not only being a believer, but being a disciple.
A believer receives grace from the Lord Jesus, but he may still be self-centered: Christ for me. You are still in charge of your life. If it suits you, you obey and follow. If it does not suit you, you disobey and go your own way.
The Lord Jesus wants to transform your life, bless you, conform you to His own image, and fulfill His purpose in your life, that your life may be full according to God’s will. But He cannot do it because you still hold yourself in your own hands.
You have not yet yielded to Him to be His disciple.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, how did He call disciples? One day He walked by the Sea of Galilee and saw Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net because they were fishermen. The Lord said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They left their boat and their nets and followed Him.
The Lord went forward a little and saw two brothers, the sons of Zebedee, John and James. They were mending their nets. The Lord said, “Come, follow Me,” and they left all and followed Him.
Have you committed yourself totally to the Lord? Have you allowed Him to mold you and fashion you according to His will? Are you willing to put yourself in His hands? Then truth becomes life to you.
That reminds me of Luke 14:25-35. Our Lord Jesus was walking, and great multitudes went with Him.
Can you imagine that great multitude walking with our Lord Jesus? Many went with Him because they saw the wonders and miracles He performed. They were attracted by these miracles and wonders.
Probably many of them were attracted because they had been fed. You remember how our Lord Jesus used five loaves and two fishes to feed the five thousand. They wanted Him to be King because their food problem was solved. They did not need to work.
Many followed Him because they were fed. Some followed Him because they liked His teaching. They said He taught differently from the Pharisees, because He taught with authority. Others went with Jesus merely out of curiosity. When you see a crowd, you just go and join the crowd. It was a mixed multitude.
Then suddenly our Lord Jesus turned around and challenged them. Listen to what the Lord said:
If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
—Luke 14:26-27, 33
Did you hear? How can we be disciples of Jesus Christ? What are the tests? What is the entrance examination to the school of Christ? Here are the conditions.
Our Lord Jesus does not mince words. He will not cheat us in any way. He makes it clear to us.
What did He say? Did we hear rightly? “Unless you hate your father and mother, and so on, and yourself, you cannot be My disciple.”
Does not the Bible teach that we should honor our parents? That is the first commandment with promise. Does not the Bible teach, “Husbands, love your wives”? Does not the Bible say that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that you should take good care of that temple?
Yes, these are teachings in the Bible. Why, then, does our Lord Jesus say, “Hate”?
We always connect the word hate with something bad. It has a bad connotation. But actually, the word hate is a neutral word. It is an emotional expression, just like love. Love itself is neutral.
If you love what needs to be loved, that is right. If you love what should not be loved, that is wrong. If you hate what should not be hated, you are wrong. But if you hate what should be hated, that is right.
God loves sinners, but He hates sin. How about us? Do we know how to exercise our emotional life? Do we know how to love? Do we know how to hate?
Strictly speaking, brothers and sisters, we have fallen into sin. Our natural life is sinful, carnal, and selfish. That is the reason why whatever comes out of us is wrong.
The apostle Paul said:
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
—Romans 7:18
We love what we should hate, and we hate what we should not hate. Even when we love rightly, there may be selfishness in it. It is not pure.
Parents love their children. How holy that kind of love is! Yet sometimes parents love their children and indulge them. They do not discipline them as they should. Is that real love?
Later, when the children grow up, they may blame their parents. Why? Because their parents did not discipline them and did not love them in a real way.
So, brothers and sisters, remember: our emotional life needs to be purified so that we can love with the love of God and hate with the hate of God.
How can it be purified? It can be purified only when our love and our hate are faced with the love of God and the hate of God. In other words, what God hates, we hate; what God loves, we love.
How can we arrive at that point? Our emotional life can be purified if we love the Lord Jesus above all our natural loves and all our natural relationships.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
—Mark 12:30
When we love God above everything, then our emotional life is purified, and we are filled with the love of God. We can love our father and mother with real love, love our children with real love, love husband and wife with real love, and even love ourselves with real love. We can also hate in the same manner.
It purifies us. This does not mean that some youngsters who hate their parents should hear this and say, “That is good. We can hate because the Word says so.” No, you misunderstand.
What the Lord is trying to say is that your emotions need to be purified. Then you will have the love of God and the hate of God, and you will live a life that is pure and glorifies God.
“Take up your cross and follow Me.” What is a cross? A cross is where your mind and God’s mind cross each other.
You want to go one way, but God’s will for you is to go the other way. When these two cross, what will you do?
Are you willing to allow your own thoughts and opinions to be crucified on the cross, and to allow the will of God to get through in your life? Unless you are willing to do that, you are not able to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
If you commit your life to the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit will arrange daily crosses for you. You do not need to create crosses for other people, nor pray for crosses for yourself.
He will arrange your life in such a way that there will be plenty of opportunities to discover how your mind crosses with God’s mind, your thought with God’s thought, your will with God’s will, your love with God’s love, and your hate with God’s hate. You will find enough opportunities.
Are you willing to take up your cross daily and follow the Lord?
Put it another way: unless you forsake all that is your own, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
What does this mean? It means that unless you give up yourself—your right to your own life—you cannot be His disciple. Are you willing to forsake all?
The Lord says you cannot be My disciple. Why? It is because He is not able to train you. He is not able to work in your life to complete you, because when He wants to do something in your life, you will not give Him permission to do it.
Our God respects our will. He will not force you into anything. If you do not want it, He can persuade you, but He will not force you.
So He is waiting for your willingness. If you are willing, if you put yourself in His hands, He has the freedom to do all that He wants to do in your life.
Are you willing to put yourself in His hands?
These are the conditions for discipleship—the entrance examination, as it were.
In the old days, they did not have schools like we have today. Today, you have schools, you pay for education, and then you go to school to learn what the teachers have to teach you. If you are not happy, you can change to another school. You can still live in your own home. You do not need to live in a dormitory. You are very free.
But in the old days, they did not have schools. In the old days, it was all apprenticeship. When you wanted to learn a trade, you were sent to a master.
If the master was willing to take you in, you did not choose the master; the master chose you. You left your home and stayed with your master.
Suppose your master was a carpenter and you wanted to learn carpentry. Your parents would make a contract with the master, perhaps for three years. You would leave your home, stay with your master, and become a member of his family.
During the first year, he might not teach you anything or allow you to touch any instrument. What would you do during the first year? You would serve the master.
When he was eating, you served him. If he had a family with children, you helped with the children, carried them, swept the floor, and did all these things.
You had no freedom. You could not say, “I want to go home.” No, unless the master gave you permission, you could not go home. You stayed with him for three years.
Gradually, he allowed you to touch the instruments and began to teach you some skill. When you graduated, you had not only learned his skill; you had learned his life. You walked like him. You talked like him. You had learned his life.
That is discipleship. The Lord Jesus says, “Learn of Me. Commit your life to Me, and I will transform you to be conformed to My own image—to be like Christ.”
Brothers and sisters, is there anything more glorious than that? Is there anything more blessed than that?
But He cannot do that unless you commit yourself totally to Him and say, “Lord, I deliver my rights to You. You can do anything You like with my life. I am Yours.”
By right, you are His. He bought you with a price. But He wants you voluntarily to forsake your all and follow Him.
The Lord Jesus used two parables to make this point. One parable is this: if you want to build a tower, you first sit down and count the cost, whether you are able to pay the full price.
Otherwise, when you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everybody will mock you and say, “Here is a person who began well but never finished.”
Or if a king is going to fight a battle with an enemy who is coming with twenty thousand soldiers, and he is only willing to use ten thousand soldiers—if he is not willing to use all his strength—then he knows he will be defeated. It is better to send an emissary and ask for peace.
What does this mean? The Christian life is like building a tower. A tower is a testimony. The Christian life is a testimony. We are testifying to our Lord Jesus.
But how can you testify to the Lord Jesus if your life is contrary to the life of our Lord Jesus?
Our Lord Jesus loves us with such love. He gave all for us. He, who was equal with God, who is God, emptied Himself of all His glory and honor and came into this world.
He took the form of a bondservant and was found in the fashion of a man. He was obedient to God. He went to death—even the death of the cross.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, gave all for us. That is His testimony. To bear that testimony, we have to surrender our own selves to Him.
Count the cost. Are you willing to give your all? Even though your all is only a little, how can we compare it with what our Lord Jesus has poured out for us?
All we can give Him is our sin, our weakness, our faults, and our selfishness. What can we give Him? But our Lord Jesus gave His all to us.
It is the love of Christ that constrains us. We can no longer live for ourselves. We have to live for Him who died and rose again for us.
Brothers and sisters, who can fulfill these conditions? Nobody can. The Lord demands the impossible. With men it is impossible; with God all things are possible.
In other words, He will do it. We cannot do it. When God’s love touches our hearts, when His love captures us, nothing is impossible. It can be done.
So the Lord says, “Count the cost,” so that your testimony may be firm and final.
The spiritual life is a war. It is warfare. We are all fighting a spiritual war.
Not only is there a visible world; there is also an invisible world. The invisible world is just as real, or even more real, than the visible world. There is warfare going on.
God and Satan are in conflict. God wants to have you. Satan also wants to have you. Where will you stand?
Are you willing to give your all to the Lord and allow Him to use you to defeat Satan and his kingdom? To do that, you have to give your all. You cannot reserve or keep back anything from Him. He demands your all.
Brothers and sisters, count the cost.
I knew a young man many years ago. At one time in his spiritual life, he was at a crossroads. He loved the Lord, but there were many things he was unable to give up.
He was like a man who put his two legs on two boats, and the two boats were sailing gradually farther and farther apart. That was his feeling at the time.
He wanted to go all the way with the Lord, but he could not, because there were so many things that he could not give up. He struggled.
One day he went to a meeting. At that meeting, a brother preached on Luke 14. The point was: “Count the cost. If you want to follow the Lord, count the cost. If you do not count the cost, you will never succeed. Sooner or later, you will go out.”
It was a challenge. After the meeting was over, people stayed for lunch and for the afternoon meeting. After lunch, everybody sat and rested.
This young man asked the Lord, “Why is it that my Christian life is not satisfying? Why is it that there seems to be a block to my advance in spiritual life?”
He had believed in the Lord for a few years already, but he felt there was a check somewhere. He wanted to go all the way with the Lord, but he could not do it.
So he asked, “Is it because I have never counted the cost?”
He sat there and began to count the cost. As he counted, the cost rose higher and higher. The enemy tried to crowd into his mind all kinds of thoughts.
He came to the conclusion that if he followed the Lord all the way, he would be cast out of the university where he was a student. He would be cast out of his own home. He would have no future—nothing. Finished.
So he told the Lord that he could not do it. It was impossible. It was a dead moment. He was so troubled.
Then it was as if the Lord came to him and showed him His bleeding head. The Lord said to him, “I gave all to you. What will you do for Me?”
The love of Christ melted his heart. He said, “Lord, blood, life, everything is Yours.”
The cost was counted. It did not end that way. He still finished university. He was not cast out of his home. The Lord opened a way for him.
Brothers and sisters, after so many years, it was worth it. The Lord is ready. He gives you so much more than you give up for Him, because He is alive.
He wants to complete you, to bring you into all the truth, to enable you to experience Him as all and in all throughout your life.
So, dear young brothers and sisters, my heart goes out to you all.
Do not try to follow Him halfheartedly. He deserves you. Abandon yourself to Him. Allow Him to work out His glorious purpose in your life.
Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
—John 8:36
Dear Lord, You love us so much. You want the best for us.
But You are waiting for us to abandon ourselves to You and let Your bleeding love recreate us according to Your image.
O Lord, do not allow any one of us here to turn back and say that it is impossible.
Lord, enable us to look to Your grace. Allow You to do the impossible. O, glorify Yourself.
We commit all the young brothers and sisters into Your life as an offering. Lord, accept each one of them.
We pray in Your precious name. Amen.