That we may behold thee, behold thy son
with unveiled face.
We pray that this morning thou will open
our eyes to see thee and thee alone.
Thou will open our ears to hear thy
voice because thou dost say my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me.
O Lord, we do pray that this morning
thou as the son of righteousness will rise
in our hearts with healings in its wings.
We do commit this time into thy hand.
We pray that we may be delivered out
of ourselves and into thyself.
Lord, we pray that thou art able to
finish thy good work which thou has begun
in Christ Jesus in each one of us.
We do desire that thyself shall be exalted,
seen and glorified, loved and adored.
We ask in the precious name of our
Lord Jesus.
This morning we would like to just use
one clause in the Bible.
And if you are able to find it,
try it.
Hosea chapter 7 verse 8.
I'll give you one minute to find it.
Hosea chapter 7 verse 8.
The second clause.
Have you find it?
Well if you cannot find it, it's very
easy.
I will read it and you'll remember it.
Hosea chapter 7 verse 8.
The second clause.
Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Through the prophet Hosea, God gave his estimate
of Ephraim which represents Israel.
It is the judgment of love, not of
negative criticism.
It is important that we may see ourselves
in God's light.
You remember that very precious verse in Psalm
36.
In thy light shall we see light.
And in thy presence there is fullness of
life.
We can only see ourselves in the light
of God.
It is no use.
It is unprofitable.
It is even harmful if we try to
see ourselves in our own light.
Or in the light of others.
Now of course the Bible does say examine
yourself and see if you are in the
faith.
Or the Bible says if we judge ourselves
then we may not be judged.
But that doesn't mean that we are to
measure ourselves in our own light or we
are to measure ourselves in the light of
other people.
No.
That only means that we have to place
ourselves in the light of God that we
may see exactly where we stand, what we
are in the sight of God.
The psalmist pray examining me and know my
heart.
True me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any grievous way in
me.
Lead me in the way everlasting.
And I believe this is a prayer that
we should always pray.
One thing that is very important in our
Christian life and that is to know ourselves
in the light of God.
To know where we are and where we
stand.
And this will help us greatly in our
progress in the Lord.
So again I will say it is good
to know ourselves in the light of God.
But never try to analyze yourself.
You will never be able to know yourselves
with the light of your own soul.
It is futile.
It is unprofitable.
Now here you'll find God gave his estimate
of Ephraim.
From time to time I believe we need
God to give an estimate of ourselves.
And God's estimate of Ephraim was you are
a cake not turned.
Now I believe the sisters know much better
than I do.
But of course you remember this is baking
not the modern oven.
So there is a little difference here.
Now here you'll find a woman.
She makes the dough.
She puts in all the ingredients for the
cake.
And she may even put it in a
pan of a certain shape.
Whatever shape you want it to be.
You'll find that everything is ready.
And then she begins to bake it over
an open fire.
Not the oven that you get the heat
all around.
You don't need to turn it.
But it is an open fire.
So when you put the dough, you put
the prepared material for the cake on that
open fire.
Now it begins to bake.
It suddenly comes to me.
Is it the King Bruce?
When he fled from his enemy he went
into a lady's home, an old woman's home.
And that woman said all right I have
a cake baking on the fire.
Now you watch it.
And the woman went away to some other
errands.
And King Bruce was so occupied with his
kingdom and all his thoughts that he forgot
all about that cake on the fire.
So when the woman came back he found
that it was burning.
And of course he scolded King Bruce.
So you find that when you try to
bake a cake, say on an open fire,
you have to be very watchful.
If you don't, you'll find one side will
be scorched, burning.
And the other side is still raw and
undercooked.
Now can you eat such a cake?
Have you ever tasted such a cake?
A cake not turned is a cake that
is burned on the one side and raw
on the other side.
Such a cake is not fit for food.
It can only be cast away.
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
Do you know what is the spiritual meaning
of this metaphor?
Well to be very simple.
The spiritual meaning of a cake not turned
is spiritual imbalance.
Spiritual imbalance.
God has gathered us out of all nations.
As wheat, out of the field, the world.
He works upon each one of us.
He grinds us.
He mixes us.
He makes us flour.
He makes it with water, the word of
God.
That we may become a dough.
And he may put some spices to make
it more tasty.
Now he prepares all the time in order
to make us a cake, presentable to himself.
Now you remember in the Old Testament, there
is the showbread or to be put before
God as food for God.
Now this is what God desires of his
people.
He saves us from the world.
He gathers us together.
He unite us into one.
He cement us, make us a dough.
And he gives all his gifts to us.
The ingredients are mixed in that dough.
Why is it that God has done all
these works in our life individually and collectively?
Why?
Because he wants to make us a cake.
As food for himself as well as for
all the hungry ones.
That is the purpose of God.
But after he has joined us together, after
he has unite us together, after he has
given us gifts, after he has put us
together, there is something more he has to
do.
We are raw yet.
We cannot be eaten.
He has to put us over the fire.
He has to bake us.
But dear brothers and sisters, very often in
the process of baking, some forgetfulness comes.
We let the dough bake over in fire,
but we forget to turn it.
And the result is, we are overcooked in
one way and undercooked in another way.
In other words, we become unbalanced.
Dear brothers and sisters, remember one thing.
If we are unbalanced, in spite of all
the works that God has done in our
lives, we cannot be presented to God as
his food.
It is scorched on one side.
It is raw on the other side.
Spiritual balance is a very important principle in
our Christian life.
The Lord Jesus himself is the most balanced
person in the whole world.
If you read the full Gospels, does it
strike you how balanced is our Lord Jesus?
The Word became flesh, full of grace and
truth.
On the one side you will find he
is full of grace, and yet it doesn't
mean he lacks in truth.
He is full of truth, but on the
other hand he is no lacking in grace.
Yes, he is the son of God.
He is above everything.
He can do everything.
Nothing is impossible with him.
And yet on the other hand he is
the son of man.
The man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Have you ever met a person so well
balanced as our Lord Jesus?
Spiritual balance is the sign of spiritual maturity.
The lack of balance is the lack of
spiritual maturity.
The Lord Jesus is the most balanced person
in the whole world.
And this is what the Lord expects us
to be.
That we may not be a cake not
turned.
That we may turn around and go out
balanced.
Let me illustrate with a few thoughts.
We need to maintain a balance between life
and knowledge.
You know it is our human nature to
be extreme.
It is very difficult to our natural life
to be balanced.
We either swing to one end or we
will swing to the opposite end.
It takes some time for us to swing
back to balance.
Very often we find people who emphasize so
much on knowledge.
Knowledge is power.
Yes, they want knowledge.
They search the scripture very diligently.
Now do not say that we should not
search the scripture.
You remember in the book of Acts, it
is said that the Philistines were more noble
than the Thessalonians.
Why?
Because they searched the scripture.
It is important that we search the scriptures
very diligently.
The cry of these people who emphasize so
much on knowledge is to the law and
to the testimony.
If you want to talk with them, the
first thing they say, show me the verse.
If it is not in the verse, they
cannot accept it.
To the law and to the testimony.
That's their cry.
They want to base everything on some bible
verse.
They profess they know a lot of the
bible.
Like the scribes and the Pharisees.
They can recite the bible by memory.
You remember when the Lord Jesus was born,
the Magi, they went to Jerusalem and asked
King Herod, where shall the King of the
Jews be born?
And he gathered the scribes and the Pharisees
and said where?
Without saying, now let me go back and
look up my concordance.
They didn't do that.
Immediately they said, well Christ shall be born
in Bethlehem of Judea.
Why?
Because it is said in the prophet Micah.
I wonder if you can find the prophet
Micah.
But they know the scriptures so well.
They know it all.
But the trouble is, they pass on that
information to King Herod, in order to give
King Herod an opportunity to kill the child.
They do not go to Bethlehem, to worship
the King.
Knowledge, full of knowledge.
But it can be purely mental exercise.
You do not go beyond your mind.
And you may pass on the information of
your mind to the mind of other people.
There is very little, if any, spiritual value
in such knowledge.
Knowledge as the Bible says, pops up.
Oh, if you are in the know, you
feel yourself important.
Knowledge pops up.
But love.
Do you profess to be full of knowledge?
Do you think you really know?
The apostle Paul says, if you think you
know, you know nothing.
Oh, I have heard people say, I don't
want knowledge.
Knowledge is dead.
Knowledge is useless.
May I ask you how much knowledge you
have?
Probably you have very little.
So you can dispense with it.
Knowledge, pure mental knowledge, is dead, is cold,
is useless, not much spiritual value.
All these are true.
Knowledge without life is dead.
If you search the scripture, and all you
find are the letters, without going beyond the
letters to the spirit of it, it is
dead.
If you know the Word of God, you
store the Word of God in your mind,
without ever opening your heart to the Word
of God, your knowledge will remain an outward
thing.
It will never become an inward knowledge, which
is of great value.
It is very true, dear brothers and sisters.
You can be a cake and turn in
this respect.
You can dig and dig and dig and
dig into the Bible, and you can try
to analyze and analyze and analyze the Bible.
You can try to gather and accumulate information
after information in your mind, until you are
the doctor of divinity.
But dear brothers and sisters, if your hearts
are not open to the Lord, and let
the Word enter into your heart, it is
completely useless.
No spiritual value before the Lord.
It can be very harmful.
Why?
Because it makes you self-important, self-contented,
critical, hard, proud, and cold, and dead.
Knowledge must be balanced with life.
But on the other hand, dear brothers and
sisters, there are some people who emphasize life.
Oh, life is everything.
We don't want knowledge.
We don't want to eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.
Very good.
Come eat that.
We want to eat the tree of life.
It is true.
Life is of supreme importance.
What's the use of all these objective knowledge?
What's the use of filling your mind with
information?
If your life does not prove that you
are what you know you are to be,
it is useless.
Life is very important.
But do you know what is life?
This is the eternal life.
To know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
This is...
You say you don't want knowledge.
You mean you don't want life?
Because life is knowledge.
What is eternal life?
Eternal life is an inward knowing of God
and of Jesus Christ, his son.
It is true, life is not that outward
knowledge, that mental knowledge, that objective knowledge.
Life is something more than that.
It is an inward knowledge.
But remember one thing, this inward knowledge is
nevertheless based upon outward knowledge.
This subjective knowledge is based upon objective knowledge.
If there is not the truth, there can
be no life.
Because there is the truth there.
And in knowing the truth inwardly, that gives
life.
A life that is not based upon the
truth is not the real life.
A life that can dispense with the word
of God is not the life of God.
You find that the life of God is
always based upon his word, the objective truth,
the Logos.
And with this objective truth, through the illumination
of the Holy Spirit, you'll get into it
and beyond it and you'll get that inward
knowledge, which is life.
And you'll find life is very precious, very
precious.
Have you read the epistles?
In the letter of Paul to the Ephesians,
he prayed for the believers there.
May the God of our Lord Jesus give
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that
you may know him.
He prayed for the Philippians.
And this I pray, that you may abound
more and more in the full knowledge of
him and all intelligence.
And he prayed the same prayer for the
Colossians.
Dear brothers and sisters, sometimes in our emphasis
on life we despise knowledge so much that
we even throw the truth away.
Remember, this is a take, not turn.
Life is measured by truth.
If it is not because of the fact,
of the truth, that our Lord Jesus has
come to this world and died on the
cross and fulfilled the work of redemption for
us, nobody, however you try, can be saved.
You will not be able to enter into
any experience of Christ, if there is not
the truth of Christ.
Let me illustrate.
Throughout the centuries, especially in the middle age,
you know in the middle age, Christianity at
that time, it was almost like a superstition.
The Bible was not read.
There might be some copies of the Bible
chained in the monasteries.
And even the monks did not read the
Bible.
It took an exceptional monk like Martin Luther
to read the Bible.
So you find that people were ignorant of
the truth of God.
And yet there were people who really had
a heart for God.
We call them Christian mystics.
Now don't be afraid of that.
It is a little bit mystical, but still
don't be afraid of that.
Now these so-called Christian mystics throughout the
centuries, they had a very strong longing for
God.
They sought God.
They wanted to reach God.
They gave up everything for knowing God.
What did they do?
They wore hair shirts, jackets.
They slept on nailed beds.
They used sharp instruments to beat themselves until
their blood flowed profusely.
They fasted so often that oftentimes they were
given up as dead.
I read many of their stories.
I admire them.
Their love for God, they inflicted a lot
upon themselves.
They wanted to know God.
Do you think they could know God that
way?
In the mercy of God.
God came to them and said, children, you
don't need to do that.
Just believe in me.
And they did.
They did.
And yet, because they had no Bible to
guide them, so even after they had experienced
a breeze of God in a very real
way, yet when they came out to teach
and instruct people, you know what they did?
They told people, if you want to know
God, you have to inflict sufferings upon yourself.
Do penance.
They taught people according to their own particular
experience.
I have experienced God in this way, therefore
you too must experience it in the same
way.
Because that's the only way they know.
And do you know what is the result?
The result is they teach the traditions of
the Fathers instead of the Word of God.
Do you see the point?
You may think that life is all I
want.
But you can be overcooked.
You can try to develop your life to
such an extent that you get rid of
the Word of God and insist on the
traditions of the Fathers.
Which is your experience.
Do you think that God is greater than
your experience?
Do you not know that someday God will
lead you into further experiences?
Do you think that your experience limits God?
God is nowhere to be found except in
your experience.
You are overcooked.
Brothers and sisters, Ephraim is a cake knocker.
We easily can be that way.
We can easily emphasize knowledge to the exclusion
of life and become dead.
We can easily stress life and despise the
Word of God.
And that will make us well undisciplined.
We need to maintain, turn over the cake.
Don't let one side be overcooked and the
other side be undercooked.
Let me use another illustration.
Oh, before I do that, I should give
you a scripture.
Well, in Matthew 22, you remember, the seducers
came to the Lord with a very difficult
supposition.
I won't go into it.
They thought that they had caught the Lord.
The Lord can never get out of that.
But you remember what the Lord said in
Matthew 22?
The Lord said, you are.
You are wrong.
For what reason?
Because you do not know the scriptures, nor
the power of God.
How can we be wrong?
Curious.
If we do not know the scriptures, the
Word, we can be wrong.
And if we do not know the power
of God, we can be wrong.
The scriptures and the power of God are
well balanced.
Knowledge and life must be balanced.
Alright.
Let me use another illustration.
I'll give you the scripture verse first.
1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 15.
What is it then?
I will pray with the spirit, but I
will pray also with the understanding.
I will sing with the spirit, but I
will sing also with the understanding.
Of course we know that this verse refers
to the way that God's people should meet.
When God's people meet together, they should sing
in the spirit as well as with understanding.
They should pray with the spirit as well
as with understanding.
But I think the principle can be applied
even over a wider area.
It is a principle.
So here you'll find we need to maintain
the balance between spirit and understanding.
Christianity is such that those who have a
real heart for God are disgusted with the
formality of Christianity.
God's people everywhere are seeking for something living.
In other words, the spirit.
If you may allow me to say it,
the Pentecostal movement is sweeping the whole world.
Why?
They want something living.
Something living.
God is spirit.
He who worships God must worship Him in
spirit.
Am I right in my quotation?
God is spirit.
He who worships God must worship Him in
spirit and in truth.
Don't forget that.
Balance.
It is very true because God is spirit.
Unless your spirit is released, unless your spirit
gets in contact with God, there is no
other way to worship God.
No other way.
That's very true.
You may prostrate yourself on the floor for
hours before a candle or an image.
You may gather all your noble thoughts and
try to think and imagine God, His mercy
and grace.
You may let loose all your emotions to
jump and leap before God.
You may make a very strong denomination, I
want God.
That doesn't mean you are in contact with
God.
You think you are, but you are not.
Because God is spirit.
He is to be worshipped only in spirit
and in truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, I do believe that
in these days God's people ought to know
more about the spirit.
Not only the human spirit, but the spirit
of God.
God's people need to have some real experience
of the spirit of God.
To make spiritual things real to you.
Otherwise spiritual things are just unreal.
You need it.
Desperately you need it.
But the Bible says, you sing in the
spirit and you sing in understanding.
You pray in the spirit and you pray
with understanding.
It is true that we must emphasize the
spirit.
We must have spiritual experiences.
We must touch spiritual things in a real
way.
Yet on the other hand, the Bible says,
remember, that doesn't mean you should get rid
of your understanding.
How often we said, we want the spirit,
we don't want the mind.
As if our mind is sinful.
God creates your mind.
God means that you use your mind.
But your mind alone is not enough.
There must be the spirit.
May the spirit of wisdom and revelation be
given to you.
That you may know Him and that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened.
Spirit and understanding.
It is never the will of God that
Christians should be people devoid of understanding.
The policy of fooling the people is not
God's policy.
God wants us to understand.
But of course, it has to go deeper.
It has to be in the spirit as
well as in the understanding.
Why is it that the spirit alone is
not enough?
Oh, as long as I am in the
spirit, that's alright.
Well, if you are in the Holy Spirit,
that's alright.
Nothing can be wrong.
But are you sure you are in the
Holy Spirit?
That's where your understanding comes in.
What needs you to understand?
Spirit is only a means.
It is not an end.
Your human spirit needs to be released.
That it may be the channel of the
Spirit of God.
Do you think God is so interested in
your spirit to be released?
Not at all.
God is interested to see your spirit released
that His spirit may have a free channel.
It is the Holy Spirit that is the
substance.
Your human spirit is just an organ.
It's just an organ.
Remember that.
One day the Lord Jesus, and immediately you
find the sons of thunder.
James and John came to the Lord and
said, Now Lord, this ought not to be
done.
Do you wonder?
All fire comes down from heaven and burns
them up.
All full of spirit.
Spirit is people.
The Lord said, You do not know what
kind of spirit you are.
My spirit, the spirit of the Lamb, of
love, of selflessness, of meekness, of humility.
You that does demonstrate a spirit that is
hard, harsh, selfish, critical, cruel.
Because your pride is this spirit.
You do not know what spirit you are.
Remember, even our spirit needs to be purified.
2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1.
Not only your flesh needs to be purified,
your spirit needs to be purified.
Because your spirit is just an organ.
Your soul, right?
Occupy your soul.
And me is the soul, not the spirit.
Do you need this understanding?
To understand what?
The spirit needs to be disciplined.
2 Corinthians chapter 14.
The spirit of the prophets are subject to
discipline.
The spirit of the prophets are subject to
discipline.
The prophets had to exercise control over their
spirit.
With understanding.
Even the prophets, who had the spirit, when
to speak and when to be quiet and
silent.
Read Father chapter 25 verse 28.
He said, Spirit is like a city broken
down without walls.
Have you ever read that verse?
He that is low to anger is better
than the devil.
But dear friends, with understanding.
Knowing that your spirit is but a channel.
For God is the release of his own
spirit of truth.
And structure.
And ten thousand words of tongues.
Spirit and understanding.
I give you one more.
I can go on and on and on.
If balance covers all areas.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 13.
For whether we are beside ourselves, it is
to God.
Or also God, it is for you.
Here you find another balance.
If we are beside ourselves, it is to
God.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to be
beside ourselves.
The trouble is, we are too self-conscious.
We are always thinking of ourselves.
And what will people say of us?
Oh, that one day we may be beside
ourselves.
What can I say?
I will say that one day we may
be so abandoned unto God.
We may be so eternal towards God that
we forget ourselves completely.
David danced before the ark.
David the king danced before the ark.
And David's explanation was, it is before the
Lord.
I will make myself even more vile than
this.
I look at myself more abased than I
have ever thought of.
Dear brothers and sisters, how we need to
be beside ourselves.
Delivered from ourselves.
Wholly occupied by God.
Abandoned to God.
This is what we need to have.
But on the other hand, Paul said, if
I am sober, it is for your sake.
When you are alone before God, be beside
yourself.
But when you are with other people, be
sober.
Remember, there are other people who do not
understand as you do.
They may be offended, stumbled by your liberty
and freedom.
All things are lawful, but not all things
are profitable.
All things are lawful, but not all are
edified.
Let no one seek anything for himself, but
seeking for others.
Another balance.
Oh, many more I can mention, but I
won't.
The Spirit of God can do the work
He needs.
Lastly, I would just like to mention a
few things as to how we can keep
the balance.
Number one, the secret of spiritual balance
is to look unto Jesus.
In other words, our Lord Jesus is the
whole.
All your experiences and knowledge are parts.
Whatever you know, whatever you have experienced, remember,
these are just parts.
They are not the whole.
If you focus your attention on any part,
you lose the balance.
But if you focus your attention on the
whole, you get the balance.
Christ is the balance.
Let me illustrate.
You see a wheel here.
All these books of the wheel.
These books of the wheel represent experiences and
truth.
Many teachings and doctrines, oh, many experiences.
All these books are necessary in a wheel.
But they are parts.
These books must be all centered upon the
whole.
That is Christ.
If a spook is out of the whole,
it is out of joint, out of balance.
It not only does not profit, it hurts,
it hinders.
Every truth, every experience must be centered upon
Christ the whole.
And then it must be joined together by
the rim of the wheel, which is the
church.
This is the secret of balance.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, allow me to
say this.
If we see only a certain truth or
certain experience and make so much of it
that Christ is disappeared, we are out of
balance.
Let every truth and experience be centered upon
Christ and be circumferenced by the church.
Number two.
In order that we may arrive at spiritual
balance, each one of us must be open
to what God may lead us.
In other words, be flexible.
Do not take a hard position and say,
this is it, nothing else.
You are finished.
Be open to the Lord.
Oh, the Lord has much more for you.
Do not restrict the Lord, as if He
is just that small and that's all.
You are looking at the heaven at the
bottom of the well.
Don't do that.
Get up to the mountain and see the
horizon there.
Be careful of one thing.
Be careful of yourself.
You know, we are our worst enemies.
We always try to go the way, the
easiest way, the line of least resistance.
Even in spiritual things.
What is the line of least resistance?
It is according to our natural temperament.
God against that.
Discipline that.
Be open to whatever the Lord may have
to say to you.
That is the only way to reach a
balanced life.
Number three.
Not only in yourselves be open, but learn
to respect others, their experience and their understanding.
Try to understand them.
Try to adjust yourselves to them, as they
adjust to you.
Dear brothers and sisters, you need your brothers
and sisters to balance you out.
I need your balance and you need my
balance.
We have to balance one another.
That's the church.
What's the use of talking about the church,
if we do not balance one another and
all go one way or the other.
Do not demand your brothers and sisters to
adjust to you.
Learn to adjust to them.
This is love.
The Spirit of Christ is love.
They are very simple.
But if we learn these secrets by the
grace of God, we can grow in spiritual
life.
The Lord will not say to us, Ephraim,
you are a cake.
Our Heavenly Father, put us in thy light,
that we may see light.
Deliver us from judging ourselves or judging others,
but judge us with thy light.
Show us where we are unbalanced, overcooked on
one side, undercooked on another side.
O Lord, give us that spiritual balance which
belongs to thee.
Teach us how to center upon thyself.
Teach us how to be open to thee.
Teach us how to tolerate and to adjust
ourselves to our brothers and sisters.
O that thy church may be a well
-balanced church, as thou art balanced.
Lord, we commit these words into thy hand.
We do not trust in the words of
men.
We trust in thy Spirit to finish thy
work, thy good work, in us.
That I shall may be glorified and honored.
We ask in the precious name of our
Lord Jesus.
Amen.