Will you please turn to the book of Hebrews?
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus.
And then will you please turn to the book of Matthew.
Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is?
And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Then charged He the disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ.
From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples, that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall never be unto Thee.
But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy very presence with us. We thank Thee for giving us the opportunity and the privilege of remembering Thee at Thy table. Lord, how Thou hast loved us, and loved us to the uttermost.
We do worship Thee. We do proclaim Thy name. Thou art truly our Lord, our King, and our all. We want to give Thee all the glory and the praise that are Thy due.
And, dear Lord, we do thank Thee that Thou art still with us and Thou art willing to speak to us through Thy Word. So we ask Thee, Lord, that Thy Spirit will breathe upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in each of our lives.
May Thy Word not only test us, examining us, but encourage us and build us up, that we may be where Thou wouldst have us to be. Lord, may our lives on earth glorify Thee and fulfil Thy purpose.
So we just commit this time into Thy hands, trusting Thy Holy Spirit to do His work to the glory of God. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we do thank the Lord that we are partakers of the heavenly calling. Think of that. We who were dead in sins and transgressions, we who were enemies of God, and yet God, in His great mercy, called us with a heavenly calling.
When we receive such a high calling, a heavenly calling, it is fitting for us to consider our confession.
We do confess that our Lord Jesus is not only our Apostle. He came into this world, sent by God for a special mission: to come, to seek, and to save the lost.
We thank God that He is also our High Priest. While He was on earth, He was our Apostle. He accomplished this work of salvation on the cross. Now He is in heaven, but He is still working on our behalf. He is our High Priest.
The Bible says He is making intercession for us unceasingly, day and night without ceasing, that He will be able to save those who come to Him to the uttermost. And this is our confession.
So this morning, I would like to share with brothers and sisters again on this good confession.
You know, we are living at a very exciting moment, because the Bible tells us very clearly that we are living at a time when there is great shaking all over. Once God did shake the earth, but now He is shaking the heavens and the earth. This is a prelude to the second coming of our beloved Lord.
But while we are living in this age, in this time of great shaking, everything around us is shaken. Even our lives are shaken, that whatever may be shaken off will be shaken away. Nothing can remain but only that which cannot be shaken. Then that will remain, and we will receive the kingdom of God.
So, dear saints, brothers and sisters, I think we all realize that we are living in a very troublous time. But in another sense, this is a thrilling time. This is a time that God is preparing us to enter into His kingdom gloriously.
So whatever can be shaken off in our lives, sooner or later may be shaken away, so that only that which cannot be shaken in our lives will remain, and we will be able, by the grace of God, to enter into the kingdom of the heavens gloriously and richly.
So this is the purpose of God. But when we are living in such a time, I think it is very important for every one of us to look at our foundation. It is time for us to examine our foundation, to see if our foundation is solid and can stand all the shakings, or whether there is some faulty foundation so that, probably, we will suffer some loss.
So this morning, I would like to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, something very basic and very fundamental. We want to examine our foundation to see if we do have a good confession, and how much we are faithful to that confession.
Now, in order to approach this, we would not like to go through it from the theological standpoint. I think we have heard enough—too much. But we would like to approach this from the experiential viewpoint. How are we going to experience this good confession, and see by experience how the Lord will lead us into that good confession?
So, to me, I feel that there is nothing better than to use some examples. And the example that we would like to pick for this day is Peter.
You know, Peter was formerly called Simon, son of Jonah. He was a Jew. He was a fisherman. But he was one of the Jewish people at that time who were looking for the Messiah.
One day, his brother Andrew heard John the Baptist say, when our Lord Jesus was passing by, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” And hearing this, Andrew and his companion John left John the Baptist and followed the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord turned back and said, “What are you seeking?” You know, they gave Him a very strange answer: “Where dwellest Thou?”
In other words, they wanted to know the Lord more. They heard that He was the Lamb of God, but they wanted to find out how real it was. So they stayed with the Lord Jesus that night, and thank God, they came to know the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.
Andrew, after he had found the Messiah, went to find his brother Simon and led him to the Lord. And I think you all remember the record in the Gospel of John.
You know, Simon was an outgoing person. We all have different temperaments, brothers and sisters. I often say that this is the marvel of God. Not only physically are we all different—even twins may cheat other people, but not their parents. Everyone is different.
But, you know, there is another difference that we sometimes neglect, and that is our temperament. Temperament is the shape of our soul. Our soul has a shape, and it is represented by our temperament. Some are quick, some are slow, some are outgoing, some are inward. Everyone is different.
But, dear brothers and sisters, that is the marvel of creation. Do not try to imitate anybody else. What God has given you—the temperament—is the right one for you, and He can use that temperament for His glory.
He will be in charge of your temperament, and your temperament will serve God’s purpose. But if we use our own temperament, then we will give God a disservice and cause damage. So do not try to imitate anybody. Be yourself.
We all have our different temperaments. But thank God, no matter what our temperament is, we can experience our Lord Jesus just the same. Our experiences are different according to our different temperaments, but what is behind our experience of the Lord is the same.
So you find here Simon. He was so different from his brother Andrew. We know Andrew was a very quiet person, but very observant. He noticed, among thousands of people, a little boy who had some food.
But Simon was very different. He was quick-tempered, outspoken, always at the front. Without thinking, he would be talking. No, that is Simon.
But you will notice something very strange. When he was brought to the Lord Jesus, you find he did not say a word. Because when he came to the Lord Jesus, the Bible says the Lord looked at him.
And the word look in the original Greek is an intense looking. That is to say, our Lord Jesus looked him up and down, and up and down. And when Simon was looked at by the Lord in that way, he became speechless. Why? Because the Lord looked into him.
And the Lord began to say, “Thou art Simon, but thou shalt be called Peter.” In other words, he was naturally Simon, a man made of dust. But the Lord said, “Thou shalt be called Peter.” And Peter, in Greek, means a small stone.
Now, what is the difference between dust and stone? Stone is something solid. There is some element in the stone that makes it strong, solid, unchangeable.
So you find that when he came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord looked at him and said, “You will be transformed.” That is how Simon first met the Lord Jesus.
And then, of course, in the Gospel record, you find Simon and his brother Andrew began to follow the Lord Jesus, but not in a constant way. Sometimes they were with the Lord Jesus; sometimes they were not.
Until John the Baptist was put into prison and our Lord Jesus began His ministry in earnest, He began to call disciples. And when He saw Simon and his brother Andrew, they were casting the nets. The Lord called them, “Come and follow Me.” And they left the boat and followed the Lord.
But this was not constant. Why? Because, even though Simon began to follow the Lord Jesus to become His disciple, as he was following the Lord, he discovered that he was unfit. He was so unlike his Lord. He considered himself unable to be truly His disciple.
So you remember in Luke 5, when our Lord happened to come to his hometown, you know what he did? He went back to fishing. But the whole night, he could not get anything.
So the Lord used his boat, to sit in his boat and preach to the people on the land, because there were so many. And everything used Simon’s boat. Our Lord will never owe anybody.
Because Simon was not completely His disciple, the Lord was going to pay for using that boat. So our Lord told Simon, “Put out into the deep, and ye shall get a catch.”
Well, Simon said, “You were not a fisherman. I am a fisherman. You may know something heavenly, but I know something earthly. What do You know about fishing?”
But in order to please Him, Simon said, “All right, I will do it, but I will not expect anything.” There were no fish. But when they let down the net, they got a net full of fish. They had to call their partners to come, and they filled both boats.
And when Simon saw this, he realized something. He realized that he was a sinner. But on the other hand, he realized the Lord could do something supernatural.
Now, if the Lord was able to give him such a net full of fishes out of nothing, surely the Lord was able to make him, who was nothing, into something. But he realized he was such an unfit person.
So you remember how he kneeled before the Lord and said, “Lord, I am a sinner. Depart from me.” But in his heart, he wanted to be accepted by the Lord.
So the Lord looked upon the heart. The Lord will never be cheated by your words. He knows your heart. So the Lord said, “Do not be afraid. I will make you a fisher of men.”
And hence, you find Simon became a constant companion of our Lord Jesus.
Now, brothers and sisters, does he sound like you or like me? When we first came to the Lord Jesus, there was always such a kind of situation. On the one hand, we realized that He is our Saviour. We are grateful to Him. We would like to follow Him.
But on the other hand, as we are following Him, we realize how different we are from Him, how unfit we are. We wonder whether we can make it or not. And sometimes we try to slip away.
But the love of our Lord Jesus is constantly upon us. It is not that we will not let Him go; it is He who will not let us go. Thank God for that.
If it were left to us, brothers and sisters, we wonder where we would be today. But when God first chooses and calls us, He will call us to the end. He who calls is able to bring us into that calling.
So that is how Simon Peter began his life with the Lord. And then you find in the Scripture, after our Lord had been ministering for a time, the Jews as a nation rejected Him.
They could not understand Him. Even though they were looking for a Messiah, their concept of Messiah was an earthly one. They wanted the Messiah to come, overthrow the Roman Empire, deliver them out of control, and make them a great nation. That was the type of Messiah they were looking for.
So when our Lord Jesus came, and He was looking for men’s souls instead of their physical greatness, they were disappointed in Him. They rejected Him.
But while they were rejecting Him, the Bible tells us He retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was a Gentile city. But when He was at the border of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples a question. He said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
Now, of course, the disciples had heard many reports, mostly bad and maybe some good ones. So, as disciples, they would not tell the Lord Jesus about all the bad reports. They tried to please their Master.
So they said, “Well, some say You are John the Baptist come to life. Others say You are Elijah. Others say You are Jeremiah, because You weep. Others say You are like Isaiah, the great prophet. And sometimes You are one of the prophets.”
In other words, these were all good reports. But our Lord was not satisfied.
Now, I often say, if you are Chinese and some people say, “Well, you are like Confucius,” how will you feel? You will feel over-honoured. “Oh, I am not worthy,” right?
If our Lord Jesus were just a man, He should be satisfied. But He was not. He is more than a man.
So our Lord Jesus said, “Now, you have been with Me for some time. You ought to know Me better. Who do you say that I am?”
And, of course, Simon Peter was like a spokesman. He blurted out and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That is his confession.
Brothers and sisters, you know what our Lord Jesus said? He said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, you are blessed.” Why? He said, “Because this is not something that human beings can tell you.”
Because the world, at the most, can only see Him as Elijah. That is all they can do. They can only see the outward; they cannot see the inward.
So our Lord Jesus said, “It is My Father who is in heaven. He revealed it to you.”
Dear brothers and sisters, how blessed we are. One day, something—some revelation—has been given to us. Once we were in sins and transgressions; we were enemies of God. And yet the heavenly Father revealed Jesus as Christ, as the Son of God, to us.
Christ—the very name Christ speaks of His mission. He was sent by God to accomplish a special mission, and it is a mission to save us, and to save us to the uttermost.
When our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, before He died, He shouted, “It is finished.” In other words, the mission was accomplished. And then He bowed His head and committed Himself to the Father. Brothers and sisters, He is Christ.
But even knowing Him as Christ, do we really know Him as Christ? How much is included in His being Christ?
You remember that after He died and rose, and ascended up on high, what happened? On the day of Pentecost, you remember Peter proclaimed that God had made Him both Christ and Lord.
So the very meaning of Christ is so comprehensive, so inclusive. Brothers and sisters, we are just beginning to know Him as Christ. We are just beginning to know His work.
And we are continuing to know His work, to be in His work, and to enjoy what He has done for us. There is no end to it.
And He is the Son of God—that is His person. So far as His person is concerned, He is the only begotten of the Father. He is one with the Father. He is the heir of all things. All God the Father’s heart is for Him and in Him.
We hardly know Him as the Son of God. We are just beginning to know Him. And it not only takes a lifetime to know Him as the Son of God; it takes eternity to know Him.
Because if we really know Him, God is the only One who knows Him, and He is continually revealing His Son to us. And that is the thrill of Christian living.
But, brothers and sisters, at least there is a beginning. So here you find Simon made a good beginning. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” A good confession.
And on the basis of that, the Lord began to reveal something more. You know, if you do not have the revelation of the Father concerning His Son, there will be no more revelation.
But if you have the revelation from the Father that our Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then there is something more that He will be able to reveal to us.
So you find now the Lord Jesus said, “Well, you are Peter. You are a little stone, a piece of the rock. Now, what am I going to do with you?” The Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock.”
Now, of course, the Roman church thinks that the church is built on the foundation of Peter because of this verse. But we all know today that this is a mistake. Why? Because Peter is just a little stone, a piece of the rock. And the rock is our Lord Jesus Himself. He is the Rock of Ages.
And all who believe in Him become pieces from that rock. In other words, we who believe in the Lord Jesus receive His life.
So even though there is such a difference—a great difference between a little stone and a huge rock—the quality is the same, because it is a piece out of that great rock.
Brothers and sisters, why did the Lord Jesus save us? There is a tremendous meaning behind it. He does not save us just so that we can go to heaven.
I always remember a brother said, “If my two feet will be within the gate of heaven, I am satisfied.” Now, I hope you are not satisfied.
Because God has called us by His glory and virtue, not according to our need. He must satisfy Himself. For God to be satisfied, you can see how great our salvation is. He wants us to know Him more and more.
So our Lord Jesus said, “Now you are a piece of the rock. You have become a living stone. I am going to use all these living stones to build upon Myself, and that is the church.”
Who is building the church? Today we find people call themselves church builders. No wonder there are so many problems in the so-called church today.
You know, men can only build the tower of Babel. Men cannot build the church. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “I will build My church.”
Now, if it is built by our Lord Himself, the gates of Hades will be opened against it, but they cannot prevail. If it is of man, even one gate of hell opened will overwhelm it.
So here you find there is a further revelation, and that revelation constitutes part of our good confession. The Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock.”
You know, Peter understood it very clearly, because when you read his epistles, in 1 Peter 2, he tells us that our Lord Jesus is the rock, the stone, the foundation. When we come to the Lord, we all become living stones, to be built up together, to be a holy habitation of God.
So Simon Peter knew it very well, but unfortunately the world did not understand. But anyway, you find everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus is supposed to be built up together to be the house of God.
So these are the revelations, and these are our confession. Thank God for that.
But, brothers and sisters, do not think that because you have heard it, because you have received the revelation that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God, and you have also had it revealed to you by our Lord Jesus that He is building you with others to be His house, therefore you think you are already there.
I am afraid many Christians are satisfied by just being saved. They do not want to go into the fullness that God has meant for us.
But God is not satisfied. He is going to work in us until His full purpose in you and in me is realized.
So you find, after our Lord Jesus revealed these things to His disciples, He told them not to tell anybody. Why? Because He wants people to receive revelation from the Father.
Then the Bible says our Lord Jesus began to reveal something more to them. He said, “I am going to Jerusalem. I will be judged. I will be killed. But on the third day I will rise from the dead.”
You know, it is as if the disciples did not hear Him say, “I will rise from the dead.” They only heard that He would go to Jerusalem and suffer and die.
So you know what Peter did. He took hold of the Lord. You know, the word there is a very strong word. He took hold of the Lord, shook Him up, and said, “No, Lord, no. This shall never happen to You. Be kind to Yourself. You do not need it.”
He did it out of his goodwill. We would say he did it because he loved the Lord. But actually, in that natural love, he was loving himself.
But the Lord knew everything. He knew it was Satan using this man who had just made such a good confession. And if He should listen to it, everything would be finished. There would be no salvation.
So our Lord turned and faced him and said, “Satan, get behind Me, because you are not mindful of God, but you are mindful of man.”
Then the Lord began to teach them a lesson. He said, “If anybody wants to follow Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”
If you love your soul-life, you will lose it. If you lose it for the sake of God, you gain it to eternity. What is more precious? Even if you get the whole world and lose your soul, it cannot be compared.
There is a lesson we must all learn.
So, brothers and sisters, you will find that even though we did receive some revelation, we did understand that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We address Him as Lord. But look at our lives—how we contradict His lordship in our daily life.
We still want our own way, not only for ourselves, but even impose it on the Lord. That is where we are.
How we need to learn this blessing of the cross. You know, if there is no cross, there will be no Christ. The reason why He is our Christ is because He went to the cross.
And the same way is true. If we follow the Lord Jesus, we have to bear the cross. If there is no cross, it shows that we are not following the Lord.
Why? Because after God created man, man fell into sin. Soul-life, the natural life, is a sinful life. It is a life under the influence of the prince of the power of the air. It is rebellious.
So that is the reason why our soul-life has to go through the cross in order to be purified. Instead of allowing the enemy to sit on the throne of our soul-life, he must be displaced and be replaced by Christ Jesus.
So His life will come into our very soul and use our emotion, use our thought, use our will, to glorify God. Otherwise, when we are using our will, when we are using our thought, when we are using our emotion, it is under the influence of Satan. That is how serious it is.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we need to consider our calling. We need to consider the confession that we have made. Do we really confess the good confession? That will be our testimony. But where are we today?
You know, in the life of Peter, again and again you find God interrupted him. He had so many suggestions, and God had to cut him off.
Not only did our Lord Jesus seem to cut him off immediately after he confessed, but you find later on, while the Lord took him to the Mount of Transfiguration, he saw the glory of the Lord, the kingdom, the coming kingdom.
And he was so happy. So again, he made the suggestion to make three tabernacles: for the Lord, for Moses, and for Elijah; and he would just sleep in the open air. What a sacrifice!
But while he was talking, God cut him off. The Shekinah glory of God passed by and covered him, and said, “This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.” It is not for you to talk, but to hear. The Father cut him off.
And then you find again, when he was in the house of Cornelius preaching the gospel, he was just at the beginning of his preaching—he was a long-winded person—and the Holy Spirit cut him off. The Holy Spirit came down upon all these Gentiles, so he was not allowed to speak on.
Brothers and sisters, you know, this is discipleship. This is the reason why we who believe in the Lord Jesus need to be discipled day by day by the Lord Himself.
We need to learn to deny ourselves. We need to learn to obey the Lord. We need to learn to give up ourselves and allow the Lord’s will to go through in us. That is our daily exercise.
Now this is so far as his revelation of the Lord as the Christ, as the Son of God, is concerned. In other words, he needed a lifetime to continue to learn what Christ means, what the Son of God means. He needed to use a lifetime to experience Jesus as Christ. And this is our daily experience.
Now, how about the church? And you remember, God raised Peter to be the one who opened the gospel to the Jews and to the Gentiles.
But because he was a kosher Jew—in other words, he kept everything according to the law, even in his food—you remember, when he was by the seashore, it was almost noon and he was hungry.
He went up to the housetop, because the Jewish houses at that time all had flat roofs. He went to the roof to pray, waiting to eat. And then he was in a trance; in other words, his soul seemed to go out, and he saw a vision.
And it was a vision of a great sheet, recorded in Acts 10, a great sheet coming down from heaven with its four corners hanging down. And when it came down to the earth, he looked at it, and he saw in that sheet all kinds of four-footed creatures, all kinds of creeping things, and birds.
And then he heard a voice: “Peter, rise and eat.”
And Peter’s reaction was, “Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean. How can I do it?” And the Lord told him, “What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.”
And this happened three times. You can see how stubborn Peter was. Even God was speaking to him, he could not listen because he had to keep his own way.
And then that sheet went to heaven. While he was contemplating, “What does it mean?” the messengers from Cornelius were knocking at the door.
So he went to the house of Cornelius. The Jewish people at that time, if you were kosher, would not go to a Gentile’s house. But he did.
And he told them, “The Lord has told me that everywhere, people who fear God and do His work, the Lord will remember.”
So Peter began to preach the gospel and opened the door of the gospel to the Gentiles.
Brothers and sisters, what is the church that God is going to build?
Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but Christ is all, and in all.
In other words, the church that our Lord Jesus is building is above all human distinctions.
You find there Greek and Jew—that is national distinction. The Jews considered themselves alone the chosen people of God. They looked upon the Gentiles as dogs, unclean.
And, of course, in reaction, the Greeks, the Gentiles, looked down upon the Jews and considered them as nothing. There was no communication between the Jews and Gentiles. The separation was complete.
You know, even in the temple there was a wall there. On the wall: “Stop here. Go no further.” In other words, they could come so far into the temple, but that was all. The Gentiles were completely outcast.
But the church that our Lord Jesus is building has no distinction: no Jews, no Gentiles. If you go to the church and say, “Is there any Jew there?” he will say, “There is no Jew.” Then, “Is there any Gentile there?” “No Gentile.” But who are they? They are Christians.
So all the national distinctions must be left outside of the church.
And not only that, but you find circumcision and uncircumcision. That was something very important to the Jews, because the Lord used circumcision as a sign that they were in the commonwealth of God.
But here you find, in the church, your religious background has no place there. Everything in the past, even your religious background, is all outside of the boundary of the church.
And then, not only that, there are barbarians. I think it is very, very strange. It does not say barbarians and civilized people, because in the sight of God none is civilized. Greeks, Jews—they are barbarians. That is what we were before.
But here you find all these distinctions are gone. And there is no bondman and freeman, because at that time, under the Roman Empire, there were more slaves than freemen.
But in the church, no bondman—all freemen.
Now, I still remember in the old days when we were in Shanghai, Brother Watchman Nee had a servant who loved him so much. If our brother said, “Now this dish is very good,” every day he would have that dish.
But he honoured Brother Nee so much that when we had the Lord’s table, he would come in and look where Brother Nee sat. And if he found Brother Nee sat in the front, he would sit at the back, because he thought he was a servant.
And Brother Nee would be looking for him, and when he saw him there, he would go and get him and seat him by his side.
Brothers and sisters, in the church there is no bondman or freeman. All these human distinctions have to be left outside the church.
In other words, when we go to the church, we pass through the cross. And the cross will cut off all these natural distinctions. We are one in Christ.
So the Bible says, “Christ is everything, and in all.” He is all in all.
Brothers and sisters, when you go to the church, do you see any Chinese? If you see, it is very unfortunate.
When you come to the church of God, all these worldly distinctions are impossible to cross over. They are all gone. Why? Because in the church you only see Christ.
That is the reason why the church is called the Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:12. Even though we are many, the body is one. There are many members, but even though there are many members, they are one body. So also is the Christ.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find that even if we have heard, or we have received revelation, that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God; even if we have heard and received revelation that the church is built by Christ, built upon Himself, it takes us a lifetime to really learn what our confession is.
We are daily learning our good confession. And the Lord is looking for people who make a good confession of Him and of His will.
And, brothers and sisters, this is the reason why we are here. Otherwise, we have no ground to be here.
So may the Lord have mercy upon us. Brothers and sisters, let us press on—press on towards the goal. Never stop pressing, because there is always something more, something over.
So may the Lord bless every one of you. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art the infinite One. Thy riches are something without end.
So, Lord, do not allow us to stay put. Do not allow us to go backward. But we pray that Thou wilt continue to draw, and we will run after Thee.
Oh, dear Lord, have mercy upon us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.