Below we will be fellowshiping about the four criteria for salvation. First, you must have true faith in God and reverence for God in your heart, and you must be someone who has truly returned to God.
Second, you must be someone who has truly forsaken Satan and the great red dragon, someone who is able to rely on the word of God to live, someone who possesses truth and humanity, and you must achieve the standards of being an honest man. Third, you must have true obedience to God, and regardless of whatever orchestrations and arrangements God may have or whatever condition you may fall into, you must be able to always obey God without any complaints and perform your duty as usual with loyalty to God, not by just simply going through the motions. Fourth, you must be loyal to God through every kind of trial, without issuing complaints or betraying God. Even up to the point of your death you must not betray God, and you must be able to be loyal to the end even if you are merely a service-doer for God. You could say that these four criteria are established on the testimony of Job, for the testimony of Job is the lowest criterion for salvation. How do you all feel about these four criteria? Do you think they are low or high? Are they easy to achieve? Some people say they are not, but actually, you could also say that they are not so difficult. Let’s look at the first criterion: “Having true faith in God and reverence for God in your heart.” You could say that people could achieve this in three to five years of believing in God. Of course, to achieve true faith in God and reverence for God in your heart you must have a certain knowledge of God. If you don’t have any knowledge of God that would not work. Now let’s look at where it says “you must be someone who has truly returned to God.” What does “truly returned to God” imply? We already fellowshiped about this just now. To achieve this you must also possess some truths. That is, you must have knowledge of Satan, you must know what kind of thing Satan actually is, what kind of evil spirit it is, and you must know the substance of its nature. In addition, you must also have knowledge of the great red dragon, and you must be clear about how the great red dragon resists God and persecutes God, what the substance of its nature is, and which poisons it has. Once these are clear to you, then you can truly hate Satan and the great red dragon, and only then can you be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon. But forsaking Satan and the great red dragon is no easy feat. Would you be able to hate them if you didn’t have knowledge of the substance of their nature? Would you be able to forsake them if you don’t hate them? It is a process to be able to forsake Satan and the great red dragon. If you do not understand the truth or thoroughly know Satan or the great red dragon, you will not hate them, much less truly forsake them. Think about someone who just started believing in God. They also know that Satan is an evil spirit, so if you ask them: “Do you hate Satan?” They will respond: “I do.” If you ask them: “Are you willing to forsake Satan?” They will respond: “I am.” But do you all think that this hatred is genuine? It most certainly is not. But why do we say that this person’s hatred is not genuine? Because this person does not have any knowledge of Satan. They just heard someone say that Satan is an evil spirit, that it was the highest of all angels, that it is the enemy of God. So, whenever this person started believing in God of course they said that they hate Satan and that they are willing to forsake Satan. But even though they say this, that isn’t the same as it being a reality for them, right? You must understand many truths in order to be able to achieve the effect of truly returning to God, and to be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon you must have true knowledge of Satan and the great red dragon, you must be able to thoroughly understand their nature and their substance, and only then will you be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon. If you understand very few truths you will not be able to achieve this effect. When people do things now they are always relying on their imaginations, and regardless of what it is, they see everything as pretty simple. It’s as if, since they are willing to forsake Satan and hate Satan and are willing to return to God, that has already become a fact, which is incorrect. Does being “willing” represent a fact? Being willing is being willing, and facts are facts. Everyone is willing to obey God, everyone is willing to satisfy God, and everyone is willing to return to God. No one is willing to betray God. No one is willing to resist God. Not a single person is willing to resist God or betray God, but is this something that people can do? Is this a reality that they can live out? Can they have this kind of testimony? People are always under the impression that if they are willing to do something then it is real, it is fact, that they have already achieved its effect. This is just deceiving and misleading themselves. We must pay attention to reality, we cannot just say in our hearts: “I hate Satan, I hate Satan more than anything else, Satan has corrupted me terribly. It has been deceiving me for so many years, but now I finally know. It’s no wonder that I can never obey God in all the things that I do, that I always betray God and resist God, this is the harm that Satan has been causing me.” What use is it if people only say this? Do you have knowledge of how Satan has caused you harm? Why is it that you are able to betray God and resist God? You won’t be able to truly solve this problem until you find its source. We ought to focus on entry into reality, right? Let’s take a look at where it says “true obedience to God.” What is this “true obedience” referring to? It means that whatever God does, regardless of whether or not God’s actions conform to your conceptions and imagination, you would always be able to obey. This is what is known as true obedience. But right now people are unable to achieve true obedience, so how do they interpret obedience? People are only able to be obedient when something conforms to their own intentions and imagination, when it is accepted by everyone as correct, and when everyone decides that it is reasonable. But is this true obedience? It is not. Think about a friendship where in favorable circumstances, whenever the people are happy, they help each other out, but when things are bad, when the people don’t know what is going on, there’s no help. Would you consider this a true friendship? It isn’t. You all would not acknowledge this. This is not a true friendship. To God, true obedience must be acknowledged by God, it cannot be based on someone’s imagination. If someone thinks to themselves “the kind of obedience that I have is true obedience to God,” this is man’s imagination, it is what someone considers to be obedience, it is not acknowledged by God. Your obedience is too limited, too conditional. Obedience occurs after things must be acknowledged by you as correct, as rational, as conforming to your imagination and your requirements. Then, and only then, will you be able to be obedient. So when God does things does He need you to confirm them? Does He need you to acknowledge them? If you don’t obey them without your acknowledgment, then that means you are not truly obedient. So then, how can man actually enter into true obedience? What truths does man need to possess to achieve true obedience to God and to achieve unconditional obedience to God? These are questions that people ought to contemplate. The primary characteristic of those who are saved is that they are able to unconditionally obey God. Only those who unconditionally obey God are the saved ones. Because if someone is able to obey God then they will no longer resist God. If someone is able to obey God they will no longer betray God. So, only people who are truly obedient to God are the saved ones. This is the most basic criterion for salvation. When it comes to the criteria for salvation, if we were to use one criterion to summarize all of them, it would be this one: being able to be truly obedient to God. So then, which truths does one have to possess in order to achieve true obedience to God? Have you all pondered this before? Some people say they have to have knowledge of God. Of course you have to have knowledge of God. If someone doesn’t have a certain knowledge of God then they won’t be able to be truly obedient to God. However, to what degree do you need to know God in order to achieve absolute obedience even in circumstances where you cannot comprehend God’s intention and it doesn’t conform to your own conceptions and imagination? Have you pondered this question before? Whenever you are free you ought to ponder this: “God asks us to become people who are obedient unto Him, so then on what basis is this obedience actually established? What actually is true obedience? To what extent must we be obedient, and which displays of obedience must there be in order for us to be acknowledged by God as someone who obeys Him? Which truths must we possess in order to achieve this obedience? What changes must there be in our life disposition?” These are the lessons that people ought to ponder. So will you all think things over in this way? There are some people who have never been aware of pondering the truth. After you started believing in God did you ever ponder this truth? Did you ever ask yourself, “I’ve come to have faith in God, but what is the true meaning of faith in God? What actually is faith? What is the concept of faith?” Have you ever thought these things over? How many times have you thought these issues over? How much time did you spend thinking them over? Did you come up with any answers? If you have never thought these things over, if you don’t have answers to these issues, then that means you have not made an effort toward the truth. What does it indicate if you haven’t made any effort? It means that you do not pursue the truth, that you are not very attentive when it comes to matters regarding the truth. So then, what do you spend all your time thinking about? Do you only think about how to live a good life, how to eat well, wear nice clothes and have fun, how to make your family more comfortable and happy, how to be in a good marriage, how to maintain romance for a long time, how to ensure that there will always be peace in your home, how to enjoy a blessed family? These are the only things that you think about, aren’t they? If you only think about these things, and then one day a big stone suddenly falls from the sky and smashes your home, what will you do? Were your considerations not in vain? If you had made an effort toward the truth then the disasters and trials that befall you would be no big deal. No matter how big the hailstones are that fall upon you, it would not matter, you would not be crushed, you would go on believing in God just the same as before and have true testimony. If you always think about your family, if you always think about how to live a good life, then when your family is smashed you will have nothing. Do you all think that there is any meaning in always thinking about your family? It is meaningless, it doesn’t have any meaning whatsoever. Nowadays people always emphasize maintaining love with their partner and maintaining harmony with their partner, these are the things that they always think about. To always be troubled by these things, to always spend your energy on this, is it worth it? It is not worth it, these things are all empty. You ought to always contemplate how to understand the truth, how to achieve obedience to God, how to achieve salvation. These are the major issues. Nowadays, the last days of the world are before our eyes, and disasters are getting worse and worse. It would be no big deal for the affection between a couple to be lost. So long as you have the truth, so long as you are someone who believes in God, they cannot run away. Do you believe this to be true? Why do I say that they cannot run away? Because if they went looking they wouldn’t be able to find someone as good as you. You will become better and better through your faith in God, so where could they go to find someone as good as you? Isn’t this the case? Only those who pursue the truth are excellent people, only those who pursue the truth are able to stand firm and receive salvation and God’s blessing. It is of no use to contemplate other things. If you pursue the truth and become someone who is truly obedient to God, you will have been saved. Suppose you understand many truths, you have true faith in God, you have reverence for God in your heart, you have the substance to return to God, you have become a person with truth and humanity, you have become an honest man, and you can completely obey God in the end—you are able to obey, stand firm, perform your duties and be loyal to God as usual without going through the motions regardless of whatever orchestrations and arrangements God may have for you, you are able to be free of complaints and betrayal regardless of whatever trials you face, and you are loyal to the end even if you are a service-doer for God. In that case you will absolutely have received salvation.
Second, you must be someone who has truly forsaken Satan and the great red dragon, someone who is able to rely on the word of God to live, someone who possesses truth and humanity, and you must achieve the standards of being an honest man. Third, you must have true obedience to God, and regardless of whatever orchestrations and arrangements God may have or whatever condition you may fall into, you must be able to always obey God without any complaints and perform your duty as usual with loyalty to God, not by just simply going through the motions. Fourth, you must be loyal to God through every kind of trial, without issuing complaints or betraying God. Even up to the point of your death you must not betray God, and you must be able to be loyal to the end even if you are merely a service-doer for God. You could say that these four criteria are established on the testimony of Job, for the testimony of Job is the lowest criterion for salvation. How do you all feel about these four criteria? Do you think they are low or high? Are they easy to achieve? Some people say they are not, but actually, you could also say that they are not so difficult. Let’s look at the first criterion: “Having true faith in God and reverence for God in your heart.” You could say that people could achieve this in three to five years of believing in God. Of course, to achieve true faith in God and reverence for God in your heart you must have a certain knowledge of God. If you don’t have any knowledge of God that would not work. Now let’s look at where it says “you must be someone who has truly returned to God.” What does “truly returned to God” imply? We already fellowshiped about this just now. To achieve this you must also possess some truths. That is, you must have knowledge of Satan, you must know what kind of thing Satan actually is, what kind of evil spirit it is, and you must know the substance of its nature. In addition, you must also have knowledge of the great red dragon, and you must be clear about how the great red dragon resists God and persecutes God, what the substance of its nature is, and which poisons it has. Once these are clear to you, then you can truly hate Satan and the great red dragon, and only then can you be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon. But forsaking Satan and the great red dragon is no easy feat. Would you be able to hate them if you didn’t have knowledge of the substance of their nature? Would you be able to forsake them if you don’t hate them? It is a process to be able to forsake Satan and the great red dragon. If you do not understand the truth or thoroughly know Satan or the great red dragon, you will not hate them, much less truly forsake them. Think about someone who just started believing in God. They also know that Satan is an evil spirit, so if you ask them: “Do you hate Satan?” They will respond: “I do.” If you ask them: “Are you willing to forsake Satan?” They will respond: “I am.” But do you all think that this hatred is genuine? It most certainly is not. But why do we say that this person’s hatred is not genuine? Because this person does not have any knowledge of Satan. They just heard someone say that Satan is an evil spirit, that it was the highest of all angels, that it is the enemy of God. So, whenever this person started believing in God of course they said that they hate Satan and that they are willing to forsake Satan. But even though they say this, that isn’t the same as it being a reality for them, right? You must understand many truths in order to be able to achieve the effect of truly returning to God, and to be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon you must have true knowledge of Satan and the great red dragon, you must be able to thoroughly understand their nature and their substance, and only then will you be able to truly forsake Satan and the great red dragon. If you understand very few truths you will not be able to achieve this effect. When people do things now they are always relying on their imaginations, and regardless of what it is, they see everything as pretty simple. It’s as if, since they are willing to forsake Satan and hate Satan and are willing to return to God, that has already become a fact, which is incorrect. Does being “willing” represent a fact? Being willing is being willing, and facts are facts. Everyone is willing to obey God, everyone is willing to satisfy God, and everyone is willing to return to God. No one is willing to betray God. No one is willing to resist God. Not a single person is willing to resist God or betray God, but is this something that people can do? Is this a reality that they can live out? Can they have this kind of testimony? People are always under the impression that if they are willing to do something then it is real, it is fact, that they have already achieved its effect. This is just deceiving and misleading themselves. We must pay attention to reality, we cannot just say in our hearts: “I hate Satan, I hate Satan more than anything else, Satan has corrupted me terribly. It has been deceiving me for so many years, but now I finally know. It’s no wonder that I can never obey God in all the things that I do, that I always betray God and resist God, this is the harm that Satan has been causing me.” What use is it if people only say this? Do you have knowledge of how Satan has caused you harm? Why is it that you are able to betray God and resist God? You won’t be able to truly solve this problem until you find its source. We ought to focus on entry into reality, right? Let’s take a look at where it says “true obedience to God.” What is this “true obedience” referring to? It means that whatever God does, regardless of whether or not God’s actions conform to your conceptions and imagination, you would always be able to obey. This is what is known as true obedience. But right now people are unable to achieve true obedience, so how do they interpret obedience? People are only able to be obedient when something conforms to their own intentions and imagination, when it is accepted by everyone as correct, and when everyone decides that it is reasonable. But is this true obedience? It is not. Think about a friendship where in favorable circumstances, whenever the people are happy, they help each other out, but when things are bad, when the people don’t know what is going on, there’s no help. Would you consider this a true friendship? It isn’t. You all would not acknowledge this. This is not a true friendship. To God, true obedience must be acknowledged by God, it cannot be based on someone’s imagination. If someone thinks to themselves “the kind of obedience that I have is true obedience to God,” this is man’s imagination, it is what someone considers to be obedience, it is not acknowledged by God. Your obedience is too limited, too conditional. Obedience occurs after things must be acknowledged by you as correct, as rational, as conforming to your imagination and your requirements. Then, and only then, will you be able to be obedient. So when God does things does He need you to confirm them? Does He need you to acknowledge them? If you don’t obey them without your acknowledgment, then that means you are not truly obedient. So then, how can man actually enter into true obedience? What truths does man need to possess to achieve true obedience to God and to achieve unconditional obedience to God? These are questions that people ought to contemplate. The primary characteristic of those who are saved is that they are able to unconditionally obey God. Only those who unconditionally obey God are the saved ones. Because if someone is able to obey God then they will no longer resist God. If someone is able to obey God they will no longer betray God. So, only people who are truly obedient to God are the saved ones. This is the most basic criterion for salvation. When it comes to the criteria for salvation, if we were to use one criterion to summarize all of them, it would be this one: being able to be truly obedient to God. So then, which truths does one have to possess in order to achieve true obedience to God? Have you all pondered this before? Some people say they have to have knowledge of God. Of course you have to have knowledge of God. If someone doesn’t have a certain knowledge of God then they won’t be able to be truly obedient to God. However, to what degree do you need to know God in order to achieve absolute obedience even in circumstances where you cannot comprehend God’s intention and it doesn’t conform to your own conceptions and imagination? Have you pondered this question before? Whenever you are free you ought to ponder this: “God asks us to become people who are obedient unto Him, so then on what basis is this obedience actually established? What actually is true obedience? To what extent must we be obedient, and which displays of obedience must there be in order for us to be acknowledged by God as someone who obeys Him? Which truths must we possess in order to achieve this obedience? What changes must there be in our life disposition?” These are the lessons that people ought to ponder. So will you all think things over in this way? There are some people who have never been aware of pondering the truth. After you started believing in God did you ever ponder this truth? Did you ever ask yourself, “I’ve come to have faith in God, but what is the true meaning of faith in God? What actually is faith? What is the concept of faith?” Have you ever thought these things over? How many times have you thought these issues over? How much time did you spend thinking them over? Did you come up with any answers? If you have never thought these things over, if you don’t have answers to these issues, then that means you have not made an effort toward the truth. What does it indicate if you haven’t made any effort? It means that you do not pursue the truth, that you are not very attentive when it comes to matters regarding the truth. So then, what do you spend all your time thinking about? Do you only think about how to live a good life, how to eat well, wear nice clothes and have fun, how to make your family more comfortable and happy, how to be in a good marriage, how to maintain romance for a long time, how to ensure that there will always be peace in your home, how to enjoy a blessed family? These are the only things that you think about, aren’t they? If you only think about these things, and then one day a big stone suddenly falls from the sky and smashes your home, what will you do? Were your considerations not in vain? If you had made an effort toward the truth then the disasters and trials that befall you would be no big deal. No matter how big the hailstones are that fall upon you, it would not matter, you would not be crushed, you would go on believing in God just the same as before and have true testimony. If you always think about your family, if you always think about how to live a good life, then when your family is smashed you will have nothing. Do you all think that there is any meaning in always thinking about your family? It is meaningless, it doesn’t have any meaning whatsoever. Nowadays people always emphasize maintaining love with their partner and maintaining harmony with their partner, these are the things that they always think about. To always be troubled by these things, to always spend your energy on this, is it worth it? It is not worth it, these things are all empty. You ought to always contemplate how to understand the truth, how to achieve obedience to God, how to achieve salvation. These are the major issues. Nowadays, the last days of the world are before our eyes, and disasters are getting worse and worse. It would be no big deal for the affection between a couple to be lost. So long as you have the truth, so long as you are someone who believes in God, they cannot run away. Do you believe this to be true? Why do I say that they cannot run away? Because if they went looking they wouldn’t be able to find someone as good as you. You will become better and better through your faith in God, so where could they go to find someone as good as you? Isn’t this the case? Only those who pursue the truth are excellent people, only those who pursue the truth are able to stand firm and receive salvation and God’s blessing. It is of no use to contemplate other things. If you pursue the truth and become someone who is truly obedient to God, you will have been saved. Suppose you understand many truths, you have true faith in God, you have reverence for God in your heart, you have the substance to return to God, you have become a person with truth and humanity, you have become an honest man, and you can completely obey God in the end—you are able to obey, stand firm, perform your duties and be loyal to God as usual without going through the motions regardless of whatever orchestrations and arrangements God may have for you, you are able to be free of complaints and betrayal regardless of whatever trials you face, and you are loyal to the end even if you are a service-doer for God. In that case you will absolutely have received salvation.
What Expressions Are Made by Those Who Attain Salvation?
A person who attains salvation is one who through experiencing the work of God is completely cleansed of his corrupt satanic nature and substance and is ultimately able to completely forsake Satan and fully turn to God. A person who attains salvation is one who has been completely freed from Satan’s influence, who is no longer corrupted, deceived and bounded by Satan, who has true knowledge of God and is able to obey and worship God. This kind of person is one who has attained salvation. People who have attained salvation are all ones who have pursued the truth, because only those who pursue the truth will be able to receive the work of the Holy Spirit while experiencing the work of God, which will give rise to true knowledge of God and completely cleanse them of their satanic corrupt disposition. Only those who pursue the truth will be able to attain true knowledge of God through experiencing the work of God, and come to have reverence for God in their hearts, and ultimately their life disposition will change, allowing them to be saved by God. To put it specifically, what expressions are made by those who attain salvation?
First, people who attain salvation can no longer resist God or betray God. No matter what happens, they will no longer develop notions, judgments, or defiance and resistance against God. This kind of person is one who has attained salvation. In daily life, even though on the outside people are able to fellowship about some life experiences, and even though they have some understanding of the word of God and the work of God, once they encounter something that doesn’t conform to their notions and imagination, some people are able to develop notions and judgments about God and even betray and resist God. But some people don’t have any notions nor judgments, and they have pure understanding of God’s work and word. Wherein lies the difference between these people? Those who are able to never develop notions about God regardless of circumstances, who never have judgments or resist, these are the people who have attained salvation. Just this point of distinction is not easy for other people to attain. We have fellowshiped about this before: People cannot use the notions and knowledge of man to evaluate God, and they certainly cannot use the laws of man to evaluate God. If people were to use their knowledge, notions and imagination to evaluate God, then they would develop notions and judgments. So how can you get to the point where you don’t use knowledge, notions and man’s imagination to evaluate God? Whoever can do this is surely one who possesses the truth. People who possess the truth and have true knowledge of God are ones who absolutely will not use man’s notions, man’s imagination or man’s knowledge and doctrine to evaluate God, for they know that the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens. God’s disposition is righteous and holy. To use the standards of man to evaluate God would be the most absurd thing. If a man is able to not resist God and not betray God, this depends most fundamentally on their possessing the truth and having true knowledge of God. If a man doesn’t have true knowledge of God and understands very little of the truth, then it is for certain that the poisons of Satan within him and Satan’s knowledge, logic, and doctrine still possess him, and he certainly still relies on these things to live. It is impossible for these kinds of people to not resist God, not develop notions, and not judge God. ... Now we can clearly see that to become someone who does not resist or betray God is no simple matter. We must understand many truths and have true knowledge of God in order to be able to achieve these effects. People who have attained salvation will never judge God regardless of what the circumstances may be, they will not develop notions about God, and they will not rebel against and resist God. So what should people rely on in order to be able to cleanse themselves of the poisons of Satan within them and the philosophy, logic and rules of Satan? They must rely on pursuing the truth, and this is something that people have to understand. If in pursuing the truth a man achieves a certain effect, in other words he attains true knowledge of God, then he would be able to see that those philosophies of Satan, those rules of Satan and the logic of Satan that reside within him are really not the truth, that they are too absurd and of no use, that they are all preposterous things, and things that harm and bind people. At this time he would think to himself, “I have read so many books, I have so much knowledge, but really, I don’t possess a single bit of the truth, and as it turns out, I’m filled up with fallacies. I am lacking so much, I really must pursue the truth and obtain the truth.” When people pay special attention to the truth, when they are interested in the truth and have the resolve to pursue the truth, then they are entering onto the right track of believing in God. When someone obtains the truth, the poisons of Satan, the knowledge and rules of Satan that dwell within them will start to gradually disappear, becoming cleansed. That is to say, when someone discovers that everything they have studied in the past are all fallacies of Satan, they will begin renouncing these things. They will no longer treat these things as treasures or the truth, but deal with them as fallacies. Whenever people are possessed by the truth, that is, when they have true knowledge of God, will they be able to resist God? Will they still be able to develop notions? They won’t do any of these things. This is the process of being cleansed. Now, you’ve believed in God for one or two years, and you understand some truths. Regardless of how deep or shallow your understanding is, you all feel that the truth alone is man’s life and that truth is extremely valuable. Things you learned in the past—the imagination and doctrine of man, the philosophy of man, the knowledge of man—you feel that these have all been learned in vain, that they are of no use whatsoever, that they are all things that cheat and harm people, that they are of no benefit to man’s existence, that they can only be used to corrupt man. When knowledge and philosophies possess people and fill them up, the first effect it causes in them is that it makes it easy for them to judge God and resist God. Knowledge causes people to deny God and betray God, it makes man worship Satan and worship the world. So, Satan uses knowledge, logic and philosophy to corrupt the human race, to make the human race resist God more and more, to distance man further and further away from God, until ultimately they are led to their destruction. If man is to stop resisting God and betraying God then he must possess the truth. If within himself man truly understands many truths, and the truth has become his life, then his satanic nature will crumble away. For these people it will be very easy to obey God no matter what occurs to them. No matter what God demands of them they will not have any notions, nor will they feel that God’s demands are too high and uneasy to achieve. On the contrary, they will feel it is easy to perform their duty, serve God, obey God and worship God, and they won’t feel it is difficult at all. To have these kinds of feelings in one’s life—that practicing the truth is easy, that obeying God is easy, that worshiping God is easy—what kind of change is this? This is a change in one’s life disposition. When people possess satanic nature what is easy and what is difficult to them? Practicing the truth is very difficult for them, and obeying God is very difficult for them. Following the trends of the world is easy, committing evil acts is easy, coveting the enjoyment of the flesh is easy, and following Satan is easy. Doing negative things is very easy. In people’s words, going downhill is easy, but going uphill is difficult, and being a good person is especially difficult. Isn’t this the case? ... As we just fellowshiped, attaining salvation depends on people’s pursuit of the truth. Someone who truly possesses the truth will be able to achieve never resisting or betraying God. No matter what God does they will never develop notions or judgments about God. This is the standard, and it is also the true state of those who have attained salvation. If any of you believes that you yourself are someone who has attained salvation, then you ought to use this standard to check yourself and see if your salvation is really like this, if you have really reached this standard. See if you are able to no longer resist God and betray God, see if you are able to have no notions and no judgments no matter what God does. Some people will say, “That’s easy to do. From now on I will control myself a little more. First I will sum up the expressions of resisting and betraying God, and then when I encounter these things I will control myself. That way I will be able to guarantee that I will not do things that resist or betray God.” Do you think that if you acted in this way you would achieve that effect? It would be of no use if all you did was control yourself. If you could control yourself then everyone would be able to control themselves, and no one would betray God, but are there really these kinds of people? No, people simply cannot control themselves. Why can they not control themselves? Because people are controlled by their nature. Whatever a man’s inner nature is will be the expressions that he has. Even if you want to fake it, you won’t be able to do so for long. You may be able to control yourself for a little while, but you will not be able to control yourself for your whole life.
Below we will continue to discuss the second aspect, that those who attain salvation are able to obey God normally and have reverence for God in their heart. There are many things in people’s lives that involve the truth. For example, Satan’s temptations involve the truth. When temptation comes, if you are without the truth then you will not be able to stand firm. You must seek the truth and try to understand the will of God within this matter. Only when you understand the truth will you be able to grasp God’s will, and only then will you know how to obey God and how to satisfy God. If a man is able to normally obey God, that is because he understands many truths within him, and has reverence for God in his heart. People who have reverence for God in their hearts are able to normally obey God in every matter; people who do not have reverence for God in their heart cannot easily obey God. What does it mean to have a heart that reveres God? It means that they are someone who is very afraid to hurt God’s heart, who is very afraid to offend God, who feels that God is supreme, and that they ought to have reverence for God, that they ought to worship and look up to God. If they distance themselves a little bit from God, if what they do goes against God a little bit, then their conscience will not be at peace. Only by obeying God will their conscience be at peace and satisfied. In particular in every matter, if they have true knowledge of God, if they witness God’s wondrous deeds, if they witness God’s love, if they witness God’s righteous disposition, then they will worship God normally. These people are the ones who have hearts that revere God. The more that a man reveres God in his heart the more he will be able to obey God. We have already seen the actual proof of this with Job. Job was someone who revered God and shunned evil. Only someone who reveres God can shun evil. Nowadays, we understand many truths, but only those who possess reverence for God in their hearts can practice the truth, and only they can obey God. This is absolute. Those who cannot obey God in every matter are certainly without the truth and without reverence for God in their hearts. This is the root of the problem. People who are able to often pray to grasp God’s will on every matter and who often seek the truth are certainly people who revere God. People who do not have reverence for God in their hearts are good at disguising themselves in front of others and at feigning obedience and following doctrine, but behind others’ backs they do as they please, they do whatever the flesh wants them to do. In front of others they appear to be a sheep, but behind people’s backs they become a wolf, and their wolf-like nature is revealed. This kind of person is someone who does not have reverence for God in their heart. So, there are many people who must be watched over, supervised and urged on when they perform their duties, and the truth must be fellowshiped to them after a while in order for them to have the strength to perform their duty, and have confidence to perform their duty well. If you do not fellowship the truth to them, their condition will worsen from day to day, and they will have less and less energy and be more and more perfunctory. Everyone who always needs to rely on others to fellowship the truth in order for them to maintain their current condition, or who needs people to supervise, push, or urge them as they carry out their duties are all people who do not have reverence for God in their hearts. For people who do not have reverence for God in their hearts, although on the outside they seem to have the appearance of a human being, and they don’t tell lies, and they don’t deceive, yet they are still able to do bad things behind other people’s backs, they are still able to do shameful things, things that offend God, and things that harm our brothers and sisters. So, if someone doesn’t have reverence for God in their heart they are not reliable. Others will look upon them as not trustworthy and God will look upon them as someone who does not yet have the likeness of a human, as someone who has yet to attain salvation, and as someone who has not completely and truly turned to God. In people’s lives there are a lot of things in which they ought to obey God. If a man does not seek the truth, then he will feel that everything he encounters does not involve the truth, it will seem as though there is no need to practice the truth or obey God, that he can just do whatever he wants and that’s that. However, for those who understand the truth, and who have reverence for God in their hearts, they feel that for this or that matter they need to pray to God, and that they should see how they can do things in a way that conforms to the truth and obeys God. You see, people who seek the truth and who have reverence for God in their hearts, they feel that within their life circumstances there are many things in which the truth must be sought, and in which they must obey God. If you are without the truth in your heart then you will feel that nothing involves the truth, that nothing involves God, that everything, just like eating, sleeping and resting, doesn’t involve God and doesn’t involve the truth. These people are certainly people without the truth, and since they are without the truth it is impossible for them to have hearts that revere God. ... To attain salvation is to be able to normally obey God, and to be able to seek out God’s will in many of the things you encounter in your life and to practice the truth to satisfy God. To do this is to be one who has attained salvation. Each and every person who does not have God in their lives is a person who does not pray to God or seek out God regardless of whatever things they encounter in their actual lives, and they just do things relying on their own will and act following the pleasures of their own flesh. These kinds of people are ones who do not obey God, because they do not live in the presence of God and they do not have a place for God in their hearts. So, they are not people who have attained salvation.
Third, people who attain salvation are people with normal humanity, and, in addition, they also have true knowledge of God within them. They are equipped with the truth and they have normal humanity, and these people are ones who have the truth and who have humanity. People who have humanity on top of the truth are ones who attain salvation. When someone is without the truth, no matter how good their humanity is, they still will not meet the standards, because people without the truth are very corrupt, and they are far from having humanity. They do not even have conscience or reason, so how could they have humanity? So, only those with the truth are able to truly have humanity. People without truth are without humanity. This is absolute. ... Once a saved person has a true understanding of God, they will be able to live out the likeness of a true person. This likeness of a true person can be summed up with two phrases. The first is possessing the truth, and the second is having humanity. Only such a person is a truly honest person before God. A truly honest person has the truth inside them, so they definitely won’t be corrupted or deceived by Satan again. They see through this world and its evil and darkness, as well as the nature and essence of corrupted human beings. Therefore, they can genuinely worship God, truly obey God, and their life becomes a real testimony of their faith in God. Such an individual is a saved person. As a saved person possesses the truth, they have conscience and sense before God and character and dignity before others. They hold fast to the word of God, and they can satisfy the Creator by fulfilling their duty as a created being. That is a saved person. One aspect of a saved person who possesses the truth is that they can see through the world, see through Satan, and see through corrupted people. Therefore, they know how to deal with the world, they know how to deal with Satan, and they especially know how to deal with corrupted people. As such, there are many things in their lives for which they definitely have principles and the truth. A person equipped with the truth behaves in several ways. First, when it comes to things related to the truth, they pray and seek God and obey Him. Secondly, when they fulfill their duty in God’s household, they safeguard God’s work, they dare to uphold the truth and principles, and are unafraid to offend people. They can perform their duty as a created being and they are of one heart with God, always standing on His side. This is the side of a saved person who possesses the truth. Their humane side is that they know to repay God’s love and can faithfully perform their duties as a created being and do everything in their ability to fulfill the duties they can. Additionally, they have normal relationships with others and can coexist normally with most people, get along with them, speak honestly and do things with wisdom. That’s their humane side. Those who behave in these two ways are people with the truth and with humanity. People with humanity might not appear lofty, and they may not have any particular knowledge or experiences, but because they possess the truth, they have a normal humanity. Those who truly understand the truth have normal humanity. From the outside, such a person might not stand out or look special. They might seem very ordinary, very normal, and unremarkable, but people without the truth cannot see through them. Only those who are equipped with the truth, through observations of this person’s life, will be able to tell in the end that this person is different. They have the truth inside them, they have principles, and they do things with utmost wisdom. Further, their normal humanity is simple, honest, and open, making them extremely easy to get along with. Anyone who comes into contact with such a person will think they are a good person. There aren’t many good people like this anymore. They are very rare. Such a person has no bad intentions and performs no evil deeds whatsoever. When you spend time with this person, even though they seem wise and principled toward you, they will never harm you, let alone cheat you. This is enough to prove that a person who possesses the truth and has humanity is a truly kind-hearted and honest person. That is a saved person. If there’s someone where you can only see the aspect of their humanity but you can’t see the other aspect of them having the truth, then that means that there is a lot that is not real about their humanity, and it means that they only appear as a good person based on the notions of nonbelievers. If you were to use the truth and principles to measure them, then they would not meet the standards. Since they are without the truth and without principles, there are certainly a lot of instances where they are able to resist God and betray God, and they will certainly develop many notions and many judgments about God. But people with the truth and with humanity are able to reach a point where they have no notions or judgments about God, they do not resist God or betray God. On the outside these people appear to be very ordinary, very average, but actually they are remarkable on the inside. If they didn’t understand many truths, if they didn’t possess some true knowledge of God, then it would be extremely difficult for them to achieve what they have. So, people with the truth and with humanity are the only ones who have truly attained salvation. …
This final point is also the most crucial, that those who attain salvation can normally worship God, and they are the ones who normally worship God. For those who have not attained salvation they just know to pray to God and to plea to God when they have some difficulties, but the prayers of the people with the truth have changed in nature—they not only plea in their prayers, but they also worship. We witness that in the religious world people just invariably plea in their prayers, and they ask for so much. Especially for the things regarding their own lives and the difficulties they are going through, every day they plea to God, and they put all their matters in the hands of God and ask for His blessing and His assistance, but they don’t have true obedience to God, they are not able to satisfy God through the things He demands, and much less truly worship God. This is the way that people in the religious world practice their faith in God. People in God’s family are able to not only plea to God for every matter, but they are also able to truly obey and worship God, which is a step forward from those people in the religious world. Such is the effect of the work of God. But it is no simple matter for people to be able to truly worship God. True worship is based on the foundation of having knowledge of God, and it is based on having a heart that reveres God. If someone does not have a heart that reveres God, then they will certainly not be able to worship God either. So how does one develop a heart that reveres God? It is mainly based on the foundation of having true knowledge of God. The more a person knows God, the more they will revere God in their heart; the more a person reveres God in their heart, the more they will be able to obey Him and worship Him. Look at people who do not obey God. What kind of things could make them thank and praise God? Whenever something occurs that benefits their flesh they are able to incessantly thank God. For example: When someone’s crop has a good harvest they will thank the Lord incessantly; when someone’s child passes the university entrance exam, they will thank the Lord incessantly; when someone recovers from an illness, they will thank the Lord incessantly. Is this kind of gratitude true worship of God? It is not. Only being able to praise God through the trials, to praise God when the various trials befall them, just like Job did, is true worship. When people are able to choose to obey God and satisfy God in the face of their greatest hardships, this is a true worship from their hearts. When people are able to do their utmost to praise and thank God when they have true knowledge of God after going through trials, this is true worship. When people in bad times, difficult times, or times of suffering see God’s love and God’s gracious will and express true praise to God, this is worshiping God. ... The ones who attain salvation are the ones who are able to normally worship God. Regardless of how many trials they go through, regardless of how much suffering they endure, the closer their hearts get to God the more pleasure they feel, and if they get further away from God they feel not okay more and more, and they feel that to leave God is death. The more trials they encounter, the more their hearts are able to normally enjoy God and worship God. So, during all the trials that they face, they are always able to normally worship God. People who are able to normally worship God are able to gain more and more knowledge of God and more and more reverence for God, up to the point where they are able to often live in the presence of God, until ultimately they are able to truly live in the presence of God, without ever leaving Him. Those who have attained salvation are able to always live in the presence of God, and they feel it would be very difficult to leave God, and that it would be even more impossible to follow the ways of the world. If you often live in the world, if you are too far from God and not able to feel God, then it is very easy for you to sin, and very difficult to be close to God and practice the truth. If you become someone who worships God it will be very difficult to be separate from God, it will be very difficult to follow the ways of the world, and it will be very difficult to sin. How big of a difference is this? What is the nature of this difference? People who belong to Satan will have a difficult time getting close to God and obeying God. People who truly worship God and belong to God will have a difficult time separating themselves from God and betraying God. Isn’t this what it means to be someone who has attained salvation? Regarding the true state of those who have attained salvation, the most fundamental thing is that they are able to worship God normally. If one is able to enter into this aspect, then they will have attained salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment