Thank the Lord that in these recent years so many have been rescued and delivered to a certain extent from religion. Yet we still have a certain amount of religion within us. By all these verses we may see that the Lord Jesus has nothing in His mind and heart but Himself and His church. We have been greatly distracted from Christ and the church by so many religious things, political things, matters concerning the sound faith and how to interpret the Bible. Years ago, the interpretation of the Bible was my favorite occupation and a real temptation. When a person came to me with one verse, I would expound fifty to him. But if you come to me today with a verse, I will reduce your verse to nothing but the living Christ. Forget about the interpretation of the Bible.

Sometimes the dear saints ask when the Lord Jesus will return. All I can answer is simply that He will return. Sometimes they ask what the signs of His coming are. All I can say is that the signs are simply the signs. Would you be willing to forget about all this and care only for the living Christ? Whether He comes today or tomorrow, with this sign or with that sign, it matters little. Just care for Christ; then you will be ready for His coming. Whenever a person asks concerning any matter, I would eventually say, "What think ye of Christ?"

Look at Christ today. He is the exalted One! Hallelujah! He was God in the beginning, who was incarnated and passed through all the human living on this earth. He experienced crucifixion and resurrection and was raised to the peak of the universe in ascension. Now, after His ascension, He is here as the Spirit of life and power, moving on this earth to establish His churches. He is the Son of man walking in the midst of all the local lampstands. He is here among us. This is the very thing for which we must care. He cares for the growth in number in the local churches, and He cares even more for the growth in life. He would say to us, "Do not be foolish like the chief priests, elders, Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees. Forget all the things they cared for, and concentrate on Christ and the church." If we don't understand some passage of the Bible, we simply don't understand it. We don't care for the mere understanding of the Bible. If we don't know what portion or chapter is the greatest in the Bible, we simply don't know. We don't care merely for knowing that. But we know that Christ is there and Christ is within us and Christ is among us. Oh, we care for the ascended Christ! He is not only the Son of man, but also the Son of God. He is not only the seed of David, but also the root of David. Why is it then that in the local churches we are dealing with the Bible all the time, we are pray-reading the Bible continually? Not merely for learning or understanding anything, but for eating Christ.

Yet in our meetings there is still some element of religion. Why are we so careful about keeping a certain kind of good order? It is because we are still religious. You may argue that the Apostle Paul tells us to do everything decently and in order. But the very fact that you mention this exposes the religion in you. Try your best to understand. I would like to hear and see you speak freely in your meetings about nothing but Christ and the church. Just come to the meeting in the spirit and feel free to say something about Christ. Feel free to present Christ. Feel free to minister Christ. Just feel free—don't be so careful. Some of you have been careful for years. I am afraid that at least a few of your hairs have turned gray by being careful in the meeting. Would you be willing to forget about being careful and just be free with Christ? Come into the meeting and be free with Christ, not in a sloppy way, but livingly in the spirit.

If you read through the entire Book of Matthew you will see that the Lord Jesus, while He was on earth, was not once careful concerning the Jewish religion. From the time He came to be baptized by John the Baptist He cared nothing for it nor was He ever careful concerning religious sensibilities. On the contrary, He always acted in human eyes so roughly and wrongly. He did it purposely to impress His disciples never to care for anything religious, but only for Christ and His church. I would advise you to read and to pray-read chapters 21 and 22 of Matthew five times. You will see how the Lord Jesus was absolutely outside of religion. He cared only for Himself and His building, the church.