Come, and let us return unto the Lord;
for He hath torn, and He will heal us;
He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.
After two days will He revive us:
on the third day He will raise us up,
and we shall live before His face.
And let us know, let us follow on to know the Lord:
His going forth is sure as the morning;
and He will come unto us as the rain,
as the latter rain that watereth the earth.
And this, knowing the time, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep:
for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed.
The night is far spent, and the day is at hand:
let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day;
not in revelling and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and jealousy.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret:
but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort,
what earnest care it wrought in you,
yea, what clearing of yourselves,
yea, what indignation,
yea, what fear,
yea, what longing desire,
yea, what zeal,
yea, what avenging!
In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for this privilege of coming together in Thy name, before Thy presence, to hear Thy word.
Lord, we ask that Thou wilt give us ears to hear, and give us hearts to understand. We pray that Thy word will not return unto Thee void, but will accomplish its purpose in each one of us, that Thy purpose may be fulfilled. We ask in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
What we gather together to consider this time is the summing up of all things in Christ. In this summing up, we as God’s people must take the lead. We are the firstfruits of the creation.
We have to be summed up in Christ, and then all things will follow. So this is how important it is for us to really consider this matter seriously before the Lord.
My responsibility is returning to Christ. As I have mentioned the first time, it presupposes that there has been departure. Because there has been departure, therefore there will be need to return.
So the challenge before us is, first of all, do we really sense the need of returning to Christ? What is our attitude? Is it that we do not feel there is any need to return because we are already there? We are always there. We have never departed.
Now, if this is the attitude we take, then, brothers and sisters, there is no need for you to hear what we are going to consider. But if, by the grace of God, you do sense the need—and it is not just in your mind that you think you should have a need to return, but really in your heart you deeply sense the necessity of returning to Christ—then, brothers and sisters, the next question we have to ask is, how?
How are we to return to Christ? The way of returning. So this is what we would like to consider together this morning before the Lord.
I do not know how you feel, but I do feel very strongly that, in these last days, God’s people tend to go into spiritual sleep.
It seems to me that it is a common phenomenon. God’s people are not alert. God’s people are not awake. God’s people are not watchful. God’s people are not diligent. God’s people seem to be in a stupor, in a spiritual slumber.
That is what you find in the word of God. In Romans 13, we are called to wake up, to be aroused out of sleep, because the night is far spent and the day is near.
In other words, we cannot and we should not continue to fall into spiritual lethargy, spiritual sleep, even coma, because the night is far spent. It is time to wake up.
You know, especially when you come to the midnight time, you tend to fall asleep. It is difficult to stay awake. But this is the most dangerous time, because this is the time that requires us to be aroused, to be awake.
You remember our Lord Jesus, when He took His disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. He was so oppressed in His spirit. He asked the disciples to stay there, and He would go forward to pray.
He took three of His most intimate disciples with Him. To me, it is strange that our Lord Jesus just left the other disciples there without even asking them to watch and pray with Him. But to these three most intimate disciples, our Lord requested them to watch and pray with Him.
Then He went forward and prayed. When He came back, He found that these three were fast asleep. The Lord woke them up and said, “Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
In a sense, we find this is almost the universal condition of God’s people today. We are in a stupor, in a slumber, in a sleep.
The last days are the most trying times. Just like when you come to midnight, it is very trying to our flesh to keep awake. But this is the most important time to be awake and to be alert.
You know, this passage in Romans 13 is a very famous passage. Why? Because these verses were the turning point in the life of Augustine.
Augustine was a very brilliant young man. He was so brilliant that, while he was rather young, he became a professor of rhetoric in the university. At that time, a professor of rhetoric held the highest position in a university.
But this young man lived a dissipated life. His mother, Monica, prayed for him and went before the Lord for her son.
When Augustine began to feel the need of knowing the meaning of life, he searched for the meaning of life. He got into heresy.
But one time, he and his friends went away to spend a few days together, just to reason together on the meaning of life. They came to no conclusion. He was so frustrated that he stood up, left, and walked in the garden.
“What is the meaning of life?” No answer.
Then he heard some children singing. He listened to what the children sang, and he heard, “Take it up, take it up, and read.”
He went to his room, took up the Bible, opened it, and it was Romans 13.
The verses that we read in the beginning spoke to him:
And this, knowing the time, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep:
for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed.
The night is far spent, and the day is at hand:
let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day;
not in revelling and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and jealousy.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
That was what Augustine was. But he heard the voice of God. He repented. He returned to Christ.
Brothers and sisters, are we in a spiritual slumber? Have we been waking up?
You know, life is a battle. The moment you are born, you fight daily, hourly, against death. It is a continuous battle throughout our lives physically.
Now, how much truer spiritually. Oftentimes, we think that if we are saved, then that is the end. The battle is won, so we can just lie down, take it easy, and be careless.
Brothers and sisters, is that our attitude? If that is our attitude, no wonder we live a life of spiritual defeat.
Because there are forces around us. We have an enemy within: our own flesh. We have an enemy around us: the world. We have an enemy hidden: Satan, the devil, the deceiver, the murderer.
Brothers and sisters, the moment we are saved and born from above, the battle begins, and it will continue on to the very end. But unfortunately, God’s people take the Christian life so easily. They do not understand that the Christian life is a battle for life.
You relax. You stay back. You do not press on. You do not exercise diligence, seeking the Lord with all your heart, fighting the good fight. Brothers and sisters, no wonder through carelessness you go into spiritual sleep.
You are not conscious of anything wrong with your Christian life. You feel that you are fine. You are all right.
When I was young, I read a story. I do not know whether it is a real story or fiction. There was a man boating in the river, at least near a fall. It was such a beautiful, sunny day.
So, after a little while, he stopped rowing. He just laid back, enjoying the weather and enjoying the scenery on the shore. He was drifting.
Suddenly, he was near the fall.
Now, brothers and sisters, are we in that same position? You remember Hebrews 2. There is the first warning to the believers. Hebrews is a letter of exhortation. Exhortation means warning and encouragement.
Here you find the first warning in Hebrews 2. After a glorious revelation of the Son of God, then the warning comes: “Lest you slip away.”
And “slip away” is also “drift away.” In other words, after we have received such a revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we should take it to heart and diligently seek Him, to know Him.
Now, if we do not, we will gradually slip away. We will gradually drift away. And is that not the condition of many believers today? They are saved, but they are no different from the people of the world—just drifting along.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is time to be aroused out of sleep. Wake up, because the night is far spent and the day is coming. If our Lord should come today, where would you be?
The letter to Laodicea—we often say this last letter of our risen Lord to the churches prophetically represents the church in the last age. What do you find there?
You find that it is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm.
You know, naturally, we like things lukewarm. You do not like to drink tea that is very hot or very cold, but lukewarm tea is very soothing. It helps you to sleep.
Spiritually, how true this is. Naturally, we like something neither cold nor hot. If you get too hot, people say, “Well, you are too hot.” And even if you get too cold, people may say, “Well, you are too cold. You need to wake up a little, warm up a little bit—but not too hot. Do not go to extremes. Be moderate.”
That is the advice we hear always: lukewarmness. But listen to what our Lord said. The Lord said, “I would thou wert cold or hot.”
Our Lord does not like lukewarmness. If you are not hot, the Lord said, better be cold, so at least you may wake up. But if you are lukewarm, you do not see the need of waking up.
Brothers and sisters, is it not that among God’s people today? You discover there are people who, in the beginning of their Christian lives, were really zealous for the Lord. They were hot.
But gradually, that first love cools down. Yet they still look back and remember how faithful, how rich, how much they know about the Lord.
You know, what is the church in Laodicea? Where does it come from? The church in Laodicea comes from the church in Philadelphia.
There was a time when there was such love towards God and towards the brethren. There was a time when they did not deny the name of the Lord. They kept the word of patience of our Lord. They were faithful to the Lord, and because of this, the Lord revealed Himself to them in such a full way. That was the church in Philadelphia.
But gradually, the fire goes away. They still retain the outward appearance, but there is no more fire with it. That is Laodicea.
Outwardly, everything goes on as usual. You cannot find any fault. They have knowledge—scriptural knowledge—exact, accurate, adept.
They thought they were rich, but our Lord said, “You are poor.” They thought they were clothed, but the Lord said, “You are naked.” They thought they saw, but the Lord said, “You are blind.”
The Lord was knocking at the door outside, and yet they thought the Lord was inside with them.
Brothers and sisters, are we in such a state? We had a glorious beginning with the Lord, but where are we now? And yet we are still proud of ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, we can fall into such a situation. We can be deceived by the devil to such a degree that we are completely obsessed. That is to say, we just cannot see our real situation.
You know, the book of Malachi is a book that shows us what spiritual obsession really is. God’s people can be so obsessed that they just cannot see reality.
Here you find the last voice in the Old Testament to God’s people. God said, “I have loved you.” But they said, “Wherein hast Thou loved us?” They could not sense even the love of God.
God said, “Ye despise My name.” And they said, “Wherein have we despised Thy name?” God said, “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words.” But they said, “Wherein have we wearied Him?”
God said, “Return unto Me.” And they said, “Wherein shall we return?” God said, “Ye have robbed Me.” And they said, “Wherein have we robbed Thee?”
Brothers and sisters, this is obsession. Your mind is completely obsessed with deception so that you just cannot see reality. Unfortunately, God’s people today can fall into that situation.
I would like to say a few words to the young generation. You know, dear brothers and sisters, in the Bible, spiritually speaking, there is no second generation. Physically, yes; but spiritually, there is no second generation—always first generation.
You remember the children of Israel. By the mercy of God, they entered into the promised land. They had seen the mighty works of God. They had seen the lovingkindness of God firsthand.
But after Joshua died, and the first generation of elders who knew the Lord died, you know what happened? The second generation lived in the promised land, but they were not able to keep their inheritance.
Why? Because they did not have firsthand experience of God. They lived by tradition. If you live by tradition, no matter how good that tradition is, no matter how accurate that tradition is, it is dead.
Lots of brothers and sisters, you are raised up in Christian families. Maybe you are still unsaved. I was raised up in a Christian family. My father loved the Lord. We had family devotion every day, but I was not saved.
If, by the grace of God, you have a touch, a living touch, with Christ, you are saved. Thank God for that. But do not live by the tradition of your fathers.
You need to seek the Lord earnestly, to have a firsthand, living experience of the living Christ in your life. Otherwise, you will be in the same place of spiritual sleep.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the way of returning to Christ? First: recall. Remember wherein you have fallen. In other words, awake. You need to be awake.
You know, in Revelation 2, the letter to the church in Ephesus, our Lord Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, in verse 5:
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works;
or else I come to thee,
and will move thy candlestick out of its place,
except thou repent.
The first thing is to remember. Remember wherein thou hast fallen.
If you remember, there is hope. So you find in Lamentations 3:19–21:
Remember mine affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance,
and is humbled in me.
This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope.
You know about the prodigal son. He was far away in a distant land. He wasted everything that his father had given to him, and there was a famine. He was sent to watch the swine, and even the husks he had none.
Now, in his desperation, he remembered his father’s house. He recalled that in his father’s house there was plenty. Even the servants had plenty.
And that woke him up. He was aroused from his sleep, and that was the beginning of his returning to his father.
So, brothers and sisters, the first thing is that we need to be awakened, to be aroused. We need to remember. We need to recall how once there was such a living relationship between us and Christ, and now we have fallen into such a situation.
The realization of this will wake us up.
Now, what are the instruments that God uses to wake us up? We have already mentioned that God raises up prophets to wake God’s people up.
The ministry of prophets, prophetic ministry, is this: to wake up God’s people out of their slumber.
How God sent Elijah to the nation of Israel, trying to wake them up and bring them back to God by wonders and great deeds.
Then He sent Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Joel—all these prophets—to the nation, to arouse them. Even when the nation of Judah was at its very end, God sent Jeremiah to recall them back.
Even during the time of Babylonian captivity, God raised up Daniel and Ezekiel. And even after the remnant came back, God raised up Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
In the New Testament, you find God raised up John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, and even our Lord Himself.
Dear brothers and sisters, God’s word is the instrument to arouse people out of spiritual slumber. Wake up to the Lord.
And if we do not listen to the word, as if it is not enough, God uses chastening and disciplining to wake us up. Because He loves us. Whom He loves, He chastens.
That is the way He tries to chastise us. Sometimes it may be sickness. Sometimes it may be a crisis in your family. Sometimes it may be a great shaking of where you are.
All these are expressions of God’s love, trying to call His people to return to Him. He is the only safe haven.
So, first of all, brothers and sisters, the way to return to Christ is by being awakened, aroused, recalled, remembering.
The second thing: when we are aroused in our spirit, when we begin to discover in what pitiful condition we are, when we come to our senses, then the next thing that follows is repentance.
You know, brothers and sisters, we often think of repentance as belonging to the world. The world needs to repent, and when we preach the gospel, we say, “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus.”
The world surely needs to repent. But, brothers and sisters, repentance does not stop there. Repentance is for Christians as well as for non-Christians.
We as believers have as much to repent of as the people of the world. In a very real sense, probably we have much more to repent of than the people of the world, because we receive more light.
Brothers and sisters, do you really sense the need to repent?
The word says, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.”
Do we tremble at the word of God? When we hear the word of God, do we tremble? Do we have an afflicted and contrite spirit within us? That is the person that God will look upon.
Repentance is a continuous process in our spiritual life. After you have repented and turned to the Lord, you need to have a spirit of repentance throughout your life.
The more you draw near to the Lord, the more you realize how you have sinned against Him.
What is sin? In Romans 3:23, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
What is sin? Sin is coming short of the glory of God. What is the glory of God? God is glorious. Our God, our Lord, is full of glory. That is His character. He is holy.
You know, recently I read a book saying that holiness is uniquely God’s character. Aside from God, there is no being that is holy, because He is totally different, separated, all by Himself.
And yet He wants us to be holy, to have His holy character, separated completely unto God.
What is sin? Dr. Zwemer, one greatly used by the Lord among the Muslims, has a definition for sin. He says sin is the inner relationship between two personalities: your personality and God’s personality.
What is the relationship between your personality and God’s personality? Are they one, or are they conflicting? That is sin.
I read another example, and that is this: sin is where you and I are in the light of His countenance. When the light of God’s countenance shines upon us, then you know whether you have sinned or not.
Is our life able to meet with God’s life? Are we as holy, separated, so separated and unto God, absolutely and completely, as God is? Who can say that he has no sin? If we say that, we deceive ourselves.
What we need is to see His glory. If we do not see Him, if we do not see the light of His countenance, we feel all right. But whenever we come into His presence, we realize we have sinned. We need to repent.
That is the reason why even John Bunyan said, “The tears of my repentance need to be cleansed.”
The closer you are with the Lord, the more you will maintain an attitude of continuous repentance, because that alone will lead you to salvation.
So, you find, what is repentance? Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. We can regret. We can feel remorseful. We can feel sad. But why? It is all for ourselves.
Because we lose face. Because we have failed. Our pride is hurt. We are humiliated. That is what we can do, but we cannot repent.
Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a change of mind. We cannot change our mind. Only the Holy Spirit of God can. He will convict us, He will convince us, and He will bring repentance to us.
When true repentance comes, you know the result. That is why you find in 2 Corinthians 7 that Paul, because of his love for the Corinthian believers, tried to convince them and bring them to their senses.
But they were so stubborn, so hard, so obsessed; they would not receive. So finally, he sent a strong letter to them.
We do not have that letter. Some people say that perhaps part of 2 Corinthians was in that letter. We do not really know what he wrote, but he wrote with tears a strong letter concerning the situation of the Corinthian believers.
After he wrote the letter, he regretted it because he did not want to hurt them. He did not know how they would receive it. But thank God, the Spirit of God worked, and they truly repented.
What is real repentance? Read 2 Corinthians 7:11:
For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort,
what earnest care it wrought in you,
yea, what clearing of yourselves,
yea, what indignation,
yea, what fear,
yea, what longing desire,
yea, what zeal,
yea, what avenging!
In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
Repentance is not just grieving according to God. Or I can put it another way: regret is grieving for yourself; repentance is grieving for God’s glory.
Now, what are the symptoms? How much diligence it wrought in you; what clearing of yourselves. You want to clear yourself of this sin.
And what indignation—just like Job: “I abhor myself. I hate myself.” What fear—trembling at the word of God. And what ardent desire—a real desire to return to the Lord. And what zeal, and what avenging. In every way, you have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
That is repentance.
So the second way to return is: repent.
Now the third thing—I have overused my time, so I will just mention it. The third thing is return.
You know, repentance is just a preparation. Now you repent, so what should we do? Repentance is negative. What is the positive step you take? Return.
Now you begin to return. But, brothers and sisters, when you return, what does it mean? Where do you return? To whom do you return?
You return to Christ. That is returning.
You do not merely return to works. You do not merely return to a state. No, you return to Christ.
Because your salvation is in Christ. You cannot reform yourself. You cannot do the first works as you did before. You need the Lord Himself to come into your life in such a living way that you are able to do the first works—that is to say, love. Return to first love.
So, brothers and sisters, that is where we return. If you read the word of God, you will find whether in Galatians, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, or wherever, returning does not stop even at the work of Christ. It always goes on to the person of Christ.
Now, I do not have the time to say more, but let us remember this: returning to Christ.
Dear Lord, do call us from our slumber. Give us repentance and lead us back to Thyself. We ask in Thy name. Amen.