I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Our Father, once again we look to You. How willing we are to hear Your voice from Your throne. We pray that You would do according to Your own will and according to that which is in Your heart. Open us, and grant to us an open heaven, so that we would all be constrained to choose the heavenly matters.
May Your heavenly glory and fullness fill us, so that on earth we would be Your testimony and may declare Your beauty and Your virtue until we see Your appearing.
We pray that, through the moving of the Holy Spirit, You would lead us into the precious light of Your word. May You lead us during this time, so that all of us would be able to meet You Himself.
May You truly gain us, that we would follow wherever the Lamb goes. We look to You and pray in the Lord Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
We thank the Lord that we are able to gather in His presence. As the brothers and sisters are aware, as we look to the Lord, our concern is the recovery of the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Brothers have already brought us under the light of God from various angles. On the one hand, we are able to see the precious arrangement of God upon each one of us. On the other hand, they have shown us that, along this path of following the Lord, we may encounter difficulties, sufferings, and lessons to be learned.
We all have this one desire: that we may walk well on this path, and that our Lord Himself would be satisfied.
The brothers have entrusted me to share on this matter of how to keep the faith. We praise and thank God that, in Paul’s last days, as he wrote to Timothy, he expressed very weighty matters from within his heart.
On the one hand, Paul was encouraging Timothy to go forward. But on the other hand, we can see the very precious condition within Paul himself. Many brothers and sisters would say that, in this last passage of 2 Timothy 4, Paul is singing and expressing this triumphant song: he has finished his course.
Even though the course upon which he went was filled with difficulty, trials, and temptations—times of victory and times when he felt that he had come short—at the end he was able to share with us how full of glory and joy his heart was.
He says:
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
We thank God. Brothers have already shared something concerning the way and the fight. We can see that the course Paul went through was filled with things that were not easy to bear.
When we turn to 2 Corinthians, we see Paul’s list of the things he faced. He shared with us some of the great matters he experienced in serving the Lord. From this, we realize that it was indeed not easy.
Each peril he faced could have caused him to lose his life. In fact, Paul did go through many situations in which he could have lost his life. Yet the list itself was only part of his experience as he followed the path of the Lord; it was not the whole.
Even that short list causes us to ask, “Are we able to bear it?” But after Paul had finished that course, there were still more difficult paths ahead. Nevertheless, when we come to the end of 2 Timothy, Paul is able to sing this triumphant song.
From his song of victory, we do not find any trace of resignation in Paul—as though he were merely saying, “I finally finished my course.” We do not see grief, sorrow, or a sigh of relief. There was no thought of, “It was not easy, but now there are no more hardships. I have finally finished all that I needed to do.”
There was no such feeling. What Paul expressed is truly precious to us.
Paul says, “I have fought the good fight.” Our brother shared that it was not only a good fight; it was a noble fight. He also shared concerning the course Paul had finished and what kind of course it was.
What Paul expresses here is in the same manner as that which John experienced on the island of Patmos. We praise and thank God that Paul could declare the joy and rest he experienced as he finished his course.
In the passage we have read in 2 Timothy 4, we see several important matters. First, in our service to the Lord and in our encounters, we will face much tribulation and hardship.
Yet such hardship does not hinder the fulfillment of God’s will in us. Paul finished the course which God had set before him and fought the good fight.
Paul endured much affliction, but among those afflictions was the grace of God. Therefore, he especially charged Timothy to be instant, whether in season or out of season, whether in affliction, whether others receive you, reject you, rebuke you, or even trample upon you.
You cannot depart from the position in which you ought to stand. Neither should you lay down the ministry which God has entrusted to you. You must continue to stand firm and go forward.
Paul shares with us his personal experience. He says, “I have finished the course.” What was his experience through that course? “I have fought the fight, and I acknowledge that this is a good fight, a noble fight.”
What kind of course was it? It was a course filled with God’s grace, His support, and His mercy. It was also a course that led Paul into the fullness of life.
Paul testifies that the course upon which he went brought him into the good will of God. From Paul’s experience, we need to see one thing: what enabled Paul to finish his course so boldly and to fight that good fight?
The answer has a very intimate relationship with the fact that he kept the faith.
Paul himself said that when he fought the spiritual fight, he was not beating the air aimlessly. When he ran the course, he was not running in vain and wasting his time. Paul was assured and confident concerning why he fought the fight and why he was on the course.
He was able to fight a good fight and run the race because he had an assurance within. This assurance had much to do with the assurance he had concerning the word of God.
In the Chinese translation, the expression is that Paul “kept the faith” or “held fast to it.” The English translation says that Paul “kept the faith.” I do not know what is the most meaningful way to translate this word.
Of course, the easiest translation is “the faith.” But personally, I do not particularly like this expression because it is very general and common, and it is easy for us to mix many things into it. Yet I do not have a better term to express the meaning.
Therefore, it is acceptable to say that Paul kept the faith, though there is still something lacking in our understanding of that expression.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know whether you have heard this joke before. If you understand it, then you may understand better what it means to keep the faith.
Many nominal Christians say they believe in the faith, but what is this faith in which they believe? It is very difficult to express it in simple words. Yet the joke is meaningful.
Many who claim to believe in the Lord have their eyes fixed upon the blessing of the Lord. They do not realize what God’s salvation is intended to accomplish in them. In their hearts they are always thinking, “How can I gain the blessing of God?”
There was a man who encountered a great hardship. He came before God in prayer and said, “God, I am facing a great hardship. Would You show me how I should deal with this matter?”
He thought about how he could know God’s will. So he took out the Bible and said, “The Bible is Your spoken word. Now I will wait for You to speak.”
This may sound very spiritual, as though he had learned many lessons. But merely saying such words is meaningless if one does not understand how to receive the word of God.
The man prayed, closed his eyes, opened the Bible, and pointed his finger randomly to a verse. He said, “Lord, this is the word that You have for me.”
When he looked at the verse, he was shocked. The verse he had pointed to was the account of Judas, who betrayed the Lord, regretted it, and then went and hanged himself.
He thought, “This is impossible. The Lord cannot be saying these words to me. Perhaps there is some error. I was looking in the New Testament; perhaps I should see what word the Lord has for me in the Old Testament. Surely the Lord does not want me to hang myself.”
So he prayed again. This time he turned to the Old Testament. He opened his eyes and found himself at Isaiah 37:32.
He saw the words, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.” Now he was really confused. He said, “I wanted to seek the Lord. Why has the Lord shown me that He wants me to hang myself? I wanted confirmation from the Lord, and now I read, ‘The zeal of the Lord shall do this.’ Now I am a dead man for sure.”
Brothers and sisters, this is just a joke. Yet the joke does point out the reality of the condition of many children of God and the way in which we approach the word of God.
The fact that Paul fought the good fight and finished the course set before him did not arise from randomly taking verses out of the Bible. Within him was an assurance because the Lord Himself had spoken to him.
The statement, “The zeal of the Lord shall do this,” is certainly found in the Bible. The record that Judas hanged himself is also found in the Bible. But neither statement, taken in that manner, is the true word God is speaking to us.
When Paul says, “I have kept the faith,” he is speaking of the faith which he believed in. He is saying, “I have believed and kept the faith which I firmly believed in. I have believed in the truth that was revealed, and I have kept it.”
The Lord Jesus in whom we believe is not made up merely of a few words. There are many words in the Bible that concern matters related to the Lord, and there are historical records in the Scriptures. But these are not necessarily the faith we are to believe in.
What, then, is the word that we are to believe? We thank God that Paul’s testimony helps us understand this.
Paul knew assuredly the good fight he had fought and the course he had finished. The fact that he had fought the fight and finished the course confirmed to him that he had kept the faith.
These words are meaningful. On the one hand, they tell us that there is a purpose for the fight. On the other hand, there is a foundation for the course upon which Paul ran. Those things were based clearly upon who the Lord is and what the Lord has done.
Paul himself testified that, because of what the Lord had shown him concerning Himself, he was able to finish the course. Therefore, Paul could say, “I have kept the faith.”
This does not lead to a passive conclusion: “Now I have finished everything I ought to do. I can close my eyes without regret.” Those who follow the Lord do not have such pessimistic views or emotions.
Rather, Paul had this assurance: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” This is the result. From the Lord’s hand, he would receive the crown of righteousness. He would be brought into the glory of God’s grace.
Not only would he receive a glorious position from God, but he would enter a glorious reality from God. We thank the Lord.
When Paul expresses this feeling, he also proclaims a fact: such a crown is not only for him. It is also given to those who are willing to love the Lord and follow the Lord.
Paul is not merely expressing what he feels. He is expressing the glorious result that we ourselves will face. We praise and thank God.
Our brother spoke yesterday concerning Paul’s encounter with the Lord. Paul not only encountered the Lord who had risen from the dead, and not only heard words from the Lord; he also heard the Lord sending him.
We may not have a full grasp of all the words the Lord spoke to Paul in that encounter, but we know that the Lord entrusted Paul with a very important matter. Paul tells us that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
What is this heavenly vision? Within this vision was the commission the Lord had given Paul. Yet, at the same time, God showed Paul not merely the commission but also the result of that commission.
Therefore, when we reach 2 Timothy 4, Paul can say clearly that he has done all that he ought to do, and what awaits him is the crown of righteousness.
The calling God manifested upon Paul was for the glorious will of God to be accomplished in Paul himself. We should not look at this will merely from the angle of work. We must return to the will of God and look at it from that perspective.
This will of God was not only for Paul. Paul tells us that the crown is not only for him but for all those who love the Lord’s appearing. Therefore, this matter concerns all of us.
It is not a special arrangement merely for a special worker. As we consider Paul’s experience, we see not only Paul’s calling but also God’s arrangement upon us.
If we go forward according to God’s arrangement and march on in the fight Paul himself fought, the final result will also be the result Paul has before God.
This brings us to a very basic matter: the salvation of God toward us. What is the arrangement of that salvation?
How do we understand the salvation God has wrought for us? This is connected with Paul’s statement, “I have kept the faith which I have believed.”
At the beginning, when we believed in the Lord, we could not say that we understood the grace we received in all its greatness. At that moment, the grace we knew was that we should not perish but have everlasting life.
It is rare for a person, at the moment he believes in the Lord, to receive the full revelation of God’s salvation. We do not have the capacity or understanding to receive the fullness of God’s salvation at that moment.
It is already great enough that we are saved. Yet, brothers and sisters, it is difficult for us, at the moment we are saved, to see how great and grand God’s salvation is toward us.
What enters into us is often simply this: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
We hear these words clearly. We believe in the Lord, receive eternal life, and shall not perish. What else is there? At that point, we do not know much.
But after we have spent some days in the Lord, if we remain only in the letter of John 3:16, our understanding of the salvation of God remains far from His will for us.
Perhaps we have heard Hebrews 2:10: that it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, to bring many sons unto glory. We have heard such words before.
But when we hear “many sons unto glory,” our ears may hear it without our receiving its reality. We have not fully accepted what it means that, from salvation, we are made sons and are to be brought into glory.
God’s salvation does not stop with the fact that we are made sons. Let me explain this, especially for the younger brothers and sisters.
In this matter of salvation, I earnestly urge you to receive this. Consider the story of the prodigal son.
When the prodigal son wandered afar off, he became hungry and desired even to eat what the pigs were fed, but no one gave him anything.
I want to ask the brothers and sisters a question. In such a sad situation, was he still the son of his father?
There is no reason to say that he was no longer a son. He was still the son of that man. But what kind of man was his father? He was a wealthy man.
At the very least, the son should not have been in a condition in which he could not even eat what the pigs were being fed.
Yes, we are sons. As a status and position, this is great. But this is not the condition God desires for His sons. God desires His sons to be in glory.
If we are made sons yet are not brought into glory, then we have come short. We are like wandering sons. We are not sons enjoying the abundance of our Father’s house, receiving the Father’s glory, and manifesting His glory.
Brothers and sisters, we must go forward on this point.
A few weeks ago, my grandson was watching something—not exactly spiritual, but somewhat spiritual. It was a DVD concerning a Christian organization in Southeast Asia and the difficulties surrounding its situation. The topic was suffering for Christ.
My grandson, who is thirteen years old, said something meaningful: “The young people in the United States do not know what suffering is.”
Those words gave me many thoughts. Especially in our environment, the material things around us can easily satisfy us. Yet if we are content merely with material things, we may never consider the matters of the Lord.
We may not consider, “How may I know the Lord more?” We may feel that whether we know the Lord or not does not matter, because we are already in abundance. We may think, “Even the iPhone 4 is out, and I have one.”
Brothers and sisters, you can understand that condition. The hindrance to many children of God going forward spiritually has much to do with the fact that we are abundantly blessed in material things.
But we must return to the arrangement of God’s salvation for us. What is this salvation God has wrought for us?
Our brothers have repeatedly asked us this question: Do you know who you are?
Brothers and sisters, this is a very meaningful question. Do you truly realize who you are? Someone may say, “That is a funny question. Of course, I am me. Who else can I be?”
No, brothers and sisters, this is a solemn question. If we do not know who we are, we are not qualified to follow the Lord forward spiritually.
Why? Because we will feel that all we have now is sufficient. We will become like the church in Laodicea: “I have everything. I have no lack. What else is there?”
If God has mercy upon us and leads us into the salvation He has wrought for us, then we must confess how foolish we are.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us that God is bringing many sons into glory. To be brought into glory is for us to become glorious sons. At the very least, this tells us who we are.
Who are you? You are a son to be brought into glory. Brothers and sisters, you are sons who are to be brought into the glory of God. To put it plainly, you are sons of God, and you are glorious sons of God.
Let us consider this more practically. What is the foundation for sons to be brought into glory?
Many times, we read the word of God, yet it does not seem that the word has a direct relationship with us. Therefore, we are not sure who we are, what we ought to do, or what we ought to pursue.
This is a sad and unfortunate situation. I hope the brothers and sisters are able to see this wonderful matter: what does it mean to be a son in glory?
Why did God create man? What was God’s purpose in the creation of man? When we understand this, we will realize how glorious and rich our salvation is, and we will know the riches of the fullness of God’s salvation.
From the words of the Lord, we can clearly see that when God created man, His purpose was very clear.
God created man in His own image. What does it mean to be created in God’s own image?
Externally, none of us look alike. Even identical twins, when you come to know them for a longer time, prove not to be identical. God’s statement that He created us in His own image cannot be understood merely in terms of outward appearance.
When Scripture speaks of God creating man, it speaks first of Adam, but it also includes us. Whom do we resemble? At least I do not look like Dana. He is a big man. I was bigger once, but now I have shrunk.
We cannot understand the image of God in terms of outward appearance. But when the Lord’s word is opened to us, we see that we were created according to His glory.
Whether we are tall or short, whether our hair is black or white, whether we are near-sighted or far-sighted—these are not the issue. As long as we are normal, we are here to manifest one fact: God’s glory.
The word of God confirms this. In Isaiah 43, we see clearly that those who are called by His name were created for His glory.
We praise and thank the Lord: we were created for His glory. This is the first point God declared when He created man.
The second point is that God delegated His authority to man, that all created things on earth should be subject to man. Brothers and sisters, this also is a great matter.
Are we able to manifest these things today? No, we are not. Today, we cannot rule over the things around us; rather, we are ruled by them.
Forgive me for mentioning new parents. When you are new parents, you discover that the authority in your household does not seem to belong to you. Who holds the authority? The newborn who cannot even speak.
When the baby cries, you become frantic. When he cries, you become anxious. It seems as though someone is ruling over the family and directing you to do this or that.
Those who have been parents will understand this feeling. Yet if we look around us, especially at the many changes throughout the world, we see a similar condition.
There is flooding around the world, drought and famine, and many complications in relationships among men. It seems that man is ruled by all these external matters.
But when God created man, He intended for man to rule over these things. Now the situation has been reversed: we are affected and ruled by the things around us.
This is our general condition. But we thank God that, when He prepared salvation, He showed us not only that we should not perish but have everlasting life. He also told us that He would gain many sons and lead them into glory.
To what point does He lead them? He leads them back to the arrangement He had when He created man.
When we see God’s original purpose, then we come to the end of Revelation. There we see the tabernacle of God in the midst of men. Man has been restored to God’s purpose from the beginning.
The glory of God is able to be declared through man, and God’s authority is able to be exercised through man. I cannot go further into this point now.
When we return to this very basic matter, we begin to understand the salvation God has given us. At the most basic level, our sins are forgiven, and we can approach God and be accepted by Him.
But when we return to God’s purpose, we see that the purpose of redemption is to fulfill the purpose of God’s creation.
We can be brought back from being wandering prodigal sons to becoming glorious sons. How do we enter into this?
We know that we are prodigals. Before God, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. No matter how we improve ourselves, we have only filthy rags upon us before God.
But we praise and thank God that He has brought us into His own presence. He acknowledges us not merely as sons, but as sons brought into glory.
How are we brought into this condition? We praise and thank the Lord: it is through the work which the only begotten Son of God has completed.
It is the result wrought by the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father—what He is, who He is, and what He has done. We are able to enter into salvation because of what the Son of God is.
We are able to return to the purpose of God’s creation because of what the Son of God has done. God has accomplished this through His Son.
When we see God’s arrangement for us, we see that He has set such a glorious purpose before us.
When we return to Paul’s experience, he says, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith which I have believed.”
These aspects of Paul’s spiritual experience show that, without reservation, Paul placed himself in Christ.
Let us take this one step further. The good fight which Paul fought was possible because Christ had fought that good fight. Paul trusted himself to Christ and received, or appropriated, the victory of Christ for himself.
The course upon which Paul went was the path Christ had gone. Paul placed himself in Christ. Therefore, he was able to experience all that Christ had experienced and enjoy it from Christ.
Why was Paul able to choose in this way? It was because Paul knew the will God had given him, or the words God had spoken to him. Those words centered upon the Son of God Himself.
Paul, without reservation, placed himself in Christ. Therefore, all that Christ manifested became Paul’s pursuit. Whatever Christ could not accept, Paul separated himself from.
Therefore Paul could say, “I have kept the faith which I have believed in.” Brothers and sisters, this is how we ought to learn as we go forward.
I dare not say that the environment and situation we face today are more difficult than those Paul encountered. But there is one thing I can say boldly: the things we encounter today are much more complicated.
The things we face today are complicated, especially from the spiritual standpoint. That which greatly opposes us is the attraction of this world.
By nature, we love to live in ourselves. What satisfies us is often the matters of this world. Very easily, our feelings are captured by the world, and our minds are captured by the matters of the world.
We are now in the twenty-first century, but personally I experienced the most complicated political situation in the twentieth century, when I was still a young man and a student.
When new things arise before us, they can excite our emotions. When new ideas arise, they can also lift our emotions to a high point. Very easily, we may say, “Oh, that is the most correct way.”
During those times, multitudes upon multitudes thrust themselves into political situations. If you spoke about the matters of the Lord, others would say that you were outdated.
When I came to the United States, I encountered another kind of response, but the result was the same. A so-called Christian said to me, “You are still believing in what your grandfather believed in.”
On one occasion, I met a classmate whom I had known from high school through college. We had not seen each other for decades. He told me of his accomplishments, and I said to him, “I am still serving the Lord in the church.”
He replied, “You are still so crazy.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the world. These are the various situations around us.
I would not say that our environment is necessarily more difficult than Paul’s, but it is much more complicated. For this generation, if you are to be a testimony for God, you will encounter many temptations and many trials.
You will encounter trials related to political matters. This has been especially true for the church in China through many decades and continues to be so.
If your heart is focused upon the world itself, you will forget what choice you must make: the Lord Himself or the things outside the Lord.
Today we also encounter many religious hindrances. There are strong religious forces outside Christianity in Europe, in the United States, and in Southeast Asia. One such matter is the Muslim religion.
This is why my grandson could say that young people in the United States do not know what suffering is. In our eyes, we may not see great powers of open opposition to the Lord. Yet each one of us experiences spiritual opposition daily.
One matter to which we pay much attention in the United States is education. When we take note of these matters, we discover something frightening: behind many things are spiritual powers that oppose God.
Even in California, there was a proposition concerning gay marriage. There are still more matters to come. Why do the thoughts of man fall into such a condition? I will not go too deeply into this now, but I point it out so that the brothers and sisters may be alert in their spirit.
Very easily, we can see throughout the world many hidden things that oppose God. What is even worse is that such things are found among Christianity.
There are many things among Christianity in which we do not see the Lord Himself. We encounter theological thoughts, forms of work, excitement over activity, and an increase in numbers.
But the most important question is this: Have men gained Christ? This is often forgotten.
Brothers and sisters, I am not saying this casually. If you want to confirm this, it can be done easily. Look at the gospel tracts published today. Can you tell what the content of the gospel is?
Look at gospel broadcasts on television. Are you able to hear the reality of salvation? If you want to hear about good people and good things, there are many messages available. They tell you to be a good person and to do good things.
But where is Christ? Is it sufficient simply to be a good person and do good things without Christ? Other religions also tell people to be good and to do good things.
Without Christ, one may speak about being good and doing good deeds, but one cannot truly do it. Brothers and sisters, this is the condition in which we are today.
If we are lost in this mainstream idea within Christianity today, it is difficult to imagine what will result.
In my own experience, when I was called by the Lord in the 1950s, there was a great political change taking place in China.
In those days, when you spoke of the matters of God, people said that you were outdated and unable to follow the trend of the world. Yet God raised up many young brothers and sisters who, even against the flow of that trend, were willing to stand on the Lord’s side.
Personally, I had religious fervor for the Lord, but I did not have an understanding of the Lord. Yet the Lord had mercy on me, and He was working.
In one meeting, outwardly it did not seem much like a meeting. There was no genuine preaching of the word of God. Those who were supposed to preach the word did not preach the word; they were speaking empty things.
They thought their words could simply accommodate the situation of that time. But the younger brothers and sisters could not bear it. They felt, “We need the word of God. We must understand the will of God.”
In those situations, we felt that without the word of God, how could we go forward? How could we stand? All the outward arrangements of the meetings were dead.
But we thank God. Man may cause a meeting to become dead, but when the Spirit of God moves according to His will, we do not know how it begins.
Several brothers and sisters felt deeply the desolation of the church. They asked, “How can we find strength in this desolate situation?” Several gathered to pray, and God began His work.
It was during that time that the Lord gave me a very weighty burden. The words that came to me were from Isaiah 6.
After Uzziah died, Isaiah did not know what the future of Judah would be. Uzziah was not a king who fully brought forth God’s will, but neither did he bring Judah into a worse condition.
At that time, Judah was already declining, though many of the people still felt that they were doing well.
It was during that time that the Lord spoke, and Isaiah heard the words:
Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
I was captured by these words—not speaking of myself, but speaking of Isaiah. When Isaiah heard these words, he may have thought Judah was not doing too badly. Perhaps outwardly the situation did not seem so bad.
But under God’s searching, Isaiah saw that God’s people were already declining. Therefore, this was the voice from the throne of God.
God was waiting. God was sighing. Yet throughout the nation of Judah, not many heard these words.
It was not that God was not speaking. It was that men could not hear. It was not that God did not speak, but man was not able to understand His word.
When Paul says, “I have kept the faith which I have believed in,” I have a deep feeling about this. Among the children of God, how many have seen the desolation of the church today?
Perhaps outwardly the church still appears to be doing quite well. But how many have truly recognized the desolation of the church?
It is not that God is not speaking. God has already spoken. Why, then, does the church remain in such a condition? Many times, the external situation covers the lack that is within the church.
This is a very important issue: the word of God has not entered into man. If the word of God has not entered into us, how can we keep the faith which we believe?
One year I visited Rome. I visited the stairs which Luther had climbed. I saw many people still climbing those stairs.
Within me I had two thoughts. Why are people still climbing those stairs? And why was Luther himself able to climb them?
This is not what God desires us to follow. Why was Luther on those stairs, while men are so foolish as to continue in the same way? Brothers and sisters, do you see where the secret is?
Luther himself received the function of the word of God within him. Others felt that the command of the pope was correct and that the traditions of the church were very important. To them, the word of God was not important.
But we praise and thank God that Luther was able to restore something of the testimony of the Lord in his day.
There were many in darkness, many who did not see the future. They felt that they had to do more and more religious things.
Not only in those days, but even in Catholicism today, there are what are called seven sacred things. People are told that as long as they do these seven sacred things, they will be fine when they go to heaven.
But this was not Luther’s feeling. He himself did all these things because he was a priest. Not only did he do them for himself; he also did them for others. Yet he felt that this was not the way.
He climbed those stairs until one day he was enlightened. It is not these things. It is justification by faith.
God’s words had already been spoken. Why had they not heard those words? Why were they still seeking a way outside the true word of God?
I do not know what Luther’s feelings were in those days, but at the very least he was enlightened. This is how the word of God leads us forward.
Luther brought about what men would call the Reformation. But to me, it was not merely a reformation. It was the beginning of the recovery of the testimony of the church.
From that point onward, God continued to bring His children forward on the way of recovery.
The brethren who went before us passed through many difficult paths. Through much labor, they brought the church of God back toward the will of God.
Their labor shows us that God has not forsaken the way of recovering His testimony. We are still traveling on that way of the recovery of God’s testimony.
How do we go forward on this way?
Brothers and sisters, let me use very simple words to conclude today’s sharing: we must return to the word of God.
This is the way of recovery seen in the brethren before us: they went back to the word of God.
If we are not in the word of God, we are finished. There is no fight for us to fight, because we have failed. We may want to go on the course, but there is no course, because the course has been closed.
But we thank God. God’s word, once again, will revive us.
May the children of God in this generation not be lost or confused by the things that are visible.
Let us take note of how clearly Paul stated, when he had finished his path, what he said:
I have kept the faith.
Therefore, I have fought the good fight.
I have finished my course.
And now I wait for that crown of righteousness which God has laid aside for me.
May the Lord also compel us into this condition as we follow after Him.
Lord, may You personally let us hear Your voice from the throne. Man’s words come to an end, but Your words to man do not end.
As You have spoken in the past, You continue to speak. Lord, may Your words illuminate our way, so that the more we go on, the more brightly we see the light, and the more Your will is perfected in us.
Lord, we confess how weak we are and how much we have come short. In Your infinite grace and mercy, support us to finish our course and to manifest the victory of that good fight.
May all glory be Yours. We pray in the Lord Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.