Yeah.
Will you please turn to the Book of Proverbs—Proverbs 29:18. Proverbs 29:18:
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he that keepeth the law.
And again, Hebrews 1:1-3:
God, having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets,
at the end of these days has spoken to us in the Person of the Son,
Whom He has established heir of all things, by Whom also He made the world;
Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance,
and upholding all things by the word of His power,
having made by Himself the purification of sins,
sat Himself down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt reveal Thyself to us. Do not allow us to know Thee by hearsay; but, Lord, we want to know Thee intimately, because Thou art everything to us.
As we gather here this morning, Lord, we want to open ourselves to Thee and pray that Thy Spirit will reveal Christ to us in such a way that we will catch the vision and continue to live and to serve according to Thy will. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Solomon, the wisest of men, spoke three thousand proverbs, and he was the one used by God to give us the Book of Proverbs.
Of course, we know that in the Book of Proverbs, if you begin with chapter 10, you find only 375 proverbs. So you do not have all the proverbs of Solomon. Yet, when you read these proverbs, there is one verse that is particularly important, and that is Proverbs 29:18:
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
Happy is he who keeps the law.
Vision. In this verse, it is not visions, but vision. There is the vision that is absolutely important to God’s people. Why? Because if there is no vision, the Bible says the people cast off restraint.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to be restrained. Even when God created man, He gave man restraint. He told man that of every tree in the garden he could freely eat, but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is restraint.
The reason God put restraint there is because He knows us. We want to be free—especially in this country. We do not want any restraint. We just want to do what we want to do. We feel that is great. But actually, man needs restraint.
If there is no vision, people cast off restraint. People will do whatever he or she thinks is best for him or her. That is the situation we find in the Book of Judges.
After all the things described in the Book of Judges, the Holy Spirit gave His comment in the last chapter, in the last verse:
There was no king, and everybody did what seemed right in his own eyes.
That is the Book of Judges: confusion. There is no restraint. Everyone goes his own way, and everyone thinks that his own way is the best. When that is the case, there is no unity.
Some versions say the people disintegrate. Each goes his own way. Other versions say the people perish, because the enemy is able to divide God’s people and attack each one of us individually. We find that no one is able to overcome.
So this matter of vision is very serious. In Old Testament times, God gave vision to His people Israel, and that vision was the law. When they kept the law, the people were safe; but when they rebelled against the law, the people perished.
Now, brothers and sisters, that was Old Testament time. We are in New Testament time. What the law was to the Old Testament people, what is the vision for God’s people today?
In the Book of Hebrews, we find that in the beginning God revealed Himself in pieces and bits through the prophets. No one prophet gave the whole vision of God. Everyone gave a bit, a little bit more. But in our days, He has revealed Himself in His Son.
In other words, God’s Son is the vision.
When we turn to John 1:17, we find that the law came through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The word came in the original Greek means that it had never been on this earth before, but now it began and is carried on by Jesus Christ.
No one knew what grace was. Now, that does not mean grace was not there, because God was there. But on earth, grace was not there. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and they were—and they are—in Jesus Christ.
So we find that in our days, what is the vision that really unites God’s people together, gives us restraint, and enables us to be one instead of each going his own way? It is the vision of our Lord Jesus.
That is what you find in the Book of Ephesians. If you turn to Ephesians 1:9-10:
Having made 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 times,
to head up all things in the Christ,
the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
In other words, the vision God gives to us is the vision of His beloved Son, Christ, because God wants Him to head up all things in the heavens and upon the earth. Or, as some versions say, He is to sum up everything in Him.
What does that mean? In Romans, we find the same expression when it speaks of the law. We have the Ten Commandments, many statutes, and other things, but they can be summed up in one thing: love God with all your heart. That is the summing up of all the commandments of the Lord.
In the same way, we find it is Christ Who is to sum up all things. No matter what thing it is, it is to be an expression of Christ. It is summed up in Christ Jesus.
Simply put, the vision God gives to us is the vision of Christ. He is the all-inclusive vision, and it is that vision that really unites us into one.
I remember in my life, after I was saved, I was so grateful to God. I wanted to serve Him, but I did not know what serving Him really meant. I only knew I wanted to do something for Him because He had done so much for me.
I volunteered that one day I would go to Mongolia to preach the gospel. This was my way of expressing my gratitude to Him, and I was very serious. At that time, I was in my senior year, and I prepared myself for that.
I gathered all the materials I knew of concerning Mongolia. At that time, I thought the only way to serve God was to go to a Bible school to study the Bible. So I chose my Bible school.
Because I was active among the Christians in Shanghai, I knew the different denominations, their works, and their Bible schools. So I chose one that I thought was the best. I was prepared that after I finished high school, I would not go to college. To me, that was a waste of four years.
I thought certainly my father would agree with that, because my father was a pastor and he loved God. But unfortunately—and fortunately—my father disagreed. He said, “No. You are going to college. After you finish college, I will send you to America to study theology.”
I was very disappointed. All my plans were smashed. But in China, we learn to obey our parents, so I went to college.
It was a Christian school. The professors were mostly Americans coming from this country; they were missionaries. When I went there, I plunged myself immediately into all the Christian activities.
But to my great surprise, I discovered that my professors—missionaries from America—did not believe the Bible as the Word of God. They talked about the Bible, but only in social terms and such things. They did not believe Jesus is the Son of God.
Whenever I tried to mention it, they cut me down. I was surprised. I did not know what had happened. I thought all Christians believed in Christ. I did not know there were Christians called modernists. I did not know that.
So after a while, I withdrew myself. I thought, “I cannot go on like this.”
At that time, I lived in the dormitory. There were three people in the same room. But I thought I had to study my Bible and pray. So every day, I would kneel by my chair, read the Bible, and pray.
School was going in and out; I did not care, because that was my lifeline. I could not live spiritually without reading the Word of God and praying.
It was during that time that the Lord began to open my eyes. The first thing I saw at that time was concerning the church.
I was a member of the Methodist Church—very faithful and active. But I began to see that the church is not Methodist, Baptist, or whatever it is. The church is one—one in Christ Jesus.
When the Lord spoke to me about that, gradually I began to understand it in a small way.
As a pastor’s son, it was difficult, especially because at that time people all knew that I was to succeed my father. I struggled over this whole matter.
Then the Lord began to bring together seven of us—two of my classmates and four sisters from another place, a Presbyterian hospital. We came to know each other, and we had the same thought. So we prayed about it and sought the Lord: “What should we do?”
By the grace of God, He brought us together. I still remember the first time the seven of us gathered together to break bread. We all wept. The Lord so moved in us.
Then God began to bring others in. During that time, the main responsibility was upon me. I will tell you what I did: I was the one who opened the door, welcomed people, led the singing, preached, sent them away, and closed the door. I did everything.
I got so busy that my mother began to wonder if I ever studied. When I came back late at night, I tried to study, and I fell asleep while studying in bed. My mother had to come and cover me because she was concerned. But when she saw that my grades were good, she had nothing to say.
Now, I will not tell you what happened during my years in college. Miracle after miracle, the Lord worked in my studies. I dare not tell you, because when I told it in another place, somebody tried to follow it, and it did not work.
When I graduated, I was supposed to be engaged by my school. My professor wanted me to be his assistant, but I was not allowed.
After I graduated, a brother asked me to join him. So I began to work together with him. I was only twenty years old, the first time I had left home, staying in the upper room of the Gospel Book Room.
Nobody was over me. I could have been ruined, because I had so much time on my hands. Fortunately, I liked to read, and he used to give me books to read every week—all kinds of books.
Then I began to travel all over China, from city to city, holding evangelistic meetings. My work was to preach the gospel and get people saved.
After they were saved, what did I do? Four things:
That was mainly the four works I had done for some years—until I was tired of it. I was thinking, “Well, what more can I do?” Of course, we had Bible study. I tried to lead them in studying the Bible. I did that. But then what?
Thank God, when the Second World War began, I was in the Philippines—no, I was in Singapore. Before Singapore fell, the Lord miraculously led me out. I went to India, South India, and I was there two and a half months.
Thank God, it was during that time that I had quiet time. I began to read Brother Sparks’s books. The Lord began to open my eyes to see Christ.
Brothers and sisters, I was on the verge of thinking, “What could I do next?” Then the Lord opened my eyes to see the immensity of Christ.
So I told the Lord, “Thank You. Now I know what I am going to do.” Brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, that is what I have been doing until I am at this age. There is no limit.
Brothers and sisters, vision is important. When you read the Old Testament, the patriarchs and the prophets raised by God all had vision or revelation.
Because they received vision or revelation—vision is what you see spiritually, and revelation is what you hear and understand, but they are one and the same thing—they were able to serve God.
Noah had a vision of the judgment of God, and he prepared the ark for the salvation of his family.
Abraham had vision. God gave him revelation and told him to leave his homeland and even his family and go to where God would show him. By faith, he obeyed.
Moses, before he had this vision, tried to serve God by his own power and in his own strength, and he was a failure. He had to escape for his life. But when he was eighty years old, God gave him vision—the vision of the burning bush.
After he saw that vision, God sent him back, and God used him.
Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, went into the temple to pray because he was unsure of the future of the nation. There he saw God on the throne. God was in control of everything.
Habakkuk had the burden of God coming upon him. You cannot really serve God without vision.
Of course, to us today, it is the vision of Christ. It is all-inclusive.
Oftentimes, we think that evangelism is our vision. It is true, but it is the beginning of our vision, not the end.
I often say, when you read the Great Commission in Matthew 28, it does not simply say, “Go to the nations, preach the gospel, get people saved.” No. Go to the nations and disciple the nations.
In other words, evangelism is only the beginning part of that vision. It is not because heaven is so empty that we just want to fill heaven with people. No, God has a purpose. He wants His Son to be expressed through a body, which is the church.
Whatever is the church, it is Christ—not anything else. If there is something else other than Christ, it is damaging to the church.
The church is to be the body, the vessel, to contain Christ. The church is to be the instrument in God’s hand to bring all things to the feet of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, this is, I believe, what God has committed to us.
We need more than hearing about Christ. We have heard a lot; we know a lot. But how much is Christ really our life? How much can people see Christ here and not we ourselves?
Is He the Head of the church? Is He the Body of the church? You see, everything depends upon whether our understanding and horizon of Christ grow and grow instead of becoming stagnant somewhere.
So, brothers and sisters, vision is something that will continue to grow. It is not that once you have seen it, that is it. No.
When you read the life of Paul, you can see that on the road to Damascus he saw the vision of Christ. But fourteen years later, he was taken up to the third heaven, and he was also taken to Paradise.
Many people believe that when Christ was resurrected and ascended, He took Paradise out of earth to heaven. But there is no scriptural evidence. Paradise is still under the earth.
Paul heard in Paradise things that he could not describe; he was forbidden to speak of them. But he did not say that what he saw and heard in the third heaven was forbidden. So we believe that the revelations we find in Ephesians and Colossians are revelations of the third heaven.
Our revelation—our vision—of Christ needs to be increasing all the time. Brothers and sisters, if it is Christ, there is no end to revelation. Even in eternity, we will still be going on knowing Him.
That is the thrill of it. We will not be stagnant. We will be going on, by the grace of God, into a more and more full understanding of Christ.
So the problem is: how much of Christ do we really know? How much of Christ do we really experience?
Now, to whom will God reveal His Son? We know that unless God reveals, we will never understand. But our God is a God Who reveals Himself.
You remember even early in the Book of Genesis, when Hagar fled from her mistress, how God appeared to her. So she said, “Thou art a God Who seest me.” What is revealed is given to us, and we need to be held responsible for it. What is hidden belongs to God.
Why is it that some of God’s people seem to have more revelation than others? Why do some people seem to have believed in the Lord for many years, and yet their understanding and revelation are still very limited? To whom will the Lord reveal Himself?
Of course, we know from the Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Now, poor in spirit does not mean a poor spirit. It means that even in the spirit there are riches, and yet there is that poverty that wants to know more, because he considers what he knows to be only a little.
He is not proud of what he has known. He is not satisfied with what has been given to him. He is always with a poor spirit, waiting to be filled. Brothers and sisters, are we poor in spirit?
It is also said:
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Are we hungry for God, or do we feel satisfied—quite happy with what we have already received? If that is the case, you will find that revelation and vision will end there.
The Bible also says:
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Do we have an ulterior motive? Do we have our own ambition hidden behind it? Oh, may our hearts be pure toward God. We want Him, and that is it.
The Bible also tells us:
Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Are we really seeking? Are we asking? Are we knocking? Brothers and sisters, it is our attitude that has much to do with vision and revelation.
If our attitude is that we are full and know everything, just like the church in Laodicea, then you will find there will be no more revelation and vision given.
But if we are really humble before the Lord, considering that what we know is only a tiny little bit, if we want to know more of Christ and really seek Him earnestly, diligently, and humbly, then I believe more vision and more revelation will be given to us.
So this morning, I have only one burden. My burden is this: What is the vision that God has given us as a people? Not just individually, but as a people.
We have been meeting together for forty years. Even though people change—some come and some go—still we are here. What are we here for? I think it is time for us to reflect.
We want to be open before the Lord. We want Him to examine each and every one of us, whether our vision is one or whether we all have different visions.
If we have different visions, we cannot be one. Even outwardly, we may meet together, but everyone is going after his or her own vision. God have mercy upon us.
Brothers and sisters, together as a people, seek the Lord earnestly and ask Him to give us the vision that will really unite us into one and enable us to be a testimony to Christ.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we thank Thee for gathering us these years. But we do want to be one, not according to each of our own thoughts, but according to Thy thought.
We thank Thee, our Father, that it is Thy Son Who is given to us as the uniting vision. Lord, do not allow us to stay put somewhere in Thy Son. Give us that hunger and thirst after Thyself, that we may press on towards the goal.
Oh, dear Lord, reveal Thyself to us. Break through all barriers, our own limitations, and bring us into the fullness of Christ, that we may be a corporate vessel of Thy testimony. We ask this in Thy name. Amen.