Will you please turn to Genesis, the book of Genesis, Chapter 1? We will read from Genesis 1:26-28.
And God said, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepth upon the earth.
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The book of Hebrews, Chapter 5. We begin with Hebrews 5:7-9.
Who, that is, our Lord Jesus, in the days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and having been heard for His godly fear,
though He was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered;
and having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author of eternal salvation.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather here in Thy own name, we sense that we are already living in eternity. We praise and thank Thee that Thou art our God and we are Thy children.
We look to Thee, Lord, to open Thy Word to us and bring us into that which is according to Thy will. Lord, we are here. Speak; Thy servants hear. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We thank God for gathering us together again this time. I often feel that such opportunity is very rare, especially as we are approaching the end. The time certainly is at hand.
So we just desire that we will not miss such an opportunity. I personally feel that I would not like to preach at you. I would rather ask all of you, both old and young, to join with me in meditating on the Word of God.
In other words, there is no speaker and no hearer here. We are all before the Lord together, seeking to know His heart and desiring that He may have us for Himself.
Now, the theme for this conference is taken from Revelation 1:1-3. It is revelation, realization, and responsibility. All these three are related to this matter of time.
Why is revelation so urgent? Why is realization so needed? Why must responsibility be fulfilled? Because the time is very close.
And if we miss the revelation, the realization, and the responsibility, then, dear brothers and sisters, when we stand before Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, should we hang our heads in shame? Or can we look up to Him and see His glorious face?
Brothers and sisters, revelation is absolutely necessary. Without revelation, we are spiritually dead. Revelation comes from God, and we do thank God because He is the God who reveals Himself. It is His good pleasure to reveal His Son in us.
But what is revelation if it is not realized in our lives? It will be just theory, theology. It does not help; on the contrary, it condemns. Because the more revelation you receive, the more you are responsible for it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we need revelation. We need to see God. We need to see God’s purpose. We need to see God’s Son. We need to see what God intends to work in us.
We need to see all these things, and not only to see them, but to realize them by the grace of God, by the working of the cross. The revelation must become real in our lives.
And out of such revelation and realization, we are able to fulfill the responsibility that God has called us into. So, brothers and sisters, this is a very serious time. We have no time to lose.
We need to really be before the Lord and ask Him that He will not allow this time to slip away.
My responsibility is to speak on responsibility. You would not like to hear even the word responsibility. But, brothers and sisters, if we really know what responsibility is, why it is that God should put responsibility upon us, then we will receive responsibility in an entirely different way.
We will see that it is a privilege. It is an honour. It leads to glory. So I hope, brothers and sisters, especially young people, do not be afraid to hear this word, responsibility. It is a glorious word.
Who are we that God should put responsibility upon us? Brothers and sisters, we should be most thankful that God should entrust us with responsibility with Him.
We would like to approach this matter of responsibility from three sides, very simply:
Thank God, His truth is simple. Now, brothers and sisters, in anything—not only spiritual and heavenly things, but even ordinary, common things—if you really want to understand what it is, you cannot begin with yourself.
Because if you begin anything with yourself, you miss the whole picture, because you are not the beginning.
So when we talk about responsibility—why there is responsibility and why responsibility is put upon us—you cannot begin with yourself. We have to begin with the very beginning.
And, dear brothers and sisters, who is that very beginning except God Himself? In the beginning, God.
In this matter of responsibility, you have to begin with God. You have to understand what kind of God He is. Then you are beginning to understand what our responsibility is.
God is the great I AM. He is the self-existing One. He is the beginning of all things. He is the beginning and He is the end.
He is the living God. He is the supreme Will in the universe, purposing according to His good pleasure even before the foundation of the world.
And whatever He purposes, He fulfills; He accomplishes. He is the God who promises, and He is the God who fulfills all His promises.
He is a God of responsibility. He is responsible to no one, but He is responsible to Himself. So that is why the Bible says, “He cannot deny Himself.” He is always responsible.
Now, knowing that God is such a God, then we will understand why He gave us responsibility.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we have to go back to the creation of man. In the beginning, when God created man, He created man in His own image.
You know, brothers and sisters, of all the created beings that God created, man is special.
Before He created man, there was a counsel among the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And out of that counsel, They created man.
They created man in Their own image. He never did that before. He never did that to the heavens nor the earth. He never even did that to the angels and all the other creatures. He only did it to man.
Man is created in God’s image. Now, I hope you remember that, especially young people: you are created in the image of God. You are special.
And what do we mean by image? Image in the Scripture does not refer to outward form. It refers to inward quality.
In other words, you are all made according to the inward character and quality of God. Now, that speaks a lot, but this morning we will just concentrate on one point.
When God created man in His image, He created man with a free will, because God Himself is a free Will. He can will anything He wants to.
There is perfect freedom in exercising His will. And when God created man, He created man with a free will.
In other words, if you have a will, then you can choose. You can decide what you want. You can decide your own destiny—where you are going.
Brothers and sisters, this is a great privilege. God did not make you a robot that can only do what He wants you to do.
He built you, He made you, He created you with a will as free as His own. He gives you the liberty to exercise your will, to choose your own destiny.
Now, this is a great responsibility. The very fact of the creation of man involves responsibility.
That is why we say a newborn baby has a will, but he does not have the consciousness, the understanding, of his will. So, whatever babies do, you cannot hold them responsible.
But as they grow up, then they come to the age of accountability. Whenever they exercise their wills, they will be held responsible.
So, brothers and sisters, in the very creation of man, you find God giving man a free will. Responsibility is already there. You cannot say, “I am not responsible.”
You know, sometimes, especially we who are the Lord’s, we say, “Well, God so loves us. He does everything for us. Everything is grace. So where is our responsibility? We just enjoy what He has given to us, and that is it.”
Now, is that Christianity? Is this the Christianity that you like?
You do not understand God. You do not understand God’s heart. You do not understand God’s way. He wants you for more than that.
He gives you a free will. What a risk God has taken in giving man a free will! But to God it is worth it.
He does not want someone to love Him and serve Him because that is automatic. There is nothing you can do. That is not love. That is not service. That does not give God any glory.
He would rather take the risk and make man in His own image, allow him to make his own choice, and put him under responsibility. What an honour God has given to man!
Number two: as God created man, He not only made him in His image, but He blessed man. He gave man dominion—authority over the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and the living creatures on the land.
He gave man power. He put man in the Garden of Eden, and God said, “Till it and guard it.”
In other words, from the very beginning of the creation of man, God gave him authority and power. Now today people want authority. People long for power. But do you know what authority and power are really for? Where do they come from?
Authority and power come from God. God is the only authority in the universe. All power belongs to Him.
And yet He gave man authority, dominion to rule, and gave him power to do the work. Now think of that.
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—it was not a small garden, maybe behind your house. That Garden of Eden must have been like a park, and God said, “Guard it.”
There was no wall to the garden. Adam and Eve, they were the wall of the garden. In other words, they were almost everywhere, so the enemy had no chance to slip in. Now what power is that?
You know, the full power of man has not even been fully understood. When you think of the power that Adam had, it is beyond our imagination.
But with that power given, he should be able to exercise his authority and fulfill his responsibility. So, brothers and sisters, if you are thinking of authority and power, think of responsibility.
Maybe that will take you away from that ambition for authority and power, because authority and power are given to fulfill God-given responsibility.
Not only that: when God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God said, “I have prepared all the trees in that garden—fruit-bearing trees, all kinds of fruits, beautiful leaves.”
And God said, “I have provided all these for you. You may eat and live.” But in the midst of the garden, God planted the tree of life. It symbolizes the life of God, divine life.
You know, when God created man, He breathed His breath into man’s nostrils, and the Bible says man became a living soul. So, in other words, man’s life is a created life. It came from God, and yet it is a created life.
But thank God, because man was made in the image of God. So God already had the thought in His heart: “I will create a man in My image who has the capacity to receive Me—My life, My uncreated life, My eternal life, My divine life—into him, so that he may be joined to Me in life.”
Brothers and sisters, how glorious that is. How precious are the thoughts of God toward man!
From the very beginning, His desire for man was not only that man may live, but that man may receive His own life and have communion with Him, union with Him in life—to know Him not outwardly, but inwardly. Brothers and sisters, how glorious that is.
But by the side of that tree of life, God planted another tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Some people think that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is an evil tree, but I personally do not think so. God will never put anything evil in the garden. The evil one was outside the garden, and Adam was called to guard the garden and not let the evil one slip in.
So there was nothing evil in the garden itself. Then what is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Now, I think, brothers and sisters, this tree does not need to be explained because we have all eaten it. We all know its bitterness, its sourness.
Knowledge of good and evil—that is the supreme knowledge the world has ever known. What knowledge does the world know higher than the knowledge of good and evil?
In other words, whether it is scientific knowledge or philosophical knowledge, none can compare with ethical knowledge. To know good and evil is the highest knowledge on earth.
But, brothers and sisters, without the life of God, this knowledge is death. Because it makes man independent of God, thinking that he knows it all and does not need God to guide him or teach him.
So God purposely put the second-best tree in the Garden of Eden, and the choice was between the best and the second best.
Why should God do such a thing? Because He wants man to know that He created man above all things, but under One.
Man had dominion over the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and the beasts of the field. But he was under God.
Only under God would he be able to fulfill his commission and fulfill his destiny. So God put them in the Garden of Eden, and then God gave a command.
“Of all the trees in the garden, you may freely eat.” What a generous God He is. “But this tree, the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
A command, a law, was given to man in order to put man in his right place.
So, brothers and sisters, aside from the fact that we are created in His image, having a free will, and aside from the fact that He has given us power and authority and responsibility, we find ourselves under the fundamental law of God.
You are under Him. You are not master of the world. You are not even your own master. You have a Master. You have a God. You have a Creator above you. Listen to Him and live. Disobey Him and you die.
Very clear. What is that? Responsibility. That is responsibility.
So, brothers and sisters, from the very beginning, responsibility is built into man. It will help man to fulfill his destiny. It will bring man into the full purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, what we are trying to say here is that we need revelation. Without revelation, we are blind. We really do not know anything if we do not have revelation from above.
All we depend upon is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We think we know everything, but, brothers and sisters, we know nothing.
But revelation creates a great responsibility. You cannot separate these two things. Now look at Adam. God had given him so much. And how did he respond?
I believe we all know the story. There in the Garden of Eden, they did not fulfill their responsibility. They allowed the enemy of God to slip into the garden in the shape of a serpent.
And the serpent deceived Eve. But do you know Eve gave the serpent the ground for temptation? Temptation comes from Satan, from the enemy, but sometimes we provide ground for temptation.
Evidently, Eve wandered away from Adam. She was alone. Brothers and sisters, God created us in such a way that we need to be together. We need each other to support each other.
And when Eve wandered away from Adam, she was alone. And look what she was looking at. She was looking at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Is it not strange that she was not looking at the tree of life, but instead she was looking at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Something must have been going on in her heart.
She admired the tree. It was good to look at. And then Satan came and said, “Did God say, ‘Of all the trees in the garden, you shall not eat’?”
Behind that question was the suggestion that God was a hard God. He did not want them to live. He would not allow them to eat any fruit, and man at that time had nothing but fruit. If they could not eat fruit, they would die. God was a hard-hearted God.
And then Eve said, “No, no, of course that is ridiculous. We can eat all the trees, but this one we cannot eat, nor can we touch.”
You see, the idea that God is a hard God began to sink into her mind. God never said that they could not touch it. He only said they could not eat it.
But Eve began to accept the temptation of Satan and add to the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, you remember Revelation 22: to the Word of God, you shall not add anything, nor take anything away.
It is pure. It is the Word of God. Be careful not to take away anything from the Word of God, nor to add anything to it. And that is what Eve did.
So Satan then got around her. He came in and said, “You know why God does not allow you to eat it? It is because if you eat it, your eyes will be opened. You will be like God.”
And Eve took it and ate it. And evidently, at that moment, Adam came, and she gave Adam to eat.
She was deceived, but Adam sinned deliberately. That is why sin entered into the world through one man, Adam. He knew all about it, but he loved his wife more than God.
If he did not eat, he would lose his wife. He loved his wife so much that he would rather share that eternal death with his wife. That is human love.
That is why even our human love has to be purified. The Lord calls us to love Him more than father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, even our own lives. Even our love needs to be purified.
Oh, brothers and sisters, Adam failed in his responsibility. He failed to take care of his wife. He did not prevent his wife from wandering away from him.
He failed to guard the garden. He allowed the enemy to slip in. He disobeyed God’s command deliberately. He sinned.
So, brothers and sisters, from the very beginning of the history of man, you can see that it is a failure of responsibility.
But thank God. Whatever God says, He will do it. Whatever He has purposed, He will accomplish. He is not defeated.
Yes, the enemy delays His purpose, but he has not defeated His purpose. On the contrary, out of the failure of man, God came in with something far bigger, far greater, far more glorious.
Something that will reveal His heart more than anything else. We never know the love of God until we see Him give His only begotten Son.
Brothers and sisters, in the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son—the One who was with Him from the beginning, the One who was always pleasing to Him, the One whom He loved more than anything else, the One for whom He created all things.
And yet, to show His love to man, to you and to me, brothers and sisters, He was willing to let go of His only begotten Son.
And what of the Son? In obedience to His Father, and out of His love toward His Father, He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself of all the glory and honour.
Oh, God, He could not empty Himself of His deity, no, because that is what He is. But He emptied Himself of all that surrounded Him, and He came to this world—a fallen world, a world of violence, of corruption, of sin.
And He took the form of a bondservant. As a man, He took the form of a bondservant. He came as a slave, as a loving slave whose ear had been pierced for love of his master and who would not leave his master’s house, willing to serve his master all his life.
That was the sentiment of our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. Throughout His life, He obeyed His heavenly Father. He never did anything on His own. He never said any word on His own.
His time was always in His Father’s hand. He did not have all the privileges that Adam had.
Adam was put in a garden of pleasure, but our Lord Jesus was born in a manger. He was tempted in the desert. He did not have the privilege even of a common person.
How He suffered, but how faithful He was. Less privilege, more responsibility.
His responsibility was much more than what God had given to Adam, because He came to save the lost. He came to redeem fallen mankind.
He came to show the love of God to man. He came to bring man back to the loving, glorious purpose of God concerning man.
He died on a cross to shed His blood for the remission of our sins. His body was broken to open a new and living way for us to come into the very presence of God.
He not only forgave our sins; He gave His own life to us—eternal life, divine life, a life that has already been proven able to live on earth and fulfill all responsibility.
Brothers and sisters, this life has been given to you and given to me. I am not worthy.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know you have His life in you? It is a life of privilege, a life of responsibility.
It is a life that is well able to fulfill all the responsibilities that God may call you to do.
Equipped with such a gift, will you fulfill your responsibility or not? There is your free will to decide.
All the potential is there. Brothers and sisters, all the potential to fulfill your responsibility that God has placed upon you—all the power is there.
Now it is up to you. Will you respond? Will you take up the responsibility for His sake? Will you do that?
Lord, we stand amazed at Thy great love. We are overwhelmed by what Thou hast given to us in creation, and more in redemption. Lord, we are doubly Thine.
Where can we go? What can we do? But, Lord, we want to go with Thee. We want to do Thy will. We want to fulfill Thy purpose.
Glory, glory to God. In Jesus’ name, amen.