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Now we will look straightway at the second experience of life, namely, the clearance of the past.
Strictly speaking, the clearance of the past cannot be regarded as an experience of life in itself. It can only be considered as an appendix to the experience of regeneration, since a man who has been truly regenerated and saved will naturally bring all his past to an end. The normal experience, therefore, of regeneration certainly includes the element of the ending of the past. But because there are some who do not seem to be regenerated and saved in a thoroughgoing way, although they have indeed been regenerated and saved, their past has not been immediately cleared. Not until they are once more revived by the Lord do they make up this lesson of clearing the past. It is proper, therefore, that we separate regeneration and the clearance of the past and consider them as two distinct experiences of life.
There is no clear teaching in the Scriptures concerning the clearance of the past, but there are two very good examples: one is found in Luke 19:1-10 — the story of Zaccheus’s dealing with the past after his salvation; the other is in Acts 19:18-19 — the account of the Ephesians’ clearance of the past after being saved.
In Luke 19 we are told that as soon as Zaccheus was saved, he immediately felt that he had extorted others in the past and was thus unrighteous; he also felt that he was a money lover with a stingy manner of living. He said therefore to the Lord that if he had taken anything from anyone by false accusation, he would willingly restore him fourfold. Furthermore, he was willing to give half of his possessions to the poor. This was his clearance of the past. In Acts 19 we are told that many of the Ephesian saints, having been saved through Paul’s leading, came to confess their practices, many of them willingly bringing their books of magic and burning them before the people. This was their clearance of the past.
What are the things of the past that need to be cleared away after we are saved? What are the objects that must be ended and cleared up? Altogether there are four categories: (1) unrighteous matters, (2) improper matters, (3) evil and unclean matters, and (4) old ways of living. After we have been saved, there needs to be a clearing up and conclusion of these matters.
(1) Unrighteous matters: Unrighteous means “unjust, illegal.” All that we have obtained in the past by unjust, illegal means, such as stealing, swindling, taking by force, encroaching upon others’ properties, keeping things that have been lost by others, not returning things that were borrowed long ago, and all illegitimate relations with others and unjust dealings toward others — all these unrighteous matters — are things that we should clear up.
(2) Improper matters: Improper and unrighteous are close in meaning, and yet they are different. Unrighteous means that the method by which a certain thing is obtained, or the relationship of a certain matter, is unjust or illegal. Improper means that the very nature of a certain thing or matter is improper or indecent. For instance, things used in gambling and drinking can be bought and obtained by legal means, but these things are used for gambling and drinking. Since both gambling and drinking are improper and indecent, the very nature of these things is also improper and indecent. Furthermore, neither smoking nor reading obscene novels can be said to be unrighteous, but surely they are immoral and improper. All these improper matters are also things that we should put to an end.
(3) Evil and unclean matters: Evil and unclean matters are things related to idols, such as graven or portrait idols, candlesticks, and censers used in idol worship; ornaments, furniture, and clothing with the image of a dragon; writings of worldly religions; unclean things related to curious arts, such as books on horoscope, physiognomy, magic, and so forth; also evil and unclean things, such as worshipping idols, worshipping ancestors, divining, fortunetelling, and so forth. These are hated by God even more than the things in the first two categories, and they are certainly intolerable to the life within us, which is holy and clean. Therefore, even more so must these things be thoroughly put to an end.
(4) Old ways of living: Old ways of living refer to our entire old manner of living before we were saved. After we are saved, we should not only put an end to all unrighteous, improper, and evil and unclean matters, but we must also put an end to our whole former manner of living and have a new beginning.
Usually, when we speak of the clearance of the past, we emphasize the ending of unrighteous, improper, and evil and unclean matters, but we are not likely to pay any attention to the ending of the old way of living. This is insufficient. As a matter of fact, when a man is regenerated, his old way of living ceases at once. Since regeneration enables man to obtain a new life, it naturally brings to man a new way of living. The old way of living ends with the old life, and the new way of living begins with the new life. Thus, man has changed to a new human living. It can be said, therefore, that what really wrecks the old manner of living is the salvation of the Lord. Whoever receives the Lord’s salvation has his old human living wrecked and terminated and his new human living begun and being built up.
How then should we regard the ending of the old human living and the beginning of the new? We are not saying that after a person is regenerated he should change his present occupation — stop going to school, close his business, ignore caring for his family — and go out preaching. The ending of the old human living means that after a person is regenerated, he may continue in his original profession, provided that it is proper, but the taste within him is changed, his mood is changed, and his feeling is changed. No matter what a person does before he is regenerated, his taste, his mood, and his feeling are all toward the world, all desiring to accomplish something in the world. The more he works, the more he relishes his work, and the deeper he enters into it. But after regeneration, when God’s life enters into him, that taste within him becomes tasteless, that mood is changed, and his feeling is also changed. He even has a different taste for eating, clothing, and other daily necessities. In this sense, his old way of living is ended, and his old life comes to a conclusion.
We have referred to Zaccheus’s clearance of his past. His clearance included the ending of his old way of living. Formerly, he had extorted money from others and was thus unrighteous, so he put an end to his unrighteous deeds by restoring fourfold. Moreover, he also gave half of his possessions to the poor; that was to end his old way of living. Had he not given to the poor, would that be unrighteous? Would that be improper? Would that be evil and unclean? Indeed not! His unwillingness to give was his old way of living. In his former life he put an extreme value upon money; covetousness was his philosophy of life, and loving money was his old way of living. When he was saved and God’s life entered into him, his concept concerning money was immediately changed; he esteemed it of little value; he was willing to give — this shows that his life was changed, and his old way of covetous living was ended. This does not mean, of course, that after he ended his old way of living, he did not possess or spend any more money. It is possible that afterward he still had much money and spent it. But his taste in possessing money was different; his taste in spending money was different. His old life was changed; his old way of living came to an end.
I recall my own experience of ending the old way of living. It was also a very evident change. When I was nearly twenty years old, I was pursuing the knowledge of this world, full of ambition and with great purpose. At this time a sister came to preach the gospel in my locality, and I was saved at the first listening. She spoke at that time from Exodus, telling how Pharaoh usurped the Israelites and would not allow them to leave Egypt. She said that this typifies Satan’s usurping of man, not allowing him to worship God. Her words were indeed Spirit-inspired and moved me greatly. At that time I had a feeling within that said, “Never again do I want this world. I must serve God.” Since then, this feeling within me has never died. On one hand, I felt that I could no longer walk in the way of this world and that it was henceforth no longer possible to possess my ambition and great purpose toward the world. On the other hand, I felt that a new path, a new life, was before me, causing me to follow the Lord and go on. In this way the taste within me was changed, my mood was changed, and my feeling was also changed. My old way of living then came to an end.
It seems difficult to find words to express these changes in taste, mood, and feeling, but they are definitely the result of being regenerated. Furthermore, the more thoroughly a person is regenerated, the more drastic these changes will be. For those who have more future in their enterprises or more accomplishment in society, the change will be more evident. Even those who are barely saved can still sense that these changes have taken place in their lives, although their experience of regeneration is not so clear. Once there are such changes within, the old way of living comes to an end.
Although this ending of the old way of living is a preliminary experience of a Christian, it has a deep effect upon his future walk with the Lord. When our old way of living comes to an end, our ambition and interest in the world are changed, our estimation and point of view toward men and all matters are also changed, and our purpose in life is different than before. Thus, we can escape from all anxieties, leave all our burdens behind, and run the race in the way of the Lord.
Since ending the old way of living is so important, we must give heed to this matter of the clearance of the past, whether in self-examination or in leading others, to see that the old way of living is ended and that there is such a change in taste, mood, and feeling. If these changes are not great enough, we must look for a deeper work of the Holy Spirit to make them stronger and more weighty. The more drastic these changes are, the more thorough will be the ending of the old way of living.
Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to wait until after a person is saved before he can be led to consider this change in the old way of living. When we are preaching the gospel, it is also necessary to add this point to enable others to see that regeneration means a change in their human living. A certain kind of life must have a certain kind of living. If a man is regenerated, he obtains a new life, and his old life then naturally comes to an end. Thus, once a man is saved, he will have this change of affection, and it follows that he will have a good ending of the past.
The clearance of the past is not based on the demand of outward regulations but on the sense of life within. We have previously pointed out four matters that must necessarily be ended, yet these only enable us to recognize principles. They are not rules that demand we put an end to such matters. When we are practicing the clearing of the past, what needs to be ended really depends on the sense of life within. Therefore, the sense of life within is the basis for our clearance of the past.
We know that all the religions of the world are built on their various religious codes. Their followers live and behave according to these rules. But the Lord’s salvation is not like that. The salvation of the Lord, through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, gives us a new life. Since we have such a new life, we can now live and behave in the presence of God through the sense of this new life. This is the principle of all our living as Christians. Our clearance of the past is also based on this principle. When a person is regenerated and obtains God’s life, this life moves within him, causing him to sense that in his past there have been many unrighteous, improper, and perverted matters, and that all these matters and even his entire old way of living are altogether incompatible with his present Christian state. Thus, he proceeds with his clearance of the past in accordance with these inner feelings.
The examples of Zaccheus and the Ephesian Christians clearing their past also show us that neither the Lord Jesus nor the apostle Paul clearly taught anything in regard to the clearance of the past; they did not give any rules demanding what one must do to end his past. The “ending” of Zaccheus and the Ephesian Christians was such that, when the salvation of the Lord came upon them and the life of the Lord entered into them, they had a feeling toward the unrighteous and unclean things of the past and toward their old way of living; therefore, they put it all to an end. Their “ending” proves that this matter is not based on external regulations and teachings but on the sense of life within.
However, when we are first saved, we do not necessarily sense all the things that need to be terminated. Although there are many matters that need to be cleared up, we are only conscious of a portion of them. Even so, we still need to put an end to that portion of which we are conscious. At any rate, whatever we are conscious of, that much we must put to an end. The area of our consciousness should be the extent of our clearance. As for those things of which we are not yet conscious, we need only to continue to move on and grow in the life of the Lord; in the future the Lord will naturally cause us to sense them. At that time there will be further dealing and further clearance.
Once there was an elderly sister in whose home were two things: a silk lampshade embroidered with dragons and a tea set also printed with a dragon design. Long after her salvation she did not sense anything. Then she was enlightened by the Lord and became possessed of a deep inner feeling toward these things. She had no peace whenever she saw these items with dragon designs. She then proceeded to destroy them according to her inner feeling.
In like manner, there was a brother who had an embroidering factory that specialized in making pajamas with dragon designs. In the beginning he lacked any feeling regarding this matter. Then one day he suddenly said to me, “Brother Lee, I feel that I cannot continue to run my factory. I am a Christian. How can I continue to sell clothing with dragon designs?” He proceeded to change his line of business in accordance with this feeling.
These two examples show how these people originally lived in the midst of unclean things without any feeling about them. Then one day, because of their love for the Lord, their following the Lord, and their allowing the life of the Lord to move actively within them, they felt the need of clearing up these matters. Accordingly, they obeyed their inner feeling and put an end to the past. This proves that the basis of clearing the past is the inner feeling of life.
Since the ending of the past is based on the sense of life within, we must continue to lay hold of this principle when we are leading others to end the past. Never establish for them any outward rules, teaching them that they ought to end this or that, but seek to stir the sense of life within and point them to that. We need first to cause others to know that the life of God is within them and lead them to know the sense of this life. Then, second, with the help of the ministry of the Word, spiritual literature, and the testimonies of other saints regarding their clearance of the past, we need to cause them also to have some feeling or a deeper feeling regarding what needs to be terminated in their own past. Once this feeling has begun and has been deepened within them, we can lead them to clear up their past according to their own feeling. This manner of clearance is in accord with the principle of the Lord’s salvation and can help others to truly grow in life.
How far should we go in putting an end to the things of the past? To what degree should we proceed? The degree is expressed in Romans 8:6 as “life and peace.”
We have already seen that the ending of the past is based on the sense of life within. This sense of life within is a feeling given to us through the inner anointing of the Holy Spirit. Since the ending of our past is based on the sense of life within us, the procedure is the same as that mentioned in Romans 8:5-6, namely, following the Spirit, or minding the Spirit. The result, therefore, will naturally be the same — “life and peace.” Thus, life and peace are the degree to which we are required to clear up the past. If we follow the demand of our inner feeling to make restitution, to confess our sins, to eliminate improper and unclean things, and to end our old way of living, we will surely feel strengthened, enlightened, satisfied, and enlivened; we will also feel peaceful, secure, and full of the presence of the Lord. If we have made a clearance of the things of the past and we still sense the lack of fullness and manifestation of life and peace, we may be sure that we have not followed the Spirit to the uttermost; we have not sufficiently satisfied the demand of the inner feeling. We must look to the Lord for grace so that we may clear up things more thoroughly, until we are full of life and peace.
The witness of life and peace within is not sufficient, of course, to prove that all our past that needs to be cleared up has already been dealt with. It only indicates that we have attended to everything according to the demand of our inner feeling. It is possible that later, when our life has grown and our feeling increased, we will feel there is more that needs to be put to an end. At this time we must again follow the leading of this feeling and deal with these matters until we again sense life and peace. After several thorough clearances and dealings, we will have cleared up to a much better degree things, deeds, relations, and concepts of the past that are not pleasing to the Lord. We can then follow the Lord and go on without dragging.
