Knowing Conditions to Enter Kingdom of God After Discussion(part two) | Eastern Lightning
By Liangliang, Japan
At the next gathering, I said embarrassedly, “Brother, I’d like to ask something. We’re sinful, but the elder says that we are no longer of sin for the Lord Jesus has used His precious blood to redeem us, and absolved us of all sins. So why does God still need to do His work of judgment and purification? Can you explain it to me?” Then the brother sent two passages of God’s words for me to read, “For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus-you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.” “Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.”
The brother said, “From God’s words, we see that the Lord Jesus used His precious blood to redeem us and forgave our sins, but it just means that God does not remember our sins and doesn’t treat us in accordance with our transgressions. However, our internal sinful nature still exists, such as our arrogance, tortuous deceit, despicable selfishness, being self-seeking, etc. These corrupt satanic dispositions are still rooted within us. Under their control, we involuntarily commit sins, living in the state of sinning in the day and confessing at night. We haven’t attained true purification; how can we enter the heavenly kingdom? Therefore, we need God to do greater work to completely rid us of our disposition corrupted by Satan. And so, in order to fully save us from the domain of Satan, God has become flesh again, expresses words to do the judgment beginning at the house of God. If we want to never again sin to oppose God, we must experience the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. Only then can we cast away the corrupt satanic disposition and achieve purification and change and thus be brought into the kingdom of heaven.”
After listening to these words, I could understand it at last: The reason why we sin constantly is that we have corrupt satanic dispositions. The work the Lord Jesus did was just the work of redemption, rather than the work of changing our disposition. In order to get rid of our sins, we need God to do the work of judgment and purification. Then I asked, “Brother, how does God do the judgment work of the last days? How does He cleanse our corrupt disposition? Would you please talk to me in detail?”
The brother said, “Of course. First let’s read some of God’s words.” Then the brother sent me another section of God’s words: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”
The brother said, “We all know we have been corrupted by Satan, but we have absolutely no awareness of the truth and substance of our corruption, nor do we know God’s righteous and holy disposition. As a result, we don’t feel we’re in danger even when we live in the state of sinning and confessing. So according to the needs of us corrupt mankind, God has become flesh a second time and has expressed all truth that we corrupt man need to be saved. He has revealed to us His righteous, majestic, and unoffendable disposition, and has revealed our satanic nature, such as our arrogance and conceit, selfishness and baseness, crookedness and treachery and so on. And moreover, He has revealed our corruption in our words and behavior, and even in our thoughts and ideas. For instance, after we were corrupted by Satan, our thoughts and actions are all to maintain our own interests. We behave ourselves narrow-mindedly, plot against each other, and lie to and deceive each other. As long as others do something contrary to our will, we’ll hold a grudge against and oppose them. Though we believe in God, we still advocate money, fame, profit and status. We also follow the world’s evil trends, and constantly commit offense, rebel against and resist God. Even though we work and preach, we are not to perform our duty as one of creation but to obtain blessings, to be rewarded, and to enter the kingdom of heaven. Exposed by God’s words, we can realize that our thoughts and actions are all rebellion and resistance against God. At this time, we have some real knowledge of the extent of Satan’s corruption of us. We begin to hate our corrupt disposition and no longer want to live under the corrupt satanic disposition. With the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, we come to know what kind of person God likes, and what kind of person He hates. Besides, we get some understanding on the righteous and unoffendable disposition of God, beget a God-fearing heart, and thus have aspirations to forsake the flesh and practice the truth. Furthermore, God’s words have pointed out to us the path of practice, such as how to be honest, how to obey God, how to live in the way of a true person, and so forth. When we rebel against the flesh and practice the truth again and again, we gradually be able to obey God and fear Him, and increasingly live out the likeness of a human being. This is the result that the judgment and chastisement of God’s words has achieved on us. When we live completely by God’s word, we’ll be released thoroughly from the bondage of sin and be cleansed. If we don’t accept God’s judgment work of the last days, we’ll never get rid of the bondage and constraint of the corrupt satanic disposition or gain passage into the kingdom of God.”
After listening to the brother’s communication, I seemed to be awakened suddenly and I said excitedly, “Now, I see. God does His work of judgment to let us know our own corruption and God’s righteous disposition from God’s word so that we can attain the fear of God and the obedience to Him. When we truly submit to God, He will be satisfied with what we do and we’ll have the opportunity to be taken into the kingdom of heaven. Oh, God’s work is so practical. Thanks be to God! If I didn’t investigate God’s work of the last days, I would still think the judgment means that our human transgressions would be revealed one by one and then we would be punished and condemned according to our transgressions, suffering in hell or being destroyed forever. It seems that when we don’t know God, we surely will misunderstand His will based on our conceptions and imaginations.”
The brother said, “That’s true. The Lord Jesus said: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John16:12–13). In the last days, God has expressed millions of words and opened up all mysteries, including the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, God’s disposition, what the outcome and destination of every kind of man is, how Christ’s kingdom is realized upon the earth, and so on. Whatever conceptions we have, as long as we have the eagerness to seek the truth and revere God, all of them can be resolved by God’s word. Because God’s word is the truth, the way, and the life.”
In the following days, I eagerly read God’s words, tried to grasp the will of God, and attended gatherings and communicated with the brothers and sisters. After a period of seeking and investigation, I completely confirmed that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. I have been finally reunited with the Lord. Now I have gained not only some knowledge of God’s work but also certain understandings regarding the essence of my own nature. I no longer deal with people and things based on my hot blood as I did in the past. Instead, I’ve learned to try to understand which area of my corrupt disposition God is to reveal through individuals and things around me, and which aspect of truth I should practice and enter into. Bit by bit, through my practicing and experiencing God’s words, my viewpoints and corrupt dispositions have been changed a little. Every day, I am very happy in my life and work. I attend gatherings actively and often sing hymns to praise God with the brothers and sisters. I think such a life is meaningful and I’m feeling more and more relaxed. Thanks be to Almighty God!
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