Proverbs, chapter 29, verse
18, the first part.
Proverbs 29, 18.
Where there is no vision, the people cast
off restraint.
I'll read it again.
Where there is no vision, the people cast
off restraint.
And will you please turn to Philippians.
Philippians, chapter 2.
We'll let his mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who subsisting in
the form of God did not esteem it
an object of reply to be on an
equality with God, but emptied himself, taking a
bondman's form, taking his place in the likeness
of man, and having been found in figure
as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even
unto death, and that the death of the
cross.
Wherefore also God highly exalted him and granted
him a name, that which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow, of heavenly and earthly and
infernal beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to God the Father's glory.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank thee for
being so faithful, kind, and gracious to us
in keeping us through these days.
We thank thee for gathering again today, this
morning, to remember thee at thy table.
Oh dear Lord, what love that thou hast
bestowed upon us.
What can we say?
Thou hast bought us with such a love
that we cannot live for ourselves anymore.
We are not ourselves, we are thine Lord.
We pray Lord that thou will fill us
with thyself.
Open our understanding that we may know thee
more and more.
Lord, as we gather this morning, we commit
this time into your hand.
Speak to us, draw us, that we may
all run after thee.
We ask in thy precious name.
Amen.
Where there
is no vision, the people cast off
restraint.
This shows us the importance of vision, because
if there is no vision, there is no
direction.
There is no constraint.
We will go each according to our own
ideas, and we will be lost.
Vision alone give us motive, direction, and show
us the way that we can arrive at
the goal.
So dear brothers and sisters, it is of
tremendous importance that we be people with vision,
because this alone will give us direction and
the strength to press on towards the goal,
the calling that God has called us.
Thank God he has saved us.
We who are here this morning, I believe
we are all bought with the tremendous price
of our Lord Jesus.
We are his, and as we gather here,
our one purpose is that we receive the
vision of Christ.
He is the only vision that we need,
the only vision that is all important.
With him as our vision, dear brothers and
sisters, we know where we are going, and
we will experience his presence and blessing with
us.
Thank God for saving us.
As we find in 1 John 5, he
who believes in the Son of God overcomes
the enemy.
We are overcomers.
Why?
Because we have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Now what is faith?
You know in the Bible, you have different
terms, but strangely, the Bible never gives us
a clear, definite definition of any of these
important things.
The closest that we can find to divine
faith is found in Hebrews chapter 11.
Now faith is the substantiating of things hopeful,
the conviction of things not seen.
Now I'm reading from J.
N.
Darby's translation.
He says, faith is the substantiating of things
hopeful.
What is faith?
Faith is a substantiating power.
What does it mean?
Now suppose when we come into this building,
we can see at the back there is
a picture.
Now what enables us to see the picture?
The picture has been hanging there all the
time, but those with eyes, when we come
in, we can substantiate that picture into us.
It was on the wall, but with the
substantiating power, we can bring the substance within
us so that we can enjoy that picture.
Now suppose a blind person comes into this
place, and you say, do you see that
beautiful picture on the wall?
He says, where is it?
I couldn't see anything, because he does not
have the power of substantiating that substance into
him to be his experience.
So dear brothers and sisters, why is it
that we need faith?
Because that is the only power that we're
bringing that which we have hoped for to
come within us to be something that we
can experience.
Now that is faith.
So when we come together, dear brothers and
sisters, we need to exercise our faith.
Where does our faith rest?
We find in Philippians chapter 2, our faith
is centred upon Christ, nothing else.
Now who is Christ?
Why is it that we should put our
faith in Christ for life and forever?
We are told in Philippians chapter 2, he
said in verse 6, chapter 2 verse 6,
who subsisting in the form of God did
not esteem it as an object of replying
to be on equality with God.
Now our Lord Jesus, he subsists in the
form of God.
Now the form here is not the outward
form, because the form here is image, that
is, he has the image of God in
him.
Image speaks of something inward, the character, the
nature, that's image.
And our Lord Jesus, he subsists in the
form of God's image, because he is God.
And this is not something he tried to
grasp at.
Now in this verse you can see there
is a story behind it, because if you
have read the Bible or you have heard
it before, you know when God first created
this universe, the highest of his creation were
angels.
There was no man yet in the first
world, and among the angels there was one
archangel called Lucifer, the brilliant star.
He was a masterpiece of God's creation.
He was given all kinds of gifts.
He was a cherubim that covered the seat
of God.
He was one who led the angels in
worshipping God.
But unfortunately, somehow pride
began to enter into his mind.
He was not satisfied with the position, the
high position that God has given him, leading
the angels in worshipping God.
Because of his much traffic, because of his
talents and beauty, he began to think of
himself.
He didn't want to be where God had
put him.
He wanted to be like God.
So if you read Isaiah chapter 14, Isaiah
chapter 14 was speaking of the king of
Babylon.
But suddenly you find he began to say,
Lucifer, that is to say, the brilliant star.
How is it that you begin to think
of yourself?
Five times we find in these few verses
he thought of himself.
I wanted to be equal with God.
As a matter of fact, most likely what
he was thinking of is to replace the
place of the only begotten Son of God,
our Lord Jesus.
He wanted that place for himself.
And if you read Ezekiel chapter 28, you
will find again some description that will not
fit any person except Lucifer.
And somehow he wanted to rise himself, take
the place of the only begotten Son of
God.
And because of this ambition, God dismissed him
from heaven.
And most likely, at that time, the earth
that we know today was under his control.
And that is probably the reason why when
God punished Lucifer, drew him out of heaven,
earth at that time most likely was under
his control.
And therefore, the earth had entered into destruction.
Water filled the earth.
You know, brothers and sisters, as we read
Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, In the beginning,
now that is not the beginning of God,
that is the beginning of creation.
It says, In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.
Do you think that when God created, that
he would leave things undone, that he would
take God's time to complete his creation?
No.
When God said it, it is done.
So in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.
Actually, the heavens and the earth were created
in perfect order.
That is the first world.
But as we have already said, in the
first world God had not created man.
The highest creation were angels.
But unfortunately, as we find in Isaiah 14
and Ezekiel 28, we find that this angel,
archangel, began to think of himself.
He began to be ambitious.
He wanted something more.
He wanted to take a place of the
Son of God.
And that is the reason he was dismissed
from heaven.
And the earth that was under his control
went into destruction.
It was surrounded with waters.
We do not know how long that period
lasted.
But we know it was the ice age.
The earth had suffered ice age for a
long, long time.
It was covered with water.
Then in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, God's
spirit began to move upon the depths of
water.
And we find in Genesis chapter 1, in
six days our God restored the earth to
be habitable.
And it was not until the sixth day
that God created man.
Now why is it God created man?
God created man with a very definite purpose.
Because for God to deal with Satan, Lucifer,
the archangel, the fallen angel, he was nothing.
God could breathe upon him and kill him.
But if God should do it, he wouldn't
get the glory.
Suppose a grown-up man beat a little
child.
Is there any glory in it?
No.
So God, instead of dealing with Satan himself,
he raised up man.
Now what is man?
The Bible tells us man is made a
little lower than angels.
So far as creation is concerned, angels are
spirits.
They are higher.
But man has a spirit, a soul and
a body.
Dear brothers and sisters, have you ever thought,
why is it God created you?
What is the purpose of creating you?
Is it because of you?
Or is it because of something higher and
nobler?
Now according to the revelation of the Word
of God, we are told that we men
were created with a definite purpose.
Do you know what that purpose is?
Unfortunately today, we know what we are here
for.
Somehow we are cheated by the enemy, thinking
that we are here just for ourselves.
That idea came from the enemy of God.
Because when God created man, he created man
with a definite purpose.
He created man for the reason that he
will use man a little lower than angels
to defeat Lucifer, the archangel.
And that will be glory to God.
So dear brothers and sisters, unfortunately today, we
men forget why we are here.
We men being cheated by God's enemy, thinking
that we are here for ourselves.
We try to glorify ourselves, just like the
archangel did in the beginning.
But dear brothers and sisters, God has a
very definite purpose for us men.
He wanted to use man to defeat his
enemy.
His enemy should be our enemy.
And we should be in the hand of
God, using him to defeat the enemy.
How?
If you read Ephesians chapter 2, in the
beginning you will find, who were we?
We were men on earth.
We thought that we were doing things according
to what we think, according to what we
like.
But if you read Ephesians chapter 2, in
the beginning, you will find this is not
the case.
Because while we were deceived into thinking that
we are doing our own will, we are
living for ourselves.
No, we are actually under the influence, the
power of that archangel, Lucifer.
He is at the back, controlling our thoughts,
controlling our ways, controlling our life.
At that time we had no God.
We had no hope of any kind.
But thank God, because of his tremendous love
for us, he has saved us through sending
his only begotten son into this world.
Why is it that the only begotten son
of God, he being equal with God, that
is his right.
He is not something he grasps at.
That was what he was from eternity.
But why is it that our Lord Jesus
should come into this world?
We are explained in Philippians chapter 2.
He said, let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus.
What was the mind of Christ when he
came into this world?
He who was equal with God, received all
the worship, praise, honour, seated at the right
hand of God.
It is something which was his right, not
something he grasped at.
And why is it that our Lord Jesus
should come into this world?
For him to come into this world, he
had to empty himself.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes we think we are
emptying ourselves for the Lord.
But how much can we empty?
There is nothing in us to be emptied
except sins.
But the Lord Jesus, he was equal with
God.
He received all the worship in heaven.
So when the Lord Jesus came into this
world, one thing he had to do, he
had to empty himself.
But of course, he cannot empty himself of
his Godhead, because that is what he is
forever.
But he emptied himself of all the position,
the honour and the glory that surrounded his
place as the Son of God.
What an emptying it must be.
When we think of what he had emptied,
we are ashamed of ourselves.
What have we to empty?
We have nothing but sin.
But our Lord Jesus, being God, the Son
of God, he has so much to be
emptied.
He gave them all up, his glory, his
position, his power.
Dear brothers and sisters, this morning I want
all of us to think of the emptying
that our Lord Jesus, as the Son of
God, had emptied for our sake.
There is such love behind it.
Even before the foundation of the world, as
the Bible says, he offered himself to his
Father as a lamb, to be slain from
the foundation of the world.
Even though this happened later in time, and
yet the idea, the thought, the willingness, the
giving himself to the Father's will was before
the foundation of the world.
Love is so deep, we cannot comprehend.
So here we find, he who was subsisting
in the form of God, that is the
image of God.
Not only the outward form, but the inward
image.
He may speak of the inward situation, that's
what he was from the beginning, and yet
he emptied himself of that form.
And after he had emptied himself of that
form, the Bible tells us, he took upon
himself a born man's form.
That is again, form, image, that is the
thought, the idea, the willingness, he
came in a born man's, that is a
slave's form.
Think of the emptying that he must have
done.
From the form of God, he emptied himself
to take up the form of a slave.
Brothers and sisters, when God created us man,
so far as our relationship with God is
concerned, we were slaves.
We did not live for ourselves, we should
live for God, we should not do our
own things, we should do his bidding, that
is the reason why God created man.
But here you find one man, when he
came into this world, he really took up
the form of a born slave.
That is to say, inward, inside him, there
is the spirit of serving God.
He did not come to live for himself,
he came to live for God, and that
is what we should be.
And it says that inwardly, he took a
born man's form, image, and outwardly, he took
the likeness of a man.
The likeness is the figure, it is the
outside.
So outwardly, he looks like a man, he
is a perfect man, just as we are.
So dear brothers and sisters, as we read
the Gospels, we find that the Son of
God, when he was incarnated, he became a
man, just like we are.
You look at him, he was no different
than any other person, even though within him,
he is God.
And being, having humbled himself to take up
the form of a man, then how did
he live his life?
We find through the Gospels, even though he
lived on earth only for 33 and a
half years, and yet he lived such an
obedient life.
He repeatedly told us, I couldn't do anything
by myself, I did it because I had
seen my father had done it.
He said, I cannot say anything by myself,
I say it because I have heard my
father has said it.
Your time is always convenient, but my time
has not yet come.
In other words, throughout his life, he waited
for the Father.
If the Father said, go, he would go.
If the Father said, say it, he would
say it.
Do it, and he would do it.
Throughout his life, he was obedient to the
ninth degree.
You know, brothers and sisters, one day, he
took three disciples with him to a high
mountain.
And the Bible says, there he was transformed.
In other words, his glory began to come
out from him.
And Moses and Elijah came and talked with
him about his exit.
In other words, he had his entrance into
this world.
Now, how about his exit from this world?
You know, this is a very important time
to us.
It is life and death to us.
And as Moses and Elijah talked with him
about his exit, how will he leave this
world?
To put it another way, so far as
he himself is concerned, he could leave this
world from that mountain of transfiguration.
He was ready for it, but he didn't
go.
He would rather come down from the mountain,
set his faith towards Jerusalem.
And there, he would go to Calvary to
die on the cross.
Why?
Not because of him.
He doesn't need that.
He should leave on that mountain of transfiguration.
If he did, what would happen to us?
Dear brothers and sisters, there will be only
one man in heaven, and that's all.
But thank God, he didn't go.
For our sake, he came down from the
mountain, set his faith towards Jerusalem.
And there, he was crucified on the cross,
on our behalf.
So dear brothers and sisters, in doing that,
he was obedient to his father.
For it is his father's will that he
should die.
He should bear all the sins of the
world in his own body.
And there, he will suffer death from the
hand of his father.
We cannot, for a moment, understand his experience
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
There you will find our Lord Jesus, the
perfect man.
Why he struggled, he said, I'm sorrowful even
unto death.
Why did he do that?
Because that was the time that he had
to decide whether he will take the sins
of the world and put upon himself and
die for us.
If you are a very clean person, if
you go to your, if people go to
your place, everything is in order.
But then another person came to live with
you, and he was such a careless person.
He threw things all over the rooms.
What is your feeling?
And we can multiply it to a thousand,
ten thousand times.
To see what will happen to our Lord,
who was perfect.
And yet he was, to bear the sins
of the world.
No wonder you find he was sorrowful, even
unto death.
But how he prayed, Father, if it is
possible, take away from me, but not my
will, but thy will be done.
And after he had prayed three times, he
was sure that's the Father's will.
So he set his face towards Jerusalem and
died for us.
So dear brothers and sisters, as we meditate
on the life of our Lord Jesus, do
you see that the way he lives is
the way that he wants every one of
us, who are his, to live likewise.
We have no right to live for ourselves.
Are we living for him?
Or are we living for ourselves?
That is a question that we should answer
individually.
No one can answer this for you.
You have to decide whether you want to
give yourself totally over to the Lord, because
he has bought you.
With such a price.
Or if you still want to live your
own life, you can do it.
But brothers and sisters, what will happen?
If the Lord should return today, while we
are meeting here this morning, do you think
the Lord can return at this time?
I sincerely believe he can, because all the
prophecies that prophesied before his return had been
fulfilled.
They are still prophecies, but these prophecies are
concerned with the time of his coming and
afterwards.
Not before his coming.
The time is here.
He can return any moment.
And why is it that he has not
returned?
It is because he is waiting for you
and for me.
He loves us so much.
He does not want to leave us behind.
When he shall come, the Bible says, two
men were sleeping.
Two men were working in the field.
Two women were grinding the meal.
Why?
You do not have six here.
You have two, two and two.
Why?
Because the earth is round.
In some place, it is midday.
In other place, it is midnight.
In other place, it is morning.
And the Bible said, suddenly, without any warning,
one is taken, one is left.
Why?
Because the Lord will return as a thief.
A thief will never blow a trumpet and
say, I am coming.
You know, whenever we sing these songs on
the coming of the Lord, a number of
songs tells us when the trumpet blows and
the angel sounds, then the Lord is coming
and we shall be raised from the dead
and those that are still living shall be
changed and taken up to the air.
That is the song we usually sing.
But when you sing it, how do you
feel?
When I sing, my heart tells me, sorry,
it is too late.
We shall be taken long before.
We shall be taken before the great tribulation
if, by the grace of God, we are
ready.
Dear brothers and sisters, my burden is, should
the Lord come today, I hope this building
is emptied.
No one will be left behind.
We cannot imagine what will happen during the
great tribulation.
But if we are not ready for him,
that will happen.
So dear brothers and sisters, this is why
we are here this time.
We wanted to see every brother and sister
who came to this conference.
By the grace of God, we all will
be prepared and ready for the imminent return
of our Lord Jesus.
May this be his blessing to us.
And if that is the case, this conference
is worthwhile.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, again and again, we want to
thank thee for thy tremendous love for us.
Who but thee, thou the Son of God,
the eternal Son of God, should come into
this world to become a man like us
and to die in our stead.
We thank thee, Lord, that this is not
the end because thou has risen from the
dead.
Thou has ascended up to heaven, seated at
the right hand of God, waiting, working towards
each and every one of us to prepare
us to be taken by thee.
Here we are, Lord, every one of us
here, none excepted.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
If there is anything within us that will
keep us on earth, instead of being raptured
to the throne, Lord, show us and remove
it.
We want to give ourselves to thee as
totally as thou has given thyself to us.
Oh, dear Lord, have mercy upon us.
Glorify your name.
We ask in thy precious name.
Amen.