Please turn to the New Testament, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. We will look at a few verses, beginning with verse 17 and reading to the end of the chapter.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him;
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.—Ephesians 1:17–23
Please turn also to Romans 8, beginning with verse 27.
Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.—Romans 8:27–30
Now turn to 1 John 3, verse 1.
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that, when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.—1 John 3:1–2
I thank the Lord for this conference. As you may know, the theme of the conference concerns the church as the fullness of Christ. The brothers have assigned me this topic: Christ is the fullness of the church.
Our Lord has a very grand and great purpose and plan. What we have seen is that the Lord has not merely saved us individually; He has brought us into that one Person.
In Acts 1, the Lord said that His disciples would go to all these places to bear His testimony. The Word of the Lord is very clear: the children of God are gathered together and, according to the Lord’s arrangement, are sent to different places.
Whether they are gathered together or scattered in different places, the Lord has a very clear entrustment for them. What did He give them? To be His witnesses.
As we fellowship, I want to remind you to pay attention to one matter. Yes, we are God’s witnesses. But when your testimony, when your witness, comes forth, for whom do you testify?
In our hearts, we think that we want to bear the Lord’s witness. Yet it seems that our witness is often distant from what the Lord wants, because our witness often centers upon what we have experienced, what we have learned, and what we have gone through.
Of course, these things are necessary in our witness. But if we have only these things, then, strictly speaking, this witness does not stand.
You may say, “We are counting His blessings here. How can you say that our witness does not stand?” We thank the Lord, because the Lord clearly pointed out what kind of witness He wanted. He said, “My testimony.”
You see this in Acts 8, and you see the same thing in Isaiah 43: “You are My witnesses.”
When we consider this topic, the church is the fullness of Christ, our focal point must remain on the Lord Himself.
The message we have is not merely how Christ has worked in me. We need to ask: To what purpose does He work? How wide is the range of His work? How solemn is His purpose? We need to pay attention to that.
In the previous meetings, the brothers led us abundantly to see what the Lord wants. But if we turn our eyes unto ourselves, we often make a mistake.
Ask yourself: When you believed in the Lord, what did you believe for? Yes, we know the grace of salvation. But what is the purpose of this grace?
What our brother shared yesterday morning brought us to this point: we come before the Lord to receive the grace of His salvation. We must not lack that part.
We were lost outside of God, dead in our trespasses. But God did many works in order to redeem us. The question is this: after He redeemed us, where are we?
When I was told that I was a sinner and that God could save a sinner, therefore I believed. We began at that point.
Then what is our thought after that? First, our purpose in believing in the Lord is that our sins are forgiven. Secondly, the rest of our life and our living will be under the blessing of our Lord. And that is where we stop.
We must ask: is the grace that the Lord gave us only to lead us into His blessing and His care? I am telling you, this is not a wrong understanding. But it is not quite complete. Something is missing.
When the brothers asked me to speak on this point, I had to ask: What is the purpose of God for us? God is willing to remember us individually, but the focal point of God is not upon us individually.
We must individually receive the grace of salvation from God. But once you receive this blessing, you must continue to move forward, to walk to the point where, in the heart of God, He can say, “I am pleased.”
A shortcoming among the children of God is that we receive grace, and we see others receive salvation, but we do not ask what lies ahead of us.
Once we touch this point, we must ask a further question: “O God, did You save us only to this point? We have become the children of God; is this the high point of our salvation?”
We cannot say that this is not a high point. It is a high point. But we must say that this experience is among the high points; it is not the focal point. Why? Because the salvation of God carries a clear purpose.
Through many saved people, the Lord is working toward a reality. That reality is called the church.
One or two persons cannot be called the church. It is the multitude entering into one body, and then the church is manifested.
If the manifestation of the church were the same thing as my personal salvation, then what would there be to discuss? This is a much grander matter.
Personal salvation means that our relationship with God has been corrected. But the purpose of God’s salvation in us does not end there. Our salvation is only the beginning.
At this beginning, we must stand upon the correct foundation and move forward until the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Many brothers and sisters are clear about this, but some are not. You may say that an individual is human and the church is human; what is the difference? One is individual, and the other is corporate. But, fundamentally, there is a great difference.
Even though they are different, the purpose and direction are the same. When we are saved, we cannot remain at the point of merely being saved. We must continue to walk into a condition that is pleasing to God.
Why do we have this fellowship? Because God wants to see the work of His salvation fulfilled.
I think you would not doubt any longer why God created us. Our brother has fellowshiped very clearly on that matter.
I want to draw your attention to something. Brothers and sisters, when were you saved? Some of us can be very clear, while others are not.
You may remember the day when you believed in the Lord. Many of you may think that the day of your baptism was the day of your salvation. This understanding does not go beyond the principle, but it is not all that God has ordained to reveal.
Yes, on a certain day, in a certain month, and in a certain year, you received salvation. But when were you saved? Why did you receive His grace?
When you first heard the gospel, there were other people with you. When you believed in the Lord, those friends were still your friends. Why, then, did you believe the Lord? That question will lead you to the correct answer.
When did God have this purpose to create man? Some may say, “On the day of my salvation, because God saw that I had a need; therefore, He came and saved me.” In our feeling, perhaps that is so. But in reality, it is not so.
Many verses in the New Testament point to this. When were you placed on the list of salvation? It was before the foundation of the world.
In other words, before God created you, God said, “So-and-so, you are on the list. On this day, in this month, you will be saved.”
Where were you before the foundation of the world? Before there was us—perhaps even before the earth existed—how was it that God pointed to a man and said, “He will be saved”?
We thank the Lord because we truly do not understand this. But first of all, we believe that what God has spoken is true.
God knew that on such a day, when a certain person heard the gospel, there would be a response in his heart. God said, “This person I will save.” This is a clear fact in Romans 8.
Many of us were foreknown by God before the foundation of the world. According to time, He created us. Those whom He created, He justified.
After He justified them, He did not stop there. Yes, you are justified, but God is leading you forward. To where? To be glorified.
This is the full plan of God. He does not save you merely to be saved or merely to be free from death and sin. To be free from death and sin is true, but God is able to lead us further.
If we read the words of Romans, there may be many questions. But regardless of how many questions there are, we see one clear fact: all these matters are fulfilled by God Himself.
God knew when you would believe. According to time, He created you. He justified you. What does justification mean? What is righteousness?
We may say that righteousness means becoming a good person. In the past, we were bad people; now, we are good people. You may say, “In the past, when I spoke, I cursed a great deal. After I believed in the Lord, those things were gone.”
Or you may say, “In the past, I had many schemes. After I believed, I did not want to do those things. When I wanted to do them again, something within rebuked me.” Then you say, “I thank the Lord that He saved me; therefore, I became a good person.”
Brothers and sisters, we cannot view it in this way. When you use the word good, what is the opposite of it? Not too good, or not good at all. Regardless, you have changed.
This change can only be brought about by God. No one else can change you. There are many examples around us: people who smoked, used drugs, were alcoholics, and did many wicked things. Yet once they believed, they dropped all those things. That is salvation.
But believing in the Lord is not merely turning a bad person into a good person. The Lord said, “You are justified.” What is justification?
In simple words, when God looks at me, I am right. I am a correct person before God. This is what God wanted to obtain when He created us.
We need to see that the beginning of our salvation is before the foundation of the world. Before you and I had this understanding, God had already begun His work of salvation.
He wants to obtain us from sinful people into righteous people. If you know what a righteous person is, you will never say, “I have good behavior; therefore, I am righteous.”
Good behavior has its place, but it is not the main matter. If you feel good about yourself, that does not mean you are correct before God. When God sees us and says, “This is right,” then that is right.
The people God wants to obtain must meet this basic requirement. This brings us back to the purpose of God in creating man. Why did He create us?
God was not bored and did not simply say, “Let us make man.” That was not so. The basic and fundamental requirement is that man should glorify God Himself.
The secondary matter is that God wants to deal with the adversary, Satan. Then you understand what justification means.
In the plainest words, not merely in doctrinal terms, we become righteous when God finds us and recognizes that we are right. Where are we right? We are right because we have no separation from God.
We are right because, when Satan is dealt with, Satan will bow down and say, “I know You are a glorious God.” This is our experience. I am not here to tell a myth; this is the history of God’s work revealed in us.
When God brings us into justification, are we satisfied? Many of us would say we were satisfied a long time ago. Yet God says, “That is not enough. You must keep going.”
You may ask, “Is there more? Am I not at the end?” The Lord says, “No, you are not at the end yet.” God says, “I am working a better thing in you.” What is it? To be glorified.
Justification and glorification are connected, but I am not speaking merely of different levels. There is a difference in character. God wants to glorify us, and when we are glorified, the heart of the Lord is satisfied.
How do we satisfy God? We must pay attention to this. Hebrews 2 says that He is bringing many sons into glory.
Do you see the difference? To be a child of God—or, more specifically, to be sons of God—is salvation. What is higher than being sons of God?
The Lord may say, “You are My sons,” and we may feel satisfied. But God says that only when we are brought into a certain condition will He be satisfied.
What condition is that? Not only are you sons; you will be brought into glory.
To be sons is salvation. When we are saved, we may be satisfied, but God is not satisfied merely with that. God points out how He will be satisfied: not only will He obtain many sons, but these many sons will reach a destination. That destination is glory.
This leads us into a new topic. We, as the children of God, are not qualified in ourselves to enter into His glory; He must lead us there. What is that glory?
When God speaks, He does not merely speak of the beginning without telling us the end and leaving us to guess. We cannot guess. If you say that you can guess the end, you are deceiving yourself.
In our understanding, we are already sons, yet we are not glorified. What is the difference? This brings us back to Ephesians and to the prayer we read earlier.
The words in Ephesians came from the prayer of the apostle Paul for the churches of God. This prayer contains many facts, but when all these facts are brought together, they point to one thing: to be glorified.
If you do not know what it means to be glorified, then read this prayer. We will not fellowship on the whole content of Paul’s prayer, but we will consider one point: the reality of entering into glorification.
His prayer has three main matters. First, that we may know the hope of His calling. Second, that we may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Then there is a third matter: the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. Forgive me for saying this: even if it required our whole life, we might still not understand it fully. But God has done it, and He continues to carry it out.
Before Paul spoke of all these matters, he said that we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in order to know what God has done.
God wants those of us who are saved to know the exceeding greatness of His power. If the Lord stopped there, we would not understand. We would ask, “God, what are You saying? How can You say that Your power is so great that it exceeds what we can think?”
But Paul, under the leading of the Spirit, spoke this truth. What is the exceeding greatness of His power? Look at the reality, and you will know.
That great power was revealed in the Son of God. God says, “I will reveal that power in you also.” This is not something about which we boast ourselves. God is revealing the exceeding greatness of His power toward those of us who believe.
God is saying, “The power that I revealed in Christ, I will also work in you who believe.” The matter is very clear.
God used His mighty power to raise Christ from the dead, raise Him to heaven, and give Him authority over all things. What power is greater than the resurrection of Christ, His ascension, and His authority over all things?
Among the descendants of Adam, you cannot find one who has such power. Yet God speaks to us, those who were once descendants of Adam, and says, “I am not joking with you. I am telling you the truth.”
“You who were once descendants of Adam, I will reveal in you the power that I manifested in the Son who was once in My bosom.”
You may say, “What is so great about that?” It is a great matter. Consider who you are. Do not think that because you were born into a minister’s family, you therefore knew many things about God. Nor does being born into a physicist’s family mean that you know the realities of the universe.
Whatever illustration we use, you will say that it is not sufficient. Yet we need to consider the facts.
I live now in San Francisco. It is a good place. There is drought throughout the world, and California also has drought. We have water restrictions, but we have not reached the point where we must travel a great distance to get water and bring it back.
Why is there drought? This is not merely a spiritual question. If we speak about spiritual things, we may look at Noah’s ark and the flood in Noah’s time. We ask the same question: who controls these things?
Water has mighty power. In physics, you may understand something of air currents, rain, and the conditions of the earth. But who controls these matters? They are not only managed; they can be moved.
What I say is not boasting. Many things that we hear may appear reasonable, yet they are false. But thank and praise our God: God shows us many things. We may know the reasons behind them, but we still cannot understand why there is such a reason. Yet it is in the thoughts of God.
When God points us to our Lord—His death, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension, and all the work of glorification—He brings forth this power. Can you receive that? You may ask, “Is this real?” It is real because God Himself has said it.
Do not forget how God describes those who believe. By faith, you received salvation. Why did you believe? Let us not make it complicated.
What are you made of? If you look at yourself, you may say, “If I were a girl and joined a beauty contest and won the championship, would I not be good? There is only one Miss Universe.” But look deeper. Who were you? You were merely a pile of dirt. You were nothing.
But God used us. According to His power and might, He was willing to enter into us—a pile of dirt—and make us living beings.
If we know who we are, our true condition, then we understand the greatness of this matter.
God is putting this infinite, exceeding great power into those of us who believe. Who are those who believe? We are from dust.
You may say, “Those of us who were made from dust are to be led into the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Is that possible?” Not only is it possible; it has already begun very clearly.
In those of us who believe, God is manifesting exceeding great power. This power surpasses every time, location, and power.
When this power is revealed in us, it has a consequence. Our Lord, through this power, was exalted to the highest place. What happened after He was exalted?
At the end of Ephesians 1, we see something truly great. The Lord went through all these things, and God wants us to experience them also. Through this experience, He brings us into the same condition as Christ.
Do not think that this is too grand a matter and therefore unrelated to daily life. Even to manage your family is already a great matter. Many times when you return home, you should enjoy the warmth of family, yet there may be arguments instead.
But to receive authority over all things—that is a tremendous matter. Christ has received this authority.
God’s Word proves that all power and authority have been given to the Lord. What Christ has received, God will bring us into, making us like Christ.
If you look at the purpose of salvation, you cannot stop at merely being saved. From salvation, God is leading us into glorification.
This glory is real. When the time is fulfilled, all things will be put under His feet. If you continue reading Ephesians, you will see the secret.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.
—Ephesians 1:22
All things are under the authority of the Lord, and He has been given to be Head over all things. But one question remains: What is the purpose of our Lord’s receiving this glorious arrangement?
The purpose is not for Himself. He already is who He is. With resurrection power, God put Christ over all things. Why did He do it?
The power Christ received is not for Himself, because whether or not this event took place, He is who He is. Yet God put His Son through this arrangement.
On one hand, it proves that the Son in the Father’s bosom is Head over all things. But this highest position is not for Christ to enjoy alone. Ephesians points out why: for the church.
Our Lord was exalted to the highest place, not for Himself. God put Christ through this experience for the church.
However we may dress ourselves up, we are from dust. But God is putting us in a new place. What is this new position?
All the glory and honor that Christ received become the church’s. Why does this happen? Because when God created man, He had two purposes: to glorify Himself and to deal with Satan.
How does God execute His plan? Through the Son, through what His Son has walked through, and by bringing this reality to us.
Thus, many of us who are made of dust can be brought before God. God puts all the fullness of Christ into the church.
Not only is the fullness in Christ Himself; what Christ has and who Christ is, God gives to us. Apart from the Godhead itself, everything in Christ is given to us.
When we speak about the church, this is the result: the fullness of Christ fills the church.
If the fullness of Christ cannot be revealed in the church, how can the church be a witness? What witness would it be? Surely, it would not be the witness of Christ.
What can replace the witness of Christ? Nothing can replace the witness of Christ.
Remember another statement in Ephesians. It points to those of us who believe, still in chapter 1, verse 12:
That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
—Ephesians 1:12
What is Paul saying? He speaks of the glory of God. How is that glory to be manifested in the universe and in creation?
God has obtained a group of people—not an individual, but a group of people. They have received the glorious work of God, and God has given them a new title. This is the position in which the church stands.
God says that we who first trusted in Christ are to be to the praise of His glory.
When we speak of God’s eternal purpose, we are not saying merely that some individuals rise to a point of exaltation. We must return to this fact: God does not want to obtain many separate individuals.
God wants to bring all these individuals into the group called the church. For the church, therefore, Christ has passed through all these heavenly experiences.
Because by faith we are united with Christ, how Christ is, so the church should be.
After Christ was resurrected, He was loved by the Father. God will make the same reality known in those of us who believe.
This brings us to an important word. It brings the key points of the work of God to us little by little.
We have heard brothers speak, especially regarding Revelation 2 and 3 and the seven letters to the seven churches. From these letters, we understand one thing.
According to what we see, we may look at the condition of the church and ask, “How can that be the church of glory? How can a church like this be a mature church?” We may not want to speak of the things that are not so good, but we need to know what God wants.
How can the church mature? Do we say that because there is a multitude in our gathering, therefore we are mature? Or do we say that because we speak the Word of God in our gatherings and do not talk about anything else, therefore we are mature?
Perhaps these things are near maturity, but they are not true maturity.
Before we come to the conclusion of the letters, we must know the standard for the church’s maturity. We did not set that standard; God established it.
When is the church mature? In Romans, God shows us that when the church has come to the fullness of the number, that is one condition of church maturity.
But that is not all. In Ephesians, we see that not only does the number of people grow, but the church must be filled by the content of Christ.
In Ephesians 4, all that is in Christ becomes all that is in the church. When Christ entirely fills the church, the Lord will say, “The time has come.”
If the Lord tarries, it is not because His Word is unfaithful. His Word is faithful. The growth of the church involves, on one hand, the increase in number; on the other hand, the spiritual condition must grow into the fullness of Christ.
You may say, “If that is the condition, we will never get there.” We thank the Lord. The seven letters in Revelation show us that the overcomers in the church will take hold of the fullness of Christ.
The maturity of the church, on one hand, hastens the return of the Lord. On the other hand, it shows that the church has become mature.
How does the maturity of the church come about? By being united with Christ.
On what ground do we say that there is unity? We fall under His authority.
The church must learn to the point where whatever Christ says is right. If something is not from Christ, however good it may sound, it is not good for the church.
When we see the salvation plan of God, we cannot look only at our own salvation. From salvation to the maturity of Christ, we must be in it.
There are many questions concerning the return of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, we may not all stand upon the same ground regarding these questions, but that is not the important matter.
In Philippians, the Lord shows that when the church matures and is gathered together as one in Christ, this church united with Christ will bring all things into God.
If we are to correctly and accurately manifest the witness of Christ, our focal point is not merely how we bring out our testimony.
We should be careful to ask whether I am part of the fullness of Christ and whether that fullness is now the fullness of the church.
Our time has come, and we will continue tomorrow. But what we have said is fundamental. Whether you have heard it in the past or not, we should pay attention.
Am I exercising my function so that the church will manifest the fullness of Christ? That is what ushers us into the reality of God’s eternal purpose.
May the Lord be gracious to us. Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, through the revelation of Your Spirit, may we see clearly Your eternal purpose and all that You have arranged. It is so great.
From the beginning, You have ordained it. Though there are many hindrances, You have said that no one can stop Your working hand. O Lord, we thank You.
For the blessings we have received, we thank You. As we continue to live and grow in Your glorious plan, we look to You for help.
In this wicked generation, may You keep those who faithfully follow You. We give You praise and worship.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.