This sharing is a continuation of some enjoyment from the conference this past weekend – the general subject was, Where Are You? In the first part we saw that we are hiding from God (yet no one can really hide from God, He can see us and He even is seeking us) and we are dead in sin (since we are sinners, our condition without God is that we are dead in sin).
But Christ came to take away the sin of the world – and He became our Substitute on the cross. Now through believing into the Lord, we are Found by God and brought close to Him, and we are enlivened and regenerated!
Below is some sharing from the third and fourth message given in this conference for the young people.
Where are You? Without Hope in the World
What is the world? The world is a system set up by Satan to capture, enslave, and occupy mankind – keeping them from God and His purpose. Everyone in the world is usurped and enslaved by Satan, who is the ruler of this world – and is under God’s judgement (John 12:31).
The whole world lies passively in the hand of the evil one (1 John 5:19) – Satan is like a surgeon and the whole world is like a corpse on the operating table, lying there for Satan to operate on it… Everyone in the world is “under anesthetics”, drugged, doped, lying in front of Satan to be operated on by him…
The whole world is under God’s judgement because of this! God judged the world at the time of Noah (Gen. 6:5-17), but He saved some who chose Him and walked with Him! We as believers need to stick with Noah and his family!
The people in the world are drugged by the necessities of life, and the influence of the world is very powerful, like a strong tide (Matt. 24:37-39; 1 Pet. 4:4). Actually, no one can withstand the current of the world – Satan wants to sweep everyone into this strong current of death!
But Judgement is coming – God has already judged the world and its ruler, and when He returns again He will judge all mankind!
But God has provided a way for us to be saved from His judgement! God has prepared Christ to be our “ark” for us to be saved! When we believe into the Lord, we are put on Christ and we are saved from God’s judgement – we will not be judged with the world (1 Cor. 1:30; 6:17).
The entire ark was covered within and without with pitch – the blood of Christ protects us from God’s judgement and it is also for our assurance! Praise the Lord, we can be in Christ, the ark, to be saved from God’s judgement on the world – by believing into Christ!
Where are You? In the Kingdom of God, the Church!
By believing into the Lord and by being baptized, we are delivered out of Satan’s kingdom of darkness – the world – and transferred into God’s kingdom of light – the church! God the Father has QUALIFIED us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Col. 1:12)!
On the positive side we need to believe into the Lord – that we may receive God’s life! But the second part of the full step of salvation is to BE BAPTIZED! “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
When you believe into the Lord you become a child of God (John 1:12-13) and a brother/sister in the church life, as members of the Body! But you also need to have a public declaration of your salvation – to be saved especially from the world! When we are saved, we leave the world behind and “we cross the Red Sea” where Satan and all his armies remain buried!
When we are baptized, we are put into the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), into Christ (Gal. 3:27), and into the Body of Christ, the church (1 Cor. 12:13). We need to be baptized as soon as possible after our salvation, so that we may cut any ties to the world!
Also, immediately after our salvation we need to confess the Lord! With the heart there’s believing unto righteousness(and you & the Lord knows it!), but with the mouth there’s confession unto salvation(and everyone will see and know) – Rom. 10:10.
Put the Signboard out: I AM A CHRISTIAN! Don’t be afraid to confess the Lord’s name among people – if you do, He will also confess you before His angels and the Father (Matt. 10:32). If we do not confess with our mouth, if we are a Christian secretly, we will experience much more difficulty than those who are Christians openly! Our temptation will be many times greater than the temptation of those who openly confess the Lord!
After we receive the Lord Jesus, we are now in the Church life, the kingdom of God! The church life is carried out practically in the home meetings – the most important thing today ist o have our own group meeting which can be considered as “our own assembly”(Heb. 10:25).
We all need to have “our own home meeting” – not just the young people’s meeting and the Lord’s Table Meeting, but a home meeting where we go to eat with the saints, be built up with the saints, and function in our measure!
We need to have companions in the church life – those who help us pursue the Lord and read the Bible! And if our friends persecute us or speak evil things against us for being Christians, we can pray for them! The Lord will listen to our prayers and our friends may be also saved! “Pull your friends into the ark” by praying for them with your companions!
“Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart“(2 Tim. 2:22). Praise the Lord, we are in the Kingdom of God, the church!
