Would you please turn to Ephesians Chapter 1?
Ephesians Chapter 1; we will read verses 9 and 10.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in Him.
Now, Chapter 3. We will read verses 8 and 9.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given,
to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery
which for ages hath been hid in God who created all things.
Then we pray again.
Lord, how we worship You tonight. Thank You for bringing us to this meeting. We thank You for Your purpose for this meeting. We pray it will be fully fulfilled.
We pray that Your word will find good ground in every one of our hearts. Lord, may our hearts be fully open, our ears tuned to hear Your voice. We pray that You have a full and free way among us and work within us.
May the Spirit fill us tonight. May the Spirit anoint us tonight. May the Spirit speak to us tonight. May every one of us be spoken to and worked upon.
We thank You. We trust in You. We give ourselves to You. Be fully glorified here among us. Lord, may every one of our souls magnify the Lord. We ask in Your holy name. Amen.
Now tonight, brothers and sisters, we need to go back just a little bit into the prayer in Chapter 3 that we were speaking about last night and make up some shortage.
Thank God for that wonderful prayer. I hope we have been praying that prayer. This is a prayer for the saints of God and for their perfecting.
We read how the apostle prayed that our inner man needs to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, according to the riches of His glory. This is where it all starts. This is where the real perfecting—our perfecting, the perfecting of the saints—starts: with our inner man, our regenerated spirit.
Our spirit, our inner man, needs to be strengthened with power every day, at the beginning of the day. It is so good to have our inner man strengthened with power, so there is something flooding and filling our inner man and overflowing—something of the riches of Christ that we freshly enjoy and partake of.
Do we start the day that way? I hope we do, and even many times through the day, to have our inner man strengthened with power—resurrection power.
Then it goes on: “that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” This is what the Spirit is doing; He is operating in us. He is making room. He is working on all the parts of our heart to make room for Christ, so that Christ may move in and make His home in our hearts.
You know, the Holy Spirit is the best caseworker. Sometimes we hear someone say, “Oh, do you know Brother So-and-so is a real case?” It is kind of a derogatory remark, you know, as if he is the case and we are not.
Brothers and sisters, we are all a real case. Do you think so?
Well, the Holy Spirit is an expert caseworker, and He has a very heavy caseload. He has a lot of cases to work on that He is very interested in, and He knows how to work on us.
He knows how to work on all the parts of our heart: our soul, our mind, our emotion, our will, our conscience. He knows how to work, to make room, to open the door of every closet and every room, to unlock every room, to move in, and to glorify Christ—to reveal Christ in our whole being and to make them His home.
Now, this, brothers and sisters, is the perfecting of the saints. This is our perfecting: for Christ to make His home in our heart. The more He makes His home in every part of our heart, the more we are perfected.
So, He works on our mind. Oh, this is a hard part. It is very hard. He works on our mind to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
The way He works on us is to subdue us, to subdue every part, and then, by subduing every part, to take possession and to move in—to throw out all the junk and subdue our wild thoughts, our dark concepts, and our imaginations, to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Oh, that is a wonderful work. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Can you control your mind? Have you done a good job on that? The Holy Spirit can do a very good job from inside, so that our mind expresses Christ. Our mind shines with something of Christ.
You know, I was recalling today that many years ago, when I was a young man in high school, I went into a home in New Jersey. I lived in New Jersey, and I was invited to this home where I heard there were some dear saints having a meeting on a Lord’s Day afternoon.
I went there, and I met these saints. There were some older saints. You know, these saints were shining. I never saw saints like that before. I came from a background where everyone had to be exactly right in doctrine, to the letter of the law, and I did not see anyone shining.
But when I went into this home, these people were shining, and I felt Christ was just shining through them. When I saw them, as a young man not quite seventeen years old, I felt deeply in me, “That is what I want. I want that. I want to be a saint like that.”
Well, the Lord has been working on me for a long time now—for fifty years since that day. I believe He has done some of it, but He is not finished yet.
I heard about a brother who went around with a sign on his back saying, “He’s not finished with me yet.” Well, we could all say that. That is why we are still here: because He is not finished with us yet. But He is still working, and He will finish the good work that He has begun.
Anyway, He wants to fill our mind. This, Brother Stephen was mentioning this morning, is a very crucial part of our being.
After taking over our mind, He also wants to subdue first and then fill our emotion—our unstable emotions, our moody emotions. Do you sometimes have a mood? Oh, you wake up with a mood.
You know, the Lord is able to regulate all our moods and subdue our wild emotions. Subdue that and make a home for Christ in our emotions, so that when we love, or even when we hate, Christ is exhibited. That is the perfecting of the saints.
Then He wants to subdue our will—subdue our self-will. Sometimes our will is very hard, very strong, but He is able to subdue it and give us a will that loves the will of God and stands with the will of God. Amen.
So that our will, even our choices, may exhibit Christ. He wants to fill and make His home in all our heart.
By doing so, that prayer says that we will be strengthened, we will be strong, to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.
Now, we skipped over that last night. I would like to mention very briefly: What is the breadth? What is the length? What is the height? What is the depth?
I appreciate this wonderful matter. Actually, it is measureless. All these dimensions—the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth—are measureless. Let me share a little with you what I have been freshly enjoying of these dimensions.
The breadth—what is the breadth? We need to apprehend what is the breadth. Well, brothers and sisters, I think the breadth is really Christ.
Consider how broad He is, how immeasurably broad He is. You can keep going in the knowledge of Him and the experience of Him and never come to an end—never can come to an end.
Now, we will be doing that for all eternity. Will we never come to an end of Christ? Is He that big? Really? I believe so. This is the breadth.
Not only that, brothers and sisters, but His body is His fullness. His church, His body, is the fullness of Him, and He will be displayed through His body universally.
All men, all creation, will be looking on to see this glory shining out from those in whom He has made His home. The glory will shine fully, blazing, and all men will look on and wonder and worship.
Because this immeasurably great Christ will be embodied in His church. All the angels—the outer circle, you may say—will be looking on too. They are very interested.
The saints are the inner circle. His body is the inner circle; the angels, you may say, are like the outer circle, but they are very interested. Ephesians 3:10 speaks about that: looking on to see the manifold wisdom of God in the church.
Just the breadth: Christ, such a Christ, but such a Christ in His church—the fullness of Him who fills all. May we apprehend the breadth. Amen.
We should be growing in our apprehension of Christ. Huh? I hope so. That is our perfecting.
And the length—oh, this is wonderful. The length, what is the length? Well, this is what I enjoy.
You can read Ephesians Chapter 2, and you can see the beginning of that length, where it speaks about us who were dead in trespasses and sins. We were walking according to the course of this world. We were under the ruler of the power of the air, the evil spirit. We were fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of our mind. We were children of wrath, even as others.
Now the Lord is bringing the saints from that low condition to glory. That is a long distance, huh? I think that is a wonderful length—from way down there to way up there.
Consider what a great feat that is for the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts, to change not only our position, but much more our condition. As we sing in one of the hymns, “That I, a child of hell, should in His image shine, the Comforter has come.”
The Paraclete has come. He has come to do that: to bring us from being a child of hell to shine in His image, to be a holy saint without spot or blemish, in glory. Oh, thank God, brothers and sisters. That is what He is doing with us—with all of us.
I think we can all remember where we started, what we used to be like. I can remember, but do not think too much about that. Just recall briefly. Cast a glance back there and see where you came from.
Then look where He is bringing us: to glory. He is bringing many sons to glory. He is bringing me and you to glory, into that wonderful union in glory with Christ.
That is a long distance, huh? How long? That is the length. We need to apprehend the length.
And then, to apprehend the height. What is the height? Well, this is what I have been enjoying.
This is love: a love relationship between the Father and His Son which is so deep that we could never comprehend it. The Father and the Son in the Godhead—we could never comprehend the love between Them. But we can comprehend a little.
We can see the relationship between the Father and the Son as a man. We can see how the Lord, when He was working on this earth, communed with His Father in such deep love: “Father, not My will, but Thine, be done.”
He prayed to His Father in such a way of intimacy and love. What a loving relationship. And, brothers and sisters, He prayed that “the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them.”
He prayed, and He said, “The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them.” That glory is the glory of sonship. There is this high, very high relationship of love between the Father and the Son, and a fellowship of love between Them.
Brothers and sisters, to me, that is the height. The Lord is bringing us into that height, into that fellowship, into that very same fellowship. May we apprehend the height—the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.
I believe He is bringing us into a fellowship of love, an intimate relationship, the very fellowship He has with the Father. Thank God, He is not finished yet, but He is going to take us higher.
And the depth—what is the depth? Well, I was reminded of Romans 11. At the end of that chapter it says:
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
how unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past tracing out!
The wisdom of God. First Corinthians 2 says that the Spirit is able to reveal the depths of God to us. What depths there are in His wisdom and in His eternal purpose.
We need to apprehend more of these depths, and the Spirit has come to reveal them to us.
Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not,
and which entered not into the heart of man,
whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
To apprehend all these things—the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth—is to be filled unto all the fullness of God. Thank God, He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Thank God.
Now we want to go on in this wonderful letter to the Ephesians. Starting with the saints, it starts with the sons being chosen and elected. It goes on with prayers for the sons. But then, in Chapter 4, we come to the body of Christ.
The sons are not something other than the body. The sons are the members of the body. We need to see that all the sons of God are all the living members of the body of Christ.
I believe, dear brothers and sisters, that the perfecting of the saints goes right along with the building up of the body and is the same. As the saints are perfected, the body is built up. As the body is built up, the sons of God are perfected.
We cannot be perfected apart from the body of Christ. We need a living relationship in the body of Christ where we are. That is where the saints are being perfected. That is where the Holy Spirit is working so much, so deeply.
It is so good to have such a relationship with other members, with other sons, in the one body of Christ.
Let me read just a couple of verses to you in Ephesians 4, starting with verse 11.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
But speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth,
according to the working in due measure of each several part,
maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
Now, here you see the body with the members, with the sons.
The picture of this wonderful body, of course, is Eve in Genesis Chapter 2, where the Lord put Adam to sleep, took something out of Adam, and built that something—whether it was a rib or whatever it was—into a woman.
Now, Chapter 4 of Ephesians equals Genesis 2: the building of Eve, this woman. Here is the real Eve, the body of Christ.
Every part of her came out of Adam, right? Nothing else was added in. Every part of her came out of Adam. That means every part of the body of Christ, the church, comes out from Christ.
If it is not out from Christ, it is not the church. If it is not out from Christ, it is not the body of Christ.
Now, brothers and sisters, in Genesis 2, that woman who was built by the Lord out of Adam was presented back to him as his bride, as his wife.
But in the days in which we are living, that day has not come yet. The real Eve, the woman, is still being built up. The body is not fully built up yet to be presented as the bride and as the wife.
So, do not speak about our now living in the bride. No, we are not. That is in the future day when the Bridegroom will come. He has not come yet. He will come for His bride, and that is when the built-up body will be presented to Him as His bride.
What is being done in this age, and what we are involved in now, is the building up of the body of Christ. The sons of God have a real, a great part as members.
I want to read one more verse for this, in Colossians 2:19.
And not holding fast the Head,
from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands,
increaseth with the increase of God.
Now, here are two wonderful functions in the body of Christ that we all need to have. The two main parts mentioned here are the joints of supply and the bands, or we may call them the ligaments.
The joints of supply pass on the supply from the Head to other members of the body. I do not believe, brothers and sisters, that these joints of supply are just the apostles or the greatly gifted ones. I think we all need to be joints of supply.
Getting something from the Head to pass on to our brothers and sisters, to the other members—we need, of course, to get something to pass on from Christ, something living, and minister to one another.
So we are all ministers. We should all be a joint of supply. The Lord has given us something that we are really enjoying; we need to put it into circulation.
Do not say, “This thing belongs to me.” It belongs to the body. The Lord gave it to you for the body of Christ. So pass it on to the saints. Be a joint of supply.
Not only that, but there is the need of the bands, or the ligaments, to hold the body together. We also need to function in this way, not only as joints, but as living bands to hold the body in oneness.
We have that verse which mentions the bands in Ephesians 4:3: “being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Now, this word for bond here is the same word for bands in Colossians 2:19.
This is a real need, you know: to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. In other words, do not let the saints get away. We need to hold everyone together and keep the unity, or the oneness, of the Spirit.
Be a peacemaker. I was reading that verse today:
Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called sons of God.
When we keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, we are sons of God. We keep the saints together in love and peace. That is a great need.
You know, if a brother does not show up, is not around, you had better go after him.
Like Thomas. Remember Thomas, the first Lord’s Day after the resurrection? The Lord breathed upon the disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” They all received the Holy Spirit, but Thomas was not there. What a meeting to miss.
My goodness. But thank God, the brothers went after him. The brothers went out to Thomas: “Where on earth were you? What were you doing?”
“Well, I did not feel good.”
They said, “The Lord was there. The Lord was there.”
“Oh, come on. Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and see the hole in His side and put my hand into it, I will not believe.”
Wow, pretty hard. He is not just a doubter, you know. We call him Doubting Thomas. It sounds like he is an unbeliever.
But anyway, thank God, the next Lord’s Day he was there. He thought, “Well, I had better show up.”
So he showed up, and the Lord said, “Okay, Thomas.” The Lord knew all about it. The Lord said, “Thomas, bring your finger here, and see My hands; and bring your hand, and put it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
Thomas did not need to bring his finger or his hand. He right away exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” He gave the best testimony that Jesus ever received on this earth: “My Lord and my God!”
He may have said, “Well, how did You know that I was speaking those very words?” When Jesus was there, you did not see Him, but He was there. So He is God. He is omniscient. He knows everything.
Anyway, Thomas believed. But the brothers went after him. The brothers would not let him go. We need to go after the saints.
Be a band, a ligament. Hold them together. You do not know what you are missing in some meetings. The Lord may come, and you are not there.
So anyway, we have telephones, we have cell phones, we have email—a lot that they did not have in those days. I mean, we have all kinds of ways to communicate, right? Communicate. Thank God.
These are the sons of God. This is part of the perfecting work: building up the body of Christ.
Finally, when the body is built up, there will be the presenting of this wonderful Eve to Christ as His bride and as His wife.
Sometimes we just talk about the bride. Do not forget: the bride becomes a wife. The bride is good for a while, and she is so fresh, and you see the freshness, but she is going to be His wife for eternity—maintaining that freshness, I believe.
That will come, and it speaks about it in Chapter 5. It is wonderful to see the sons in Chapters 1, 2, and 3; to see the body in Chapter 4; and to see the bride and the wife in Chapter 5.
Let me read these verses in Chapter 5, starting with verse 25.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it;
that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
It does not mention here that the sons are doing anything. It seems that Christ is doing everything. It is a service, a wonderful service, that He is performing on His body: to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious.
Having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. I think this is like the topstone. It is like He puts all the finishing touches on His bride, and He performs a loving service. What a service.
It seems that sometimes, when we are at the Lord’s table, we are brought into such love with the Lord, to such a realization of His great love for us. It seems that at this time He is doing a work like this, but probably at other times as well, to make us holy and without blemish, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
This is the one who will be presented to Him as His wife, His match, His counterpart, just like Him. Is it so?
I shall be like Thy Son.
Thank God. Do you believe? Do not be a doubting Thomas. We have to believe. I believe. Are you believing?
All the saints should be believers. Do not say, “Well, I believed twenty years ago and I got saved.” Well, how about today? We have to be believers in all that the Lord has shown to us.
Now, I want to speak something to you tonight concerning God’s administration. We read those verses at the beginning of the meeting, from Chapter 1 and Chapter 3.
Chapter 1 tells us that He made known to us the mystery of His will, for an administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ. To head up all things in Christ: this is His administration.
Then in Chapter 3, Paul says, “To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
This is one thing. He had such great skill to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles, but he did not stop there. He said, “And not just that, but something more: to enlighten all men as to what is the administration of the mystery which, throughout the ages, has been hidden in God, who created all things.”
So, brothers and sisters, we not only need to know what are the unsearchable riches of Christ, but we need to know what is the administration of the mystery. I hope we could see something tonight, because the Lord has a great enterprise in this universe, and He needs a great administration.
We all know that in less than a month a great election is coming, right? We are going to elect someone president with their administration. Everyone will be deciding which administration is best for this country, either this or that.
But, brothers and sisters, you do not have to vote for this administration. It has already been voted on. It is a wonderful administration, and this is God’s administration for the whole earth, for the whole universe.
I want to mention what I would call four cornerstones, or the four pillars, of this administration. The sons are very much involved here, and this administration does not start in the future; it is going on now.
Now, the first pillar—and this is the main pillar—is the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is in charge of this administration. He is the CEO. Okay? You know what that is. He is the director. He is in charge.
When you read the book of Acts, it is good to go back and read the book of Acts again. I have been reading it again recently and seeing how the Holy Spirit is fully in charge. In every chapter, the Holy Spirit is giving the orders and is acknowledged as the One in charge continually, all the way through.
I could give you just a couple of examples. In Acts Chapter 13, where the five brothers are praying and fasting, ministering unto the Lord, Saul was there, Barnabas, these men. The Holy Spirit said, “Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
The Holy Spirit: “I called them to work. Separate them unto Me for that work.” Then the brothers prayed and sent them out, and it says the Holy Spirit sent them out.
Another example is in Acts Chapter 20. Paul is talking to the elders in Ephesus. He says, “Shepherd the flock of God, among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers.”
The Holy Spirit has charge of this administration. Brothers and sisters, the headship of Christ today is vested in the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. Listen to that: the headship of Christ today is vested in the Holy Spirit who is indwelling us.
That means a lot. To not obey the Spirit is not to obey the Head, Christ. I think we really have to be reminded again and again how important, how vital, how crucial it is to obey the Holy Spirit.
Trust and obey. If the Holy Spirit is leading us, if the Holy Spirit is giving us a sense deep within not to do something, not to say something, obey.
He will give us the grace to obey. But sometimes we debate. Some debates are going on these days, you know. We are very good debaters, and sometimes, sorry to say, we win the debate.
We say, “I think that is a small thing. That does not matter. Do not bother me about that.” Who are we debating? We are debating the indwelling Lord.
“Do not bother me. You know, it is just a small thing.” Brothers and sisters, it is not so small. He who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. So let the Holy Spirit win the debate, and we will be the same when He leads us. Amen.
There is a little poem:
Across the path of nature
Leads on the will of God.
Many times we would rather do something else. “I have always done it that way before.” But the Holy Spirit gives us a sense deep within: “This can be different from now on.” Do you agree or not?
So, by God’s grace, I agree. Let Him cross me out. Let Him cross us out. Let Him win.
Oh, what a blessing it is to obey the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, we do not lose anything; we gain everything by obeying Him in everything—not what you call big things, but small things.
“Do not say that.” You started to say that sentence—stop right there. Do not finish it.
“You need to go and speak to that brother and confess how you spoke to him or how you looked at him.” “Oh, but Lord, I do not like to do that. I am kind of embarrassed.” Well, just do it.
Anyway, the Holy Spirit is in charge of this administration. That is the main pillar, I have to say.
But I want to mention another pillar in this administration: prayer. Prayer.
Even before the day of Pentecost, after the day of resurrection and before the day of Pentecost, after the Lord ascended and they saw Him going up with their own eyes, they were looking into heaven, and He disappeared. They kept looking.
There were two angels—the Lord stationed them there because He knew they would need a little help at that point. The two angels said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.”
Oh, what a message. They were excited. They went back to Jerusalem with great joy, and for ten days they prayed in one accord.
It mentions all the names of the apostles. It mentions the eleven of them, and it says all these eleven prayed together with Mary the mother of Jesus. Now Mary is praying too; she is praying.
With Mary the mother of Jesus and the women—all those women who followed the Lord around and ministered to Him. Thank God for all His sisters.
I come from a background where the sisters were not allowed to say anything in the meetings, not even to pray out loud. I am glad I am not in that anymore. The sisters are needed to pray very much.
Anyway, brothers and sisters, listen: prayer is so important for God’s administration. Whatever we see from the Lord, whatever we hear from the Lord, whatever we read in His word, we need to pray about.
God needs our prayer. His administration demands our prayer. He told them, “Now stay in Jerusalem; do not leave, because you are going to be baptized with power from on high.” I believe when they were praying there in one accord, they prayed for that.
We may consider, “Well, the Lord said He is going to do it, so why do we have to pray for it? We just wait. Just sit there and wait.” No.
Listen: what God intends to do needs to be prayed for. He needs our prayer for it to happen.
The Lord Jesus intends to come back, right? The angels told them, “This Jesus is coming back in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.” So, oh, that is wonderful. He is going to come back. I know. I wonder when He is going to come. Well, I hope He comes soon.
Listen, we have to pray for His coming. It seems to me I do not hear that many prayers praying for His coming. But the last prayer in the whole Bible is, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Right?
Many things that God intends to do—perhaps we have read the promises in His word—we need to pray for them. Pray for everything, everything we see from Him.
The disciples, these apostles, had just seen Him ascend, and they had heard Him speak about the kingdom of God for forty days. I believe they were praying about all these things. They prayed in one accord. It was wonderful. They never did that before.
While the Lord was with them, the closest they got was to say, “Lord, teach us to pray.” But you do not read about the disciples having a prayer meeting while the Lord was walking around with them. They heard Him pray, but you do not read about them praying.
What do you read about? They were arguing about who was going to be the greatest. But now they are all praying in one accord. Prayer in one accord is powerful.
I think this is a sign that they had already received the Holy Spirit inwardly, because they could pray. They could do something they had never done before. They prayed perseveringly. They devoted themselves to prayer.
For ten days they were praying, I believe, for the day of Pentecost to come and for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They prayed for it. They were not just waiting. The Lord told them to wait, but they were not just waiting; they were praying.
Thank God, brothers and sisters, the waiting time is over for that baptism. It has already taken place. Now is not the time to wait; it is the time to take. But there are many things we still have to pray for. We have to pray for the Lord’s coming back.
I will come back to that again, but I want to mention the next pillar in God’s administration: the word of God. The word of God needs to be fulfilled.
Whatever is written in the Scriptures, the Lord said, must be fulfilled. Even when He was on earth, you can read a number of times that He says, “In order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Matthew says that many times: “That the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Jesus did such and such.
The word of God is a big pillar in God’s administration. In Luke 24:44-45, it says that the Lord spoke to them how everything concerning Him in the law and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.
It says He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. It is a great thing to have light on the word of God, to understand the word of God—not just on the surface, but deeply, to touch the Spirit and to see the will of God, to hear the Spirit’s voice in the word.
All the way through Acts, right from the day of Pentecost and onward, the apostles had great light from the word. They never could understand before, but now the whole Bible is full of light, and they can preach. They are preaching the word boldly everywhere, and God works mightily through His word.
Through His word, be increased. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, this is how the sons of God take part in God’s administration. We all can be those—maybe not like some more gifted ones, to preach that much—but we can all get light from the word and speak something from the word.
The apostles said in Acts 6:4, “But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word.” I like that.
Now, I come to the last pillar. In Acts Chapter 1, it tells us about the prayer, but it also mentions more concerning the word.
In Acts Chapter 1, while they were praying, Peter stood up and spoke. He said, “Brethren, it was needful that the Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spake before by the mouth of David concerning Judas.”
We know he betrayed the Lord and the saints. Peter quoted Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. It says, referring to Judas, “His office let another take.” Judas went to his own place, but someone else should be raised up to take his place.
Peter said, “Brothers, that Scripture needs to be fulfilled.” It seems like he is echoing the Lord’s word: “That the Scripture might be fulfilled.” They all realized there was a gap. There was a hole there. There should be twelve; now Judas was gone, and there were only eleven.
So they needed to find someone to take his place. They felt that they should have someone who had been with them all the time while the Lord walked around on the earth and who was also a witness of His resurrection.
Then they drew lots. We should not blame them too much for that, because the Spirit had not yet baptized or anointed them. I do not think today we would want to set up a lottery to make decisions.
But at that time they prayed. At least they did it with prayer. They prayed and said, “Lord, Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show of these two the one whom Thou hast chosen.”
I think Joseph was called Barsabbas, or Matthias, and the lot came out for Matthias. So he was included and numbered with the other eleven, making twelve. The gap was filled up.
My brothers and sisters, there is another Scripture I will mention to you tonight that I do not think is fulfilled yet. I think we need to do something about it.
This is in Revelation Chapter 12. In Revelation Chapter 12, you have a vision of a woman, a great woman, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, the stars over her head, and she is crying out in pains of childbirth.
She is crying out. This crying out, brothers and sisters, means she is praying. She is praying for this birth, for this delivery of what is in her womb.
We read there that she brought forth a man-child. She was delivered. Her prayers were answered, and she brought forth a man-child. That man-child was immediately taken to the throne of God.
When that man-child went up, there was war in heaven. The taking up of that man-child stirred it up. Oh, there was war in heaven, and Satan was cast down. The man-child went up; Satan came down, was thrown out of heaven.
Then there was a great shout: “The kingdom of our God has come.” All the things at the end time were set in motion, started then by that man-child going up.
Now, I feel, dear brothers and sisters, this Scripture needs to be fulfilled among us. We need to cry out as part of that woman. We are a part of that woman. That woman represents all the real seeking people of God.
The man-child within her is the stronger part. The woman is the weaker part; the man is the stronger part. The stronger part within her needs to be delivered and brought forth and raptured to the throne of God, to start everything in motion for the end of this age.
Well, I feel, dear brothers and sisters, we need to pray for this man-child to be brought forth. There is a gap. There is something missing, you know. We need the stronger ones, a stronger part.
Of course, these are the overcomers. But actually, brothers and sisters, the perfected sons are overcomers. So to pray for this is to pray for the sons of God to come forth, be manifested, and be raptured.
This Scripture needs to be fulfilled. I hope we could hear some prayers sometimes: “Lord, bring forth this man-child. Oh Lord, do Your wonderful work. We pray for these overcomers to be raised up.”
I believe that will be answered.
But, brothers and sisters, this is the fourth pillar in God’s administration. I would say it is not the Holy Spirit, not prayer, not the word of God, but the persons—the right persons, the sons of God, the overcomers.
Those who can bear the responsibility of God for God; those who can be His witnesses to the ends of the earth—His witnesses. The Lord wants witnesses to go forth.
Not only witnesses of Christ as our Savior—thank God, He is that—but witnesses of Christ as our life, witnesses of Christ as our Head, and witnesses of the church as His body.
This full gospel: we need to be witnesses of this in Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Anyway, Paul says we need to enlighten all men as to what is the administration of the mystery which has been hidden in God, but now, thank God, is being revealed.
So, I really thank God for this time and this conference. I think the Lord has really been speaking to us about this matter of spiritual perfecting. I appreciated the word this morning very much.
It is something we obtain in Christ, but it is also something we have to seek after, to attain to. But the Holy Spirit is working in us all. Thank God.
He has begun a good work in us, and He will complete it. Amen.
Let us give Him a free and full way, and obey Him in everything, to build up His body now and then to bring and present a built-up body to Himself as His bride.
Well, thank God, I think He is giving us some vision. May we be obedient to the heavenly vision. Let us pray.
Father, we really worship You and give You thanks for all Your words to us, such precious, wonderful words. How we thank You for the vision You have given us. Thank You for touching us.
We pray that this word will bear much fruit in every one of us. We pray that we will all go along with Your word. We will all continue to pray for it to be fulfilled and will be meditating very much on these wonderful things.
We thank You for this conference, this wonderful time together. Lord, thank You for all who are here. We pray we can go forth as witnesses of all that we have seen and heard. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.