Shall we look to the Lord in prayer?
We are so privileged, Lord Jesus, to be found together in Your very presence. We bow before You. We worship You.
We commit our time to You. Speak; we are all here to hear. Thank You for Who You are. Thank You for Your faithfulness.
Thank You, for all the promises in Christ Jesus are yea and amen. Tonight, we commit our hearts to You. We wait before You. Do speak; we are all here to hear.
To You be all the praise, and to You be all the glory. We ask it in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now, at the outset, I would just like to say a few words about the urgency of time. Jerry mentioned SOS these evenings, and I think this morning and this afternoon the brethren touched upon it.
Toward the end of last year, in December, we were privileged to be in Singapore just a few days after that terrible tidal-wave disaster—the tsunami.
When we were in Singapore, there was a live telecast of all the tragic events that took place in that region. You do not seem to get that vivid portrayal of what took place in this country, because Singapore was very close to Indonesia.
Before we went to the Philippines, we wrote to the saints in Singapore to find out how they were doing. They told us the reason why they were safe and sound was because Sumatra, one of the islands, blocked the way of the waves that came toward the Singapore peninsula.
For those two days, we witnessed firsthand some of those tragic events that occurred in that region.
This morning and last evening, when I heard the sharing from our sisters, I thought: sometimes we do not even have the chance to send out an SOS. Sometimes we do not even have the chance to receive an SOS, because it comes so suddenly, so quickly. People are totally unprepared.
In some of the stories that we followed subsequent to the event, these were the Lord’s people. In Sri Lanka, some believers were meeting in a little hut. When the tidal wave came, the force was such that some young children whom mothers were carrying were sucked right off their arms.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we are living in the days of Noah. Sometimes there is absolutely no warning, and then suddenly it comes.
That is why the word to us in these last days is: Be prepared. Be prepared. We do not know when that day will come.
I want to turn to a passage to share with you this evening. Would you turn with me to Luke 16?
This parable is most instructive. In my Bible it says, “The Parable of the Unjust Steward.” In some Bibles the subtitle says, “The Shrewd Manager.” I will not read through the whole parable; we will just look at one verse.
Recently, in a Bible study, a sister questioned this parable. She said, “How can a just person commend this unjust steward?”
Let us read Luke 16:8:
And the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely:
for the sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light.
What is the parable teaching us? The people of this world maximize every opportunity for self-gain. Whether in education, business, or economics, people are out there to gain, even relying upon evil or unjust principles.
We witnessed that in our country recently. Quite a few CEOs were indicted.
You see, the people of the world maximize opportunities for self-gain. Yet often, as believers, we take divine things and eternal things too lightly. As I look at myself, if I took eternal things more seriously, I would not be the way I am today. The church would not be the way the church is today.
We are not diligent enough. We are not mindful of God’s business enough. We dwell too much on what we want. We are still very much self-centered people.
That is why this parable is a real warning. The sons of this world are wiser than we are because they take every opportunity to maximize their self-interest. Yet we, who have been given grace to run this race, take it easy.
Most of us will discover, sooner or later, that we may not finish the race. For the Lord’s sake, we disqualify ourselves.
This is a warning to us in these last days. It is about time we wake up and take God’s business seriously.
This revelation—the thing I am talking about—is a serious matter. It is not a small thing for God to reveal something of His heart to a people. When that revelation comes, responsibility comes. We are accountable to what is given to us.
Brothers and sisters, we are very privileged people in this auditorium. We have been given tremendous responsibility. We are accountable. Why has this been given to us?
My responsibility is to share on this matter of realization. When I looked in a concordance, to my surprise, the word realization was not to be found. For that matter, neither was the word responsibility.
The word I found in the concordance was revelation. I thought, “Perhaps I should sit down and let another brother share, because that is all I have found—no realization, no responsibility.”
But as I have read the Bible more diligently in recent days, I have found some key words that are even stronger, more meaningful, and more powerful than realization.
Realization is what we understand on our human side. According to the dictionary, it is what makes something real to us. But what seems real to us may not be the real thing. You know what I am saying?
Spiritual things are beyond what we think is real down here. What we consider real may not be real in God’s sight. Everything we call real down here may one day disappear. But what is unseen is actually real.
The Scripture says that what God wants to show us is what eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man. It is all beyond us. Unless the Holy Spirit enlightens us, there is no way we can grasp spiritual reality.
We need God’s revelation.
One word I have discovered is fulfilled. The Lord Jesus used it quite a few times. In Matthew it is mentioned twelve times; in John, ten times; in Luke, six times; and in Mark, at least three times.
Fulfilled means that something has come to its end. When I was very young in the old country, we would see documentaries—newsreels. When the film finished, there would be a large word on the screen: THE END.
That meant, “No more. It is done. Go home. Do not wait. There is no more.” Fulfilment has that implication.
When God finished speaking, everything was done. When God finished speaking, that was the end. The Lord Jesus is that final Word.
When God spoke that final Word, His work was done in Him. He did not have to say anything further. It is done.
The other important word is amen. The four Gospels end with amen. The last book of the Bible also ends with amen. Genesis begins, “In the beginning God,” and Revelation ends with “Amen.”
Amen means, “So it is.” It is. Those who come to God must believe that He is. He is the Amen.
Would you turn with me to Psalm 33? Let us take a few verses there.
Psalm 33 is very powerful and very meaningful. Abraham was justified by faith because he believed God. Romans 4 says that he believed God, Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
That means God can do the impossible. That is faith. All God’s promises may be future to us, but with Him they are already fulfilled. They are already as though they have happened.
God is the God of the “I AM,” the present. He is not merely the God of the future or of the past; He is God now. Everything God intends to secure, He already has in His hand.
Let us read Psalm 33:4:
For the word of the Lord is right;
and all His work is done in faithfulness.
You can trust Him. All His work is real; all His work is done in truth. You will not be disappointed if you trust Him.
Psalm 33:9 says:
For He spake, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
And Psalm 33:11 says:
The counsel of the Lord standeth fast for ever,
the thoughts of His heart to all generations.
These are powerful words. God’s Word speaks to us of Who God really is. Without His Word, there is no way we can know Him fully and intimately.
We cannot believe in God apart from His Word. We must believe Him according to His Word, because His Word explains to us Who He is.
We need God, and we need His Word just as much. I would add one more thing: we need brothers and sisters. When we come to God and to His Word together, we can understand and grasp His Word more adequately.
Individually, there is no way we can come to His Word in a full way. It must be done corporately.
I appreciate Richmond. Through all these thirty years that I have been here, this conference has been a lifeline to many people. I personally have been helped much by this conference.
I can testify that the same is true of the meeting in South Jersey. We owe much to the ministry of this conference.
I have visited quite a few places, and I have to tell you from my heart: how many places in this world can you hear messages like we are hearing this week? Think about that.
We are truly blessed—really blessed. But with that rich blessing comes huge responsibility, because we are accountable for what is given to us.
The reason is that God intends to finish His work in us and through us to His glory.
Fulfilment is a big word. Amen is a big word. All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen in Him.
Another word that gives tremendous significance to the finished work of Christ is glory.
There is no glory when the work is not done. There is no glory when the work is only half done. There is glory only when the work is fully done to God’s satisfaction.
We need to lay hold of that. There are a few examples in Scripture concerning this glory.
The first example is when Moses put all the parts of the tabernacle together in their proper order. He sprinkled them with blood and anointed them with oil. He made sure everything was according to the pattern he saw on the mount.
When all those parts were put together, the glory of the Lord filled that place. Glory speaks of His pleasure. Glory speaks of something done fully according to His will and purpose.
The second example is Solomon’s temple. When it was built according to God’s pattern, the glory filled that place, and the priests could not even enter to minister.
That would be something, would it not? If ministering is still needed, the work is not done. The Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of God because the work is done. That is glory.
In John 17, just before He entered the cross, the words glory and glorify occur at least seven or eight times. In that high-priestly prayer, the Lord Jesus speaks repeatedly of glory.
He was sure. He said, “Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee,” because He already saw the finished work. He already had the end in view.
His whole life and His whole ministry were focused on that cross, where the work would finally be completely accomplished and finished.
Glory is a tremendous word that we must appreciate. When you go to a good meeting where the presence of the Lord Jesus is full and rich, and His glory is there, sometimes you do not even need to say anything.
Sometimes silence is sufficient. Sometimes we say something and spoil it.
Remember the Mount of Transfiguration? He manifested His glory, and the moment Peter opened his mouth, he spoiled it. The glory departed.
We need that kind of experience. I am sure that in your local fellowship, sometimes you experience the glory of the Lord’s presence at His table. It is beyond words.
Sometimes there is more in silence. The glory simply falls and fills the whole time, and that is enough. What more do we want?
Glory speaks of a work finished to the satisfaction of God’s heart.
Would you turn with me to Hebrews 8?
We have mentioned that glory speaks of something well done to God’s full satisfaction. Another significant word is seated.
When He sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, it means that His work is done.
That is why this evening I want to focus on the work that is done. Because He is now in glory, that is our assurance.
In spiritual matters, unless these essential things are settled, there is no going on.
The cross, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension—unless all these things are settled in our hearts, there is no going further.
To see the finished work of the Lord Jesus, fully satisfying the Father, and to see that He is now seated at the Father’s right hand, is crucial.
The Holy Spirit cannot work in us unless He is highly exalted. The ground of the Holy Spirit’s work is based upon the exaltation of Jesus.
Recently, I was looking at a book by a brother in the South. A writer asked, “What is the secret of this brother’s ministry? Why is it so powerful? Why does it have not merely a temporary impact but a lasting, eternal impact?”
The answer was twofold. First, in his life he had but one aim: he wanted to exalt the Lord Jesus. Second, all his ministry was for the exaltation of Jesus.
If that is true, there is ground for the Holy Spirit to do His work.
It is crucial that tonight we see that Man in glory. Everything begins with that. Without that Man sitting there, God has no way to begin His work.
In Hebrews 8:1-2, we read:
Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this:
We have such a high priest,
Who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, not man.
This is the main point of the things we are saying. This is what we are really talking about: we have such a High Priest, Who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.
In the old dispensation, there was no priest sitting down. They were all standing, busy in the outer court, carrying out their duties. There was no rest, because the work was not done.
But with the Lord Jesus, the work is completed. Therefore, He sat down. It is done.
Stephen, when he was being martyred, also saw this One on the throne. That is what got him through.
Brothers and sisters, unless we see this One on the throne, there is nothing that will get us through in this last phase of human history. You know why? Because He is our Pioneer. He got through.
He got through.
Let us look at Hebrews 9:22:
And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood,
and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
Then Hebrews 10:18 says:
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
The work is finished. Once done, once for all, forever.
We could quote many passages in Hebrews. That one sacrifice settles everything.
So, my brothers and sisters, we have to see that on that cross it was settled. That needs to be settled in us. It is very crucial.
The other thing I want to share tonight is this: we are such people that it is hard for us to believe truly good news.
We do not know how to embrace good news. That is the problem. We think we are believers, but often we discover that we are unbelieving believers.
If we were truly believing everything that the Lord Jesus has said, we would not be the way we are today.
Many times, delayed obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is also disobedience. God demands total obedience, and the cross states total obedience. There is no other way.
Would you turn with me to Isaiah? It is quite shocking to see the connection between Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53.
Isaiah is the Gospel of the Old Testament, because there is more prophecy concerning the Messiah in Isaiah than in any other book.
Let us look at Isaiah 52:7:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace,
that bringeth good tidings of good,
that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
We love that verse. But look at Isaiah 53:1:
Who hath believed our message?
and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Brothers and sisters, we know what we need to believe, but oftentimes we fail to believe it fully.
If you have never read the book The Life That Wins, it is a very good book. I would recommend that you buy it and read it.
You discover on many occasions that our brother tried to help saints live a victorious life. They knew deep in their hearts that they needed to live victoriously. That is what God wants.
A victorious life is the normal Christian life. Yet many saints want to live that victorious life and find themselves totally unable.
When they are shown the Scriptural verses that they need to lay hold of and believe, which make this life possible, they say, “It is too good to be true. I dare not believe it.”
Can you imagine that? It is in the Bible. It is promised. Yet we say it is too good to be true.
When we have that attitude, it is very disrespectful to God. To put it bluntly, when we doubt Him, in a sense we are insulting Him.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
This passage is repeated in the New Testament. Look at John 12:37:
But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him.
Can you imagine that? He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe Him.
John continues:
That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,
Lord, who hath believed our report?
And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Brothers and sisters, hearing is easy. Hearing is easy. But to take it by faith and obedience is hard, because obedience costs your very life.
The Lord Jesus is the prime example. He laid down His life in obedience to the Father.
The Apostle Paul encountered the same problem. In Romans 10:8-10, we read:
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach:
because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord,
and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Then Romans 10:16 says:
But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings.
For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
What do you think? Is believing easy, or is believing difficult?
Brothers and sisters, we have to admit that believing is impossible with the natural man. Only a new creation, a new man, has true faith to believe. That life is the Lord Jesus.
We are nothing. Only the Son of God has faith. When He comes in, He gives us the capacity to respond. Apart from Him, there is no way.
There are many other passages we could use concerning the difficulty of believing. We will dwell on that more when we come together the second time. Now we come to the cross, that very decisive moment.
First, let us turn to Exodus 3:7:
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people that are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters;
for I know their sorrows;
and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
The Lord saw the oppression of the Egyptians upon the Israelites. The Lord saw it, and the Lord said, “I will come and rescue. I will.”
Salvation and rescue are initiated by God. God is a God of salvation.
Look at Judges 10:15-16:
And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned:
do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee;
only deliver us, we pray Thee, this day.So they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord:
and His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Pay attention to that final statement: God could no longer endure the misery of Israel.
God said, in effect, “I am determined to settle this matter once for all. Enough is enough.”
Isaiah 63:9 says:
In all their affliction He was afflicted.
Do you catch that? In all their affliction, He was afflicted. God hurts more than we hurt. He takes the initiative to settle these things once for all.
We have no idea how God suffers because of the sins of this world. We have no idea, because we are not holy and we are not pure. We cannot fully sympathize with Him. We just do not understand.
He agonizes over sin. He agonizes over rebellion. The cross is God’s answer: enough is enough, and this issue will be settled once for all.
Turn with me to Galatians 4. Calvary—the timetable for the Lord Jesus to go to the cross—was not set by our sin. It was set by God’s love.
Galatians 4:4-5 says:
But when the fulness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
that He might redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
In the fullness of time—time determined by God. The incarnation was not by chance; it was within God’s program. His earthly life was not by chance; it was in the ordering of God.
Many times the Lord Jesus said, “My time is not yet come.” But later He said, “My time is now come.” When He spoke of this, He was pointing to the cross, where everything would be settled.
In the Old Testament, we find three Psalms: Psalms 22, 23, and 24. They are a trilogy. You cannot do with just one; you need all three to see the complete picture.
I never attended Bible school or seminary like some of my brothers. But I was reading somewhere not too long ago that Bible scholars tried to determine what experience David had that could have produced Psalm 22.
David wrote many Psalms from his own experience, but these scholars could not trace anything in David’s life that fully corresponded to Psalm 22.
The cry is the cry of someone innocent and sinless:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
David was not innocent. David was not sinless. Who, then, could this person be?
David was a prophet. He prophesied concerning the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. There is no better portrayal of the agony of the cross than Psalm 22, apart from Isaiah 53.
He went to that cross. He went there for you and for me.
He died my death. He died your death. My death was His death. My judgment was His judgment. My hell was His hell.
Hebrews says that He tasted death for every one of us. Who does such a thing?
It was not merely our sin that took Him there. God crushed Him, because God knew that without that, sin could never be forgiven.
He endured the ridicule and mocking of man, the anger and wrath of satanic forces, and the forsaking of God.
From Psalm 22:1 through Psalm 22:21, He was there by Himself, because there He died as our Substitute and our Representative.
He removed sin once for all from the sight of God. In His death, He also set aside the old humanity that could never satisfy God’s heart.
Then, beginning in Psalm 22:22, there is an answer. From verse 1 through verse 21, He was alone. But from verse 22 onward, it is no longer singular—it is plural.
His death was not for Himself. His death was for all of us, that we might be reconciled and made right before God.
Psalm 22:22 says:
I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:
in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
And Psalm 22:25 says:
Of Thee cometh My praise in the great assembly.
Through His death, He restores us to God corporately. From verse 22 onward, it is no longer “I,” “Me,” or “My.” It is us, included in Him.
When the Lord Jesus said in Luke 23:46, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,” that commitment was not merely for Himself. All those in Him were committed to the Father.
His Father becomes our Father. His God becomes our God. That is the Gospel.
If you see that cross clearly, you cannot fail to see the oneness of all the redeemed: one assembly, one people, washed in the blood.
When I first went to Brazil, a little Brazilian sister came to me and said, “Brother Jose, do you know that we are blood brothers and sisters?”
At first, I did not quite understand what she meant. Then she said, “We have all been washed in the blood of Jesus, and that makes us one.”
When we are one in Him, the Lord Jesus praises God the Father, because His work is to bring us together in Him as one people.
He praises His God in the midst of His brethren, in His assembly.
I was told long ago that when we come to Revelation 19, the first hallelujah is not sung by the saints. The first hallelujah is a solo, and that solo is the Lord Jesus.
He alone is worthy to sing that first hallelujah, because He did the work; He finished the work. Then we join Him.
Psalm 22 presents the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for the sheep. Psalm 23 presents the Great Shepherd Who cares for us and protects us. Psalm 24 presents the King of Glory.
At the end of Psalm 22, verse 31, we read:
They shall come and shall declare His righteousness
unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done it.
Those final words are very similar to the Lord’s cry on the cross: “It is finished.” He has done it.
We must catch that. What God has done in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus, on the cross cannot be undone. When it is done, it is done. It is settled.
Unless these things are settled, there is no going on. We stand upon a solid and firm foundation: Christ and Him crucified.
Now we come to Psalm 24.
When we speak of the cross, we speak of His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, and His glorification. They are all connected. The cross is comprehensive.
Without death, there is no resurrection. Without resurrection, there is no ascension, exaltation, or glorification. All these are connected with the work of the cross.
In Psalm 24, the second half is the celebration of the Victor’s coming.
We are told that the whole creation and the whole universe were waiting for this moment: a Man in glory.
Everything starts from that Man in glory.
Let us read Psalm 24:7-10:
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors:
and the King of glory will come in.Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:
and the King of glory will come in.Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory.
Who is this King of Glory? He is the Lamb. The Lamb of Psalm 22, sacrificed on the cross, is the Lamb we find later in Revelation upon the throne.
The Lamb sacrificed in Psalm 22 is the Lamb glorified in Psalm 24. It is the same Lamb.
Heaven had been waiting through all the centuries for this to take place. When God got His Man in glory, the real work could begin.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord’s work in each one of us begins with the Lord Jesus glorified and exalted.
The Lord Jesus is committed to that glorified Man, and He will make sure that sooner or later we are conformed to that One in glory.
Life in glory is what He intends for us. We must be, and we shall be, conformed to that Man in glory, Who is our life.
Without seeing the Lord Jesus in glory, no real work can begin. God’s will ends in a man in glory—not merely getting out of Egypt, not merely having sins forgiven, not merely having peace.
God wants us to be in glory. That is His purpose. Anything short of that will not satisfy Him.
God begins with that Man in glory. That has to settle in our hearts. Then we can make spiritual progress and run the race to its finish, because there is One there Who guarantees our arrival.
When we meet again, we will dwell more on the work of the Holy Spirit—how He comes in and takes residence, and how His one mission is to transform us and conform us to that Man in glory.
He is in glory, not merely for Himself, but for us, because through Him He will bring many sons to glory.
There is no true worship without seeing Him highly exalted. Am I right or wrong? There is no true worship unless we see Him highly exalted.
That is the ground of our worship—not merely the One on the cross, thank God for that, but the One upon the throne.
There is no true service acceptable in God’s sight until we see that Man in glory, because otherwise there is no direction for our service.
What are we serving for? That Man in glory—to bring many sons to glory. That is the Gospel.
Look at the end of the Gospel of Mark. In Mark 16:15, the Lord gives instructions:
Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to the whole creation.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.
Then He speaks of signs following those who believe: casting out demons, speaking with new tongues, overcoming danger, and laying hands upon the sick.
But pay attention to Mark 16:19-20:
So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken unto them,
was received up into heaven,
and sat down at the right hand of God.And they went forth, and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them,
and confirming the word by the signs that followed.
That determines our work. After He had spoken those words, He was received into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Then they went forth and preached everywhere.
How much of our ministry is so lifeless because we do not have a vision of the finished work of the Lord Jesus and of the One Who is now exalted on high?
All power is given to Him. Power comes from the throne. Goodness comes from the throne. Mercy comes from the throne. Everything comes from the throne. The throne governs everything.
How much of our true spiritual worship comes from seeing Him exalted? How much of what we call ministry and service comes from seeing Him first?
We see needs first. We see people first. We see our own needs first. But we fail to see Him first. What a poor condition we are in.
How we need to be enlightened. God’s will can only be realized when we see Him highly exalted.
Look at Luke 24:44-48:
These are My words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must needs be fulfilled,
which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning Me.Then opened He their mind, that they might understand the scriptures;
and He said unto them, Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer,
and rise again from the dead the third day;
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
Ye are witnesses of these things.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus. It was necessary for Christ to suffer—but that was not the end. He would rise from the dead on the third day.
His resurrection speaks of His ascension and glorification. Then the work begins.
Brothers and sisters, I have to say that every time I come to this conference, I have to learn. I do learn, and we learn.
I may have a desire to possess something new, but how many of us are prepared to learn?
We want to learn, but we do not want to add it to our lives. That is why we are not getting anywhere.
This responsibility at this conference has already humbled me. The Lord has taught me some lessons.
Everything begins with seeing that finished work of the Lord Jesus. How do we know it is finished? Because He sits at the right hand of God.
He sits in glory—exalted, glorified, enthroned. His Father put Him there because His will was done perfectly to the Father’s satisfaction.
Unless we see this and settle this issue once for all, there is no going on. Going on begins with seeing Him, the Exalted One, upon the throne.
Otherwise, we have no Gospel to preach—no Gospel, no good news. What kind of good news can we preach without seeing Him exalted, when the work is done?
The same is true in church life. The exalted Head of the church is our Head corporately.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
When we meet next time, we will consider practical faith and living faith. Without faith, there is no appropriation of what He has done for us.
What He has done in Himself on the cross, and all that is involved in the cross, was not for Himself. It was for us.
He died as us. When the old man is removed, then He can bring in the new man. That is the work of the cross.
The cross ends the old and brings in the new—glorious and satisfying to God’s heart. That is where it ends, and that is where it all begins.
I have to confess that I share in such a feeble way. But I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in our hearts.
I was talking with some brothers in a lighter vein. We heard a brother this morning, and because of the way he speaks, the Chinese interpreters found him most difficult to interpret.
He uses American English, while another brother uses the King’s English—or the Queen’s English.
When I was praying tonight, I said, “Lord, I have one regret: English is not my mother tongue. If English were my mother tongue, perhaps I could express these things more adequately.”
But I have to say that I express them very poorly. I hope you see beyond what I say.
Moses could run and finish the race because he saw the invisible as though it were real. That is everything.
Abraham could finish the race because he saw the city whose Builder and Architect is God Himself.
Without faith, we cannot please God. Faith is not feeling. It is not merely what we see. It is touching the invisible spiritual reality that is secured for us in the Person of Jesus.
One day, He will make it real to us. That is faith.
Let us pray that the Lord will continue to draw our hearts close to Himself.
Most holy Lord Jesus, thank You for revealing something of Yourself to us.
Thank You for showing us the already accomplished work which You have done so gloriously on that cruel cross.
We thank You that on that cross Satan was finished once for all. The old creation was done away with.
Upon Your resurrection, You included us in Your new resurrection, in Your new creation. We cannot help but thank You for all that You are to us.
We pray that in these next few days You will continue to speak to us. Draw us closer to Yourself.
My cry is that we may see You as You are: glorified, exalted, enthroned.
All power has been given unto You. We thank You that Your work begins with Your exaltation, because Your purpose and Your aim for each one of us believers is to bring us to where You are now.
Thank You for so great a salvation. Again, we say that with us it is not possible, but with You all things are possible.
We give You all the praise and all the glory, in Christ’s mighty name. Amen.