In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of spiritual reality and the need for believers to actively cooperate with the Holy Spirit. He explains that spiritual reality is not necessarily something spectacular, but rather a daily process of being led by the Spirit of Truth. The preacher highlights the role of discipline in this process, both through external circumstances and internal revelation. He encourages believers to surrender themselves to God and allow the cross to expose and cut off anything that is not real or of the old creation. The ultimate source of spiritual reality is found in God, specifically in Jesus Christ who became incarnate to make reality available to all believers. The preacher concludes by urging listeners to seek spiritual reality and not settle for deception or mere appearance.

Dear Heavenly Father, we are most grateful to Thee in giving Thy only begotten Son to us. We are thankful that Thou hast called us to Thy table to remember Thy love, Thy tremendous love for us. Lord, we do thank Thee because Thou are real, Thou are here with us. We do sense that we are standing on holy ground. Lord, we want to bow and worship Thee, and we just pray that Thou will open Thy word to us. Lord, our desire is to know Thee, and to know Thee is eternal. We commit this time into Thy hands. We thank Thee for this time, and we trust Thy Holy Spirit to do the work, and to Thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. This morning I would like to borrow a passage from the Old Testament, but substitute a different word to it. And I think that substitution will not change the meaning. Will you please turn to the book of Job, Job chapter 28. Job chapter 28, we begin with verse 12, and read through verse 28. We will substitute the word wisdom with reality, and understanding with truth. So let's read it. But reality, where shall it be found? And where is the place of wisdom? Man knoweth not the value thereof, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep saith, It is not in me, and the sea saith, It is not with me. Choice gold cannot be given for it, and silver beweighed for its price. It is not set in a balance with gold or ophia, with the precious onyx and the sapphire. Gold and glass cannot be compared to it, nor vessels of fine gold be its exchange. Corals and crystals are no more remembered, yea, the acquisition of reality is above rubies. The topics of Ethiopia shall not be compared to it, neither shall it be set in a balance with pure gold. Whence then cometh reality, and where is the place of wisdom, of truth? For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens. Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven, in making a weight for the wind, and making out the waters by measure. In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder's flesh. Then did he see it, and declare it, he establish it, yea, and search it out. And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is reality. And to depart from evil is truth. Yesterday morning we concluded our time by the criteria of spiritual reality. First of all, spiritual reality must be spiritual. It cannot be anything physical, material. And we know from the scripture, in John chapter 4, in the conversation of our Lord Jesus with a Samaritan woman. He said, God is spirit. Therefore those that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. We mention also, that one of the criteria of spiritual reality is life. And in Psalm 36 verse 9, which we have already mentioned before, For with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light. We mention also that another criterion of spiritual reality is substance. It cannot be anything superficial, just on the surface. Anything that is passing, it has to be eternal. And brothers and sisters, our God is that. In the beginning, God. Only he is the substance. And of course, we also mention that it has to be divine. And our God is the only God that we worship. So brothers and sisters, where can we find reality? We cannot find it anywhere else. Other than in God. I think this is very evident. You remember Moses, in Exodus chapter 34, actually begins in chapter 33, He asked to see the glory of God. I think there is nothing, no request that is higher from a human being than to ask to see the glory of God. And God's answer to him is, you cannot see my face, because no man can see me and live. But I will pass you by, I will hit you in the cleft of the rock, and when I pass by, I will hide you with my hand, so you can see my back, but not my face. And in chapter 34, verses 5 and 6, we find that God passed by. And he declared his name, Jehovah, Jehovah. Gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth. Abundant in reality. And in the song of Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 4, He said, a God of faithfulness without deceit. Just and right is He. Psalm 31, verse 5, Psalm 31, verse 5, Into thy hand I commit my spirit, thou hast redeemed me. Jehovah, thou God of truth. God of reality. And also in Isaiah chapter 65, verse 16, we find here, So that he who blessed himself in the land, that is referring to the restoration of Israel, shall bless himself by the God of truth. And he that sweareth in the land shall swear by the God of truth. Because the former troubles shall be far forgotten, and because they shall be hidden from mine eyes. And the word, the God of truth, in the original is the God of amen. He is the God of amen. The God of reality. When we think of His law, Psalm 119, verse 142, Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is truth. Now when we think of His word, in John chapter 17, The gospel of John, chapter 17, verse 17, Sanctify them by the truth. 18, thy word is truth. And so far as God's works are concerned, Psalm 111, Psalm 111, verse 7, The works of His hands are truth and judgment. All His precepts are faithful. So brothers and sisters, when we talk about spiritual reality, And where can you find it? You cannot find it anywhere else. But only in God Himself. He is the God of truth. He is the God of reality. He is the one who is from the beginning. And there is no end. And everything that is of Him is real, is reality. But brothers and sisters, the problem is, God is the greatest mystery in the whole universe. He is transcendent. He lives in unapproachable light. No one can see Him and live. He is far above, far beyond our reach. We hear reality, but we cannot see it. We cannot grasp it. Because our God is transcendent. Now even in the Old Testament times, it is true. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 said, God having spoken in many ways and in many manners to our fathers, In the early days, in the former days, It is true that God did somehow reveal Himself. Reveal His reality to man. But even so, we find such revelation is rare. And it is not full. The glory of God did appear to Abraham. Moses did receive the Ten Commandments on the Mount of Sinai. The prophet Isaiah did see the glory of God in the temple. And Ezekiel saw the glory of God. Now brothers and sisters, in the Old Testament times, God did in some way, but it is in fragments, in pieces and bits, reveal Himself so that people can know Him. But still, you find God is distant. He is there, but He is far. And you can only worship Him from afar. The reality is there, but it cannot be reached. Thank God, one day, the Word became flesh. And tabernacle of a man, full of grace and truth. Brothers and sisters, the God who hid Himself has now come upon this earth. The incarnation of our Lord Jesus is one of the greatest things in the universe. Because reality came upon this earth. God is love. And our Lord Jesus is full of grace. Because grace is the expression of love. How do we know love? It is not by grace. God is light. But our Lord Jesus is full of truth, of reality. And it is by truth that light is known. Our Lord Jesus, He is reality in the flesh. Now we not only can hear about reality, we can see. Because reality has come, spiritual reality, in the person of our Lord Jesus. He has come into the midst of mankind. In John chapter 1 verse 18, we are told that no one has ever seen God. But the one who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. No one has ever seen God. We cannot see Him. But the one who is in the bosom of the Father, He comes to declare Him. And this declaring is more than just announcing, telling us about the Father. This declaring is demonstrating, showing us what the Father is really like. Our brother mentioned about John chapter 18. And that is when our Lord Jesus was before Pilate. Now in John chapter 18 verse 37. Pilate therefore said to Him, Thou art then a king. Jesus answered, Thou sayest it, that I am a king. I have been born for this. And for this I have come into the world, that I may bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice. And Pilate says to Him, What is truth? Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus came to bear witness to the truth. That is to say, He bear witness to reality. What is reality? That is His witness. His whole life is a demonstration of reality. There is nothing in Him that is not real. Nothing in Him that is just something external. What expresses outwardly is what He is inwardly. He is transparent. Nothing in Him is just something transient. When He says anything, what He says is truth. It is eternal reality. And that is the reason why you find in the Gospel of John, especially, He often says, Verily, verily, I say unto you. And the word verily actually is a transliteration of the Hebrew word amen. Amen, amen, I say to you. What I say is reality. It is eternal. It is not something that is passing. It lasts forever. When people heard Him, they realized that what He said, He said with authority. It's different. It's different from the Pharisees and the scribes. They may say the right thing, but there is no substance in it. But when our Lord Jesus says anything, there is substance there. It's solid. It's real. And all His works. A brother I heard mentioned by Science and Wonders last night, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be here, how people were attracted by Science and Wonders that our Lord Jesus did. But His works is beyond just awkward science. It is truth, reality. He is revealing Himself. You know the song, the chorus that we sing, Show me thy way, O Lord. In 1970, I was in New Zealand. I was invited there to be among a people who came out of the Apostolic Church. And they traced their origin to the Welsh Revival. And these people, they were great in prophecy flying and in speaking of tongues. And I was invited to be the speaker among them. And this is the chorus that they sang at that time. They have seen Science and Wonders, but now they want to know. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is reality personified. He is reality manifested, revealed. God who is transcendent. Now, in the incarnated Son, He becomes imminent. He is with us. He is no longer at a distance. He is near us. But strangely, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, many saw Him. Many thought they knew Him. They knew that He was the Carpenter. They knew His brothers in the flesh. They even knew His sisters in the flesh. They sensed something in Him that is different. He is on earth and yet He is in heaven. There is a heavenliness in Him. He is in the flesh and yet He does not walk according to the flesh. He walks according to the Spirit. Spiritual. They sensed something in Him that is different. They cannot figure Him out. Some say He is Elijah. Some say He is even John the Baptist coming into life. Some say He is Jeremiah because he wept. And some say He is one of the prophets. And some say He is the prophet that Moses prophesied. One day there will be a prophet rising among you, brethren. And whoever does not hear Him shall perish. Brothers and sisters, strangely, reality is already in the midst of the people. And yet they miss Him. Why? The natural man cannot receive the things. The natural man will consider it as foolish. When our Lord Jesus said, I am the bread of life. They said, if you do not drink my blood and eat my flesh, you have no eternal life in you. But if you do, you have eternal life. And they said, what is he talking about? So the natural man is foolish talking. They could not understand it. So even though reality has come into this world, and yet they only see His outside. They cannot see. Only to a few, the Father revealed His Son. I think we are all familiar with Matthew chapter 16. When our Lord Jesus said, who do men say that I am? I have been in your midst for some years now. And they have seen me, they have heard me, and they have touched me. Who do men say that I am? And of course the disciples will not report to Him any evil reports. They try to please their Master and they only report the good things. You are Elijah, you are Jeremiah, you are John the Baptist, you are one of the prophets. But the Lord said, now whom do you say that I am? You have been with me day and night. Is there something you see in me more than what the world saw? And thank God, Simon Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And you remember what our Lord Jesus said, Simon Bonita Jonah, you are blessed. Because this is not something given you by man, by the flesh, impossible. It is my Father who has revealed. Brothers and sisters, even when reality is on earth, is in the person of our Lord Jesus. You can touch Him outwardly. And yet you still do not know Him. It needs revelation. But in those days, not many received such revelation. Our Lord Jesus said, in Matthew 11, 27, He said, No one knows the Son but the Father. And no one knows the Father but the Son. And to those whom He has revealed. Now do we really believe what the Lord has said? No one knows the Father. No one. Do we believe that? Do we really believe that the Son is the only one who knows the Father? Because He is in the bosom of the Father. And do we believe that no one knows the Son, knows the Father, but the Son and to whom the Son has revealed Him. So without revelation, it is impossible to touch reality. Brothers and sisters, spiritual reality is beyond human beings. No matter how clever you are, you just cannot. Even though God, who lives in unperceivable light, has now come upon this earth. And reality is now manifested, available, attainable, approachable. But even so, if there is no revelation from above, you still cannot get it. But thank God. Before our Lord Jesus went to the Father, He said, I'm going. And the disciples were very sorrowful. But the Lord said, it is good for you. I'm going, but I will go and ask of the Father. And I will send another Comforter to you. The Spirit of Truth. And He shall be with you and He shall be in you. And He will never leave you. And this Spirit of Truth, in John chapter 16, that we have already mentioned a number of times, when the Spirit of Truth shall come, He shall lead you into all truth. The Lord said, He will take what is of mine and reveal it to you. It is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth. He is the Spirit of Reality. And in 1 John chapter 5, the Apostle John mentioned about this matter of the testimony. He said, This is He that comes by water and blood, Jesus the Christ, and by water, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the Truth. God the Father is the Truth. The Source of Reality. But He is transcendent. Unapproachable. God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is Truth incarnated. The Truth has come upon this earth, making Himself available to us. But it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into it. You know, brothers and sisters, even when our Lord Jesus was on earth, only relatively few people receive a revelation from the Father concerning the Son. But today, what a privilege we have. Today, all who believe in the Lord Jesus has the Holy Spirit. That Spirit of Truth dwells in us. Now, do you know that you have the Spirit of Truth in you? Do you know that He is in you, teaching you? Not only teaching you all things, but He is leading you into all truth. In other words, He makes reality not only present on earth, but He makes reality real in your life. He takes what is of Christ, what Christ has done for us, the finished work of Christ on Calvary's cross, that makes reality available. Now He takes that which is available and makes it attainable, touchable, experiential to each one. We cannot say today, we have not heard reality, because we have heard it in God. We cannot say, we have not seen reality, because we have seen it in our Lord Jesus. The full Gospels, because the life of our Lord Jesus, it is the life of spiritual reality. And we cannot say today, that we cannot experience spiritual reality. Why? Because the Spirit of Reality is in us. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus has the Spirit of Jesus, has the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Reality in him and in her. And it is only by the Holy Spirit we are led into experiencing spiritual reality. Now, how does the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, lead us into all truth? There are two ways. One, the Holy Spirit reveals reality within us. He will tell us what is real and what is false. The anointing that is in you, he will teach you in all things. And whatever he teaches is true and is not false. And if you listen to his teaching, you abide in Christ. Brothers and sisters, how do we really know Christ? Know God. How do we really know reality in our lives? It is by the teaching of the anointing. The Holy Spirit within us, he is teaching us. He is teaching us and telling us what is not real and what is real. What is just a knowledge, a mental knowledge? And what is spiritual reality? What is the appearance and what is the substance? You find the Holy Spirit, he is teaching us all the time, trying to divide all the imitation, the counterfeits, the pretence, the deceit, deception, the substitute. And he is trying to show us where reality is. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit in each one of us, every day. Our problem is we are so busy with outward things that we do not have the quietness to hear the still, small voice. You know, actually, when we are talking, the Holy Spirit is in us teaching us reality. When we are talking too much, he restrains us within and says, that's enough. When we are exaggerating, he will tell us, you are not telling the truth. When we are boasting of ourselves, he will show us that it is ourselves, not Christ. Unfortunately, we did not listen to him. You know, sometimes, even in talking, the momentum seems to just carry us on. We know inwardly something is telling us, but we cannot stop. But afterwards, we feel uncomfortable. When you are talking, you are very comfortable. But after you finish, you feel uneasy. It seems as if a cloud has come between you and God. Your fellowship with God is interrupted. You have to repent and return. And then you will find it is really connected. Brothers and sisters, I think this is just common life. You do not seek spiritual reality in some big experience. Spiritual reality is right here in your daily life. Often times we think we know the Word. We read the Word of God many, many times. We think we know it and we even preach it. Tell it to other people. But one day, when the Holy Spirit begins to enlighten us, when He begins to speak to us in the written Word, then suddenly you discover all you had before is just theory. You do not have the substance. But when the Holy Spirit reveals, you touch the reality. And He is teaching us every day. He is in us to glorify. You know, the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself. The Holy Spirit only speaks of Christ. That is His mission. He will glorify Christ. He will take what is of Christ and reveal it to us so that Christ may become a reality in our life. And this is not something spectacular. Brothers and sisters, we often are brainwashed thinking that to get into spiritual reality it has something to be very spectacular. The Spirit of Truth in you is daily bringing you into spiritual reality. But do you cooperate? Do you obey? Do you really surrender? Do you surrender yourself? But that is only one way. The Holy Spirit has another way to lead us into all truth. And it is discipline outside. Revelation inside and discipline outside. Do not think that anything happens to you by chance. To a believer, a child of God, nothing happens by chance. Our Heavenly Father watches over us. Our Lord Jesus said, look at the birds of the air. They are so worthless. And yet your Heavenly Father takes care of even that odd bird that is added with nothing. How much more? Even the very hair of your head has been numbered. Well, we do not know how many hair you have. As you get older, probably you get less hair. But we never know how many hair we have. And certainly we have never numbered it. Number one, number two, number thousand, number ten thousand, a million. We never number it. But in the morning when you comb your hair and some hair drop off, your Heavenly Father knows exactly which number of your hair has come off. Now think of that. If this is true, and it is true, can you believe that anything happens to you by chance? The Holy Spirit is in charge. He arranges all our circumstances. The people you are with, the people you meet, the words you have heard, the rumors you have heard, every idle word that you speak. Brothers and sisters, nothing comes to us by chance. The Lord so arranges. Now we think, why is it that I was born in the Kong family? God arranges it. Why is it that I have seven brothers and sisters? God arranges it. Why is it that I am in the midst of a group of believers? Brothers and sisters, God arranges it. Why is it that some brothers and sisters get in touch with you? God arranges it. Why is it God, for somebody like you, God arranges it? Remember, the Holy Spirit arranges all our circumstances. Not occasionally, all the time. Where you are, what you do, whom you meet, what you hear, everything is arranged by the Holy Spirit. Why? He is trying to lead you into spiritual. He knows how unreal you are. He knows how much of you is the flesh. How much of you is just knowledge. He knows how much of your love is natural love. How much of your patience is natural patience. How much of your gentleness is Adamic in origin. Some people are born more gentle than other people. Some people are born more hard than other people. The Holy Spirit arranges your circumstance to test you to the uttermost. Beyond. Why? Just to lead you into spiritual reality. That's what it is. The instrument He uses is the cross. He uses the cross to expose and to cut off all that is not real. All that is man, that is of yourself, of the all creation, imitation, substitute, deception. Brothers and sisters, we do not know how much we are deceived. We do not know how much we are in darkness. We do not know how much we are living in the flesh. We do not know how much the world has influenced over us. We do not know how much is just religion, just appearance, human efforts, not real, will not last forever. It cannot continue on to eternity. We do not know. But the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, He knows. Why certain things happen to certain people and not to other people? Why certain things are easy with certain people, but they are difficult with other people? Certain things are a problem to certain people, but these things are no problem to other people. Why? Because God knows us. If we are willing to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. You know, that is the problem. When we are put into certain circumstances, we fight against it. We see man instead of God. If only we were to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Brothers and sisters, in due time He will exalt us. Christ is increased in us. Reality is increased in us. This is the only way to spiritual reality. There is a cost we have to pay. And that's the reason why you find at the very beginning our Lord Jesus will tell those who come to Him and said, except you deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be. You are not worthy of me. There is a cost. You have to be ready to pay but thank God when the grace of God is finally manifested in your life. You say, Lord, this is no cost. This is your love. Because what I consider as cost to me actually is harmful to me. And God in His love removes it and replaces it. With His beloved Son. Dear brothers and sisters, this is reality. So you find that spiritual reality can only be found in God and nowhere else. Don't try to find spiritual reality anywhere else. You cannot find it. Even death and destruction we have heard the report of it but we have never seen it. Don't try to find spiritual reality in man. No matter how great that man may be, he is not there. The only place where you can find spiritual reality you find it in God. And thank God, Christ Jesus is God becoming man. Reality incarnated. And through His death and resurrection He makes reality available to every one of us. And thank God He sent the Holy Spirit dwelling in each one of us to lead us into spiritual reality. So, do not say that reality, spiritual reality is nowhere to be found. And you cannot have spiritual reality. And just be content with a big lie. Brothers and sisters, seek spiritual reality. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Thou art the only true God. We thank Thee for sending Thy beloved Son into this world we believe. We thank Thee for making reality available to us through Thy beloved Son. And we thank Thee for the Holy Spirit who makes reality real even in us poor vessels. Oh, we thank Thee. We thank Thee for all Thy goodness to us. Lord, make us a grateful people. Deliver us from anything that is unreal. Anything that is passing. Anything that is a substitute. Lord, we want Thee. We want the real thing. Oh, Lord, be merciful to us. We pray that our life hereafter will walk in a different direction. That we no longer seek for vanity, but we seek eternal life. We thank Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus.