Spiritual Seeing Ii — Stephen Kaung

Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians? Ephesians chapter 3. We will read from verse 14 through verse 21. I will read it through first in English. 我要先用英文讀一遍. And then our brother will read it in Chinese.

For this reason I bow my knees to the father of our lord jesus christ Of home every family In the heavens and on earth is named in order that He may give you according to the riches of his glory. To be strengthened with power by his spirit in the inner man.

That the christ may dwell through faith in your hearts Being rooted and founded in love In order that you may be fully able to apprehend With all the saints What is the breadth and length and depths and height.

And to know the love of the christ which surpasses knowledge. That ye may be filled Even to all the fullness of god. But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above All which we ask or think according to the power Which works in us.

To him be glory in the church in christ jesus. And to all generations of the age of ages amen. Foreign. We thank god for gathering us together this time. I suppose we all remember That the theme of this conference is spiritual Seeding.

Spiritual Seeing Requires Revelation

We will approach this matter with the two prayers of the apostle paul. Because out of his own heart and his experience He prayed this prayer For the saints in ephesus. In his first prayer He prayed to the god of our lord.

Jesus the father of glory. The To the god of our lord. Jesus the father of glory. And in that prayer He prayed that god will grant us The spirit of wisdom and revelation In the full knowledge of god. In other words in this first prayer He prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Because he knows that the natural man does not receive the things of the holy spirit. In other words naturally We are blind to spiritual things. Foreign. We will even consider spiritual things as folly.

And not only we will not receive it. We do not even understand or know it. Because spiritual things must be discerned spiritually. Foreign. So dear brothers and sisters at the very outset We need to remember one thing.

And that is as we are faced with things spiritual we are naturally blind. Do not think that by our own intellect. And our own mind we will be able To know spiritual things. Because paul himself experienced it While he was a young man by the name of saul.

Foreign. He was a pharisee He was religious He was zealous And he had the desire to serve god. But he was totally blind spiritually. He thought that by persecuting the church he was serving god. Not until one day When that heavenly light shone upon him Blinded his natural eyes.

But opening His spiritual eyes And thereby the spirit of wisdom and revelation He saw the righteous one. That jesus of nazareth Is the righteous one. The one whom he persecuted Is the son of god. There In the spirit of wisdom and revelation He saw The lord.

It opened up His spiritual eyes. He started His spiritual life. And dear brothers and sisters in a very real way That is what happened to each and every one of us. Is We do not begin our spiritual life Until we receive revelation from above.

Naturally We will look at our lord jesus as the best of men. Naturally We may consider him as the great teacher That he is a prophet from god. But it is impossible For us to really believe in him as the christ the son Of the living god.

Even though mentally We may believe it But spiritually We didn't. And because of that our spiritual life did not begin. Not until one day god opened our inner eyes. It pleased god to reveal his son In me.

Suddenly heaven was open And we saw things spiritual. Brothers and sisters, that's how we begin when we are first saved. Brothers and sisters, that's how we begin when we are first saved. We may pray to god before.

But as one brother said When we say Father We are calling Our father-in-law. It was a natural That Because god was far far away from us We may believe that he exists. But he was a distant god. He was an unknowable god.

We had no relationship with him No communication at all. But dear brothers and sisters One day this Blessed thing happened. Revelation Came to us. Heaven was open to us. And we can most naturally i would say supernaturally natural To call out god.

Father. A relationship with god Begins. And it all begins with the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Those Now remember that what happened in the beginning is the principle That will be applied throughout our whole spiritual life.

In every step of our spiritual life. It always begins with the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And only after we have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation Then things spiritual Become real to us.

We know that all the revelations of god are already Written in the bible. And we have been reading the bible. And we even memorize the bible. And we even think that we understand what is said in the bible.

But somehow you find that what you have read is objective truth. You know it is truth. It is eternal truth. But it is something outside of you. It is not living and working in your life. Not until one day god opened your eyes.

And the spirit of wisdom revelation is given. Then the written word begins to be alive. It begins to operate in your life. It has power there. So brothers and sisters In every step of our spiritual life, it is along this principle.

In every step of our spiritual life, it is along this principle. We cannot rely on our own intelligence and intelligence. We must rely on our god. And we thank god because he is not a god who hides himself.

He is the god who reveals himself. And it pleases him. To reveal his son in us. God will not only give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. He will also enlighten the eyes of our heart. That is to say he will also Give us a renewed mind.

That we may be able to understand what's going on in our spirit. So that we may be able to explain it to other people. And to share it with our brothers and sisters. For the benefits of the whole church.

The Hope of Christ’s Calling and the Church as His Body

And yesterday morning we mentioned that when this thing happened There are three things that are being revealed and understood. Number one, what the hope of his calling. It is not our calling. It is his calling.

God calls every one of us. When he saves us, he calls us. He calls us not so much as to what we are going to do for him. He calls us that we may be what he wants us to be. He wants us Who are redeemed by the precious blood to be the body of christ.

He wants us. I cannot think of anything more blessed than this. He has called us into a relationship with him. And that relationship is so intimate so in one. That he calls us to be the body of christ.

Christ becomes the head. And we become his body. We become the fullness of christ. And we become the testimony of christ. Christ and the church are one. They can never be separated. And this is for eternity.

Now brothers and sisters, can you imagine anything more blessed than this? To put it another way What is the body? What is the relationship between the head and the body? You remember when Saul persecuted the followers of jesus?

You know what our lord jesus said to him? So, so, why do you persecute me? He did not say why do you persecute my followers? He said why do you persecute me? Because those whom you persecuted they were me.

Because those whom saul persecuted they were himself. When we touch the body, the head will complain. Because the body and the head are one. One in life, one in fullness. One in glory. And that is his calling.

And what is the hope of his calling? When the body is fully grown. Then it will become the eternal bride of the lamb. What a blessed hope that is. And this is the wisdom Revealed to us. And then secondly we mentioned.

Christ’s Inheritance and the Power of Resurrection

What. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. It is not our inheritance in christ. When we think of our inheritance in christ How are we going to describe it? The riches of the glory of our inheritance in christ jesus.

There is no way to describe the riches of it. No way to phantom the glory of it. We can only say It is glory. It is riches. Brothers and sisters, but no what the word tells us is this. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

We are to be the inheritance of christ. And we will be an inheritance that is full of riches of glory. Just as he is full of riches of glory to us. How can this be. And then you find the third thing. What the surpassing power of god to those who believe In.

It is the power that raised jesus christ from the dead. It is the power That put our lord jesus in the heavenlies by the right hand of god. Is It is the power that put everything under his feet. That he is above all things.

He be the head to all things. For the church Which is a body the fullness of him who feels all and in all. So all these are included in spiritual seeing. All these are what god revealed to his people.

And all these are to be accomplished in christ jesus In the church. So brothers and sisters This is the first prayer of the apostle paul. And made his prayer be answered abundantly Among his people. Now this morning we would like to continue on.

Apprehending Spiritual Truth as Personal Experience

And we will Consider together paul's second prayer in the letter to the ephesians. Is He say I bow my knee before the father of our lord jesus christ. And what is he going to pray for. The ephesians saints.

What is the difference between this prayer and the first prayer. Is In the first prayer he prayed for understanding. He prayed that we may know. We may know The full knowledge of god. We know what is in god.

What does god intend to do. His purpose his way his heart. These are the things that is that are revealed to us. Is That we may know it. And now you'll find in the second prayer It is different from the first prayer.

The first prayer he prayed to the god of our lord jesus christ. The first prayer he prayed to the god of our lord jesus christ. The second prayer he prayed to the father of our lord jesus christ. Why?

Because God is the revealer Of all wisdom. Is. So you need to pray to god who is the source of wisdom. What you have there Is objective truth. The truth That is in christ jesus. Everything is accomplished in christ jesus.

And he does all for us. This is the eternal truth. He has called us with a holy calling. He has filled us with all his fullness. All the fullness of the godhead dwells in him and ye are complete in him.

And the power that has been manifested in christ jesus is also for us. So These are the truth of god never change Always true. It is not affected by us nor by circumstances. Because it is all being done in christ jesus.

And to these eternal truths we need to know to understand. And then you'll find in a second prayer We pray to the father Of our lord jesus christ. When it comes to the matter of the father it refers to Experience.

There is a relationship Between the father and the son. So the second prayer actually is for experience. Now If you read this prayer very carefully. If we read this prayer very carefully you'll find in verse 18 In order that ye may be fully able to Apprehend with all the things what is the breadth and length and depth and height.

Now Now there is a little problem with translation. Because Here in darby's version, which is very close to the original He used the word apprehend. Now This word includes the idea of Knowing. But it is deeper more than just knowing it.

It is apprehending it. In other words It arrests us. It captures us. It grasps us. Or we arrest it. We capture it And we grasp it. So here you'll find it's more than just knowing. It is more than just understanding it.

It goes on that what you know and understand began to grasp you. And began to arrest you capture you. Or you can say you have captured it. You have taken hold of it. So it refers to our experience. It becomes our subjective experience.

What we know Become what we capture. So you find. As you read on when you became to apprehend it then you will Be filled with it. I do not know if you have seen the difference here. Oftentimes we think when we see.

We have it. Oftentimes we think when we see we have it. Now this is not absolutely true. Seeing is believing. Why do we not believe because we don't see it. If we don't see it, how can we believe it? Spiritual things are unreal to us.

They are in heaven and we are on earth. We are all in different realms. And that's the reason why the natural man cannot receive the things of the holy spirit. That is why the natural man cannot receive the things of the holy spirit.

And they are falling to him. And they cannot know it because they are spiritually discerned. When you are talking spiritual things with natural man He may be very brilliant. When you talk with him of all things under the heaven, he knows.

But when you talk about things above the earth, it is falling to him. I cannot believe because I don't see it. I cannot believe because I don't see it. We often say faith is blind. But faith is not blind.

So far as the natural eyes are concerned, it is blind. But faith comes by seeing. But that seeing is the spiritual seeing. Your inner eyes being opened. And because your inner eyes have been opened You have received wisdom and revelation.

So you can believe it. And It is hard not to believe. Is it the truth? When christ is revealed to you as the savior It is easy to believe and hard to not believe. Because. Because seeing is believing You see it With your spiritual eyes It's real.

It's more real than the things on earth. Brothers and sisters When spiritual seeing happens You know what's happening. The heaven opens. In the spirit it is as if you're lifted up to the heaven. And you begin to see things that The naked eyes can never see.

Or even hear things that cannot be told. But to you. It is so uplifting. When light comes into your life Your whole being seems to be enlightened. And you seem to be lifted up to heaven. You see things eternal So different from things on earth.

You are in another realm. And they are so real, so living. And it gives you faith. So seeing is believing. It happens. It does happen. Isn't that true? But does it mean That you have laid hold Of all that you have seen.

You can see like moses the whole land of canaan. But he was not allowed to enter into it. You have to go in and put your foot down. And Wherever your foot put down that is your possession. Brothers and sisters, I think we have a mistaken idea.

Because we see. We think that we have it. We think that we are already filled with it. We are already in what we have seen. And what have we seen is already in us. And what we have seen is already in us.

Not so. You need another prayer. You need a prayer of apprehending. Not only knowing but apprehending. Not only seeing but possessing. Not only knowing the eternal truth. But have personal experience of it.

So this is the second prayer that paul pray for the saints in ephesus. So this is the second prayer that paul pray for the saints in ephesus. Brothers and sisters, do you think you need such prayer? Now let us look at this prayer In verse 16 In order that He may give you According to the richest of his glory To be strengthened with power By his spirit in the inner man.

The Inner Man, the Heart, and the Conflict Between Spirit and Self

Here you'll find The inner man, I think in some chinese version you say the heart. Now this is not the heart. This is the inner man. Now who is the inner man? The inner man is the spirit of man. It is a little different from the the heart.

Now we sometimes say that what is the heart? Now, of course the heart is the center of our being. It is the passage Between the soul and the spirit. Usually the heart Includes all the functions of the soul plus the conscience of the spirit.

This you can find in the scripture. We do not have the time to go into it. But when you talk about the inner man Sometimes we say the hidden man of the heart. Then what does it refer to? It refers to our spirit.

Now brothers and sisters We who believe in the lord jesus, we have a new spirit. We have a regenerated spirit. And we have christ dwelling in our spirit. Where does the holy spirit dwell? He dwells in our spirit.

Just like the ark dwells in the holiest of all. Just like the cross dwells in the holiest of all. So we can see that the spirit of god dwells in our spirit. That is, christ dwells in our spirit. He becomes the life of our spirit.

He is in our spirit today. That's the inner man. And then you have the heart. Now the heart here means The center of your being. And the center of our being is the soul. Even though it is a passage to the spirit.

But when you read the context the heart you find in verse 17 That christ may dwell through faith in your heart. The heart really speaks of our soul. Because the heart here represents the center of our being.

Now here we need a little explanation. Before we are regenerated Our spirit was dead. Then how do we live? We live by that created life of man. And this created life Is a fallen life. Because men have sinned.

And so you find that That which dwells in our soul Is A self-life. And we live By that self-life. And that's the reason why we are so self-centered. Because that is our life. We live for ourselves.

Our thinking, our feeling, our opinion is all Governed by this I self-life. But after we are saved Something happened. You find that our spirit is being renewed into life. And the holy spirit christ dwells in our spirit.

So you have a double life. In your spirit christ is your life. In your soul self is your life. So after you are saved I believe you all have experienced this. You find that there is a civil war going on in your life.

Sometimes you feel that You want to do god's will. Now where does that come from? It comes from your spirit. Because christ is the life of your spirit. It is heavenly. It is spiritual. And it has his nature.

It has his requirement. So you find that after you are saved Deep within yourself You want to please god. You want to do his will. But at the same time You find there is there within you too That is still self-centered.

If you do the will of god You will suffer. You will get lost. Be careful. Love yourself. Don't be so foolish. Do what you want to do. Gratify your own desire. That will make you happy. And you are torn between these two things.

And often times You find that old Adam is too strong for young MacLachlan. That is the famous saying by MacLachlan. Philip MacLachlan He is the theologian of reformation. He said Old Adam is too strong for young MacLachlan.

And Martin Luther also said I do not afraid of all the poops and cardinals. But I am afraid of the poop within me. Now brothers and sisters Do you have such experience? You are torn According to your inner man You want to do god's will.

But according to your outward man You want your own way. And often times you find these two cross each other. And often times you find Your spirit is weak But your flesh is strong. The bible said Our spirit is willing But the flesh is weak.

Bearing the Cross and Enthroning Christ

That is when you come to the will of god. But when you come to the will of man The spirit is weak And the flesh is strong. Brothers and sisters Do you think you need to cry out to god? And ask god That he will strengthen Your inner man With his power Of the spirit To be strengthened with power By his spirit In the inner man.

Do you think you need this prayer? Because if you do not pray this prayer You already see something heavenly. You already see something spiritual. You already see something eternal. And you desire it.

You want it. But you are too weak. Your flesh is too strong. Brothers and sisters We need to cry out to god By the riches of his glory That he will strengthen Our inner man By the power Of the holy spirit.

And when that happens You know What really happened within you. You know What really happened within you. He said that Christ dwells in your heart. Christ dwells in our spirit Self dwells in our heart.

But when your spirit Is so strengthened By the holy spirit You find that Christ Will come as it were From your spirit Into your heart He will Dethrone Self And be enthroned On in your heart. And during the process You are bearing The cross.

Brothers and sisters Our lord Jesus said If you want to follow me You have to deny yourself Take up your cross And follow me. Do you think That you can see Spiritual things Without paying any cost. Spiritual things Are wonderful.

But spiritual things Are costly Because they are So different From earthly things. The flesh lusts After the spirit And the spirit lusts After the flesh. These are two opposites They can never be together.

It's either one or the other. So brothers and sisters This matter of Bearing the cross And follow the lord Is a daily thing. The moment you see Spiritually The moment A cross is formed. If you don't see anything spiritual You have no cross Because you just go on As you wish.

But the moment You see something spiritual Immediately a cross Is formed in your life. Because the spiritual And the earthly Cross each other. Heaven and earth Will cross each other. Christ and self Will cross each other.

If you do not bear the cross What you see spiritually Will never Become Your vocation. And that's the reason why People may profess They have seen And yet What they have seen Never Appear in their life.

They become Visionary. There is no reality. It is because There is a price to pay. Brothers and sisters Do not be too happy When you see Because It challenges you. Every time you see Something heavenly It challenges you.

It depends. It demands That you take up your cross And follow the Lord. Self Has to be dethroned. Christ Has to be enthroned In our hearts. And when This thing happens You know what you experience Being rooted And founded in love In order that you may be Fully able to apprehend With all the saints.

What is the breadth and length And depth and height. And to know the love of the Christ Which surpasses knowledge. And when Christ Comes into your heart What is your experience. You experience love. You experience The love of Christ.

You experience a love That cannot be measured. So it says here What is the length and width and breadth and height. To know the love of Christ Which surpasses knowledge His love. His love will so Concentrate you Give you The strength To lay down everything For him.

The Love of Christ Makes Sacrifice Possible

Brothers and sisters This is the way To possess. This is the way To be filled With the fullness of God. And this is When you experience With all the saints The unmeasurable Love of Christ. How can anyone Be able to pay Any cost For heavenly things.

And you pay that cost Willingly. It is impossible with man But possible with God. When your heart is Filled with the love of Christ What can you do. Look at Paul. If you read Philippians chapter 3 After he had received that heavenly vision What was Gained to him Became loss.

What he put his trust in before. Now he considers them as dross. And he says For the excellency Of the knowledge of Jesus Christ I count all things But dross I laid down everything. Brothers and sisters It is love That makes this possible.

Only love. So out of his own experience Paul himself has gone through it. He knows that there is a price to pay. And it is the love of Christ That constrains him And that brings him into Possession. Brothers and sisters The same principle Works in all of us.

Seeing the Unity of Christ’s Body

I would like To give a personal testimony By the grace of God. I was saved in 1930 When I was 15. In 1933 I was in college. While I was there The Lord began to open my eyes. He showed me A little bit Just a little bit Of the body of Christ.

I began to see That the body of Christ is one Christ is not divided. I was at that time a Methodist. My father was a Methodist pastor. I was zealous for the Lord. I was serving the Lord. But when I see The body is one Christ is not divided.

I realize I cannot continue In any organized institution. Thank God Two of my classmates Had the same vision The three of us. Sometimes we would go into An empty classroom And pray together. And sometimes Even on the Lord's Day We would go into an empty room And break bread together.

We do not want to belong To any earthly institution. We want to honor Christ as our head. And we want to be open To all God's people. And the Lord began to work. During that period I was at a crossroad.

If I want to follow My conviction I have to leave The denomination. But I love my father. I do not want to hurt him. But if I don't What will be the future? People began to gather together And I was leading them.

And yet My two legs Are on two boats And these two boats Are sailing Gradually apart. I was troubled by it. And it was at that time A servant of God came. And We have some meeting In a home. In a morning That brother gave a message.

Counting the Cost of Following Jesus

It was Luke chapter 14. Our Lord Jesus turned Away from the multitude And said If anyone want to follow me He must forsake all And follow me. Before you build a tower You need to sit down And count the cost Whether you are able To finish it.

You fight with another king Who came with 20 ,000 soldiers And you only Are willing to use 10 ,000 soldiers. Then you better ask for peace Because you cannot succeed. In other words If you want to follow The Lord Sit down Not by impulse And count your cost Before you begin anything.

That message touched me very deeply. So at lunch time After we have lunch We have a rest Before we have the second meeting in the afternoon. And I was sitting by myself. I was praying Lord Is it because I have never sat down And count my cost That I am now In such situation.

So I began to count my cost. If I follow My conviction What will happen to me. And you know the enemy knows How to pile on All these costs. I began to see That I will be Discharged from my university.

My family will cast me out. All my future Will be finished. The more I counted the cost The more it cost me. I told the Lord I cannot pay it I cannot do it. Then I saw the Lord. I don't know Whether it's A vision Or a dream Or what is it.

But I saw him coming to me Showing me his bleeding hands. And he said to me I did it all for you. What will you do for me. What can I say. I said Lord I am willing. His love melts me. And by that love He carried me through.

I am what I am Here today. It begins at that time. So brothers and sisters Seeing is believing But believing Alone is not enough. Trust and obey. There is no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey.

Entering Fellowship With All the Saints

So brothers and sisters You began to apprehend With all the saints. What is the breadth and length And depth and height Of the love of Christ. It is not just a personal thing. You enter into fellowship With all the saints Throughout the centuries That are constrained By the love of Christ And come into possession Filled with the fullness of God.

Is this what you are asking for. Is this what you are expecting. All you have never asked. You never ask him to strengthen Your inner man By the power of his spirit. You never ask that Christ Will come through faith Into your hearts.

You never ask That he will fill your hearts With his love. You never ask That he will fill your hearts With his love. That love That cannot be measured If you ask. If you expect it You will find the power In you Will be More than sufficient For all your needs.

And that is the way That the church Is built. That is the way That God will be glorified In the church In Christ Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters Is it real with us. Is it real. Very very soon We shall meet.

Are we ready for him. Are spiritual things Worthwhile That worth Losing all And gain him To eternity. Dear Lord May thy spirit Search our hearts. May thy love Fill our hearts. That what God's desire To do in us.

May all be done. May Christ Be glorified in the church. We ask in thy precious name Amen.