Let us turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 3, verse 7.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth:
I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not deny My name.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou didst keep the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.
Let us also turn to the book of James, chapter 1, verse 2.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations;
knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.
And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God.
Now turn also to James, chapter 5, verse 7.
Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain.
Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the Judge standeth before the doors.
Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord.
Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.
The last two times, we shared concerning the word of life. This word of life is received when one believes, and through it one is born again.
But when one is newly born, the Lord does not simply leave that person alone. He uses the word of His grace to establish that person.
The word of His grace is full of grace and truth. It is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among those who are sanctified.
We have already mentioned that, if you want to receive the word of life, there is only one condition: believe. To believe is to receive.
Then we may ask, how does this word of grace work? Our Lord tells us that if we hear His word and do His word, then the house which we build is founded upon the rock.
When the wind comes, the rain falls, and the streams rise, that house will not fall.
But if we hear the word of God and do not obey it, we may still build a house. Those who hear the word of God and do not do it are the foolish ones who build a house upon the sand.
When the winds blow, the rains fall, and the streams rise, such a house will fall with a great crash.
Therefore, the condition of the word of His grace is this: when we hear the word, we must hear and obey.
Our Lord Jesus tells us that not all those who call Him, “Lord, Lord,” can enter His kingdom. Those who do the will of His Father can enter.
Many will say, “Lord, in Your name I have preached, and in Your name I have done many miracles.” But all that they have done may not be according to the will of God. The Lord will tell them, “I did not know you.”
To obey His words is very important.
I am going to tell you something now, but do not laugh. Otherwise, others will think that I like to make jokes, and I do not like to make jokes.
I used to think that the will of God was very hard to understand. One may be doing so much for Him, but still wonder: “Am I in His will in doing all these things? When I come before Him, what will happen?”
This is the same question that many brothers and sisters have as they pursue after the Lord: What is the will of God?
Some questions are very difficult. A sister may ask, “Lord, how do I know which brother You have prepared for me?” If what we preach is not connected with practicality, then it is not useful.
I am a little foolish in this matter. I would find something very clear in the Bible that says, “This is the will of God,” and then I would simply follow it.
I found two passages. One says:
Rejoice always;
pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.
Is that not very clear? It is very simple. Always be joyful. Pray unceasingly. Give thanks in everything. This is the will of God for you.
So I thought these were the three things I had to follow. If I did them, then I was doing the will of God.
But by nature, we are not that way. We like to make these things into law. We want to obey the word of God, so we find something like a law and try to follow it.
Yet this matter of law cannot bring us to the point God desires. Many have tried for many years.
Try this, if you do not believe it: be joyful always. Since there must be some manifestation of joy, perhaps all you do is smile all the time.
But if you are always smiling and do not have the spirit of joy within you, then even though you may be smiling, it can be very difficult to look at.
This is not the joy which God wants planted within us. When you have true joy, it is difficult even to make you sorrowful.
To pray unceasingly is a great problem. Does it mean that I pray twenty-four hours a day?
Some say that praying is like breathing. Do you breathe while you sleep at night? You still have to breathe.
When you learn to continue in prayer, you must learn to pray as freely as you breathe.
If you love the Lord so much that you say, “Lord, I cannot depart from You,” then you can pray unceasingly.
Let me tell you, this prayer is not merely of the mind; it is of the heart. We pray to God with our heart. We can pray to Him on the one hand while we are doing something else on the other.
To give thanks in everything is also a matter of life. Some people have the habit of saying, “Thank the Lord, thank the Lord,” in every circumstance. This is a good habit.
But if you do not have the reality from within, then one day something harsh or difficult will come upon you, and your true nature will be revealed. You may say, “Oh, today is just a bad day.” Then you have lost your thanksgiving.
Many of these requirements are actually matters of life.
If you are filled with the Holy Spirit from within, then you will always be joyful, because the anointing is an anointing of joy. If you have the anointing within, you will have joy.
It is not only that you can be happy and joyful when everything is smooth. Even in difficulty, you are able to be joyful, because the spirit of joy is within you.
Giving thanks requires us to realize that, if we love God, there is a promise for us.
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good.
There is a condition: you love God. If you do not love God, then all things will not work for your good. But if you love Him, He loves you even more, so that all things will work for your good.
When good things come, we naturally give thanks and say, “This is the grace of God.” To obey the word of God, we cannot depart from the love of God, the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit.
To obey the word of God, we must obey the teaching of the anointing which indwells us.
All the sharing we have had, whether from Ephesians or Colossians, is the word of His grace.
I truly love to recite the first verses in Romans, chapter 12.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world.
But if you pay attention to the rest of Romans, chapter 12, all of it is the word of His grace. Many times, it is because we have not obeyed these words.
If you read them, obey them, and do them verse by verse, then you will be built up. The word of His grace is that He uses His grace to build us up.
Today I will continue to share with you concerning the word of His patience.
Many brothers, when they see me, know that I am going to share concerning the word of His patience. I have discovered that many brothers and sisters overseas, especially those from China, have an interest in this matter.
They often ask, “Has anyone from China been in prison before? Have you suffered before? Why do you not share with us concerning your experience?”
But what I am going to share today concerning the word of His patience does have to do with suffering. Whenever you share concerning patience, it has to do with suffering, because suffering brings forth patience.
Patience brings forth experience, and experience brings forth hope. Indeed, patience has to do with the kingdom.
The apostle John tells us, “I, John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus.” There is suffering and affliction connected with the kingdom.
What is the meaning of this suffering which brings forth patience?
The word of life is received by believing. The word of His grace must be obeyed. What about the word of His patience? It must be kept. Hold fast.
Why must God add suffering to His children? Because suffering brings forth patience, and patient suffering is able to mature a brother.
James tells us, dear brethren, that we must have patience. The husbandman waits for the fruit of the land. He must have long patience until he receives the early and latter rain, and then he can have an abundant harvest of fruit.
When God saves us, it is as though He is cultivating us as His land. He has sown the seed, and this is the seed of life. After planting the seed, of course He must water it so that it will grow.
For instance, if a fig tree grows and grows but has only leaves and no fruit, it is very dangerous. It may look very beautiful because it has leaves, but when the Lord comes to look for fruit, He cannot find any.
Brothers and sisters, this is very important. All of us who have been saved must bear fruit for the Lord. In order to glorify our Lord, we must give Him fruit.
Patience is often a test that brings us into maturity.
A Christian who remains a babe, a child who does not grow, cannot go into battle for the Lord and cannot serve Him.
After we are saved, we become the children of God, and we all become priests. But in order to be a priest, you must become mature.
A child of five or six years old may want to help, but sometimes the help becomes more clumsy, because the child is still young.
This is a problem today. Even after five years or ten years, some have not grown. Physically they have grown, but spiritually they are still babes.
Spiritual maturity and whether you have gifts are entirely different matters.
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that they did not lack any gift, whether in utterance or knowledge. Yet Paul wrote to them, “I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,” because there were still jealousies, strife, and divisions among them.
When we are under the moving of the Holy Spirit, we realize outward sins. For instance, if I have stolen money, cheated others, broken rules, or fought with others, I recognize that these things are sin.
But after we are saved, we may not yet see the ugliness and filthiness of our own nature—our selfishness, greed, and covetousness.
Many filthy matters within man cannot be seen. Even if we try to examine ourselves, we cannot see them.
Sometimes I may think that I am very transparent. But it may only be because I am standing in darkness. I feel that I am transparent, but if I were brought into the light, I would see differently.
When we are brought under the light of God, immediately we can see that we have much filthiness.
When we see these filthy things, we must confess before God. Then He takes them away. After you confess one thing, you may come before God again and see many other filthy things.
Man is very cunning because we have many chambers. Some things are external and can be seen right away. Some are very deep within, and we cannot see them.
I will tell you a story about Hezekiah.
When we read the book of Kings concerning Hezekiah, he was indeed a very good king. He obeyed the commandments of God, destroyed the idols, and served God with one heart.
Then one day Hezekiah became ill. Perhaps he had a very serious boil. Isaiah told him that he would die and should set his house in order.
Do you know what Hezekiah did? He prayed to God: “God, You see how much I love You. Why must You take me away now?”
At that time Hezekiah was probably about thirty-nine years old, in the middle of his life. Sometimes our God’s heart is very tender.
God told Isaiah to return and say to Hezekiah, “I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears.”
Hezekiah may have thought God was dealing harshly with him, but indeed God loved him. If Hezekiah had been taken home to God at that time, it would have been most perfect. Yet Hezekiah thought that God’s way with him was against him.
So God added fifteen years to his life.
After Hezekiah was made well, God had to examine whether his heart was perfect during those fifteen years. When the messengers from Babylon came to congratulate him, Hezekiah did not glorify God. Instead, he showed them all his own glory.
Many times, brothers and sisters, when we are kept and sustained, we may appear fine because God has supported us. But that does not mean that within we are fine or clean.
When the messengers from Babylon came, God departed from Hezekiah for a time to see what was in his heart. His pride, which had been hidden before, was exposed.
When I read this in the Scriptures, I pray to God, “God, You do not need to test me. I am very cunning. I would rather have You keep me and sustain me, because once Your testing comes, I will go wrong.”
When testing and tribulation come, they are for our maturity and for us to learn patience.
Brothers and sisters, the way we are on today is a long way. As long as we do not depart from God, it is a life of grace and a way of life.
But when the word of His patience comes, suffering and tribulation come also. The purpose is for us to learn patience.
Patience gives rise to perseverance, and perseverance to approvedness, and approvedness to hope. The hope is that when the Lord returns, we will stand before Him joyfully.
Let me tell you, indeed I have suffered a little. But I have this prayer: “Lord, You do not need to try me anymore, as long as You do not depart from me.”
I pray to God, “God, do not leave me. As long as You are with me, no matter how great my suffering is, I will have peace and joy.” This is true.
I have nothing to boast about. If I become boastful, then God may say, “You think you are able? Let Me take a good look.” Then I would say, “Lord, Lord, do not. I know that I am not able.”
Very amazingly, as long as God is with me, no matter how hard the suffering is, it cannot put me down. It is not that I have strength of my own; His grace is sufficient.
I am only weak. Sometimes, as soon as His light comes, I feel I need to find a place to hide. I am so ugly.
When you look at me today, I may look fine because Christ has covered me with His grace, so the shame within has not been uncovered. But if you say that I have not suffered, that is not true.
I have a friend who draws well. During the Cultural Revolution, they took away many cartoons and threw them into the rubbish. One of the cartoons was a drawing of me.
It was drawn very much like me. Before it even came to me, it was thrown into the garbage. I thought that picture was very nicely drawn, but I was not able to see it.
Do you think this was hard for me to take? No. Indeed, this is how the grace of God is.
It is not that I am able to overcome these things. It is the grace of Christ within me that is able to overcome. I am very joyful.
Many people do not even mention the period of the Cultural Revolution in China because there was so much suffering and tribulation. But to me, I was joyful.
When I saw the Red Guards coming to get me, I found them very lovely.
But let me be honest with you. God tells us to love our enemies. There was someone who always picked on me. I was a doctor, and she was a nurse. She watched all my movements, wrote them down, noted whom I spoke with and what I said, and thought of ways to deal with me.
Yet God did not give me a heart to hate her. It was not that I said, “I am a Christian, so I cannot hate her.” I simply did not hate her.
But later I discovered that I still did not love her as the Lord loved her. The life within me had not reached the point of love.
When life reaches the point of love, not only do we not hate someone, but we also love that person.
Later I encountered someone who, during the Cultural Revolution, remembered for the rest of his life every word spoken against him. When you ask whether I have suffered difficulties, I can say that I have, but they are not worth mentioning. The Lord’s grace surpasses the suffering.
I was in Australia for three years. At the beginning, I had certain reactions. When people sang loudly and praised the Lord loudly, I would worry.
In China, when we met together, we did not register with the government. Each time we gathered, I was prepared for people to come and take us away. We did not dare sing loudly.
But after I had been in Australia for a while, I felt that it was very safe. No one would take us away.
As I walked along, I would see people and preach the gospel to them. They would debate with me, but no one would intervene and take us away.
Australia seemed to me like a land flowing with milk and honey.
When I was in Australia, my son would say, “Father, have some milk.” I would say, “I would rather drink soy milk.” He told me, “Father, do you not know that milk is even cheaper than soybeans here?”
Even the milk, when heated in the microwave, would have a layer on top. It was very different from the milk in China. Even the honey was very good. Indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey.
I told my son that to live in such a house, with carpeting, one could consider oneself wealthy. He replied that he still had to pay a mortgage. I said, “If you are poor and lacking, yet you still have so much, what does that mean?”
I discovered that it was difficult to start with this way of thinking in Australia.
One day a brother took me to visit an Australian prison. A criminal had later believed in the Lord and become a brother, so I went to visit him.
When I visited the prison, I could hardly tell who was the prisoner and who was the guard. The canteen where they ate was set up much like an ordinary dining place.
If the prisons in China had been like those in Australia, I would not have minded spending my life there. The living standards and material conditions were indeed very good.
But I discovered that many people who did not believe in the Lord were suffering much inwardly. They were very bitter. I did not know what they were sorrowful about, but they were sorrowful.
There is something very different between outward comfort and inward grace.
I went to see the harbour at Sydney. It was indeed very beautiful. Yet as I stood there, I had no inward feeling, even though it was so beautiful.
I had never experienced this before, but I had heard that God may cause you to be dry and take away your sense of His grace.
When I reached Australia, God allowed me to learn this lesson. I discovered that even though the surroundings were pleasant, if the Lord withdrew His felt grace and I could not feel or touch Him, then it was much suffering and bitterness.
The word of His patience must go through testing, in order to prove whether faith is genuine.
After testing and trying, gold becomes refined. When you have gone through patience, you will have hope. Gradually, in the end, you will grow and mature.
The Lord has kept me alive until now. I have gone through much suffering, many battles, and many conflicts.
It is like Psalm 90: the days of man are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow.
Before, I did not understand why Moses said that the days of our life are under God’s wrath. I wondered how that could be.
But all that we do throughout our life, in God’s sight, is corrupted. Because of this corruption, God’s wrath is brought about.
Nevertheless, we see that God has grace. There is a hymn which says that in suffering and tribulation we must think of His grace and count our blessings one by one.
When you count your blessings one by one, you see how God has cared for you.
Through patience, you can bear fruit.
I told you that I brought with me some native produce. Some brothers may say, “Brother, the native produce you brought is not bad.” Then I must give thanks. I must give thanks for these sufferings.
These sufferings have taught me to depart from and strip away much worldly thinking. They have brought us into a very humble state, just as the Israelites were humbled when they were taken captive.
We need to be humbled today. But it is very difficult for us. We put our heads down, but then we lift them right back up. We still want to stand up.
It is as though, when you bow down, people kick you further and push you down so that you cannot get up. Under such a condition, if your relationship with God is good, you can say to the Lord, “This is Your grace.”
Under that condition, are we able to hold fast? We must hold fast.
Now I want to share a little from the book of James. Many do not like the book of James because Paul teaches justification by faith, but James gives us another aspect.
We must be joyful if the Lord gives us testing, because patience will bring us into perfection.
Christ is the Head, and the church is His Body. To see whether the Body is in a normal condition, James mentions several practical matters.
James tells us that we must be doers, and not merely hearers, of the word.
This is a great problem that we may have: we are merely hearers of the word and not doers.
For instance, how do we pray? There are many books about prayer. Yet how do you pray? You must actually pray.
If you do not actually pray, then no matter how someone tells you to pray, it is useless. The will of God is that we pray without ceasing.
How many brothers and sisters among us pray for more than an hour a day? I will not ask you to raise your hands. Perhaps not many hands would be raised.
But indeed, let me tell you: no matter how much preaching you hear, if you do not spend time in prayer each day, you will grow very slowly.
You may say, “I want to have a vision.” But how will you gain it? Where will you gain it? It is from God.
All grace and all blessings are from above. If you do not ask from above, you will not gain them.
Action is very important. This is what James tells us: if we hear the word, we must be doers of the word.
Do not deal with others outwardly according to their appearance. This is also an important matter for the church.
Today many people like those who are educated, wealthy, and have position. They treat them with courtesy and say, “Please have a seat.”
But perhaps another brother is only a worker or is employed in janitorial work. In China, I was even lower than janitorial service. Yet God did not despise me.
If we look at things with the view of the world, we may say, “Such people are not useful to the church.” Then we despise them and look down on them.
The church should not look down on the least of the children, not even the youngest one. Even a little child is precious in God’s sight.
The servants of God must be servants. But sometimes the servants of God in the church are not treated as servants.
Brothers and sisters may love them too much. If they want to sweep, others say, “No, no, you do not do that. We will do it.” They are treated very nicely, but sometimes it is too excessive.
This is not quite right. It is not like Paul.
Paul says that God was pleased to set forth the apostles last of all.
When we speak of teachers, pastors, apostles, and prophets, perhaps we would naturally put the apostles first. But why does Paul say that the apostles are placed last? It is because they were not treated with favor.
When I come from China, I see that some brothers do not have a very normal attitude in this matter. I also have had to learn concerning this attitude.
We may lie in bed, drink milk, and say that we must love the Lord and suffer for the Lord. But when I came here, I had to learn a new lesson.
I am sorry about the time. Let me tell you one more thing, because it is a very important point. James, chapter 3, verse 13.
Who is wise and understanding among you? let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is the earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom.
For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.
What we have to seek after is from above. It is not earthly.
The word of His patience is for us to go through tribulation and suffering, so that the fruit we bear may be fit to be eaten.
To have patience, you must hold fast. Hold fast.
I am extremely fearful that in my last years, if I do not hold fast, I will fall. Therefore, I always ask mercy from the Lord.
I think brothers and sisters must also have this heart. None of us can think that we are perfectly well. Pride is very dangerous.
Even Paul, such a great one, was given a thorn. Why did he need a thorn? Because he had received such great revelations, and there was the danger that he might become boastful.
The thorn was given that his flesh might be weakened, so that he could not boast. Even Paul needed God to keep watch over him.
Even Lucifer, the chief angel, was beautiful, yet pride caused his fall. Pride is deeply planted in us. It is very dangerous and ugly.
Therefore, God must allow us to go through testing. Sometimes He gives us tribulation so that our life may be genuine. This is grace.
Because of time, may the Holy Spirit cause us to remember what we ought to remember and forget what we should not remember. By nature, we remember those things which are humorous. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
Lord, indeed we need Your mercy.
We do not know how wicked, perverse, and filthy the fallen Adamic life within us is. But indeed, we thank You, because the length and breadth and depth of Your love overcome all these things.
Through the word of Your patience, continue to do Your work within us. We praise and thank You. Your word is living; therefore, we have life.
Lord, if we obey Your word, You will add grace upon grace. You grant us life, and indeed You desire that we should have life abundantly. We are not worthy.
Lord, we ask that You will make us obedient to Your word. If needed, Lord, we ask that You would plant suffering in us, because without it, it is hard for us to be transformed.
Lord, give us patience, that we may have patience to the very end. Teach us what we most need to learn.
Lord, we ask that You would grant us a heart that desires You. We know that we are unable.
Lord, You have promised us that You love us to the very end, and You will keep us to the very end. Let us never doubt Your love, so that we may always come before You.
May You have mercy upon us. In Jesus Christ’s name.