Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ”
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We have just read a piece of God’s word of great importance called “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ.” At what level are the words of God in this piece so important? If people cannot enter into the words of God in this piece, if they cannot satisfy what God requires, can they enter the kingdom of heaven? Your belief in Almighty God does not guarantee you a share of the kingdom of heaven, nor does your spoken acknowledgement that Almighty God is the incarnate God, the appearance of Christ, mean that you are saved. You believe in Almighty God, you can do your duty, and you can cast aside everything to follow God, but that does not mean heaven must have a share for you. Hear the words of God, and know that His most fundamental saying is that you must seek to be compatible with Christ. What effect is to be achieved? You experience God’s work in the last days and are judged and chastised before the seat of Christ. But of the greatest importance is whether in the end you are compatible with Christ, whether you are a person who can submit to Christ, a person who can obey God and worship God. When people believed in the Lord Jesus, God was not strict with them, but when He does the work of judgment in the last days, He is serious with man. To what extent is He serious? He looks at whether a person is truly compatible with Christ of the last days. If a person becomes truly compatible, his disobedience, his resistance, his satanic disposition, his viewpoints, all of these will be cleansed. That person can utterly obey Christ, and be obedient to the authority of Christ’s word, and it is only such a person that can survive and be one of the people of the kingdom. Now is this vision clear? There may be some new believers who still do not see this clearly. This is normal. But for those who have been believers for a number of years, if you still cannot see this clearly, your reading of God’s word has been empty of meaning and of no use. You understand nothing!
God’s word says: “I have done much work among man, and the words I have expressed during this time have been many. These words are for the sake of man’s salvation, and were expressed so that man might become compatible with Me. Yet I have gained only a few people on earth who are compatible with Me, and so I say that man does not treasure My words, for man is not compatible with Me.” What does God mean by this? Do you understand? God incarnate has expressed many words in the last days, and these words are for the sake of man’s salvation. But as for the results of this work, God says: “Yet I have gained only a few people on earth who are compatible with Me, and so I say that man does not treasure My words, for man is not compatible with Me.” What finally does it mean to be compatible with Christ? Which people are not compatible with Christ? Perhaps the majority of people are not really clear about this, and people who have just accepted Almighty God are likely to be especially unsure of the answers. A person who has just accepted Almighty God is likely to think: “I have believed in God for so many years and have already forsaken everything for Him, I have already done so much work for God and endured so much hardship, so of course I am compatible with God.” These are the ideas of a new believer. What do people who have experienced the judgment before the seat of Christ think? “I have been judged and chastised before the seat of Christ. I already know of my corruption, my nature, and my essence. I despise the old me, despise this corrupt flesh. I am willing to love God with all my heart, willing to accept the truth, willing to seek after the truth. I am ready to give my all for God, this is what I aspire to. Is it possible I am not compatible with God?” Are these two ideas correct? Both are incorrect. You can never achieve a genuine understanding of God’s word with no experience. An understanding of the word of God is achieved through experience. Some people say, “I am a person of caliber, I have a sharp intellect, I can understand the word of God quickly, without any problem.” This statement is not tenable. Why is it not tenable? People of caliber who have the ability to comprehend are able to read and understand the word of God, but this understanding is too shallow; it just touches the surface of things. The true meaning of the word of God, the essence of His word, and His intentions, these must be experienced for eight to ten years to be understood. Consider this example. A religious person who believes in the Lord confesses his sins, he confesses all of the sins he has ever committed to the Lord, he pours out everything. But does he really know the essence of sin? Does he know the origin of sin? He often confesses his sins in prayer and, yet, later he sins again. Why isn’t he able to repent? Can anybody figure this out? In fact nobody can, all of the preachers and pastors, even Paul, do not understand. All Paul could do was admit that he was the principal sinner. Did he say what his nature and his substance were? Did he explain the origin of his resistance or why he condemned the Lord Jesus? He could not say. In fact, there was nothing he could say. Why is this? He had not been judged and chastised by God. In the Age of Grace, God basically said nothing about the substance of man’s sinful nature, about the essence of man’s nature, about the fact that man has been corrupted by Satan. Why did the Lord Jesus say nothing and only let people confess their sins? Who can find the origins in the Bible, in the words of the Lord Jesus? The work of God is watertight, a seamless piece of heavenly cloth. The Lord Jesus would do nothing that is not complete, that is not concrete. Then why is it that Jesus said nothing? Why did He say nothing of judgment of the last days? Can you say that the Lord Jesus is of poor caliber? Can you say that the Lord Jesus is not God incarnate? No one can say this. But why didn’t Jesus say anything? Anyone who can make sense of this business really gets the point of the Bible. What did the Lord Jesus say? It is not that we have an explanation, let us find instead a basis in the words of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus spoke thus: “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” (John 16:12-13). Is this the basis? The Bible says: “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him” (John 3:36). What is the meaning of these words? You have experienced the work of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace, have spent your life for the Lord Jesus, then why do you not have eternal life? Consider what the Bible says: “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life.” This is not a contradiction. How is it not contradictory? Almighty God has come, but is He the Spirit of the Lord Jesus? If you only accept the work of the Lord Jesus, but do not accept Almighty God, are you really believers in the Son? You are not. In the last days, the words “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life” will be realized and it will be Almighty God that gives them eternal life. This is clear, right? You should not misunderstand the words of the Bible. Now Almighty God has come and you have accepted His work of the last days, but what has the Lord Jesus promised us about this? In the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, can you find any basis to confirm that those who accept Almighty God will have eternal life and be able to enter the kingdom of heaven? The film Who Is My Lord answers these questions, so I will say no more here.
I will continue to fellowship about this piece of God’s word, which was spoken by Christ of the last days. It has been two thousand years since the Lord Jesus completed the work of redemption and was resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven. At any time during the two thousand years since then, have we heard the voice of God? We have not. During those two thousand years, mankind has spread the name of the Lord Jesus, and has borne witness to Him, living the church life during the Age of Grace. All who believe in the Lord have received God’s grace, and have enjoyed the peace and joy that comes with the forgiveness of sins and the abundance of God’s grace. But after the Lord Jesus appeared in the last days, He has expressed so many words in The Word Appears in the Flesh. Today we read “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ,” which can be found in The Word Appears in the Flesh. After hearing this piece, how do you feel? The Lord Jesus, who departed more than two thousand years ago, has returned and He has spoken so many words to us. You feel this is the voice of God. Why do you say this? How are we able to say it is the voice of God? Actually, saying so is no simple matter. There is the feeling that, “Ah, these words are God’s words, people cannot say such things, they cannot completely lay bare the relationship between man and God, the current situation of humanity, and the things inside mankind’s bones.” You just realize that a person cannot say such things, that only God is able to speak such words, and then you acknowledge, “Yes, those are God’s words, that is God’s voice.” But is it really that simple? Do you believe this piece of God’s words is His judgment for all the past generations of saints? These words are God’s judgment of the corrupt mankind, and they are words of judgment spoken before the seat of Christ to all of the historical believers in God’s household.
People who believe in the Lord, no matter how many years they have believed, have a dream. What is that dream? The dream of the heavenly kingdom. Isn’t the purpose of those who believe in the Lord to enter the kingdom of heaven? Don’t they all dream of entering the kingdom of heaven? One says, “My dream of the heavenly kingdom is like this,” and another says, “My dream of the heavenly kingdom is like that.” And each of them believes he can enter the kingdom of heaven. Thus, people wait for the Lord to come in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, to make their dream come true. The piece of God’s words called “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ” gives all those people who dream of the heavenly kingdom an answer and an explanation. After you have read this discourse, how should you treat your dream? Is the dream shattered, does it disappear altogether, or is it just shelved? Can the dream come true? There should be an answer, right? It is here that God gives people a path— “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ.” If you accept Almighty God, Christ of the last days, you say, “I accept His judgment and chastisement; no matter what God reveals, I must acknowledge it, I must submit to it. I will do all that God demands, I will eat and drink the words of God, and practice the words of God.” If you can submit to the judgment and chastisement before the seat of Christ, if you submit to all of God’s work, then God will come around to your dream of the heavenly kingdom and make your dream come true. Do you believe this is true? Some say God has come to simply put an end to our dream, deliberately to smash our dream, and finally to condemn us to hell. Is this the case? Why is it that so many people do not dare to accept the judgment and chastisement of Christ of the last days? Some people think subconsciously that if they accept the judgment of Christ of the last days and acknowledge this, then they will be condemned and cast down into hell as a result and their dream of the heavenly kingdom will be shattered. But if they don’t accept this judgment, then the dream will not be shattered and they can still hope it will come true. Aren’t there religious people who think this way? There are. Such a person does not accept the judgment before the seat of Christ, does not accept the judgment of God in the last days. “We believe in the Lord, believe in the forgiveness of our sins, so why must we be judged? Do the words spoken by the Lord not count? If there is forgiveness, why must there be judgment? Isn’t this just settling old scores with us?” So what is the meaning of the judgment in the last days? The Lord Jesus has forgiven our sins, so what is the meaning of the judgment? How do you understand this? Judgment is not turning up old accounts, nor is it condemning us by digging up sins we committed in the past. We are judged primarily because we have been corrupted by Satan; we are judged because of our satanic nature, our satanic essence, and our satanic disposition. We are judged for all that we have inside of us that is not compatible with God. In the final analysis, judgment is meant to cleanse us, the result of judgment is to make us purified; judgment cleanses us of our satanic nature and our satanic disposition, those things of ours that are unclean. Therefore, when God does the work of judgment, He is not settling old accounts or condemning man again for past sins, He is cleansing man of his satanic nature and satanic disposition. In order to cleanse you of your satanic disposition, God judges and God reveals and speaks clearly to you of the essence of the problem. If He did not speak clearly of your corrupt nature and the root cause of this corruption, could you recognize these? Nobody would be able to recognize these. People are clever and they have good minds, but they cannot penetrate the spiritual world and understand the truth directly. This is a fact. Some people say, “Is it true that people really can’t understand the truth? If we cannot understand the truth, why are we asked to eat and drink the words of God, fellowship about the truth? Isn’t this a contradiction?” What do you think? Is this a contradiction? No. Understanding the truth is not a matter of relying on people’s instincts. For people to understand external things like knowledge and science, they must study and then they are able to obtain a result, to understand some things. But when it comes to the mystery of the truth, man is impotent. Therefore, scientists may study science for many years, but they do not discover God, they do not know God. Doctors of theology who believe in the Lord may study the Bible for many years, but they do not understand the truth, they do not know God. What is the one thing this allows us to understand thoroughly? If people depend on themselves to study the Bible and experience human life, they are not able to understand the truth, they are not able to know God. What do people have to depend on to understand the truth? They depend on the work of the Holy Spirit! Why, the Holy Spirit is God Himself! Only by depending on the work of the Holy Spirit can people understand the truth. If the Holy Spirit does not enlighten people and give them inspiration and show them the light, they will never understand the truth. It is inspiration that drives scientific development. Without inspiration, mankind’s work produces sweat, but is otherwise in vain. If scientific development depends on inspiration, then humanity’s understanding of the truth and knowledge of God is even more dependent on inspiration and inspiration is the work of the Holy Spirit. If we do not fellowship these words in this manner, nobody can comprehend. I did not do this on my own. If the Holy Spirit had not enlightened me, I could not have comprehended.