In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having a vision of God and His purpose. He warns against Christians who think they know everything and rely on their own knowledge rather than seeking a true experience of the Holy Spirit. The speaker uses the analogy of a vessel on an infinite ocean to illustrate how a vision of God makes us realize our own insignificance and God's greatness. He also highlights the significance of the apostle Paul's heavenly vision and how it influenced his ministry. The speaker concludes by expressing a desire for God to give believers a vision and open their hearts to truly know and understand Jesus Christ.

We turn to the letter of the Ephesians, chapter one. The first chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and I want to read these well-known verses again. On verse fifteen. For this cause, I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, he is not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, that filleth all in all. Shall we pray together? And shall we ask that the Lord will really give to us this spirit of wisdom and revelation? O beloved Lord, we bow before Thee with full hearts. We thank Thee, beloved Lord, for all that Thou art to us. We thank Thee for Thy salvation. We thank Thee, Lord, for Thy life. We thank Thee for Thy fullness. We thank Thee for all the resources which are ours indeed. We thank Thee, beloved Lord, for Thy power and authority. And as now we bow before Thee, Lord, we want to tell Thee that as we come to this last time of these days together, we need Thee, Lord, and we need Thee to give to us that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Thyself. O Lord, we pray that Thou will deliver us from a mere academic understanding of the things that have been said, and of what Thou has been seeking to do. But Lord, we pray that the eyes of our heart might be enlightened, that we might know these things in a direct and original way. O Lord, cause Thy light to shine into our heart. Enable us to see light in Thy light. Lord, will Thou grant, we pray, that Thy words may live to us all and may dwell in our heart richly in all wisdom and knowledge. Lord, we thank Thee that the anointing is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith now we come to stand into it. Speaker and hearer alike, we, Lord, open our spirits to Thyself that Thou wilt, Lord, fill us afresh and give and manifest that enabling power not only to speak Thy word, but to hear Thy word. And we shall give to Thee all the praise and the glory and the thanksgiving through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, now we come to this last time of these days together. And there is one burden in my heart that I would like to share with you finally. We have said so much about fellowship and rather spoken about seeing the Lord and knowing Him. And our brother Stephen Kong gave that surely for all of you unforgettable word on the counsel of God. But the burden of my heart is that God would give us vision. That God would really open the eyes of our hearts and give to us that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. My dear friends, I always get such a fear when I see everything going into notebooks. Conferences are dreadful places because people sit there taking it all. I know I am not against it being taken down when there is a shining into the heart and when there is vision, but oh, the danger of just storing knowledge, of just accumulating doctrinal and biblical truth. What we need above every other thing is that the Lord should reveal Himself to us. That with the eye of our heart we should see the Lord. I believe that spiritual vision is an absolute necessity. And I venture to say that as we move into the last phase of this age, spiritual vision will be the determining factor as to whether we shall go through or break up. Our adherence or loyalty to truth academically or mentally understood will not stand us in good stead when this trial of our faith comes in all its severity. It is only what a man or a woman has seen that will have so apprehended them that they will be unable to deny. The apostle Paul once said, Well, for old King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Of course, I want to say straight away that what I mean when I speak of the necessity of spiritual vision, I am not talking here about vision. There may be a place for vision. There may be a place for dream. But I am not talking about vision. I am talking about vision. Understanding the Lord. Understanding the will of God. Understanding the times in which we live. Understanding of the purpose of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have been brought into Him through His finished works. Perception. Spiritual seeing. Understanding. That is what we need above every other thing. If you turn to that well-known word in Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18, Where there is no vision, the people perish. That is the old King James Version. Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. That is the standard version. But really, the Hebrew word for cast off restraint comes from the binding up of a woman's hair. And just simply means that when you take it out, the whole lot falls down. It is the word we find concerning the children when they worship the golden cast. They had cast off restraint and were dancing and worshipping the golden cast. And this word vision in Hebrew is the thought of teaching or prophetic understanding. Prophetic understanding. Not just as it were the other word in Hebrew for seeing a picture. Having a vision in that way. But an understanding of the Lord's word and the Lord's way. You will remember in one place it says in Samuel, There was no open vision in those days. In other words, there was no prophetic understanding. There was no prophetic word. There was no interpretation of the mind of God. There was no understanding of the mind of God in those days. Now, let me say this straight away. Where there is no understanding of the ways of the Lord, sooner or later the people perish. They go to pieces. It doesn't matter if they are the redeemed ones of the Lord or not. The principle is the same. That where there is no understanding of the Lord, no understanding of the ways of the Lord, no seeing of the Lord, no understanding of His purpose, then there is no cohesion. There is no cohesion. There is no direction. There is, as it were, nothing that holds us all together into the One and keeps us, as it were, moving together and flowing together. We perish. We go to pieces. The Apostle Paul, writing that great letter of the Ephesians, perhaps the most tremendous revelation in one sense in the whole Bible, comes to a point at the very beginning where he suddenly stops and says to the person to whom he is dictating the letter, I wonder whether we ought to put in this prayer burden of mine for them all. And then he evidently feels, I think we should. And so he stops his thought for a moment and says, For this cause I bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that He may grant to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling and what the glory of His riches, riches of His glory in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us all who believe. In other words, the Apostle Paul was terrified that that letter should just become, as it were, an academic literary object, that it might become, as it were, just the ground for Bible study. That it may become sermon material, that it may just become, as it were, a means of some people getting a livelihood, producing Bible outlines, producing little sermons, producing little messages. No, said the Apostle Paul, I am terrified that if once we start to reduce this which God has shown me, this heavenly vision, this understanding of God's purpose concerning the Lord Jesus, if once we reduce it into human language, once we define it in human words, then they will take it academically. They will think that if they can just get it up here, they've got it, God preserves us from people who've got it up here. They're the biggest menace the church has got. Some of us tend to think that the greatest menace, the greatest danger to the work of God are people who are ignorant of the purpose of God. Yes, in one way, but an even greater menace are people who've got it up here and have no understanding of it. They can give us outlines, and they can define truth, but when it comes to the practice of it, they do not know the first thing. The Apostle Paul stops and puts the whole lot down. He says, now listen, I want you to know, everyone who reads this letter, I want you to know that to those for whom primarily it was written, I got on my knees and I prayed, Oh God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, don't let this letter be just academic. Don't let it play in the realm of mental appreciation. Just in the realm of doctrinal truth. Lord, give to those who are the recipients of this letter that spirit of wisdom, understanding, and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul explained his whole experience in Galatians 1 and verse 16. In these terms, I'll read verse 15 as well. But when it was the good pleasure of God who separated me even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace to reveal His Son in me, not even to reveal His Son to me, but to reveal His Son in me. It is absolutely true that the Apostle had a vision of our Lord on the road to Damascus. But it was much more than just something dramatic and sensational. For when the Apostle saw the Lord, he saw something tremendous. He said when it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, in His salvation, from the very beginning of His conversion, he began to understand something that he'd been incorporated into Christ. He became one with Christ. I'll come to that in just a moment. This matter of vision is therefore a principle. I can't say it's a principle of fellowship necessarily, but it's a general principle in the whole work of God. It is a necessity, not a luxury. Many of us tend to think that somehow or other such vision is only granted to the elite amongst the people of God, to those who are going to be very greatly used in the Lord's service. But this is not something for a special inner circle, nor is it a luxury which you will be greatly blessed if you should so have. It is a necessity, dear child of God. It is a necessity for every single one of us. And in the days of shaking and sifting that are surely coming, in the days that lie ahead when the enemy will do every single thing possible to withstand the work of God and to destroy the building work of God and to somehow halt the completion of the building of the house of God, we must be above everything else, men and women of vision. It doesn't matter where we turn in the Word of God, we find this matter. People tend to think that perhaps it was just something in the New Testament. No, no, no it isn't. It doesn't matter where we turn. Really everything began with Abraham and it all began with Abraham, with vision. What does Stephen say? He says this, The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia. That's how it all began. There is this idea so common in some circles that Abraham was some smelly, illiterate, wandering bedouin shepherd wandering round the desert with a few straggly goats and sheep and a camel. The idea is he could neither read nor write and hadn't got an ounce of education in him. Abraham was nothing of the kind at all. He came from Ur of the Chaldees which was one of the great cities of antiquity. It was a city that was proud, a sophisticated civilization. Do you know that a lot of our lady's fashionable jewelry today is modelled on those pieces of jewelry that were found in Ur of the Chaldees? They had their lady's hairdo, crockery shops. It had its bank. It had its stock exchange. It had its postal service. It had all kinds of things Ur of the Chaldees. And of course we understand from the Talmud that a little more about Abraham. We understand that he was the idol maker. His family controlled the whole business of making idols, so the Talmud says, for the whole city. And it was whilst he was making idols that one day he thought to himself, isn't it strange though, the Talmud says, that we make these things and then bow down to them. And then the God of glory appears to him. We don't know how. But Abraham saw the Lord. He didn't just see God. He saw the God of glory. Now if we had Abraham here this morning, I could sit down certainly. He was not limited in his understanding. He not only saw the day of the Messiah, he not only saw the Gospel from afar, but even more remarkable it says this, I say, Abraham when he was called went out not knowing whither he went. For he looked for the city which has the foundations whose builder and maker or architect is God. Where did Abraham get any idea of a city? He had to let go of a city. He went out to become a sojourner in the desert. He went out to live in tents. He never ever settled in a city. The only city he ever saw was when he fell away from the Lord and went down into Egypt and said Sarah was his sister and got into a lot of trouble. But in actual fact, Abraham it says, looked for the city that has the foundations. Do you see? When God, the God of glory, appeared to Abraham, he suddenly saw that this strong, enduring, sophisticated, civilized, educated city of Ur hadn't got foundations. Maybe if you had been in Ur of the Chaldees like if you go to Washington, you will think this will never disappear. These magnificent buildings, these wonderful avenues, these wonderful monuments, this great system of civilization, this capital of a great, great superpower, it will never disappear. It will. If the Lord carries, the whole thing will one day disappear as surely as Ur of the Chaldees has disappeared. You know it was a tremendous step for Abraham knowing the whole of Ur of the Chaldees with its boulevards and avenues and buildings and monuments and its whole system and its sophistication and education. To suddenly see that that city hadn't got the foundations. Do you know Abraham saw more than many true believers in the new covenant? How many real believers see what the city of God is? Very few indeed. Why, they just look at you, sort of as if you're crazy if you start talking about the city of God. All they know are hymns like treading streets of gold and pearly gates opening and sort of having cups of tea and so on in some heavenly city. That's all they can understand about the city of God. But then it's a Sunday school idea. What Christian has seen what Abraham saw over 4,000 years ago? Where did Abraham see the city which has the foundations? Now my friend we come to it. He didn't see some plan of a city. He didn't see some physical city when he saw the God of glory. He saw in the God of glory the city of God. By seeing the law he saw the place of God's glory. He saw the dwelling place of God's glory. And from that moment Abraham was spoilt. He was never the same again. Any man or woman who sees something of the Lord is spoilt for anything less. Once the God of glory appears to us we are never the same again. We see something. We are no longer inhabitants of earthly cities. We are sojourners. We are pilgrims. We have seen the city which has the foundations whose builder and maker is God. Abraham saw so much. Oh dear child of God the least of those in the body of Christ under the new covenant are greater than these Old Testament saints in their privileges. In their privileges. Do you realize how you are devaluing your status in Christ if you don't even see what the city of God is? Abraham saw it. It changed his whole life. It changed his lifestyle. It changed his whole direction for time and eternity. Have you been gripped by something like that? That is vision. God began everything with Abraham with vision. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. But take another one and we jump over. Oh I would love to talk much more about some of the others. I would like to talk for instance about Jacob. For Jacob saw the Lord and when he saw the Lord that great swindler that great twister the biggest twister in the Middle East. When he saw the Lord his name Jacob which means twister was changed to Israel which means God persists. God persists. Or a prince with God playing on the words. Because God persists. Can you be anything else but a Calvinist? Jacob saw the Lord. He saw the Lord. And when he saw the Lord something happened. He was given the change of name and his name was to be the name of the people of God throughout all time. Israel. And I want to go on to Moses. It all began with vision with Moses. He had an academic understanding when he was younger. Oh my! There is so much about dear Moses too. Moses was the son of Pharaoh's daughter brought up in the palace. Again if we understand some of those things are extra-biblical if they are true and not myth then there is no reason to believe that they are just myth simply because they are extra-biblical. But we understand from the Talmud again that Moses was the hero of the Libyan campaign and highly decorated by Pharaoh for his victories in the Libyan campaign. We only get a hint of this in the Bible. We are told that he has seen the reproach of Christ far greater than the riches of Egypt and the pleasures of sin. But Abraham only academically saw something. And when he saw an Egyptian fighting with a Hebrew he stepped in and slew the Egyptian and then slid for his life and for 40 years he was in the backside of the desert keeping a lot of silly sheep. Hence the Pharaoh's daughter the son of Pharaoh's daughter keeping sheep. Sheep were greatly despised by the Egyptians. 40 years I suppose for the first 10 years Moses thought of great visitations from God and how he was going to be carried back on a great flood of revival back into Egypt to his people but it never happened. 20 years went by and he got a little more modified but still believed that somehow or other something was going to happen. For 30 years went by and it was beginning to get a little bit difficult but he held on to the idea that somehow or other something was going to happen. But when the 40 years were up the whole thing had died in him. And then one day in the desert keeping his sheep he saw a fire in the desert. Now those of us who have lived in the desert we've seen those fires. I remember the first time I saw them I asked the Bedouin that was with me at the time what is that fire out there? And he said that's one of those storm bushes he said. It's dead and dried up and it's ignited. The sun has ignited it. And Moses never took any notice on it he just saw a fire in the desert and went on dreaming his dreams. And then he looked back 10 minutes later and it was going sort of by. Still burning. And went on dreaming his dreams. And in 20 minutes he turned around and said that really is some bush. And went on dreaming his dreams. And half an hour goodness that must be the biggest storm bush in the desert. And I suppose either then or at 40 minutes he thought I'll go over and see this great sight. And he went over to where this storm bush was burning. And when he got to it I have no doubt that it wasn't a very big storm bush. He saw that the bush burned with fire. But the bush was not consumed. And then out of the storm bush out of the flame of fire in the storm bush the voice of God came. Moses Moses do not draw nigh. Take off the shoes from off your feet for the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. And then he went on to reveal himself. Moses saw the Lord. And he saw the Lord in a storm bush. This was to transform the whole life of Moses the whole direction of Moses. For when he saw the Lord in the storm bush Moses saw himself. It was as if God was saying Dear Moses Dear Moses You are just like this old dried up storm bush. No value ugly worthless insignificant and full of thorns. You are like that Moses. You thought you were a great palm tree once saintly and majestic. I have reduced you to a dried up storm bush. You thought you were an acacia tree the loveliest tree in the desert out of which the tabernacle furniture was made. But I have reduced you to a dried up dead old storm bush. Perhaps you thought you were a victory full of the spirit. But I have reduced you to a dried up old storm bush Moses. Moses you are the dried up old storm bush commonplace worthless ugly and prickly. And I am the fire. And Moses when I get into you and you come into me then my purpose will be fulfilled. And you know what God said to Moses? Out of the storm bush remember out of the storm bush when Moses said whom shall I say sent me God said I am that is my name not I was nor I will be but I am that I am. Go and tell them I am in the midst of the storm bush has spoken to you. Do you know it was as if God gave Moses a blank check. People often get frightened of that name I am that I am and they think oh I see that means sort of something about the eternity of God and the sort of all sufficiency of God and the omniscience of God and all the rest of it. All of which is true but my dear friends when it comes to what God was doing was he was giving Moses a blank check. I am Moses do you need love? I am love. Do you need power? I am power. Do you need grace? I am grace. Do you need humility? I am your humility. Do you need strength? I am your strength. Do you need wisdom? I am your wisdom. Do you need direction? I am your direction. Moses Moses I am in you I am in you and I am all that you need in you Moses. Go! Go to Pharaoh! And my purpose will be fulfilled. But Moses was so much the old dried up thorn bush that he said Lord I stammer. He never thought of that before. Lord I stammer. I can't speak. And the Lord had such mercy upon Moses that he said to him then take air on your brother and he'll do all the talking. And ever afterwards Moses did all the talking and Aaron did all the working. God knows how to humor us when he does his work so well that in the end we ourselves have no confidence in ourselves not in a single atom of ourselves. But do you begin to understand how wonderful it is? Don't you see I used to wonder when I was young in the Lord's why didn't the Lord choose a palm tree and the wonderful blaze of glory at the top of some majestic straight palm tree and the Lord looking down saying Moses! Moses! Don't you come near here. This is holy ground. Wouldn't it have been wonderful especially as a palm tree is a symbol of righteousness and majesty. Or supposing the Lord had come out of an acacia tree that most beautiful and delicate of all trees of the desert and had blazed forth why we Bible expositors would have had such a wonderful time with it we would have said Now you see the tabernacle the tabernacle the Lord's dwelling place you see He was in the acacia the chitin tree chitin in your old verses Why the Lord is in it you see but the Lord He took a dried up old thorn bush for whatever you can become a palm tree by the grace of God you must first be a dried up old thorn bush for whatever you can become acacia material for the building of God's house you must first know that you are a dried up old thorn bush God is the fire you are the thorn bush but you know Moses saw more than that he saw by the eye of his heart he saw this is Israel this is Israel this old thorn bush is Israel and God is saying I the living God am in the midst of my people I am I will be the pillar of clouds by day and the pillar of fire by night I will be the manna from heaven I will be water out of the rock I will lead them all the way through I will be a dwelling place I will make them my dwelling place on earth Moses never forget that my people are nothing other than a dried up old thorn bush if you put your hand in you will get scratched Oh Moses found that out very quickly Oh how they murmured how they rebelled how they back bit how they were all the time this and that nothing ever pleased them they were the thorn bush and one time Moses got so angry that he struck the rock twice and said he rebels and I always bring water out of the rock for you we must have the greatest sympathy with dear Moses those of us who work amongst the people of God many times we would have struck the rock not once but ten times and said you rebels we always have to bring the word of God to you all you do is gossip and back bite and devour one another and murmur and nothing is ever right but Moses because of that one failure God said to him Moses you have forgotten you have forgotten they are the thorn bush Moses I am the fire and you have touched me it was not your business to say what I did not give you to say I am in this thorn bush it is holy ground take off your shoes come off your feet remember that dear child of God when next you criticize some child of God when next you do injury to them when you despitefully use them remember you may hear the voice of God coming to you this is holy ground this thorn bush I am in it so we can go on and on through the whole Bible the apostle Paul saw the Lord on the road to Damascus many people just think of that as some dramatic picture that he saw of the Lord when the Lord said to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me? and you will remember that Saul said sir sir who are you? and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest now most Christians because they are so well they know their Bibles superficially these statements run off them like water off a duck's back have you ever thought of it? just think for just one moment think Jesus was already dead as far as Paul was concerned and suddenly he was struck down and light shone above the brightness of the sun at midday and out of that brightness the apostle Paul heard the voice of God Saul Saul why persecutest thou me? and Saul said who are you? who are you? and the Lord said Jesus and Saul said but Lord I am not persecuting you you are dead you have long since gone I am persecuting those wretched people that have made an extreme fanatical text out of your teaching do you see what happened? on that day the apostle Paul saw the Lord and he suddenly maybe only dimly but in the three years that he was in Arabia perhaps it came more clearly to him he saw that the Lord Jesus people were his members they were part of him and that when you struck them you struck the Lord please turn the cassette over at this point when you injured them you injured the Lord out of that vision came all of Paul's ministry he says in Galatians when it pleased the Lord to reveal his truth and as we read all this later on about the body of Christ how being in Christ I believe it all came from that heavenly vision and the apostle Paul said in the end wherefore O King of Gripper I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision do I begin to make you see that this matter of vision is all important O dear child of God you can go to a theological seminary for ten years and it will kill you you can go to Bible course after Bible course after Bible course but if you do not have vision then the whole thing is just knowledge and knowledge props us up only love builds us up there is of course the right kind of knowledge you understand I am not just attacking knowledge there is the knowledge of the Lord that I may know him what the apostle Paul meant when he said here that the Lord may give unto you that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your hearts and lives that ye may know what is the not know about it but know it not know about him but know him O child of God dear family of God there have been many many things that we have talked about these last days what a need there is for vision everything will be lost in this time if in the end God does not give us that vision of himself may I say something more we need to see the greatness of the Lord we need to see the greatness of the Lord we live in days of small things Christ is so small we can reduce him to a formula we can reduce him to a certain number of methods, a technique we can make him somehow or other just a creed oh if only we saw the Lord and we could see the greatness of the Lord he is not contained in a teaching or a creed or in an experience nor even in one believer is all the fullness of our Lord contained he is so infinite so great if we could only see the Lord when Daniel saw the Lord he fell down as one dead when Ezekiel saw the Lord he fell down as one dead John when he saw the Lord fell down as one dead oh this kind of vision is not the kind of vision that sends people on a world tour to tell people all around the world about the vision that they had God forbid this kind of vision is the death of the person who sees it for when they see the Lord in all his infinity and greatness and mercy and love it's as if they die in his presence and the Lord has to come and set them up upon their feet have you ever noticed that? again and again and again in the Bible when people see the Lord they fall at his feet as dead and someone has to come and set them up and put their right hand on them and say fear not have you ever had such vision? every time we see the Lord we feel we know nothing every time we see the greatness of the Lord we feel as though we are so small and so little that it's impossible it's as if we die oh to see the greatness of the Lord when Isaiah in the year that King Isaiah died was in the temple praying and worshipping he suddenly saw the Lord high and lifted up he could no longer see the temple he couldn't see the sanctuary for the skirts of the Lord were praying filled and enveloped the whole sanctuary dear child of God may God give us such a vision of the Lord that we don't see things but we see him in the end everything is in him people make the church a doctrine they make it a detached thing here is the Lord there is the church but in essence the church is Christ it is being one body in him it's growing into a holy temple in the Lord being built together as a home of God in the Spirit it's all in the Lord if we could see that it would save us so much it's a wonderful thing when we see our salvation is our saviour it's not just that he has finished the work thank God for that that's the legal side of our salvation but the subjective and glorious side is that he is our saviour and ever lives to make intercession for us and if we had been reconciled through his death how much more shall we be saved through his life oh what a wonderful thing it is when the Lord gets right inside of us we're born of God we find that our salvation is not a thing it's a person it's a wonderful thing when we find our sanctification is a person people talk of holiness as if it's an experience a second blessing thank God there is such an experience of our Lord but you know it's all the Lord I had an experience how? when I saw that I had been crucified with Christ I died with him buried with him those of you who have been baptised and been alive together with him to walk in newness of life why? that's an experience of a person that's a person some people make so much of the baptism of the Holy Spirit I believe there is an anointing of the Spirit I would die on that point no one would cause division or confusion but I am sure there is an experience of anointing for service and we need to know it as soon as we're saved the nearer the better if not at our salvation I know some people thank God who entered into it right at the moment they were saved but what a wonderful thing it is to know the anointing but the anointing isn't a thing people all the time looking for an experience that knocks them out that bowls them over where somehow they go into ecstasy and all the rest of it well thank God for those of us who've had an ecstasy or two in this poor world it's something to have an ecstasy I don't begrudge anyone having an ecstasy you're caught up to the third heaven and see the Lord praise God as long as you keep your mouth shut when you come down and don't go around making such a thing something as it were that's got to be sort of traded all the time but my dear friend the Lord Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit the only way I was born of the Spirit was through the Lord Jesus the only way the Holy Spirit came to dwell in me was by the Lord Jesus and the only way I can be anointed with the Holy Spirit and power is through the Lord Jesus it's not that I'm good enough or I've got merit or I've got anything else it is the work of my Lord that brings me into the anointing it's all of grace so many people have asked me about the comment I made the other day about an anointing for a meeting but that would be a subject all on its own to talk about an anointing and how to stay in the anointing how to abide under the anointing how to distinguish it dear child of God the anointing is in Christ the oil is upon the head even Aaron's head and ran down upon his beard it says in Psalm 130 down to the hem of his garment and includes every member of the body my anointing is the Lord Jesus he has obtained something from me and poured forth this which you see in here and so we can go on whatever it is whether it is some experience of the Lord some moving on with the Lord it's all in the Lord don't we need to see it? oh may the Lord give us such vision may the Lord give us such vision and then I would finally like just to draw this to a close by saying some things about the way God apprehends us through vision how does God take hold of a person? how does he arrest the person? how does he apprehend them? always through vision through such vision we are apprehended of the Lord do you know the apostle Paul once he saw the Lord had no time for anything petty do you know in Philippians 3 he says some incredible things do you know if I had written the Roman letter and I would be insufferable if I had if I had written even by the grace of God the Roman letter one and two Corinthians duration one and two Thessalonians and possibly er what's the other one? not Hebrew Philemon I think it is if I had written all these apart from Ephesians and Colossians which some think are almost the last with Timothy I should be opening Bible colleges running a theological seminary conducting Bible study courses and all the rest of it I wouldn't be saying I count everything but loss that I may win Christ but I would say to the apostle Paul Paul, you're such an exaggerator win Christ but you've already got Christ Paul, wake up you've already got Christ who got hold of you on the road to Damascus why he would say the Lord but Paul you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ of course I'm clothed with the righteousness but Paul, you've written Romans why have you only written that one letter you've obviously won Christ Paul, Corinthians think of the 12th chapter of Corinthians think of the 13th chapter of Corinthians think of the 15th chapter of Corinthians why? if I had written just one of those I feel I would have done my job I'd sort of sit down on a flowery bed of ease and wait to go to glory I would have done all, I've done my part I've done my part what I've given is Scripture but Paul, you've given Galatians and Thessalonians and you even talk in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 being caught up to the third heaven and hearing things which is not lawful for a man to utter now I think that's the top of spiritual experience you know to come back and say I've had something from the Lord I'm going to tell you that's one great thing isn't it but to be able to come and say I heard something I'm not allowed to tell you that is the climax of all spiritual experience then you really, as it were, in you're in the spiritual pentagon but dear child of God the apostle Paul had so seen the greatness of the Lord and the infinity of the Lord that forever afterwards he just knew how much he did not know when you are a student you think you know everything you can dogmatically hold forth on this and that and the other but you get a university professor and you find that he is much more careful well he says it could be this or it could be that but I think it's probably this why? because he knows so much more the student knows so much less and therefore can be dogmatic but the professor knows so much more and therefore knows that he knows so little in other words he knows that there is so much more to know have you come there yet? I feel sorry for Christians who know it all do you know who I've got the Lord? I'll introduce him to you point one, two, three and four do you want an experience of the Holy Spirit? five steps, come to me I'll give you the five steps and you'll be in do you want to have an experience of holiness? come to me I've got seven steps here oh when somehow or other we've seen the greatness of the Lord it's as if somehow or other we know how much more there is to know we know how little we really know it's as if we have put to sea on an infinite ocean and the more we go out into the ocean the smaller the vessel becomes and the greater the horizon that's what vision does for you vision will always make you feel little and God infinite will always make you know how tiny you are and how fathomless God is but vision will also make you know that God's infinity and your finiteness are linked together eternally that his fullness and your littleness are one that the old thorn bush and the fire of God have come together forever that is vision the measure of our vision will determine just how far we go some people who've only seen the matter of salvation that's as far as they will go they will be perfectly happy about only evangelistic things thank God for people who've got an evangelistic burden never treated as kindergarten as if by going on with the Lord you leave that kind of thing behind God forbid we have a commission from the Lord to make disciples of all nations roll the tide any company that has no outreach they will die because they have not got the passion of their Lord in them but having said that if you only see salvation that's as far as you'll go if you see a bit more shall we say you see the charismatic well, that's as far as you'll go and that will be the limit of it you'll be always trying to get people into an experience full stop or maybe you see something more and you're always trying to get someone else into more you've seen about the second coming of the Lord there's always a second coming of the Lord you're great on prophecy so you're always trying to get people to understand that but if we see the purpose of the Lord concerning the Lord Jesus and those who are in Him dear friends that will determine how far we go it is without limit may I say something else vision always disturbs I will say that again vision always disturbs people seem to think that if you've got a vision well, suddenly you're set up you're just set up you've got it now you can get on the platform and start I can take the corner press the button as it comes and they'll all sit there with their mouths open listening to these wonderful words pouring out of your mouth my dear friends any man or woman who is given real vision is a disturbed person Abraham went out he couldn't stay in a moment longer Moses went in he couldn't stay in the desert a moment longer he had to go into Pharaoh's house Daniel Daniel got so disturbed that for three weeks he started on the prayer ministry and oh my what a battle he got into great principalities and powers stopping the angel coming along as it were with the answer of God for Daniel vision always disturbs Paul could not settle for anything little if you ask God for vision you just remember what you're asking for you are asking for spiritual disturbance some of you who are quite happy to be denominational you may find that suddenly you get very very disturbed not bitter and not superior but disturbed some of you that are in other things that have gone right off the rails you'll find that if God gives you real vision you are going to get disturbed you will have to ask yourself if the lamp stand goes where do I go? vision always disturbs vision leads to burden and travail have you ever noticed how so many of the prophets speak of their prophecy as the burden of the Lord because they saw the Lord it's a travail some of you have spoken to me about travail it begins with vision no one will ever be trusted with travail who has not seen the Lord oh my dear friend I hope I've said enough in this time this closing time of these days to make you realize that I reckon that all that has been ministered is futile unless God grants to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of himself there is no something sensational dramatic necessarily but suddenly what you thought you dimly perceived with your brain comes in a flash as it were into your heart and for the first time you begin to see something that that you begin to see you will see clearer and more clearly and more clearly as you go on with the Lord for you brethren whom God is using may I say this vision produces ministry do you want a real ministry of the word and not just one of those structured systematized things but a real ministry of the word it comes out of vision Daniel saw the Lord and out of it came ministry both in prayer in travail and in word Ezekiel saw the Lord and out of it came a tremendous ministry Isaiah saw the Lord and out of it came one of the greatest ministries the people of the old covenant and we in the new have ever received John saw the Lord and out of that came the book of revelations all ministry in the end comes out of vision Paul saw the Lord and out of it came his tremendous ministry there are many other things that vision does it creates living faith when we see the Lord faith comes into our hearts the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham by faith he obeyed to go out not knowing whither he went and faith changes us into the likeness of our wonderful Lord for as we behold his glory as in a mirror so we are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord the Spirit here child of God we need to see the Lord and in the end the permanent effect and value of these days will be precisely in the measure in which we see the Lord Moses saw the Lord again and again and again he saw the Lord in such a way as no other human being has really seen the Lord and yet and this has always captured me when the Lord asked Moses is there anything you want he said show me thy glory that is the evidence of a man who has begun to see the Lord for when you begin to see the Lord you want more I think many of us would have been satisfied with what Moses had already seen and heard but not Moses for this is what vision always does we find we have to go on with him shall we pray our beloved Lord we do praise thee this morning that thou art the one who alone can give vision to thy people O Lord in this matter thou hast shut us up to thyself we cannot get that from a Bible study course or outline or a Bible college or even in a conference as such nor thou art the only one who can give to thy people that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of thy Son O Lord awaken us all to this matter and may there be drawn out of all our hearts Lord a yearning and a longing to see the Lord translate Lord all these things that have been ministered over these days through whomsoever thou hast used translate all these things we pray Lord into reality through revelation Lord O God touch the eyes of our hearts and show us thy glory Lord and so together we commit ourselves to thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen