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Scripture Reading: Num. 11:29; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31; Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4
In every meeting we have the Bible and the hymnal in our hands. We should not sit in our seats quietly to wait for the meeting to start. Everyone can stand up to declare the Lord’s word or to choose a hymn to speak to one another. The Christian meeting is not a worship service where one speaks and all the rest listen. Rather, it is our coming together with an open spirit to speak forth the Christ whom we experience, treasure, and love with the utterance that He gives us. Our speaking in this way is our exhibition of Christ.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #864 says,
Whene’er we meet with Christ endued,
The surplus of His plenitude
We offer unto God as food,
And thus exhibit Christ.
Let us exhibit Christ,
Let us exhibit Christ;
We’ll bring His surplus to the church
And thus exhibit Christ.
The phrase exhibit Christ is unfamiliar not only to our unbelieving friends, but it is also quite new even to those believers who have been saved for many years. This song was first written in English in 1963. Then in 1966 we translated it into Chinese. After this song was written, everyone liked to sing it. The more I sing this hymn, the more I enjoy it.
The Bible gives us a type in the Old Testament to describe the situation of God’s people when they gather together. After the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, they had to labor and cultivate the land. If they did not do this, there would be no produce. The more they labored, the more they were blessed by God; God sent rain, fresh air, and the proper climate for them to have a rich and abundant harvest. God commanded that three times a year they had to bring the rich produce of their land to offer to God and to satisfy God (Deut. 16:16). There at the feast everyone enjoyed all the riches together with God.
We have all received the all-inclusive Christ as the good land (Col. 1:12). It is a land flowing with milk and honey. In our daily life we should experience this rich Christ all the time. When we come together, we should present this Christ whom we have experienced and offer Him to God to be His food. Then we can all enjoy this Christ together as our enjoyment. If you were to enter into Jerusalem during one of the feasts of the children of Israel, you would have seen the temple surrounded by all kinds of produce of the good land. This was truly an exhibition. It was an exhibition before God of all the produce that the children of Israel harvested.
The way of meeting as revealed in the Bible is not like today’s Christian worship services. The way of worship services in Christianity is completely natural and religious. It is a product of habits and traditions. As it takes doctors to handle sickness and lawyers to handle legal disputes, so some assume that it takes pastors to handle Christian worship. They consider preaching to be the job of the pastors; the rest have nothing to do but listen. The Lord’s way for us is not like this. He wants us to gather together to exhibit Christ.
The Lord Jesus said, “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst” (Matt. 18:20). The preposition here is into. We are not merely meeting in the Lord’s name, but we are gathered together into His name. Every time we meet together we are gathered into His name.
A name denotes a person. The name of Jesus denotes the person of Jesus. When we are gathered together into the Lord’s name, we are actually gathered together into the Lord Himself. The meaning here is very deep. To have two or three gathered together into the Lord means that they are led out of themselves to gather into the Lord. Only when we have such a meeting will the Lord be among us. For example, if two or three are gathered together, yet they all remain in themselves — one disliking another, one being unhappy with another, no one paying any attention to the Lord Jesus, but everyone arguing among themselves — how can the Lord be among them under such circumstances? Although two persons may dislike each other very much, when they come together they may not express this outwardly, but instead they may try to put up a front. They may even do this in their prayers. Such a meeting can never have the Lord’s presence, because neither of the two have come out of themselves.
Whenever we come out of ourselves and into the Lord Jesus, we will be filled with psalms, songs, and praises from within. When we come together under such a circumstance, of course the Lord will be among us. As we open our mouths, Christ will be exhibited. Today the Lord Jesus is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), and the Spirit is in the Word (John 6:63). The Lord Jesus is the Word (1:14), and the Lord Jesus is also the Spirit. He is life, He is the real Lord, and He is the real God (14:6; 20:28). Furthermore, all these items are in the Word. If you do not speak the Word, the Spirit will not come out, and the Lord cannot be released. To speak in the Spirit is to express the Lord, and this expression is the exhibition of Christ.
In the Old Testament Moses led about two million Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness (Exo. 12:37-38). Due to the heavy burden of daily affairs, Moses began to complain a little (Num. 11:10-15). God then charged Moses to gather together seventy elders to the tabernacle. When the elders were gathered together, the Spirit of Jehovah descended upon them, and they all prophesied (vv. 16-17, 24-25). However, two of the seventy elders remained in the camp; they did not go to the tabernacle of Jehovah. Nevertheless, the Spirit of Jehovah also rested upon them, and they also prophesied in the camp. When a young man saw this, he came and told Moses. After Joshua, the helper of Moses, heard this, he said, “My lord Moses, restrain them” (v. 28). But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Oh that all Jehovah’s people were prophets, that Jehovah would put His Spirit upon them!” (v. 29). Moses seemed to say, “Even you, Joshua, should prophesy. Oh that every one of God’s people would prophesy in that way.”
The words of Moses reveal the desire of God. God desires that every one of His people would prophesy. This is similar to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:31: “You can all prophesy one by one.” Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:1 he says, “Desire earnestly...that you may prophesy.” These words of Moses and Paul reveal to us the mind of God. God desires that all of us who believe in Him would prophesy.
When we prophesy, we do not speak ordinary words. Rather, we speak for and speak forth the Lord. Christ is a mystery. No one can understand Him, and no one has ever seen Him. But if you have experienced Christ, He will become a fact and a reality in you. In this way you can speak Him forth.
First Timothy 2:4 says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” God’s intention is not only that all men be saved but that they would all come to the full knowledge of the truth. Many Christians have a wrong concept in that they think that only the preachers need to know the truth. According to their concept, ordinary people who are not pastors do not need to know the truth. But God’s desire is not only that all men be saved but that they would come to the full knowledge of the truth. His desire is that all men would not merely know the truth but come to the full knowledge of the truth.
Every regenerated believer has a desire to please the Lord. But we cannot please Him merely by being saved. We must strive to go on to have a full knowledge of the truth. Only then will God’s desire be met. Actually, if we do not know the truth, we have nothing to prophesy for the Lord.
Recently, I have heard the same words from two or three different sources. I was told, “Brother Lee, for all these years we have been listening to your ministry. Every year we attend two big trainings for ten days, each covering thirty messages. We have been doing this for over ten years, but we still do not feel that we know very much of the truth. However, one day when we were put in a situation that required us to open our mouth, we realized that the more we spoke, the more there was in our spirit. Only then did we realize that over the past ten years so many truths have been deposited into us.”
If you do not open your mouth, you do not know how much deposit there is in you. But if you do have some deposit, then once you open your mouth, you will not be able to stop. The sad thing is that many of our brothers and sisters, especially the Chinese among us, would never open their mouths. The Chinese are naturally conservative; they do not like to make a show of themselves. From our youth we were taught by the older generation not to open our mouth lightly. We were told that all troubles come out from the mouth. We were taught, “More speaking, more mistakes; less speaking, less mistakes; no speaking, no mistakes.” This has become our social norm and habit. We may have a lot to say in private, but when we come to the meetings, we become completely silent. We were influenced from our youth by this kind of teaching. Because of this, it is very difficult for us to speak in the meetings. However, do not think that this is your quietness, politeness, or decency. This is the subtlety of Satan. He is using these things to shut your mouth, so that you will not speak forth for the Lord.
In the Old Testament the Spirit of Jehovah had to fall upon men before they could prophesy. But in the New Testament we do not need to wait for the Spirit of God to come down upon us. This is because on the day of Pentecost, and later in the house of Cornelius, the Lord once for all poured out Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit upon His Body, which includes all those who believe in Him throughout the ages (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-47; 1 Cor. 12:13). Today this all-inclusive Spirit is already upon us. I truly believe that as I am speaking to you, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I also believe that the Spirit of the Lord is not only upon me but also in me.
We all need to claim the word of the Lord by faith. Since the Lord has said that His Spirit is poured out upon us, we should simply believe. This is the same as the Lord saying that He has died for us. To that we say Amen. He does not need to be crucified for us again. He has already been crucified and has already accomplished redemption. This is a fact that has been accomplished once for all. All we need to do is simply believe, and we will come into the enjoyment of this fact.
The Bible also says that the Lord has already risen and ascended. To this we say Amen. Again, the Bible says that we are seated with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). To this we also say Amen. Then the Bible says that the Lord Jesus has breathed the Spirit of life as air into His believers (John 20:22). To that we say Amen. Moreover, the Bible says that after the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He poured out the Spirit of power upon His believers (Acts 2:33). To that we say Amen. The Lord Jesus has died for us, He has risen and ascended, and His Spirit is within us as well as upon us. Today we do not need to seek after these spiritual facts. All we need to do is to seek after the experience of these facts. The best way to experience all these riches is to speak forth all these facts by the spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13).
The more we speak by the spirit of faith, the more we will experience the Lord as our riches. However, some have stood up to speak with no spirit and no faith. The reason for this is that they are not well prepared; they have not prayed properly. To do anything we need to be well prepared. We cannot take the excuse that we are busy and thus overlook our preparation.
The Spirit of the Lord is in us as well as upon us, but we still need prayer and the proper preparation. If a man has been occupied the entire day, and he comes home and becomes involved in an argument with his wife, there is no way for him to come to the meeting and speak by the spirit of faith. If he speaks, there will be no spirit, and there will be no faith. Before the meeting starts, he must confess his sins immediately and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness. He must take the cleansing of the blood. But even after the blood has cleansed him, the devil will still bother him by reminding him of his failures. When the brothers and sisters come to the meetings, many are ill prepared; therefore, when they speak, there is no spirit and there is no faith.
It takes preparation and practice to speak in the meetings with spirit and with faith. Before every meeting you have to pray before the Lord. For myself, before every meeting, especially those in which I have to speak, I must pray. Without prayer I cannot be well prepared. If you come to the meeting without praying, Satan will accuse you of many things. He will expose all your shortcomings. For this reason you must pray thoroughly, first to chase out all the demons and to deal with all the condemnations, so that you will have the peace and confidence within. In this way your speaking will be with spirit and with faith.
Faith is not in our mind; it is in our spirit. If we have faith, we have the spirit. When our spirit is released, the Holy Spirit, who is mingled with our spirit, is also released. This is the spirit of faith spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:13. We all need to learn to speak by the spirit of faith. To speak in this way is to prophesy. To prophesy is not to preach; it is to speak for God and to speak forth God.
Whenever we come to a meeting, we must prophesy. Every brother and sister must learn to open his mouth. Otherwise, there is no way to go on in the Lord’s recovery. The only remaining alternative is for one capable one to speak and for everyone else to listen. If this is the case, immediately we fall back into Christianity to become a part of its degradation.
The Bible shows us that whenever we come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, or has a revelation (1 Cor. 14:26). It is not that one man speaks and all the others listen. Rather, it is that all speak and all listen. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” We can teach and admonish one another with hymns. You can speak to me, and I can sing to you. The second part of this verse says that we teach and admonish one another in psalms, whereas the first part of this verse says that we should let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Is it the word, or is it the psalms? It is difficult to say. If a man has been speaking the words of the Lord for a number of years, the words to him will almost become a psalm. This is my experience. Not long after I was saved, I became very zealous to preach the gospel. I wrote my own tracts. The title of one tract was The Wonderful Way to the Salvation of Our Soul. That was all that I could speak at that time. But through all these years I have been constantly speaking. Today when I open my mouth to speak for the Lord, the words are almost like psalms and songs.
Sometimes when I listen to your speaking, either your subject is wrong, or your verbs are wrong. Your speaking is not proper, much less like a psalm. The reason for this is that you have not been exercising. Your speaking is like gossiping. However, you cannot speak the word of the Lord in the same way that you would engage in idle talk. You need to practice in everything — what is the subject, what is the verb, what phrase goes first, and what phrase should come next. All this requires exercise. I am not trying to give you a hard time. The word of the Lord says plainly, “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1).
Very few of us who are saved have been helped in this way. Many have been saved for decades, but today they still cannot speak in the meetings. When a child is born, he begins to receive education step by step. From elementary school he graduates into high school. From high school he graduates into college, and from there he enters into graduate school. At the end of his graduate study, he may receive his doctorate. He may be only twenty-six years old when he receives his Ph.D. degree. There is no waste of time. But if he spends his years in a loose way without receiving a proper education and without going through formal training, he will still speak broken English by the time he is thirty years old.
This is the situation with many Christians today. They are busy with many things every day. When Sunday comes, they breathe a sigh of relief and go to attend Sunday worship. Their going to the church is for relaxation. Everyone has been busy for five days. When Sunday comes, there is no need to be busy anymore. Everyone goes to the church to let the pastor do the busy work, since on Monday everyone will have to go to work, and the pastor will have his holiday anyway. So everyone sits in his pew, looks around, listens to the choir singing, and is content. This is degraded Christianity. We cannot take this way. Today we are in the Lord’s recovery. We must receive the Lord’s grace. The more we receive grace, the more grace will abound in us. First Corinthians 14:1 says that we should desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that we may prophesy; verse 31 of 1 Corinthians 14 says that we can all prophesy one by one; and Colossians 3:16 tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to God. We cannot do any of these things. For these things we need much grace.
Because we do not have this kind of exercise or teaching, I am burdened to have more fellowship with you concerning this matter. If we do not do this, we will become nominal Christians. We will come to the worship service when the time comes. Others will call the hymns for us, others will play the songs, others will sing, and others will speak. And when the speaking is over, everyone will go home. We may have a pleasant time that way, but the Lord will not have a pleasant time. He will have no way, and His word will not be realized.
Although I have expounded all twenty-seven books of the New Testament during the past twelve years, and although my exposition has been printed and published in volumes totaling over ten thousand pages, I am afraid that it is difficult to find one in a hundred among us who has come to the full knowledge of these truths. If we have not learned these truths and have no deposit within us, then when the time comes to speak, we will have no words; we will have nothing to say. This deposit was mentioned by Paul in 2 Timothy 1:13-14. There he charged Timothy to hold a pattern of the healthy words that Timothy heard from him, and he entreated him to guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit.
We all know that it is not enough for a young person to receive an education from textbooks alone. Other than the textbooks, he still must read many other books. The more books he reads, the more deposit he will have. If we do not read the Bible every day, we will have no deposit within us. I hope that you would read carefully through the books and Life-study messages that we have published. Read them every day and everywhere. You do not need to spend too long each time in reading them. Just spend five to ten minutes each time. Gradually, you will accumulate a great deal. Any page is good for reading. I am happy when I see that the brothers in Texas have their homes filled with Life-study messages. They have Life-study messages on the coffee table in the living room, on the counter in the kitchen, by the sink, and on the dresser in the bedroom. You can simply pick up any message and receive the supply and the nourishment.
We all desire that the Lord would have a way in His recovery, and we all desire to grow in life and be filled with the Lord within. In order to have this, we must read the Lord’s word. We must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. The word let is very appropriate here. It implies that the Lord is knocking at the door and that His word is waiting at the door. We need to let the Lord and His word come in.
Everyone who believes in and loves the Lord treasures the word of the Bible. But many times we do not understand it. Either we do not understand the meaning of the words, or we fail to grasp their content. I have put together my experience of over fifty years and expounded in detail every book of the New Testament. My purpose in doing this is to unlock the riches in these books. Now the Bible is here, and the Life-study messages are here. The word of the Lord is waiting outside the door. Let this word of Christ come in and make its home richly in you.
How can we make the small group meetings rich, strong, fresh, and living? After much investigation, I found out that, for many, to use the Bible alone is not sufficient to unlock its riches; there is the need for the Life-study messages to serve as an aid. We treasure the Bible, but the words of the Bible must be opened up before we can receive light from the Bible. The same is true of the food that we eat. For example, wheat must first be ground into powder and kneaded into dough or made into noodles before it can be consumed by us. In the small group meetings, not only do we need to put before others the Bible; we need to put before them the books that explain the Bible in a most simple and clear way. The Life-study messages are not meant to replace the Bible. Rather, they are meant to help people to unlock the Bible and to supply them with spiritual life and nourishment.
If we love the Lord and His recovery, we should follow His leading. In the present stage the Lord’s leading is the recovery of the small group meetings in the homes. This is the way of meeting that was initiated by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:46). After many centuries all the other ways have been proved to be unfruitful. Only meeting in the homes affords the Lord a way. For this reason the Lord is recovering this way of meeting among us.
Every brother and sister who meets with us in the Lord’s recovery should pursue the way of the small group meetings. You will do this if you love the Lord and His recovery. As we have said on other occasions, “The heavens may pass away and the earth may be removed, but the small group meetings should never be forsaken.” Whenever you come to a small group meeting, do not come in a loose way. Rather, prepare yourself. Come with prayer and with the deposit that you have picked up in your daily life. Everyone must come with his loins girded and his mind refreshed. Leave all the oldness and forms behind. Open your mouth, release your spirit, exercise faith, and demonstrate the power. In this way the small group meetings will surely be rich, strong, fresh, living, attractive, and able to support people. May we all strive in this matter and may we all learn and practice together so that the Lord may have a way among us.
