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2 Cor. 5:17; Luke 19:1-10; Acts 19:18-19; Rom. 8:5-6
I. Scriptural basis
II. The object of the clearance of the past
А. Unrighteous matters
B. Improper matters
C. Evil and unclean matters
D. Old ways of living
III. The basis of the clearance of the past
IV. The degree of ending the past
In the next few lessons we want to see the things that hinder our growth in life. If by the Spirit, we deal with these things, we will experience more life and growth. On the one hand, the sense of life in us tells us about these things. On the other hand, we need the word and the messages to help us get clear. Whether we become aware of them by the inward sense or the outward word, our dealing with them is the experience of life. The result will be a feeling of life and peace and growth in the divine life. We should have this experience day by day. The first thing we should do is to clear up our past with our old way of living.
[There is no clear teaching in the Scripture concerning the clearance of the past, but there are two very good examples: one is found in Luke 19:1-10 — the story of Zacchaeus’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 their being saved.
In Luke 19 we are told that as soon as Zacchaeus 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 any man by false accusation, he would willingly restore him fourfold. Furthermore, he was willing to give half his goods 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 deeds, many of them willingly bringing their books of charms and burning them before the people.
The price of the books burned was fifty thousand pieces of silver. Since each piece of silver approximated a day’s wage, we can see that these books were worth a great deal of money.] 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 which must be ended and cleared up? Altogether there are four categories: 1) unrighteous matters, 2) improper matters, 3) evil and unclean matters, 4) old ways of living. After we have been saved, there needs to be a clearing up and conclusion of these matters.] Sometimes we may do these things after we have been saved. The same principle applies in both cases.
[ Unrighteous means unjust, illegal. All 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 we should clear up.]
[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 we should put to an end.]
[Evil and unclean matters are things related to idols, such as graven or portrait idols, clothing with the image of the dragon; writings of worldly religions; unclean things, such as books on horoscope, charms, etc.; also evil and unclean things, such as worshiping idols, worshiping ancestors, divining, fortune-telling, etc. 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.]
[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.
How then should we regard the ending of the old human living and 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.]
A good number of our young people may have been saved when they were very young; therefore, they may not have experienced many of the things unsaved people do. Yet, the old way of living is always lurking about us, waiting for an opportunity to bring us under its influence in the guise of peer pressure, such as: joking to hurt one another’s feelings, using foul abusive language, slang words, talk and behavior concerning boy-girl relationships, trendy clothing, music that stirs up the flesh, looking down on students with good grades, rebellious attitudes towards people in authority, etc. We must be watchful in order to remain unaffected by the worldly people’s old way of living. We must develop a new way of living, a way in spirit.
[This ending of the old way of living is a preliminary experience of a Christian, yet 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.]
[The clearance of the past is not based on the demand of outward regulations, but on the sense of life within. Although we have previously pointed out four matters which must necessarily be ended, yet these only enable us to recognize principles. They are not rules which demand that 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 both of Zacchaeus and the Ephesian Christians clearing their past have also shown 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 Zacchaeus 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.
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, secondly, with the help of the ministry of the Word, spiritual literature, and the testimonies of other saints regarding their clearance of the past, cause them also to have some feeling or 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.]
