Can I ask you to do something a little bit unusual? You may never have done it before. Can we spend the next two or three minutes just in silence before the Lord? Just to know in our hearts that we are before You, and just be quiet for a couple of minutes and put our hearts on the Lord Himself.
Because this last concluding session may be very critical. So let us be before the Lord.
Jesus, we want to be very conscious that we are before You. You are in the midst of us, and You are indwelling in each heart. We want to honor You as our Lord, as our Master.
We do desire to cultivate a life that reflects Who You are. Thank You for speaking to us these past few days. We thank You for many hearts that have responded.
And Lord, I pray that there will be persistence, steadfastness, believing You, looking to You, waiting upon You—not just to begin the work, but to finish it—that Your heart truly may be satisfied.
So we thank You again for this last session, that we can be together. Make this next half an hour so full of You. And to You we give all the praise and all the glory. In Christ’s precious name we pray. Amen.
It is not easy for me to say what I feel the Lord has laid on my heart, but I have to say it by His grace.
If Marian is correct—and I think she is correct—this must be close to the twentieth year of the young people’s conference. Thank God, He has been speaking to us all these years.
But the theme of this year is very special, very special. It is not just understanding; it is not just knowing. It is all about how we are going to practice it. That is what really matters. It is our walk.
In John 1, when John the Baptist first saw the Lord Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.” But the next day, when he and two of his disciples stood there and saw the Lord Jesus walking by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two of his disciples left John and followed Him.
So in those two days of John the Baptist’s encounter with the Lord Jesus, we see a very important principle: redemption is not the end. Redemption is the beginning of a walk.
Receiving life is not just to go to heaven. This life is to be worked out in us through our walk.
I can sympathize with Jim, that one morning when he wept because he said his daughter did not grasp the significance and reality of his walk. I thank the Lord for this answer: realizing there is no reality in me means there is a longing for reality. Thank God for that.
So this afternoon, I want to say a few words that are on my heart.
Now, some of you—probably most of you—have heard Brother Stephen Kaung’s ministry. How many of you have seen Brother Stephen Kaung’s ministry? Okay.
The past few years, every time we had a conference together, he always opened his time by saying, “We must treasure such time, because we have no certainty that we will have another chance. Redeem the time. Now is what counts, not tomorrow. Now is what counts.”
So what I am going to say is this: there is no guarantee that we are going to have another conference like this next year in Toronto. Well, they wish we have one. We all wish we have another one. But we have no guarantee.
So there is an urgency of time. Time is the framework by which God brings eternity into us. Time is grace. Time is God’s mercy. Time is for God to fulfill His purpose in our lives before we are no longer living in time.
So time is very precious. Redeem the time. The days are evil.
You know, when man was created—Adam and Eve—if you look into the first two chapters of Genesis, the first word God spoke to man was a word of warning. Because God is for man; He does not mean for man to make the wrong choice. Therefore, He gave man a warning first: beware how you choose.
Choosing is a given responsibility. Now, those who were at the Richmond conference recall: when God gave us free will to choose, He took a real risk, because there is a possibility we will make a wrong choice.
But thank God, the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. He provided the way out even before He knew we would make the wrong choice. But nevertheless, the responsibility lies on our shoulders—how we choose.
After man was created, the first word God spoke to man was a word of warning: “Do not choose the wrong tree. Choose the right tree.”
Now, warnings we shy away from. We shy away from warnings. But, young brothers and sisters, warning is necessary. It is true love. There is true love behind every true warning.
Another warning was given just before Israel entered Canaan. They were at the border of Canaan, in the land of Moab. The last few words of Moses to that whole generation that came out of Egypt, that lived through those forty years, were spoken just before they entered Canaan.
Moses said, “I have set before you life and good, death and evil. Choose which way you will go.” Because they were at the border. They could either go in, or they could refuse to go.
The provision is there, but we can disqualify ourselves very easily by not listening and by not obeying.
I have never been to a conference like this in the last few days where the word obey was mentioned so many times. Are you aware of that? Even in the devotional time, obedience is the key word.
Obedience in faith is the way—the only way—to God’s heart. There is no other way.
This morning, in our prayer time, one brother opened up and said, “Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your absolute obedience to the Father’s will.” Now, think about that. Without His obedience, we would not be here today. There would be no redemption. There would be no salvation. There would be no hope in any one of us.
It is because of His obedience that He gained and conquered sin. You see, Christ is the obedient One. Because of His obedience unto the cross, the church was built, and everything that God wants is through His obedience. There is no other way.
Now, I think most of you have packed your Bibles away. Am I right? Only a few of you have your Bibles with you. Okay, I want to turn to one very short verse—very precious, if you can find it—the third epistle of John.
The Third Epistle of John, verse 4.
The writer of this epistle is the same as the writer of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. We are told that he wrote his epistles, Revelation, and the Gospel of John at the end of his life. He was almost a hundred years old, so he was fully mature spiritually.
You can say that John’s heartbeat was synchronized with Christ’s heartbeat. He knew exactly what that was. John wrote this to another elder, Gaius.
These are the fatherly words of one who has that fatherly image, love, and concern:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
—3 John 1:4
You catch that? Let me read it again:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
—3 John 1:4
That is God’s expectation of us: walking in truth.
Walk in truth. When you walk in truth, Jesus is abiding in you, and you are abiding in Him—just like Enoch walked with God. It is a daily walk.
It is a consistent walk. It does not matter what happens; you are always together. Abiding means remaining. You never get out. You stay there for good. That is where you belong.
That is where you belong, and that is where God will do the work. It is when you belong to God that the real work begins.
Many Christians have the wrong understanding: “If I am in Christ, I am already complete. I am already perfected.” That is a wrong conception. It is once you are put in Christ that the real work begins.
Once we are redeemed, the process of redemption goes on until we see Him face to face, until we are perfected. So there is a process. There is a walk.
On Wednesday evening, after I shared those few words, a brother came up to me. He said, “What is it that we are heading toward? What are we aiming at?” I hope you all see that.
Once you are saved, that qualifies us to reach God’s end. Did you catch that? It is what we are saved into that qualifies us, equips us, to reach God’s end for us.
I always appreciate the writing of T. Austin-Sparks, because he gave you an enlarged vision. He helped you see the greatness of Christ. He helped you see the greatness of that calling. He helped you see the greatness of the redemption and of that purpose of glory that lies ahead, waiting for us.
Walking worthy is making us worthy for that which is to come, that we may possess it. It is a preparation to receive that worthy inheritance that lies before us.
You do not walk just to walk. You walk with something in mind—something in mind. There is a reward. There is a crown. Paul said, “I know there is a crown waiting for those who love the Lord and wait for His appearing.” There is something there.
We are all called unto that. Paul said that crown is not just for him, but for all those who love Him and wait for His appearing. So we are all included in this call.
T. Austin-Sparks says that when we are in Christ Jesus, we have no understanding, no thought, of what we have come into. Are you thinking about that?
All the fullness of God is already in Christ. Now, can anyone figure God out? No one. When God brought us into Christ, He made all that He is in Himself available to become real in us.
When we are put in Christ, when we come to Him, we have no idea what we have come into. It takes a whole lifetime, and it takes all through eternity, just to discover what we have come into.
How great is our God? How big is our God? How rich is our God? Paul says He is unsearchable. There is no way we can think Him out—no way. All we know down here is but a fraction, a small fraction, of what is in store for us in the ages to come.
If this life is so blessed, so real, so joyful—sin forgiven, reconciled with God, all that wonderful reality—and it is only a fragment of all that is in store for us, just imagine when you go into eternity.
Now, I am going to say some very important principles for young people to consider. First, I will say something about the negatives; then I will say something about the positives.
We have no idea how terrible sin is until we are in Christ Jesus. It is only when we are put in Christ Jesus that we finally discover how terrible sin is.
When we are in His holiness—put into Christ, the Holy One, the sinless One, the perfect One, Whom the Father is pleased with—then we begin to see how terrible sin really is.
You know, my son-in-law’s stepfather is dying with lung cancer in the hospital right now. Any moment, he can go.
Unless you witness someone dying that terrible death, you have no idea how terrible cancer is. Until somebody in your family has been through that, you have no sympathy for those who are agonizing under the disease.
So first, we cannot hate sin or realize how terrible it is until we are in Christ Jesus, because He is sinless. He cannot tolerate sin, and you cannot abide in Him if there is a trace of sin in us. He deals with it.
How does He deal with sin? Through the cross. Now, the cross is not something sentimental. The cross is a sentence of death. Death is judgment. There is no sympathy there.
Sin? Die. Sin? Sentence and crucifixion. There is no sympathy. God has no sympathy for sin, yet He loves sinners. That is how we are saved.
If you want to know the nature of sin and the terrible reality of sin, put yourself in Christ Jesus. Then in Him, you will see the true ugliness of sin.
Many of us do not see the ugliness of sin. We tolerate sin. We entertain sin. But we are not abiding in Christ. There is no truth in us, so we believe lies. That has to do with our walk.
Young brothers and sisters, it is hard to embrace truth because truth exposes our unreality. But without exposing truth, there is no true remedy. Unless we discover we are sinners, we will not seek the Savior.
Walk in truth, and you will discover the terrible, awful reality of sin. When you see the awfulness of sin, then you seek deliverance. When you say, “It is horrible. I want nothing to do with it,” you will turn away from it. But if you do not see its terribleness, you still tolerate it.
That is what happens with many young people. We are not being delivered because we do not see the ugliness and the terribleness of sin: it separates us from God, and the end is death.
The second thing, besides sin, is our natural life—our self-life. The self-life is always against the Spirit.
Galatians says, “Walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh.” If you walk in the flesh, you die. But if by the Spirit you live, you live. Do not obey the lusts of your flesh. Obey the Holy Spirit.
I am going to conclude my time very briefly with the next few thoughts. What Jim shared about was consciousness.
Are you conscious of why you are saved? Are you really conscious why He called you? Are you conscious of the place where He has put you now—and for what? Are you conscious?
Consciousness is the beginning of entering into that reality. By consciousness, you come to an understanding. It is not merely an understanding; consciousness is something that happens inside.
You can know something and not have the reality, but you cannot know nothing and possess reality, because it is something that takes place in your life. It changes your life.
If what we hear does not change our lifestyle, my young brothers and sisters, it is not good enough. There has to be a transformation from the inside out.
We are saved. We are separated from the old. We are now in the new. There is no compromise. There is no back door.
We have to face it. We have to face it. May God have mercy on us.
When I look at so many young brothers and sisters, I see that you are beloved by the Holy Spirit, and you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. But my concern for you, as it is for myself, is this: does the Holy Spirit have absolute sway in our lives?
If we call Jesus Lord, what does that mean? It means we have to make the Holy Spirit the Master of our inner life. We must make the Holy Spirit the new life-manager. Our life is now under new management.
The Lord Jesus is enthroned in glory, but His lordship is literally carried out in experience by the way we obey and honor the resident Boss—the Holy Spirit.
So I want to help you, my young brothers and sisters. Do not first think about going to Russia. Do not first think about doing a lot of works. The first thing must come first.
In our lives, in our actions, in everything we do, are we conscious that there is in us a resident Boss Who is ruling our lives from the inside out? Are we living from that source, that life inside?
Our lives are influenced by external things. Many young people, when they want to buy clothes, go to magazines. They watch television. Many years ago, a brother used to tease some young brothers: “You want to live a perfect, healthy, happy, beautiful life? All you need to do is watch television and do what the television advertisements want you to do.”
You see what I am saying? It is all influenced by external things. But we have another source: the Holy Spirit.
My brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you: listening and cultivating sensitivity to your resident Boss, the Holy Spirit—the Lord Jesus—is absolutely crucial in our spiritual walk.
To walk worthy of Him, the first thing is not what we do, but obedience to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and leading within.
Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not grieve the Spirit.” Walking begins from listening to the indwelling Host. That is where you begin. If we do not begin with that, there is nothing there to follow.
I am speaking very straightforwardly to you, because your walk is not just important to yourself. Your walk is important to the One Who loves you, calls you, and saved you.
We are saved for Him, to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him.
If I do not share this, I cannot go home in peace. I will not be truthful to what the Lord has shown me. I will not be truthful to you. I would be lying to you. I am not really helping you, and I am not really helping myself.
So begin where it begins: recognize that in each of you who has the Lord, you have a resident Boss residing within. He is there to guide you, tell you, and direct you as to how you are to walk before Him.
Listen all the way. That is the great lacking—not just among young people, but even older folks. I am not speaking just to you, but to all Christians in general as well. They fail to honor their resident Boss.
That is why we are so poor spiritually. That is why we are such a poor testimony. That is why we are poor children in our families. That is why we have no witness to the outside world: because we do not have the inside reality to show.
You know, I wish I could weep some tears with you. But what can I say? Do not say anything. Let the word convict you.
It is that word that convicted me. I have no way of convicting you. There is no other way.
John said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Young brothers and sisters, there is no greater joy in our God’s Father’s heart than to see all of us walking in truth.
Truth exposes lies. Light exposes darkness. Christ is truth. He is our light.
So, young people, take the few words I have shared to heart. This walking worthy of Him begins by listening to the prompting voice and obeying. There is no other way.
Begin with small things. Big things are made up of small things.
What do I mean by small things? Things you consider casual: the clothing we wear, the shoes we wear, how we walk, how we sit, how we respond to each other.
Your walk is a reflection of the Person Who is within. Your walk tells who you are. There is no other way.
Some may say, “Oh, your walk is so heavy.” No, I hope it is not that heavy, but it is very essential—very essential.
I want to give one more encouraging word: what is impossible with men is not impossible with God. Remember, this walk naturally, for us, no one can do it. But with God, nothing is impossible.
That is where faith comes in. Faith is the currency. Faith is appropriating all that God promises us and making it real to us—making spiritual life real in us, making the unseen real in our lives. It is by faith and obedience.
This morning’s devotional material showed us that if there is no obedience, there is no further light or revelation. You are stuck where you are. There is no spiritual growth.
Through obedience, we come to a fuller knowledge of Who God really is. May the Lord be gracious to all of us.
Finally, what I say to you, I say first to myself. You have much to learn. I have much to learn. We are in the school of Christ together.
When you see me walking in truth, you are encouraged. When I see you walking in truth, I am encouraged. We are here to encourage each other.
I pray and hope that next year, if we have a conference, we will come back as different people, because we have learned to walk a little bit more like Him.
So next year, when you come, you will say, “Wow, is that him? Wow, is that her? What a difference.”
God is able to do the impossible.
I think I want to share this with you as part of my personal testimony. Do not think I am here to teach you, my young brothers and sisters. I come to this conference to learn with you.
Brother Stephen Kaung, at the past Richmond conference, touching on this, said, “I am not here to teach you. I am here to meditate together with you on God.”
That is why I am here at the young people’s conference: not to teach, but to sit back there and learn with you. What a privilege to be learners of Christ.
Now, Luke 1. Just those few verses.
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
—Luke 1:37
Do not forget that, my young brothers and sisters. That is the foundation of our faith: with God, nothing will be impossible.
Then Mary’s response:
Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
—Luke 1:38
The angel departed because Mary took it to heart. There was no need for further reminding. She took it. She meant it. Sometimes we say it, but we do not mean it. But Mary meant it, and there was no further talking.
Then we are told:
Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord.
—Luke 1:45
One further thought: Mary said, “Let it be to me according to Your word.” “Let it be to me.” It is very personal—very personal.
If you want to help each other, thank God for that concern, that love, and that compassion. But the real help you can give your brothers and sisters is to allow that word to be fulfilled in you first. Then the Lord will fulfill it in them.
That is how we help each other. Make it real in you first, and the Lord will make it real in those you are concerned for.
So may I say, “Make it real to me. Make it real in me according to what You have spoken.” And the Lord will fulfill it.
My young brothers and sisters, we are learners. We are learners. If time is short and the days are evil, let us pray that the Lord will accelerate our learning process.
Do not prolong it. Tomorrow is not yours. Now is yours.
Today, if you hear His word, do not harden your heart. Today is the day of salvation.
Now, “today” does not just refer to our initial salvation, but also to the saving of the soul, so that we can follow Him. Saving our soul-life is for following Him.
The Lord bless you, my brothers and sisters. It is so good to see many of you from other places—our brothers and sisters from Vancouver.
Finally, I want to thank the Lord for the young people in Toronto, for their labor of love and their many sacrifices. May the Lord reward you.
I thank the workshop leaders, the fellowship leaders, and those who prayed together. Again, I say: I have never felt the Body ministry so real until this conference—how the brothers and sisters stand together with one another.
I thank Dan and Richard, and all these other brothers: Alan, Charlie, Ben, June, Paul, Dale, and all the others. We are not alone. We are together. Together, we will make it, by His mercy.
So the Lord bless you, young brothers and sisters. Do not forget: we begin our walk by listening carefully to the small voice within and obeying. That is overcoming. That is true living. That is a life pleasing to the Lord.
Father, we just thank You for reminding us of this word. I need it. We all need it. Make it real in our lives.
Oh, have mercy on us. Lord, do it for Your sake. Do it for Your glory’s sake. Help us, Lord, to obey—not just obey, but obey willingly, knowing that is the way that is pleasing in Your sight.
Through obeying, we are given further light and given further revelation. We come to a greater knowledge of Who You are and a greater appreciation of Who You are.
May You receive all the praise and all the glory as we depart from this camp. We pray that Your presence will go with us. Lord, hold on to us. Hold on to us until Your will is done, until You receive all the glory. In Christ’s precious name, amen.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all.
—Ephesians 4:4-6
This is what we have witnessed this week: one Spirit leading in this conference. It is one Lord Who is leading in this conference.
When the brothers and sisters come together to plan these conferences, we do not call each other up to see what each one is going to share. But there is much seeking. There is much prayer.
We have witnessed how the Spirit has led each and every one of these meetings—from the morning devotions to the messages, to the workshops, to all these times—and how it is He Who put everything together. We praise God for that.
We have considered what Jim shared with us: how we need to have that awareness, and when that light shows us, we need to lay down ourselves and obey.
We heard Dana talk about time and how it needs to be redeemed, and how the enemy robs us of our time.
Did you feel angry when you heard that the enemy has somehow robbed us of time? I hope we do. There is that righteous anger to claim something back for the Lord, whether it is through witnessing or through the everyday obedience that we have. We need to redeem that time.
It is so practical, what we have heard this week. I think about the workshops: when we are walking individually, how we need to subject ourselves to the Spirit and have that spirit of discernment.
When we are in the family, we have heard God’s purpose for marriage and how beautiful that is when it comes together. When we obey our parents in the Lord, how beautiful that is in the family.
When we are walking together, we need to learn how to forgive one another, just as the Lord has forgiven us. We come together to assemble together; that is God’s command. We need to remember these things as we come together.
We do not know if we will have a conference next year, but we can start praying about it. We can start looking to the will of God to see.
Who knows? Maybe He will already be back, and we will all be up in heaven by then. That would be glorious. But if we are still here, if the Lord wills, we want to seek Him for another conference next year. Maybe you can remember that in your prayers.
I just wanted to share one more verse from 1 Peter 4:1-2.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind;
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men,
but to the will of God.
—1 Peter 4:1-2
We want to take what we have heard this week home, and we want to obey. When the opportunities come, we want to be prepared, and we want to seize those opportunities.
May the Lord really give us that grace and that willing heart not to quench the Spirit, but to really listen to Him. Wherever He leads us, we will follow.
Dear Lord, we do want to come together. We want to come together to praise You. We want to come together to worship You. We want to thank You for Your presence with us this week.
Lord, we know that it is one Lord, one Spirit, and one Father Who has been leading us in this time. For that, Lord, we praise You.
Lord, everything that we have heard this week—from our devotional times, our discussion groups, workshops, and messages—may we keep these things in our hearts. Keep Your words close in our hearts.
Lord, we want to abide in You. We thank You that You are the same God, the same Lord, wherever we are.
Lord, we pray that what we have heard would be lived out, that we would work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because You are worthy. May all things be summed up in You.
We praise You, Lord. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
In the discipleship song:
Before the throne of Christ,
I now surrender.
Here is our life,
all that I have.A living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable to Thee,
constrained by His mercy.