I'd like to go back to our passage in Hebrews 11, and I want to establish two important principles for you, just two. The other day I gave you twelve, and I guess you have a hard time remembering even two or three, never mind twelve. I'll make it simple for you today, only two. And the two are even related to one another, so that should not be hard to understand. But these two principles are of the greatest importance, and I cannot exaggerate how important they are. If you don't grasp these two principles, you will have gotten nothing, nothing this morning as to what God wants to say to you. But if you grasp these principles, and I will try to make them as simple as possible, because in fact they are quite complicated, but I will try to explain them as simply as possible, you've got the key. You've got the key to the kingdom of God, that better country that we've been talking about these past few days.
And I'm going to use Abraham to try to illustrate these principles. Now you will notice that I'm speaking quite slowly, because my habit is to speak very fast. So I would like to have some mercy upon the translators. So bear with me when I try to speak a little bit slowly. In Liverpool, when I preached, I preached at such a speed that my translator was out of breath much of the time. He was trying to grasp some air in between. And as I preached toward the end of my message, I was going faster and faster, and he was almost choking in trying to catch up with me. So since that time, I have learned to be a little bit more considerate and try to slow down.
Now I'm going at what is called United Nations speed. My father used to be in the diplomatic service for China, representing China in the United Nations, especially on the economic side in Geneva. And in the United Nations, you have to speak at the kind of speed I'm speaking now. So if you listen to televised programs in the United Nations, you'll be surprised why they keep speaking so slowly. It partly is to help the translators, partly because every word is important, as it's going to appear in the newspapers the next day. So this is called United Nations speed. In case I forget, I might start going faster again later on.
Now in these last few days, we've been talking about Hebrews chapter 11, and we've been talking about Abraham there. And in case you think you have covered everything, then I'm going to cover two points that you may not have dealt with in any kind of detail. Now what we read of here in chapter 11, verse 10 of Hebrews, and I will read it for you again: "For Abraham waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." I'm going to tell you straight away that I want to deal with two points. The first is revelation. I'm not talking about the book of Revelation as such, but I'm talking about the principle or the reality of revelation. The second thing I want to talk about is building or witnessing or confessing. The word "confess," as you will notice, appears in this section. So two words. Revelation and confession.
What has revelation got to do with this verse? Quite simply this. I want to ask you this question. Abraham waited for the city which God built. But how did he know that there was such a city? Who told Abraham that there is such a city to wait for? Did you think of that question? Abraham is mentioned right at the beginning of Genesis. And if you look in the chapters before Abraham, where do you find any mention of some city that God built? Where do you find any mention about some so-called better country? There isn't any. There is absolutely no mention of any city of God. So Abraham was waiting for some city that was never mentioned in Genesis, that didn't even exist as far as anybody knows.
Now this word "wait" in Greek here in Hebrews means something that he was waiting expectantly for. We often speak of you are waiting for something, your neck is getting very long. And this is the kind of word that is used here. An expectant, intense waiting where Abraham's neck is getting very long. If he waits long enough, and since he lived quite old, he might almost have arrived at being like a giraffe. He was waiting for this city of God.
Another thing, just briefly to understand here, is notice he was waiting not to go to some city somewhere else, in some other planet or in some other world. The word actually is to wait for it to come. It is rather like Christians today waiting -- and that's the same kind of word used here in the Greek -- for the Lord Jesus to come again. He is waiting for the coming of the Lord. Amazing, isn't it? Waiting for God's coming. He wasn't waiting for some empty city to arrive. Who cares about some better country?
Are you interested in a better country? I tell you frankly, and if it may surprise you, I don't care one bit about some better country. I'm not interested in a better country, even if the climate is good, and the weather is nice, and there are nice shopping centers there, and all this. I don't care one bit about this kind of stuff. I mean, you go to every shopping center today, and Canada has so many big malls, and I see here they have malls too. And, oh, I see clothing shops in there, and some hardware shops, and some pharmacies. And if you don't have anything wrong with you, what do you need a pharmacy for? I don't understand who buys all this clothing. In Canada, it seems half the mall is clothing shops. And I often say to Helen, I say, who buys all this clothing? Because if it depends on me, they will all be bankrupt.
Why do you need ten or fifteen clothing shops in one big mall? I don't understand it. And then here's another shoe shop, and there's another shoe shop, and another shoe shop. Who buys all these shoes? I wear beautiful shoes. People gave it to me as a present, and I'm going to wear this probably for ten, fifteen years. I don't know how long. If they depend on me, they'll also be broke. You see, Alan is very observant here. I came back last time, and he looked at my shoes. He said, "Hey, those are the same shoes you wore last time, two years ago." I said, this man is very observant. Well, I have news for Alan. I'm still wearing the same pair of shoes. Not this one. This one is given to me, walking shoes. But on Sunday, next Sunday, you'll see me wearing the same shoes I wore four years ago. So Alan will be saying, "What? The same shoes again?" They're still good.
So what do they need three or four or five shopping centers and all these shoe shops in there? I don't know who buys this stuff. So if the better country just has beautiful malls and wonderful scenery and this kind of stuff, I'm not interested in this kind of thing. Do you think Abraham was interested because there will be some nice buildings in this better country? Or the scenery will be nice? Do you think he thinks that the climate is so good? I'm sure Abraham doesn't care about that. I'm not interested in that too.
So what is he interested in? There is a song which says, "Where Jesus is, there's heaven there." I can tell you this. If you are in love with somebody and that person lives in the North Pole, I'm sure you would go to the North Pole and you couldn't care less if the temperature was fifty degrees below zero and you couldn't see one flower, you don't see anything except polar bears. You don't care about this. It's because that person you love is there. Who cares about the landscape and the shopping malls and stuff like this? Your loved one is there where Jesus is.
Do you think Abraham was interested in some city? Oh, he was interested in the God who built the city. It's God he loves, who cares about some city. That city has no meaning for me unless God is in it. And you see that in Revelation. What does it say in Revelation? What's in the city? There's no temple there. No temple? Where are we going to worship? And He goes on and tells you there's no light there. No light? What are we going to do, sit in the dark? No, because God is the light. God is the temple. God is everything. Ah. Now, if you don't love God, who wants to go to that country? I spend all my time running away from God. Who wants to go to that country? I go there and He is everything. He is the light. He is the temple. He is everything there. And I go to this place? How clearly, if you don't love God, you don't want to be interested in that city.
I want to make this very clear because you might be wanting to go to the city for the wrong reason. You might think the Australian shopping malls are beautiful. When I get to that country, boy, those shopping malls are even more fantastic. You don't look for fantastic. I mean, you come from Hong Kong. I tell you, you have the best shopping malls in the world. Well, I go to those shopping malls in Hong Kong, you almost have to put on sunglasses. The lights are so bright. Those shopping malls in Hong Kong, I tell you, there is nothing in Australia that can beat them. You don't have to come here for the better country. If you want to get good shopping malls, you go to Hong Kong. Not to mention the prices. I mean, the Hong Kong prices nobody can beat. If you want to go shopping, you came to the wrong place. The better country is in Hong Kong. That's the place to go.
Not to mention the delicious wonton min. I mean, when you come here, what are you going to eat? This kind of wonton here is not worth eating. It's Hong Kong. That is where you get the food. You want Sichuan food, you want whatever kind of food, even Mongolian food, whatever you like. You got it all in Hong Kong. That's the best place. That is the better country. Hong Kong.
So you like to come back with me? That's good. Go back there. We'll walk in the shopping malls together. Oh, the Hong Kong shopping malls. They are just beautiful. Beautiful. I like to walk in there just because I get the exercise. Because outside is so hot. And inside the shopping mall, in Hong Kong shopping malls, you have this air conditioning. It's superb. It's just beautiful. You can walk there. Tai Koo Shing. I like to go there. Tai Koo Shing. So big. So big a place. You can walk, walk, walk. Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. So comfortable. You come here. What shopping mall? And this kind of shopping mall, not one of them can compete with Tai Koo Shing. I tell you, not to mention those in Ocean Terminal and so on. Oh, these are the best.
Now, do you really think that Abraham was looking for shopping malls? I mean, talk about scenery. Hong Kong scenery is beautiful. You think Canada, Australia is not bad. The scenery is not bad. I tell you, I prefer the scenery in Hong Kong. Mountains and water. It's beautiful. The islands. Beautiful scenery. You know, Australia is okay. But it sure can't beat Hong Kong. So if we say we migrated to Australia for a better country, I'm not so sure what we are talking about here.
No. It is the fact that the one you love is there. If you don't love that person, there's nothing there that interests you. Nothing there. That's why many people, they migrate to Australia, they have no friends here. They can't even communicate. They don't speak English properly. All these young men, you know, talking all this unintelligible stuff. I mean, go back to Hong Kong. Ah, everybody speaks your language. Wonderful. If you go to heaven and you can't speak the heavenly language, you're a foreigner there. You say, why did I come here? I worked so hard to come here, I can't even talk to anybody. You talk to the angel. The angel says, "Sorry, I don't understand. Can you speak local language?" Oh, what did I come here for? Can't talk to anybody. You have to look for some other Hong Kong people there. Ah, now I can talk.
# Longing for a Better Country - Message 3 (continued): The Love That Draws Us
So to sum it up on this point is very simple. If you don't know anybody in heaven, or in the heavenly kingdom, and if Jesus doesn't mean much to you, and God you don't care much for, who wants to go to some better country? There's no better country for you to go to. At that point you must be clear. Now why should you bother to love God?
Well, we are at Easter. If we don't understand how much Jesus loves us, how much Jesus loves you, if we don't understand -- your father and your mother loves you very much, I'm sure. Your brother and your sisters, they love you very much. Your friends may love you too, if you are nice to them. If you're not nice to them, they might not love you either. But we cannot get it into our minds that Jesus loves us more than any of these. That Jesus loves us more than your father, and your mother, your brother, your sister, you name it. Their love will not even come near to Jesus' love. Can we understand that? It's very hard to understand. Even for me it's very hard to understand, because I look at myself and I say, Lord, what do you see in me? Do you like my blue jacket? What do you love me for? There's nothing there to love. It's very hard to understand. Why should He love me?
That is the mind of God. We don't understand. Why should He want to go and die for me, so that He can bring me to His home? As He said to His disciples, "I'm going to go away," He says to His disciples. Why am I going away? Because I'm going to prepare a place for you. In my Father's house, there are many, many big rooms. And I'm going to bring you there, and I want to prepare this place. He wants to go there, as though it's not good enough already, to prepare the place for us. Prepare? I thought, you don't need any preparation. It's already good. But it's not good enough for you. I want to go there and make it even better for you. I said, I lost track of this. Why should you bother to do this for me? Not even my dad and mom would do this.
We can't understand this kind of love. But more than that, He went and laid down His life for us. I don't understand this thing. Why is all this necessary? I can't grasp this. I've been serving the Lord for all these years, and I still don't understand. And those of you who are going to be baptized today, you're going to get baptized, and you'll say, oh, I understand so little. Don't worry. I don't understand much more than you do. I'll be honest with you. This is not a question of knowledge. I may know the Bible quite well, but that does not mean that I understand the depths and the power of God's love. I really don't. I really don't. He went and died for me. Oh, I don't grasp it. Do you? If you do, kindly explain it to me sometime. Because I'm not so ready to die for other people. Are you ready to die for somebody else? You want to save your own life. Who cares about this guy? But He loves us. More than anybody. More than your boyfriend. Oh yeah, your boyfriend loves you a lot. I'm sure you're convinced of that. But if I told you that Jesus loved you far more than your boyfriend, you'd have a hard time believing it, isn't it? But it's absolutely true. Or your girlfriend. It will take us all our lives to try and understand this point.
And it's because of that overpowering love -- not an oppressive love, but an overwhelming love. Overwhelms my understanding. I say, Jesus, I want to be where You are. Where Jesus is, as the song says, 'tis heaven there. The only way we know what a friend is really like is when we are in a jam. If you are ever in difficulty, if you are ever in problems, I tell you, nobody will stand by you in the way that Jesus does. Not even fellow Christians. Sorry to say. But not even fellow Christians.
When the Apostle Paul was about to be executed for the faith, one of the sentences he said brings tears to my eyes. This great apostle who poured out his life to build up the churches, he loved them, he cared for them, he prayed for them, he wept for them. And when he was about to die, he wrote these words: "Nobody stood by me, except the Lord." Nobody stood by me. Why? It was too dangerous to stand by him. He was about to have his head chopped off. Do you want to have your head chopped off too? No, no, no. I'll pray for you. I'll pray for you there. "The Lord bless you. Give you strength, courage. I'll send you a card." But to stand by him in the trial? No, no, no. This is too dangerous. Nobody stood by, even this great apostle, who spent his whole life with selfless devotion to build up the church. Only Jesus.
If you ever are in a jam, as I have been many times, in serious problems, you will find you got no friends but Jesus. In my non-Christian days, I had many friends, and so I thought. But when the day came that I had no money in my pocket, I had no more position in the world, I dropped down from the heights of human glory, I had no friends. It was a shock to me. It was a shock. I thought they would still be true, still be faithful. No more.
There was a time when my family, myself, we were big shots in China, where I could walk in and out and be saluted by guards, be driven around in chauffeur-driven cars, the high officials paying their respects. There was a time when I sat at the table, the acting prime minister was sitting on this side, his wife was on this side, foreign minister, defense minister, finance minister, generals, all around the table. The whole cabinet. And I, the only kid sitting there. Position. Power. But the day that the whole government collapsed, everything went down, no more friends. That is life. Human beings are like that. I hope you don't have to learn this lesson the hard way.
Only then I discovered that Jesus never turns His back on us. There are these words in Hebrews: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." It says in the Old Testament, a mother may even forget her own child, not only forget, even abandon the child. But I will never forsake you. That is Jesus. Where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there. You think Abraham was interested in some city? Of course not. He was interested in the builder of that city. Why does God build a city? Because He wants you to be able to live in His goodness, in His kindness, and all that He has prepared for you. That is what it's for.
I go, the Lord Jesus says, I'm about to die now. I told you I'm going to die. He told His disciples many times. He says, don't be sad. Don't be sad. I'm going to prepare a place for you. There I'm going to welcome you. He rose from the dead to prove that His words are not empty words. What He says, He can do. That's more than any human being can do. Often I say, I'm willing to help you. I'll try my best. I'm not sure I can succeed, but I'll try my best. The Lord Jesus doesn't have to say these kind of apologetic words. What He says, He can do.
Now, I come back to this vital question. How did Abraham know that God who loves him so much had prepared this place for him to enjoy God's love? How did he know of such a place? As I said, in Genesis, there is no mention of any city. Now, there are many things about Abraham that I find quite amazing. He knew a lot of things that even Christians today don't seem to know. Before this camp, did you know something about this heavenly city that's going to come down, that Abraham was waiting for it to come? Did you know about it? Maybe you vaguely heard about it. But Abraham knew it and he knew it so well. Knew it so well that he was uninterested in anything in this world. That is really something. I look at Christians and I can see very few Christians have the faith of Abraham.
Abraham was a very, very intelligent man. If you look at Genesis, you will see many things about Abraham that are very remarkable. For example, in one battle, he fought against four kings. He beat them with 318 men. Now, you try that sometime. Abraham led his 318 trained men and he beat four kings in battle. As you look between the lines, it says he launched a nighttime attack on them. Oh, he's a military strategist. He caught them while they were sleeping. A tactic that is used even in modern warfare. Very intelligent man. And you have to be good to beat four armies with 318 men. Gideon only managed that with the Lord's help and the Lord's grace, and also during a nighttime attack. Maybe Gideon learned something from Abraham's strategy. This man, how did he know these things? Who told him about these things?
And you know, as you look back in Genesis, in the early chapters, Abraham knew a lot of things. For example, he knew about the resurrection, which through the Old Testament is hardly mentioned at all. There is no mention of resurrection, and yet, somehow, Abraham knew of resurrection. And that is why he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, on whom all the promises of God rested. He was willing to sacrifice Isaac. Why? Because Paul tells us he was so confident in his God and that God would keep His promise that even if he killed Isaac as a sacrifice, God would raise him from the dead. Now, we don't believe things that haven't been mentioned in the Bible. I can tell you it's nowhere mentioned in Genesis anything about a resurrection. Not even in the Old Testament. This amazing man Abraham believed in the resurrection. And today, when we are talking about the resurrection of Christ, I can be quite sure that many of you have doubts about this. I'm quite sure about it. Let me be absolutely honest. Do you have doubts about this? Abraham had none. So sure was he that he lifted up his knife, put his son there on the altar, raised his knife to kill his one and only son. I dare any of you to try that in your confidence in God if God so tells you to do.
How did Abraham know about resurrection, about the city of God, about these things that never have been mentioned anywhere before? There was only one way he could know. Only one way. By revelation. Now that was my first key word. Revelation. Anything that is intangible from the physical point of view -- spiritual things, Paul says, are known only by spiritual means. What spiritual means? Revelation.
If we want to determine some planet out there or some quasar out there, you use a radio telescope, you use your instruments to search the sky until you see there is this whole galaxy, this quasar, this black hole, whatever it is. You use your instruments to detect these things. Sensitive, powerful instruments to detect them. All material things are established by your sensory perception. What in philosophy is called the empirical approach. Empirical means established by your senses. The empiricists in philosophy do not believe in the existence of anything that cannot be established by one of your senses, or as many of your senses as possible. By eyesight, by ear, by touch, you know that thing exists.
But spiritual things cannot be discovered in this way. And as I mentioned, most of the important things in life are in fact of the kind that cannot be established in this way. When we speak, for example, of Einstein's theory, he speaks of C, which is the symbol for the speed of light in physics. Now speed is not something that can be touched or tasted. What do you describe as speed? Speed is what? It is not something you can touch, but something you might be able to feel it, you may not be able to feel it. You sit in a jumbo jet, the jumbo jet is flying at over 600 miles an hour, do you feel speed? You feel nothing. You sit there and you don't know anything about speed. Speed is not something you can necessarily feel. What you feel when you are driving a car is the car rattling, the wind blowing, you feel that. You are not feeling speed. You are feeling external elements. Do you know that as I am standing here, you are sitting here, this earth is rotating at almost the speed of 1,000 miles per hour. We are moving at 1,000 miles an hour, do you feel it? The earth is rotating. You don't feel anything. So we can go on element after element, they are non-detectable to our senses. We have to use other means to try to establish that this thing is there, this thing called speed, or this thing called time, or this thing called love, which takes us into another area.
But spiritual things, the things of God, can be known primarily only through one way: revelation. If God does not reveal it, we have no way to know it. And that means the only way that Abraham could have known about the existence of this mysterious city, this spiritual, this heavenly city, is only one way, through revelation. And the only way he could know of something called resurrection is through revelation.
This means, brothers and sisters, your conviction about spiritual things depends on only one factor: revelation. There's no other way you will know. The Bible is actually all revelation. But then whether you believe the Bible or not, again, itself depends on revelation. When you read all these things about heavenly cities and all this kind of thing, how do you know it's true? The reality, the truth of spiritual things can only be established by God revealing it to you. Are you going to believe it because I stand here and say it? Because I can convince you with my logic? If you believe for that reason, you believe for the wrong reason. Because my logic may be faulty, my reasoning may be wrong, but you don't know how to detect the wrongness of my reasoning.
So much deception goes on in the world because people are convinced. Hitler stood up there and talked and talked until the German people were shouting and clapping and jumping and dancing. They all believed in Hitler and all his garbage. Why? They were convinced with his reasoning, and his reasoning was absolutely wrong. He talked such rubbish as the Germans being of the Aryan race, the superior race. I know a lot of Germans and I don't see anything very superior about them. I find they are nice people and there are some bad ones and some good ones, but I don't see anything very superior about them. They are not superior to anybody, but they believed this garbage that Hitler was able to tell them. They believed in all his ridiculous reasoning.
No, the only way you can know whether what I say from the word of God is true or false is in fact through revelation. Revelation. Now, that raises the question, of course, how do I get this revelation? How does God reveal things to me?
Well, let's ask the question. Abraham is the father of faith, isn't he? That's what the Bible tells us, what Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 4. The whole chapter is about Abraham. Abraham is the example of faith. Why did God reveal all these things to Abraham? Is this favoritism? What is with Abraham? Well, there is just one thing about Abraham that I can discover. I can't discover anything else about Abraham. And I find the secret isn't that difficult if this is the case. And that is, Abraham had just one secret. He obeyed God 100%.
In other words, we don't have to ask Abraham to join our commitment training. This man was 100% committed to God. How committed was he? God said to Abraham, "You know this place that you are living in here, in Ur of the Chaldees, this great city here, it's very advanced in culture, very nice. Now I tell you something, I want you to leave this place, leave your business behind, leave your practice behind. I want you to go to where?" To Canaan? Canaan? Where's Canaan? Never heard of it. What kind of place is this? And the Lord said, "You go there." What for? "Go there and find out."
What program do I follow? "You just follow me." Okay, I don't mind following you, but tell me, where am I going? "No, no, you just follow." And Abraham went. Now that takes commitment. He put everything down. Don't think that discipleship was discovered in the New Testament. Don't think that something new happened when the Lord said to Matthew, "Stand up from this tax collecting job, you're making a lot of money right now. I know you're making good money, but I want you to leave that behind and follow me." What's the salary, Lord? "Salary? Zero." Zero? So what's in it for me? Well, the Lord said, "I'll tell you what's in it for you." Just like Brother Chris mentioned in his message yesterday. You're going to lose everything. And that's not all yet. You take up your cross and follow. There's nothing in it for him except Jesus. You don't like to follow Jesus, then forget it. There's nothing in it for you.
If Abraham didn't see something of the glory of God by way of revelation, there's nothing in it for him. Not interested in this thing. Talk about commitment training. I can tell you there are few Christians, very, very few, who have the commitment of Abraham even today. The Lord calls, leave everything down, I follow Him. I go where He goes. What's the secret of revelation? That's the secret. Total commitment. Why do we keep talking about total commitment? Because without it there will never be revelation. You will never be able to see the things of God.
Why is Paul able to say at the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, that passage that you are familiar with, "We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen"? Why? "Because the things which are seen are transient. They all pass away. But the things which are not seen, they are eternal." Can you understand that? No. Why? Because the only way to understand that is by revelation.
What kind of a Christian you are today depends on one thing only: revelation. You are not going to be a true Christian in any sense of the word. Not at all. Let me tell you the truth. Unless God has revealed something to you. Every true Christian has already experienced revelation. I said true Christian. Everyone has already experienced revelation.
What happened to Peter? Peter. When the Lord said to Peter, "Who do you say I am?" Peter said, "You, the Son of the living God." And what did the Lord say to him? "Ah, your glasses are not bad. They must have been made in Hong Kong. Very good. You look at me and you see." I went to make this pair of glasses. You see, these are my driving glasses actually. That's why they're very big, so I can see out of the corner of my eye. And when I made these glasses in Canada and I told them my previous glasses were made in Hong Kong, the lady told me right away, "The best glasses in the world are made in Hong Kong." And I thought to myself, why am I here? The only reason I was there is because I needed these driving glasses. I couldn't see well enough for driving in Canada with the previous pair of glasses. So I had to pay much more. I think in Hong Kong I would have better glasses and pay half the price. I told you that's the better country. Now why are you here? Maybe I should ask you, what are you doing here? You come to the wrong place. Go back there. That's the better country.
So what did the Lord say to Peter? "Ah, you got good Hong Kong made glasses?" No, He said this: "You wouldn't know who I am. Flesh and blood, that is, no human being, not even this guy Eric Chang has told you about this. Only my Father in heaven has revealed this to you." The only way you can know who I am is through revelation. Have you experienced the revelation of God? If not, you are in trouble. You are in trouble, my friend. You are believing for the wrong reason. You may be believing because your friend believes and you said, well, this guy is okay, and therefore because he believes, so I believe. That's not the reason for believing. And when trouble comes, you will not be able to stand because your faith is built on somebody else's faith. And what happens if that guy collapses? If that guy denies the Lord, what are you going to do? Are you going to deny the Lord with him?
Revelation is what God does in your heart. If there is no living God, there is nobody to reveal anything to you. The only way you would believe is by somebody else talking you into believing. I mentioned to you the other day, when the Lord Jesus said these things, He turned around and walked away. He did not try to convince the Pharisees and the Sadducees that He is the Christ. He just answered their question, He walked away. You say, why do you do this? That's not evangelism. Evangelism is to take out your Bible and give it to them. Here is a verse, read this for yourself. Do you know how to read? Okay, then read this. And then you talk them into believing. Just walk away. Strange. Why? Because it's revelation. If God doesn't reveal something to you, it's no use to talk.
I do the same thing. I don't talk anybody into the kingdom of God. They sit there waiting for me to talk to them and I don't talk to them. I had a relative on my wife's side who was about my own age. She worked in Cathay Pacific Airlines in Hong Kong. Again, the better country. That's one of the best airlines in the world. She used to say to me, "Convince me to become a Christian." I said, "No." She said, "Why not? Just tell me how I should become a Christian. Just convince me. Explain this thing to me." I said, "No." And then she died of cancer. And I felt, maybe I should have done it. Maybe I should have opened my Bible and expounded it to her. I didn't. I felt bad. Until I talked to her mother. And I said, "You know, I felt so bad because she used to ask me to convince her to become a Christian and I never did. I never talked to her." She said, "That's all right. She became a Christian." I said, "What?" "Yeah, she became a Christian. Before she died, she committed her life to the Lord." I was so happy. Otherwise, one day I stand before the Lord and the Lord said, "Why didn't you?" God did the work. God's revelation. God had revealed Himself. That is the only way you can be a true Christian. Through God's revealing Himself.
How did Abraham know these things? Let me tell you, this camp theme will be wasted on you. Complete waste of time. You spend four days here talking about some pie in the sky, some castle in the sky. You don't know if it exists or not. This whole thing is going to be meaningless unless God reveals something to you. Now I don't mean that revelation has to come like Buddha, sitting under some tree and bang, the lights went on. Revelation can come bit by bit and gradually builds up into a powerful conviction. Revelation. But I stress again, revelation.
And the only way you will get this revelation is through a hundred percent commitment to the truth. I mentioned truth the other day. I don't mean a hundred percent commitment to religion. Not a hundred percent commitment to the disciples' church. Not a hundred percent commitment to the doctrine of Protestant teaching. Not a hundred percent commitment to Baptist doctrine. Our church is basically a Baptist church. We don't put it in our name. But our Montreal church is registered as a Baptist church. We belong to the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists of Canada. But I don't ask anyone to have a hundred percent commitment to the Baptist teaching. There must be hundred percent commitment to the truth. That's all God asks of you. Are you willing to be committed to the truth, whatever it costs? If you have that kind of commitment and say to God, "Lord, I will follow the truth wherever it takes me. I do not know You very well. I don't even know if You are the truth. But I am willing to be committed to the truth because that's what You ask me to do." God will reveal Himself and His truth to you.
Commitment to the truth means that if you are not absolutely honest -- let me tell you this, God reads your heart like an open book. Don't say that you are 100% committed to the truth if you are not. Because then you will hear the Lord Jesus say, "You hypocrite." That's exactly what He said to the Pharisees. Hypocrite. Don't play games with the living God. It's a very dangerous thing to play games with the living God. The writer to the Hebrews says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If you don't know that God is real, let me tell you at least this: don't play games with God. What you don't mean, don't say it. If you say it, He will hold you to your word. God is the God of all truth. And if you are committed to the truth, you are willing to follow Him wherever the truth takes you, He will reveal Himself. He will reveal His truth to you. That I guarantee. Because I know it from experience.
I know about this living country, this better country, because God has revealed it to me. He has. Therefore, I believe it not because that's the camp theme. I believe it not because somebody told me there is some -- I believe it not just because the Bible says so. Let me tell you this. I share this with you from time to time. In my student days, I lived in a place in North London called Highbury, a very cheap home for poor students like me. I used to cycle to college all through the dust and pollution of London, from North London to West London where my college was. And I lived in that place, and one morning -- and it was in fact Easter -- I knelt down before the Lord to pray, to commune with the Lord, and then suddenly heaven opened up for me.
It was an amazing experience. God revealed heaven to me. Not that I was taken up into heaven like Paul or someone else was lifted up into the third heaven. No. Suddenly, I was in heaven right here on earth. It's an experience that I don't even know how to describe or to explain. I was not asking for an experience. I was not even asking for a revelation. I was simply praying, fellowshipping with the Lord. And suddenly, I was transported into the heavenly world. Right here on earth. I was conscious about things around me, and yet suddenly I was conscious of heaven, of this better country, of this eternal reality.
You know, when it comes to spiritual things, sometimes, as Paul says, he keeps silent because he doesn't know how to explain it. I don't know how to put it in words. And it was not some passing experience that lasted two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds. This whole thing lasted at least for three hours. For three hours, I was -- all I can describe it as being in heaven. And God's presence was there. And I was filled with some incredible joy that I couldn't understand or explain. Now I understand what Paul means about joy unspeakable, ineffable, indescribable, and full of glory. He was obviously speaking from some experience in revelation.
For three whole hours, I was simply in heaven. And if you ask me to describe it in detail, I don't know how to describe it. I don't know how to put it in words. It was something truly amazing. God revealed this so-called better country to me. Now I don't say that every person gets the same kind of experience. God may reveal it to you in some other way, just as He revealed it to Paul in some other way. So I know. I know about this. It is a way of life. It is not a place in the sense of geography. In spiritual reality, we don't talk about place. Place has to do with material things, with earth. When we speak of a better country, we are talking about a new spiritual way of life, which has a quality of life that defies explanation or description.
For three hours, I lived in heaven. It was an amazing experience. To this day, it has left such an impression on my mind. It's just overwhelming. And like Moses coming down from the mountain, without my knowing it, I must have carried in my being and on my face the glory of heaven. And I was to go to an appointment right after this amazing experience. And I was still in communion with the Lord. And I walked into this room. And the Lord directed my attention to one person in the room. I went over to that person. The first question that person asked me -- I had never seen this person before -- "How did you become a Christian?" It's a strange way to start a conversation. We hadn't even said hello yet. God had somehow drawn him and I don't know what this was. And he asked me this and I explained to him. That very day he committed his life to the Lord. He gave up a career in medicine to follow the Lord. He is still a Christian today. I have seen him quite recently. I then realized that God gave me this revelation not to satisfy me, but in order to accomplish something for His glory and for His kingdom. In this case, the salvation of this person.
# Longing for a Better Country - Message 3 (conclusion): Revelation, Commitment, and Confession
In China. In fact, I came to the Lord. I had my first experience of God in Shenzhen, right on the border with Hong Kong. Sitting under the nose of a communist, submachine gun in hand. It was there that God gave me His first revelation, my first encounter with God. Because for the first time, I totally, 100% committed myself unconditionally to follow the truth, to obey the truth, whatever it costs. That's the reason I'm preaching the gospel today. It is out of obedience to God's revelation and to the commitment I made on that day.
I share again with you, with shame, with shame, that more than once the world so attracted me in the intervening years that I have been inclined to turn away from that original commitment. Friends of mine have said to me, "Oh, a man of your ability and your intelligence, or whatever it is, you should be here working in the world. You would be up in high places. You would be making loads of money. You would be successful in any profession you like. Why are you following the Lord, being some poor preacher out there?"
I drive this magnificent car that I drive. You know how much my car cost? $100. I share this with people, they don't believe me. "How can you buy a car for $100?" That is the absolute truth. And I have witnesses to prove it. I bought this car for $100 that I am driving in Canada. I am not driving a Jaguar. I am not driving a Rolls Royce. I am not driving a Porsche. Not even a humble BMW. Not even a humble Mercedes. I drive my $100 car, made in 1976, which might belong in a museum by now. But it runs wonderfully in the grace of God. You know, even my car runs on grace. Wonderful. Wonderful job. Wonderful car. Somebody wanted to get rid of it and wanted to get rid of it for $100 real fast. Okay, it is fine. $100 is fine with me.
And people say to me, "You end up being a poor preacher driving this kind of junk, you know. If you were in the world, I mean, if you wanted to be a lawyer, you would be a top lawyer. You want to be a scientist, you would be a top scientist. And what do you do? You become a preacher man." So I admit to my shame that more than once I have considered, "Come on Lord, maybe, huh? Give me a chance to drive a Jaguar for two or three years, huh? Just my holiday break, huh? After two or three years I come back again." Is that right? No. Will not do. So I carry on in the way that the Lord has called me.
So we press on in the power of that revelation. And there in Shenzhen, when I made my first commitment to the Lord to follow Him unconditionally, He revealed Himself to me again in an experience I don't know how to describe. I think in my testimony I have shared a little bit about it. But I really don't know how to describe this experience. These things are beyond description. And on that occasion, when I met with the Lord, I was filled with an unspeakable joy. I began to understand what that heavenly country must be like. People are filled with a joy that is unspeakable, indescribable. I was so happy and I didn't know why. I thought I must be crazy. Only crazy people get that happy, I suppose. And if that's the case, I would like to be crazy. I was just filled with joy. The fruit of the Spirit is what? Love. Joy. Peace. That is the glory of being a Christian.
And another occasion, in Kent, in southern England, the Holy Spirit came down upon us in a meeting. In fact, again, an Easter meeting. Amazingly enough. God must specialize particularly in working at Easter. So maybe you have great possibilities today, huh? The Holy Spirit came down with immense power upon us, what we have to describe as Pentecostal power. And there were some fifty or sixty people in the room. And when the Spirit of God came down, heaven came down with the Holy Spirit. And every person in the room, not one person, failed to experience the revelation of God on that day. Those who had committed sins broke down, wept with tears. I was singing a song with a guy standing next to me and he was wetting my whole hymn book with his tears. At that time I didn't mind. Because before there came the joy, there was the repentance to clear away every sin. The Spirit of God came down and we experienced heaven, all fifty or sixty of us there. The meeting went on for three hours. We were not interested in lunch. We were not interested in food. We just had the presence of God. And nobody wanted to go.
Revelation. And you can have it. This is not a sales pitch. This is the truth of the matter. But only on one vital condition: that like Abraham, you are 100% committed to the truth. You will go wherever God wants you to go. You will do whatever He wants you to do. You will follow Him unconditionally. You will take up your cross and follow Him wherever He leads. If you are prepared to do that. If. And that's a big if. And there are not too many Christians. They will say, "Okay, 80% is fine. 70% is even better." Bargain with God. You see, in Hong Kong we are very good at the market. How much is this? You bargain back and forth, back and forth, and finally you settle on the price. And so we want to bargain with God. Don't bring your Hong Kong mentality to God. Don't bargain with Him. Because He has no time for this. 100%. Nothing less.
And then I want to conclude with this statement, as our time is gone. And this statement is very, very important. Notice carefully. And this has to be a supplement to Brother Chris's immigration conditions. And this one is tough. This one is tough. And it is this: nobody will have a share, nobody will qualify in the immigration into that new country, who is not now involved in the establishing of God's kingdom on earth. Did you grasp my point? That is the Lord's teaching. Nobody here, not you, not me, will be able to qualify to enter the kingdom of God unless you, here and now, today, tomorrow, the coming days, will be involved in building God's kingdom on earth.
Now this point is closely tied to the previous point on revelation. I can tell you this: it is in the process of building God's kingdom on earth now, establishing His church now, which is one aspect of His kingdom, that you will experience God's revelation to you. I said you will follow Him one hundred percent. What does that mean? Are we talking hot air here? We are just talking theory? No. To follow Him one hundred percent means to do what He did.
Now the Lord Jesus said to the Jews in John chapter 8, they claim to be Abraham's descendants. He said, "If you were truly Abraham's descendants, you would do what Abraham did." But what did Abraham do? Verse 13, look again at verse 13 in Hebrews 11: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises." But what? But having received the revelation. What revelation? Having seen. That's revelation. Having seen from afar, they already saw. And because of that revelation, what did they have? They had the assurance. They had powerful assurance because of revelation.
I have assurance of salvation. I never doubt my salvation. Why? Because of God's revelation. That revelation gives me full assurance. Do you doubt whether you are saved or not? You doubt it if you don't have God's revelation. And that revelation comes through His Holy Spirit, as we read in Romans 8: "The Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit." God's Spirit witnesses. What is witness? His revelation. He reveals to us what? Witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. He is witnessing to my spirit. He is revealing to my spirit that I am a child of God. Therefore I have no reason. I cannot even doubt. I even want to doubt, I can't doubt, because He has revealed this wonderful reality to me.
That is the true foundation of all assurance. Any assurance built on something else is to build on sinking sand. But all assurance built on Romans 8 and the revelation is solid rock. Nothing can shake you. Nothing. Like our brothers and sisters in China. Locked them away in prison. Put them there twenty-one years. Just two months ago I was talking to a brother from Shanghai. Twenty-one years in prison. His faith is strong and glorious. He is one of the important leaders of the underground churches in China. Radiant faith. No pressure could break him. Why? Revelation. As Paul says, "I know whom I have believed." How do you know? Because of revelation. There is no other way. God has revealed Himself. As Paul says, "The Lord was pleased to reveal His Son to me." You see, it's revelation. Everywhere is revelation. The whole New Testament is revelation. True Christian life is revelation.
If you want to know with certainty whether you are a true Christian, if you want to know with certainty whether God is real, if you want to know with certainty that there is this better country, you need God's revelation. Like Paul, you need to have God revealing His Son to you. Then you have complete assurance.
But this is connected to the other point. The more you serve the Lord, following Him 100%, the more God will reveal Himself to you. As I said, revelation is an ongoing process. It is not once and for all, finished. I had this wonderful experience of God and it's over. Oh no. God has continued to reveal Himself to me and will continue to reveal Himself to me yet more wonderful things in the future. I have prayed for the sick and they have been healed, and I'm not a faith healer. Is that a revelation? Of course. God reveals Himself again in the power. I have prayed for people with cancer and they have been healed. The tumor just vanished, disappeared. Previously were x-rayed, there is this tumor there in the womb. After the prayer, they went with x-ray again, there is no tumor. This was not some psychological healing. Tumors do not disappear because of psychology. The thing just vanished. The doctors were going to operate and just before, "Where is the tumor we are going to operate on? It's gone."
A person went down with a stroke. This lady was in Montreal, in Canada, just two or three years ago, in our summer camp. And she shared with the other aunties in the camp. I had prayed for her in the hospital and she was restored instantly. The doctors had already made the test, extracting spinal fluid or whatever they do to establish a stroke, and they confirmed that she had a stroke. Healed on the spot.
As you go on serving the Lord, whether it is through these kinds of acts of power -- which I don't like to publicize by the way, I don't want to talk much about these kinds of things, I don't want people to come to the Lord for the sake of physical benefits, that's for the wrong reason -- I see people's lives transformed, changed. That is another truly amazing revelation of God. People that you thought it is impossible for them to become different, and they have become changed, new people, a new man in Christ. Those are revelations.
So as you go on confessing the Lord, serving the Lord, you will continue to see the glory of the Lord. But if you do not serve the Lord, you will see nothing. You will see nothing. Do you see the Lord? Do you experience the Lord? Not if you are not serving the Lord. And when I talk about serving the Lord, I have put the word on confession. Confession. I am not talking about doing all kinds of external activities, running here and there and doing this and that, busy all over the place. I don't mean to say that there is no such use of that kind of service in the church. But the word here is confession. That means to say both by your life and by your words, you proclaim God's reality in your life.
Now I draw your attention again to these: "These all died in faith." They were all looking for the city. They had not yet received the promise. They died in faith. But what is the point I am getting at? If you look at the context, you will see that it was Abraham who was looking for the city. Now all of a sudden you find that the one person Abraham has become "they." They were all looking for the city of promise. How come now they also believe? The reason is what? Abraham's confession now resulted in the faith of the so-called "they." The "they" is who? Well, the "they" was Abraham's children: Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, the whole family. Everybody now believed. Why? Because of Abraham's confession. And then God, through Abraham's confession, was able to reveal this heavenly city also to them. So that they also, not just Abraham alone, but they also saw and embraced with assurance this glorious hope.
So two things, and here I must stop. Again I emphasize: first, revelation. And I have shown you how to get that revelation. God is more eager to give you that revelation than you are willing to receive it. By the way, don't think you have to squeeze God and say, "Come on, come on, give me some revelation. This preacher has been yacking about revelation all morning, and now give me some." And I get to twist God's arm. Let me tell you, He is more anxious to give you the revelation than you are to receive it. Why are you not willing to receive it? You are scared. Let me tell you the truth. You are scared. The Americans say you are yellow. That doesn't mean anything to do with skin color, you know, like me. It has to do with being cowardly. The problem is that most people are cowards. And the fact is that you don't dare to face God's revelation. You don't dare. Because you know that God is true.
I dare you to try what I say. Try it. And God will reveal Himself to you. And will scare the wits out of you. Revelation is total commitment. And suddenly the Lord will say, "Oh, I see you have a nice car there. And you have a nice house." And I put that all away and follow me. "Why did I ask for revelation?" Oh boy. That's why I say we are cowards. It is not that God is not real. It is that we don't dare to face the reality of God. We don't dare to face that reality. I have talked to people time and again. They finally tell me honestly, "I can't become a Christian." Why? "I can't face the cost." I say, okay, at least you are honest. But don't you ever say that God is not real. The truth of the matter is, you don't have what the Americans say -- rather, you are not very elegant. You don't have the guts. You don't have the guts. You don't have the courage to be a Christian. That's the truth of the matter. You don't dare to face His revelation. And then you say, "It's not real." Don't dare. I dare you to follow it. I've tried this before and I tell you, they all back down. They're scared. They say, "Prove God to me." I say, "Sure, I'll prove God to you." And then when I prove it to them, they're scared. "Oh, no, no, no. I give up. Okay. I can't face this."
So my challenge is this: God's revelation is for every one of you. Do you have the courage to face His revelation? Do you have the courage to see what are the consequences of following that revelation? And then do you dare to confess it? Do you dare to take part in the building of His kingdom?
In Matthew 12, verse 30, the Lord Jesus says, "He that does not gather with me scatters." There are only two kinds of people. And you are one of these two. You either gather -- that is, you help to build His kingdom, and therefore you will have a part in that kingdom -- or you scatter. You have no part in that kingdom. God has by His grace given each one of us the revelation. These are described as talents. He gives more revelation to one, maybe less revelation to another, according to what you are able to receive. We are saved by grace. But what you do with that grace is going to determine whether you have a place in that kingdom or not.
That is why in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, it says what? In verse 26, if I remember correctly, it says this: it says to that lazy servant, "Cast him out into the place" -- another place, not this better country -- "the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." This lazy servant, throw him out, because he did not do anything. If you don't labor for the kingdom, you will have no place in the kingdom. Salvation is by grace. But whether you are worthy of that grace depends on what you do with that grace. God gives you ten talents, five, one, according to what you are able to receive of His revelation. What you do with that revelation will determine whether you are in that better country, and whether you will enjoy it, and to what extent you will enjoy it.
Let us pray.