Question 9: We accept God’s work of the last days, but how do we experience God’s judgment and chastisement so that we can receive the truth and life, get rid of our sinful nature, and achieve salvation to enter the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: How to experience God’s judgment and chastisement to gain the truth and life, and get rid of our sinful nature to achieve salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven, this question is very important, because this is the major issues that relate to our ending and destination. To seek this aspect of the truth, we should first read a few passages of Almighty God’s word:
The Bible says: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20-21). “As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). “For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). These verses tell us that we cannot interpret prophecies literally relying on our conceptions and imaginings, because prophecies are from God, and it is only through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that we can understand them. However, before prophecies are fulfilled, it is easy for us to rely on our own notions and interpret them literally. This makes it easy to misinterpret prophecies. And our absurd interpretations will mislead others. For example, when it came to the prophecies about the arrival of the Messiah, the Pharisees relied on their own ideas. Before the Lord Jesus was born, based on the literal meaning of the prophecies in Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 and Micah 5:2, they imagined the Messiah’s arrival: The Messiah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, and be named Emmanuel; He would grow up in a palace and govern Israel while sitting upon a throne. However, when the prophecies were fulfilled, the way they had imagined Him ended up being at odds with the facts. What they actually saw was: The Lord was born of the married Mary and into a carpenter’s family, and was called Jesus; He came from Nazareth, and in the end was nailed to the cross. This is very different from the literal meaning of the prophecies. Hence, even though they saw that the Lord Jesus’ work and preaching had authority and power, the Pharisees did not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah. Instead, they even blasphemed the Lord Jesus, saying He depended on the prince of the devils to cast out demons. Thus, they committed the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, offended the disposition of God, and would never gain the Lord’s forgiveness. And those commoners who had no discernment and believed what the Pharisees said also lost God’s salvation. From this example, we can see that because the Pharisees held on to their imaginings and the literal meaning of the prophecies, they ruined themselves and also others.
One day, I read a popular saying online that went something like this, “The farthest distance in the world isn’t the other side of the world, it’s sitting next to you while you play with your phone.” No matter if you’re on the subway, on the bus, in a restaurant, or on the streets … at any time of the day, you can always find a certain group of people, phubbers. They have a phone, tablet, or some other gadget in their hand as they watch videos, play games, or look at their friend feed, and their members are primarily young people.
As technology has developed, the internet has made our lives much more convenient. People can buy what they want without leaving the house, or they can contact different people without going out. But what is brought about by the convenience of the internet? Let’s take a look at the relevant reports.
Jiao sat by the window looking at the divorce certificate in her hands with a sense of relief. Because of God’s grace and salvation, Jiao was finally free from her painful marriage. She gazed at the street outside the window, and everything that had happened between her and her ex-husband passed through her mind …
Finding Happiness
Jiao was just the same as so many other girls. When she was a teenager, she dreamed of growing up and finding a husband who would love her dearly. Especially when she read romance novels or watched screen idols on TV, and she saw the endless love between the main male and female characters, she would take the ideas of “love is supreme,” and “growing old together, hand-in-hand” as the ideals for her own future marriage, and she yearned to have a grand love. Only then, she thought, would her life not be lived in vain.
“Why should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he has done whatever he has pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like to them; so is every one that trusts in them. O Israel, trust you in Jehovah: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in Jehovah: he is their help and their shield. You that fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah: he is their help and their shield. Jehovah has been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear Jehovah, both small and great. Jehovah shall increase you more and more, you and your children. You are blessed of Jehovah which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are Jehovah’s: but the earth has he given to the children of men. The dead praise not Jehovah, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless Jehovah from this time forth and for ever more Praise Jehovah” (Psm 115:2-18).
All devout Christians yearn for the return of the Lord and entering the wonderful kingdom of heaven prepared by Him. Yet very few of them have reflected on whether God approves of their belief in Him, nor have they rethought what kind of belief is following God and what kind of belief is following men. Today, let’s fellowship some key truths determining the success or failure of our belief in God and discuss what genuinely following God is.
First, one who follows God must obey His words and depend on Him in everything.
Honoring God as great does not just refer to us reciting many chapters of the Scripture, praying to and praising God, or working and spending for the Lord outwardly; it mainly refers to us living by His words after reading them, and truly relying on Him in practical life. Though we can’t see God, we shall obey everything from Him; especially when we read His words, we should accept them, act in accordance with His intention, and treasure His words as our principle of life and guidance of action. And when anything happens to us, we shouldn’t speak or act according to our personal hobbies or desires. Particularly when it comes to important issues, we should even more seek God’s will in His words to act on His intention precisely; even if it might do harm to our benefits, we shouldn’t give up practicing His words. Only when we regard God’s words as our principle, give first place to satisfying God, and fulfills His requirement: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), can we be called a true follower of God.
Why be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
– Ephesians 5:17
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
From this verse we know that only the wise can understand the will of the Lord, because when things befall the wise, they won’t treat them according to their conceptions and imaginations, but seek the will of the Lord at all times, understand the will of the Lord, and do things according to the Lord’s will. This is the man that God approves. But in reality, we easily follow our own desires to treat the people, things, and objects we personally encounter, and are influenced by them. Thus, we neglect to quiet before the Lord and seek His will. As a result, we did not understand the Lord’s will and have done many unwise things, and fell into Satan’s cunning scheme, becoming the unwise. So we should learn to be wise, to seek the will of the Lord in everything. Only by grasping the Lord’s will and demands, and practicing according to His will can we have a God-loving heart and be approved by God. Just as God’s words say: “Loving God requires seeking God’s will in all things, and that you probe deep within when anything happens to you, trying to grasp God’s will, and trying to see what God’s will is in this matter, what He wishes you to achieve, and how you should be mindful of His will.”
God’s Words Resolve Her Bewilderment and Her Heart Is Eased
One time, in a meeting, Jiao told her brothers and sisters all about her pain and bewilderment, and one of the sisters read to her several passages of God’s words: “Born into such a filthy land, man has been severely blighted by society, he has been influenced by feudal ethics, and he has been taught at ‘institutes of higher learning.’ The backward thinking, corrupt morality, mean view on life, despicable philosophy, utterly worthless existence, and depraved lifestyle and customs—all of these things have severely intruded upon man’s heart, and severely undermined and attacked his conscience. As a result, man is ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him” (“To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God”). “One after another, all these trends carry an evil influence that continually degenerates man, causing them to continually lose conscience, humanity and reason, and that lowers their morals and their quality of character more and more, to the extent that we can even say the majority of people now have no integrity, no humanity, neither do they have any conscience, much less any reason. So what are these trends? You cannot see these trends with the naked eye. When the wind of a trend blows through, perhaps only a small number of people will become the trendsetters. They start off doing this kind of thing, accepting this kind of idea or this kind of perspective. The majority of people, however, in the midst of their unawareness, will still be continually infected, assimilated and attracted by this kind of trend, until they all unknowingly and involuntarily accept it, and are all submerged in and controlled by it. For man who is not of sound body and mind, who never knows what is truth, who cannot tell the difference between positive and negative things, these kinds of trends one after another make them all willingly accept these trends, the life view and values that come from Satan. They accept what Satan tells them on how to approach life and the way to live that Satan ‘bestows’ on them. They have not the strength, neither do they have the ability, much less the awareness to resist” (“God Himself, the Unique VI”).
The sister then gave fellowship, saying: “God’s words reveal how Satan corrupts man as well as the truth of our corruption by Satan. In today’s society, the breakup of marriages caused by extra-marital affairs and having someone on the side is a common occurrence, and this is directly related to us being deeply corrupted by Satan. Satan uses all manner of heresies and fallacies to deceive, seduce and corrupt man, such as ‘Seize the day for pleasure, for life is short,’ ‘The red flag at home does not fall, the colored flags outside flutter in the breeze,’ ‘Men go bad when they get money, and women get money when they go bad,’ and so on. Satan arouses these evil thoughts and views to corrode our spirits, and this results in our thinking becoming warped so that we regard the evil trends such as ‘extra-marital affairs,’ ‘having a mistress’ and ‘keeping another woman’ as positive things to pursue. Having a woman on the side has become a symbol that the man is capable and high-powered, and a woman having many paramours has become a reflection of how lovely she is. We as mankind live under the influence of these evil trends, and we become increasingly wicked, promiscuous and corrupt, and our consciences become ever more numb. Even though we do things that fly in the face of ethics and morality, we feel no shame at all. More and more people are becoming assimilated by Satan’s evil trends, and are becoming sacrifices to these trends…. In this way, many families are broken up, many people choose to commit suicide as they cannot bear their partner’s betrayal, and there are also many people who kill their partners because their love turns to hatred. Are these not the bitter fruits of following Satan’s evil trends? Were it not for God expressing the truth and exposing Satan’s cunning scheme to corrupt mankind, no one would be able to see and understand these things. We would just be living under Satan’s power, allowing it to harm us. We really do need God’s salvation, and we really need to understand the truth!”
In our life, we always feel we lose face on account of others’ words or looks. And sometimes, we develop prejudices against them for this reason, with our hot blood flaring up, even resulting in a conflict between them. In the face of such a circumstance, as a Christian, how should we treat it in accordance with God’s heart? As regards to this, I’ve found out a path to practice and I want to share it with you.
After I arrived in America, I began engaging in nursing in an old couple’s home. There, the following scene was an everyday occurrence …
No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.
– 1 John 4:12
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
God has the substance of love. His will is that brothers and sisters can love one another. But in real life, many people don’t know how to love them. For example: When we see their weakness, or their words or actions go against our wish, we start to despise and dislike them without love, tolerance or patience. Let’s see how the Lord Jesus loves people. God says, “To humanity He was always tolerant, never vengeful, but forgave them their sins, exhorted them to repent, and taught them to have patience, forbearance, and love, to follow in His footsteps and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the cross. His love for the brothers and sisters exceeded His love for Mary. The work that He did took as its principle healing the people and driving out demons, all for the sake of His redemption. No matter where He went, He treated all who followed Him with grace. He made the poor rich, the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear; He even invited the lowliest, destitute ones, the sinners, to sit at the same table with Him, never shunning them but always being patient, even saying, ‘When a shepherd loses one sheep out of a hundred, he will leave behind the ninety-nine to seek the one lost sheep, and when he finds it he will rejoice greatly.’ He loved His followers as a ewe loves her lambs. Though they were foolish and ignorant, and were sinners in His eyes, and furthermore were the humblest members of society, He considered these sinners—men whom others despised—as the apple of His eye. Since He favored them, He gave up His life for them, as a lamb was offered up on the altar. He went about in their midst as if He were their servant, letting them use Him and slaughter Him, submitting to them unconditionally.”
And the disciples came, and said to him, Why speak you to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Looking at the coffeemakers which were heaped up on my testing-table, my monitor said impatiently, “Young man! Look! You test the products so slowly that so many of them are heaped up. When you see that the QC who checks over the products isn’t here, you don’t need to test them. Directly give them to the other members of staff. If the QC asks you whether you have tested the products, you can say you have done. The former employee didn’t test all the products. Therefore, the products were not heaped up. How can you be so stupid?” “The previous employee tested the products very fast and didn’t heap them up,” my colleague opposite to me said contemptuously. Hearing their words, I felt very aggrieved in my heart …
I work in an appliance installation company and am responsible for testing the quality of the export coffeemakers. These machines need to be tested by putting some water into them one by one. As soon as I’m not careful, my hands will be blistered by scalding water. In order to prevent any quality problems emerging, I tested each of them carefully. However, to increase the output and gain more awards, my monitor urged me to work quickly more than once. I felt a little shaken within: Since the previous employee didn’t test the products one by one and nothing happened, then I won’t test all of them. But then I thought: I’m a believer in God and God requires us to be honest people. If I don’t test the products one by one, then I’m irresponsible as well as cheating others, and I’m not an honest person that brings God joy. I’ll test what I should test. Therefore, I prayed to God silently in my heart, “Oh God! I’m willing to put into practice being an honest person.” After the prayer, I still tested the products one by one. Seeing that I didn’t do according to what she said, my monitor blamed me in front of my colleagues, “You’re too stupid and your mind is inflexible.” Hearing that she talked about me like this, I thought: This is not because I’m stupid or I can’t do like that. Before I believed in God, I also cheated others. Now that I believe in God, I should practice according to God’s words.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment.
– Mark 12:30
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
From this verse I understand that if we wish to love God, our hearts should face God in word and deed, and we should give our hearts to Him and satisfy Him in all things.
Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
– Ecclesiastes 1:2
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
This verse tells us that our pursuits in life, such as fame and fortune, status, money and fleshly enjoyments, are all vanity and meaninglessness because we do not bring when we are born and we do not take when we die. We cannot help but ask ourselves: If all is vanity, then why do we live? How to live can get rid of vanity? At this moment, a passage of God’s words struck me, “For without the guidance of God, no matter how much rulers and sociologists wrack their brains to preserve human civilization, it is to no avail. No one can fill the emptiness in man’s heart, for no one can be the life of man, and no social theory can free man from the emptiness with which he is afflicted. … Man, after all, is man. The position and life of God cannot be replaced by any man. Mankind does not just require a fair society in which everyone is well-fed and is equal and free, but the salvation of God and His provision of life to them. Only when man receives the salvation of God and His provision of life to them can the needs, yearning to explore, and spiritual emptiness of man be resolved.” From these words we can see that only when mankind accept God’s provision of life to them, seek to know Him, and gain the truth can they solve emptiness. Thanks for God’s guidance!
Question 5: You say that people who believe in God must accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and only then can their corrupt disposition be changed. But we, in accordance with the Lord’s requirements, practice humility and patience, love our enemies, bear our crosses, subdue our bodies, abandon worldly things, and we work and preach for the Lord and so on. So aren’t all these our changes? Can’t they become the credentials for our entry into the kingdom of heaven? I believe that as long as we seek in this way, we can attain purification, and enter into the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: We can love our enemy, bear the cross, overcome our body, and spread the gospel of the Lord. These are positive behaviors coming from our belief in the Lord. Our exhibition of such good behaviors signifies that our faith in the Lord is true. These good behaviors may appear correct to people, as if these are in line with the word of God, but it does not mean that we are practicing God’s word and following the will of the heavenly Father, it doesn’t mean that we have quit our sinful nature and become sanctified. There is a reason why we cannot just look at people’s good behaviors by appearance. We also need to look at their intentions and ultimate purposes. If our intention is to obey God, love God, and satisfy God, this kind of good behavior is practicing the truth and obeying the will of the heavenly Father. On the other hand, if our good behavior is solely for the solicitation of blessing and reward, for the reward of a crown, but not from a loving heart for God, then this kind of good behavior is the hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees instead of doing the heavenly Father’s will. If the mere exhibition of good behavior signifies that we are following the will of the heavenly Father, signifies that we have become sanctified, then why do we often commit sins and resist God? Why do we still lead the lifestyle of sinning during the day and confessing at night? This adequately shows that the mere exhibition of good behaviors does not mean that we are practicing the truth and living out the reality of God’s word. Nor does it mean that we have an understanding or a fearful heart to God, much less the ability to love and obey God. As Almighty God says: “Changes in nothing more than behavior are unsustainable. If there is no alteration in people’s life disposition, then sooner or later their wicked side will show itself. Because the source of the changes in their behavior is fervor, coupled with some work by the Holy Spirit at the time, it is extremely easy for them to become fervent, or to show kindness for a time. As the unbelievers say, ‘Doing one good deed is easy, what’s hard is doing a lifetime of good deeds.’ People are incapable of doing good deeds their whole life. Their behavior is directed by the life; whatever their life is, so is their behavior, and only that which is revealed naturally represents the life, and one’s nature. Things that are fake cannot last. … Behaving well is not the same as obeying God, much less does it equal being compatible with Christ. Changes in behavior are based on doctrine, and born of fervor—they are not based on the true knowledge of God, or upon the truth, much less do they rest on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even though there are times when some of what people do is directed by the Holy Spirit, this is not the expression of the life, much less is it the same as knowing God; no matter how good a person’s behavior, it does not prove that they obey God, or that they put the truth into practice” (“The Difference Between External Changes and Changes in Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks). Almighty God’s word clearly explains to us about the essence and source of good behavior. The good behavior of man comes from enthusiasm, which is the practices based on his notions of rules and regulations, not from comprehension of the practicing principles after understanding many truths, or the desire to love and satisfy God from understanding the intention of God. Good behavior stems from man’s conceptions and imaginations. Man’s conceptions and imaginations come from man’s own opinions and his corrupt nature. Therefore no matter what we do, whatever pain we suffer or the price we pay, it is not practice of the truth. It does not mean obedience to God or the outcome of the Holy Spirit’s work. Even when we exhibit good behavior and the ability to follow the rules while we appear to be very pious and spiritual, we are still prone to committing sin and resisting God because of our inveterate corrupt disposition of Satan, our unresolved sinful nature, and lack of true understanding of God. As we can see, many well behaving people still frequently commit sins and confess their sins after believing in God. This is an undeniable fact. When they show good behaviors while sinning and resisting God at the same time, it adequately proves that they are not following the will of the heavenly Father. They do not really deserve the praise of God. The Jewish Pharisees were law-abiding people with impeccable behaviors cosmetically. But when the Lord Jesus came to work, why did they frantically resist, condemn, scheme, and crucify the Lord Jesus? This was enough to explain that the nature of resisting God was innate in them. Regardless of how well they were behaving overtly, it did not mean that they understood, obeyed and were compatible with God, much less followed God’s will and became sanctified. If we want to resolve our sinful nature and become sanctified, we must experience God’s work of judgment in the last days, understand the ample truths therein and gain real knowledge of God, thus begetting true obedience and fear of God. Otherwise the deep-rooted corrupt disposition of Satan in us will never be cleansed and altered, and we will never be after God’s heart and admitted to the kingdom of God.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
– Proverbs 3:6
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
From this verse, we can see God hopes that we can rely on and believe in Him in everything. Then when things befall us, God will surely show us the way and guide us. However, many times, we cannot see God’s deeds because of our little faith in Him. When we are faced with some matter, we don’t rely on God but do things depending on our own ability. And we really feel pained when the results are not as we wished. Not until we meet with difficulties do we come before God, pray to Him and entrust our difficulties to Him. This reminds me of a passage of God’s words, “So there is a very important lesson to be learned here. What is this lesson? It is that people need to look to God in all things and, by looking to God, they achieve a reliance on God. Only by relying on God do people have a path to follow. Otherwise, they can do something correctly and in conformity with the principles of the truth, but if they don’t rely on God, then what they do is just man’s deed, and it does not necessarily satisfy God.” From God’s words, we can see that only firmly believing in God and acting according to His will in all things are something that a creature should do and that God approves.
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Question 4: People are sinful, but the sin offering of the Lord Jesus is forever effective. As long as we confess our sins to the Lord, He will forgive us. We are sinless in the Lord’s eyes, so we can enter the kingdom of heaven!
Answer: Lord Jesus absolves mankind’s sins, but that doesn’t mean we don’t sin. That doesn’t mean we have been freed from the control of our sins or have been cleansed. Lord Jesus absolves our sins. What does “sin” really refer to in this context? We all know adultery, theft, etc. Anything that violates laws, commandments or God’s words is a sin. Any action that resists, condemns or judges God is also a sin. Any blasphemy against God is a sin, a sin that cannot be absolved! In the Age of Grace, Lord Jesus martyred himself for our sins. Only those that pray to the Lord and repent will not be condemned or sentenced to death. That is to say, God will no longer see them as sinners. People who are absolved of their sins can pray directly to God and share in His grace. That is the true meaning of “absolution”. Although our sins were absolved by Lord Jesus, that doesn’t mean we have stopped sinning and resisting God. Because sinning is in our nature, we are still able to resist and betray God and take Him as our enemy. How can people like that be qualified to enter the heavenly kingdom? It’s just as Almighty God said, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Lord Jesus’s work of absolution only absolved our sins; it didn’t resolve our corrupt nature. Our inner arrogance, selfishness, deceitfulness, and other aspects of our satanic nature still remain. This corruption is deeper than sin; it is much more tenacious than sin. It is the source of our resistance of God. If these satanic temperaments are not resolved, people will continue to sin, resist God and judge and condemn Him according to their own conceptions. When they suffer and are persecuted, they can deny God and betray Him as Judas did. When they hold positions of power, they establish independent kingdoms in resistance to God. Some people steal God’s offerings and offend His disposition; they will be condemned and extinguished by God. Now most pastors and leaders in the religious community do not implement the words of Lord Jesus. They interpret the Bible based on their own conceptions. They treat the words of biblical people as if they’re the words of God. They exalt people’s words instead of testifying about Lord Jesus’s words. This makes the faithful revere people and follow people. They have no place for Lord Jesus in their hearts. They become trapped and controlled by their religious leaders’ dominion. This is especially true when Lord Jesus returns to do His works. Those priests and leaders do not pursue or study God’s works. Instead, they condemn His works, judge Him and blaspheme against Him. They spread lies to trick their believers and lock them in the church. They publicly take God as their enemy and offend God’s disposition. This is the most serious resistance of God that there is. This is a sin that cannot be absolved! Their evil behavior in resistance to Lord Jesus is even more egregious than the Pharisees’ was! Therefore, if people’s nature, their resistance of God, is not resolved, if their satanic corruption is not cleansed, they’ll be capable of any evil behavior in resistance of God. How can these kinds of people enter the heavenly kingdom? Therefore, according to His management plan to save mankind and the actual requirements of corrupt humanity, God expresses many different aspects of the truth in the last days, and carries out His work which fulfills the prophecy in the Bible, “Judgment must begin at the house of God,” and is to resolve the key problem that corrupt mankind is controlled by their satanic nature. That is the way that man will gradually free themselves from their corrupt satanic disposition, stop rebelling against and resisting God, become able to truly obey and revere God. Only then will they be cleansed and enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Lord Jesus’ redemptive work has spread to the ends of the earth, reached every home and become a household name, and it is also because of the Lord Jesus’ redemption that mankind has survived until today. There are many brothers and sisters who back up the viewpoint of “once saved, always saved,” with the words of the apostle Paul, “For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Romans 10:10). They think: Since the Lord Jesus redeemed us through crucifixion, we have already been absolved of all our sins and saved by our faith, and once saved, we are always saved, and so long as we endure until the end, we will be directly raptured into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns. However, some other brothers and sisters can’t help but question: “Is it really so easy for us to be saved? Can we attain salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven through faith alone?”
Question 8: Since believing in the Lord, we have given everything to expend ourselves and have worked very hard for the Lord, and we have undergone quite a lot of persecution and tribulation. We have even been imprisoned for Him and we’d rather die than deny the name of the Lord or betray Him. I think that this is carrying out God’s will. By suffering for the Lord and standing witness we can achieve holiness, and be qualified to see the Lord. As long as we continue to uphold this, when He returns we will be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.
Answer: Working hard for the Lord is doing God’s will—this is a notion of most people in the religious world. As far as people see it, that’s quite right, but does it accord with the truth, and is it in line with the Lord’s will? Let’s first look at a fact. When the Jewish Pharisees traveled over land and sea to preach and do His work, to other people it looked like they were upstanding in behavior and pious. So why were they condemned and cursed by the Lord Jesus, who said “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites”? God can see into people’s hearts! Even though the Pharisees worked hard, they were just carrying out religious rituals and explaining knowledge and theory from the Bible. They did not put God’s word into practice at all, and they did not follow His commandments. Every single thing they did was for blessings, for rewards, and it was also for their status and to make a living. In their hearts, they didn’t love God at all and they didn’t have any reverence for Him. Their mad resistance and condemnation of the Lord Jesus completely exposed their nature of hating the truth and their hypocritical essences. That is why the Lord Jesus hated and cursed them. From this fact we can see that being able to work hard absolutely does not represent doing God’s will, and someone being upstanding in their behavior does not represent purification. As long as a person does not love God in their heart, does not put God’s words into practice, and does not keep His commandments, all of their hard work is in vain. It is all meaningless and absolutely cannot gain God’s praise. Anyone who is capable of resisting and condemning Christ in the flesh will certainly suffer the hatred and damnation of God. So then what really is doing God’s will? This refers to people being able to put God’s words into practice, obeying His commandments, being able to perform their duty in accordance with His words and the principles of His words, relying on their love for God to expend themselves for Him, having a heart of magnifying God, being able to fear God and shun evil, and frequently exalting Him and bearing witness to Him. Only this is truly doing God’s will. We can all see that there truly are many people who suffer quite a lot after believing in the Lord, that they pay quite a great price and even go to prison or are martyred and still do not depart from the Lord. The only thing this means is that they have genuine faith in the Lord. However, they are not pursuing the truth while they are working hard and they do not place emphasis on putting the Lord’s words into practice or keeping His commandments. Instead, they follow their own will and are obstinate and arrogant. After believing in God for many years, their disposition in life has not changed at all—they are still arrogant and do not obey anyone else. They frequently tell lies and engage in deceit, and even though they are able to do a lot of work and suffer a great deal, and they have some good behaviors and testimony, everything they do is for the sake of gaining blessings, gaining rewards. It is to enter into the kingdom of heaven and be crowned. Paying a price and expending oneself this way is trying to make a deal with the Lord and it is deceitful in nature. Personal motives and objectives are hidden within. They absolutely are not people who love and obey the Lord, so how could it be said that they do God’s will? What’s more, although they wave the flag of working and expending themselves for the Lord, they have never exalted Him or borne witness to Him. Rather, they are showing themselves off in all things to have people look up to them. They are struggling for fame and fortune and setting up their own little kingdoms. Their hard work is for the same purpose as the Pharisees’—it is entirely for their status and their living. This has nothing to do with doing God’s will. Instead, it is doing evil and resisting God. We can see from this that if a person cannot put God’s words into practice and they cannot keep His commandments, if they do not have a heart of love and obedience for God, then no matter how much they suffer and how much work they do, they still are not doing God’s will, and it particularly does not mean that they have cast off sinfulness and achieved purification, so how could they be worthy of entering into the kingdom of heaven? Just as the Lord Jesus said: “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Mat 7:21-23).
