Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Those Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God”

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Questions & Answers

Question 1: How can I come to an understanding of the loveliness and righteous disposition of God through the judgment and chastisement work that God carries out on me, and through this, how can I find a way to love God in my heart?

Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life

Answer: This depends mainly on a person’s ability to accept. Nowadays there are sermons and fellowship of God’s house, leaders and workers also fellowship. Sometimes brothers and sisters come together, and they too will fellowship. In addition to all of these aspects, it is also very convenient for you to eat and drink the word of God on your own. In this kind of environment where the truth exists, if someone’s caliber is truly good, and if they love the truth, then they ought to be able to reap some rewards after believing in God for several years. And after believing in God for many years they ought to be able to obtain the truth, isn’t that so? So how come there are some people who believe in God for a decade yet they still obtain very little of the truth and have a very shallow understanding? What problem do they have? This has to do with a person’s caliber. People who have a good caliber and have a love of the truth will obtain the truth quickly, and after believing in God for several years they will be able to reap many rewards.
If one’s caliber is lacking then they will obtain very little, for even though they may believe in God for many years, they simply listen to sermons and fellowship but are not able to seek entry in their own experiences. Take for instance God’s words of judgment. The paragraph from the word of God that we just read, does it contain any of God’s words of judgment? It is all words of judgment, it is judging all kinds of people’s situations. It is all words of judgment. So after reading it what did you come to understand? What aspect of God’s disposition did you come to understand? God reveals man through becoming flesh, and through coming into contact with man He makes known to us our corruption, disobedience and resistance. Why would God act in this way? What is God’s objective, what is the effect and significance of Him acting in this way? Do you have pure acceptance? This is a step that God must take to purify and save man. God’s judgment in the last days achieves its results through revealing man and perfecting man, through making man know himself, and through making man know God through His word. This is the inside story of God’s work of salvation. If someone doesn’t contemplate God’s intentions after reading the word of God, if they don’t try to figure out God’s intentions, God’s wisdom or God’s almightiness through the word of God, or the significance of God working in this way, and, in addition, if they don’t grasp God’s intentions from this as to what God wants them to understand, what God wants them to obtain and what God wants them to have knowledge of, then they will not gain anything. If someone doesn’t ponder the word of God, will they be able to obtain the truth from the word of God? They will not obtain the truth. Think about what I have been talking about today with you all, some of what I said has come from contemplating the word of God, it is all fellowship about the word of God. Look at some of the words from my fellowship, can these words be found in the word of God? They are not literally found in the word of God, but they are concealed within. They are concealed within the meaning of the word of God. Chinese people have a saying that translates roughly as “understanding the unspoken implications.” It means that there are hidden meanings in words, that the truth is concealed within words. So if you don’t think things over, if you don’t put your mind to it, if you don’t experience things, if you don’t seek things out, then you will not see beyond the surface of words, and you will never obtain what is hidden within them. There are a lot of people who have read from the word of God often and who have spent a lot of time performing their duties, so why is it that they have a shallow understanding of the truth, why is it that their knowledge always stops at the surface meanings of words? Why? This has to do with a man’s caliber. It also is directly related to someone not being good at thinking things over, or putting their mind to something, or seeking the truth.

What is the issue that you raised just now? “How can we experience the judgment and chastisement of God in a way that will make us come to an understanding of the righteous disposition and loveliness of God? How can we gain entry into this?” This means that you are not able to experience the judgment and chastisement of God. For this section of the word of God that we just fellowshiped, do you feel that you have gone through this kind of situation? Did these revealing words of God go straight into your heart? Is this your actual situation? You all say it is. We can say without a doubt that these situations revealed by the word of God are not just for you, and not just for me, but rather it is the situation of all of God’s chosen people who accept Christ of the last days. Isn’t that right? You accept this, so then what do you do about it? All of these people’s situations that are revealed by the word of God, aren’t they just revelations of the corruption of man? Aren’t they just the conceptions and imagination of man? What ultimate consequences will arise, can you see it? If you think to yourself that “these words are God’s judgment and revelation of me, I must accept them,” and then as soon as you accept them you think to yourself, “What should I equip myself with? What should I possess? How should I pursue the truth in a way that I’ll be able to solve these revelations of corruption and the root of my corruption?” If these are things you consider, then you ought to seek the truth! Once you seek the truth, then after a while you will be able to see the effect, and after a decade or so of believing you will have been able to solve many problems. Now, that’s not to say that after you read a passage from the word of God and ponder it for one hour, you will be able to say to yourself, “I got it, I’ve obtained the truth from this passage of the word of God and experienced all of it.” Could it really be that simple? It is not that simple. How long do you all think it would take to experience the truth in this passage of God’s words to the point to where these conceptions and imagination of man, and their corruption could be solved? It would take at least 3 to 5 years to see these issues completely clearly, right? Let me give you an example. Consider a household, with a kid who has grown to be in their early teens, and their parents tell them that later in life they will have to get married and start a career, would they be able to immediately accept this? They would not. Would they be able to admit that what their parents say is correct? Even if they admitted that what their parents were saying is correct, would they possess that kind of stature? They would not. So, without possessing this kind of stature, how many years would it take before they could comprehend, before they could come to understand these things that their parents give so much thought to, these good intentions that their parents have about them growing up, getting married and starting careers? “Without raising a child, you can’t know what parenting is like.” They would have to wait until they raise children themselves, until they get married and start a career, then they would know how their parents felt back when they told them of these things when they were in their early teens. It would take at least 10 years to be able to understand these things clearly, right? Could it happen in 5 or 6 years? Even when they are 15 or 16 years old they may not be old enough. You have to wait until you start a family and a career to understand this! So, to experience this passage issued forth by Christ, generally speaking, how long would it take from the first time you read the passage to when you come to have a complete understanding of it? Perhaps after 3 to 5 years you will come to know it thoroughly through your personal experiences, but this is the bare minimum for those whose caliber is good. At most, it would take up to twice that long to guarantee that you understand it clearly. Would 6 months or a year be okay? It would not be okay. So it takes a certain number of years for some things to happen, and it would not be okay otherwise, because they are not things that take just a few days. There are always some people that ask me: “Can you help me understand the truth more quickly? Can’t you tell me in a couple of days all the keys to believing in God, so I can do work within a year’s time?” I tell them they are talking nonsense, for this is something about life. For me to be able to fellowship with you all today in this way, to speak in this way, how much work has the Holy Spirit had to do? How many years of experience have I had to gain? It has been 30 years! For those among you who pursue the truth, who are of comparatively good caliber, it will still take at the very least 15-20 years. Won’t it require this much time? If you don’t understand that it will take a certain amount of time for things to happen, that is not good. If you just rely on your imagination that is not good. Look around you, there are those of you who are well educated, who really have a good caliber and who are of good moral standing. But if these people have less than 10 years of experience, their sermons will still rely too heavily on doctrines. But after going through 10 years of experiences, they will have more real things to say, they will be able to say more honest words, words with experience behind them. After 10 years some people are able to make something of themselves, and there are some who will be able to become better than me. Currently they are already well educated and eloquent in their speech, but it is in their experiences where they are lacking. At the very least it will take a dozen or so years before we see that some of them are better than me. It won’t do in a short period of time. No matter how good your caliber is, it won’t do if you just experience it for a short period of time. For this passage of the word of God, you will need to experience it for at least 3 to 5 years. After experiencing it for 3 to 5 years you will find that these words are so practical, and that they have laid bare man’s situation, which you have come to understand completely. You will have personally experienced these words and fulfilled some of God’s requirements of man in these words. At the very least it will take 3 to 5 years, and then when you re-read them, you will feel they are particularly familiar and particularly real. The contribution that this passage brings to man is of a very profound significance toward God’s perfection and purification of man, and this passage communicates a very important truth: “Those Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God.” Why doesn’t God say that only those who are compatible with Christ are the ones who are truly obedient to God? Why doesn’t He say it in this way? It is of more significance if He says it in His way; at a minimum if you are not able to be compatible with Christ, if you are someone who is incompatible with Christ, then you are condemned, and you will be eliminated. So, for these words, it’s not important whether they are spoken in a positive way or in a negative way, what is important is to say it in an effective way. God says things in the most intelligent way, there is always significance and wisdom in His wording. This is something that you ought to be aware of. In regard to the issue we just raised, that is, how to gain knowledge of God through experiencing the judgment of Christ, it is not enough to just explain how to do so. It requires real fellowship.

Question 2: In reality, when I treat my own actions that do not conform to the principles of truth and the revelation of my corruption, most of the time I am dissecting and understanding, and at the time I attach a lot of importance to it. But after a while I will go back to going down the beaten track. God says: “My sole hope is that you are able to care for yourselves, able to take care of yourselves, not place so much emphasis on your destination that you view your behavior and transgressions with indifference.” Reading these words of God makes me somewhat worried. Please fellowship about how I should go about entering this aspect of the truth where I “put emphasis on my behavior and transgressions.”

Answer: For this aspect of the truth, don’t just focus on any one aspect, it’s no good to just focus on any one aspect. You should first have a large, fixed and clear-cut goal. Such as having true knowledge of God, this is a big goal. Within the big goal there are also some smaller principles, such as the principle of entry into life. The principle of entry into life is included in this issue. God says, “My sole hope is that you are able to care for yourselves, able to take care of yourselves.” What is meant by “caring for” and “taking care of”? “… not place so much emphasis on your destination that you view your behavior and transgressions with indifference,” so on what foundation is your destination established? People must attach importance to reality; if all you do is just for your destination, and you don’t pursue the truth, then will you be able to resolve your transgressions and bad behavior? If you are clear about it right now, you ought to attach importance to your transgressions and bad behavior, and resolve these things quickly. So then what is required in order to resolve your transgressions? You must be equipped with the truth! If you do not possess the truth, then your behavior will not change, but as soon as you possess the truth then your behavior will change, and your transgressions will naturally cease to be. If you do not possess the truth it will not be possible to have no transgressions, nor will you be able to change your behavior in a way that conforms to God’s intentions, for these things can only be accomplished through understanding the truth. If a man understands the truth, if the truth holds power and has a place in one’s heart, then their behavior will naturally be constrained and regulated by the truth. For instance, whenever people speak they unwittingly reveal what their viewpoints are, they unwittingly lay bare their attitudes. So what control are they subjected to? Does this have anything to do with one’s intention? It does. If someone understands some truths, then their mistaken attitudes, their mistaken intentions will be changed, they will be cleansed by the truth. Through understanding the truth you will see that your intentions and your attitude are contemptible, disobedient, disgraceful and false, and once you see this then you will forsake these things and naturally they will be stomped out and cast into the back of your mind. What will happen thereafter? You will manifest yourself as just and honorable, dignified and upright, and in accord with the truth. This will come about naturally. Isn’t this a change? This is a change. But what brought this change about? Was it your own self-control? Or did this transformation come about because you came to understand the truth? It came about because you came to understand the truth. For instance, perhaps there’s someone who at one time you adored a whole lot, but after believing in Almighty God for several years you get in touch with this person again and think to yourself: “Wow, this person really says a lot of cunning things, they’re very sly and very good at being hypocritical and disguising themselves.” Then afterward you start to feel loathing, disgust and hate toward this person. So why is it that you now feel loathing, disgust and hate toward this person? Is it because your attitude toward people has changed after these past several years? Has this change happened just because you weren’t in contact with this person? What caused this change? It’s because you understand many truths, and you can distinguish the false appearances of disguise and deceit, so your attitude toward them has changed. Now as soon as you look upon them you see they are not the same. When you understand the truth you will unwittingly go through changes. That isn’t a matter of whether or not you want to change. You do want to change, but if you don’t understand the truth then you won’t be able to change; you may not think of the change, but because you do understand the truth, you will change without knowing it. Before, you adored the religious pastors and elders, you thought that everything they said was correct, that they spoke in a very elevated manner, and you wondered to yourself: How come I cannot speak in this way? But after going through experiences in the house of God for several years, you will have some reality, and when you listen to these people again you will think to yourself: “Wow, these are all empty theories! They have an eloquent way of speaking, they possess knowledge, but they have no reality. Since they have no reality they speak of doctrines. If they aren’t hypocrites, then what are they?” As soon as you look at them you should be able to see through them. So what’s going on here? Where has this ability been learned from? What caused this change that all of a sudden you are able to see through them? It is only because you understand the truth that a change has come. So, just pursue the truth, and these problems are able to be changed. If you do not pursue the truth, you might know that you have this problem, but even if you want to change it that would be of no use, you would not be able to change it. All changes depend on one thing: Only the truth can change everything!

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