Will you please turn to 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8?
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day;
and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.—2 Timothy 4:7-8
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather in Your presence, we want to thank You for always giving us opportunities to see Your Word. We thank You for preparing us for Your imminent return.
We pray that You will really speak to us by Your Spirit and prepare each and every one of us for Your return. We bow before You, O Lord. Speak directly to each one of us, that Your name may be glorified.
We commit this time into Your hands and trust Your Holy Spirit to do His work. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together this morning.
As I waited before the Lord for this time, I was deeply impressed by the words of the Apostle Paul. At the end of his life, he was able to have this shout of victory.
It reminds me of the shout of our Lord Jesus at the end of His own life. He shouted, “It is finished.” What a triumph!
Here you find His servant making the same shout, and it is because of the victory of Christ. I do look to the Lord that every one of us, too, may have this shout of victory, because our Lord has already overcome.
We know that in this shout of victory, Paul mentioned all the aspects of our life so far as our Christian life is concerned. There are three dimensions.
The first dimension is toward God. He said, “I have kept the faith.”
The second dimension is toward ourselves. He said, “I have finished the race.”
The third dimension is toward the enemy. He said, “I have fought the good fight.”
Hopefully, by the grace of God, we also may shout the shout of victory.
For this morning, we would like to share together first: “I have kept the faith.”
As we look over the life of the Apostle Paul, he was a most unusual person. When he was young, he had a heart for God. Even though he was mistaken, yet his heart before God was sincere.
When he was a young man, he was educated in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel at that time was the most famous rabbi in Israel. While many young people were seeking the world, this young man sought after God.
He became a Pharisee. Now, when we talk about Pharisees, we usually have a sense of disdain because the Lord said, “Pharisees, you hypocrites.” But this young man was different. He was a real Pharisee.
He studied the Word of God. He tried to keep every word of God. So far as outward appearance was concerned, he was almost blameless. Among his contemporaries, he was very zealous for his faith.
Though unfortunately, his faith was based upon Jewish tradition. We must remember that during that time, Jewish tradition was considered the best tradition in the world. Many Gentiles turned to that tradition.
But unfortunately, it was the tradition of the fathers. It was no longer a heavenly revelation.
Yet here you find this unusual young man. To him, he was sincere, and he was most zealous for the tradition. According to the Jewish tradition of that time, they considered Jesus an impostor and therefore One who needed to be persecuted.
So this young man was more zealous in persecuting the believers of our Lord Jesus. So far as he was concerned, he considered himself as serving God, not knowing that he was actually doing the opposite.
But God looks upon the heart. God knew this young man was sincere. He allowed him to go as far as possible, and yet the cords of love were drawing him.
On the road to Damascus, he received documents from the Jewish authorities to go to Damascus, a foreign city, to seize those believers of Christ and bring them to Jerusalem to be judged.
God allowed him to go as far as possible. Then, before he arrived at Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven shone upon him. He fell from his horse and lay prostrate on the ground.
Then he heard a voice:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
It was not an angry voice. It was a voice full of sympathy: “Why do you persecute Me? You do not know what you are doing, because you are kicking against the goad.”
Now, brothers and sisters, you know in the old days, when farmers were ploughing, they usually used an animal. The animal might have its own will and its own ideas.
When it was attracted by things on the side, it would go its own way instead of the master’s way. If that was the case, the master could not plough the field straight.
So the master usually had something sharp. It was called a goad, and he would use the goad to touch the foot of the animal.
Of course, the master did not want to hurt the animal. He only wanted to remind the animal, “You are not your own master. You have a master.”
But the wild animal did not understand at first, so it would kick against the goad. If it kicked against the goad, it really hurt. After a few times, it began to learn the lesson, knowing that it had a master. It learned to follow the master’s mind.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that when we come into this world, God sends us into this world with a mission? Nobody comes into the world without that mission.
God sends us into this world to do His work, not to do our own work. We have a Master. God is our Master, and He wants to use us for His own purpose, that the testimony of Jesus might be accomplished.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were as wild animals. We thought we were our own masters. We wanted to do our own will and accomplish our own purpose.
But by the grace of God, He tries to remind each and every one of us: this is not the fact. The fact is that you are sent into this world to do God’s will.
What a glorious commission that is! But unfortunately, we do not understand, and therefore we try to do our own thing.
In order to remind us that we have a Master, God will allow certain things to come upon us. Some environments will come upon us. Perhaps unhappy things will happen, not according to our own will. God is reminding us that we have a Master.
But we do not understand. We kick against the goad. How many times have we kicked against the goad before we realized that we were only hurting ourselves?
How we need to yield ourselves to God, because He sent us into this world for a certain reason.
God was reminding this young man, Saul: “You are not your own. You are Mine. You are supposed to do My work. You had better obey.”
Thank God, this young man was sincere. He realized that he had a Master, and he yielded himself completely to God.
Before that, he knew what he was going to do. He was a natural leader. But from that moment, do you remember what he said to the Lord? “What shall I do?” In other words, “Now I am willing to do whatever You want me to do.”
That was the beginning of the life of the Apostle Paul.
You remember, after he believed in the Lord Jesus, instead of going to Jerusalem, he went to Arabia. Before he consulted with anybody else, he went to Arabia to be before the Lord.
He wanted to read the Word of God. As a Pharisee, he was acquainted with God’s Word, but he did not have the heavenly light. He misread the Bible.
So he went to Arabia to reread the Bible. When he came back from Arabia to Damascus, he was able to tell the people that Jesus is not only the Son of God; He is also the Christ.
Brothers and sisters, here you find this man, how serious he was about following the Lord. His way as a Christian was not a rosy way.
You remember that after three years, he went to Jerusalem. He wanted to seek the fellowship of the fellow believers. But even after three years, they still remembered that he was the persecutor, and all the Christians avoided him.
They would not have any fellowship with him. Now, brothers and sisters, if this should happen to you, what would be your reaction? Probably you would say, “Well, if they do not want me, I do not want them anymore.”
But not so with this young man. He was humble enough to seek fellowship. Finally, Barnabas took him and led him to Simon Peter.
But the situation was too hot for him in Jerusalem with the other believers. He continued to argue with those Grecian Jews, trying to bring them to Christ. Finally, the church in Jerusalem had to send him away because the situation was too hot.
Now, brothers and sisters, if this should happen to you, what would be your reaction? He was not disappointed. He was willing to be sent away. He was still learning to serve the Lord.
You remember how Barnabas found him and took him to Antioch. When you read the book of Acts, you see that there were five teachers and prophets serving together in the church in Antioch.
In Acts 13, the names are listed:
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
—Acts 13:1
You find that among the five prophets and teachers in Antioch, Saul was listed last. As a young man, how would you feel if you were serving with other brothers and were listed last? Probably you would be very unsatisfied.
Yet Saul was listed last. In other words, from the beginning of his ministry, he learned to be humble.
Even after the Holy Spirit separated Barnabas and Saul, when they went forth in that ministry, the Bible tells us it was “Barnabas and Saul.” In other words, Barnabas led the way, and Saul accompanied him.
This young man was willing. He learned his lesson to be obedient.
You know the story of how John could not take it. Barnabas was leading, and John followed. But when God began to change the order, and God began to use Paul more than Barnabas, Paul became the leader of the group.
John could not stand it. He could not stand that his cousin became second. So he left and returned to Jerusalem.
Brothers and sisters, if you are serving the Lord, there is a basic lesson you have to learn. You have to learn how to submit yourself to your brothers or sisters.
Some people cannot stand it. But this young man was willing, for the truth and for the faith’s sake, to stand it. Whether he was subordinate or he was the leader, he learned to be faithful to the Lord.
You all know the story in Acts 15, how some people from Jerusalem came to Antioch. They were Judaizers. Even though they had believed in the Lord Jesus, they still insisted upon all the Jewish traditions.
They came and told the brothers and sisters in Antioch, “You need to be circumcised.” In other words, “You need to become Jewish if you want to be a Christian.”
But this was not according to the truth. So you find how Paul resisted that teaching and how he went to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders there, to clear this misunderstanding.
He was faithful to the truth, to the faith. Throughout the life of Paul, he was constantly persecuted by those Judaizers. He was persecuted by the Gentiles. He was persecuted by the Roman Empire.
Throughout his ministry, he suffered. Even those churches that he had established in the beginning rejected him. Whatever happened to him, you find he was faithful to the faith.
If you read 2 Corinthians 6 and 2 Corinthians 11, you will see what he suffered for his faith. But he was not disappointed. He was faithful to the very end.
Brothers and sisters, here you find that at the end of his life, he could declare, “I have kept the faith.” We all know how he was martyred because of his faith.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to remember that there is a difference between one faith and the faith.
If you turn to Ephesians 4, verse 5: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Then verse 13 says:
Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
—Ephesians 4:13
Here you find in verse 5, “one faith.” That is in the unity of the Spirit. All who have believed in the Lord Jesus have the unity of the Spirit.
What is the unity of the Spirit? The unity of the Spirit is the unity of God, because it says in verse 4:
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling.
—Ephesians 4:4
In other words, we who have believed in the Lord Jesus have one Spirit—that is, the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is the One who is making us the Body of Christ, and He is the hope of our calling.
We believe in the Lord one by one; nobody can believe for you. You have to believe yourself. Yet in one Spirit, we have been baptized into one Body. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is the hope of our calling.
What is the hope of our calling? According to Ephesians, our calling is to be the Body of Christ. We are not called to be individual Christians. Even though we are individually called, we are called together to be the Body of Christ.
What is the future hope of the Body of Christ? To be the bride of Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Then you find one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. One faith here refers to the confession of Peter: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
We cannot be saved until we confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. So far as His Person is concerned, He is the Son of God. So far as His ministry is concerned, He is the Christ.
This is our one faith: one Lord, our Lord Jesus; one faith; and one baptism. We are baptized into Christ Jesus, and then we are all one in the Father.
There is one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
So far as one faith is concerned, this is our initial faith. We have the sevenfold unity in God. But that does not mean that we all understand the same truth or have the same experience of Christ Jesus.
Among Christians, there are different understandings of the truth, the faith, and different experiences of Christ. What should we do with all these differences?
Basically, we are all one. But now we find that we have different understandings of the Word of God and different experiences of Christ. Are all these dividers? No. These are opportunities for us to fellowship.
In spite of all the differences, basically we are the same. We are brothers and sisters. We should continue to fellowship with one another.
You can share with me how you look at the Word of God. You can share with me your experience in Christ, and I can do the same with you.
As we continue to fellowship, a wonderful thing will happen: we will all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
How can we understand the Word of God in the same way? How can we look at the truth in the same way? We need to continue to fellowship.
Nobody should insist, and nobody should refuse. We should all be humble enough to learn from one another and continue to love one another. Eventually, we will understand in the same way, and we will experience Christ in the same way.
Let me tell you an experience from my life. I was invited to Peru to visit a missionary couple.
If you are old enough, perhaps you can remember that there were five missionaries martyred in South America. This man was the brother of one of the martyrs.
They loved the Lord. They spent half a year in a boat, traveling along the Amazon River and visiting all the villages. For half a year, they lived on a truck, traveling over the high mountains of Peru and visiting the villages.
A brother invited me to visit them. I had to fly in because where they lived there was no road. I traveled with them on the Amazon River and also among the mountains.
I was going to leave the next day, and they were having a local general conference. The natives would come out of the jungle, and they asked me to speak that night.
Before the meeting, an Englishman, a fellow missionary from the next village, came to have supper with us. Before supper, he tried to examine my faith.
I knew something about the so-called Exclusive Brethren. I knew what they believed and what they did not believe. But he was trying to find out what my faith was, so he began to ask me question after question.
Finally, he said, “Do you believe in the rapture?”
I said, “I do.”
He was not satisfied. He said, “Once or more than once?”
I knew that the Exclusive Brethren believed in one rapture, but unfortunately I differed. I tried to say, “Well, we will all be raptured.” But he was not satisfied. He said, “Once or more than once?”
So I told him, “Unfortunately, I believe in more than once.”
You know what he said? He said, “You do not believe the Bible.”
I said, “Brother, I believe the Bible just as you do. But unfortunately, we differ in our interpretation. This is the way I feel today. I am open. If the Lord shows me otherwise, I am willing to change.”
But no matter what I said, he said, “You do not believe the Bible.”
After supper, we were walking to the meeting place, and he walked by my side. He said, “If you speak, I will speak.”
Now, what should I do? I was leaving the next day, and he was a missionary in the next village. So I told the brother who invited me, “I am not going to speak.”
The next day, before I left, the natives came. They wanted to know why I did not speak.
Now, brothers and sisters, if we take that kind of attitude, we will be divided. But if we are willing to fellowship in love, God will make us one, and we will arrive at the unity of the faith.
So it is from one faith to the faith, and the secret is fellowship.
Finally, I would like to share with you something about our dear brother Watchman Nee, especially for the young people.
He came from a so-called Christian family, but his parents were not saved. Neither was he. He was a very brilliant student. While he was a student, he already wrote articles for newspapers and earned money.
After his mother was saved, she wanted to have family devotions. She gathered the family one evening and went to the piano to play a hymn.
The Holy Spirit began to work in her. The Holy Spirit said, “Confess your sin to your son. You need to ask his forgiveness.”
Now, this was never done in China before. No matter how wrong parents may be, they are always right. Of course, she struggled, but finally the Spirit overcame.
She got up, went to her son, embraced him, and said, “Forgive me.” That touched Watchman Nee very deeply.
When he was invited to hear Dr. Dora Yu, on the first night he knew that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that he should believe in Him. But he could not.
Why? Because he knew, “If I believe in Jesus as my Savior, I must submit my life to Him as my Lord.” He could not do it because he had his plans already. He could not give up his own future.
He struggled for a few days. I heard him say that he struggled for a few days. One day, as he was praying in his room, the Lord showed him the blackness of sin and the redness of the blood of Christ.
The love of God was so overwhelming to him that he yielded himself to the Lord. So when you believe in the Lord Jesus, not only is He Savior, but at the same time He is Lord.
God came to work among the students, and there were five people responsible for all the meetings. Usually, on Friday night, they met together to talk about the things they would do.
But unfortunately, Brother Nee found that he was always at odds with one brother. The other brother was five years older than he was.
Usually after their arguments, he would go to see Miss Barber to complain. And you know what she said? “The young obey the old.”
He said, “Is it because he is five years older that I have to listen to him?” One day, he argued with the brother again. He was one hundred percent sure that he was right.
So on Saturday he went to see Miss Barber, saying, “Now Miss Barber must agree with me.” But Miss Barber told him, “The young obey the old.” He was so exasperated.
This older brother went to Shanghai and met Mr. Woodberry. Mr. Woodberry told him, “If brothers are trying to preach the gospel, you have to be ordained.”
So this older brother came back and told the brothers, “We need to be ordained. Mr. Woodberry will come from Shanghai to ordain us.”
Of course, Brother Nee, because of the truth, said, “No. You do not need human ordination. You need divine ordination.” They could not agree with each other.
When he went out to preach the gospel, he came back and found that he was excommunicated.
Some brothers could not take it. They wanted to beat the older brother. But Brother Nee retreated. He learned his lesson.
I heard him say that it was because of this that he learned to bear the cross when he was young. He was able to work together with all these brothers.
Brothers and sisters, I knew our brother very well. How often he was misunderstood, but he never tried to clear himself.
As you all know, he was in prison for twenty years.
When he died, they discovered under his pillow a note that he had written himself. With trembling hands, he wrote, if I can remember correctly:
God sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of mankind. This is the greatest fact in the universe. I die believing in Christ.
He kept the faith. This is so true.
Here you find this faithful servant, Paul. At the end of his life, he could declare, “I have kept the faith.”
May this be our declaration, that we will all declare, “I have kept the faith.” Of course, it is only by the grace of God.
May the Lord encourage us as we think of the nearness of the coming of the Lord. We do not know whether it will be today, tomorrow, or some other day.
But may we be ready to declare, “I have kept the faith.” May God bless you.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, as we gather here this morning, it is the deep desire of our hearts that we may declare that we have kept the faith.
We know that it is only by Your grace, but thank You because Your grace is sufficient for us. We cast ourselves upon You and trust You to lead us to the very end.