Will you please turn to 1 John 3? We will read the first three verses.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.
And every one that hath this hope set on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.—1 John 3:1-3
Dear Lord, as we are gathered here this morning, our hearts are full of gratitude. We want to thank Thee for having loved us, and loved us to the uttermost.
We thank Thee because Thou art willing to give Thyself to us in such a way that we may be delivered from ourselves and delivered unto Thyself. O dear Lord, how can we tell of the love that Thou hast bestowed upon each and every one of us?
As we continue in Thy presence, we pray that Thy Spirit will bring Thy Word to us, open our understanding, and bring us into the very thought that Thou hast for us. Enable us to follow Thee in such a way that will fulfil all that Thou hast ordained for each and every one of us.
We commit this time into Your hands. Trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Thy mind to us and enable us to enter into Thy fullness, to the praise of Thy glory. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.
We thank God for giving us another time together. As the apostle John said, “See what love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.”
Brothers and sisters, have we considered what the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God? This is a tremendous statement.
We who were once in sins and transgressions, we who had no hope whatsoever, and yet, by the grace of God, today are called the children of God. We are children of God. What a thought is that!
We who were His enemies, we who were destined to eternal death, and yet by the grace of God are today called the children of God—you and me, all of us. What a thought is that, to be children of God?
We belong to Him. He is our heavenly Father. He has given His life to us. He considers us to be His own children. Brothers and sisters, can you imagine the wonderful grace that has been bestowed upon each and every one of us?
We shall be ever thankful that people such as we are, destined to eternal death, are now called the children of God. Brothers, I just cannot get over it. What a mercy! What love God has bestowed upon each and every one of us!
I think all of us have such gratitude to God for what He has done for us. If God should do only this much for us, to us that is more than enough.
But God has something more for us. He does not simply want us to be His children. He has something far more for us than that. He wants us to be like Him. He has more work in our lives.
I think, brothers and sisters, sometimes when we think that we are now children of God, we just sit back and say, “Lord, that is enough for me. As long as I am Thy child, I am satisfied. Now I can relax and just wait for the time when Thou shalt call me back to Thyself.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is our thought, not God’s thought. God’s thought concerning us is much higher than our thought. He not only saves us; He wants to save us to the uttermost. That is to say, He wants us to be like Him—not only saved by Him, but to be like Him.
That is a tremendous grace and mercy that God will bestow upon us. So, brothers and sisters, are we satisfied because we, the greatest sinners, are now the children of God? So far as human thought is concerned, I think that should be quite enough. But God’s thought is always higher than man’s thought.
God wants us not only to be called His children, but He wants us to be actually His sons and His daughters. God wants us to be like Him as He is, and that is the purpose of God.
We should be satisfied just by being called the children of God. Brother, just think of that. We who were sinners, destined to eternal death, and now God, in His mercy, has come about through the redemption of His Son, Jesus Christ, that He may call us His own children. What mercy! What grace this has been! I think we are ever thankful for that.
But that is us. So far as God is concerned, He is not satisfied by just calling us to be His children. He wants something more for us. He wants us to be like Him, as He is.
This is God’s constant thought concerning every one of us. Brothers and sisters, are you like Him? Not only of Him, but like Him. Are you what He is? To be like Him, to be one with Him—that is the tremendous goal of God for every one of us.
So the apostle John tells us, “We are now called the children of God. What we shall be has not been manifested. But when it is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”
Do you have this hope in you? Are you just satisfied by being called the children of God? Do you just sit back and say, “Now I can enjoy my life. I can do whatever I would like because I am a child of God. My destination is certain”?
If we have that kind of thought, then we really do not understand God’s love for us. He wants us to be like Him as He is; so shall we be. Do you think it is possible?
Humanly speaking, this seems to be beyond our understanding. How can we, once the chief of sinners, be like Him as He is? But this is exactly what God wants us to be.
So this morning, we would like to go a step further. We would like to see: How can we be like Him? Not only of Him, belonging to Him, but to be like Him as He is. So shall we be. That is God’s will for each and every one of us, and we would like to see how He is going to do that.
Thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, something happens in our lives. You know, because of sin, our spirit was dead to God.
God created man with a spirit, and with that human spirit we would be able to contact God. But, as you know, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, the spirit was dead unto God.
That does not mean that they did not have a spirit, because they still had an organ called the spirit. How do we know that? We know it because, even though because of sin men have no contact with God, men still have contact with spirits.
I think this is easily understood by the Chinese. Because in China, even though we did not know God, we had contact with evil spirits.
I originally came from a heathen family. But thank God, one after another got saved. Before we were saved, we contacted evil spirits.
I remember my grandfather. He was a very kind person. He did so much for other people. Someone insisted on giving his daughter to him as a concubine.
But his concubine was not a believer, because at that time my grandfather had not yet really come to the Lord. After my grandfather died, in China, you know, people wanted to contact the dead person. They thought they could do that through necromancers.
Those evil spirits take on the voice of a dead one. You can really hear the voice of the dead one. Usually, the dead one would require you to burn more incense, because they were so much lacking in Hades.
After my grandfather died, we had been praying for our grandfather for years. I was the grandson that he loved most. I was very close to him. After I was saved, I talked to him, but he always told me, “I’m too old to change.”
But we did not give up. We continued to pray for him. I was in Hong Kong when he died. I wondered before God whether our years of prayer for our grandfather had been answered. There were some indications, but we were not sure.
After he died, his concubine wanted to talk with my grandfather because she was not a believer. So she asked a necromancer to come, and through some kind of magic, she could literally hear the voice of my grandfather.
That is how people in China were deceived. It was actually the evil spirit, not the dead person. But thank God, you know what happened? After she called the necromancer and wanted to talk to my grandfather, the voice came.
The voice said, “Don’t call me. I do not belong to you.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, that gave us great comfort. After years of prayer for my grandfather, we got the proof that he no longer belonged to the evil one. He belonged to God.
So, brothers and sisters, it is the will of God that we are not only saved as children, but that He wants us to grow up to be like Him. This is the purpose of God for every one of us.
We know what is meant to be saved. To be saved means not only that our sins have been forgiven. To be saved means that our dead spirit was renewed into life.
That is the reason why, when you are saved, you begin to have real contact with God.
Now, I was brought up in a Christian family. My father loved the Lord. We had family meetings every evening before supper. He would gather the seven of us children in the living room. He would read from a big Bible on the table, ask all of us to kneel down, and lead us in prayer.
But strangely, he never asked any one of us to pray. He always prayed himself. But after I was saved, he began to ask me to pray too, because he knew I knew the Lord.
But anyway, when you are saved, what does being saved mean? It not only means that your sins have been forgiven. It also means that your dead spirit was renewed into eternal life.
Because of sin, your spirit was dead to God. It was alive to evil spirits, but had no contact with God. But when you are saved, this wonderful thing happens: your spirit begins to be in contact with God.
I was brought up in a Christian family. I received much Christian teaching. Outwardly, I believed, but inwardly I was not. Even though I did pray, I had no contact with God. God was far away from me.
But thank God, the moment He saved me, immediately my contact with God was made. I knew I was saved because my contact with God was made.
When I read the Bible, it was a dead book to me. But when I was saved, I remember I went into my room, opened the Bible, and read 1 John. Every word spoke to my heart, because my contact with God was made.
Our spirit was brought into new life, and with our new spirit we are now in contact with God.
So, brothers and sisters, every one of us here who has believed in the Lord Jesus—your dead spirit was brought into new life. Your contact with God has begun. That is why we Christians pray, because it is not a formality. It is real. When you pray, your spirit is in contact with God.
That is the secret of Christian life. How can we be like Christ? It is through the working of God in our spirit.
When you are saved, Christ came to dwell in your renewed spirit, to be your life. So remember, brothers and sisters: you who have been saved have a new life. You do not live your own life any longer. You have a new life, and you are supposed to live by that new life.
But how? How does that new life in you live? Thank God, when your spirit is renewed into life, Christ comes into your spirit. He becomes the life of your spirit.
But that does not mean that, because of this, your whole being has changed. No. This is just the beginning. What happens when you are saved happens only in your spirit. Your soul has not changed. Your body has not changed. Only your spirit has changed.
But that is the beginning. In your spirit, you are now in contact with God. Christ becomes the life of your spirit. But unfortunately, at that time, your own soul is still the life of your soul.
Soon there begins what we call Christian conflict. In your spirit, Christ is your life, and His Spirit dwells in you.
Now, what is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit? The only work of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to bring you deeper into Christ.
The Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, is to be your life-guide after you have believed in the Lord Jesus. Before you believed in the Lord Jesus, how did you live? You lived by your soul. By how you felt yourself, what you wanted to do, you did, because your spirit was dead.
But now your spirit has become alive, and the Holy Spirit in your spirit has become your life-guide. He will guide you in following the Lord Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, after you are saved, have you experienced the working of the Holy Spirit in your spirit? Have you experienced the conflict in your life?
Before you are saved, you just go one way—the way that you feel. But now, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you cannot go on that way anymore. You find there is a conflict within you. We call it the conflict of the spirit and the soul.
In your spirit, the Holy Spirit is leading you to God. But in your soul, yourself is still trying to lead you into yourself. So every believer begins with the conflict of the spirit and the soul.
Thank God, if you have not experienced this conflict between the spirit and the soul, it shows that you have not been saved yet. If you have been saved, this must come. You will begin to see the conflict between your spirit and your soul.
We are told by Paul that physical exercise is profitable. I think especially nowadays, young people begin to realize how important physical exercise is.
I remember when we were young, we did not care much about physical exercise. But young people today are really very careful about physical exercise, because physical exercise is profitable. It helps our body. It even helps our mind. It makes us more alert to things.
But the Bible says physical exercise is profitable, but only a little. Why? Because it is limited. Its profit is mainly for today. Its profit is mainly for the body. It may affect your mind, but it does not affect your whole being. It is temporal, not eternal.
Spiritual exercise is eternal. It will help you now and forever. So, brothers and sisters, today, we who are in the Lord need spiritual exercise every day.
The Holy Spirit, who dwells in our spirit, is leading us every day. He never gives up His responsibility. So far as the Holy Spirit in you is concerned, He is always faithful. Every moment, He is trying to lead you in God’s way.
But I believe you all experience this: within your spirit, you sense the leading of the Holy Spirit, but in your soul you still feel the desire of your old man.
For instance, before you believed in the Lord Jesus, you liked to be boastful, because to be boastful seems to build up yourself and make you great.
But after you have believed in the Lord Jesus, you continue to boast of yourself, telling things beyond what you really have experienced. Now what happens?
You begin to feel, when you are boasting, that there is Someone within your spirit telling you, “This is not true. You should not say that.”
Formerly, when you boasted, you felt happy about it. The more you boasted, the more you were elated. But now when you begin to boast, saying something beyond what you really are, you will be deflated. You will feel bad about it.
I believe we all have that experience. When you try to pray before bed, you cannot pray until you confess your sin and ask the precious blood to cleanse you from your boasting. You will not have peace in your heart.
So, dear brothers and sisters, just thank God. He has provided a means for each and every one of us to be sanctified. He wants every one of us to be sanctified because He is sanctified.
It is very important, brothers and sisters, that we do not neglect that inward, still, small voice. If you neglect the still, small voice, your Christian life will be a defeat.
But if you pay attention to the still, small voice and are willing to pay the cost for listening to it, your spiritual life will grow.
So how can we grow in our spiritual life? How can we be like Christ? The process is this: in our daily life, we must learn to listen to the still, small voice.
For instance, before you believed in the Lord Jesus, you went to a certain place quite often to enjoy yourself. But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, something happens.
When you begin to go to the place that you usually frequented, somehow there is a still, small voice within your spirit saying, “You are now a Christian. Do you think it is right for you to go there?”
I know a brother. He loved the Lord, but he was a mechanic. When he was in Shanghai, he was frequently sent by his company to the theatres to look after their equipment. This became his problem because he was afraid that people would see him going to the theatre and think that he was going to see a movie or something else.
But actually, he was just a mechanic doing his work. We all feel the same thing.
Do not think that because I am a pastor’s son, I did not have such a problem. If it had not been for the grace of God, I would have been a movie star! Because the first page I would turn to in the newspaper was the page carrying the news about the theatres.
But it is the mercy of God that saved me. I remember the Holy Spirit began to work in my life.
Even though I was a pastor’s son, I usually spent my Saturdays in movie theatres. I had a friend whose family knew movie stars, so we could usually go to see the best movies without paying anything.
But then the Holy Spirit began to work in my life. He began to tell me, “Is it a place that you should go?” Well, I said, “If I go to see a good movie, what is wrong with that?”
But I dared not say, “I will not go to the theatre.” So I tried to keep myself from going to the theatre. It was a great success to me. For several months, I was successful.
But sadly, although I knew what He was doing, a so-called Christian movie came to Shanghai. It was called Noah’s Ark, and people sent tickets to my family.
Now I argued with myself, “What is wrong with seeing a Christian movie? I have not been to see a movie for several months already.” But the temptation was too great. I finally went.
But I tell you my experience. I sat in the movie theatre looking at the movie, hoping that the movie would quickly be over so I could get out. But strangely, I did not get out. I stayed there and looked at it.
It was called Noah’s Ark. It was the dirtiest movie I had ever seen. For two hours, I sat there debating whether I should leave, but I did not. I remained to the end of it.
But thank God, when I went out, I no longer went to a movie theatre to see movies. The Lord delivered me.
So, brothers and sisters, this is the way that the Spirit of God is leading us to a sanctified life. We have a conflict within ourselves. The spirit is willing, but the soul is not willing.
The conflict between the spirit and the soul is a constant daily experience. It is either the growth of your spiritual life or the failure of your spiritual life.
Now, brothers and sisters, where are you today? Are you listening to the still, small voice in the spirit, or are you still following the loud cry of your soul-life?
How much failure have you experienced in your Christian life? How much success have you experienced by the spirit overcoming the soul? The conflict between the spirit and the soul is the secret of our Christian growth.
If, when the still, small voice is speaking to you against the loud voice of your soul, you are willing to lay down yourself and accept the dealing of the Holy Spirit, you will discover that your spiritual life begins to grow.
But on the contrary, if you listen to the loud voice of your soul and reject the still, small voice of the spirit, then you will find that your Christian life is going backward. This will be the criterion of your Christian life.
So, brothers and sisters, do not expect great things in Christian life. It is in these small things that you will reveal where you really are.
Where are you today? Are you listening to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit in your spirit, or are you just following the loud voice of your soul? This marks our Christian living.
So, in a sense, it is very simple, brothers and sisters. Before the coming of the Lord—and we believe the Lord is coming soon—those who are really ready for Him will be taken by Him and will reign with Him during the millennium.
But those who listen to their soul’s voice and try to live what they call a better life on this earth, during the millennium—that thousand years—they will be cast into outer darkness. The Bible says there will be gnashing of teeth. In other words, they will repent of what they have done.
So, dear brothers and sisters, thank God. The way of victory is shown to us by the Bible—not in big things. Do not expect that only big things will affect your life. No. It is your daily, small things that make up your life.
If you are faithful to the Lord in small things, you may suffer a little bit today, but eventually you will reign with Christ for a thousand years.
But on the contrary, if you cater to your soul’s voice and try to please yourself today, think: during the millennium, you will be cast into outer darkness and repent of what you have done.
So Christian life is really very simple. Brothers and sisters, do not expect great things. Christian life is made of everyday life. Faithfulness in small things means faithfulness in life. Unfaithfulness in small things means defeat in life.
So our daily life is very important. Brothers and sisters, again I want to repeat: life is not composed of big things. Life is composed of small things. It is your daily small things that make up the life that you should live.
If you neglect this, may I warn you that you will regret it during the millennium, when other Christians are reigning with Christ and you will be cast into outer darkness with gnashing of teeth—that is to say, repenting for what you have done. This is worth considering.
So this morning, I want to put this thing before you, dear brothers and sisters. You know, sometimes I thought, “Why is it, Lord, that Thou shouldst leave me on earth without taking me to be with Thee?”
How good it would be if, immediately after I was saved, He took me to Himself. That would save me a lot of problems. But that is human thinking.
Because God wants grown-up sons and daughters. He does not want little babies. Little babies are good to look at, but they are not able to be depended upon.
So the simple fact is here, brothers and sisters: thank God He has not yet come. If He had come already and we were all here, we would all be lost. But thank God, He is coming. He does not tell us when. He can come at any moment.
Brothers and sisters, I do sense very strongly that we are living in the last days. Two thousand years have passed. This is the last days. He may come at any moment. This is our opportunity, so do not lose this opportunity.
Let us all press on toward the goal. When He shall return, at any moment, you will be raptured and reign with Him during the millennium. But woe to the people who have to be cast outside in outer darkness, repenting and regretting.
My dear brothers and sisters, God is merciful. He would not leave anyone out forever. The Bible clearly tells us that sooner or later we shall all be gathered together with Him in eternity, in the kingdom, ruling and reigning with Christ forever.
But a thousand years in darkness is not something easy to go through. If you think it is hard to be faithful to the Lord in giving up what your soul likes, think of the millennium kingdom. It can be a thousand years in outer darkness with gnashing of teeth. Which do you prefer?
So I just want to put this thing before all you dear brothers. It is my urgent prayer that, for the sake of eternity, we will be willing to lay down ourselves and let Him have His will in each and every one of us.
At His coming, we will all be together with Him. Hopefully, brothers and sisters, if we do not meet again on earth, we will meet again there in heaven. May the Lord bless you. Amen.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank You, because Your heart is always perfect toward us. You do not want us to be barely saved. You want to save us to the uttermost.
Lord, even though in this world there will be some little problems, some little things that we have to give up, yet, Lord, it is for our eternal good.
So we just pray, Lord, after we have heard such a message, Thou wilt enable every one of us to give ourselves totally over to You and say, “Lord, have Thy way. We want Thy best. We want to be what Thou wantest us to be.”
We do not want to be just babies in Christ. We want to be grown-up sons and daughters of God. Have mercy upon each and every one of us. In Your name we pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we want to take a time to pray together. You know.