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Scripture Reading: John 3:25-30; 12:20-26, 32-33; 15:1-5, 7-8, 12, 16-17; 17:21-23
We all must cooperate to carry out the burden of these messages in prayer. This is not only a burden but a battle. We have to realize that in all the priestly service there is always a battle. We are not dealing merely with a work; we are dealing with an evil force in the heavenlies, the force of darkness. How much we need the prevailing prayers! Please join in the spirit to pray for this training. Through all my recent visits to other places, I realize that there is a real, urgent, and desperate need for this kind of training. We pray that the Lord would work out these matters among us, in us, and through us.
Many Christians do not have the thought that the Gospel of John deals with the real outreach of gospel preaching. However, the best and proper way for the outreach of the gospel is clearly revealed in this book. John was written not only with a particular sequence, or order, but with a process, from the very beginning to the ultimate consummation. In this Gospel there are twenty-one chapters, which are divided into three sections. The first section, mostly from chapter 1 to chapter 3, shows us the birth of life. For instance, 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.” Then 3:6 tells us that this birth is a birth in the spirit and of the Spirit: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Then the second section, from chapter 4 through at least chapter 7, deals with the growth of life. After a baby is born, he needs to grow by eating and drinking. Chapter 4 makes it very clear that we have to drink of Christ as the living fountain (vv. 10, 14). To drink is different from being born. To drink is to grow after being born. Then in chapter 6 Jesus tells us that we have to eat Him: “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57b). We have to feed on Him. To feed is not only to receive Christ but to take Him as our life supply. Life is for birth, while the life supply is for the growth of life. After birth we have the growth of life.
The third section is mostly from chapter 10 or 11 to the end of the book. To say that the point of this section is maturity in life does not express it adequately. Of course, from birth we receive life, by eating and drinking we grow, and by growing we attain the fullness of life, that is, maturity. However, maturity is for building. Near the close of this book there is the prayer of the Lord in chapter 17: “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (v. 21). This oneness is the building. The third section of this book, therefore, is the building.
Many Christians take it for granted that this Gospel is a book for beginners. However, this book includes eternity past and eternity future. Eternity past is indicated in 1:1, which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then in eternity future there is a building. As we have seen many times, this building is a mutual habitation of God and man, and it is the universal, great vine tree. In chapter 15 there is the vine tree with all the branches. The vine itself is the Head, and all the branches are the members of the Body. If we look only at the branches, it seems that they are separate, but if we trace them to the source, we can see that they are all built together in the vine as one. This oneness is the building. In chapter 2 the Lord said that His physical body was a temple on a small scale. He predicted that the enemy would utilize the Jewish people to destroy this body: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). This refers to the resurrection. By resurrection and in resurrection Christ built up a universal building in oneness.
John 3:25 through 30 says, “There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, of whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him. John answered and said, A man cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves testify of me that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
We have to join verse 29 to verse 30. In verse 29 there is the bride, and in verse 30 there is the increase. This shows us that the bride is the increase of Christ, just as Eve, the wife of Adam, was the increase of Adam. Originally Adam was single, a bachelor, but later an increase came out of him. That increase was the increase of Adam himself, who became his counterpart, a bride. Even in type it is very clear that the bride, or the wife, is always an increase of the bridegroom, the husband. In John 3, John the Baptist says that the increase of Christ is His very bride.
In chapter 3, however, we cannot see the way to have the increase of Christ. The way is revealed in chapter 12. John 12:20 to 23 says, “There were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. These then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew came, and Philip too, and they told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” If we stop here, we may think that to be glorified is to be put on the throne. We have to realize the situation. All the people at this time welcomed Jesus. They rendered the biggest, warmest welcome to Him. Even the Gentiles, the Greeks, came to greet Him and the disciples, such as Philip, Andrew, and the others. I believe that they must have been excited. If you and I had been there, we would have been excited. This was something that never had happened in those three and a half years. However, while the disciples were excited and came to tell it to the Lord, He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
Verse 24 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Fruit here refers to the many grains. To be glorified is to undergo the process of death and resurrection. Verses 25 and 26 continue, “He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” Then verses 32 and 33 say, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. But He said this signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.” Do not think that to be lifted up is to be enthroned. Rather, this lifting up was His being put to death. John 12 reveals the way of increase. The increase of Christ is brought forth and produced by the process of death and resurrection.
In these portions of the Word there is the real preaching and outreach of the gospel. First, we must point out that the real meaning of the outreach of the gospel is the increase of Christ. The preaching, the furtherance, of the gospel is the increase of Christ. The real preaching causes Christ to be increased. This is not merely my thought or concept. This is the thought even of John the Baptist. The disciples of John were with John and for John. They wanted to see people following John, but they saw something different, that is, that people came to Jesus instead of John. Therefore they became jealous, and one day they came to John and said, “Rabbi,...He is baptizing and all are coming to Him” (3:26). Their tone was one of jealousy. Then John seemed to answer, “I told you clearly from the first day that I am not the Christ. I am just a voice for Christ. He is the Christ, and He is the One who will have the bride.”
Whether or not those poor disciples understood John’s word, we have to understand it. All the people who came to Christ and received something of Him eventually became the bride of Christ. The bride is the composition of all the people who receive Christ. Therefore, John could say, “Do not be jealous. I am the baptizer, not the bridegroom. He is the Bridegroom. It is right for all the people to go to Him, because He is the One who will have the bride.” Then John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” When we read these two words together, bride and increase, we spontaneously can understand that the bride is the increase, and the increase is the bride.
To preach the gospel is to bring people to Christ. Regrettably, however, many Christians today do not realize that to bring people to Christ is to have Christ increased. In our gospel preaching have we ever had the thought that we are bringing people to be part of the bride of Christ, that we are bringing people for the increase of Christ? For more than twenty years I did not have the thought that gospel preaching is a matter of Christ being increased and of more people being added to the bride of Christ. In John 3 the gospel is for the increase of Christ. This is not the gospel of going to heaven. Many in Christianity have the thought that because people are pitiful and will go to hell after they die, they must realize that God loves them and sent His Son to save them and bring them to heaven. However, we should listen to the first evangelist, John the Baptist. In the Bible there is the principle of the first mention; the first time anything is mentioned, that sets the principle for that thing. The first evangelist told us that to bring people to Christ is to increase Christ and constitute the bride of Christ.
The more I remained with the Lord considering these messages, the more I felt from the Lord that the dear brothers and sisters must be helped to realize that the real gospel preaching is the increase of Christ, and the real outreach of the gospel that brings people to Christ is to compose the bride of Christ. From now on, when we are going out to preach the gospel, we have to change our attitude. We have to have our concept transformed. The gospel is not merely to save the fallen sinners; it is to have Christ increased. It is to bring in more of the parts of the bride of Christ. This is very basic, because if we do not realize what the true meaning of gospel preaching is, we will take the wrong way in our preaching.
As we have said, John 12 shows us the way for Christ to be increased. How can one grain of wheat be increased into many grains? We often speak of verse 24, but most of the time we think that this verse applies only to Christ as the one grain. We must realize that in principle this verse is also for us. In these days, we at least have a heart to preach the gospel. Do we realize that to preach the gospel is to have Christ increased through us? We are one grain. How then can this one grain be multiplied? It is not merely by telling our neighbor, “You have to realize that you are a sinner. God loves you, and I love you too. You need Christ.” There is nothing wrong with this, but it is too short.
We preach the gospel not only by speaking. While we speak with our neighbor, the enemy Satan, the subtle one, may work within him, causing him to think, “You say I have not been saved. Do you mean that you are saved? What is the difference between you and me? Are you better than I? If I am a poor sinner, how about you? To me, you are more poor.” The subtle one puts many questions within that person, so this kind of preaching may not work. We cannot convince such a person, and he can point his finger and ask, “What about you and your mother, your wife, your brother, and all your in-laws? You have too many problems. Let me tell you how to deal with your wife. I do not need your preaching; you need my preaching.” Sometimes our relatives, neighbors, schoolmates, and colleagues are polite. They would not say a word outwardly, but they say much within themselves. Sometimes, even many times, the more we preach, the more nothing happens, and people become disgusted with our preaching. In this case it may be better to be silent.
How can the one grain be increased into many grains today? It is by a real crucified life, by being a crucified person, dying day by day. Here is the universal principle. Where there is the divine death, there is the divine resurrection. If we simply will die, Christ will be resurrected. It is by this process of death and resurrection that Christ is manifested to our friends and neighbors. There may be no need for us to preach very much. If we are lifted up on the cross, this will attract people to Christ.
We need a real testimony by experiencing the death and resurrection of Christ in our daily life. If we do not have a real testimony in life, then the more we preach, the more we will hinder the gospel. Many dear Christians simply cannot preach the gospel to their relatives because they have no testimony. No one knows our lives better than our relatives. If we cannot have a proper testimony in life through death and resurrection, then the more we live in a place, the more all the neighbors will keep away from us. The real preaching is a life of crucifixion and resurrection to manifest Christ. This convinces people. Do not argue with people. The more we argue, the more we lose the ground. Rather, we must convince people by our dying, our daily walk, and our daily living.
Throughout the last two thousand years the crucifixion, the death, and the cross of Christ have been speaking to many hearts. We need the death of Christ, we need the cross, and we need the crucifixion to speak Christ more than we need our mouth to speak. This does not mean that we do not need to open our mouth to say something for the Lord. We need this. However, the most basic thing is the life testimony. We need to die; there is no other way. Do not argue with your neighbors, your schoolmates, or your relatives; rather, die to them. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can never be multiplied. This multiplication is the very outreach of the gospel.
We Christians are always dreaming. There is no need to seek the miraculous gift of dreams. We are all experts in dreams. We think that if we pray three nights and three days, we will be empowered, powerful to preach the gospel. In actuality, there is no such thing; I say a thousand times, no. Rather, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, there is no multiplication. Regardless of how many days, nights, months, or even years we pray, the answer to proper prayer is, “You have to die.” If you are going to have the multiplication, if you are going to have the increase, you have to die. Unless the grain dies, there is no possibility of any kind of increase.
I say again, this does not mean that we do not need preaching by speaking. We need it, but the preaching by speaking must be based on the crucified life. The crucified life must open the way for our speaking. Otherwise, our life will only close the way. Regardless of how much we speak from our mouth, our speaking will only make it worse. If we do not have the life testimony, it is better to shut our mouth. The way of increase is death and resurrection. There is no other way. It seems that John 12:24 applies only to the Lord. If we read on, however, we come to verses 25 and 26, which clearly tell us that the principle of verse 24 is also for us. If we are going to serve the Lord, we have to be in the place where He is. He is in the way of death; He is on the way of the cross. Therefore, we have to be there too.
We all have to see that the real gospel preaching is for the increase of Christ. Christ is in us, so we are a grain. Within us there is life, but there is also the outer shell. This shell has to be broken. It must be put into the earth to die there. Then the inner life, that is Christ Himself, will be manifested, and by this manifestation, Christ will be imparted into others. This imparting is His very increase. It is not simply a matter of preaching the doctrine of the gospel. It is a matter of imparting Christ into others by a life that is crucified and resurrected.
John 15 shows us how the many grains are built up together as a corporate increase. In chapter 12 we see the way to produce the increase, and in chapter 15 we see the way of building. Verses 1 through 5 say, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
We may have the wrong concept that the fruit spoken of by the Lord refers to certain manifestations of life, such as the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5. In these days, however, the more I consider John 15, the more I am becoming clear. John 15:16 shows us the real meaning of fruit in this chapter. This verse says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” If we read this verse carefully, we can realize that fruit here does not refer to the manifestations of life. To bring forth fruit is to produce, to have an increase. This refers to the genuine outreach of the gospel. It is to impart Christ into people, causing them to become the fruit. In this chapter fruit is the outflow of Christ into people, thus making them the increase of Christ.
Consider a fruit tree. The fruit on the branches of the tree are the increase of the tree. Fruit is not merely meekness, humility, or a kind of good behavior. It is the overflow of the inner life to produce an increase of life. Fruit trees are reproduced by the seed of the fruit. Within all the fruit on the branches of the tree there are seeds. When these seeds fall into the earth, they produce more trees. Originally, there was only one tree, but after a certain time, there are many trees. This is the increase.
At the end of Matthew the Lord gave us the commission to go to the nations to preach the gospel (28:19). In Mark there is a similar word: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation” (16:15). Likewise, Luke ends in the same way (24:47-49). In the Gospel of John, however, does the Lord speak there concerning the preaching of the gospel? It is there, but in a different way. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it seems that the preaching of the gospel is a movement, a certain kind of activity or work. It is only in the Gospel of John, the Gospel of life, that the preaching of the gospel is not a work or activity; it is an outflow of life. That is why in John 15:16 the Lord chose and set the disciples to go forth and bear fruit. This is to preach the gospel for the increase of Christ. We must go forth to produce Christ, to have Christ reproduced, multiplied, and increased thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold. This is the “great commission.” In this book it seems that there is no such commission for gospel preaching, but in actuality there is the real commission for gospel preaching. It is not in a way of work, activity, or movement, but it is in the way of life, in the way of the outflow of the inner life.
According to John 15, if we mean business with the Lord, the Father will prune, cut, and purge us. All the branches need a certain kind of trimming. I am somewhat reluctant to say this because I do not want to disappoint you or scare you away. However, if you go to the best husbandman to ask him how he helps the branches to bear fruit, he will tell you that he prunes them. Some branches do not bear fruit because they are short of pruning. When the brothers and sisters mean business with the Lord, and the Father comes in to put His hand upon them and prune them, right away the preaching of the gospel becomes prevailing. On the other hand, we may be very comfortable. If someone asks, “How are you?” we may say, “Everything is fine.” However, everything is not fine for the gospel preaching. The more everything is fine, the more we are not prevailing in gospel preaching. When one day the environment, our situation, is not so fine, even upside down, that will be the prevailing time for gospel preaching.
Many dear saints cannot preach the gospel prevailingly when they are healthy. However, once the Father, the Husbandman, touches the branch a little, their health is gone; they have some kind of illness. At that time their preaching becomes prevailing. While we are prosperous, we may tell people that they need Jesus and that they must believe in Him, but this may be like the daughters of Lot talking to the people in Sodom. People will not care for this kind of speaking and will listen to it in the same way that they listen to the news. However, we may lose our business, lose other things, or have other troubles. We may suffer something. This is the trimming, the cutting, the purging, and the breaking. This will cause us as branches to bring forth fruit. The Husbandman, who is the Father, knows how to prune us.
John 15 is very significant. In this chapter the Father has the intention to work all that He is, all the fullness of the Godhead in Christ, into the branches of the vine that they may bear fruit. There is much need for the Father to work all His fullness into us that we may bear fruit, that is, that we may have the outflow of the inner life, which is the reality of the fullness of the Father. The outflow of the inner life is the fruit, and many times this outflow comes out only by trimming, cutting, and pruning.
In order to have a prevailing outreach of the gospel, we must learn how to abide in Christ. To abide in Christ means to keep ourselves in fellowship with Christ. All the time we must let Christ abide in us. There must be an inner flow between us and Christ. We have to abide in Him and let Him abide in us. Then whatever He wishes, whatever He speaks, His Word, His intention, will abide within us. There is the need of such a living fellowship between us and the Lord.
Again, this does not mean that we should not open our mouth to preach the gospel. It means that our preaching with our mouth depends on the real inner flow of Christ. We must have the inner flowing in Christ and with Christ. Then, whenever we open our mouth, there will be the prevailing power, not merely an outward power but the power of the inner life.
We also have to learn how to pray for this outreach. John 15:7 and 8 say, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples.” This portion deals with prayer. Whatever we ask, the Father will answer. This means that we ask for certain persons to be brought to the Lord to be a part of the increase of Christ. In the past some young ones came to me and said, “In John 15:7 the Lord promised that whatever we ask, He will give to us. For several years I asked the Lord to give me the best college so that I may get a Ph.D., but He has not fulfilled His promise.” If we read the context of this chapter, however, we will realize that the prayer mentioned here by the Lord is that certain persons may be brought into the increase of Christ. It is a prayer for people to become fruit as the outflow of the inner life.
If we add all the foregoing items together, we can see where our shortage is and why our preaching is not prevailing. Many in today’s Christianity think that gospel preaching is a matter of activities, evangelistic campaigns, and crusades. It is not so. The real gospel preaching is the outflow of Christ through you and through me. That is the increase of Christ.
John 15:12 says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another even as I have loved you,” and verse 17 says, “These things I command you that you may love one another.” To love one another here means to be built up. Then chapter 17 continues in the same way. Verses 21 through 23 say, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” When we come to chapter 17, we all have to humble ourselves. We are all short in this matter. We have not been built up.
Many Christians today at best have a meeting, but they do not have the building. They have a piling up of stones, not a building up. Today I may feel to “pile up” with one dear brother, but after another two months I may find that he is not so good, so I shift over to another pile. Do not think that someone has come to me and told me about your condition. If anyone has come to me, that must be the Holy Spirit. He has come to me many times with a rebuke, saying, “Look at the situation among you.” I do not know the details of your story, but in my spirit I know the principle. Among us there has been too much “shifting of the piles.” Once we are built up, however, we can never shift. A piece of wood in a building cannot be shifted; it is simply built up.
Give up the expectation to be shifted. I am built up with a certain brother, so I love him. I do not love him because he is loveable. I simply love without a reason. I have to. There is the imperative that we love one another. When we love one another, that means that we are truly built up. By this oneness and building up, the world will be convinced.
How can we expect our friends, family, and classmates to be brought to Christ? Many times our family hears us criticizing the brothers. When we criticize the church and the dear brothers and sisters, our children and wife listen to us. After that, how can we expect them to be brought to the Lord? Rather, they will just shake their heads at the gospel. On the contrary, we must love one another. Even if a wife complains and asks, “How can you love that kind of people?” her husband can say, “I just love them.” That wife’s mouth will complain and criticize, but she will be convinced in her heart.
The best test is the test of the building. How much we have been dealt with by the Lord and how much we have learned the lessons must be tested by the building. This is why in John 15 as the Lord was dealing with fruit-bearing, He commanded us to love one another. Loving one another has very much to do with the bearing of fruit. If we do not love our brothers and sisters, I do not believe that we can be prevailing in our gospel preaching. If today we criticize a sister, and tomorrow we are unhappy with a brother, and then we preach the gospel, do you think our preaching can be prevailing? The spiritual world is watching. The evil spirits may even speak within us, “Are you preaching the gospel?” There is no convincing power in this kind of preaching. Suppose, however, that we simply love a brother or a sister regardless of what kind of person he or she is. We simply love that person without a reason or an explanation. If this is the case, we can be assured that whenever we open our mouth to preach the gospel, there will be the convincing power. The power is not in our voice or loud proclamation. The power is in our convincing life.
If we are going to have a prevailing preaching, we must be pruned by the Father, abide in the Son, pray for people to be brought into the reality of the increase of Christ, love one another, be built up together, and have the oneness. Do not think that in the Gospel of John there is no commission for gospel preaching. This book does have the commission for gospel preaching, but it has it in another way, not in the way of activity, movement, work, or crusade, but in the way of a life always under the pruning of the heavenly Husbandman, always abiding in the Son of God, always praying for certain persons to be brought into the reality of the increase of Christ, and always loving the brothers regardless of their condition or situation. We simply love the brothers because of the Lord Christ. We have learned the lessons and are being built up together with them. This is the prevailing power, the convincing life, of gospel preaching. The gospel preaching is the increase of Christ, and this increase can be possible only by our being put to death. We must learn the lessons from John 15 and 17. How much we need to be built up!
We are now in the process of the Lord’s recovery. I would ask you, honestly and humbly, to be patient with the building up. We have been tested by our gospel preaching as to where we are, and now we have to be built up. Do not take any concept from your background of Christianity. I say this humbly and honestly. We have been too influenced by that, and we are still under that influence. The proper outreach of the gospel is not a kind of movement, and it is not a kind of crusade. It is a life that is crucified, pruned, abiding in Christ, and being built up. This requires more time. Then we will see the prevailing preaching.
Do not expect, according to your old concept, that we are preparing to have a work of gospel preaching and that suddenly in one night the results will come. That is just a dream. For many years we have seen reports concerning the gospel with numbers in black and white, but where is the real result? Where are the people today? Where is the real fruit? Do we want to follow that way? In the Gospel of life the way to produce fruit, the way to have Christ increased, is the way of life.
I do not want to say too much about the churches in the Far East. We have seen, though, that they have no need for a crusade or gospel-preaching movement. The saints in Taipei simply have a life for the gospel, and monthly and yearly a number of people are brought into the increase of Christ. This is because they have the building up. We need the patience to be built up, and this building up is revealed in all of the steps we have fellowshipped about. No doubt, we already have the divine birth, but what about the growth? What about drinking the Lord and feeding upon Him? And what about maturity and the building up? We have to humble ourselves and see the proper way.
Many things which we have seen in our background of Christianity are not accurate. They are more or less distracting. I beg you to learn the lesson to drop those things and come back to the Lord and to the way of life. Read the Gospel of John once again. In the first three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—there is the commission for gospel preaching, seemingly in a way of activity. In the last Gospel, however, the Gospel of life, this commission is not mentioned in the way of activity but in the way of life. Without the way of life, we can bring people to Christ only in an outward way; we cannot see Christ increased. In order to have Christ increased with persons, we must live a crucified life, imparting Christ all the time, not merely bringing people to Christ, but imparting Christ to people, transforming people into the parts of the bride of Christ.
I look to the Lord that in these days we all may be helped by the Holy Spirit to see that the proper outreach of the gospel is the imparting of Christ to others. This requires our abiding in Him and our being pruned, purged, and broken, that is, our being crucified. Then something of Christ will grow out of and through all of us. Christ will be imparted into others. We will have the real increase, and this increase will be the bride of Christ. This is the proper preaching of the gospel. This is the outreach of the gospel in the way of life.
