Will you please turn to the book of Hebrews, Chapter 6? We will read from Verse 17 through Verse 20.
Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed with an oath;
That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us:
Which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil;
Whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.—Hebrews 6:17-20
Please turn also to Philippians, Chapter 2. We will read from Verse 5 through Verse 11.
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name;
That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.—Philippians 2:5-11
Dear Lord, as we gather together in Thy name, we are assured of Thy presence here. How we praise and thank Thee for Thy presence, because in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.
We give ourselves to Thee for this time. Even though it is the last time of our gathering, we praise and thank Thee that Thy presence is still here. Thy Word is also here. So speak to each and every one of us.
We pray that whatever is unfinished will be completed this day. May Thou get all the glory. In Thy precious name, amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are now at the last session of this conference. I do thank the Lord that we conclude our time together with the Lord’s table. He gathers us together unto Himself.
If we continue in such a way, I do believe that He will lead us from victory to victory.
I often feel there is no need to say anything after the Lord’s table. If we have already met the Lord, if He has filled our horizon, what else do we need? And what else can we say?
So, dear brothers and sisters, I do feel it is very difficult to speak after the Lord’s table, because you already feel that He is your everything. But it is the arrangement of the brothers, so I have to obey them.
This time, I do feel we are faced with the most serious thought, because our Lord is soon coming.
I really feel that we are at the very verge of a great change. This is a most thrilling time, but also a most difficult time. How can we, by the grace of God, continue to the very end? How can we be faithful unto the Lord? Because we shall see Him very, very soon.
Do you know that our Lord Jesus can return at any time now? Everything concerning His coming has been fulfilled. The time is ripe.
Of course, there are still prophecies to be fulfilled, but all these prophecies are concerned with the time of His coming and even after His return. Whatever precedes His return has already been fulfilled.
So the Lord can come at any time now. How good it would be if He came now! Suddenly, some people would disappear from all around the earth, because the Lord has taken them to the throne to be the welcoming party of the Lord.
And when this shall happen, then events will move very quickly, and our Lord Jesus will soon appear upon this earth.
You know, I often feel that when we are singing hymns concerning the coming of the Lord, we often think there will be the voice of the angels and the sound of the trumpet, and our Lord will come upon this earth.
Now, I do not know how you feel, but I have to confess that if that is the case, it is too late.
Why is it so? Because His first coming is like a thief. That is, when He first comes, He is like a thief.
Wherever there is a thief, there is no trumpet telling you that he is coming. Now, if that is the case, will you welcome Him? Because we are ready.
Unfortunately, the thief always comes as if he knows we are unready. And when you know it, he is already gone, and your treasure has already been taken.
So, brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus comes in the first step of His coming, you will find that He will come like a thief. Suddenly He will come, and only those who are prepared for Him, He will take to Himself.
So hopefully we will be those who are waiting for Him, that we may not be caught unaware.
Now, brothers and sisters, how can we be ready in our days? Since our days are getting more and more difficult, thank God, there is a secret.
If you can only see God on the throne—if we only see ourselves, or only look around about us and see what is happening all around us—I tell you, we will all be disappointed.
That is the reason why the Lord said, when you see all these things happening, look up. Look up, for your redemption is drawing nigh.
Brothers and sisters, our brother has already told us in this conference that God has an eternal plan. Even before the foundation of the world, God had a plan. He had a purpose.
This is what He is going to do. This is what He wants accomplished. And what is that eternal purpose of God? We are told in Ephesians 1:10.
That is God’s eternal purpose, according to the purpose of His own heart. He wants His Son, Christ, to head up all things. He wants to conclude everything in Christ. He wants everything to express Christ Jesus.
And that is God’s eternal purpose. Thank God, in that eternal purpose there is also a special place for man, because He wants His Son to have a bride. He wants His bride to work together with Him.
It is through the church that He wants to bring all things to Himself. This is God’s eternal purpose.
But, brothers and sisters, when we look at man, we all see that man failed God. But God never failed.
So we see the glorious plan of God: how He sent His own Son into this world to be a man. Through His Son as Man, He accomplished everything He desired of man.
What He has done in His Son, now He wants to do in us, that we may be His bride. This is the glory of God.
Now, at this last session, we would like to go into Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6 tells us that there is an anchor.
Where will you cast the anchor? Will you cast the anchor on the ship? Now, if that is the case, the ship will not be steady. It will be blown around by the wind.
The way you cast the anchor is outside of the ship and into the sea, that it may be anchored on the rock.
So, brothers and sisters, where should we cast our anchor? We need to cast our anchor in God’s throne. And if we can cast our anchor on the throne of God, then we are safe.
Praise God, there is One who has done that. Because the Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus entered as forerunner for us, and He is also our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
We want to centre our attention upon our Lord Himself.
Yesterday we spoke of Job. He shows an extreme case. Yet, unknown to him, he became the centre of a conflict between God and His enemy.
But God had a purpose in Job. He knew that Job was righteous, but he was self-righteous. God wanted him to learn to turn away completely from himself and only look at God Himself.
God allowed him to be tempted by Satan until he learned his lesson. He said, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee.”
Because he saw God on the throne, he realised that God has every authority. Whatever God does is right. He gave his whole life to God and turned away from self. This is how God led Job into sonship.
Now this morning we want to share with you another example. We find how a Man was obedient to God to the uttermost.
In Philippians 2, we have a description of His life. In Verse 6, it says, “Who, existing in the form of God.”
Brothers and sisters, the word form there does not refer to outward form. It tells us of the inward character.
Our Lord Jesus has the form of God. That is to say, He has the same character as God. God is love, and He is love. God is righteous, and He is righteous. God is holy, and He is holy. God is eternal, and He is eternal.
In other words, He is God Himself. He is one with God. He has everything that God has. This is what our Lord Jesus was before He came to this world.
And when He was in the form of God, it was not something that He tried to grasp, because He was originally that way.
That reminds us of another person who tried to grasp the form of God. He was just an angel, but he was not satisfied. His pride rose up within him. He wanted to have the form of God, and he tried to grasp it.
Because of that, he was dismissed from heaven, and he turned himself into Satan, the adversary of God.
So here you find a contrast. Our Lord Jesus was originally God. He was one with God, and yet He was willing to empty Himself.
Brothers and sisters, this emptying does not refer to emptying Himself of His deity, because that is what He is. But He emptied Himself of all the glory, honour, power, authority, and accompaniment of God.
Before He came into this world, He had to empty Himself. He had to leave His throne. He had to lay down His own rights. He had to lay down the worship of the angels and lay down His sovereignty in order that He might take a bondman’s form.
In the beginning, when God created man in His own image and after His likeness, that was glorious. But at the same time, according to the mind of God, man is a man who takes a bondman’s form.
Even though man was created in the image of God, man was supposed to have the bondman’s form within him.
Here it is not just a servant; it is a slave, a bondman. He has no right of his own. Why? He belongs to his master. He has surrendered himself completely to his master. He has laid down himself in order to obey his master.
He does not live by his own wish or by what he wishes or likes. He lives only for his master. That is the kind of inward temperament.
So when our Lord Jesus, who is God, came to become a man, not only did He lay down all the glory and honour around Him, but even inwardly He took the bondman’s form.
That is to say, He came to be a man, but with the only desire to serve God’s purpose.
And He took the likeness of men. Brothers and sisters, this was the meaning of being man. Have we ever thanked God for being man?
God created us according to His own image. But we forget that even though we are created as human beings, according to God’s eternal purpose, inwardly we should have a bondman’s spirit.
We are here not for ourselves. We are here for God’s will. That is the man of God’s own heart.
So our Lord Jesus came into this world, and He took up the form and fashion of a man.
Brothers and sisters, when we review the life of our Lord Jesus on earth, we find that from the very beginning to the very end, He did not come to this earth as a king. He came into this world to bring in His own kingdom, but from the very beginning, you find that He was born in a manger.
According to the idea of the world, the Magi came to Jerusalem because a king should be born in Jerusalem. That would be the natural place.
But when they came to visit the King who was born, He was not in Jerusalem. He was in Bethlehem. He was not in the palace; He was in the manger. Can a birth be lower than that?
Here the King of kings was born in a manger, as if He were just an animal—not even in the status of a man.
And even when He was a child, He had to flee for His life, because Herod at that time was king over the Jews. When he heard the news, he sought to kill that baby. He killed all the boys in Bethlehem under two years of age.
So when He was a baby, He had to flee for His life. He had to flee to Egypt.
And there the Lord provided everything. His earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter. He was not a rich man. How could he flee to Egypt? Where would the money come from?
But we thank God, God provided. You remember the Magi. One of the Magi gave the gold to make provision for His escape.
And when Herod was dead, they tried to return to Judea. But hearing that Herod’s son had become king, they went to Nazareth.
Now, Nazareth was an out-of-the-way place. There was a proverb there: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nazareth was despised even by the Jewish people.
And yet our Lord Jesus was raised in Nazareth. We find how our Lord Jesus was obedient to His parents.
And He became a carpenter. Most likely, Joseph, His earthly father, passed away early. So, being the firstborn, He took up the responsibility of the family.
He became a carpenter. Brothers and sisters, do you notice that the Bible says the carpenter? He was not just a carpenter, but He was the carpenter. Whatever He did, He always did His best. There He supplied His family until He was thirty years old.
But, brothers and sisters, look at the way He came to show Himself to the nation. Instead of having a huge banquet to show that He was of age and was to be the future King, He came to receive the baptism of John.
The baptism of John is the baptism of repentance. But there was nothing for Him to repent of.
John felt that he could not baptise Jesus, because there was no unrighteousness in Him. Yet our Lord Jesus was willing to do this thing according to the will of God.
Because God’s will at that time was calling for repentance, He took our place and received the baptism of repentance.
You find that in the very beginning of His public ministry, He yielded Himself to the will of God—not because of what He needed, but because of what we need.
And then you find, during the three and a half years of His ministry, how He lived His life. He told us repeatedly, “I cannot say anything except as I have heard My Father say. I cannot do anything I want. I do it because I have seen My Father do it.”
Out of Himself, He did nothing. Throughout His life and ministry, He only did what the Father had done. Absolutely. Even His time was not His own.
You remember that His brothers said, “If You want to show Yourself, You need to go to the festival. You should go to Jerusalem.” But He said, “Your time is always convenient, but not Mine, because My time is not in My hand. The Father’s time has not come yet.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find throughout His life how He was obedient to God, how He laid down Himself.
During the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember how He took three of His disciples and went to the Mount of Transfiguration. Suddenly He was changed. He was full of glory. His clothes became whiter than anything.
And Moses and Elijah appeared, and they talked with Him concerning His exodus. In other words, they spoke of how our Lord Jesus would depart from the world.
As far as He Himself was concerned, He had every right to depart at that time, because He had obeyed His Father to the uttermost. He was ready to leave.
But if He had left from the Mount of Transfiguration into heaven, there would have been only one Man in heaven, because He would have been alone there.
When Moses and Elijah talked with Him about His exodus, He would not depart from the Transfiguration to heaven. But He determined to stay, and He came down from the mountain. He set His face toward Jerusalem.
Brothers and sisters, do you think it was easy for the Lord to die for us on the cross? Do you think that because He is God, He could do anything?
But we must remember that He is a perfect Man. You find how the burden of the sins of the world began to come upon Him.
How He struggled in the garden! He said, “I am sorrowful even unto death.” When He was praying, He said, “If it be Thy will, let it remove from Me.”
Being a perfect Man, how could He take upon Himself all the sins of the world? That was unbearable. When He prayed, He sweat blood. He had to be supported by an angel; otherwise, He would have passed away in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And yet He said, “Father, not My will, but Thy will be done.”
So here you find that our Lord Jesus went to the cross. He bore our sins. Literally, He died for us that we might live. This is the way of our Lord Jesus.
And the Bible tells us that He is our forerunner. In other words, He has gone before. He opened the way for us.
He is the new and living way, and He opened a way through His own body. When our Lord Jesus was dying, He said, “It is finished.” The work was done.
At the same time, He was crucified outside Jerusalem. Yet in Jerusalem, in the temple, the heavy veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place was rent from top to bottom.
In other words, the way to the Holy of Holies was opened. It is through the veil, that is, His body.
So, brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is our forerunner. He runs before us, and He opens the new and living way for us. It is a way through His own body. It is practical.
Because He has opened this new and living way for us, He has already gone back to the very throne, and now He is calling us that we may follow Him and walk in that new and living way.
Brothers and sisters, this is why we find in the Scripture that the Lord repeatedly told us, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
The Lord has opened a new and living way for us. He has already gone before. This new and living way He has dedicated for us. Are we willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him?
Now, if we are willing to do that, then we will find that our soul is anchored in God’s throne.
Now, there is another thing that is very important. He has not only opened the new and living way for us; He is also our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know from Hebrews 3 that our Lord Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
When our Lord was on earth, He was the Apostle, because He was the One sent by God to accomplish a work. But now He has ascended to heaven.
Now, brothers and sisters, are we familiar with His ministry in heaven? I remember a story.
An elderly sister wanted to be baptised. According to the custom of that time, she had to be questioned by the elders as to whether she could pass or not.
One of the questions was, “What is our Lord doing now?”
This elderly sister said, “Oh, our Lord now is in heaven. He is looking down from heaven to earth. He is looking at me. He wants to find if there is anything wrong in me.” And, of course, she did not pass.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to know our Lord as our Saviour and as our High Priest. We know the Lord as our Saviour, and we may be saved. But how can we live our Christian life? We will not have the support that we need unless we know Him as our High Priest.
The reason why we are able to have a Christian life, able to live a victorious life, and able to fulfil God’s purpose is not only because our Lord Jesus is our Apostle and our Saviour, but because He is in heaven as our High Priest.
He is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, according to eternal life. What does that mean? It means that He is able to supply us with life.
Because our Lord Jesus ever liveth to intercede for us, He is able to save us to the uttermost.
Now, how does this happen? Because when our Lord is praying for us, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us begins to work. The Holy Spirit begins to convict us. The Holy Spirit begins to empower us.
It is through the power of the Holy Spirit within us that we are able to overcome, because by ourselves we cannot. But He who lives in us has already overcome, and we shall also overcome.
This is the ministry of our Lord Jesus as the High Priest. He is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek—that is to say, according to eternal life.
So, brothers and sisters, how can we continue to the end? How can we live today? How can we prepare for His coming?
We find that it is through our Lord Jesus, because He prays for us and the Holy Spirit is working in each of our lives, helping us to anchor our faith on God’s throne, that we may be able to endure.
So thank God. To be a Christian is not something that we ourselves can do. Even though we say, “I want to be a Christian. I want to be saved,” we cannot save ourselves. It is by the grace of God.
In the same way, to be a Christian, to be able to live today, to please God, and to follow Him all the way is not something that we can do ourselves.
The more we try, the faster we realise it is impossible with man. But we can see that all things are possible with God.
So let us cast our anchor on God’s throne, knowing that He knows everything, and He will do all things through Christ Jesus.
Let us look forward. Be encouraged. We will press on into the goal until we can see Him face to face.
So may the Lord bless every one of you as you go to your various places.
Dear Lord, we commit one another into Thy hand. Bring us to the very end. Do not allow any one of us to go back.
Lord, continually encourage us, that we may cast ourselves totally upon Thee, believing that Thou who hast saved us art able to save us to the uttermost.
Lord, we want to glorify Thy name. We want to give ourselves to Thee to be used for Thy purpose.
As we go back to our various places, we look to Thee to make us vessels of honour, to accomplish all that Thou hast ordained for us.
May Thy peace go with each and every one of us. May Thy name be magnified through everyone. We give Thee all the glory, in Thy precious name.