Thank the Lord that our brother has already said Christ is the answer to all our questions. I do not have answers; only Christ has answers.
We thank the Lord for all these questions. We should not be afraid of questions. We have to be afraid of not having questions; then it is a problem. Thank and praise the Lord for all these questions. Perhaps we can have another conference, because we have not taken care of all the questions.
I have received many questions, and I cannot answer every question. I have organized them, and after organizing them there are still five big questions. We could have five more conferences. To spend only a few minutes sharing and answering these matters is difficult.
The first question relates to unity and fellowship. Thank and praise the Lord that brothers and sisters have such questions.
The Lord has taken us—very different people, with different opinions on how to do things—and yet, in the Holy Spirit, He can join us as one. Being different is not a difficulty to unity. Being different actually presents the mystery of unity.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not give up diligently preserving the unity of the Spirit because we have encountered different situations. Only when we diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit, and are open to one another in fellowship, will we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
Of course, this requires every brother and sister to have an open spirit and a humble heart. Our difficulty is that we want others to be like us; then we are satisfied. But thank God, through many differences, He teaches us patience and humility. He causes us not to force others to do according to what we believe is right, while we remain willing to fellowship.
We are willing to receive everything that is of God because, as individuals, we are limited. Therefore, we need the fellowship of brothers and sisters.
Some people ask, “How do we fellowship if someone is in a different meeting, has a different background, or has a different method of doing things?”
The first thing we have to remember is that fellowship starts with individuals. Then, by the Lord’s blessing, fellowship can happen between churches.
When we encounter difficulties in a church or organization, there ought to be a few brothers and sisters who love the Lord and can overcome the outward organization and have fellowship in the Spirit. It is not impossible, even though that fellowship may not be complete.
The basis of fellowship is life, but the degree of fellowship has to do with truth. We cannot use truth as the foundation of fellowship. When I speak about truth, I am not speaking about the basic truth, because we have one faith and one Lord. I mean the whole body of biblical teaching.
Even though we may have different understandings and different ways of doing things in these matters of truth, let us not be bound by them. Let us start with individual fellowship first. If there is the life of Christ, at the minimum we can have fellowship in life. Slowly, through fellowship, we can attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
Strictly speaking, we do not have fellowship with organizations. If you try to have fellowship with an organization, you either have to agree with it or compromise. But we have fellowship with the saints, and we have fellowship with the church of God. I can only mention this in principle.
The second question has to do with our living and our teaching. I have said that body living initiates with life; it does not come from teaching. Teaching comes later because it can help us to live the body life more accurately.
When you read the Bible, you see that when the apostles went forth to preach, they brought groups of people to believe in the Lord. These brothers and sisters gathered together in fellowship, and it seems that the apostles rarely gave them a great deal of teaching.
They entrusted these brothers and sisters to the Holy Spirit. Human teaching is limited, but the Holy Spirit is within us. The Bible tells us that the anointing of God is in us, and He Himself will teach us. In big things and small things, He will teach us in all things.
If we obey the teaching of the anointing and often abide in the Lord, then we will learn from Him. Brothers and sisters, God did not entrust you to any human being; God entrusted you to the Holy Spirit because God respects us. He will teach us Himself.
In each person there is life—the Spirit of life within. He will teach us how to help each other, how to encourage one another, how to gather, and how to fellowship. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Look at the apostles. They did not show the believers in detail how to meet. They brought these people before the Lord, and they gathered under God’s authority. The Holy Spirit led them through the portion of life within them.
When the apostles returned, they could see the work of the Holy Spirit. Then they established elders, because the Lord was already in the midst of the brethren. Those whom the apostles recognized had already been chosen by the Holy Spirit.
There is a perfect example in Corinth. Paul spent one and a half years in Corinth and spoke many words to them, but he did not speak certain words too early. There is significance in that. If he had spoken them too early, the church in Corinth would have become an organization—outwardly orderly, perhaps without confusion, but dead and not alive.
There were many things Paul did not say until we reach 1 Corinthians 14. Then he says that, when we meet, we ought to do such and such. When the children of God gather, some may have a hymn, some a revelation, and some a word. Each one should contribute according to what God has given.
If someone speaks in tongues, two or three are to speak, not everybody. If someone speaks in tongues, someone must interpret. Otherwise, no one knows what God is doing there.
The same is true of prophets and teachers. Not everybody should speak at the same time; no one can understand. Two or three are enough—not too many, so that the church can receive what is given.
If a prophet is speaking and suddenly a brother has a revelation, the prophet needs to sit down and allow the revelation of God to be given to the brothers and sisters. Everything is orderly. This is the order of the Holy Spirit, and it is beautiful.
When the Holy Spirit moves, He moves in the Body, not through one person taking up all the time. Is that not a wonderful and beautiful picture? It is very orderly.
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul reminds the Corinthians of these matters. Before that, when the brothers and sisters gathered, everyone was trying to speak first. But slowly the spiritual order became evident.
You need teaching, but life must come first. If, in the beginning, all you do is teach, then life becomes restrained and cannot grow. We still need teaching, but teaching is alongside, assisting.
Why do we need teaching? Sometimes we say that the New Testament tells us we do not need anyone to teach us because the Holy Spirit will teach us. Does that mean those who teach should go away? No. God still raises people to teach, but teaching is only an assistance alongside us. The One who truly helps us is the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, may all of us turn our faces toward the Lord and learn to allow the Holy Spirit to teach and lead us every day. Then we submit and obey. If we do this in our daily living, when we gather together there will be no problem concerning the moving of the Spirit.
What is the problem today? In our daily living, we do not allow the Spirit to teach us. Then, when we come to the meeting and want to learn these things, it becomes very difficult. We simply pray and finish the meeting.
The third big question is this: How do we keep ourselves holy before God? How do we keep the church in which we are holy?
Strictly speaking, we cannot keep ourselves. We cannot even keep ourselves, much less keep our brothers and sisters. Only one Person can keep us, and that is our Lord.
It is the Lord who has kept us. If the Lord had not kept us, we would have already fallen. Thank and praise the Lord: He not only saves us; He saves us to the end.
He is our only protection. If we entrust ourselves into His hands, He can make us completely holy—spirit, soul, and body sanctified—and preserve us before His glory without blame. This is the work of God. This is what God can do.
The important thing is that we entrust ourselves to Him. Do not think we can keep ourselves holy. No matter how strong your will is, you cannot keep yourself. Temptation is too great, and attractions are too great.
Thank and praise the Lord: He who dwells in us is greater than he who is in the world. He can protect us from stumbling and enable us to stand joyfully before Him.
Because He lives eternally, He is always praying for us. He is our great High Priest. He prays for us every day, unceasingly, that we may be delivered from temptation and, when we fall, that we may be willing to return. Only He can keep us.
The same is true with the church. We need God’s protection individually, and the church also needs the Lord’s protection. We cannot be policemen. The policeman is the Holy Spirit. We must look to the Lord to keep His church without blemish and without wrinkle.
The fourth question has to do with the Holy Spirit. Someone asks, “We ought to obey the Holy Spirit. How then do we understand 1 Corinthians 14, which says that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet? Is this in conflict with obeying the Holy Spirit?”
Brothers and sisters, remember: the Holy Spirit dwells in us. He is God. He represents Christ, and He represents God. Because He is God, we ought to obey, believe, submit to, and trust Him.
We must submit to Him not merely in big matters while being free in little things. Even in little things, we must submit to Him, because He is God.
But the spirit of the prophet needs to submit to the prophet. The saints in Corinth could not distinguish these two matters. They thought that, when the Holy Spirit came upon them and gave them a gift, they could not control that gift.
They thought, “If the Lord gives me tongues today, then I must speak in tongues, whether or not anyone is there to interpret, because I must submit to the Holy Spirit.” This is a misunderstanding.
One difficulty today is that people influenced by the charismatic movement may not dare to test the spirits. They feel that if they test the spirits, they are sinning against the Spirit. But the Bible clearly states that we are not to believe every spirit. We must test whether a spirit is from God.
Other than the Holy Spirit, there are many evil and fallen spirits in the world. When we have an experience of the spirit, we must test whether that spirit is from God.
Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as incarnate is the spirit of the antichrist; it is not the Holy Spirit. This is very important.
The Holy Spirit coming upon a person is His manifestation. He manifests His power and His gifts, for all gifts and power are from the Holy Spirit. Yet the manifestation is not the Holy Spirit Himself. It does not have the personality of the Spirit; it is a manifestation of the Spirit.
Therefore, the spirit of the prophet must submit to the prophet. The prophet has to exercise that spirit. Sometimes, through the spirit of the prophet, he must prophesy. At other times, he must control the spirit of the prophet.
A gift is like a sword. It is very useful, but if you do not know how to use it, it can have a negative effect. You cannot entrust a sword to a child; it will cause harm to the child and to others.
A person’s life may not be sufficient to know how to use the gift. His life must grow and have enough grace to use the gift.
Today, people focus on gifts but neglect grace, because grace requires a price to be paid. Grace requires us to deal with the flesh. If you lack grace and receive power, this is dangerous.
We must learn the lesson that before Pentecost, we must first go through Calvary. Before entering Pentecost, we must go through Calvary. Otherwise, there will be difficulty and confusion concerning the Spirit.
We must go to Calvary first and deal with our natural man. Then we allow the life of the Lord to rule within us, and the power can be exercised properly. Therefore, the spirit of the prophet needs to submit to the prophet.
The final question relates to young people. Thank and praise the Lord that many brothers and sisters are burdened for the young people in the church.
Today, many Christian organizations try to use many different methods to draw young people. They reason that if young people enjoy external things, then bringing those external things into the church will attract them.
But brothers and sisters, we have to know that these things are false. What truly draws us is the love of God. Only when the love of the Lord draws us will we rise up and follow Him.
We need to be like Peter and say to the Lord:
Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One of God.
Brothers and sisters, today we need the love of the Lord to encourage us. For young people, the only thing we can do to help them is to bring them before the presence of the Lord and allow them to have a direct relationship with Him.
When the love of the Lord touches them, you cannot cast them away, because they have already been gained by the Lord.
It is not external methods that should be used to draw young people. Young people brought in by such methods do not have a spiritual future, and they may bring the whole church into the world.
Let us not pay attention merely to numbers, thinking that the greater the numbers, the more successful we are. This is the world’s way. What God wants is quality, not quantity.
We must pray for our young people and ask the Lord to touch them. We also have a responsibility: we must have a testimony before them.
We cannot encourage young people to love the Lord while we ourselves love the world. This is a difficulty in the church today. We see the young people and worry for them, but what about us? We must worry for ourselves.
Do not allow the world to capture our hearts. We may say with our mouths that we love the Lord, but our living may show that we love the world. Young people observe this example very clearly.
We cannot be hypocrites. How we are before God is how we should be before people. We cannot have two lives. If we do, we will send all the young people into the world.
The tears of parents will cause their children to love the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters, this is not merely a problem with the youth; it is a problem with all of us. May the Lord have mercy on us.
We thank the Lord that we have heard some very good answers. We all hope that the longer our brother speaks, the better, because then it gives me an excuse to speak very briefly.
A question was raised concerning the handout we received before the meeting. We did not have an opportunity to explain what the handout was about. It also included the words of a hymn written by Brother Nee, “Let Me Love and Not Be Respected.” The question was about its background.
Yesterday, when we spoke on Philadelphia, we mentioned the Moravian revival. They had a one-hundred-year prayer vigil, based upon Isaiah 62, where watchmen were set for Jerusalem who did not rest and did not let the Lord rest until Jerusalem was established as a praise in the earth.
Every day there were twenty-four brothers and twenty-four sisters. Each brother or sister prayed for an entire hour, and they did not stop—twenty-four hours each day—not for one year, two years, or three years, but for one hundred years.
This was a great revival because of that prayer. Sixty-five years later, three hundred missionaries were sent out from Herrnhut.
Those who had been carpenters and potters in Herrnhut believed that they could still be carpenters and potters after being sent out by the Lord. We know this was indeed a work of the Holy Spirit.
After one hundred years of prayer, in 1828 there was a great movement. Yesterday we mentioned Darby, Müller, and Robert Chapman as examples of brethren who kept the Word, did not deny His name, and kept the word of His patience.
Then, one hundred years later, in 1928, the Lord did a mighty work in China and India. If we had had time, we could have explained this story more fully and used the handout more effectively.
The handout included a picture of a place of worship in Shanghai. I wanted to explain how the meetings in China began. A Westerner who lived in Shanghai for seven years wrote an interesting report describing how the believers met at that time.
There was a design given for the building, and the design itself was helpful in explaining the nature of those early meetings. But we ran out of time and did not have an opportunity to explain it.
Why did we bring out the words of the hymn, “Let Me Love and Not Be Respected”? It was printed in a magazine prepared for young people.
In 1931, Brother Watchman Nee printed the words of this hymn on the cover of that magazine. We had thought he wrote it in 1930, but when we found the magazine, we saw that it was printed in 1931.
We printed it to show you what the cover looked like at that time. We brought it from New York. One sister said, “This is so dirty. Let me reprint and retype it.” I said, “No, I want it to look somewhat dirty. It is like an antique.” That is how the journal or magazine looked.
Brother Nee wrote, “I do not know how much further I have in the future,” and then placed “1931” in parentheses. Now you know something of the background.
Why did we want to bring this up? Many people, when they speak about the work in mainland China, think only of Watchman Nee. They do not recognize that it was the work of the Holy Spirit. In the background there were many unsung heroes. The Lord knew them.
The entire work was the work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Lord used Watchman Nee, but the work did not depend on him alone.
When the meetings first began, within four years there were thirty gatherings and about four thousand people. This was the Lord’s work. These brothers and sisters paid a high price.
Brother Nee himself was fighting between life and death. He did not know how many more years he had, nor whether there would be a tomorrow. In 1926, in Amoy, he knew he was sick, and the doctors said that he had only a short time to live.
The Lord kept him another two years, and he finished writing The Spiritual Man. At the end of 1928, the Lord miraculously healed him, though his body remained weak.
Until 1931, he did some work and began to study Matthew. While studying Matthew 5, 6, and 7, he wrote the words of this hymn. He had no certainty concerning his future. He knew that the Lord could use him, or might not use him.
This is important because the work in China was indeed a work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord would not cast away the prayers of the saints offered over one hundred years.
Through one hundred years, the Lord raised up a group of brethren in England. Another hundred years later, He worked in China and India, and He also did a deeper work through Brother T. Austin-Sparks in England. These works had a special feature of the Holy Spirit.
When we speak of Philadelphia, we should also speak a little about the work in China. The Lord has done much work. This is a way that can be walked.
The brethren have failed. The brethren in England failed, and the brethren in China and India have failed too. Their failure and shame were manifest before the whole world. But because they fell, should we fall away? No. Their failure is a warning to us.
This is our burden, especially for the young ones. Most of us seated here today have been affected by the spiritual work in China. We need to know what was the Lord’s work in China, not only through these brothers but through many others as well.
When temptation, trials, and fires came, those brethren gathered together. Historians called them spiritualists or pietists. They were not merely evangelicals or fundamentalists; they wanted to advance with the Lord.
The Holy Spirit can do a work that man cannot do. This way is true, and it can be walked. From the unity of the brethren, through the Quakers and Anabaptists, many have paved the way with their blood.
If the Lord tarries, may we, by His grace, walk the way also.
Frankly, we need to learn from history. Mark Twain, the great American humorist, said, “We learn from history that we never learn from history.” Therefore, we are doomed to make the same mistakes that everyone else has made.
One question is this: What do we do when we have unspiritual leaders? It is a very good question. I have the greatest sympathy with young people who see very clearly that some leaders are not spiritual.
Sometimes we think young people are empty-headed and do not understand, but very often young people see more clearly than some older ones. We have a real problem here.
What do we do about it? The Word of God is clear: the Lord Jesus is the one Head of the church.
But we are also told clearly in Romans 13 that we are to be subject to governing authorities and to every ordinance of man. If we are believers, we are to obey the law, pay taxes, not be dishonest, and not cheat.
Jesus said:
Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s;
and unto God the things that are God’s.
We are also meant to obey those who have authority in the church. Hebrews 13 says:
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them.
But we still have a problem, especially if those who have rule over us are not walking with the Lord in a living manner. What can we do? Wait for revival.
Another related question is: How do we break a fixed pattern—a routine? Perhaps one sister says the same long prayer every week, another brother or sister chooses the same hymns every week, and the meetings become predictable.
What can we do with these things? I have the greatest sympathy. What is needed is life. You can contribute, but if there is no spiritual life in us, it is boring.
Brothers and sisters, there is nothing so dead as a boring church meeting. When the Lord is not there and when the Holy Spirit is not clearly leading, a meeting can be extremely boring.
At least in certain traditional churches there are smells, bells, and colors. There is always something happening. You are kneeling, standing, sitting, kneeling again, or moving; you cannot go to sleep.
In our church meetings, we can have a great deal of truth and still be asleep. We can sing the same hymn every week, repeat the same portion of the Word, or give the same testimony. There is nothing so boring as a church meeting when the Lord is not there.
But when the Lord is there, there is nothing more exciting than a church meeting. You are in the throne room of God. The Head is speaking, and the members of the Body are being used.
Then younger people are wonderfully helped. They see truth in action and truth in practice. They see older ones full of the Lord, and their contribution is life. That life comes into the youngest person.
Then younger people desire to speak with older ones and ask, “How did you get there?” In many assemblies, we hear, “What shall we do with the young people? They are lifeless. They want the world.”
What we need to do is get on our knees and ask, “Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years. Meet us by Your Spirit.”
We are living in what appears to be an abnormal day. We have Baptist churches, Methodist churches, Presbyterian churches, nondenominational churches, Pentecostal churches, and charismatic churches. How are we to put into practice the principles we have discussed?
There is nothing new about this condition. Ever since the second century, we have had this problem. It is a problem the Holy Spirit has addressed again and again.
There were the Donatists, the Montanists, the Bogomils, the Paulicians, the Waldenses, and then the Reformation. The Holy Spirit brought at least a remnant of believers to practice principles such as those we have discussed.
There has never been a single period in the history of the church since Pentecost in which the Holy Spirit has not taken the initiative.
God did something in the first and second generations of many of these movements. It is as though the Lord allows one thing to decline and then begins again. It is amazing.
Even the Reformation broke up into many groups. Yet the Holy Spirit continued to work through the Moravians, the early Methodists, and many others. The early Methodists did not even call themselves Methodists; others called them enthusiasts.
There have always been abnormal conditions. In China, there were every form of denomination, and God took hold of men such as Watchman Nee. The same was true in India and Britain.
There has never been a time when we have not had such abnormal conditions. Why? Because there is an enemy. Every move of the Holy Spirit is attacked, especially at its weak point, in an effort to destroy it.
But I do not believe Satan will win. The wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit has taken the initiative and will continue to take the initiative until these words are fulfilled:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
Dear brother or sister who asked the question, I believe it represents more than one person. Take heart. Obey the law. Follow the Lord completely. May the Lord lead you to others of like mind who can share the Lord with you.
One question can be answered simply: Is the bride, the wife of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem, composed of all believers, or only of those who have grown in the Lord?
Every believer is potentially part of the wife of the Lamb. Everyone truly born of God—whether man or woman—is potentially part of the wife of the Lamb.
But, in my understanding, the Father does not want to marry a babe to the Lord Jesus. He does not believe in child marriage.
Do you think the Lord is interested merely in having someone beside Him who looks beautiful outwardly but has nothing within? No. The Word of God is clear: He wants us to sit with Him on His throne.
The Lord Jesus Himself, as a man, was made perfect, complete, and mature through suffering. Therefore, I understand that the bride consists of those who, by the grace of God alone and by the power of the Holy Spirit, have grown to maturity.
That is as far as my revelation from the Lord goes. Some ask whether God has a way of causing these babes to grow. It is a theological question. The Catholics have purgatory, and so does the Orthodox Church, but I do not think we should go beyond what has been clearly revealed to us.
We need to grow. That is the problem. When our assembly meetings and church meetings are boring, something is wrong. We have stopped growing. We are not moving with the Lord.
We have become a fourth- or fifth-generation people. We are dying on our feet; we are dying while we sing hymns. We need to be alive. The greatest necessity is to grow in the Lord.
Let me say something to the younger ones. That fleshly elder or leader with whom you have such difficulty may be used by the Lord to teach you a tremendous amount under that brother’s leadership.
Perhaps, if the Lord gives us time and you become a leader, He will teach you how not to lead. We often grow through our relationships with one another in the church.
I have received a number of questions about the charismatic movement. Shall we accept or reject it? Does it come from God?
Personally, I have no doubt that the charismatic movement, in its beginnings, was a real move of the Spirit of God—a recovery movement of the Holy Spirit.
In the history of the church, we ought not to stop at the brethren movement. Brother T. Austin-Sparks told me that his mother was an Irvingite. He grew up in his mother’s drawing-room meetings, listening to tongues, prophecies, and all kinds of gifts.
Yet he felt that the Lord led him far beyond that. Tongues, interpretations, prophecies, and prophetic utterances have never ceased throughout church history.
People say these things were restored in the Welsh revival of 1903 or at Azusa Street in 1906. But gifts were present among the Anabaptists, the Waldenses, the Paulicians, the Huguenots, and the Quakers. They have never ceased.
Whenever there has been much spiritual life, there have often been such manifestations. Wesley speaks of them in some of his meetings. Martin Luther complained that certain people babbled. Even the Puritans, whom we consider very conservative, experienced people falling down and speaking in tongues in their meetings.
This is not to say that all such things are right. What our brother said earlier must be underlined: we need to discern the spirits whether they are of God.
John says in his first letter that we have an anointing from God and know what is true. We have an inner witness. Even when you are young in the Lord, that witness is there.
Often young believers are quicker to sense that something is wrong than older believers. I remember someone coming to Halford House. There was definitely something very odd about him, but some older ones thought he was wonderful and full of vision.
The younger people came to me and said, “Brother, we do not like to criticize, but there is something wrong.” What was the difference between the older and younger ones? The younger ones did not know much, but the older ones had the inner witness and pushed it down.
An old brother said to me many years ago, “The first reaction that you have in your spirit is nearly always the right one.”