Will you please turn to Ephesians 1? We will read verses 9 and 10.
Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
for the administration of the fullness of the times,
to head up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth.
Then verses 22 and 23:
And hath put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly,
which is His body,
the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
Please turn also to Revelation 1:17-18.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not;
I am the first and the last,
and the Living One;
and I became dead, and behold, I am living unto the ages of the ages,
and have the keys of death and of Hades.
Finally, turn to Revelation 12:11.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and because of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death.
Dear Lord, with grateful hearts we come to Thee. We thank Thee for giving us this time in which we can be together. We thank Thee that Thou hast begun this conference, and we believe that Thou wilt be the end of this conference.
We pray that our hearts may be filled with Thy presence, that we may lose sight of everything, including ourselves, that we may be able to see Thee and Thee alone. May Thou fill our hearts and be all and in all to us. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, I believe we come this morning with hearts of gratitude. We thank the Lord for giving us this special opportunity that we may be together in His presence. Now this is the last morning, so we look to Him. If He has anything yet to say to us, may He say it. If there is anything that we need to learn, may we learn it.
The burden that I have in my heart is very simple. I want to fellowship with you, dear brothers and sisters, on this matter of our calling and how we are going to fulfil that calling.
We all know that we are called with a holy calling, and we are called to a heavenly calling. We are called to an on-high calling. Now, what is our calling? What has God called us to be?
I believe, to put it very simply, God has called us to be the Body of Christ. There is no calling higher, holier, or more heavenly than this.
You are not called to be a spiritual giant, to be a pillar, as it were, to be admired by people. No, you are called to be a member of the Body of Christ.
And what are you called to do? You are called to bear the testimony of Jesus. There is no work higher than the testimony of Jesus.
So, at the very outset, we need to know what our calling is. What are we called to be? We are called to be the Body of Christ. And what are we called to do? We are called to bear the testimony of Jesus.
You know, brothers and sisters, after man sinned, man became self-centred. Fallen Adam and his children are self-centred. Everyone who comes out of Adam is self-centred. We think only of ourselves: What will become of us?
We need to be delivered from self-centredness. We need to be delivered unto Christ.
In the beginning, God. It is not you, nor me; in the beginning, God. And God has a will, which He wills according to His good pleasure.
What is His good pleasure? We find the answer in Ephesians 1:9-10. Even before the foundation of the world, before God did anything, God conceived a will. This will was according to His good pleasure. It was what He desired.
What is that will? Ephesians 1:9-10 tells us that God wants to sum up—to head up—all things in Christ.
God was going to create, but before He created, He had made this will. Why did He create all things? He had a purpose, because He wanted all things to be headed up in Christ.
To put it another way, God wants to sum up all things in Christ. What does it mean to be summed up?
We have another example in the Scriptures. In the book of Romans, we are told that God gives us many commandments: “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not covet,” and so on. Yet all these commandments are summed up in one thing: you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
The commandment of love sums up all the other commandments. In the same way, although God has created all things—the things in the heavens, the things upon the earth, and even the things underneath the earth—out of billions and billions of things, they are all to be summed up, headed up, in Christ Jesus.
That is why we find in Colossians 1 that all things were created in Him. What does it mean to be created in Him? It means that He is the Architect. All things were first in His mind.
All things were also created by Him. He is not only the Architect; He is also the Engineer. He created all things in heaven and upon earth.
Then all things were created for Him. In other words, He is the Owner. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the supreme will of God. We call it the eternal purpose of God.
Then, you remember, God created man in His own image and after His own likeness. Why did He do so?
He created everything else by His power and by His wisdom. He created all things to express Himself. But why did He create man in such a special way? Because He has a purpose for man.
After God created the universe, He had not yet created man. At that time, the highest created beings were angels. There were numberless angels serving the Lord.
In the beginning, everything was harmonious. The angels sang and worshipped God. Everything was under the feet of God and His beloved Son.
But we know from the Word of God that, at some point, something happened in the universe. An archangel, Lucifer, rebelled against God.
He may have been the first angel created. He was created in great perfection, and God gave him many gifts. He became the anointed cherub.
You remember Moses’ tabernacle. There was the ark, and upon the ark was the mercy seat. Upon the mercy seat were two cherubim, serving as a covering. This symbolises the anointed cherub, close to God, serving as a covering before God.
We do not know all the details, but we may suppose that Lucifer, that high angel, led the angels in worshipping God. He was gifted in music, and everything in the universe was harmonious.
But unfortunately, something happened. This archangel, Lucifer, because of his gifts, his position, and his power, allowed something to grow within him.
He was not satisfied with the place God had given him. He wanted to be equal with God. But who is equal with God? No one except God’s own beloved Son.
Put another way, he wanted to rob the position of the Son of God. Pride entered into him, and he began to act unrighteously. Because of this, God cast him out of heaven.
This planet Earth was most likely under his control. When he fell, that which was under him fell with him.
This is why, when you begin with Genesis, you find that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That was the first creation. Whenever God creates anything, it is perfect.
But when you read the second verse, you find that something had happened. The earth was covered with darkness and water. In other words, something had happened to this universe.
Why? Because this planet Earth fell together with that archangel. The earth was under judgment.
We do not know how long that continued, but after a long period God began to restore this earth, to make it habitable. He used six days to restore it.
On the sixth day, He created man. God created man in a way that He had never done before: He made man according to His image and after His likeness.
In Scripture, image speaks of inward quality, while likeness speaks of outward form. Why did God create man? In the first creation He did not create man, but in the restoration of this earth He created man. Why? Because He had a purpose concerning man.
The angel rebelled against God and became Satan, the adversary of God. Everything disintegrated.
In Colossians 1, we are told that our Lord Jesus not only created all things, but all things subsist in Him. In other words, He holds everything together.
When rebellion came, all things disintegrated. Everything entered into decay and vanity. There seemed to be no purpose anymore; all was ruined.
But thank God, He remade this earth to be habitable, and He created man with a purpose.
When God created all things, His purpose was to sum up all things in Christ. All things were to manifest Christ, glorify Christ, and speak of Christ. When you saw anything, it was to speak of Christ.
But because of rebellion, it was no longer that way. Everything disintegrated.
Yet whatever God has conceived, He will fulfil, because He is the beginning and He is the end. God began to work to restore all things to His eternal purpose.
How was He going to do it? It would be easy for God to finish Satan. He could speak a word, and it would be done. But that would not give Him glory.
Suppose a grown man fought a little child. Is there any glory in that? You would probably say that it was shameful.
God had a wonderful idea. He would use one who was created a little lower than the angels to defeat His adversary. Is that not wonderful?
So He created man. Man was created a little lower than the angels, and God would defeat His enemy through man. This is God’s purpose for man.
He created man in His own image, and He put man in the Garden of Eden, the garden of pleasure.
God created all kinds of fruit trees. In the beginning, man lived in the garden and ate the good food God had provided. God came into the garden and had fellowship with man.
In the centre of the garden, God planted two trees. He planted the tree of life, and beside it He planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
What does that mean? All the fruit trees were good for food. God supplied man’s physical needs.
God also created us with a soul. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents knowledge, and the highest knowledge is ethical knowledge—the knowledge of good and evil. That tree was food for the soul.
But in the centre of the garden was the tree of life. It is the food of our spirit. God wants us to live by His Spirit, not to live by our soul or by our body alone.
God is the supreme will, and He gave man a will also. We have a free will. If you have a free will but no choice, what is free will for?
God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there to give man a choice. Some people think that this tree was a bad tree. Personally, I do not believe that it was. God could not put anything bad in the Garden of Eden.
It was better, but it was not the best. God said, in effect, “Here you are. You are created in My image and have your own free will. You can choose for yourself.”
“You may choose the tree of life, receive My life, depend upon Me, and live eternally. Or you may choose to be independent of Me. You may develop your soulish life. You may be god yourself. Make your choice.”
Unfortunately, our forefather made the wrong choice. But do not blame your forefather, because we all do the same thing.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were self-willed. “I am the centre of the universe. Even God surrounds me. Everything is for me—me, me, me; I, I, I.” We are all like this.
Was God frustrated? No, He never gave up.
There was good news: a little Baby was born in Bethlehem. He was born of the Spirit and of a virgin. He became man.
Thank God, throughout His life, He obeyed God. He denied Himself. He did not think of Himself.
He said, “I can do nothing of Myself. I do what I see My Father doing. I can say nothing of Myself, but I say what My Father has said.”
He said, “Your time is always ready, but My time has not yet come,” because His Father determined His time. Throughout His life, one thing was evident: He denied Himself all the way.
He never thought of Himself. He thought only of the Father’s will, and He was obedient to His Father, even unto death—yea, the death of the cross.
Brothers and sisters, the very life of our Lord Jesus defeated God’s enemy. When He was crucified on the cross, He not only defeated the enemy in His own life; by His death, He defeated the enemy for all of us.
He saves us and delivers us. Why does He want to save us? We were enemies of God, destined for eternal death. Yet He loved us and loved us to the uttermost. He saves us to the uttermost.
He is not satisfied merely to save us halfway. He wants to save us unto the very purpose of God, that we may be His vessels and His instruments.
God wants to defeat His enemy through man. He demonstrated this first in Christ Jesus.
The enemy tempted Him in every way to act as the Son of God. As the Son of God, He could turn stones into bread. As the Son of God, He could jump from the pinnacle of the temple and the angels would take hold of Him. As the Son of God, the whole universe was His.
But again and again, He refused to act as the Son of God. He knew that He was the Son of God, and He knew that He was sent by His Father; but He always stood on the ground of the Son of Man.
This is the strategy of God. When you look at the life of our Lord Jesus, you see how He suffered because He refused to act as the Son of God. God sent Him to be a man, because God intended to use man, who was created a little lower than the angels, to defeat His enemy.
How faithful He was. He accomplished it not only for Himself, but also for us.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us remember: to be saved is only the beginning. If we live for ourselves, then salvation becomes the end. But if we live for God and for His purpose, how can we be satisfied with anything less?
He must bring all things under His feet in us first. Then, with us, all things will come under His feet.
That is why, when you read Romans 8, beginning around verse 19, you find the whole universe groaning. Do you hear the groaning of the universe?
Why does creation groan? Because it is under bondage. The mountains are under bondage. The whole universe is groaning because it is unwillingly under bondage and corruption.
Who brought creation into bondage? We did. Unless we are delivered, the whole universe remains under corruption.
Creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. It is waiting for us to be delivered first.
We need to be delivered from ourselves and from the enemy. We need to overcome all the devices of the enemy. God must do this first in us.
Christ must begin to fill us, until Christ is formed in us. It is not enough merely to have the life of Christ in us. His life must be formed and matured in us.
In our daily life, we overcome the enemy by denying ourselves and living under the will of God. We go out, and Christ comes in. Gradually, we are transformed and conformed to His image.
That is to say, everything has been brought under the feet of Jesus in your life. You become not only a vessel but also an instrument.
In Ephesians 1:22-23, we find that God has made Him Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
This is God’s calling for us: that we may become the fullness of Christ. No one person can contain the fullness of Christ. But with all the saints together, we apprehend the fullness of God.
We are to be the Body of Christ. In the body, everything belongs to the head. Everything is under the control of the head. Everything is directed by the head.
Whatever comes from outside goes to the head, and the head gives the command to act and to react. That is the body.
The body is to contain the fullness of the Head and to express it. That is what the church is.
We have such a tremendous task before us. How can we be satisfied merely with being saved?
One brother said, “If my two feet are inside the gate of heaven, I am satisfied.” If that is your idea, you are a waste to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we have a great calling. Can we be satisfied with anything less?
We are all to learn of Christ, to grow into more of Christ and less of ourselves. We grow into less of “I” and more of Christ.
It is all of Christ and none of ourselves. This is the will of God concerning man.
He wants us to be His vessels. He wants to fill us. But for filling, there must first be pouring out; and the pouring out is the cross.
Brothers and sisters, this is the way for every one of us. Why does He want to fill us? Because He wants to use us as instruments.
What is our task? We know what we should be, but what is our work? He has called us to work for Him.
The work is to bear the testimony of Jesus. In this world that rejects the Lord, we are to be His instruments to bear the testimony of Jesus.
What is the testimony of Jesus?
You remember, when our Lord was on earth, in John 5 He said that there was one bearing testimony of Him, and that was John the Baptist.
John was a burning and shining lamp. He bore testimony of the Lord Jesus. He said, “I am only a voice. Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy even to unloose the strap of His sandal.”
When John saw the Lord Jesus passing by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” He testified of our Lord Jesus.
But our Lord Jesus said that there was something greater testifying of Him: His works testified of Him. “If you look at what I have done, you will know who I am.”
More than that, the Father Himself testified of Him. In the Gospels, the heavens opened, and three times a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Lord Himself testified of Himself.
After the ascension of our Lord Jesus, toward the end of the first century, the apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos because of the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God.
On the Lord’s Day, I believe John may have been sitting upon a rock, looking toward Asia Minor. On a clear day he could see the faint shoreline of Asia Minor and think of the churches that he had served before he was exiled.
Then he heard a voice. He turned, and he saw seven golden lampstands, and One like unto a Son of Man walking in the midst of them.
In other words, the churches in Asia Minor were like golden lampstands. A lampstand, even if it is made of gold, has no purpose in itself. A lampstand is created to bear the light.
That is what the church is. The church is not an end in itself. It is an instrument to uplift Christ.
Christ is the light. We are only vessels to bear the testimony of Jesus.
The Lord, even in heaven, is the High Priest, watching and supplying.
When our Lord Jesus was in the flesh, John was the closest to Him. But when John saw the glorified Christ in heaven, ministering to His own churches, he fell down.
Then the Lord lifted him up and said:
I am the first, and I am the last.
Behold, I have died,
but I am living for evermore;
and I hold in My hands the keys of death and Hades.
Brothers and sisters, to make it simple, what is the testimony of Jesus? The testimony of Jesus is what He says of Himself and what He commits to His church.
I remember a true story about A. J. Gordon. At that time, he was a well-known pastor of a large church.
One day, as he was preaching, he saw a stranger come into the meeting. The usher brought the stranger to the front. As Brother Gordon preached, he kept looking at the stranger and wondering what he thought of the message.
Would the stranger appreciate the choir? Would he appreciate the sermon? What would he think of all these things?
Brother Gordon determined that when the meeting was over, he would go to the front door, as usual, and shake hands with the people as they left. He wanted to meet the stranger.
The story is told that this encounter brought a great change in his ministry. He realised that the only thing that mattered was whether Christ Himself was satisfied.
Hopefully, the Lord does not merely come to visit us. Hopefully, He will stay with us. That is the only reason we are here.
Whatever we do, we want to please Him. We want to bear His testimony. We want Him to be the end.
We want to say, “For to me to live is Christ.” We want to appreciate all that He has done on Calvary’s cross. We know Him as the Living One, and we know that He holds the keys of death and Hades.
The Lord said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Brothers and sisters, this is the testimony of Jesus.
We have a glorious commitment. We are not here to play church. We want to be used by the Lord to build up the church, to bear the testimony.
What happens to us does not matter. We know that He never forgets. When we look at ourselves, or when we look around, we may be disappointed. But, brothers and sisters, may the Lord bring us back to this one thing: the testimony of Jesus.
By His grace and mercy, He will raise up a people—a few—in whose lives He will overcome the enemy. It is not that they are perfect, but they know the preciousness of the blood of our Lord Jesus.
They claim the blood daily. Even tears of repentance need to be cleansed by the blood.
They have the word of their testimony, and they live what they testify. You may deceive man, but you cannot deceive Satan.
You remember the seven sons of the Jewish high priest who tried to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. They said, “In the name of Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”
They did not know the Lord Jesus. They tried to use that Name, but the evil spirit overcame them.
The demon said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
Brothers and sisters, do we have the word of the testimony of Jesus? Do we testify, and do we live?
Then the word has power. “They loved not their life even unto death.” The life spoken of there is the soul-life.
The Lord said, “If you love your soul-life, you will lose it. If you lose it for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, you will gain it unto eternity.”
The way is clear before us. It is not because we are better than anybody else. It is because we appreciate Christ and know Christ, that the eternal purpose of God may be fulfilled.
Dear brothers and sisters, may God’s purpose be fulfilled in us, in Christ. Amen.
Lord, once again we want to thank Thee for gathering us together. We commit everything that has transpired during these days into Thy hand.
Because Thou art not only our beginning; Thou art all in all to us. O dear Lord, we pray that Thou wilt apprehend each and every one of us. May Thy love constrain each one of us, that Thy purpose may be fulfilled in us.
The reason why we started early this morning is that we want to give more time for prayer and response. We do not want merely to learn some truths and understand some matters.
This has been a special conference, and our desire is that these matters would become real in the local churches. Our prayer is that we might truly take these things to heart.
This morning there was a passage from Open Windows, Brother T. Austin-Sparks’ meditations, and there was one sentence that fits in so well: “It is individually that we may hold the key to the eternal purpose of God.”
We know, from listening to our brother, that this is not for us; it is for the Lord. But individually, we may hold the key. May we respond and pray concerning what we have heard today and what the Lord has spoken throughout this time.
Lord, Thou art our Head. We submit to Thee. May we submit to Thee.
We wait upon Thy mercy and Thy continuing grace for us. Lord, may we use Thy Word and bear Thy testimony. We can do nothing apart from Thee.
O Christ, manifest Thyself in all Thy majesty. Help us to look upon Thee as we must. Thou art the first, and Thou art the last. What Thou hast begun, Thou wilt complete.
Thank Thee, Father, that Thou art so great that Thou wilt be glorified through those who are lower than angels. By Thy grace, we will overcome Satan.
It is Thou, Lord, who hast done this work. When Thou went to the cross in obedience to Thy Father, Thou didst accomplish it. May we follow Thee with assurance, confidence, and faith, knowing that Thou art doing the work and that we are members of Thy Body.
Lord, we thank Thee that Thou art the perfect example. Though Thou hadst everything, in order to fulfil the purpose of God, Thou wast willing to empty Thyself and become perfectly obedient to the Father’s will.
Lord, thank Thee for saving us. Thank Thee for redeeming us back for the purpose of God. Our prayer is that every day we may choose the tree of life.
May we be willing to empty ourselves so that we may be filled with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. May Thou be Lord of our lives every day.
Lord, may we truly uphold the testimony of who Thou art, that others around us may see Jesus and know that God sent Thee into this world.
We thank Thee that Thou hast made every provision. Thy life is sufficient, and through that life Thou art able to finish the work Thou hast begun.
Keep the word that Thou hast spoken in us. Keep our hearts. May we be willing to be consecrated, to live for Thee, and to give Thee full sway and full control of our lives, that Thy will may be fulfilled on this earth.
We pray in Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.