Good evening, brothers and sisters. It is wonderful to be together for this conference.
This year we have six speakers, morning and evening. So far, you can see how different the messages have been—all one message, but Brother Jerry, then our brother Stephen this morning, myself, and the others yet to share.
It is so good to be together with brothers and sisters from so many different backgrounds, really. The Lord has drawn us all here together by His grace. Surely, we believe He has something special to speak to us.
Could we begin by reading four Scriptures? The first one is in the Old Testament, in 1 Chronicles. Just a little fragment of a story from chapter 13, where David is bringing the ark up to Jerusalem.
1 Chronicles 13:9-12
And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it.
The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, so He struck him down, because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.
Then David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, and he called that place Perez-uzzah to this day.
And David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark home with me?”
Then just a little fragment from 1 Samuel—again, just a verse from a familiar story of Samuel in chapter 3. Well, we should go back to verse 1, sorry.
1 Samuel 3:1-3
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days; visions were infrequent.
It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place—now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well—
and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
And then let us turn to Malachi, chapter 3, beginning in verse 13.
Malachi 3:13-17
“Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also test God and escape.’”
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name.
“They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”
And then one more in the New Testament, in Matthew chapter 25. Again, just a verse or two in the story of the wise and foolish virgins.
Matthew 25:8
The foolish said to the prudent, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”
Lord, we come to You, and we thank You for the grace and mercy that is upon us. We want to come now in the name of Jesus Christ, our sovereign Lord.
We know that He is doing a great work upon this earth, and even now is keeping the testimony of Himself alive. We thank You for those of us who are gathered here together in this place, and we pray that You would speak yet again a further word in this matter of the testimony of Jesus, and the torch of the testimony, and the lampstand in the church.
Do help us, Lord, we pray, by Your Spirit to interpret these things, with a spirit of prophecy given to us in that testimony. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
We know the grace of God is upon us. We know that in the end, when the house of God is built, according to the prophecy of Zechariah, there will be shouts of, “Grace, grace be unto it.”
The Lord, from start to finish, not only gives us grace to live in these days and to work and serve in the house of God, but grace to finish and to see His work kept when the Lord Jesus sets the top stone on the house. There is grace upon us.
But this matter of the testimony of Jesus and the torch of the testimony—I felt in my heart that I just wanted to start out tonight with a warning, as you can see from these Scriptures.
Here are four stories, four pictures, given to us, all having to do in some way with the testimony of the Lord. We see the testimony going forward, but we see that we need to fear the Lord, because it is a serious matter.
We are talking about the very fire of God, talking about the very life of the Lord Jesus. We know that fire can never go out, but it is possible to mishandle the torch.
So we have these four stories—stories of testimony—but we would be reminded that the testimony is held in the midst of tragedy, as we see in all these cases.
In the story of David, maybe that is some of us—maybe like Kenny, or some of those charismatics who saw the testimony of the Lord and started dancing and kicking up their heels, so excited about the testimony of the ark. David running down the road, jumping up and down, singing songs, and everybody rejoicing.
Until a man touched the ark and had to die. Suddenly, David’s joy turned to David’s anger.
And he said, “How can I take this ark to my house?” But then the anger turned to fear, and that is where David needed to be.
How the Lord wants His ark to be carried, even up into the house of the Lord. But, oh, the carelessness of our carriage is something that needs to be reproved.
Then we have the story of Samuel. Of course, what could be tragic about the little boy Samuel? But the tragedy is that he was in a house, in the tabernacle, and the lampstand was about to go out.
The old priests were so tired, they just lay down. They would have let it go out, I suppose. Eli could not see spiritually or physically much anymore.
Of course, here is the tragedy and the opportunity. Because here we see that when the ark, soon after this event, was foolishly taken into battle and stolen by the Philistines, the temple had no ark.
The only light in that little tabernacle was that young Samuel.
You know, there may be some young people here who see the testimony and the lampstand starting to sputter. The old generation—they are not keeping the mind of things as they should.
But I trust that even here in this auditorium there are some holy men and women of God—young people as you may be—who will take care of the candlestick and, in the end, bear the testimony, as we know Samuel did. Praise God.
He not only carried the testimony; he passed the torch and started a whole new epoch as David was anointed king. But it is a serious matter. That is my simple point.
In Malachi, we have this tragic story. The tragedy of Malachi is that Malachi is a prophet, and he is prophesying to the remnant.
I mean, it is one thing if it is just God’s people who were worshiping idols, or God’s people in captivity. But these were God’s people who came back, risked their lives, paid everything to build the temple, and then to build the city of Jerusalem.
Now here they are, a hundred years later, saying—God says, “I love you,” and they say, “How have You loved us?” God says, “You have robbed Me.” They say, “How have we robbed You? How have we talked arrogantly about You?” Such an attitude.
What can the Lord do with God’s people when they have such an attitude? “I have done enough. I have served. I have sacrificed. Look what it has gotten me.”
What does the Lord do about it? His eyes range to and fro across the earth, and He finds some people who fear His name.
A few people there who are talking to one another—talking about the Lord, talking about His name, talking about what the Lord had said, speaking about His prophecy. And the Lord noticed them and wrote their names in a book of remembrance. Is that not wonderful?
You see, they stood faithful to the testimony, but it was in the midst of an unfaithful people. It was tragedy that surrounded those who would stand with the torch of testimony.
And then, of course, in the New Testament we have this example. Now, there are ten virgins. They all love the Lord. They all know the Lord. But some of them have not been storing up oil.
When push came to shove, and the end of time came—and the whole point of the story is, “Watch and pray; I am coming soon”—there were these foolish ones. So all they could do was yell and say, “We have run out of oil. We are running out of oil.” Too late.
It is a warning for those, even as our brother Jerry was sharing last night, who in the fourth watch stop rowing.
You know, I cannot think of a more desperate need to be filled with the Holy Spirit than we as God’s people have today. If we do not have that Holy Spirit stored up in our lives, with reserves for whatever may come, then we may find ourselves as foolish as these women.
Now, all of these are just a warning. We know the Lord will have His testimony. We know the Lord will find people in this earth. The question we would ask is: are we those people?
What does the Lord require of us in these days? So where do we stand? Are we overcomers? We just sang it.
Well, we dare not be defeated. Lord, make us overcomers. But who can say they are? Only the reality of our lives will prove whether that is true enough.
Are we running, holding the fire of God? Is our torch smoldering with worldliness? Are we careless in this whole matter?
Well, let us take comfort in a few things. Humbly acknowledge: if it were not for the Lord, who could bear testimony?
First, I want to take comfort in the fact that the Lord is very sovereignly keeping the testimony of His Son on earth. There always will be on earth a testimony of those who love Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and are willing to bear His testimony.
It is because God’s work is perfect. He is the One who lights the fire. He is the One who sent His Son. He is the One who ignites the torch, and He is the One who keeps it.
The perfections of His Son, borne in that testimony, are unchangeable. They are so far above what we could know that only by God’s mercy does He reveal to us just the hem of the garment of this One whom we serve.
The testimony of Jesus is so vast, so huge. It finds us small when we think about it. But there is a great mystery involved in this whole thing.
You know, in Hebrews chapters 8 and 9, as the writer is writing to these Hebrew Christians and encouraging them to let go of those earthly shadows—that is to say, the temple worship, the sacrifices, the priesthood, and those things they had relied on in the past—the writer mentions the fact that there is a true tabernacle in the heavens.
The Lord has gone into that tabernacle and made a perfect sacrifice, and He sat down in that tabernacle. There is the lampstand of God in the true tabernacle. It is not a shadow; it is the true tabernacle in the heavens.
Now, here is the mystery about this matter of the lampstand in the church and the testimony. There is that which is perfect in the heavens: complete, eternal, perfect, finished through Jesus Christ the High Priest.
But the Lord wants something here on earth that corresponds to that which is perfect in heaven. Now, it will not be perfect here on earth, but it will be sufficiently filled with the reality of Jesus that there is a light that can be said to be Jesus Himself on that lampstand.
The Lord wants that correspondence. This matter, this thing we call the church—the Lord wants that here on earth to bear correspondence with that which is in heaven, where our Lord is sitting. This is a great, great mystery. But the Lord is doing it.
Our Father—it is His good pleasure that here on earth there be such a testimony. Of course, we realize that God is very jealous about the Lord’s testimony.
I have heard many teachings, many doctrines, and things in my years, and there is really nothing that is quite as awesome as the testimony of Jesus. Because there is nothing dearer to the heart of the Father than for that testimony of Jesus to be borne.
Our God, being a sovereign God, is also a jealous God. In these days, He has chosen a vessel and shaped a vessel just to place a lampstand and put the life of His Son—a flame—in this dark world.
It is the Lord’s doing. It is His sovereign choosing. It is not something we volunteer for, really, in the end. It is something pressed upon us, as that faithfulness was pressed upon Samuel to respond to—that matter that Jerry spoke about last night: who will be responsible to carry the torch of the testimony?
The Lord is so jealous of these things. How wonderful that He can look down on the earth right now and find those people who fear the Lord. They are talking about the Lord. They are testifying about the Lord.
In their midst, there is the sunshine of His righteousness over and above them as a testimony pleasing to God the Father.
It is also the sovereignty of our God that has kept that testimony of Jesus burning through the centuries. It is not man’s faithfulness; it is God’s faithfulness that has kept that torch burning and alive.
Think of what He did through the centuries. Whatever little bit you study about the history of the church, every time things began to go dark, there was something recovered, and the testimony was there.
As a matter of fact, we do not know half the story of how people have laid down their lives to keep that testimony torch of Jesus burning in the century in which they lived. Sometimes that testimony was so effective that it actually affected a whole country.
We read the story of Germany’s prosperity and change as a result of those who bore the testimony in Germany. We all know the tremendous history of what happened in England, and the blessing that was upon England because God measured England according to His children.
Because the saints were so willing to give and go out and do mission work and preach the gospel, God blessed that country for such a long time. Down through the centuries, God has been faithful in keeping His testimony.
Then the printing press came along, and literature could be distributed. Things even exponentially happened. When you think, really, of the relatively small size of the Brethren movement in the nineteenth century, their effect is fully out of proportion.
Because of the literature that was sent out, because of the life that they lived in England, there was sent out throughout the whole world a testimony of the simplicity of meeting, the testimony regarding the second coming of Jesus, and other such things that had been lost in the clutter of church doctrine over the centuries.
It is amazing when you think how God sovereignly took such a group and did such a large work.
I wonder—I cannot imagine that our brother T. Austin-Sparks had any idea of the effect of his ministry after his death.
I praise God. I do not really know them, but I am thankful for his family and those who were the executors of his trust, who have actually freely distributed to all of us in English all of the things, I believe, that our brother Sparks spoke or said.
You know, it is amazing. I was in Russia a few years ago, and I went and visited a group I had never been to before.
The reason that group had gathered together is that some dear sister in Israel translated the Sparks devotions that you can get online into Russian. These three pastors started reading it. They left their churches and began to gather together.
They saw something of the tremendous purpose of God in Christ Jesus. It was overwhelming to them because that one dear sister started translating. So every day now she has to get it online, translate it into Russian, and send it over. It is amazing. It is really quite amazing.
Of course, Brother Nee’s works—what can be said? I mean, they are almost in every bookstore, it seems like. Things have been written now in many languages.
It is wonderful that there is still a testimony among the churches that have been purified in China. So the testimony keeps going on. God keeps moving it forward.
As a matter of fact, about two weeks ago—I do not know if we will ever know how much of an impact Christian Testimony Ministries has had.
I think sometimes Jack has been able to come up with some kind of statistics on how many website hits come from different countries, but anyway, it is quite amazing.
Two weeks ago, I was in Singapore, and I climbed into some guy’s car—that is, I squeezed into some guy’s car. We started driving along, and there was noise in the background. The noise I began to recognize, and anyway, it was me—with a translation.
I said, “What is that?” And he said, “You know what? Everywhere I drive, I listen to CTM MP3s. Everywhere.”
You know, it is just amazing. Now, that is the Lord. It just goes to show how much He wants that testimony to resound through the earth. It is the Lord’s faithfulness in all of these kinds of things.
Well, so we can look backwards and see all these torchbearers, and see that cloud of witnesses—those who have gone before and borne the torch and all these kinds of things.
But we have also seen some of our torchbearers who have crossed the finish line. You know, there is somebody missing here with that unusual accent. Well, he has finished the race.
Now the question remains in the present time: are we ready to lay hold of this torch of the testimony? Or are we ready to pass that torch along—this valuable, precious thing to God, which in the fear of God must be handled? Are we willing to do it?
I do not know. Sometimes I wonder. I think I hear reports that God is moving in China—I believe it—and also South America and Africa. Here is our question: can God still bear testimony here in the United States?
The country is in a very difficult situation, is it not? Well, anyway.
So, some perspective looking forward. Just looking forward as we introduce and talk about things as we see them: how does this torch of the testimony get passed along?
How does God reach outsiders like Jerry and Kenny? They were outside the camp. I mean, they had no business being in there. How did God get them in?
And even worse, I was so far outside the camp, I do not know—I was even far away from Richmond, which was the center of everything God was doing, I guess.
How does God capture people, and how will He move forward? So may I say a few things?
Now, I do not want to just grind an axe, but I still pray myself that God would revive His church. It is for two reasons.
God looks down on the devastation of the church today, and if we pray and cry out, the Lord sovereignly moves to revive and restore His church.
But the wonderful thing is what God sovereignly does in the aftermath of such a revival. I do not know if you have ever thought about that.
You know, it was actually out of revivals that recovery works were discovered subsequently. It was revival in Germany, and out of it came what was called the Moravian Revival.
It was the Moravians who brought revival to John Wesley, and revival to England; and out of that came the Brethren.
In China, we all have heard of Watchman Nee and those who assembled there in Shanghai and Foochow, but I wonder if we realize that there was a great revival. They brought up the spiritual level.
Then, you see, of course, the sea starts to recede, but there are some who have seen something more. The Lord can grasp those people if there is somebody there to pass on the torch of the testimony.
You know, revivals come and go, and in themselves they are a great blessing. Many people are saved, but of course the main thing is the church gets restored to a higher spiritual level. But we all know the revivals also go.
Now, the thing is, God in His sovereignty places some people in places that enable them to pass on the torch of the testimony. Now, I make my case for the case made last night by Jerry.
There was a revival here in the United States—the Jesus movement, this charismatic movement that happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There are many of you who were touched during that time. Is that not true? For myself, I was.
There were many—I do not know, some were charismaniacs, and some were just revived Christians in various churches. Something happened by the Spirit of God in a sovereign way.
But I am so thankful that brothers like Brother Lance, Brother Stephen, Brother Chase, and some of these brothers were here to pass that torch of the testimony when people said, “There is something more. There is something more.” They said, “How about this?”
That was the sovereign work of God’s grace. Think how He had to position people for that.
So it was no accident that Brother Stephen just happened to be coming down to the house of these charismatic women here in Richmond, and these guys heard about it. One thing led to another, and then he went to Washington, D.C., and the same kind of thing happened in South Jersey. This was not something of an accident.
But you see, this is why it is so important for us to be faithful and bear the torch of the testimony, even as we look forward.
Because in this present situation, since Jerry talked about this that happened back in the seventies, a generation has gone by. The landscape has so changed on this globe of the church that it is really quite stunning when you realize the things that are happening.
Of course, it is a very confusing thing. The larger church is what I am talking about right now. I do not know what you want to call them. I am going to call them—just so I can identify them, sorry—the two and a half tribes that stayed on the east side of the Jordan.
I was one of those two and a half tribes. I will not tell you if I was Reuben, Gad, or the half-tribe of Manasseh, but I was over on the east side.
Now, these folks love the Lord. They preach Jesus. They do missions. There are many of them very—do you realize that today, of the churches that are truly growing and vibrant across the world, there are more non-denominational than denominational?
This whole thing of denominational walls is over. It is now non-denominational, independent. It is still a sin, but there it is.
The denominations have realized that this thing of saying, “We are distinct,” they need to hide. So in New York and other places, the denominations hide behind church names like The River, The Ocean, The Flood, The Rock, Elevation, Mosaic—I like that one—The Bridge, Relevance.
Now, if you look behind it, you see it is a Presbyterian or a Baptist church, but it will not tell you right up front. It is because denominations are not in anymore. Non-denominations are in.
Because you know why? Is it because people realize the church is one? No, no, no, no. No.
It is because the spirit of this age is inclusive and pluralistic. People just do not like names anymore. They just prefer vanilla. So we have the vanilla church.
Now, here is the point. God wants to recover and give heavenly vision and show these people the testimony of Jesus. It is a huge thing out there.
Somehow, those on the east side need to see the life of those in Canaan land. This is why it is so important.
I remember when I was hearing my brother Stephen come to Raleigh. I was living in Raleigh back in the day, back in 1973, 1974, and 1975, and he was coming down there. I heard his words, but I had to go to Halford House to see.
It was when I saw the testimony of Jesus among His people, and then came to the Richmond Conference, which was up at Randolph-Macon back in those days, that I saw.
I was an East Jordan guy, but I saw what was going on in Canaan land. I wanted to be in Canaan land.
But we, who are perhaps in a smaller group and supposedly in Canaan land, where the testimony dwells and the milk and honey flows—if we do not have that life, then we have a torch with no flame.
If people come into our midst and they do not see that reality—oh, this is the challenge, I think. Because there are many, many people who really love the Lord.
I would have to say as well, among the ones on the east side of the Jordan, there are many brothers and some servants of God who are very precious. Probably you read some of their blogs, some of their messages, and some of their books.
Good men of God, preaching Jesus, preaching the truth, speaking about issues in our country, on morality, and all sorts of things. There are some very articulate men of God who are bearing a torch.
But here is my appeal: if anyone is a servant of God and truly bears the torch of the testimony, it will produce a lampstand in the church.
The problem is when ministry is the bulk of what is happening and the body is not functioning. There is no lampstand.
Now, the Lord raises up men of ministry. I cannot doubt that. I see it. But for us, at least, here is the point: there is no point doing ministry if it does not produce a lampstand.
If there is not a corporate testimony, then all you have is the testimony of a great man of God who eventually dies and passes off the scene. Am I right?
What I am trying to say is, the Lord wants the church corporately to have a lampstand of testimony. We individually are responsible to carry a torch of the testimony at work, when we meet people, or even if we minister.
But if the end result is not the corporate body of Christ in reality, then our ministry is off-center from the Lord’s heart.
This is my plea for many people, I am sure, who are here even this week and go somewhere east of the Jordan, if I can put it that way. I am sorry; I do not want to offend anybody. There is such blessing in being among the saints of God.
But honestly, if the church is not being built, God’s heart is not satisfied. It does not matter how big the building is or how good the preacher might be. That is not God’s end. He wants the corporate. He wants the testimony.
Now, the tragedy is when our young people—there are young people here tonight—cannot see the difference. There is a difference between the testimony of Jesus in the lampstand corporately and a ministry that lifts up Jesus, let us say, in an individual way.
May we see what the Lord is after.
You know, it is easy if you grow up in assembly life. If you grow up in a place where there is a lampstand, or where the saints are trying, it is a tough, tough place—especially for teenagers.
You are often one of two teenagers. That is a whole youth group. “Well, I had the youth group over my house today.” Who were they? “Well, you know, Joe and Priscilla.”
They grow up having to grow up with adults. Imagine that—having to learn how to pray and worship and contribute.
Then they grow up and see the church of the easy lane, the church where there is no cross, and especially the church that sees their gifts and what they have learned of the Lord, and immediately they become leaders. We are raising up the leaders for the east side of the Jordan.
That is why I will share—I will get around to this matter of praying for our own kids to come back. Oh, that they could see the fire. But if they do not see the fire, they will not come home.
There is more fire in some preachers who are preaching out there in these huge megachurches. If we do not have that true, Spirit-filled fire of God in our lampstand, how the Lord desires that over and above what we may want.
There are many of those out there who are truly saved and love the Lord, and they have no idea what the testimony of Jesus means. If you ask that question, they have no idea.
Have you ever seen this guy? Well, for those of you who get on Facebook, have you seen this guy who does interviews with people out in California and just asks a basic question, like, “What is Mount Rushmore?” These people say, “I think it is in India.” All these people have no idea.
I have been to churches and been privileged to preach in these churches where, when I mention the work of the cross, people say, “We have no idea what that means.”
Or I mention the testimony of Jesus—they have no idea. They did not even know that was in the Bible. You have to show them that in Revelation. They do not even know the phrase, much less what it means.
But there are many who want to know what it means. That is what I am saying. How is this going to be broadcast forward in the future?
Well, I do not want to start out by saying we need to start a television ministry. Here is what I want us to do.
I want us here—just us here, folks—before we think too much about what we should do, let us just spend a few moments realizing who we are.
I would like to ask that question: do you know the church? Have you seen the church?
Have you seen the church lately?
By that, I mean according to the heavenly point of view, have you seen the church?
I think that is especially important for people who often meet together and maybe lose sight of the forest for the trees.
When you look at our scruffy fellowships, there is a lot that might concern you—a lot of dust kicking up, a lot of problems and situations and things that need to be prayed for. Especially if you are getting old, now that everybody is sick, it takes all the time to pray just for sick people.
But I wonder if we could look at the church.
Now listen. The Lord is here tonight, and I will tell you why: because He is totally invested in this vessel upon which Jesus is to shine.
Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up for it. The church is on God’s heart. Jesus said, “I will build My church,” and He will build His church.
He has a love for His church. It is so intertwined that He can call the church His body. The church is the apple of His eye.
He wants to live a life so intimate that He says, “The church is My bride.” The Lord loves His church.
Now there is a doctrine going about today that says, “You know, the church age is over. The church is in devastation. Forget the church. It is now about guerrilla warfare. You have got to be faithful, and Jesus will come back, but the church is no more. The church is completely devastated.”
Or so there are those who say.
I think Jesus still loves His church. As long as He loves it, I am going to stick in it. How about you?
It is because by sticking in the church, you are sticking with Jesus, because Jesus is in His church. It is the place we need to be.
I have been so encouraged many times in my life when I see discouraging things—just that little phrase, “I will build My church.”
Lord, You have to remind me, because I get my hand in there, turning the knobs on the church and saying, “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.” “I will build My church.” It is wonderful.
If John is the last apostle we have in the Bible who saw Jesus, and he saw Jesus among the churches, then I think Jesus was probably still there.
If I read Revelation chapters 2 and 3, though Jesus commends and reproves those churches, He asks for overcomers in the church.
Have you seen the church lately, according to God’s view, from the heavenly point of view? Are you awestruck by her ramparts?
Even as the Old Testament, as Jerry alluded—even as in Psalm 48—it talks about, “Walk about Zion. Oh, look how beautiful it is.” Have you seen the church lately with that kind of perspective?
I have discovered something in my own life, and it is this: when I see the church afresh and anew as God sees it—I speak as a fool; I do not see it as God sees it, but you understand—from a heavenly perspective, then I am able to minister to the church here on earth.
It comes out of seeing the perfect church. It comes out of seeing the glorious church. Have you ever seen that glorious church?
Now, I do not know if anybody in this room, including myself, has actually had a dream, like John, or had a vision and seen the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. Maybe somebody has had such a vision like that.
I do not eat the right foods for those kinds of visions. I have never had one like that.
But may I tell you—and I do not say this in any boastful way—I have seen the glorious church, because I saw Jesus in it.
I saw Jesus ministering perfectly in it, and I saw the church as one.
I believe the way we can see this church as it really is today—we will take it up next time—but you realize, here is what God says: the church is a golden candlestick.
How does that compare with what you think about your fellowship? Well, the reality is the way God sees it, not the way you see it.
It is necessary to have our eyes opened by a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ that will then enable us to see the church as it surrounds Christ.
What a beautiful church—God’s creation, created out of the very side of Jesus Christ. So beautiful.
The way we often can see this glorious church is just to let the Spirit of God, as it were—could you imagine, in the church context, being the Queen of Sheba and going and seeing Solomon’s kingdom?
Can you imagine if the Holy Spirit could open our eyes to see what is more glorious than Solomon’s kingdom in the church?
Just by looking at the Word of God, the Spirit can open our eyes to understand simple phrases like this. Here is one:
The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
That is a staggering statement to think about. We are the fullness of Him. We are His body.
We have already had sharing about this. So wonderful. What a large thought: that church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. How could He need anything else? Yet we are His fullness.
Now that is a glorious church.
How about this?
That the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church, to the rulers and principalities and powers in the heavenlies. This is in accordance with the eternal purpose accomplished in Jesus Christ.
Listen to this. Now the manifold wisdom of God is being made known to the powers in the heavenlies through the church.
Now, are you saying, “Well, that must be the church somewhere else. I think the church in China is maybe manifesting it.” No, no, no, no. The church is manifesting the wisdom of God as it is here on earth and looked to from heaven.
Think about that church. How precious is that church? How wonderful, how beautiful.
Here is another one:
And He seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Well, okay, now it does say “in the ages to come,” so maybe this is a future vocation of the church. But at least now it says that we see that as we are seated in the heavenly places with Christ.
Now, all of us talk about that, right? How many of you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places? Hey, by faith, amen. In reality, I do not know.
Now, the thing about these verses is, this is not saying, “Now you should be sitting in heavenly places.” No, this is saying, “You are sitting in heavenly places.” Now, do you see it? Now that is the question.
Oh, to have our eyes opened to these wonderful things.
At the beginning of 1 Corinthians: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa—the church is bigger than us. It includes all those who call on the Lord and His name. That is the church. That is you and I. We are connected vitally to something much larger than us.
I think sometimes we have small assemblies because the ground is too large. People do not want ground that large. “Just give me a small little”—you know, people who say, “Just give me a little outhouse in heaven. That is enough for me.”
This church is so huge, so beautiful, so wonderful.
Or after the great prayer in Ephesians 3, Paul says, “Now to Him be glory in the church.” Wait a minute, wait a minute. Yeah, one day, right? No—now. To Him be glory in the church.
All I am trying to say is, if sometime when we are reading such a verse like that, the Lord opens heaven and we see something that already is, that we did not realize is—there is something much greater than ourselves, but we are already a part of it somehow.
It completely reshuffles our evaluation of the church, and of what the Lord is doing, and of our own place.
So it says that we are going to be His bride. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Wow, Jesus is high on the church. Look what He is doing in the church. Do you not love being in a place where Jesus is and He is working on you?
Now, I know just in this that we should be without spot and blameless before Him. Even that alone, to me, is security, because what it says is, He will not allow extraneous things in His church. It is because He loves it too much.
He is going to get rid of those spots. There are no Nicolaitans in the church. There are no Balaams in the church. There are no man’s ways in the church. He is going to get rid of it. Why? Because He set the parameters.
He is perfecting His bride, and He is going to do it. Now, if you do not see that He is, then it seems impossible when you look down here on earth and look around. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.
But you see things from a heavenly perspective, and then you see Jesus working here in the church. There, from His heavenly point of view, it makes sense, does it not?
When you see what Jesus is doing in preparing His glorious bride, it makes total sense that the Holy Spirit is putting to death the deeds of the flesh among us. Now, does it not make sense? Of course.
The cross is being laid and causing a veto upon human wisdom when we try to sneak that into the territory. Of course. Thank God He is doing it.
You know, I have a dual personality because in New York I actually go to two fellowships. In one church I am Chinese, and in the other church I am a young person about thirty years old.
Now, I am doing neither of these jobs well.
But that little group in Manhattan that gets together and meets—we had about ten years of grace, good times, growing, no responsibility. Then it was last year: trouble.
We have had struggles and trouble over the last year. One day we will look back and see what the cross prevented from coming into our midst.
Oh, listen. The Lord is building a glorious church. Do not sell Him short. I do not like it when people say Jesus has failed, that He has not built His church. I think we are looking from the wrong perspective.
The Lord is doing a wonderful thing.
I remember when I first got out of seminary, the church was so complicated. Now, I was made a pastor and a missionary. I had a double halo. I guess I have always had a dual personality.
We had to study things like ecclesiology. Do you even know what that is? Yeah, of course. It is the study of the church—ecclesiology. It was so complicated.
Then in our Baptist seminary—cemetery—we had to struggle with things like what is called unregenerate membership.
Now every Baptist church has this, and we had it, and I had it. What that means is you have members of your church who are not born again, but they are part of the church.
When it is time to vote for a pastor, they vote. When it is time to vote for a deacon, they vote. Non-believers. But that is what you call your unregenerate membership.
It was very complicated. But I was helped greatly when the Lutherans taught me that, “Ah, now I know the secret. There is the visible and the invisible church.”
This was a conclusion Luther came to because everybody in Germany was baptized and made a member of the church. The only trouble is they were all baptized as babies, and half of them did not even believe in God.
So you have a church, universal, visible, and you serve communion to all of them. But then you had the invisible church. That is the actually born-again people.
Now, you have to devise a strategy to minister to the invisible but still keep the visible people happy. I am telling you, this is ecclesiology.
You know, I was so happy today that I saw that there is no membership roll except in heaven, in the Lamb’s book of life.
We do not have to keep a roll and have the regenerate roll and the unregenerate roll, the visible and the invisible roll. The church is the body of Christ. It is living. It is real. It has the flame of God in it.
Those who are really born again are in the church. That is it—even the ones I do not like.
It just made it so simple, you know.
As Jerry said—I do not know why Ernie is not here; he went to the same seminary I went to—nobody ever told me the church was a living organism. Four years of studying those books, hiding in the library, and nobody told me the church was a living organism.
When I saw that, it was a release. It was so exciting to understand that we are really connected to our Head, the Lord Jesus. This is a living thing, and He is jealous about it. He loves it, and He is in the process of perfecting it.
What a change came in my life. Have you ever seen that? Have you seen that the church is a living organism? Let us not make that a doctrine at all, please.
Either you have seen it or you have not. Either you consider the person next to you just another dot on the church membership, or another person you would like to be rid of, or you see that they are a member in the body of Christ.
They are part of a living organism where Jesus calls the shots.
You know, it is tough to be a pastor when you really know that only Jesus calls the shots. You can call yourself an undershepherd, but I think it is a bit more radical than that.
Jesus is the Lord of His church. That is the beauty of the whole thing. It is His from start to finish. He is the Alpha, the Omega. You are not wanting about, messing in there.
It is beautiful when you see it this way.
Well, it just leads me to say a few things that seem very obvious. From the heavenly point of view, our participation in this testimony of Jesus and His eternal purpose can only be done if we are profoundly abiding in the body of Christ.
I do not know how we can talk about God’s eternal purpose or the testimony of Jesus if we do not really function as a member of the body of Christ.
Paul prays for the saints in Ephesus that they might receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. But he was praying for those who laid their lives down as a living sacrifice. They were functioning in the body of Christ. They were walking it out.
The Lord shows Himself to those who are walking out in the light that they have. They are obeying the light that they have.
The testimonies may vary from place to place, but people who are walking in the light that they have—there is more to be seen of this glorious Jesus in His body.
But He does not show that to lone rangers, Bible-reading Christians who are not part of vital fellowship. Why would He show that to you?
What purpose does it serve to show what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe? What good does it do to show you that if you are not part of the body of Christ?
These are not theories. This is something we see as we are walking in a reality.
That is why it is so, so important for us to lay hold of the fact of how much Jesus loves His church and wants His church to be even as He has created it to be. This is the Lord’s desire for us.
So real vision—real vision—comes to those who are walking in vision.
Real vision comes to those who are not walking in vision, but having seen it, they immediately begin to walk in it. The Lord wants to give His revelation all about Jesus.
I think of somebody receiving a vision of the testimony of Jesus and of the church. To me, it is just thrilling to try to imagine what must have happened in dear Apollos’s life.
That guy was such a good preacher. He preached Jesus, and he preached in the synagogues. He was a powerful dude. He really had the Word of God down.
Then Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and told him about the testimony of Jesus.
You know, that guy was preaching faithfully, and he was not experiencing church life. He was going among the synagogues. He did not understand. He had just been baptized in John’s baptism. He did not understand what it meant to be baptized into the body of Christ.
Can you imagine that? Aquila and Priscilla talked to him, and they said, “Look, here, we are giving you a one-way train ticket.” Well, no, that would be tough, because he had to get to Corinth. It was a little tougher.
But anyway, “We are going to give you a one-way plane ticket to Corinth.” And Apollos went. You know the rest of the story.
Can you imagine Apollos, this dear brother, this gospel-preaching evangelist of the Jews, seeing the body of Christ? Seeing Jesus in the body?
Seeing the members functioning, hearing prophecy from a little lady, seeing the gift of healing from some young brother, and just seeing this thing in front of his eyes. He could see it was Jesus. He could see it—Jesus.
He never knew that was the body of Christ. He was a good preacher, but wow, when he saw this more perfect way, I just think the light bulbs must have gone off in his face.
Of course, the whole Old Testament must have flushed out in a whole, whole new way.
So I make two final statements.
One: Jeremiah 33:3.
Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
I wonder if we could not pray that prayer for ourselves. Listen: “Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
Listen, I am the first one in line on that. I want to see more of the beauty of His church. I want to see His glorious church so that I can minister to the church as it is being perfected here on earth.
“Show you great and mighty things.” I think we need to pray about that.
I have a feeling that one of the things that holds us back, if I could be really honest, is I do not think we see all that we are talking about.
I just think if we really call out to Him and say, “Jesus, would You show me Your glorious church? Jesus, would You show me Yourself as You exist in glory now, in Your reality as Alpha and Omega?”—now, get ready for a collapse.
Because if you see such a glorious thing, it may be an undoing.
But if we really saw these things about the church as it really is in its spiritual reality, and if we began to share and testify of this one to another in the thrill of the reality of it, I cannot but believe that a lampstand would be found in the midst, with a light of Jesus atop of it and the testimony of Jesus being borne.
These great and wondrous things are not new things, new revelations, extra-biblical insights.
These great and wondrous things are just the one thing seen in a greater vastness, in fuller dimension than ever before. Would that not be wonderful?
If we could be those who said, “I cannot even explain what I have seen, but I have seen something so wonderful.”
I do not think young people are going to be captured by doctrine. I do believe young people will be captured if they see a vision in the midst.
Finally, which I will have to take up next time, God willing, I just want to say that the torch of the testimony, in my understanding, is to be borne by a corporate assembly.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord desires that for us as we meet in our various places. That testimony of Jesus, that lampstand, has got to be a corporate testimony.
There are some people here: you have loved the Lord, you have been through so much. But in the end, if our lives can count in a corporate testimony, what a beautiful thing to the Lord.
You know, there is no perfect assembly on this earth; there never has been. Whether it is the church of Corinth or those seven churches in Revelation, you know what? They bore a testimony despite all of the problems.
What are the characteristics of this kind of assembly upon whom the light of Jesus is lit?
Number one: you can see God in the midst. That is it.
People come in. You remember that passage in 1 Corinthians 14? A man comes into their midst, and people are prophesying, and his heart is exposed, and he sees that God is here in the midst.
When we assemble, if we are really in assembly with Jesus there, His presence should be experienced.
I am not trying to get soggy mystical, like you should feel a sort of—no. I am saying if anybody comes into your midst with a seeking heart, they should say, “Wow, I see the Lord here.”
Was that not wonderful? Jerry said he and Kenny went over to this meeting on Sunday—I forget where they were meeting—just with those sisters, and they broke bread together and worshiped. Jerry said, “Wow, that is body worship.”
Do you know how many saints have never experienced body worship? I mean, really. We take it for granted.
We just sang tonight a bunch of songs—glorious songs, wonderful, led by the Lord from here and there. Most people have no idea what that is.
What a wonderful sense of the presence of God, just to come where people are free, just ask for a hymn, sing a song.
You know, my youngest son grew up in one of these notorious assemblies. Then we had gone to a Presbyterian church, I believe it was, and we were sitting in the back.
He saw the hymns up on the wall: hymn 496, the offertory, you know. He turned to me, because they were singing and playing the organ, and he said, “Hey, Dad, can I ask for a song?”
I thought that was the most wonderful thing. He was so naive. Can you imagine him, a sixteen-year-old kid, saying, “Okay, could we sing ‘Great Is the Lord’?” Well, they did not even know that song, but you know what I am saying.
That was his life. Wonderful life. If you have grown up in that, young people, it is a wonderful life. You will feel the strictures on you in situations that are totally mapped out by somebody else other than the Lord.
It is a wonderful presence in the midst, and it is because there is an unseen throne over the midst. You sense that they are being led.
How did they come to that? One person came to our meeting in Manhattan. It is a scruffy meeting, but we had a wonderful time—worshiped, broke bread, and everything.
Some guy was just visiting, and he came up to me and said, “Now, how did you work out the details on that?”
He looked around for the oldest guy he could find. That was me. He figured, “I must be in charge of this thing. You told somebody, ‘Ask for 396,’ and you pray, and then you break the bread.”
I just could not believe it. I had just a good laugh over that. I could hardly explain.
But he had only known situations that were totally worked out. The worship team had determined the songs and—wonderful.
But the Lord is in the midst, is He not? You can sense it. Sometimes He is leading; He is directing. Sometimes He is holding down. Sometimes He is disciplining.
It is better to have a throne over us than for every man to do what is right in his own eyes. Oh, yeah.
Then the ministry of the Word—it may not be much; it may be feeble. But interestingly, when the testimony of Jesus is there, there is a certain prophetic element to the ministry of the Word in its simplest form.
Even brothers who are just learning their gift or something say amazing things in the assembly where the Lord Jesus is over them and leading them and teaching them.
Is it not wonderful to hear messages sometimes?
Sometimes I get some book. I do not know why Brethren always printed little tiny books, but I have a whole number of these little Brethren books like this. I need a magnifying glass to read.
You open it up, and you see such gems that came out of their assembly life.
These things that they talked about and were revealed—were revealed in what they called Bible-reading meetings. They just had an open sharing of the Bible, and gems of revelation came out just in the assembly. Whoa.
Oh, may that be so with us.
Of course, very wonderfully, such an assembly, where you can sense that life of God in their midst, is going to face persecution. Guaranteed.
The enemy is not going to like it. Religious people are not going to like it. The world is not going to like the light that is borne by your lampstand.
Life. The testimony of Jesus’ life. Oh, how we need that life.
Everything else is just doctrine, just talk, tradition. Boy, when His life is there, everything becomes exciting. It has a flame in the midst.
The Lord wants to recover the flame.
As much as we would want to say—our other brothers, I am sure, will share wonderful things about passing the torch—I just wanted to start with ourselves.
Just to look again at the church and see if we see it the way the Lord sees it: the glory in the church, the wonder in the church; to praise God for His church; to be built into that church; to submit to that church; to live by the life of Jesus among His people.
This is what we pray. If we search our hearts, it would be so profitable for all of us if we search our hearts and say, “Where we gather together, is our torch devoid of flame? Is our lampstand without light?”
Examine ourselves. Take it seriously. Surely the Lord wants to place His testimony in the hearts of all those who fear His name and talk about Him together.
Let us pray for that to happen in our own midst. Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, we are so thankful that You are the Head of the church. It is not really that we see the church as something separate from You, but the whole point is that we see the church as it is in You.
That is something so totally different than we are often aware of as we look around us from person to person. Lord, You have something that You are doing that is absolutely glorious. Your sovereign hand is upon Your people.
I pray that You would humble all of us so that none of us takes vainglory or credit for being something that we are not.
In the fear of God, we would say, “Lord, if we have a torch, do light it by the Holy Spirit. Let the oil be pure, and the light be bright.”
May the end of our bearing the torch be a lampstand testimony, corporately expressed somewhere on the face of this earth, where Jesus gets the glory, the wisdom of God is seen, and the principalities and powers in the heavenly places behold.
O Lord, would You recover such testimony even in our own midst? As we think of how that flame may jump from place to place, Lord, this is Your doing. Only You can do such a sovereign thing. But, Lord, begin with us.
Help us to be real. Let Your life truly be seen among us. For Jesus’ sake, we pray. Amen.
If we have a few prayers that will seal up, join in our brother’s prayer, and seal up this ministry—really take the Lord’s word and seal it in our hearts. So, if we could have a few prayers, and I will wait.