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Scripture Reading: Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; Acts 13:38-39; John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47; Rom. 10:9-10, 13; Acts 16:31
In preaching the gospel two matters are very important. First, we have to pray. We always need to bear the burden for people’s souls with a praying spirit. This not only means that we have to spend time to pray; even more it means that we have to always bear the burden in our praying spirit, looking to the Lord and touching the throne of authority, that the Lord will move in the hearts of those people for whom we have been praying. We must pray in this way, in a continuous way, and in a claiming way, to claim these souls for the Lord’s testimony.
Second, we must learn how to exercise faith to participate in the power that is upon the Body, to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which already has been accomplished upon the Body. The principle of both the spiritual life and the spiritual work is the principle of faith, not of sight or appearance. We must learn to walk and to work by faith, not by sight, appearance, or feeling. To seek feeling, sight, or appearance means that more or less we have an evil heart of unbelief, even an evil heart of disbelief. We have to honor the Lord by taking what He has told us in His Word. This is living faith. Never pay attention to your feeling, to appearance, to sight, or to any kind of circumstance.
We need to learn the lesson of faith, to believe that God is with us. We have to believe “in the dark,” without any feeling (2 Cor. 5:7). In the ancient time, the priests who served the Lord in the outer court used their sight. Under the light of the sun they could see the heavens, the earth, and many things and persons. In the Holy Place, however, there was only the light of the lampstand, which was not as strong as the sun. Enclosed within the Holy Place, the priests could not see the heavens, the earth, and all the surroundings, as they could in the outer court. Then when they came into the Holy of Holies, there was no light at all. The Ark was there “in the dark.” However, the presence of the Lord was not in the outer court or in the Holy Place; it was in the Holy of Holies. Here there was no physical light but the shekinah light, the shekinah glory of God; here there was not the created light but the uncreated light.
When we were young in the Lord, even childish, the Lord sympathized with us and gave us an “open heaven.” When some people are baptized, they receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They may say, “Oh, I can almost not take it! The heavens are so open to me that I have to dance, even dance in the air and not on the ground.” I know this because I have had many of these experiences. However, children are just children. These experiences are for the young ones. Do not despise this, because it is good, but it is something in the outer court. The Lord will bring us on from the outer court to exercise a little faith in the Holy Place. Eventually, He has to bring us into the Holy of Holies, where we exercise our faith to the uttermost. There we have to forget about our physical eyes and all the senses of our physical body. We also have to forget about the feeling of our soulish life. In the Holy of Holies we can see nothing naturally; we are “in the dark.” In the spirit, though, we see the shekinah glory of God. This is the meaning of faith.
We Christians are strange. We believe and hold on to some things in the Scriptures without any feeling, but we do not believe in other things in the Scriptures; we will not hold on to them until we have the feeling. Recently, I asked a brother, “Brother, do you know that you have been saved?” He said he did, so I asked, “How do you know?” He replied, “Because the Scriptures tell me.” This is right.
The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Many Christians do not know the right meaning of the word testament. Testament is not a synonym of the word covenant. Using our human words, a covenant is an agreement, a contract, and a testament is a will. A will is not merely an agreement. In a covenant, an agreement or contract, there may be certain promises, promising that something will be done for you. In a will, however, everything is completed and ready for you. The Bible is a will in our hands. It is not a book of teaching or even of promises; it is a book containing a will. In it there are thousands of items telling us that everything is ready for us. Christ was incarnated, lived on this earth, was crucified and resurrected, ascended, was seated and enthroned, and has descended as the Spirit. Everything is finished. What does it mean that Christ is sitting in the heavens? It means that everything is accomplished, finished, and ready, waiting for us to enjoy. A will goes into effect at the time the giver dies. Without the death of the giver, the will is not good. After the death of the giver, however, the will is in effect. The Giver of this will has died already, and He is living in the heavens as the Executor of His will.
What we go to tell the sinners are the items of this testament, this will. What is the preaching of the gospel? The preaching of the gospel is the proclaiming of the items of this will. When we go to a sinner, we must help him to realize that he is a sinner. Then we can read the will to him. We can first read the item in the will that tells us that our sins have been put on Jesus, that He has borne our sins on the cross. Second, we read the item that says that due to Christ’s redemption our sins have been forgiven. Then we read the item that says that there is the remission of our sins. It is not that God will forgive us but that, according to the will, God has forgiven us already. Likewise, the remission of sins is here already.
In this will there is an item that says that Christ has poured down His Spirit upon the Body. He has already accomplished the baptism of the Spirit upon the Body. Now we have become members of the Body. As long as we are identified with the Body, what has been accomplished upon the Body is our portion already. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was accomplished upon the Body nearly two thousand years ago. This is already accomplished. Today we have to exercise our faith to take it. If we do not believe this, we cannot be powerful and prevailing to preach the gospel.
Besides the bearing away of our sins, the forgiveness of sins, and the remissions of sins, there is another item in this will telling us that Christ has ascended to the throne and poured out the Spirit upon His Body. Today the power from on high is on the Body, and we have been baptized into the Body. We are identified with the Body, we are a part of the Body, so we have the ground, the right, the entitlement, to claim, take, and share this portion. However, we may not believe it. We may doubt it a little. When we do not believe it, we do not have the power to preach the first item of the will, concerning redemption, because the enemy who occupies the sinners still occupies us. If we still do not believe the Word in a full way, how can we help people to believe something in the will? We have to know the subtlety of the enemy. If we are going to preach any item from this will, we have to believe all the items in it. If we believe every item mentioned in this will, have no doubt, and do not care about our feeling, then when we come to someone, we have the impact, because Satan has been chased away from us.
When I was young, I was helped by the Lord to believe in Him, His Word, and His accomplished facts in this way. Then I did the work of preaching. Many times, though, when I was telling people they had to believe that the Lord Jesus died for them, within me was the accusation that I did not believe that the Lord Jesus has baptized the church. I could not fool the enemy. The evil spirit is very alert. If we have such a weakness, he will always hit this weakness. Therefore, we have to deal with this matter. If we are going to preach any item of this will, we have to believe all the items of this will.
Here we have a vital matter, that is, that we have to believe that the power from on high has been put on the Body and that now we are a part, a member, of the Body. We have to believe in this, take this ground, and not pay attention to the feeling, the manifestation. If we pay attention to the feeling, this means that unbelief and disbelief are within us. That is evil. On the other hand, of course, we should not be sloppy or slothful. We have to exercise our spirit, even exercise our will in the spirit, to believe what we are told in this will. This kind of believing, this kind of faith, honors the Giver of the will. We have to exercise our spirit and our will to take the word and reject our feeling. Even if a feeling comes to us, we reject it. We do not care about that feeling, and we can tell the enemy, “I do not care even a little about feeling. If I do not have even a little feeling, I still have the full assurance that the baptism of the Spirit is mine, because it is accomplished on the Body, and I am identified with the Body.” If we do this, we will see the result. However, there is no need to pay attention even to the result. Rather, we must learn to walk in faith, to act in faith in the Holy of Holies, “in the dark,” without any natural light but with the divine light in our spirit. Learn to exercise your faith in this way.
Now we come to a very important point—how to help people to be saved. We cannot save people, but we can help people to be saved. Only the Lord Himself can save people, but we can help people to receive the Lord, to accept the Lord and accept salvation. It is needless to say that we must have a real love and concern toward the sinners; if we do not have love and concern for sinners, our work is over. Suppose then, that we do have this love and this concern, and we pray for sinners and exercise our faith to participate in the power from on high, not paying attention to our feeling. Then we have to learn some techniques of how to help people.
First, we should not talk too much to the sinners, the unbelievers. We should speak with them in a very brief way. In addition, we should not try to make them clear. Many times the more people are clear, the more they will not believe. Many times we are tempted to think that if we can make someone clear, he surely will believe. Rather, the more we make someone clear, the more he will not believe. Keep this principle: Do not try to make people clear. If we try to make people clear, we are doing the work of Satan, as he did in the garden when he said of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, “In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened” (Gen. 3:5). He told Eve that she would be clear and would know many things. Immediately after Eve took that fruit, her eyes were really opened. Before this time Adam and Eve were not clear about their nakedness, but by taking that fruit, their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked, and trouble came. Do not believe that if we make people clear, they will believe. Rather, everyone who is saved is someone who is not clear. We believe “foolishly.”
Someone may ask, “How can people believe without being clear?” This is a secret. They simply have to believe. When someone is favored by the Lord, he has to believe, whether or not he is clear. Many times we are not clear, but we still say, “I do not know why, but I have to believe.” People may say that this is superstitious, but if so, I like to be “superstitious,” the more the better. When I was young, my friends and many people came to tell me that I was just a fool. However, I told them, “I like to be a fool, the more the better. I cannot tell you what it is, but something is within me.” Therefore, do not try and do not be tempted to make people clear. Simply talk with them in a brief way. After talking with them, right away ask them to pray. To pray is to “sign the deal.” A good salesman never talks too much; if he talks too much, he will lose the deal. Simply ask them to pray.
Then after we help people to pray, we need to help them in several matters; otherwise, they will not be properly saved. First, we should help them to know that to believe in Jesus means to receive Him as the living Spirit into them. We must stress this very much. We should tell them that Jesus today is in the Spirit and even is the real, true, and living Spirit. Therefore, we can open our heart and open our spirit, that is, open our whole being to receive Him. We have to stress this point again and again. Then those who are saved will be living Christians. Otherwise, they will be only religious people, not living Christians; we will merely have some religious members. For this purpose we need to read them some verses about Christ as our life and Christ living in us. We must help them to know this. Do not think that we should wait until they have been saved for a long time to tell them that Christ is life. No, from the first day we need to tell them. I was saved in this way. At the time I was saved, I was even told that I had been crucified with Christ. I realized that I was finished; I was dead with Christ and was buried already. Now it was no more I but Christ who lived in me. I heard a complete gospel.
Do not think that this is too deep. This may be too deep for some people in Christianity, but it is not too deep for the sinners. Try this. Do not preach the gospel in the old way. Do not say, “Oh, this is too deep. Half a year later we can let Brother Lee minister to them how Christ is life to the believers.” No, this is wrong. There are many deep things in the Gospel of John, but that book is still called the gospel. The whole book of Romans is also called the gospel. The first chapter of Romans tells us that the whole book is the gospel (vv. 1, 9, 15-16; cf. 16:25). We should even learn to preach the gospel from Romans 12, telling people that they have to be members of the Body. We must tell people definitely and thoroughly that Christ is the living Spirit today, waiting for people to receive Him as life. Stress this matter.
Following this, we have to tell people that if they are going to receive Christ as the living One, they have to make a thorough confession. They need to confess their sins. No doubt, we must tell them that their sins have been borne away by Christ and forgiven by God. However, for their experience of Christ, there is a need for them to confess all of their sins. We should help them to realize how many sins they have, how sinful they are, and help them to repent and confess their sins in a thorough way. They may ask how to confess. We can tell them that they should confess according to what they feel. There is nothing legal. They should simply contact the Lord and confess whatever they feel is sinful or dirty, the more the better.
We must also give people some practical verses from the New Testament, and sometimes from the Old Testament, to prove to them that they have really been saved. There are four main items that we have to help them to see.
First, by quoting some verses, we must help them to know that their sins have been forgiven. The remission of sins has been given to them. The best verse concerning the forgiveness of sins is Acts 10:43, which says, “To this One all the prophets testify that through His name everyone who believes into Him will receive forgiveness of sins.” We should read this verse to people and ask them also to read it. This is the way to point out this item of the will. In the will there is such an item telling us that if we believe in His name, our sins are forgiven; the remission of sins has been given to us. We may also use Ephesians 1:7, but Acts 10:43 is the best verse. In this way we must give people some practical verses from the New Testament to confirm them, to prove that what we have been preaching is not a theory but an item of the will.
After reading the words in the will concerning the forgiveness of sins, we should read to them about justification by faith. From the Word prove to them that they have been justified by faith. There are many such verses. I prefer Acts 13:38 and 39, which say, “Therefore let it be known to you, men, brothers, that through this One forgiveness of sins is announced to you; and from all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified.” These two verses tell us two things: that forgiveness is announced and that justification has been given in this One, that is, in Christ. We may also use many verses from Romans 3 and Galatians 2, quoting the best verses to confirm that as long as a person believes in Jesus, he has been justified by God in Christ. This is the forgiveness of sins and justification by faith.
Third, we should read some verses confirming that they have eternal life within them. There are many such verses, such as John 3:16 and 36; 5:24; 6:47; and others. We need these verses to confirm, to prove, that they have eternal life in them.
Besides showing people forgiveness of sins, justification by faith, and eternal life, we need to show them verses that tell them they are saved. The best verses for this are Romans 10:9 and 10, which say, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.” In addition, verse 13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We may also use Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.”
We must stress these four main points from the Word: they are forgiven, they are justified, they have received eternal life, and they are saved. We can give them more, but these four items are very necessary. We cannot do too much by one contact alone. After preaching to them, we may only do the first thing, that is, help them to pray. Then the very next day we may go to contact them again to help them realize that the Lord Christ is the living Spirit. Perhaps then there will be time to help them with these practical verses. If we do not have enough time, we can leave something for the third contact. We should not try to do everything at one time.
We have seen three main items related to helping people to be saved. We must help them to pray to “close the deal”; we must help them to realize that Christ is the living Spirit and that they have to receive Him by opening their heart and their spirit; and we need to help them with some practical verses. We should also help people to know that they are saved by the Lord through the church. They have to realize their relationship to the church. From the very beginning we have to help the new believers to know the Body. They will never forget what they are impressed with at the very beginning. We have to explain to them that from this time on, they need to come to the church meetings. They have to come to contact the brothers and to have fellowship with the brothers.
When someone is saved through us, we should immediately help him to realize the church life. Then we should recommend two or three brothers as his new companions in the church. This will be a great help to him. Every new believer, every new convert, will have at least two or three brothers as Christian companions. We all have to learn to help people in this way.
After a meeting for preaching the gospel, we should ask the new believers to come for three nights of follow-up. In this way we can immediately give them some training. We should not think, though, that these are their meetings, so we should not come. Rather, it is our turn to come to practice. Then after this follow-up work, we can baptize them. On the following Lord’s Day, we will have a good number of new believers in the Lord’s table meeting. These will be the “new folks” in our family. Then we can help them to know a little bit about the church, and they will realize that the church, the Body, is their home. We should also help them to know that we do not preach the gospel individualistically; we preach the gospel in a Body way, a corporate way. From the first day they should know that this is the church preaching the gospel, not to bring people to heaven, but to bring people to the church. Then we will see the difference. We have to believe that after only two weeks they will bring many people to believe. They will function even better than we do.
After we help them to this extent, we must help them to offer themselves to the Lord, to consecrate themselves. All these foregoing five items should be done within one week. This means that even before they are baptized, we have to help them with all these points.
I do not want to make anything legal, but I would beg you to learn to do this. I stand here humbly to tell you that if we all would practice this, we will see the effect. We will see the impact of the preaching. Many persons will be saved. Our meeting for preaching the gospel is only a start of the preaching. More people will follow. One fish in the sea always bites the tail of another one. If we can catch one, many will come in. We will reap the harvest. If we will do this well, every month we will bring in a good number “by the tail.” However, we have to learn how to work and how to help the new ones to work. We should visit them right away to help them to work. They have now become members of the church, even “leading” members. They will take the lead more than we do because they do not have much knowledge; they only have life. We have too much knowledge. Our “head” is too big.
The Lord covers me to say this. I am looking to the Lord very much; I have been looking and still am looking to the Lord for this matter. This is the secret of the church’s preaching. Do not trust any speaker. In our meeting for preaching the gospel there may be no speaker, yet the gospel will be preached. Do you believe this? I believe this, because I saw it in the past. Many persons were saved in a living way, but they did not know through which speaker. They could never say that they made their decision through a certain famous preacher. We did not have that kind of famous preacher in the Far East, but thousands of people were saved. Rather, we had the church, the whole Body, and the exercise of every part of the Body.
After helping people with the five foregoing items, we must help them to realize their need of baptism. We have to testify to them and explain to them what it means to be baptized, helping them to realize that since they have been identified with Christ, they have been crucified and are now dead. Therefore, they have to be buried. Regarding baptism, they have to exercise their faith to believe that in many cases a great blessing came down to those who were baptized. I saw people healed through baptism. Before they went into the water, they were very sick, not merely with a cold but with a chronic sickness. After baptism, however, some people have been healed. We are not superstitious concerning water baptism, but there is really something to it. There must be, because the Lord commanded us to do it. We should not take baptism as a mere ritual. We should tell people that it must be a spiritual realization.
We should also help them to know that when they are baptized, they bring all their problems with them to be buried, just as Israel brought the whole of Egypt into the Red Sea when they crossed it. It was not they who were buried there, but the whole of Egypt, including Pharaoh and his army. We should tell them that if they have any problem, even physical sickness, they take it into the water and bury it there. Do they have a besetting sin or a moral weakness? They bring it into the water. They bring everything into the water. They especially bring their pleasures into the water. In the Far East and in many other places, when someone is buried, the things they loved, their favorite things, are buried with them. In a sense, this is scriptural. When people are baptized, they bring whatever they love to be buried in the water. We must help them to realize all these matters.
After they are baptized, we have to help them with four matters. First, we must help them to pray in a daily and hidden way. Second, we must help them to study the Word day by day. Third, we need to help them to attend the regular meetings of the church. Fourth, we should help them to preach the gospel. They have to pray, they have to study, they have to attend the meetings, and they have to act to bring others to the next meeting for gospel preaching. They have to be the most active members in the gospel preaching of the church. If we cannot or will not work this out, we will have a failure. All the sinners who come to the first gospel meeting must be the preachers in the next gospel meeting. This does not depend as much on the Lord as it depends on us. It depends on how much we labor and in what way we work. I am sure that we will see a good result if we will work in this way.
