Date: November 1, 1940Place: ShanghaiScripture Reading: 1 John 1:6; 3:14; 5:9, 11-13; John 5:24; 17:23; Rom. 8:15; 1 Pet. 2:22
When a person is born or even after he is one or two years old, he does not know who he is and what his name is. But the amazing thing is that when he grows up, he spontaneously knows his name, who his parents are, and where he lives. It will be a big problem if he does not know who he is or if he becomes lost in the streets and cannot tell others who his father is, where he lives, and what his name is. When a person gets to a certain age, he knows who he is, where he came from, and who his ancestors are. In the Old Testament a man could not be recognized as a Jew unless he could name his genealogy. In the New Testament Matthew 1 begins with the origin of Christ. It is very important for God's people to know their origin. If a man does not know who he is, he will get in trouble when he is lost. It is also extremely important for a regenerated Christian to know his spiritual birth and where he came from. Every brother and sister should know that he or she is born of God. He has regenerated us with the word of truth through the resurrection of Christ. We do have our genealogy in the Lord.
In order to be a man, you have to know who you are and what your status is. For example, if the police suspect you of sedition, you must be able to prove your identity if they want to interrogate you. Simply telling them who you are will not be enough. If they do not believe that you are telling the truth, you can show them a business card. But even this can be questioned because you may not be the person on the card. Similarly, if others do not believe that you are a son of God, what can you do? Can you prove that you are a son of God? Can you prove that you are indeed born of God? In order to answer these questions, we need to know four points from the Epistle of 1 John. Actually, there are more than four points, but for convenience's sake and for our present purpose, we will only mention four.
First John 1:6 says: "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth." This verse tells us that we should know God. In the Bible, when light and darkness are used as illustrations, light refers to positive things and darkness refers to negative things. The darkness in 1 John does not refer to conduct that is dark, but to places of darkness. It does not refer to things that are done in darkness, but to the environment of darkness itself. When a man is in darkness, he lacks the light of the gospel. For example, if the light is turned off in this room, we will be sitting in darkness. We will not see each others' faces, and we will not know what is happening in this room. In the same way, when we say that a man is in darkness, we mean that he is ignorant of spiritual things. It does not mean necessarily that he is committing evil or doing bad things. Rather, it means that he is ignorant of God.
First John 1:5 and 7 show us that God is light and that He dwells in light. When we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin. Yet Psalm 18:11 says, "He made darkness His hiding place." In the Old Testament God dwelt in darkness, that is, in the Holy of Holies. He was a mysterious God, not a God who was known and understood by man. For example, when we switch the light off in this room, we can only guess who is in the room. In the Old Testament men could only guess about God; they could not know Him in a clear way. God was in darkness, and there was no way to tell whether He had forgiven our sins or whether He loved us. This is the Old Testament. In the New Testament we can know these things, because the veil of the Holy of Holies has been split and the light has shone. If light is outside our room, and the door is open, it is impossible for light not to come in. God has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself from the Holy of Holies. He is no longer hidden.
Before I was saved, I often wondered what God was like. Year after year I guessed what God was like. Although I did not believe in Him, I did pray: "O heaven! It would have been better had I not been born. You have begotten me, and now I have all kinds of questions. There is God, and there is also myself. But You cause me to have many inconvenient ques- tions." This happened before I believed. I was not at all clear about God. A Western friend once asked me the difference between the Old and New Testaments. I told him that in the Old Testament God was hidden, whereas in the New Testament God has revealed Himself in Christ. On Mount Sinai God was hidden, but the God in the Gospels is a touchable and knowable God.
A saved person must know God and be able to tell others about God. If you know me, and others ask about me, you cannot say merely that I have eyes and a mouth. Others have eyes and mouths as well. You have to tell them in detail about me. The same is true about our knowledge of God. We cannot say that we do not know anything about God. If we have the life of God, we should have the ability to know Him. We must dwell in the light and walk in the light. Only then will the blood of Jesus cleanse us from every sin, and only then will we know God. We must have revelation. Revelation is crucial to a Christian; it enables him to know God. This is the blessing brought to us by the gospel, and this is the initial function, manifestation, and evidence of a regenerated Christian.
God is light. When we dwell in the light, we have no problem with God whatsoever. But 1 John 3:14 says that we know we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. It is a difficult thing for men with different backgrounds, social statuses, races, and philosophies to come together. But Christians can do this, because we are not only "comrades" with common interests or men given to a common cause; we are those who love the brothers and sisters and who can love one another from our heart. Many people can help their comrades, but they cannot love them. But a saved person who has God's life and God's love within can love others.
Being saved means to receive the life of God. This is something inward. All those who are begotten of God surely love God, and they surely love one another. As soon as you know that a certain person is a brother, you will love him. When you travel in a train or ship, there may be unbelievers all around you. But as soon as you see someone reading a Bible, you will love him no matter what denomination or sect he belongs to. Your heart will jump for joy. This love for the brothers is in the divine life which we received at the time of regeneration. This love is the expression as well as the proof of our salvation and regeneration.
A saved person will not continue in sin. If you do not continue in sin, it proves that you are a saved person. This is something that can be tested. First John 2:29 says, "Everyone who practices righteousness also has been begotten of Him." This refers to our deliverance from sin. Those who are begotten of God practice righteousness. The life within demands that they practice righteousness. This is the characteristic of the life of God. Under ordinary circumstances a piece of wood will not sink in water. However, under special circumstances it will sink. If you put a ton of stones on the wood, it will sink. If the wood could speak, it would voice its objection every second. It would say that it should be afloat, but that the stones have weighed it down. But even if the wood is submerged under water, it will not become "submerged wood." When the circumstances change and the pressure is gone, the wood will come back up again. It may sink temporarily, but wood itself does not sink. This cannot be said of rocks, which automatically sink. Even if a saved brother or sister has sinned, I can still say that he is one who does not sin, because the life within him does not sin. If he sins, a power or nature within him will make him feel sorry about it. This is something that an unbeliever can never experience.
A sister once testified that prior to being a Christian, she did not blush when she lied. She was a "professional" liar. But she changed after becoming a Christian. When she lied, her heart would beat fast and her face would turn red. Inwardly she would condemn the lies as sins. There is something within her that forbids her to lie. An unbeliever must exercise a conscious effort to not lie. But for a Christian to not lie is something innate; it is the inward power that makes him not to lie. Lying matches the inward nature of those in the world, but it is something that goes against the Christian nature. This nature has to do with the life that begat you. It is difficult for you to quit gambling and smoking merely on the ground that you are a Christian. But these are very natural things when you have the power of God's life within you. A Christian does not grit his teeth to refrain from sinning. There is a power within him which keeps him from sinning. There is a sinless nature within him. If you sin, this nature objects and makes you feel uneasy. This is Christ's salvation. It is not a matter of resisting sin by your own strength. You have received a life that does not sin. Being delivered from sin is the third manifestation of our salvation and regeneration.
First John 5:10 tells us that God's testimony is within us; we have the life of God. Not only does the Bible say this, even our heart testifies to this fact. This has nothing to do with one's outward behavior; it is an inward thing. We are God's children; not only does the Holy Spirit testify of this within us, even our own spirit testifies of the same. There is a difference in feeling between Brother Chen Ke-san calling his mother-in-law "mother," and his wife calling her "mother." Brother Chen's calling is related to his circumstance; he does so because of his wife. His wife has "the spirit of sonship," but he does not. Today we spontaneously and sweetly call God our Father. We have the Spirit of God's Son within us, and His testimony is in us. Many people call God the Father in a vain way in their prayer; they have merely learned of this term from others. This is the prayer of a nominal Christian. All those who are genuinely saved can cry "Abba Father" from the bottom of their heart.
First John 5:13 says, "I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe into the name of the Son of God." Many people jump to this verse too quickly. They skip verse 11. Verse 11 speaks of the testimony of God. When a man has the testimony of God in his heart, he will spontaneously know that he has eternal life. Some read John 3:16, which says, "Every one who believes into Him...would have eternal life." As they are reading it, they think they have eternal life. But when they go to bed and consider some more, they doubt whether they have it. It seems as if the life they received is not eternal. We must have the testimony in our heart before we can know that we have eternal life. First, there is the Son of God, and then there is life. Salvation and regeneration are not something outward. They have nothing to do with knowledge. Salvation is to have God's Son and God's life in a real way. It is God's testimony in us that convinces us of our birth in God.
As soon as we are saved, we can know God and love the brothers and sisters in the Lord. We will not continue in sin, and we have God's testimony in our heart, proving to us that we are of God. These are the manifestations and evidences of our regeneration and salvation.
