Good morning, brothers and sisters. Am I on?
You know, I always tell you that I am so nervous up here. I would like to sit down and let someone else come and talk. But a brother encouraged me a lot this morning: our God is the God of amen. If He gives us responsibility, He will give us the grace to carry out that responsibility.
Thank the Lord for that. I know many brothers and sisters have been praying for me so that I will not be too shaken up here. Thank you, brothers and sisters. I know you have to work double hard to hear me because of my accent, or anguish, or whatever. Just pay attention.
Now, I am well prepared. I hope I do not have to read everything I have written down. You would be so bored.
About two months ago, when Kenny talked to me, he said, “Well, do you have something to share?” I said, “Well, maybe there is something.” We were talking about it because I had been reading the Gospel of John, especially John 13 through 17.
I think six months ago I spoke to Roger at Harvey Cedars, and again he encouraged me: “Why do you not just bring it up to the brothers? Maybe there is something there.” I must apologize—I procrastinate, and that is my nature.
Well, finally Kenny came to me. I said, “Well, I guess I have no choice.” He caught me on Tuesday and asked, “Can you speak this Sunday?” Really, on one hand there is joy, because finally I can lay down the burden. On the other hand, I am so nervous about it.
So I did pray to the Lord to give me open words. And the Lord pointed me to John 1:51. It is, again, a story with which I think we are very familiar. The Lord was talking to Nathanael, and the Lord’s comment was:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
I always wonder, how do we come to know the Lord? I think we all have a desire to know the Lord, right? We do read the Bible. I do read the Bible. Sometimes, I have to confess, the words may not mean much to me, even though there is knowledge there.
But I am saying that the key to knowing the Lord is to have an open heaven. In Galatians, Paul said that it was the pleasure of the Father to reveal the Son in us. Unless there is an open heaven, there is no way for us to know the Lord. We can study hard, go to Bible school, and go to conferences, but we may come back and say, “I know of the Lord; I do not know the Lord.”
So I suggest that today we bow our heads with this in mind and ask the Lord to give us an open heaven.
Lord, we do want to come to You, Lord, to ask You to give us an open heaven. Lord, unless the Father reveals the Son in us, we cannot come to know You. So, Lord, we do pray for that open heaven.
Lord, I do pray. I am just a useless vessel, but Lord, I pray that even with my limitations, Your word is not limited. Lord, may Your word go forth unto the good soil and bear fruit.
So, Lord, we commit this time unto You and look to You for Your provision. We look to You for the Holy Spirit, Lord, that He may make all these words alive in each of our hearts. Lord, we thank You, and we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
John 13 through 17. I do not know whether you have ever seen drawings or portraits of Jesus. Sometimes we look at them and say, “Well, there is a white person.” Sometimes we look at portraits of Jesus and they may portray a black person. But really, Jesus is a Jew.
One time I heard a brother say that Jews and Chinese are very similar, in the sense that we have these Eastern cultures. Well, I am not a Jew; I am Chinese. But perhaps Chinese people have some advantage in coming to appreciate the things that Jesus said.
For example, we are very familiar with the judgment seat. Maybe there is nothing like that in Western cultures, but surely in Oriental cultures the elders gather the family together. The elder is respected, and the elder gives awards, in this case, or reprimands.
In the same way, John 13 through 17, as we all know, records the last night that the Lord Himself was with the disciples on earth. He had much to say, but time was short.
So He had to give them encouragement. As the brother mentioned this morning from John 16, He told them, “You will have tribulation,” but the Lord gave them His peace.
There are encouragements, but it is also like the last night in which the Teacher wants to open His heart to His disciples and let them know His deep desire.
I like John 13 through 17. As we all know, there are many encouragements. We often quote from those chapters.
Especially, if you look at John 13:1, the Lord said that He loved His own unto the end. Have you ever been amazed by that? What does it mean?
If I tell you, “I love you to the end,” you may say, “Well, I really appreciate that, but there is a problem: you are limited.” All natural love is limited. There is a limit of time and a limit of intensity.
But as far as the Lord is concerned, the Lord is unlimited. He is not constrained. When He told His disciples that He loved them to the end, He was really saying that His love is unending. There is no end to His love. That is how much the Lord loved His disciples.
In John 14:2, again, there is a wonderful thing. You sit down and think about it. The Lord said He was going to prepare a place for us.
That is wonder after wonder. The world—the universe—is sustained by His word. He says something, and it is done. He does not have to do it personally. But here He said He would go and prepare a place for us. I can imagine how beautiful and wonderful that is going to be.
So our Lord is so wonderful. In these texts—well, in the old manuscripts there are actually no chapter divisions—there are many encouragements. I must admit that.
But when it comes to John 17, which we sometimes call the Lord’s prayer or the high-priestly prayer, I feel that He is telling His disciples what is in His heart. If we only receive the encouragement, that is wonderful, but we may miss what is in the Lord’s heart. As someone said, we get the good and miss the best.
That is what is in my heart today: to share from John 17.
There is one verse—well, actually, a couple of verses—that I want to share. But I think the key is John 17:21.
At the beginning of verse 21, the Lord said, “That they may all be one.” I believe Brother Lenny quoted from John 17 this morning. I really appreciate that.
I do not know what you think about oneness. When the Lord says, “That they may all be one,” I look at myself and I look at all of you. Can you imagine? We are all different. I am Chinese; you are Western brothers and sisters, Indians, Black people, or whatever. We are all different. How can we be one?
It is really amazing, but the Lord said, “That they may all be one.” I do not think He was just talking about His disciples. He was praying for all believers.
So, to get going, I think we should read the text in John 17—not the whole chapter, but John 17:11–24. The focus of today’s sharing is the Lord’s provision so that His people may be one.
I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth.
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on Me through their word;
That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one;
I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me.
Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.
It is important for us all to really come to know the desire of the Lord.
I think this is no surprise to us. We have been hearing it for a while. Brother Stephen has shared from 1 Corinthians that we are all called unto the fellowship of the Son. Also, in our Friday-night gatherings, we have been sharing from the Epistle of John.
What is fellowship? Fellowship is the sharing of the same life. Think about that.
Then think about oneness. I am not going to define oneness, because that is not the burden for today. But think about oneness and the opposite of oneness. The best term I can come up with is division. Oneness is unity; division is being divided.
Then think about fellowship. What is required for fellowship? If I am not one with you, we cannot have fellowship. It is as simple as that. Oneness is a prerequisite for fellowship.
Obviously, on the other hand, when there is no oneness, when there are divisions, when people are divided, that destroys fellowship. That is why this is so important.
The Bible says we are one. How can that be? The truth is found in Galatians 3:27–28:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.
There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
Why is that? What does that mean? That is the Lord’s work, of course.
I think we may all agree that when sin came into the world, there were divisions. When the Lord Himself cried on the cross, “It is finished,” everything was brought together again in Christ Jesus. That is the basis—the only basis—of oneness.
As we gather week in and week out for the Lord’s table, we gather to remember Him. There is another aspect of remembering Him. In 1 Corinthians 10:17, it says that there is one bread and one body. We are one body, God’s people.
We may be different. We are all different. We come from different races and backgrounds. Each of us has a unique temperament. The Lord wants us to be unique, too. Yet with the uniqueness of all of us, we can be one in Christ Jesus.
I do not know whether you think about this. I think about this kind of thing a lot. Maybe I have too much time on my hands.
If I go outside and take brothers and sisters and say, “Let me introduce you to someone else,” and this person is not of the Lord, and I say, “Well, this is my brother and sister,” you know what may happen? Their eyes will open. “That really cannot be, because you look so different.”
But the bottom line is, whether you like it or not, we are one. It is not that we have to understand it. We just have to believe it.
In the passage we read from John 17, you might notice that the Lord prayed for His disciples to be one four times: in verses 11, 21, 22, and 24. Just consider how important the oneness of God’s people is in the heart of the Lord.
But as I mentioned before, we are divided. By nature, we are divided. I do not know whether that is a surprise to you.
In human nature we have struggles. We like something, and we do not like something. Sometimes we want to go this way, but we end up going another way.
When we think about relationships, the closest relationship we have on earth is husband and wife. The Bible says that man and woman shall become one flesh. You cannot get closer than that—one flesh. That is in the heart of God.
But think about what happened after the fall. We know that Eve first ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then gave the fruit to her husband, Adam. So God came around and said, “What happened?” Do you know what Adam said?
Genesis 3:12 says:
The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
There is an honest answer, but also something else in it: “It is not my fault. It is Eve. She gave me the fruit.” Husband and wife were no longer one. That is after sin—after sin entered the world.
We do not have to go much further. Cain and Abel: the first murder in the world. Think of the brotherly relationship in the family. How close should they be? They ought to be one. Yet we had the first murder.
Genesis 4:8 says that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. That is it. Cain killed Abel. Where is the oneness?
We really have to consider these questions. Since the fall of man, there is no oneness as far as mankind is concerned. In the natural man, there is no oneness. Natural man is divided.
But the Lord, by His great mercy and by His work on the cross, as I mentioned before, pulled all these things together. Through the finished work of the cross, He has His one new man.
The Lord also knows that we are weak. Thank the Lord for that. None of us is Superman. We have our problems. We can be a little too full of ourselves sometimes. And the Lord made provision.
On the night of His betrayal, think about Peter. I like Peter, because I can always pick on Peter. Peter denied the Lord three times. It is recorded in the Bible.
But what is surprising is that, even before Peter denied the Lord, the Lord knew that Peter was going to deny Him. Yet the Lord did not cast him out. The Lord did not say, “Peter, I do not want you anymore. You are going to deny Me anyway.”
The Bible says that the Lord prayed for him, so that he would not lose his faith, and that when he returned, he would strengthen his brothers. That is wonderful.
In the display of all our weakness and all our dividedness, the Lord prays for us. I think that is very precious. That is what I want to touch on: the provisions in the high-priestly prayer of John 17—how the Lord has provided for us to face this problem, this attack coming from the enemy to draw us away from the oneness of the saints.
I identified three provisions. There might be more, but these are the three I know.
Let us look at John 17 again. Keep your finger in John 17. John 17:11:
I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name.
Again, when you think about it: keep them. Keep the believers in the Father’s name. What do you think of when you hear the word name?
It is very important in Oriental culture, in Eastern culture. A name represents the family. If a family member does bad things, we say, “You embarrass the family. You embarrass the name of the family.” The name represents the family.
I can give you an illustration, a very simple one. If I have to give Jerry one hundred dollars, but I do not have one hundred dollars in my pocket, there are really two choices.
I can go to the bank, get one hundred dollars, and say, “Jerry, here is one hundred dollars.” That is simple. Or I can write Jerry a check, sign my name, and say, “Jerry, take this to the bank. They will give you one hundred dollars.”
If Jerry takes that check to the bank, I do not have to be there. The bank will honor the check and give Jerry the cash. But if I write a check and forget to sign my name, when Jerry goes to the bank, of course, he is not going to get his one hundred dollars.
It is a very simple illustration. The name of the Father represents His power, His honor, His glory, and His resources.
Is there any other name higher than the Father’s name? None, right? There is none higher than the Father’s name. Is there any power in this world higher than the Father’s power? There is none.
So when the Lord said, “Keep them in Thy name,” keep them in the Father’s name, that is a provision to us. By His keeping hand, we are protected. If we stay there, we have protection. And in the end, God’s people may be one.
Secondly, again in John 17, verse 17 says:
Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth.
Then verse 21 says, “That they may all be one.” There is sanctification. I know it is a big word. What do you mean by sanctification? Simply, it means being set apart.
Set apart. In this context, the Lord spoke a lot about the world. He said that His disciples are in the world but not of the world. So here the Lord says, “Sanctify.” Sanctify in God’s word—set apart in God’s word.
Set apart from what? We are set apart from the world in God’s word. That would enable the people of God to be one.
When we come to verse 22:
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one.
Now, that is a little difficult to explain. What does that mean? We all have different concepts of glory. What is glory? Is it something external? Is it loud noises, fireworks, thunder, or wings? Of course, it is none of that.
It is something internal. There are two examples in the Bible. When we go back to the Old Testament, Moses finished the tent of meeting—he finished the tabernacle according to the pattern given on the mountain—and he consecrated the tent to God.
What happened? In Exodus 40:33–34, the Bible says that the glory of God filled the tabernacle.
There is another example. If we move to King Solomon’s time, David prepared all the material to build the temple, but it was his son, King Solomon, who finished the temple. After he finished the temple, he consecrated it to God. What happened? God’s glory came and filled the temple.
You may ask, “What does that really mean? Do you really need a tent? Do you really need a temple?” The Old Testament types, as we call them, are foreshadowings. Both the tent and the temple really speak of the Lord Himself.
Then you ask the question: why did God’s glory fill the tent and fill the temple? One brother suggested that it is really simple: because God was satisfied.
When God is satisfied, there is glory. That issues in glory.
So if you go back to John 17:22, it mentions the glory given by the Father to the Son. Then, following on, there is this inner relationship between the Son and the Father in the next two verses.
Maybe I am wrong, but I will say it anyway: the Father is always satisfied with the Son. Then the Father puts us in the Son. So He is satisfied as long as we are in the Son. That is where the glory comes from.
He has given us the position to be in Christ Jesus, so that the Father’s heart can be satisfied. And in that, there is the provision of oneness—oneness in the Son.
We always ask this question: positionally, we have one new man in Christ Jesus. The Lord has made provision. Well, how come I do not see the oneness?
At least for me—I will not speak for everyone else—there seems to be a lack of oneness among God’s people. If we are honest about it, that is the true condition.
But there are cases, as we go back to church history, where God’s people are one. There is no doubt about it.
If you look at Acts, at the history of the early church, even in Acts 2, where it describes the early gatherings, the Bible uses these words in Acts 2:46:
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.
This oneness among the saints happened at that time. I have no question about it. There was one new man, God’s people. There was this reality at that time.
But, as we all know, whatever the Lord desires, the enemy will come in to deny the Lord the fulfillment of His desire. Even in the early churches, there were many instances in which the enemy tried to come in, to destroy, and to bring in division.
The brethren at that time bore no other name than the name of Jesus. Remember provision number one: the Son asked the Father, “Keep them in Thy name.” They stood steadfastly under the name of God.
They were set apart for the Lord, sanctified by His word and in His word. They had no other glory than the glory of Jesus. That, I feel, was why they were able to demonstrate the oneness of the saints in those early days.
The enemy tried to come in. That is very true. It did not take much time. Even when we turn to Acts 5, we see one family—a husband and wife—who sold some land and brought a portion of the money to the apostles.
They were thinking that they might be able to deceive. But, of course, Peter was full of the Spirit, and he knew.
Can you imagine what might have happened if that had not been dealt with? In the early days, everything was shared in common. Then this family came in and held something for themselves. At least, I call it self-ness. That would bring in division. But it was taken care of.
If we move further along in time and look at Acts 15, there were many Gentile believers. Some came down from Jerusalem and said, “Well, we know they are believers, but I think they should be circumcised.”
They were imposing a law on the Gentiles—bringing in something that was ordained by God in the Old Testament. Remember, the Old Testament types: when the real thing comes, you do not continue with the types. It might have been a good thing, but it was not the way.
Can you imagine what might have happened if the Gentile believers had been required to be circumcised? I would say that you would drive them away. It was not their custom.
But because of the work of the Holy Spirit, the church at Jerusalem encouraged them, and that matter was taken care of.
Do you think the enemy gave up after two attempts, or a couple of attempts? No, he did not.
Even in Acts 15, we have the incident between Paul and Barnabas. You may argue with me about what happened there. At that time, Paul was a mature brother, and so was Barnabas. Barnabas was the one who brought Paul to the brethren.
They were talking about going back to visit the brethren they had visited before. Then the situation with Mark came up. It seems like a trivial question, right?
As far as Paul was concerned, Mark should not come along, because Mark had withdrawn from them before. As far as Barnabas was concerned, Mark was his relative, and Barnabas wanted to bring Mark along.
So there was a clash of opinions. The Bible says in Acts 15:39:
And there arose a sharp contention, so that they parted asunder one from the other.
Can you imagine? Two spiritual, mature brothers, because of a decision about Mark, had a sharp disagreement and went their separate ways. It is a horrible situation. We might joke about it, but truly it is horrible.
There is something to consider. Would you say it is division or not? At least between Paul and Barnabas, there was division. I may be mistaken at this point, but I do not recall Paul and Barnabas ever coming together again, at least as recorded in the Bible.
Further along, if you take the church at Corinth—Brother Stephen has been sharing from 1 Corinthians—they had knowledge. But among them, as 1 Corinthians 1:12 says, some said, “I am of Paul”; some said, “I am of Apollos”; some said, “I am of Cephas”; and some even said, “I am of Christ.”
“Oh, that is great. I am of Christ; you are not.” You know what it comes down to. They were looking at all these whom we today call giants—all these apostles—and saying, “Well, maybe Paul is better than others. Maybe Paul is better than Christ,” even though they may not have said it that way.
That is moving away from the provision that the Lord has provided. The Lord said, “Keep them in Thy name.” The Lord asked the Father to keep them in His name. If the assembly moves away from that, the enemy comes in, and then you have strife.
Further along, when we come to Philippians, in Philippians 4 Paul mentions two sisters—Euodia and Syntyche—who labored in the work of the gospel. They loved the Lord. They offered their lives to the Lord, and they labored. Yet they had disagreements.
Paul wrote and asked that they be helped to have the mind of Christ Jesus. What is the mind of Jesus? If you go back to Philippians 2, the mind of Jesus is lowliness. The mind of Jesus is obedience to the Father.
There is a connection between glory and the cross. The Lord Himself was willing to lay down His life, so that God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name.
So we have this case where the two sisters, even though they were on fire to serve the Lord, were not willing to take the way of the cross. That is a hindrance, and that will allow division to come in.
Well, these are all sad stories. Will we ever see oneness among God’s people?
I must apologize to Kenny. When I gave him the hymn, I did not know whether we would have time to sing it.
That hymn was composed by a brother named Nicholas Zinzendorf. I do not know whether you have heard of his name. He was connected with the Moravian movement. At least we should be aware of that.
He loved the Lord. At that time, Christians were persecuted, and he opened his home. He was a rich person. He opened his home to Christians who were persecuted and allowed them to come and live at his place.
But, of course, everyone brought their own burdens and disagreements. They could not break bread together.
At some point, Zinzendorf said, “Well, if you cannot live together, if you cannot break bread together, you have to go.” It came down to that—the oneness of God’s people.
They began to change their hearts. They began to come together and pray. As the story goes, there were one hundred years of unceasing prayer—one hundred years, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I do not know; that is amazing.
They sent out missionaries. When we talk about missionaries, their work was never surpassed by any other organization. God did a great work through a people who were one.
So, is it hopeless? I surely hope not.
One of our sisters gave us a drawing, and we hung it on the wall in the hallway. Every time I walk past it, I see the words: God is able.
God is able. Even though many things may seem so impossible to us, God is able.
I was reminded this morning, as I prepared what to say, of 2 Timothy 2:13:
If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.
We may see bad situations. We may see things that are really out of control. But God is faithful. God continues to work toward what His desire is.
Thank God that none of us is Superman. He knew our weakness, and He made provision for it.
These three provisions are very precious: to be kept in the Father’s name; to be sanctified in His word, set apart for the Lord Himself and set apart from the world; and to be glorified with the glory given by the Father, focusing on the Lord.
We are in Him, and He is in us. It is the Lord Himself who alone can satisfy the Father’s heart.
As I was preparing today, one of the words that came up was precious, because I do not remember long verses. I always say it is a sign of getting old.
But I find this very encouraging. When Paul was in prison and wrote his second letter to Timothy, we know what happened. Paul was in prison. He was alone—well, I should not say alone; Luke was with him. That was it.
He wrote to Timothy. Again, you may say I take this out of context, but that is all right. Three little words in 2 Timothy 2:8: “Remember Jesus Christ.”
Every Sunday, every Lord’s Day, we are called to remember Jesus Christ. I think we should remember His love for us, remember His mercy, and remember His grace. But also, do not forget to remember His heart’s desire.
Sometimes we may be so concentrated on ourselves and our needs that we forget what the Lord’s desire is.
What is His desire? His desire is that all the saints may be one—that they may all be one. I do not see a partial word here. I do not see just you, but all.
I think we should be very thoughtful if our desire is not aligned with God’s desire. I think about it quite a bit.
Again, maybe it is a sign of getting old. If we spend our lifetime here just pursuing what we need, what does that mean when we come to see the Lord?
If all we do is try to meet our own desires, even though they may be good things, we are really ignoring what the Lord wants and ignoring what is in the Lord’s heart. I think we should be very thoughtful about that, because the Lord loves us so much, and He laid down His life for us.
I did not mention this before, but in the last couple of months we have been sharing on testimony. Brother Lenny mentioned this morning that “they may be one” is a testimony.
In John 13, the Lord said to love each other as He has loved us, so that the world may know. Know what?
So that the world may know that the Father sent the Son. The world may know the Father and His Son. It is a testimony; it is a matter of testimony.
I think that will keep us focused on the Lord’s desire—to see the beauty of the oneness of the saints.
I think a sister mentioned this morning the beauty of the saints, the beauty of the oneness of the saints. I am not sure we think about it enough. What does it mean? I cannot fully explain to you what it means, but I do have words from the Bible.
Psalm 133:1–3 says:
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!It is like the precious oil upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,
Even Aaron’s beard;
That came down upon the skirt of his garments;Like the dew of Hermon,
That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.
That is the beauty. There is great beauty when there is oneness. I think our hearts should really be tuned and desire that.
I almost get to the last few points. In a practical sense, why does division come in?
Sometimes, at least personally, I feel that we are not aware of the work of the enemy. A lot of times there are minor disagreements, and before you know it, they grow out of proportion.
We may feel that it is really only a question of different opinions and so on. But when you look behind the scenes, we always have to remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6:12: our struggle is never with people.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Why are there divisions? Why is there a lack of oneness? Because the enemy comes in. We may not realize that the enemy has come in. We take things more or less as something personal, just between you and me.
So pray to the Lord to open our eyes, to make us sensitive to that, and to give us discernment to recognize that there is something deeper, something darker, behind the scenes.
The last two points: the Lord has given the provisions. They are of no use to us unless we stand on them. It is as simple as that.
Let me just mention a principle—how God operates and how Satan operates. It is a very simple idea. If we give ground to God, He will operate. He operates according to His will. If we stay away, He cannot do anything for us.
In the assembly, when we give the enemy ground, he will do his damage. When we take away that ground, then the enemy is powerless.
So the Lord has made provision, and it is for us to stand. Ephesians 6:13–14 says:
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore.
We do have to stand in the provision of God against all the work that the enemy is going to do.
Lastly, I struggled with this a little bit. I was not quite sure whether I wanted to say it.
We are all well versed in Revelation. Revelation 2:5 says:
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.
That struck me this morning. Do you think God is so harsh?
Again, it is an Eastern thing. I do not know what a lampstand means here, but the purpose of a lampstand is to hold the lamp, right? I think that is very clear.
Indeed, the world we live in, believe it or not, is under the dominion of the power of darkness. That is the world. There is no question about it.
The church is supposed to be the lampstand. According to Revelation 1, the function of the lampstand is to lift up the light—the light of Jesus—in a dark world.
Now the word says that if we do not repent, He will come and remove the lampstand. Over the last two thousand years, God has no interest in keeping something going when it does not serve His purpose.
So there is a warning. But, on the other hand, it is good news too. God does not simply pull away. He says, “Repent.”
Repentance is a serious word, but it really means, “Come back. Do not go that way. Go the other way.” Repent and go back.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works.” When we think back to the early church, what did they do?
They had no other name than the name of Jesus. They had no other Lord but the Lord Jesus. They separated themselves from the world and consecrated themselves to the Lord. They desired nothing but the Lord Himself.
I do not know where we are, but I know where I am. Repentance is a serious thing, but on the other hand, it is mercy.
I pray to the Lord that if there is some division between me and the brothers and sisters, I want to repent. I do not want that division, because that is going to hurt the Lord’s heart.
Lord, we do want to thank You, Lord, that even in these hours, in these late hours, You still demonstrate Your love to us, and Your mercy and Your grace.
Lord, I must say that I am an unprofitable vessel. But, Lord, we pray that there is truly nothing that can hinder Your word.
Lord, may Your word go forth to touch each one of us. Lord, join us by Your love. Lord, may our desire be aligned with Your desire.
Lord, the prayer from our hearts is for Your bride to be prepared—without wrinkle, without spot, to be like You. Lord, for You to come. It is Your heart, Lord, that You want to come back.
Lord, we commit ourselves unto You, acknowledging that we are all weak. We are all in the flesh. Lord, enable us indeed to stand on Your word.
Enable us not to move away from Your provisions. Lord, enable us to see indeed how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.
Lord, we ask You to give us open heavens. Continue to give us open heavens, Lord, that we may see. May we truly see what is the deep desire of Your heart.
Lord, seeing that, may we be drawn to You to stand together. Lord, may we see that there is really nothing that divides us from each other.
Lord, we ask You to grant us Your great mercy in this time. Lord, we thank You, and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.