Bible Verses for Reference:

“Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that follows the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

“You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45).

“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26–27).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8:34–35).

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin to salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

Relevant Words of God:

At the time, Jesus’ work was the work to redeem all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer of sin, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be redeemed, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Redemption did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins. Provided you believed in Him, you would no longer be of sin.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (2)

A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and hasn’t undergone change or God’s perfection—can you be in accordance with God’s intentions? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and you are not of sin because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are without sin or filth. How can you be sanctified if you have not undergone change? Within, you are full of filth, and you are selfish and base, 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 you have not undergone change. For you to be in accordance with God’s intentions, God must personally do the work to change and cleanse you; otherwise you’ve only been redeemed and could not possibly become sanctified. In that case, you are unqualified to enjoy wonderful blessings together with God, for you have fallen a step behind in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting man. You, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are therefore incapable of directly receiving God’s inheritance.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity

Though Jesus came among man and did much work, He only completed the work of redeeming all mankind and served as man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt dispositions. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his Satan-corrupted dispositions. And so, after man was forgiven of his sins, God returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought mankind 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 they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface

Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons had already been planted within him and, after thousands of years of being corrupted by Satan, he has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man was redeemed, it was nothing more than a case of redemption. That is, man was bought back at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him was not eliminated. Man that is so filthy must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God. By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt essence within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become purified. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the current work is performed so that man can be purified and be changed; it is so that man can cast off his corruption and be purified through the judgment and chastisement of the word, and through refinement. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is also the work of conquest, as well as the second stage in the work of salvation. It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man comes to be gained by God, and it is through refinement, judgment, and exposure by the word that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and personal hopes within man’s heart are completely revealed. Although man has been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, this can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, man lives in the flesh without being set free from sin, and can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his satanic corrupt dispositions. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of people sin by day and confess in the evenings. And so, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it cannot save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has corrupt dispositions. … It is not easy for man to become aware of his sins, and he has no way of recognizing his own deeply rooted nature. It is only through the judgment of the word that this result can be achieved. Only thus can man gradually be changed from this point onward.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)

The work of the last days is to speak words. Great changes can be effected in man by means of words. The changes now effected in these people from their acceptance of these words are much greater than those effected in people from their acceptance of the signs and wonders in the Age of Grace. For, in the Age of Grace, the demons were cast out from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but as for just how man could cast off the satanic corrupt dispositions within him, this work had yet to be done on him. Man was only redeemed and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not removed and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through the incarnation of God, but this did not mean that man no longer had sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, how his corrupt dispositions and sinful nature may be cast off completely, and how his life disposition may be changed to some extent, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man have been forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continues to live within his old satanic corrupt dispositions. This being so, man must be completely saved from his satanic corrupt dispositions, his sinful nature must be completely cast off, never to develop again, and his disposition must undergo transformation. This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, to understand the way of life, and to understand the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it requires man to practice in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accordance with the intentions of God, so that he may cast off his satanic corrupt dispositions, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man have received the complete saving grace. At the time that Jesus was doing His work, man’s knowledge of Him was still nebulous and unclear. Man always believed Him to be the son of David, and said He was a great prophet, the benevolent Lord who redeemed man’s sins. Some, on the strength of their faith, were healed just from touching the edge of His garment; the blind could see and even the dead could be restored to life. However, man was unable to discover the satanic corrupt dispositions deeply rooted within himself, neither did he know how to cast them off. Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the faith of one member bringing blessing on an entire family, the healing of sickness, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and his godly appearance; if someone could live on the basis of these, they were considered an up-to-standard believer. Only believers of this kind could enter heaven after death, which meant that they were redeemed. But, in their lifetime, these people did not understand at all the way of life. All they did was to commit sins and then confess their sins in a constant cycle without any path to change their disposition: Such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No! Therefore, after that stage of work was finished, there still remained the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage is to purify man by means of the word, and thereby give him a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for it would fail to cast off man’s sinful nature, and man would come to a standstill at the forgiveness of his sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt dispositions of man still remain within him, man can still sin and resist God, and God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to expose the corrupt dispositions of man, and to make him practice in accordance with the proper path. The work of this stage is more meaningful than the previous one, as well as more fruitful, for now it is the word that directly provides for man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a much more thorough stage of work. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s management plan for man’s salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)