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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:9; Rev. 22:1-2; John 10:10; Col. 3:4; John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47
In this series of messages we shall deal with the experience of life. Here we do not intend to give mere messages and teachings. Rather, we will deal with practice, speaking much about the details of the experiences of the different stages of the Christian life. This will give us much help to learn the lessons of life for ourselves and at the same time to learn how to know people, discern people, and contact people. If we learn to know what stage and condition of life others are in—where they are, what they are, and what their needs are—we will know how to definitely help them to go on according to the experiences of the different stages of life.
According to the Scriptures, God’s intention is to be life to us in His Son, Christ the Lord, and through His Spirit. This is why the tree of life is presented at the very beginning of the Scriptures (Gen. 2:9). Right after God created man, He put him in front of the tree of life. Since that time, the issue related to man is how he deals with the tree of life. If he deals with the tree of life in the right way, he is right in the presence of God. Otherwise, he is wrong. At the end of the Scriptures, in Revelation 22, we again see the tree of life in the very center of the New Jerusalem (vv. 1-2). Throughout the Scriptures, such as in the Psalms, the Gospel of John, and the writings of the apostle Paul, it is clear that God’s intention is to make Christ life to us. At least one book, the Gospel of John, clearly tells us that Christ came that we may have life and may have it abundantly (10:10).
Christ came that we might have not only life but Himself as life. In today’s Christianity there is not much teaching about life. If someone comes among us, they may say that we are strange, day by day talking only about life. They may wonder why we do not talk about other things. This shows us that among Christians today there is not much real knowledge of life. To my awareness, there has been only one significant book concerning life in recent times, The Saving Life of Christ by Major Ian Thomas. I like this title. However, although I like the term saving life, I do not like the term of Christ. We cannot find the term the life of Christ in the New Testament, because Christ Himself is the life. We should differentiate between the life of Christ and Christ as life. It may be right to speak of the life of Christ, but people may understand that the life of Christ is one matter and that Christ is another. This is a wrong understanding of the life of Christ. The life of Christ is nothing other than Christ Himself as our life (Col. 3:4).
How can we humans receive Christ as our life? Although we have this life, we may not be clear about regeneration as our spiritual birth. This means that we are in a very poor condition with a poor background. This shortage is a problem for our growth in life, and it means that we are not able to help others. We may have heard many messages in a general way, but we may not know how to put these matters into practice. Even though we have been regenerated and can talk about the gospel in a general way, we may not know the definite way to help people to be regenerated. Before I became clear about regeneration, I was in this same poor condition. I could talk with people about Christian teachings, but I did not know how to help people to be saved. Then one day after the Lord brought me through a crisis, I learned that it is easy to help people to be saved.
Many sisters are able not only to talk about cooking in a general way; they also know the definite way to take a certain amount of flour, sugar, and other items and cook them for a certain time to make a cake. I, on the other hand, can talk about cooking in a general way, but if you ask me to bake a cake, I do not know even how to turn on the oven. I know something in a general way, but I do not know it in a definite way. This is an illustration of the problem with Christians today. Someone may say that the way to be regenerated is to accept Christ or to receive Christ into our heart, but how do we receive Christ? This is like saying that the way to make a cake is to put it in the oven, but what do we put in the oven? Can we put a lump of flour into the oven and get a cake from it? General teachings are not adequate.
In order to contact an unbeliever, we must first realize what kind of person he is. We may compare this to fishing: We need to know what kind of fish we are after in order to choose the right kind of bait. If we use the wrong bait, we may scare the fish away, but if we use the right bait, we will attract the fish. If we know what kind of person someone is, we will know in what way to approach him. Then in five or ten minutes at the most we can give this person a message, a teaching, or a verse. This paves the way, clears his understanding, and helps him to realize his need. In other words, it creates an appetite in him. Then we can point him to the right way. Perhaps we may realize that someone is a moral person, a person who pays much attention to morality. In this case we need to approach him in the highest way, telling him, “In order to have a certain morality, you need a certain kind of life. If you do not have the highest life, you cannot have the highest morality.” We may create an appetite in him by illustrating: “If a flower has a poor life, it can never bring forth a better flower. We may be very good, but the life we have is not the highest life. You may be patient to a certain degree, but you do not have the life to be patient to the uttermost. The highest life is Christ as life to us.”
We should not give such a person mere doctrine. We must give him something living and “cooked.” Many times our talk with people is like giving them uncooked flour to eat. People cannot take this. Rather, we must give them “baked cakes” ready to eat. If we speak in a convincing way, a person will want to know how to receive Christ, but simply to say, “The gospel tells us that we have to repent and believe,” is a doctrinal, not a practical, way. We need to speak with people in a practical way. We should say, “To repent means to realize that you are sinful and that you must confess your sins. Christ is holy, and we are sinful. In order to receive Him, we must confess. I believe that you are a good person, but in the eyes of God we are all sinful. You need to confess your sins before Christ.” This is the practical way to speak about repentance.
After confessing his sins, a person must believe; that is, he must open his heart from the depths of his being to receive Christ into him. If we use the word spirit, he may not understand us. We can keep this term for later and simply speak of “the depths of your heart” or “your innermost being.” We can continue to tell him to say to the Lord Jesus, “You died on the cross for me. You are the living Savior. I know that You are the very God, the living and omnipresent Lord, so I receive You. I accept You.” We should stress to this person that he must have a personal contact with Christ, saying, “Although you cannot see Him, He is here. Wherever you are, He is there. He is so living and real. He is the real God, the divine Spirit. Therefore, you need to open yourself to Him. Tell Him that you receive Him into yourself as your Savior and your life. As the very God, Christ is the Spirit. Just as the only way to contact the air is by breathing, the only way to contact Christ as God, our Savior, the living Spirit, is to pray.” If this person asks how he should pray, we can say, “To pray is simply to speak something to Christ from your heart. Do not consider what to speak; there is no need to compose a prayer. Simply speak from your heart.” We all must believe that after a person contacts the Lord by prayer, something will happen, either right away or after one or a few days, because this is a real contact in the human spirit with the living Lord.
After we give a person this kind of instruction, we need to give him some verses from the Scriptures, such as John 3:16. We can help him to read this verse and understand and grasp it. Then we can give him other verses, such as John 3:36; 5:24 and 6:47, reading and stressing the central point to confirm to him that if he confesses his sins and opens to receive Christ, he has eternal life. It is a little complicating to use verses like John 1:12, which speaks of being children of God, and Romans 10:9 and 10, which speak of righteousness and salvation. When we are speaking with an unbeliever, it is best to speak in a concentrated way. Do not give him too many points. Rather, we should hit one point. This is like digging a well in one place until the water comes. If we dig a little here and a little there, we may dig for our whole life without getting any water.
In summary, the way to receive Christ as our life is to repent, realizing that we are sinful and under God’s condemnation. Then it is to open our heart and whole being from within to have a living contact with Christ by praying to Him. Then we have the confirmation and assurance of God’s salvation by His Word; this assurance is something written. Someone may owe a person a thousand dollars, but if he does not put that into writing, there is no assurance that it will be paid.
We may ask a person who has just received Christ, “Have you believed in Jesus Christ?” If he is not clear, we can say, “You have confessed that you are a sinner. You realized that you need Him, and you opened yourself to Him, prayed to Him, and told Him that you receive Him. This means that you already have believed.” This helps him to be clear that he has received the Lord. Then we may ask if he knows that he has the eternal life. Again, if he does not know, we can read John 3:16 and ask him if it says, “Everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would not know if he has eternal life.” We should help him to say, “Everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” He can know that he has eternal life because it is written. We should give him two or three passages like this as a definite confirmation that he has the life. To not do this is like wrapping something up but not tying a knot around it; what we wrapped will come loose again. If we speak to someone properly, the Holy Spirit will work, and he will be saved very quickly.
This kind of person may immediately realize that in the past he did many evil things, and he may ask us what he should do about his sins. We need to learn how to help one like this by reading some passages that tell him that his sins have been borne by Christ. This is why we need to learn passages such as 1 Peter 2:24, which says, “Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree.” Then we should quickly turn to 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In this way we will cause him to realize that Christ bore all his sins and that God is now willing and ready to forgive him.
To help someone to be saved in this way is easy. However, according to the normal, proper experience of Christians, after a person is regenerated, he needs many things. The first thing we should help him to do is to have a clearance of his past. Otherwise, he will not be able to grow well in life. If we help someone to believe and be regenerated, he will trust us. He may approach us, call us brother, and speak in an intimate and frank way about his past. Then it will be easy to instruct him. He may confess, for example, that he was wrong with his wife, so we can help him to go to her, confess his failures and faults, and ask her forgiveness. If the new one feels he will lose his face before his wife, we should help him to see that to commit sins and do wrong is to lose our face; to confess and testify how the Lord Jesus has saved us is a heavenly glory. The Holy Spirit will work with the new one, and he will say, “Hallelujah, praise the Lord! I will do this at any cost.” This is one of the many items of the clearance of the past. If a new convert will do this, he will advance very quickly.
There is no need to ask the new one, “Have you ever done something wrong to your parents, or have you ever stolen anything?” Rather, we may testify that we were the same as he. We also did wrong things to our parents and stole things. Perhaps we can tell him that we stole some money and bought a desk and some clothes with it, but after we were saved, we did not have any peace. Whenever we saw those things, we were condemned. It was very hard to sit at that desk to read the Bible or kneel in those clothes to pray. Therefore, we got rid of those things and refunded the stolen money to its owner. If we testify in this way, the Holy Spirit will work in the new one. After one or two illustrations like this, he will be clear. Right away he may realize that there is a radio in his room that was bought with stolen money. This will help him to clear up his past, and the Holy Spirit will continually work within him.
After this, we may say something in a general way, such as, “We are the children of God. God is light, and God is holy. We have to give up everything of darkness, anything that is not holy or righteous. This is to make a clearance of our past life.” Then we may pray with him, saying, “Lord, help this brother to clear up his past and to testify to the whole world that he is a true child of the holy God in the light.” This is to help someone in a definite way. It is not merely to contact people in a general, impractical way with doctrines. If a new one receives this kind of help, he will be released. He will testify in the meeting, pray, and offer thanks to the Lord. He will be in the heavens.
Many of us may not have had such a clearance of the past. This is not something legal, but the growth in life requires it. Once a person came to F. B. Meyer after a conference meeting and asked him what the proper way is for a Christian to grow. Mr. Meyer asked that person, “When was the last time you made a confession to someone or cleared up your sins with others?” This answer indicates that the more we clear up matters, the more growth we will have. However, after being saved for ten to thirty years, many Christians still do not have a clearance of the past. Therefore, it is hard for them to have the growth in life.
We may then follow up to say, “This is wonderful, brother. Now you have to consecrate yourself to the Lord.” The practical way to consecrate ourselves is to go to the Lord to pray. We should tell Him that from now on our right has passed from us to Him. It is better to itemize all that we have and all that we are, including our ability, knowledge, family, wife, children, property, business, job, studies, and our very self, telling the Lord that we offer these things to Him.
Almost all the problems between us and the Lord are related to our consecration. I do not have the confidence that many of us have settled the matter of consecration. For over one year around 1939 Brother Watchman Nee had a training in Shanghai. Week after week he stressed the matter of consecration. Most of the trainees there were full-time co-workers. He dealt with this matter not mainly by giving messages but by asking one person a week to give a testimony about his consecration, the longer the better. Sometimes Brother Nee would say after the testimony, “This is not adequate. Tell us something more.” After the testimony, he would critique it. Sometimes he would say, “No, your consecration is false.” Over such a long period of time, after many testimonies, only one or two persons’ consecrations proved to be real. He analyzed our consecrations, saying, “Why do I say your consecration is false? I can tell from your word that you have held something back.” In this way Brother Nee convinced us about consecration, and we all agreed with him.
After someone consecrates himself, he must learn to follow the inner consciousness, to follow the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. We can say, “Since you have consecrated yourself to the Lord, from now on you must do the Lord’s will. The way to do this is by following the inner feeling, the inner consciousness.” To follow the consciousness deep within us is to walk in the Spirit.
We also must help the new ones to contact the Lord by reading the Word and praying. Day by day, preferably early in the morning, they need to have a time to contact the Lord. Here there is much to say and to learn.
The foregoing five matters—regeneration, clearance of the past, consecration, following the Spirit according to the inner consciousness, and contacting the Lord in the morning by reading and praying—are very basic. We also should help the newly saved ones to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit with power and release. To help people with these matters is the best way for them to be regenerated. Following this, we should help them to realize that they are living members in the Body. This means that they must function in the church.
Answer: With a quicker one, we can cover all these six matters within a few weeks. A person can be regenerated right away. Then on the next day we can help him to have a clearance of his past. Following this, we can help him to consecrate himself, to know how to follow the inner consciousness, to start to have a real touch with the Lord by studying and praying, and to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I do not say this in a legalistic way. In Taiwan we had a large number of new converts, perhaps two hundred, so we would have a series of meetings after their baptism. In one week we would have six or seven meetings in a series in which we stressed these matters for their realization and experience. However, this does not mean that all new converts can be helped to realize all these items right away. Gradually, most of them will stay in the church meetings and will be helped to experience these things sooner or later, but not later than one year unless they are indifferent or become backsliders. Because of this kind of help, some became elders in the early years in Taiwan after only two or three years.
We must help the new ones in a definite way, not in a general way. I was born and raised in Christianity. I heard many messages and preachings, but not one message told me definitely how to be saved. Many persons were brought into Christianity merely in a general way. If we asked them if they were saved, they would say, “I don’t know.” If we asked if their sins were dealt with, they would say, “It depends.” Everything was general; nothing was definite. This is too poor. We praise the Lord that beginning in 1922 the Lord raised up a testimony in China to make these things very definite and practical. Every light the Lord gave us was very definite concerning certain things. From that time on we could help people in a fast way. We may compare this to cooking. If someone knows the practical way, he can make a cake in a few minutes, and in another few minutes he can make another dish. This is not a general way. If we take a general way, we will have nothing.
Question: Concerning the clearance of our living, there is the need of restitution for things in the past and the clearance of current practices. If we see that a Christian is practicing wrong things, should we try to clear them all up at once?
Answer: Do not do this. Clearance is not a legal matter. We must help people by the working of the Holy Spirit. We do not give people rules. To be a Christian is not a matter of rules but of grace. We help people to realize grace by giving them teaching and instruction. Then the Holy Spirit will work out the matters.
In this series of messages we are emphasizing the main matters of life and how to grow. In a large city we can find many Christian stores and libraries with many books. We can find books on justification, forgiveness, and redemption, but it is hard to find a book dealing with regeneration. Books that seem to be on this subject have little content. The many items in God’s salvation, including forgiveness of sins, justification, redemption, cleansing, and sanctification, are not the central item. The very center of God’s salvation is regeneration. Forgiveness, justification, cleansing, redemption, and in one aspect, sanctification, are all for regeneration. That is, all these items are for life.
Justification is not the central thought of God. In the garden of Eden after Adam was created, was there the need for justification? There was no need for justification, but Adam still had to receive life, as signified by the tree of life. At that time Adam did not need forgiveness or redemption, because he was not yet fallen and lost, and he did not need cleansing because he was not yet dirty. Yet he still needed to have life. All the other matters—forgiveness, justification, redemption, cleansing, and sanctification in one aspect—are for restoration so that people may be brought back to the position and standing to receive life. However, regeneration as the very center of God’s salvation is neglected by Christianity today. Christianity pays much attention to these other items, but there is not the adequate teaching concerning life. This is the subtlety of the enemy. For this reason we believe that the Lord must recover this in these last days. Otherwise, we cannot grow, and if we do not grow, we cannot be built up. Then where is the Body? The Body life depends on the building, the building depends on the growth in life, and the growth in life depends on the true realization of life. Today’s Christianity does not have the realization of the matters of life. This is why we must be faithful to the Lord to allow Him to recover these things. If the Lord delays His coming, after a number of years we will see what His way will be. His way will be to recover the matter of life. This is why we are paying our full attention to this.
