In this sermon, the speaker shares the story of a man named Washington who had a powerful conversion experience and dedicated his life to the Lord. Despite being a brilliant person with a planned future, Washington struggled to fully surrender to Jesus because he knew it meant giving his whole self to the Lord. Eventually, through prayer, he was moved by the realization of his sins and the love of Christ, leading him to fully surrender. After graduating from college, Washington lived a humble and sacrificial life, serving the Lord with all his strength. The speaker also highlights the story of a sister who understood the worth of Jesus and poured out everything she had upon him, even when others questioned her actions. The sermon emphasizes the contrast between the world's mindset of gaining and storing, and the example of complete surrender and pouring out for the Lord.

Will you please turn to 2nd Timothy. Chapter 4. We'll read from verse 6 through verse 8. 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6. 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6. Not only to me, but also to all who love Jesus. I read these verses because recently a fellow work of mine went to be with the Lord. I read these verses because recently a fellow work of mine went to be with the Lord. After a prolonged period of sickness, he finally was called up. As I think of my brother, these verses come to me. How could I describe the life of this dear brother? And a word seemed to come to me. Poured out. Our brother lived a poured out life. And I believe, brothers and sisters, that this is the kind of life that our Lord Jesus expects everyone of His redeemed ones to live. And this was the kind of life that Apostle Paul lived. And this reminds me of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus, who subsisted in the form of God. He had the form of God. And the form here does not refer to outward appearance. The form here refers to that inward character. Because he was equal with God. And this was not something to be grasped at. The Bible tells us that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. And yet our Lord Jesus emptied Himself. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity. Because that is what He is forever. Even when He was on this earth, He was still God. And yet He emptied Himself of all the glory and honor that accompanied His deity. Why did He do that? He did it because He loved His Father. He knew what His Father desired. And He was willing to give Himself to the Father to accomplish the Father's wish. And He came into this world. The Bible tells us He took the form of a born slave. Outwardly, He took the fashion of a man. But inwardly, He took the form of a born slave. Now, brothers and sisters, we have to understand what is meant by a born slave. The Bible tells us a slave served his master six years. A Hebrew slave will only serve for six years. He was poor and he sold himself to another Hebrew. But after six years, he was to be set free. And yet, this slave, he loved his master. And he loved his master's house. So he did not want to go free. He wanted to be a slave of love. A slave forever. And you know that he would be led to the door of the house. And he would have his ear pierced to the door. And with his pierced ear, he became a slave for life. But he was a slave of love. Not of obligation. So when our Lord Jesus came into this world, inwardly, he had the mind of a born slave. He gave up all rights of his own. And he would serve his father, not out of duty, but out of love. And the Bible tells us also that he was obedient to the Father, even unto death, and that the death of the cross. In other words, his whole life is a poured out life. His life is not for gain, but for loss. And by this poured out life, we all are being enriched. We all are being enriched. Now brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we say we receive his life into us. Usually we think of eternal life as something that will bring us into heaven. But we rarely think of what kind of the life that we have received. Do we know that the life of Christ that is in us is what kind of life? If we say we have the life of Jesus in us, then how should we live upon this earth? Now if his life is a poured out life, then this shall be the way we live upon this earth. I believe brothers and sisters, you all know the story of Mary, the sister of Martha. The Bible tells us when our Lord visited her house, how he sat at the feet of our Lord Jesus. And then, before the death of our Lord Jesus, he came to Bethany. A feast was prepared for our Lord. And Martha, as usual, was serving. And Lazarus, whom our Lord raised from the dead, was set there. Then came Mary. She carried with her an alabaster flask. She broke the flask and poured out a pound of pure wine upon the head and the feet of our Lord Jesus. And when she did it, the disciples murmured. They thought it was a waste. This pound of pure wine could be sold for 300 denarii. And we know a denarii at that time was the wage, one day's wage of labor. And Judah said, with this kind of money, it can help many poor people. Why this waste? But our Lord Jesus said, do not bother her because she had done a good work. She did it for my burial. And wherever the gospel is preached, his story will be told. Now, brothers and sisters, here you find a sister. She knew the worth of our Lord Jesus, that our Lord Jesus was much more than anything. And she was willing to pour out everything upon our Lord Jesus. Even the disciples could not understand this. Not only the world, but even the disciples. You know, in the world, the spirit, the mindset of the world is to gain, not to lose. It is to store, not to pour. But here you find a life that is entirely opposite. She poured out upon the Lord. She would not reserve anything for herself. We are told that in the old days, a lady, before she was married, she would prepare for her marriage. And this pound of pure nut was for her marriage then. But here, she poured out upon the Lord. In a spiritual sense, she was married, as it were, to our Lord Jesus. You remember the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. He said, that I have engaged you to Christ as changed virgins. So in a sense, we were all engaged to one man, who is Christ. And as a changed virgin, her whole mindset is preparing herself for her future husband. Even before her marriage, she lived for her husband. And that is the way that we should live. We should prepare ourselves for our Lord Jesus. In other words, as He was, so shall we be. Because His life is in us. So we should live a poured out life, that God may be glorified. Now even though to the world it is a waste, but to our Lord Jesus, it is a good thing. And whenever the Gospel is preached, this story will be mentioned. Because it is in the character of the Gospel. What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a life poured out. That we may be enriched. And if we receive the Gospel, then the effect of the Gospel should be manifested in our life too. And what if our life today on earth is just the opposite of the Gospel that we have received? Then we will be living against the truth of the Gospel. That is the reason why, whenever the Gospel is preached, the story of Mary had to be told. This reminds me of our dear brother, Washington. He was saved when he was 17. And after he was saved, he really had a heart for the Lord. And he gave himself completely to the Lord. Now he was a most brilliant person. And probably you know the story of how he came to the Lord. As a young man in school, he had his whole life planned. So when he heard the Gospel, he knew that the Gospel was true. He should believe in the Lord Jesus. But he couldn't do it. Because he knew if he believed in the Lord Jesus, he had to give himself to the Lord. He could not just receive Jesus as Savior and not receive Jesus as Lord. But that would mean that all his plans would be smashed. So he couldn't. He struggled for days. Until one day, as he was praying, he told us himself. He said, I see the Lord. I saw the blackness of my sins and the redness of the blood of the Lord Jesus. And the love of Christ melted him down. So he capitulated completely to the Lord Jesus. After he graduated from Trinity College, he stepped out to serve the Lord. And he served the Lord in such a way. Not only did he live a very poor life from the worst standpoint, he almost broke his body. While he was in that state, he went back one time to his home town. And on the street, he met his former professor. And the former professor looked at him and shook his head. And said to him, we expect you to become somebody. And now, look at yourself. We are human beings. When our brother heard this, he was hurt. But just at that moment, suddenly, the thought came to him. It is worthy. The Lord is worthy. And that immediately delivered him from being disappointed. And you know, our dear brother has a life motto. And we even have this in our handbook. He borrowed the words of St. Francis of Assisi. Because St. Francis of Assisi, he gave up everything to serve the Lord. So our brother borrowed his words. And make it his own motto. And it is said, not to drink wine, but to pour wine. Not to keep bread, but to break bread. So our brother lived a life of poor town life. Thank God. Because of that poor town life, so many in this world have been enriched. He followed the footsteps of the lamb. Wherever the lamb goes, he goes. Brothers and sisters, this is the kind of life that our Lord Jesus expects every one of us to follow. Look at the Apostle Paul. Before he knew the Lord Jesus, he was a Pharisee. He was a most unusual young man. Because as a young man, especially brilliant ones, ordinarily you will find such young men will seek for the world. Will seek for fame, for position, for power, for wealth. But Saul, as a young man, he was different. He did not seek for earthly things. He sought for spiritual things. Because he knew that earthly things are temporary. But spiritual things are everlasting. So according to his own knowledge, he sought to know God. As a young man, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. And Gamaliel at that time was the greatest rabbi in Israel. And Saul sat at his feet to learn everything about the law. He became a Pharisee. Now today, when we think of Pharisee, we have a very poor thought about that. Because in the Gospel, how our Lord Jesus said, hypocrites, Pharisees. But this young man Saul is a real Pharisee. Because in Philippians chapter 3, he told us himself that according to the letter of the law, he was blameless. He was a true Pharisee. He kept every letter of the law. According to the righteousness of the law, he was perfect. Now can you find a young man like that today? And he learned everything about Judaism. He was zealous for the traditions of the Father. And he was serving God. He told us himself, when he was persecuted, the followers of Jesus, he thought he was serving God. Because according to the tradition of the Father, they consider our Lord Jesus was an imposter. An imposter of Judaism. So he wanted to wipe the name of Jesus out. To keep the purity of Judaism. That God may be honored. Now this was the kind of young man Saul was. But he was in darkness. He was darkened by the traditions of man. He did not have a revelation from above. But he was sincere. And God looked upon his heart. So while he was on the road to Damascus, having the letters from the priests, to go to Damascus, even to foreign, to Gentile cities, he persecuted the believers of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. When Stephen was stoned, he stood there as a witness. And he agreed with that. Now he went to a Gentile city, tried to seize upon those who followed the Lord Jesus, and to bring them to Jerusalem to be condemned. But God, in his mercy, and I think you know the story, while he was nearing the city of Damascus, at noonday, suddenly a light, brighter than the noonday sun, it shone upon him. And he was smitten by that light. He fell upon the ground. And he heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the God. It was not an angry voice. It was a voice full of love. It was simple. Why do you persecute me? You are doing something impossible. You are hurting yourself. You are not hurting me. You are hurting yourself. Because you are like a stubborn ox. You are like a stubborn ox. Under yoke. Supposed to do the work of the master. And yet you want your own way. And what should the farmer do? What should the farmer do? You can say he has a goat. A sharp instrument. And whenever a stubborn ox refuses to follow the master's command, the master will use that goat just lightly touch the ox's foot. Of course, the master does not want to hurt the ox. Just to remind the ox that you have a master. But the ox is so stubborn. He will kick against the goat. Now, if it kicks against the goat, it hurts. And after many hurts, he learned the lesson. So our Lord Jesus said, it is hard for you to kick against the goat. It is time for you to learn the lesson. You are not a master of your own. I am your master. You are yoke. To do my work. And if you are yoke to do my work, you need to be obedient. And this man's soul was humble. And he capitulated. To the Lord. And his life began to change. And we all know that formerly he was soul. Now he is Paul. Now, what is the meaning of soul? Ask for. He is a person to be asked for by everybody. Now, what is the name of Paul? Paul means little. Formerly, he was a person asked by everybody. And now, he is so tiny, so little. He is nothing, nobody. And throughout his life, he poured out his life. If you want to describe the ministry of Paul, it is a poured out life. So he wrote in 2 Timothy 4. You know, when he wrote that letter, it was just before his martyrdom. And he said, I am already being poured out. I have been pouring out, pouring out, pouring out. Now, the time of my release has come. What a life, full of life. Brothers and sisters, how about us? Are we ashamed of ourselves? Are we ashamed? What did we pour out in our life? Are we still pouring out ourselves? Pouring out our natural life? We have Christ in us. But why is it that Christ is not poured out? What came out, what comes out of us is ourselves. We are still seeking for ourselves. Looking for gain, not for loss. Now, why is it so? Is the life of Christ insufficient? What is the problem? Where is the secret for a poured out life? We all have the potential. Because Christ is in us. The hope of glory. The potential is there. But why is it? It is being shut in. And instead, what comes out is still ourselves. Now, why? I think this is something that we really need to consider before the Lord. As I meditated before the Lord, I know Christ is in me. And his life is a poured out life. He never counts the cost. He never thinks of himself. He is willing to pour out completely for the Father's will. But why is it that it doesn't come out from me? Brothers and sisters, even after we are saved, even after we have received Christ as our life, there is no doubt about that you have the life of Christ in you. There is no doubt about that. But that life, in a sense, is like a baby. It is not mature yet. And it is still, in a sense, in the beginning, it is weak. The life of Christ is not fully grown in us. Or to put it another way, we are not yet fully transformed and conformed to his image. But the Adamic life in us has been living for quite long. So you know in a believer, there are two lives in us. In our spirit, Christ's life lives. In our soul, the Adamic life, our self life, still lives. And because Christ's life is still very young, the Adamic life, the old life, is grown up. So we find that what comes out of us is more of Adam than of Christ. Now, this needs to be corrected. In other words, if we want to live a poor old life like Christ, we need to know Christ more and more. So that the Christ life in us may be strengthened. To overcome that natural life. In order to pour out Christ into ourselves. So I think the first thing, if we really want to live a poor old life like Christ, we need to know Christ more. Look at Paul. In Philippians chapter 3, he told us, in the former days, how he treasured his past achievements. He counted the past as treasure. How he became a pharisee of pharisees. How he was zealous above his contemporaries. How he was perfect in keeping the letter of the law. These were gains to him. But when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus, you find the Lord began to change his mindset. He said, I began to see all things as loss. I count all things but loss. Why? Because now I have the knowledge of Jesus Christ. For the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, I'm willing to let go of all things. I will not allow anything to stand in the way. I want to gain Christ. Thank God, now I have known the righteousness by faith instead of by work. But that is just the beginning. I won't just stay there. Many believers today just stay on that level. Thank God you know righteousness that is by faith in Jesus Christ and not by your own work. Now you are justified. Now you are saved. The heaven is guaranteed. And you stay in that state. You remain as babes in Christ. You know, the easiest life is a baby's life. Because everything is taken care of. And everybody has to cater to you. If you are unhappy, everybody becomes unhappy. If you want to cry at midnight, everybody has to wake up. Baby's life is the easiest life in the world. No responsibility whatsoever. Now many Christians want to live forever as babes in Christ. You have no idea of responsibility. Babies are the most self-centered persons in the world. All the world surrounds me. Many Christians today are like that. If you are unhappy, you let everybody know. You do not seek to know Him. Paul said, After I have known the righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, then my passion is to know Him. I want to know Him. I want to win Him. Brothers and sisters, this knowing Christ, this winning Christ, is not a mental thing. You know there are two kinds of knowledge. One kind of knowledge helps you up. You think you know, and therefore you are proud of yourself. But there is another kind of knowledge, and that is full knowledge which will humble you. And love builds up. In other words, it is experiential knowledge. It is not mental knowledge. It is personal experiential knowledge. And to know Christ is not mental knowledge. To know Christ is a personal experiential knowledge. And if you want to have that experienced knowledge of Christ, there is a cost to be paid. Mental knowledge does not require cost. But experienced knowledge of Christ requires a cost. You have to come into fellowship with His suffering. Our problem is, we want to know Christ without paying any cost. Without giving up anything. We want the good of the two worlds. No loss or gain. But that is impossible. If we want to really know Christ, we have to have fellowship with His suffering. Not in the sense of His suffering for atonement. Because He tread the wine place alone. In order to atone our sins, He paid a great price. And that He alone can do. But there are other sides of His suffering. That is, for the glory of God, He is willing to suffer, laid on Himself. For righteousness sake, He was willing to give up. For love's sake, for sympathy's sake. So brothers and sisters, if we are willing really to pay a cost to follow the Lord, then our knowledge of Christ will increase. In other words, the statue of Christ within us will increase. And with this kind of filling up, then you will find there will be the opportunity of flowing up. And then I think there are the second thing. The first thing is to know Christ. We need to seek to know Christ in an experiential way. And as His life becomes fully in us, then there is the chance of calling out in easier way. Then comes the second thing. And the Apostle Paul tells us to know Him and the power of His resurrection. To have fellowship with His suffering. And to be conformed to His death. So after we learn to have fellowship with His suffering, so that Christ's life in us will be fuller. Then for that fuller life of Christ to be poured out, we need to be conformed to His death. It means that His death is like a mold. And we need to be poured into that mold. So it will come out the same way as the mold is. What is death, put to death. What is death, put to death, we need to do the same. He died to sin, we die to sin. He died to self, we die to self. We are poured into that mold. And out of that mold will come out the same image. So brothers and sisters, that is the deeper work of the cross. To break us. So that like Mary, she broke the alabaster flask. And then the oil will be poured out. You remember the apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He said we have a treasure in the earthen vessel. Now we are all earthen vessels. Because we are made of clay. God used clay to build us. But often times we think of ourselves as alabaster flask. And if it is alabaster flask, you will not break it. And you want to keep it. Unless you see you are not an alabaster flask, but an earthen vessel. How hard did you see it? Unless you see. Unless you see the glory. That will enable to see yourself but an earthen vessel. And if it is just an earthen vessel, and yet have the treasure within, it makes you willing to see that earthen vessel. That the radiance of the light of the treasure may shine. And to the experience of Paul himself, he said, that works in me, but life in you. He said, that works in me, but life in you. That is the source of life. So brothers and sisters, are we willing to seek Christ with diligence? And by that it means that we want to know Him, really know Him. In our personal experience. Willing even to pay a price for it. And then secondly, if Christ really is known, are you willing to pour out, pour it out? Or you just want to keep it to yourself. See, I am such a spiritual giant. Brothers and sisters, what is our attitude? I believe it is the will of God. That He wants every one of us to follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus. He wants every one of us to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. And I really hope that our life, our life, can be called a life that is poured out. What is the result of the life that is poured out? It is very simple. Number one, God will become alive. You see, when Mary poured out that ointment upon our Lord, the fragrance filled the house. And the Lord said He did a good thing. Christ is exalted. So a poured out life will exalt Christ. Will fulfill the will of God. Secondly, a poured out life will build up the church. You know Paul, in Philippians chapter 2 verse 17, he said, I am like a libation, like a drink offering, poured upon your sacrifice of faith. You know in the old days, when they offer sacrifice, a lamb or a bullet. And you will pour wine upon it. Now why? Because the wine offering is a symbol of joy. It means that you sacrifice joyfully. Because God loves a cheerful divine. And Paul is like a drink offering. Poured on the sacrifices of the Philippians. He enabled the Philippians to sacrifice joyfully to the Lord. That is building up the church. And finally, Paul said, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. And I have fought a good fight. Now there is a crown of righteousness waiting for me. So brothers and sisters, that is life. So because of what happened recently, the Lord put in my heart, is our life a poured out life? Life is measured, not by gain, but by loss. May the Lord, dear Lord, will you want to send me? Because thou didst pour thou thyself upon us. We thank thee because thy life is in us. Lead us to walk the same way. That our ways may go everywhere. Thy church may be built. And we may receive. May thy precious name we pray. Amen.