Will you please turn to Hosea chapter 6,
we'll read the first three verses.
Hosea chapter 6, verse 1.
Come, and let us return unto Jehovah, for
he has torn, and he will heal us.
He has smitten, and he will bind us
up.
After two days will he revive us.
On the third day he will raise us
up, and we shall live before his face.
And we shall know, we shall follow on.
To know Jehovah, his going forth is assured,
as the morning dawn, and he will come
unto us as the rain, as the latter
rain, which watereth the earth.
Romans, the letter to the Romans, chapter 13,
verses 11 through 14.
Romans, chapter 13, verse 11.
This also, knowing the time, that it is
already time that we should be aroused out
of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed.
The night is far spent, and the day
is near.
Let us cast away, therefore, the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor
of light.
As in the day, let us walk becomingly,
not in rioting, and drunkenness, and in chambering,
and in lasciviousness, not in strife and emulation,
but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
do not take forethought for the flesh to
fulfill its lusts.
Second Corinthians.
Second Corinthians, chapter
7.
Second Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 10 and 11.
For grief according to God works repentance to
salvation, never to be regretted.
But the grief of the world works death.
For behold, the same thing, your being grieved
according to God, how much diligence is wrought
in you, but what excusing for yourself that
is clearing of yourselves, but what indignation, but
what fear, but what ardent desire, but what
zeal, but what vengeance in every way ye
have proved yourselves to be pure in the
matter.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee
for this privilege of coming together in
Thy name, before Thy presence, to hear Thy
word.
Lord, we ask that Thou will give us
ear to hear, give us heart to understand.
We pray that Thy word will not return
to the void, but will accomplish its purpose
in each one of us, that Thy purpose
may be fulfilled.
We ask in the precious name of our
Lord Jesus.
Amen.
What we gather together to consider this time
is on summing up all things in Christ.
And in this summing up, we as God's
people must take the lead.
We are the first fruits of the creation.
We have to be summed up in Christ.
And then all things will follow.
So this is how important it is for
us to really consider this matter seriously before
the Lord.
My responsibility is returning to Christ.
As I have mentioned the first time, it
presupposes that there has been departure.
And because there has been departure, therefore, there
will be need to return.
So the challenge before us is first of
all, do we really sense the need of
returning to Christ?
What is our attitude?
Is it that we do not feel there
is any need to return because we are
already there?
We are always there.
We have never departed.
Now, if this is the attitude we take,
then, brothers and sisters, there is no need
for you to hear what we are going
to consider.
But if, by the grace of God, you
do sense the need, and it is not
just in your mind, you think you should
have a need to return, but really in
our heart, we deeply sense the necessity of
returning to Christ.
Then, brothers and sisters, the next question we
have to ask is, how?
How are we to return to Christ?
The way of returning.
So this is what we like to consider
together this morning before the Lord.
I do not know how you feel, but
I do feel very strongly that in these
last days, God's people tend to go to
spiritual sleep.
It seems to me that it is a
common phenomenon.
God's people are not alert.
God's people are not awake.
God's people are not watchful.
God's people are not diligent.
God's people seem to be in a stupor,
in a spiritual slumber, and that
is what you find in the Word of
God.
In Romans chapter 13, we are called to
wake up, to be aroused out of sleep,
because the night is far spent, and the
day is coming.
In other words, we cannot, and we should
not, continue to fall into spiritual lethargy, spiritual
sleep, even coma, because
the night is far spent.
It is time to wake up.
You know, especially when you come to the
midnight time, you tend to fall to sleep.
It is difficult to stay awake, but this
is the most dangerous time, because this is
the time that it requires us to be
aroused, to be awake.
You remember our Lord Jesus when he took
his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane.
He was so oppressed in his spirit.
He asked the disciples to stay there, and
he will go forward to pray.
He took three of his most intimate disciples
with him, and he asked the three of
them.
To me, it is strange that our Lord
Jesus just leaves the other disciples there without
even asking them to watch and pray with
him.
But to these three most intimate disciples, our
Lord requested them to watch and pray with
him.
Then he went forward and prayed.
When he came back, he found that these
three were fast asleep.
The Lord woke them up and said, Watch
and pray, lest you fall into temptation.
Your spirit is willing, but your flesh is
weak.
In a sense, we find this is almost
the universal conditions of God's people today.
We are in a stupor, in a slumber,
in a sleep.
The last days are the most trying times.
Just like when you come to the midnight,
it's very trying to our flesh to keep
awake.
But this is the most important time to
be awake and to be alert.
You know this passage in Romans 13?
It's a very famous verse.
Why?
Because these verses was the turning point in
the life of Augustine.
Augustine was a very brilliant young man.
He was so brilliant that when he was
rather young, he became a professor of rhetoric
in the university.
And at that time, professor of rhetoric is
the highest position in a university.
But this young man lived a dissipated life.
His mother, Monica, prayed for him, went before
the Lord for his son.
When Augustine began to feel the need of
knowing the meaning of life, he was searching
for the meaning of life.
He got into heresy.
But one time, he and his friends, they
went away to spend a few days together
just to reason together on the meaning of
life that they got.
No conclusion.
He was so frustrated, he stood up and
left and walked in the garden.
What is the meaning of life?
No answer.
Then he heard some children were singing, so
he listened to what the children sing.
And he heard, take it up, take it
up, and read.
He went to his room, take up the
Bible, open it up, and it's Romans chapter
13.
The verses that we read in the beginning.
This also knowing the time, that it is
already time that we should be aroused out
of sleep.
For now, our salvation is nearer than when
we believed.
The night is far spent, and the day
is near.
Let us cast away, therefore, the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor
of light.
As in the day, let us walk becomingly,
not in routing and drunkenness and chambering, and
as lasciviousness, not in strife and emulation.
That's what Augustine was.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
do not take forethought for the flesh to
fulfill his lust.
He heard the voice of God.
He repented.
He returned to Christ.
Brothers and sisters, are we in a spiritual
slumber?
Have we been waken up?
You know, life is a battle.
The moment you are born, you fight daily,
hourly, against death.
It's a continuous battle throughout our lives, physically.
Now, how much truer spiritual is?
Oftentimes we think that if we are saved,
then that's the end.
The battle is won, so we can just
lie down, take it easy, and be careless.
Brothers and sisters, is that our attitude?
If that is our attitude, no wonder we
live a life of spiritual defeat, because there
are forces around us.
We have enemy within us, our own flesh.
We have enemy around us, the world.
We have enemy hidden.
The enemy, the archangel.
Satan, the devil, the deceiver, the murderer.
Brothers and sisters, the moment we are saved,
we are born from above.
The battle begins.
And it will continue on to the very
end.
But unfortunately with God's people, they take their
Christian life so easily.
They do not understand that Christian
life is a battle for life.
You relax, you stay back, you don't press
on, you do not exercise diligence, seeking the
Lord with all your heart, fighting against the
good fight.
Brothers and sisters, no wonder through carelessness you
go into spiritual sleep.
You are not conscious of anything wrong with
your Christian life.
You feel that you are fine.
You are alright.
When I was young, I read a story.
I don't know whether it's a real story
or it's a fiction.
That there was a man boating in the
river that leads to Niagara Falls.
And it was such a beautiful day, sunny
day.
So after a little while, he just stopped
rolling.
He just lay back, enjoy the weather, enjoy
the scenery on the shores.
He was drifting.
Suddenly, he was near the fall.
Now, brothers and sisters, are we in that
same position?
You remember Hebrews chapter 2.
There is the first warning to the believers.
Hebrew is a letter of exaltation.
Exaltation means warning and encouragement.
And here you'll find the first warning in
Hebrews chapter 2.
After a glorious revelation of the Son of
God, then the warning comes.
Listen.
Lest you slip away.
And slip away is also drift away.
In other words, after we have received such
revelation of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, the
Son of God, we shall take it to
our heart and diligently seek Him to know
Him.
Now, if we do not, we'll gradually slip
away.
We'll gradually drift away.
And isn't that the conditions of many believers
today?
They are saved, but they are no different
from the people of the world.
Just drifting along.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is time to
be aroused out of sleep.
Wake up.
Because the day, the night is fast spent
and the day is coming.
If our Lord should come today, where will
you be?
The letter to the Laodiceans.
We often say this last letter of our
risen Lord to the churches prophetically represents the
church in the last days.
And what do you find there?
You find it is neither hot nor cold.
You know naturally we like things loquum.
You don't like to drink very hot tea,
nor very cold tea.
But loquum tea is very soothing.
It helps you to sleep.
And spiritually how true this is.
Because naturally we like something neither cold nor
hot.
If you get too hot, people say, well,
you are too hot.
And even if you get too cold, people
may say, well, you are too cold.
You need to wake up and warm up
a little bit, but not too hot.
Don't go to extreme.
Be moderate.
That is the advice we hear always.
Loquumness.
But listen to what our Lord said.
The Lord said, I will wish that you
are neither hot or cold.
Our Lord does not like loquumness.
If you are not hot, the Lord said,
better be cold.
So at least you may wake up.
But if you are loquum, you don't see
the need of waking up.
Brothers and sisters, is it not that among
God's people today, you discover there are people
who in the beginning of their Christian lives,
they really were zealous for the Lord.
They were hot, but gradually that
first love cools down.
Yet, they still look back and remember how
faithful, how rich, how much they know about
the Lord.
You know what is the church in Laodicea?
Where does it come from?
The church of Laodicea comes from the church
in Philadelphia.
There was a time there was such a
love towards God and towards the brethren.
There was a time they did not deny
the name of the Lord.
They keep the word of patience of our
Lord.
They were faithful to the Lord.
And because of this, the Lord revealed himself
to them in such full way.
That was the church in Philadelphia.
But gradually the fire goes
away.
They still remain, retain the outward appearance.
But there was no more fire within.
That's Laodicea.
Outwardly everything goes on as usual.
You cannot find any fault.
They have knowledge, scriptural knowledge, exact, accurate.
But yet, they thought they were rich.
But our Lord said, you are poor.
They thought they were closed.
But the Lord said, you are naked.
They thought they saw.
But the Lord said, you are blind.
The Lord was knocking at the door, outside.
And yet, they thought the Lord was inside
with them.
Brothers and sisters, are we in such a
state?
We had a glorious beginning with the Lord.
But where are we now?
And yet, we are still proud of ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, you know we can fall
into such situation.
We can be deceived by the devil to
such a degree that we are completely obsessed.
That is to say we just cannot see
our real situation.
You know the letter, the book of Malachi,
is a book that shows us what spiritual
obsession really is.
God's people can be so obsessed that they
just cannot see reality.
So here you find the last voice in
the Old Testament to God's people is just
this.
God said I love you.
But they say where ye have you love
us?
They cannot sense even the love of God.
God said you dishonor me.
And they said where ye have we despise
you?
God said you have wearied me with your
words.
But they said where have we wearied you?
God said return to me.
And they said where ye shall we return?
God said you have robbed me.
And they said where?
Where have we robbed thee?
Brothers and sisters, this is obsession.
Your mind is completely obsessed with deception.
That you just cannot see reality.
And unfortunately God's people today can fall into
that situation.
I would like to say a few words
to the young generation.
You know dear brothers and sisters, in the
Bible spiritually speaking there is
no second generation.
Physically yes, but spiritually there is no second
generation.
Always first generation.
You remember the children of Israel?
By the mercy of God they enter into
the promised land.
They have seen the mighty works of God.
They have seen the loving kindness of God
first hand.
But after Joshua died, after first generation of
elders who knew the Lord died, you know
what happened?
The second generation.
They live in the promised land, but they
were not able to keep their inheritance.
Why?
Because they did not have first hand experience
of God.
They live by tradition.
And if you live by tradition, no matter
how good that tradition is, no matter how
accurate that tradition is, it is dead.
Lots of brothers and sisters, you are raised
up in Christian families.
Maybe you are still unsaved.
I was raised up in Christian family.
My father loved the Lord.
We have family devotion every day, but I
was not saved.
If by the grace of God you have
a touch, a living touch with Christ, you
are saved.
Thank God for that.
But do not live by the tradition of
your fathers.
You need to seek the Lord earnestly to
have a first hand living experience of the
living Christ in your life.
Otherwise, you will be in the same place
of spiritual sleep.
So brothers and sisters, what is the way
of returning to Christ?
First, recall, remember,
where in you have fallen.
In other words, awake.
You need to be awake.
You know in Revelation chapter 1, chapter 2,
the letter to the church in Ephesus, our
Lord Jesus said to the church in Ephesus,
verse 5, remember, where in remember, therefore, whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
first work.
But if not, I am coming to thee,
and I will remove thy lamp out of
its place, except thou shall repent.
The first thing is to remember.
Remember, where in thou hast fallen.
If you remember, there is hope.
So you find in Lamentations, Jeremiah's Lamentations, chapter
3, verses 19
and 20.
Lamentations, chapter 3, verses 19 and 20.
Remember thou thine affliction, mine affliction, and my
wanderings.
The one word and the goal.
My soul has them constantly in remembrance, and
is humbled in me.
Verse 21.
Thus this I recall to heart, therefore, have
I hope.
You know about the prodigal son.
He was far away in a distant land.
He wasted everything that a father had given
to him.
And there was a family.
He was sent to watch the swine, and
even the husk he had none.
Now in his desperation, he remembered his father's
house.
He recalled that in his father's house there
was plenty.
Even the servants had plenty.
And that woke him up.
He was aroused from his sleep.
And that's the beginning of his returning to
his father.
So brothers and sisters, the first thing is
we need to be awakened.
To be aroused.
We need to remember.
We need to recall.
Recall how once there was such a living
relationship between us and Christ.
And now we have fallen into such a
situation.
The realization of this will wake us up.
Now what are the instruments that God used
to wake us up?
We have already mentioned God raised up prophets
to wake God's people up.
The ministry of prophets, prophetic ministry is this.
To wake up God's people out of their
slumber.
How God sent Elijah, Elisha to the nation
of Israel.
Try to wake them up.
Bring them back to God.
By wonders.
Great deeds.
And then he sent Hosea, Amos,
all these prophets to the children to the
nation of Judah, Isaiah, Jewel.
All these prophets to arise to arouse them.
Even when the nation of Judah was at
its very end, God sent Jeremiah to recall
them back.
Even during the time of Babylonian captivity, God
raised up Daniel, Ezekiel, and even after
the remnant came back, God raised up Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi.
And in the New Testament you'll find God
raised up John the Baptist, the greatest of
the prophets.
And even our Lord himself.
Dear brothers and sisters, God's word is the
instrument to arouse people out of spiritual slumber.
Wake up to the Lord.
And if we do not listen to the
word, as if it is not enough, you
know God will use chastening, discipline and healing
to wake us up.
Because he loves us.
Whom he loves, he chastens.
That's the way he tried to awake us.
Sometimes it may be sickness.
Sometimes maybe a crisis in your family.
Sometimes maybe a great shaking of where you
are.
And all these are expressions of God's love.
Trying to call his people, return to him.
He is the only safe haven.
So first of all, brothers and sisters, the
way to return to Christ is by being
awakened.
Aroused.
Recall.
Remember.
Then the second thing, when we are aroused
in our spirit, when we begin to discover
in what pitiful conditions we are being, when
we come to our senses, then the next
thing that follows is repentance.
You know, brothers and sisters, we often think
of repentance as belonging to the world.
The world needs to repent.
And when we preach the gospel, we always
say repent and believe on the Lord Jesus.
The world surely needs to repent.
But brothers and sisters, repentance does not stop
there.
Repentance is for Christians as well as for
non-Christians.
We as believers have as much to repent
as the people of the world.
And in a very real sense, probably, we
have much more to repent than the people
of the world, because we receive more light.
Brothers and sisters, do you really sense the
need to repent?
The word says, to those who are
afflicted and contrite in spirit and tremble at
my words, those I will look upon.
Do we tremble at the word of God?
When we hear the word of God, do
we tremble?
Do we have an afflicted and contrite spirit
within us?
That's the person that God will look upon.
Repentance is a continuous process in our spiritual
life.
After you have repented and turned to the
Lord, you need to have a spirit of
repentance throughout your life.
You know, the more you draw near to
the Lord, the more you realize how you
have sinned against Him.
What is sin?
In Romans 3, verse 23, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
What is sin?
Sin is coming short of the glory of
God.
What is the glory of God?
God is glory.
In other words, our God, our Lord, is
full of glory.
That is His character.
He is holy.
You know, recently I read a book saying
that holiness is uniquely God's character.
Aside from God, there is no being that
is holy, because He is totally different, separated,
all by Himself, and yet
He wants us to be holy, to have
His holy character separated completely unto God.
So what is sin?
Dr. Zuma, he was one greatly used by
the Lord among the Muslims, and he has
a definition for sin.
He says sin is the inner relationship between
two personalities, your personalities and God's.
What is your relationship?
Your personality and God's personality.
Are they one, or are they conflicting?
That's sin.
And I read another example, and that is
sin is where you and
I are in the light of His countenance.
When the light of God's countenance shines upon
us, then you know whether you have sinned
or not.
Is our life able to meet
with God's life?
Are we as holy, separated, so separated, and
unto God, absolutely, completely as God is?
Who can say that He has no sin?
If we say that, we deceive ourselves.
What we need is to see His glory.
If we do not see Him, if we
do not see the light of His countenance,
we feel all right.
But whenever we come into His presence, we
realize we have sinned.
We need to repent.
And that's the reason why you'll find, even
John Bunyan said, the tears of my repentance
needs to be cleansed.
The closer you are with the Lord, the
more you will maintain an attitude of continuous
repentance, because that alone will lead you to
salvation.
So you'll find, what is repentance?
Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit.
We cannot repent.
We can regret.
We can feel remorseful.
We can feel sad.
And why?
It's all for ourselves.
Because we lose faith?
Because we have failed?
Our pride is being hurt.
We are humiliated.
That's what we can do.
But we cannot repent.
Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is a change of mind.
We cannot change our mind.
Only the Holy Spirit of God can.
He will convict us, He will convince us,
and He will bring repentance to us.
And when true repentance comes, you'll know the
result.
So that's why you'll find in 2 Corinthians
chapter 7.
You know, Paul, because of his love for
the Corinthian believers, he tried to convince them.
He tried to bring them to their senses.
But they were so stubborn.
They were so hard.
They were so obsessed.
They would not receive.
So finally, he sent a strong letter to
them.
Now we this letter was, we didn't have
that letter.
Some people say maybe in 2 Corinthians some
part of it is in that letter.
But we do not really know what he
wrote.
But he wrote with tears.
A strong letter against the situation of the
Corinthian believers.
And after he wrote the letter, he regretted
because he did not want to hurt them.
He did not know how they would receive
it.
But thank God, the Spirit of God worked
and they really repented.
So what is real repentance?
Read 2 Corinthians chapter 7.
Verse 11 For
behold the same thing you being grieved according
to God.
Repentance is grieving according to God.
Or I can even put it in another
way.
Repent is grieving for yourself.
Repentance is grieving for God's glory.
So it says here, grieved according to God.
Now what is the symptoms?
How much diligence it wrought in you.
What excusing of yourself.
And that means clearing of yourself.
You want to clear yourself of this sin.
And what indignation.
Just like Job, I abhor myself.
I hate myself.
What fear.
Trembling at the Word of God.
And what ardent desire.
Real desire to return to the Lord.
And what zeal.
And what vengeance in every way you have
grieved yourselves to be pure in a matter.
And that is repentance.
So the second thing.
The second.
The way to return is repent.
Now the third thing.
I have overused my time.
I just mentioned it.
The third thing is return.
You know, repent is just a preparation.
Now you repent.
So what you do now?
Repent is negative.
Now what is the positive step you take?
Return.
So now you begin to return.
But brothers and sisters, when you return, what
does it mean?
Where do you return?
To whom do you return?
You return to Christ.
That is returning.
You just do not return to a work.
You just do not return to a state.
No.
You return to Christ.
Because your salvation is in Christ.
You cannot reform yourself.
You cannot do the first work as you
did before.
You need the Lord himself to come into
your life in such a living way that
you are able to do the first work.
That is to say, love.
Return to first love.
So brothers and sisters, that's where we return.
And if you read the word of God,
you will find whether in the letter to
the Galatians or 1 Corinthians or Colossians, whatever,
you'll find the returning does not stop.
Even at the work of Christ, it always
goes on to the person of Christ.
Now, I do not have the time to
say that, but let us remember this.
Returning to Christ.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, do call us from our slumber.
Give us repentance and lead us back to
yourself.
We ask in thy name.
Amen.