The Appearing of the Resurrected Christ and the Fulfillment of the House of God — Newman Sze

And our time passes very quickly. This is already the second evening. And so we must be alert. And we must take every opportunity to pursue the Lord. And if we do not gain the Lord, and you have not gained Him, then it is very pitiful for you to have come.

And we are of all, most of all, to be pitied. And so we must focus our hearts on the time that we have left. And pursue the Lord. And I must meet the Lord in the days I have left.

And I must gain some real experiences with Him. And after this meeting,.

I must be a different person when I leave this place. If you are the same after you have been here, then why have you come? It is difficult to have a conference. But we have all met here. It is not just to hear a message, it is to gain the Lord.

The Crucifixion and Resurrection Account in Luke

And let us read from Luke chapter 23. 39 to 49.

Verse 39. And there was one of the two prisoners who said to him,.

Are you not the part to save yourself and us? But the other answered, And if you be so, be that part.

And he said to him, Remember me when you come in your kingdom. And he said to him, I tell you, today you must leave this place with me. Let us read chapter 24. Verse 13 to 27. Let us read the word of the Lord well.

Verse 13 to 27.

And behold, two of them were going that very day.

And they were conversing with one another. And they were conversing with one another about all these things. And they were conversing with one another about all these things. And they were conversing with one another about all these things.

And he said to him, You have been a guest in Jerusalem, and you do not know what has happened there in the last few days? And Jesus said, What is it? And they said, It is the matter of Nazareth. And Jesus said, He is a prophet, and he has great power in the eyes of the people of Israel.

And the chief priest and our government have taken him into custody. And he is on the cross. And he is the one who is to be appointed a new king. And he is the one who is to be appointed a new king. And this is the salvation.

And this is the salvation. And this is the proof. I am going to pour out what I have been promised to you. And you are going to wait in the city until you have the power to come up again. And we are going to read the last part, chapter 50 to 51.

Jesus led them to the other side of Bethany. And he raised his hand to bless them. And as he was blessing them, he left them. And he was taken up to heaven.

We read 41 verses today. And we like to read the word of the Lord. And tomorrow is the day after we will not read this many. And I was reviewing and I could not get any of these verses. So we decided to read 41 tonight.

The Forty Days of Training From the Old Testament to the Spirit

We must know the value of this 40 days. This was a training. So that we can turn from the realm of the Old Testament into the New. From the outward things to the inward. From the fleshly to the revelation.

From law to life. And from the letter to the Spirit. And for all the children of God, the Lord will bring you through these 40 days. And there are two very salient-ish things that have events in the Bible.

One will always be related to us.

The first is the kingdom of God. The second is the house of God. The kingdom and the house. And Jesus gave us up. We were born again through Jesus. We were born into the house of God. And at the same time we were born into the kingdom of God.

And so we will always be related to these two things.

Yet these are two different aspects. When we speak of the kingdom of God, it is the authority. And it is submission. And it is ascending.

And it is a servant. And when we speak of the house of God, it is life. And it is love. And it is rest. It is privilege. And these are two great systems. And in the house of God, we are also in the kingdom of God.

In the gospel of Matthew, it speaks of the kingdom of God. And the gospel of Luke speaks of the house of God. And as the resident Christ, as he edified the house of God, it is a very sweet thought as we speak of this.

And Luke speaks of this house of God. And many people know that Luke chapter 15, the prodigal son returns. It is a relationship between a father and his son. But in Matthew chapter 28, he tells us of the kingdom.

The Kingdom and the House of God

And the authority of the kingdom. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And the Lord has given this authority to the church. And it is ascending in the kingdom. And the service of the kingdom.

And the submission to the kingdom. You must go and make disciples of all nations. But it is a different story in the last two chapters of Luke. It is the house of God. It is the life. And the love that it gives.

And the rest. And it is our prerogative. And the Lord Jesus, he is edifying the house of God. And chapter 23 speaks of the cross. And the death of the Lord. But chapter 24 is the resurrection. And these 40 days are different in these six chapters.

But when we look at the six chapters as a whole, it is a complete picture of Jesus. And every chapter speaks of this training from a different perspective. And it is a very precious six chapters of the Bible.

Because today the Lord is training us. He is causing us to turn from external things to internal. And from fleshly things to revelatory. And from law to life. And from the letter to the Spirit. And when we come to the resurrected realm, it is the realm of the Spirit.

The Cross Separates Those Who Receive Christ From Those Who Reject Him

Dear brothers and sisters. In chapter 23 speaks of the cross. And at the cross, the Lord is constituting his house. And he is placing his house together. And there are many people at the foot of the cross.

And some say they are the Gentiles and the Jewish. The centurion was a Gentile. And all the Roman soldiers, they were Gentiles. No, this is not how we divide this. Because in the Bible, there is no Jewish people.

There are two groups of people at the foot of the cross. Those who believed in Jesus and those who didn't. Those who accepted him and those who rejected him. God only sees these two. Dear brothers and sisters.

We must know that the Jewish nation is not the foundation of the Church. But you can say all the apostles were Jewish. They received the Lord.

And then they became part of the Church. They were no longer Jewish.

And Paul says there is no Jew nor Greek. And there is no free man and there is no slave. And there is no male nor female. Because they are all one in Christ. There is only the distinction of accepting or rejecting the Lord.

And a few times the centurion is mentioned. And perhaps this is the first born again person in the world. And when Jesus cried out loudly upon the cross.

Saying it is finished. And the centurion beat his breast.

And he said this truly is the Son of God. This was the first Gentile who received the Lord. And there were two criminals. They were Jewish. And they were upon their crosses. And the two sides of the cross were held by the criminals.

They began the same. They were all criminals. They were great criminals.

But one accepted Christ. And he entered paradise with him. One rejected the Lord. And he entered into eternal punishment.

The cross separates all of mankind. There is no race. There are no distinctions. Either you accept the Lord. Or you reject the Lord. And the cross separates all of mankind.

Dear brothers and sisters.

One of the criminals he rejected the Lord. And another accepted him. And this is the best example of receiving grace. He sinned all his life. He did not need to change his actions. He did not need to pay any price for his crimes.

He was about to die. He had no time to do these things. He had no opportunity. But there was one thing he acknowledged the Lord. And he confessed the Christ. And he received him. And this was enough for him to enter paradise.

And how great is this grace! And there was once a theologian who told me Brother Z you have exaggerated this. There is some request here. And I said brother perhaps you are better than I. If we look at the prerequisite If you go by what is required There is no way to accept Jesus.

Unlimited grace. There is no requirement. Just confess him. This is a great grace to the robber. How did he know it was the Lord? This was a very great prayer. Jesus remember me when you return in your kingdom.

This robber mentioned the kingdom to the Lord. Jesus was about to die. But he mentioned that you are going to come again in your glory. Every time I read this I think how did you know? And I think Peter and John they did not know.

How did this criminal know? This is a grace without measure. But in the shortest time The Lord allowed him to see Jesus Christ. When you return in your kingdom. And so we speak of how we are made to die with the Lord.

And now he is dying for the Lord.

And the Lord heard this. And he says truly I say to you Today you shall be with me. And you shall be in paradise.

And immediately upon the cross he gained the guarantee for eternity. And what a great thing this is. How many years have you been a Christian? And perhaps I have been a Christian a little longer than you.

Every time I think of how I am saved. Then I thank the Lord. The Lord has saved me. And I have walked with him for over 50 years. And I am still unworthy. But I have just gained mercy. How great is this grace?

Have you thanked the Lord's grace for saving you? There is another thing here. And there is another doctrine here. The Lord was upon the cross for six hours. And there are two different periods. Three hours and three hours.

In the first three hours He received all the suffering man laid upon him. And the suffering of the cross that we can comprehend is all within these three hours. But in the second three hours It is completely different.

He received the judgment of God because of the sins of man. And in the first three hours.

His actions and his speech. Were full of motion. When did the second three hours start?

The second three hours started when he said My father, my father Why have you forsaken me? And that was the second three hours. And he was faced with the most terrible punishment. And this prayer of this criminal It breaches these three, these two periods.

And this was the loving kindness And the loving arrangement of his father. So that he can get through this. If you get through this Then you will gain the kingdom. You will come again in glory. And this word was spoken Through the mouth of the criminal.

This was very great. And how loving is our father. When we have even the smallest trial Our father has arrangements for every trial. No one can stand the attack of the enemy. But the son of God was a great example.

And the robber here said Jesus, you are gaining your kingdom. And you are coming again in glory. And this was like music to Jesus. And he says, truly I say to you Today you shall be with me in paradise.

And encourage him to get through the second three hours. And we speak of the suffering of the cross And we remember him. We can't really comprehend the second three hours. He bore it alone. Do you know how great the love of the Lord is for us?

Offering Ourselves to the Lordship of Christ

And we have been conflicted over Should we even offer ourselves? When some brother said to me Brother, you don't speak of offering. I can't do it. And I didn't say anything. And I said, well this evening Are you going to pray?

He said, well yes, I'm going to pray. And then I said, well then Please don't say the word Lord. And he said, well you are kind of exceeding me. He's still my Lord. I said, no, you can't say Lord Jesus.

And he said, come on, he's still my Lord Jesus. And I said, if you can't offer yourself Then why are you calling him Lord? That's my Lord, not your Lord. And then suddenly he was awakened. He said, I will offer myself.

And I said, you know what? Your offering is not anything great.

I'm not offering you. Is it just a little bit of money? What is it?

You seem to be so great before the Lord. And I can't tolerate the attitude.

Some people have before the Lord.

If you truly see he is the Lord You will come before him kneeling and crawling To receive you. And we come to chapter 24 That Jesus has resurrected.

The Emmaus Road and the Seeking Love of the Resurrected Christ

And this is the story of Emmaus. It is the sweetest thought we have. It is the seeking love of the Lord.

And it is the foundation for completing The house of God. And Jesus sought these two lost disciples. And all through my life I don't know how many times.

The Lord has sought me.

And he has sought me and brought me back. And one day I am lost many times.

But the Savior always brings me back.

And these two disciples They could not take it anymore in Jerusalem. And the crucifixion of Jesus Christ Was a crisis to all of Jerusalem. And it was a great pressure. And they were seeking everywhere Those who were following The name of Jesus of Nazareth.

And it was very difficult to be there. They only knew that Jesus died. They did not know that Jesus was dead. And they were weak. And they were discouraged. And they had lost all hope. And they were afraid.

And they could not keep The command of the Lord. And so they left Jerusalem. And they went down to Eman. And they were going downhill. And as these two walked down They spoke among themselves. And as they spoke Without knowing These two people became three people.

And it was so wondrous How the third person arrived. It was such a divine event. And he was so intimate with them. Jesus came to walk with them. And Jesus took the initiative To speak to them. He took the initiative To talk to them.

Our Savior. And we have a hymn that says What a Savior. And he is full of loving kindness And patience. And these two Their eyes were blinded. They did not know the Lord. And the Lord said to them What are you discussing?

And they rebuked him. Such a great thing Has happened in Jerusalem And you do not know? And Jesus said What thing? The things of Jesus of Nazareth. And in this ridiculous era Is preaching to Jesus about Jesus.

But it is a seeking love Of our Lord Jesus. And I do not know how Jesus is to you But he is very patient with you. And he has such compassion. If he were even lacking a little bit I would not be here today.

I would have been lost. These two disciples They spoke of Jesus. And they spoke of him well. And these are very famous words. And they said Jesus And before God and man He was a prophet.

Mighty in deed and word. And this was so well put. He was mighty in deed and word. And the second thing Our chief priests and rulers.

Crucified him. But the third thing They say we were hoping. That was he Who was going to redeem Israel. And so they lost their hope.

And so this fear And the faith was gone. They knew only of the death Of the Lord And not the resurrection.

And so the resurrection To the Lord was walking with them. And so do not seek Those great experiences But value the very loving Experiences of our Savior. To walk with the Lord. And actually it is he Who walks with the Lord.

Had he not walked with me How would I seek him to walk? And once I wrote a hymn To walking with the Lord. But then I read it.

And I did not think it was very good. So I tried to rewrite it. And it still was not very good. After the third try I gave up. And perhaps one day When I have a better experience Of walking with him I will write the hymn.

It is so important And significant to walk with God. It is God who walks with us. And he drives us to walk with him. When we pray.

Let us pray that the Lord Will give you a heart of desire. It is nothing. It is not a great thing to speak. But it is a great thing To cause this desire To call your heart of desire. This is what a message cannot do.

So we must pray And look to the Lord. So that when we pray Lord have your children desire you. Cause their hearts to want you. And to love you. We can only speak outwardly.

Only you can speak in their hearts. Only you can work in their hearts. And to turn their hearts to you.

Tonight everyone will desire Jesus. And leave off all things To follow him. And as these two disciples spoke Jesus spoke up. He said oh foolish men Slow of heart to believe In all that the prophets have spoken.

And so Jesus spoke to them. And he explained the Bible to them. And how good is our Lord. And how wonderful he is. We do not know. He is speaking with us. But we do not know it is the Lord speaking. And so the flame in our hearts.

The fear in our hearts will be dead. Because the Lord is working. And the peace will grow in our hearts.

Jesus has spoken. And he has ignited that flame within us. And as they reflected on this They said well our hearts are burning within us That he spoke with us. And this is the work of Jesus. And he can ignite that flame In the hearts of many.

And the flame within our hearts Has been ignited. And the hope has risen.

This person was so wonderful. They came to Emmaus.

And they said a very famous thing. And they said it is late. And the day is now nearly over.

Stay with us. This was a very famous thing. And the hymn we just sang Is such a famous hymn.

Abide with me. Past, present and even times. And it is a hymn of abiding with us. And the person who wrote this hymn Was very famous. And he was not a very great person. He was someone who was very weak at abiding.

And so in his trial He walked with God. And finally by the ocean At the beach He wrote this hymn.

And he saw that Darkness was coming upon him.

And his life was at this stage also. And he felt that his body was nearing death. And this hymn rose up within him.

And he went home and wrote this very famous hymn. Abide with me.

Past, present and even times.

Help of the helpless. Lord abide with me. This is such a great prayer.

May the Lord abide with me.

We are so small. And the Lord's heart is very joyful. Because he is waiting for this prayer. Lord abide with me. The darkness has come.

I have no help. A wondrous savior abides with me.

And so the Lord immediately stayed with them. Do you desire the Lord? What is the meaning of your life? What is the meaning of being a Christian? What is the meaning of being in the church these days?

We must have this great desire. Abide with me. And so he stayed. And that evening at the age. The Lord took the bread to give thanks. It is the tradition of the custom of the Israelites that the host will give bread.

And so the Lord stood upon his position as the Lord. Now he is the Lord. So he broke the bread. And he gave it to them. What a divine moment this was. And what a precious. The Lord was interacting with them.

And he touched them. And so all their shadows were cast away. And their eyes were enlightened. And they said it is the Lord. And he disappeared. That is the forty days. And the training. And I thought all the way.

And now they finally see it is the Lord. And then he disappears. If I were them I would be so discouraged. Lord where did you go? I must go look for him. But they did not.

And they were not even surprised. This is the forty days. He was turning from the external things to the internal.

Because having the Lord with you in the fleshly body cannot compare to having him in your heart. And this is the new testament. Christ dwells within our hearts. And the spirit is the indwelling spirit.

And the risen Lord. He is within us. Dear brothers and sisters. Their eyes were enlightened. And they said as we walked here. He spoke with us. Were not our hearts burning within us? Our Savior. In the last two thousand years so many saints have gained this precious experience.

All of a sudden their eyes were enlightened. And the Lord. I have been talking about this for so long. And he did not leave us. He did not leave us. Jesus is the resurrected Savior. And they truly came to know the risen Lord.

They did not seek him. Because they gained him. And they returned to Jerusalem. And they went to find those who were even more famous than they. And they went to seek those who were more important than they.

They went to look for Peter and John. And they testified to them. Jesus is risen. Is this not good? Because they were new people when they returned.

Our eyes are enlightened. And the Lord fills our hearts. Have you been filled by the Lord?

And this afternoon our brothers and sisters laid their heads upon him.

So each one can be a heavenly man. Not he alone is the heavenly man. We all should gain Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters how great is our Savior. And he walks with us in our lives. And he speaks with us. And he works within us. Our eyes were obfuscated. But the risen Lord. And the following he perfects his house.

And he is opening a new era. It is the era of faith. It is a dispensation where we can fellowship with one another. And so these two returned to talk to the apostles. And so we should, you know, we do not look upon them.

More important or less important brothers. It is he who has met the Lord. Jesus Christ. And these two were not very famous. I have never heard the name Cleopas before or after this. And they are now going to testify to Peter and John.

We have seen the risen Jesus. We have seen him. He is within us.

This is a new era. It is a generation where we are of internal things in life. It is a dispensation of the Spirit. And as they spoke. And they had closed off all the windows and doors. As they spoke suddenly the Lord was there.

Hallelujah. This is our Savior. I have been in so many meetings where suddenly the Lord would come out. And the whole meeting was different and the prayers were different. Everyone met Jesus. And Jesus overflowed from within.

And he fills our hearts. And he fills our whole being. It is in an instant. Our Jesus Christ is so great. And he was standing among them. And in Luke 24 it is so precious. And when we speak of the resurrected Lord appearing everyone praises and worships.

But some will still doubt. Some will still be afraid. And the resurrected Christ is here. Do you doubt? And I said they are worthy of death. If I were there I would not doubt. I would praise him and be rejoiced.

But then I slowly came to doubt. One year when I was in London. I was living in the house of Brother Austin Sparks. And he was speaking all day to me of the Lord. And suddenly one day he said, He is here.

I am the greatest believer. But then he pointed his head. I am also the greatest non-believer. So do not dwell within your intellect and knowledge. But dwell within the spirit and the reality. And I was greatly helped by this.

I have the Lord abiding with me. Sometimes I doubt if he is with me. And this unbelieving evil and unbelieving heart is within me. And I will tell you your natural life will always be this way. But the Lord is within you.

And the Lord did not rebuke them. And the Lord said doubt no longer. And he said look at my hands and my feet. And he showed it to them. Because there are nail prints here. And I think perhaps in glory in his glorified body he has no nail prints.

But that day he showed them his hands and feet.

And only the forgiving love of the cross can solve any problem. So many times we fail and we are weak. And the Lord did not rebuke me in my failure. And he did not rebuke me in my weakness. It is the love of the cross that gives me his great love.

And it is a dying love. It appeared to me so faintly.

And his love is within me. And my heart was melted. And my will was within.

And our belts are weakened. And our fears are taken away. And we have no... There is nothing between us and the Lord.

Thomas Confesses the Resurrected Christ as Lord and God

And that day Thomas came. All the disciples were but Thomas. So the Lord appeared again for him. For his sake. For Thomas.

Thomas touched my hand. Touched the wound in my thigh. Did Thomas dare touch him? Did he?

No, he did not. He fell to the ground saying, My Lord, my God. And the love of the Lord will cause us to weep. Thomas was the first missionary to India. And he was a very great man. Dear brothers and sisters.

It is the work of the resurrected Christ. And he is perfecting in all of us. And that person is such a great love. He has been patient with me for 58 years. I became a Christian. Because we are still hard.

We still have hardened hearts. And we still have rebellious hearts. But when we think of the love of the Lord. Our hearts are melted. And so we kneel down. And we surrender. You are my Lord. And I come just as I am.

This is how I am. You have been patient with me for so many years. But you have not cast me out. You have continually sought me. This is our resurrected Savior. He will not forsake any that follows him.

And I will lose hope in a person. But the Lord will not. And once during a meeting a brother stood up and said some very horrible things. And I felt very badly when he said these. And then there was another brother who stood up and loudly reprimanded me.

He said, how dare you say such things? How dare you? But when a person is that bold he is not afraid of you either. He said, how dare you say such things? He said, I dare. I'll do it again. And I told the other second brother you cannot restore a brother in this manner.

And I said, how can you serve the Lord? And you need to review your credentials. And I said, no, you must weep to him. You must weep with him.

You don't have to say anything. Because the love of the Lord will come out of you.

Jesus is a resurrected Savior. And so my brother, his heart was softened.

We cannot cause his heart to soften. We cannot cause him to soften.

It is the Lord that I serve, my Lord. He is a resurrected Savior. And it is the patience and the compassion of Jesus Christ. He will bring my brother back. And he said some very terrible things. And this is really terrible.

But look into the deuteronomy again.

And when did I ever get better because someone rebuked me? And so I went to see him. And he said, oh, he can still speak. And he's still in his high position. He is so mean. And when I went to see him, and I was thinking of what to say to him.

And I said, brother, I am also a minister. Let me tell you something. I am also a minister. And I will never be as good as the Lord I speak of.

And I did not want to speak of the other brother that he was mad at. But I pointed to myself. And I referred to myself saying, do not look at me because the Savior whom I preach is different than I am.

You must still believe in the Lord whom I preach.

Today I am preaching the Lord, not myself. So do not be stumbled because of me. And finally I said, brother, let us pray together. And he said, I can't pray. And I said, what are you doing then? I said, okay, fine, then don't pray.

But can you say Lord? He said, I haven't said Lord in a long time. And you really want to rebuke him when he says Lord. And I said, well, I showed him how the Lord led me. And that day the Lord led this brother back up.

And I said, okay, if you can't call the Lord, I will. And so I knelt down. And I said, Lord. I can't help this brother.

And I said, Lord. Lord. And a little while later I discovered he was also the Lord. And I said, Lord.

And the Lord came out. And his love came out. And my brother also called upon the Lord. Lord. You prayed very well. And he said, that was a prayer? I said, that is the best prayer. That is to call out the Lord.

Lord. Lord. And he wept.

And he confessed his sins. And then the Lord filled him.

And the Holy Spirit came upon him. And his heart was melted by the love of the Lord. And his wife said to him, he said, Brother Z, I can't face you. And I said, you prayed so well. How come you can't face me?

And he said, well, does my prayer count? This is the best prayer. This best prayer is to meet the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters. This is the Savior that Jesus Christ came. He seeks many.

To bring them back. And he has brought me back countless times. And perhaps I strayed just very slightly in the end. I suddenly discovered I strayed from the Lord. I was reading the paper and America was at war with Iraq.

Wait, no. No, they can't do this. And we have two differing opinions in our family. And one side says America is wrong. And the other says Iraq needs to be attacked. But I am one who serves the Lord.

And in my heart I think this is not right. And as I thought that I felt my heart was straying from the Lord. And the Lord was within my heart. He said, is that really your business? The Lord is with you now.

That's what you need to do. And I said, Jesus. I am back. And Jesus appeared His glory. His spirit. It is the spirit of the glorified spirit. And it will fill within our hearts. And He will seek us and bring us back.

The Resurrected Lord’s Need for the Believers’ Offering

And this is the generation of faith in our fellowship. And the Lord said something very odd. Then He says, have you anything to eat? Does the resurrected Lord need to eat?