Will you please turn to Ephesians 1:9-10?
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him,
unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth.
Romans 8:28-30:
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,
even to them that are called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom He foreordained, them He also called:
and whom He called, them He also justified:
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
First John 3:1-3:
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called children of God;
and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.
We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.
And every one that hath this hope set on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.
And finally, Revelation 5:10:
And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests;
and they reign upon the earth.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, our heart’s desire is to see Thy glory. We thank Thee that, even though Moses was not allowed to see Thy face, but only Thy back, today we can see Thy glory in the face of our Lord Jesus.
O Lord, show Thyself to us, that we may be captivated—so captivated by Thee—that we will fully surrender to Thee and allow Thee to be all and in all in us.
O Lord, it is our prayer that it may be all of Christ and none of ourselves. Do deliver us. We commit this time into Thy loving hands, trusting Thy Spirit to speak and to work in each one of us.
Lord, Thou knowest everything is naked before Thee. We are naked before Thee. Search us, purify us, and possess us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We thank God for giving us this time and the theme of summing up all things in Christ. It is our earnest prayer that this does not just remain a theme. Our prayer is that this may become a truth, a reality, in each one of us.
Thank God for bringing us together during these few days, that we may be able to expose ourselves, as it were, to the light of His countenance—that He may shine upon us, remove anything in our lives that stands in His way, and allow Him to come in and fill us to the full, that God may be glorified.
We talk about returning to Christ because we deeply sense that, as individual believers, whether you are newly saved or have been saved for a long time, there is room—much room—for us to return to Christ.
The reason why sometimes we become so comfortable, so at peace, as it were, with ourselves, is that we think everything is all right. We imagine that, if our Lord should come this day, we would be able to face Him. But how deceived we are, because our hearts are deceitful above all things. Who knows them? Only God is the One who tries the heart and examines us.
If we really come under the light of His countenance, brothers and sisters, no one can stand before God. There is much for which we need to repent. We begin to realize how far, far away we are from our dear Lord.
He has redeemed us. He has paid such a price for us. And yet, where are we? We need to return. The way to return is, first of all, to be awakened from our sleep—to realize that we have departed.
In His light we see light, dear brothers and sisters. His light is the only light that can reveal our real condition, that we may repent, for we have come short of the glory of God.
As we repent, then we take a positive step to return, just like the prodigal son. When he remembered that there was plenty in his father’s house, and that he was starving and dying unnecessarily, he rose up and returned home.
So, brothers and sisters, we hope that at this hour every one of us—no one excepted—will be on the way of returning to Christ.
Returning is returning to Christ. We return to the finished work of Christ, but through the finished work of Christ, we return to Christ Himself.
You know, the Letter to the Galatians was the battle-axe of Martin Luther. He used that letter to fight against the Roman Catholic system. He said, “I am married to that book,” because that book shows us justification by faith.
These Galatian believers began to depart from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. They were enticed into another gospel, which was not a gospel at all—not glad tidings—because they began to trust in the works of their own flesh, thinking that they could keep the law of God. They had fallen from grace.
The apostle Paul tried to bring them back to see that we can only be justified by faith in Christ Jesus. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and convinces us that Jesus is the only Saviour of the world, then we turn to Him, believing in His redeeming blood and being justified before God.
But, brothers and sisters, what is justification? Justification is that we who have never been able to stand in the sight of God can now stand before the righteous God. What makes it possible for us to have such boldness before God? It is because we are clothed with Christ.
When God looks upon us, He sees Christ. We are hidden in Him, and that gives us the ground and boldness to stand before God. So, in the strictest and fullest sense, justification is not merely an act in which our sins are forgiven so that we can stand before God. No, not on our own, but in Him. He is our justification.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that returning is not merely a return to what He has done for us. We return to the One who is the Justifier.
In reading the Letter to the Galatians, we often think that it is very negative. But when you read that letter, you find that there is a very positive message to us. The message is this: by justification, you return to Christ.
For instance, in Galatians 1:16, Paul says that it pleased God “to reveal His Son in me.” That is the gospel. The gospel is not merely being justified. The gospel is that it pleases God to reveal His Son in me.
Then it goes on in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith,
the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
It goes on to say in Galatians 4:19 that Christ may be formed in you. So, brothers and sisters, what is the gospel? What does justification lead us to? It leads us to Christ: Christ revealed, Christ living, and Christ formed. This is returning to Christ.
When you look at 1 Corinthians, you find another rather depressing letter, as it were. These Corinthian believers were sanctified in Christ Jesus and called saints. Think of that. They were sanctified by God; they were called saints.
Now, today, if somebody came to you and said, “Saint so-and-so,” what would be your reaction? “Oh, I am not worthy.” But you are called saints—justified and sanctified by our Lord Jesus.
But look at these Corinthian believers. They were carnal. They lived according to the flesh. They were no different from the people of the world. They were going into gross sin. They defrauded one another and even accused one another in worldly courts.
They loved eating and drinking. Even in their meetings there was disorder. In faith, they did not believe in resurrection. Their life was corrupt.
They needed to realize that redemption is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Sanctification is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is His cross working in our lives, putting the flesh and the works of the flesh to death, putting the world to death, and putting sin to death.
Christ living in us becomes our sanctification. God has made Him wisdom, justification, holiness, and redemption. So, for the Corinthian believers to return to Christ meant that they were to be completely delivered from their flesh through the cross of our Lord Jesus, that Christ might be their sanctification, because it is Christ who lives in them.
You go to the Letter to the Colossians. The Colossian believers sought perfection. They wanted to be perfect, and because of their desire to be perfect, they were being led astray into the so-called Colossian heresy.
It was a strange mixture of mysticism and ritualism. You would think these are two worlds apart, but strangely, oftentimes you find mysticism and ritualism joined together. They sought perfection—or, to use another word, glorification—through that kind of heresy.
So the apostle Paul tried to lead them back, to see that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and that you are complete in Him. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
So, brothers and sisters, what is glorification? Glorification is Christ formed in you. The measure of the formation of Christ in you is the measure, the degree, of your being glorified.
In the Letter to the Philippians, there is no letter that reveals the inner life of Paul more than this letter. In it, he shows us the secret of his Christian life. What is the secret? Very simple: “For to me to live is Christ.”
Second Corinthians is the letter that reveals the ministry of the apostle Paul—the secret of his ministry. What is that secret? Ministry is not merely doing a work. Ministry is imparting Christ.
Paul was but an earthen vessel, but there was a treasure in that vessel. For the radiance of the light of that treasure to shine forth and bring life to others, the earthen vessel had to be cracked and broken.
This explains the secret of Paul’s ministry. He was a broken man. He died daily. He bore the dying of Jesus in his life, that the life of Jesus might be manifested in him and also in other people.
So, dear brothers and sisters, what is returning to Christ? Returning to Christ is returning to what He is, enabling Him to be everything to us.
Now this morning, we would like to consider together the results of returning to Christ. Now that we have returned to Christ, what are the results?
First of all, the primary and chief result of returning to Christ is the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, our God is purpose-oriented. In the beginning, even before the foundation of the world, He purposed a purpose in Himself. This is called the mystery of the ages. He is a God of purpose. He never does anything by chance.
According to the good pleasure of His will, He purposed a glorious purpose in Himself. Unfortunately, we are not naturally purpose-oriented. We are naturally need-oriented.
Because we are need-oriented, we are self-centred. “What is in it for me?” But God is purpose-oriented. He is for us.
So, in returning to Christ, there is a great change in our orientation. It delivers us from being need-oriented to being purpose-oriented. It delivers us from self-centredness to Christ-centredness.
The Bible says there is a mystery, a secret in God’s heart, hidden throughout the centuries. All His works are governed by this secret. He never did anything outside of that secret purpose.
Because it is such a glorious secret, He was not able to share it with men right away. But here and there, you find that He dropped, as it were, some indication of what that mystery of the ages—that purpose of eternity, the secret will of His heart—really is.
As a matter of fact, if you read the Old Testament, you find that He dropped that secret in bits and pieces here and there, giving us hints and some idea of what He is aiming at.
For instance, David was not only a king; he was also a prophet. If you read Psalm 2:6-8, you find:
Yet I have set My King
upon My holy hill of Zion.
I will tell of the decree:
the Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son;
this day have I begotten Thee.
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
He said, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and for Thy possession the ends of the earth.”
Then, if you turn to Proverbs 8, the wisdom of Solomon, David’s son, you find the Son of God personified as wisdom. Consider Proverbs 8:22-30:
The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way,
before His works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
before the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth;
while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields,
nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
When He established the heavens, I was there:
when He set a circle upon the face of the deep,
when He made firm the skies above,
when the fountains of the deep became strong,
when He gave to the sea its bound,
that the waters should not transgress His commandment,
when He marked out the foundations of the earth;
then I was by Him, as a master workman;
and I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him.
The Son is the nursling of His love. In some translations, He is described as the master workman, the artist, the architect. Why? Because all things were created in Him, through Him, and for Him. Here you find another hint of that secret.
Then, if you turn to Isaiah 9:6-7, you find another indication:
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a Son is given;
and the government shall be upon His shoulder:
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom,
to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness
from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
This is another hint of that secret.
Turn to Daniel 7. In the night visions, beginning with Daniel 7:13-14, we read:
I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven
one like unto a son of man,
and He came even to the Ancient of days,
and they brought Him near before Him.
And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him:
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that the mystery of God—the secret of God concerning the eternal purpose of God—is this: He will give everything to the Son. The Son is the Heir of all things. All kingdoms, glory, power, and dominion belong to Him.
Thank God, one day that mystery broke open. When our Lord Jesus came into this world, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
He, who was equal with God, is the exact image of God. Yet He did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself of all the glory and honour surrounding His Godhead, His deity.
He emptied Himself in order to take the form of a bondservant. As He took the fashion of a man, He was obedient. That is what man was supposed to be. Man was created to be obedient to God.
Here you find the typical Man—the only true Man. He obeyed. He humbled Himself and was obedient to the Father, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Because of this, the Father highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that in that name every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord—to sum up all things in Christ.
The mystery was manifested. Then, if you read Ephesians, the mystery is fully revealed. There you find that the eternal purpose of God is that His Son should be the sum of all things.
Everything shall bear something of His beauty, His glory, and His character. Nothing is to manifest itself independently. The heavens will not simply be heaven; the heavens are to declare the glory of God.
The earth is not merely filled with things, as it were, but everything will be brought into subjection to Christ as the Head, the Leader, of the whole creation. All will be filled to the full with Christ.
Brothers and sisters, what is the meaning of our returning to Christ? It is more than a personal thing. It is more than a personal privilege that we enjoy. Thank God, it is that—but that is a by-product.
The chief thing is this: when we return to Christ, we are, in a sense, one step closer to the time when all things will be summed up in Christ.
Therefore, in Ephesians 1:21-23, Christ is made Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him Who filleth all in all.
So, brothers and sisters, you can see the immensity and importance of returning to Christ. It is more than something that affects you personally. It actually affects the whole counsel of God, the whole purpose of God.
You can be a person who delays or postpones the fulfilment of God’s purpose, or you can be a person who hastens and quickens the fulfilment of God’s purpose. Think of that. What a responsibility we have.
How can we lie back? How can we comfort ourselves, thinking that as long as we do not go to hell and have a chance to go to heaven, that is enough?
But, brothers and sisters, how we offend God and hurt His heart when we live this way. We cannot afford to be complacent—not for ourselves, but for God, for His purpose.
May the Spirit of God pierce our hearts. How can we live so carelessly? Do you know what hurt you have done to God?
Why must we return to Christ? Not for our own sake, but for God’s sake. O God, how He cries out through the centuries, pleading and begging.
If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
But, of course, when we really return to Christ, we are blessed. Because all the fulness of the Godhead is in Him, as you return to Christ, you return home.
You return to the abundant, abounding, glorious riches of Christ Jesus. He is the fulness of God. We cannot even imagine what the fulness of God is.
We have tasted a little of His love, a little of His righteousness, a little of His holiness, a little of His beauty, a little of His glory, and a little of His purity—just a little. But there is so much more.
He wants to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. By returning to Christ, we return to fulness. We begin to enjoy our Christ as never before.
Then, secondly, another by-product: when we return to Christ, we discover that Christ begins to transform us and conform us to Himself.
You know, what is spiritual growth? We want to grow. Physically speaking, a child wants to grow.
I remember my little sister and my little cousin. One day, when they were little girls, they sat away by themselves, and somebody overheard them talking. Do you know what they were talking about? They were complaining about being the youngest.
They said, “We are so tiny. Look at our brothers and sisters, what they can do, and we can do nothing.” They wanted to grow. They wanted to be mature.
But strangely, God’s people do not always feel that way. We do not want to grow. How good, we think, if we could remain babes in Christ throughout life. Then we would be taken care of, and we would have no responsibility whatsoever. We think that is clever.
But you cheat yourself. God is not looking for babies. God is looking for sons and daughters. God is looking for people who can share responsibility with His beloved Son.
But what is Christian growth? How do we grow in spiritual stature? We know how to grow in physical stature. We know how to grow in mental stature. But do we know how to grow in spiritual stature?
Spiritual growth is the increase of Christ in you. Not that you increase—you decrease—but Christ increases. That is spiritual growth.
Because it is this process, it is very painful. You have to die that He may live. The more you go down to the cross, the fuller the life of Christ is manifested.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit today in our lives. He wants us to be changed, to be transformed, until we are conformed to the image of Christ.
What does it mean to be transformed into the image of Christ? What does it mean for Christ to be fully formed in us? It means none of me, but all of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, we start out with none of Christ and all of me. Gradually, we become some of Christ and some of me. Until finally, it will be all of Christ and none of me.
That is Christ fully formed. That is spiritual growth. If we are measured by that standard, how far have we grown?
Thirdly, returning to Christ makes us ready for Christ. As our brother has already shared with us, how are we to be ready for Christ?
The only way to be ready for Christ is this: as He is, so are we. That is to say, to be like Him.
To be like Him is not to imitate Him outwardly. To be like Him is to allow Him to live fully in and out of us. That is to be like Him.
That is the way to be ready for Christ. So far as we consciously allow Christ to live in us and to live out from us, perfect love casts out fear.
Because we are as He is, in the day of judgment, when we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, there will be no fear.
So that is the way to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord Jesus. He Who calls us is faithful. He will perform it.
We cannot do it, but if we are willing to place ourselves in His hands, that is what He will do. We believe that He is doing it, so that when we stand before Him, there will be no fear at the coming of our Lord Jesus.
That is my prayer:
And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly;
and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, Who will also do it.
And then, finally, reward. You know, brothers and sisters, there will be kingdom reward.
What is reward? What is grace? What is gift? Grace is something freely given, universally given. It depends on the Giver; it does not depend on the receiver. It is free.
Thank God, He is the Giver of all good things. He gives and gives and gives. He gave His only begotten Son—His all. We do not deserve it. We have not worked for it. But it is grace, freely given.
But, my brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us there will be reward. What is reward? If you get what you have worked for, this is reward. It is not a gift.
Reward is selective. Reward is not given to everyone freely and without any cost. Reward requires work. Reward depends on the one who receives the reward rather than on the One who rewards.
The Bible says that our God is not only the Giver of all good things; He is also the Rewarder of all those who seek Him earnestly.
Is there any contradiction? No. Today, we abuse grace. Today, we think of free grace to such an extent that we do not have any sense of responsibility.
“He has done it all. It is all freely given. So why should I bother? No matter how I act or react, He loves me. He will see to it that I am there in the kingdom when it comes upon this earth, and that I reign and rule with Christ for a thousand years.”
Remember: that is not a gift. That is a reward.
It is true that eternity is a gift. Eternal life is a gift. If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are eternally saved. Put it in a simple way: heaven is yours for eternity.
But remember, before heaven there is the kingdom—a thousand years. Our Lord Jesus shall come back to receive His kingdom. All the kingdoms of the earth will become the kingdom of God and of His Christ, and He shall reign over this whole earth for a thousand years in righteousness.
But when that kingdom comes, He will reward those who diligently seek Him—those who have been transformed and conformed to Christ, those who have returned to Christ, those who are ready for Him, the overcomers.
If today we die with Him, we shall reign with Him in the days to come. Brothers and sisters, that is a reward, not a gift. It is not freely given to everyone. It is given to those who overcome.
But does that mean that reward and gift are contradictory? No. They are complementary. Why? Because when the gift is given to you and you receive it, you receive the grace of God.
But after you have received the grace of God in you, do you know that this is not the end? Do you know what grace is? First of all, it means there is something in that Person that is so pleasing, so attractive, so rewarding.
That is the beginning of grace. God is a God of grace. Our Lord is full of grace. He is so attractive, so beautiful, so glorious, so rich, so shining.
That is the origin of grace. Then, when grace comes to man as a free gift—“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved”—we receive grace into us. That is the second step.
But grace has a third step. After you have received grace in you, that grace shall so change you that you also become gracious. You are able to be gracious just as He is gracious.
So, brothers and sisters, what is reward? Yes, reward is your work. But what kind of work is it? It is He Who works in you, changing you. So it is His grace being manifested.
It is not your work; it is His work. He works in you. He works through you. You allow His grace to pour out from your life. And, brothers and sisters, on that basis, He will reward us.
So, after all, it is all grace. There is nothing we can boast of. That is why Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
But thank God, He is so gracious that He will even reward us, even though He does all the work. This is a by-product, but it is His desire that we should win that reward. Then who are we not to try?
The apostle Paul looked forward to the day of Christ. He looked forward to seeing the Lord face to face. In order to do that, he kept pressing on. He forgot the past. He wanted to possess that for which he had been possessed by Christ.
That is the attitude we should take. If we take that kind of attitude, do not worry about the reward, because our God is righteous and faithful.
So, dear brothers and sisters, there is so much involved when we return to Christ. Most and above all things, the eternal purpose of God concerning His Son will be fully realized.
That is what the Scripture means: in the fulness of time, to sum up all things in Christ—the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth. May the Lord be glorified.
Dear Lord, we bow before Thee, marveling at Thy way and marveling at Thy purpose.
Lord, what an honour it is for Thee to allow us to be involved even in that great mystery of the ages. Wake us up to see our privileges and our responsibilities, that we may all return to Christ.
May Christ be all and in all to us and to Thee be the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.