Only With Fear of God Can One Tread Upon the Path of Salvation (Part Two)
What is the difference between the scribes and Pharisees who believed in God in the Age of Law and the pastors, elders, fathers, and bishops of modern Christian and Catholic chapels? That is to say, what is the difference between believing in Jehovah and believing in Jesus? Aside from the name in which they believe, what is the difference? What did those who believed in Jehovah hold to? What was their method of belief? (They kept the law and the commandments.) Did they understand the work of the Holy Spirit? Did they understand the path of carrying one’s cross? (They did not.) Did they know that God is the truth, the way, and the life? Did they have such a concept? Did they know the messages that believers in Jesus have heard? (They did not.) How do those who believe in Jesus see them? (They were backward, conservative, and they did not keep up with the work of the Holy Spirit.) The main thing is that they did not keep up with the steps of God’s work. God said the Messiah would come, and when He came in the flesh He was called Jesus Christ. They did not accept Him, instead stubbornly resisting Him. They did not acknowledge that the Lord Jesus was God incarnate, and they crucified Him. They fell behind, and they were eliminated by the Age of Grace. They did not know the messages of the Age of Grace, like redemption, the salvation of the cross, and repentance. Is that not a difference? (It is.) So what do those in the Age of Grace speak of? What is the difference between them and the believers of the Age of Law? What more do they know? First of all, looking at reading the Bible, they read the Old and New Testaments; looking at the name of God they believe in, they no longer refer to God as Jehovah only, instead primarily calling Him Jesus Christ. What do they practice? Confession and repentance, long-suffering and humility; they are loving, they keep the commandments, they carry their cross, they walk the path of suffering the cross, and they look forward to ascending to heaven after death. In many ways, they are different from the believers in God in the Age of Law. They speak of the work of the Holy Spirit, and being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit; they speak of prayer, of acting in the name of the Lord Jesus, and of spreading the gospel. The things they speak of are totally different from those in the Age of Law, but in the end, they receive the same conclusion from God as the people of the Jewish faith—they also belong to a religious group. What kind of matter is this? Those Jewish Pharisees, head priests, and scribes of the Age of Law nominally believed in God, but they turned their backs on His way, and even crucified the incarnate God. Could their belief, then, have gained God’s approval? (No.) God had already designated them as people of the Jewish faith, as members of a religious group. And God likewise sees those today who believe in Jesus as members of a religious group, in that He does not acknowledge them as members of His church or as believers in Him. Why would God condemn the religious world so? Because all members of religious groups, especially the high-level leaders of various denominations, lack a God-fearing heart, nor are they followers of God’s will. They are all disbelievers. They do not believe in the incarnation, much less accept the truth. They never seek, ask after, examine, or accept God’s work in the last days or the truths He expresses, instead going straight to condemning and blaspheming the work of God’s incarnation in the last days. One can see clearly in this that they may nominally believe in God, but God does not acknowledge them as believers in Him; He says that they are evildoers, that none of what they do has the least relation to His work of salvation, that they are nonbelievers who are outside of His words. If you believe in God as you do now, will the day not come when you, too, are reduced to religious adherents? Belief in God from within religion cannot attain salvation—why is this, exactly? If you cannot tell why this is, it shows that you understand neither the truth nor God’s intentions in the least. The most tragic thing that can happen to belief in God is its reduction to religion and its being eliminated by God. This is an unimaginable thing to man, and those who do not understand the truth can never see this matter clearly. Tell Me, when a church has gradually turned into a religion in God’s eyes and become a denomination over the many long years since its inception, are the people in it objects for God’s salvation? Are they members of His family? (No.) They are not. What road is it they walk, these people who nominally believe in the true God, yet are thought by Him to be religious people? The road they walk is one on which they bear the banner of belief in God yet never follow His way; it is one on which they believe in Him yet do not worship Him, and even forsake Him; it is one on which they claim to believe in God yet resist Him, nominally believing in the name of God, in the true God, yet worshiping Satan and devils, and engaging in human operations, and establishing an independent, human kingdom. That is the road they walk. To look at the road they walk, it is apparent that they are a bunch of disbelievers, a gang of antichrists, a group of Satans and devils that set out explicitly to resist God and disrupt His work. That is the essence of the religious world. Does a group of such people have anything to do with God’s management plan for the salvation of man? (No.) Once believers in God, however many they may be, have their mode of faith defined by God as a denomination or a group, then they, too, are defined by God as those who cannot be saved. Why do I say this? A group without God’s work or guidance that does not submit to Him or worship Him at all may nominally believe in God, but it is the priests and elders of religion whom they follow and obey, and the priests and elders of religion are by their essence satanic and hypocritical. Therefore, what those people follow and obey are Satans and devils. In their hearts, they are practicing belief in God, but in fact, they are being manipulated by man, subject to human orchestrations and mastery. So, in essential terms, what they follow and obey is Satan, and devils, and forces of evil which resist God, and the enemies of God. Would God save a gang of people like this? (No.) Why not? Well, are such people capable of repentance? No; they will not repent. They engage in human operations and human enterprises under the banner of faith in God, running counter to God’s management plan for the salvation of man, with the ultimate outcome being that they will be spurned by God. It is impossible that God would save these people; they are incapable of repentance, and as they have been carried off by Satan, God hands them over to it. Does whether one’s faith in God might meet with His approval depend on its longevity of years? Does it depend on the sort of rituals one observes or the regulations one upholds? Does God look at human practices? Does He look at their numbers? (No.) What does He look at, then? When God has selected a group of people, on what basis does He measure whether they can be saved, whether He will save them? It is based on whether they can accept the truth; it is based on the road they walk. Though God may not have told man as many truths in the Age of Grace as He does now, and though they were not as specific, He was then still able to make man perfect, and there were still people who could be saved. So, if the people of the current age, who have heard so many truths and who understand God’s intentions, cannot follow His way or embark on the path of salvation, what will their outcome be in the end? Their final outcome will be the same as that of believers in Christianity and Judaism—like them, they will not be able to be saved. This is God’s righteous disposition. It does not matter how many sermons you have heard or how many truths you have understood—if you still follow man, if you still follow Satan, and you are not able to follow God’s way in the end, nor able to fear Him and shun evil, then such people are those whom God spurns. People in religion may be able to preach a great deal of biblical knowledge, and they may understand some spiritual doctrine, but they cannot submit to God’s work, or practice and experience His words, or worship Him truly, nor can they fear Him and shun evil. They are all hypocrites, not people who truly submit to God. In God’s eyes, such people are defined as belonging to a denomination, to a human group, to a human gang, as Satan’s lodging. Collectively, they are Satan’s gang, the kingdom of antichrists, and God spurns them entirely.
Right now, the most urgent thing for you to do is pursue the truth. For one thing, you cannot delay as you do your duty, and for another, you must quickly strive in a short time to step onto the path of salvation, and not be abandoned by God. What a terrible thing that would be! This is your final, fleeting opportunity as God does His work of salvation in the last days. If God determines a person, saying that you have never followed His way, that you could absolutely never fear Him nor shun evil, and when He decides to forsake you, then He will no longer reproach or discipline you, no longer prune you, and no longer judge or chastise you—He will utterly give up on you. At that time, you will feel totally free. No one will watch over you any longer. No one will interfere with how you believe in God; there is no reproach, no matter what bad things you do. There is neither reproach nor discipline if, as you do your duty, you are disloyal, or seek only to satisfy your own ambitions and desires, or disturb and disrupt the work of the church. Even if you have notions about God in your heart, there is neither reproach nor discipline. If you resist or reject being pruned, if you judge others behind their backs, undermine them, or entice them to your side, there is neither reproach nor discipline. What is this a sign of? Is this a good sign? No one watches over you, no one prunes you, and God does not reproach you. Everything seems to be going your way, and you get to do whatever you want. This is very obviously not a good sign. When God wants to give up on you, you will no longer have reproach, you will no longer feel discipline, nor will you feel judgment and chastisement any longer. What does God giving up on a person imply? It implies that this person has no final outcome, that they have lost their chance at salvation. When God gives up on someone, He first makes them feel no reproach; they are overly pleased with themselves each day, and think they are blessed, so they casually indulge themselves, becoming degenerate, following the desires of their heart, doing whatever they wish, and acting however they want. Whatever dissolute things they want to do, there is no reproach, nor is there discipline, much less a feeling of unease or that all is not well. Someone who leaves God’s reproach and discipline is on the edge of danger. What kind of path might they step onto next? They start to become degenerate, dissolute, self-indulgent, and their evil deeds become unceasing. This is very troublesome. From the outside, some people seem to be living fairly comfortably, without a single care, but those who understand the truth can see that such a person is in danger, that God does not want them—God has left them, and they do not even know it! The antichrists of the religious world spend all day judging the words and work of the incarnate God, doing many evil things which resist God. Although they now have no discipline or reproach, this is because God has already left them, and in the end, they will all meet with a great punishment, from which not one of them will escape. From this matter, can you see the intention and attitude of God? (Yes.) If you do not pursue the truth as you follow God now, then you could get to the same point as them, and then you will be in danger; your final outcome will be the same as theirs, that is for certain. So right now, what is most pressing that people should do in order to avoid sinking to the point that God would leave them? (We should pursue the truth and fulfill our duty properly.) Apart from fulfilling your duty properly, you must often come before God, eat and drink and ponder His words, accept His discipline and guidance, and learn the lesson of submission—this is very important. You must be able to submit to all the environments, people, events, and things that God has arranged for you, and when it comes to matters you cannot quite fathom, you must frequently pray while seeking the truth; only by understanding God’s intentions can you find a way forward. You must have a God-fearing heart. Do what you ought carefully and cautiously, and live before God with a heart of submission to God. Quiet yourself often before Him, and do not be dissolute. At the least, when something happens to you, first quiet yourself, then rush to pray, and by praying and seeking and waiting, come to understand God’s intentions. Is this not an attitude of fearing God? If you fear and submit to God at heart, and are able to quiet yourself before Him and grasp His intentions, then with this kind of cooperation and practice, you will be protected, and you will not be tempted, nor will you do anything that disrupts or disturbs the work of the church. Seek the truth in the matters which you cannot see clearly. Do not blindly pass judgment or issue condemnations. In this way, you will not be loathed by God, or spurned by Him. If you have a God-fearing heart, you will be afraid of offending Him, and should something that tempts befall you, you will live before God in terror and trepidation, and yearn to submit to Him and satisfy Him in all things. It is only once you have such a practice and are able to live often in such a state, often quieting yourself before God and often coming before Him, that you will be able unconsciously to shun temptation and evil things. Without a God-fearing heart, or with a heart that is not before Him, there are some evils you will be capable of. You have a corrupt disposition, and you cannot master it, so you are capable of evil. Will the consequences not be severe if you should do such evil as constitutes a disruption and disturbance? At the least, you will be pruned, and if what you have done is serious, God will spurn you, and you will be expelled from the church. However, if you have a heart of submission to God, and your heart can often be quiet before God, and if you fear and are terrified of God, will you not then be able to stay far clear of many evil things? If you fear God and say, “I am terrified of God; I’m afraid of offending Him, of disrupting His work and courting His loathing,” is this not a normal attitude and a normal state for you to have? What is it that will have given rise to your terror? Your terror will have arisen from a God-fearing heart. If you have the terror of God at heart, then you will shun and avoid evil things when you see them, and thus you will be protected. Can someone without terror of God at heart fear Him? Can they shun evil? (No.) Are they who cannot fear God and are not terrified of Him not bold people? Can bold people be restrained? (No.) And do those who cannot be restrained not do whatever occurs to them in the heat of the moment? What are the things people do when they act by their own will, by their zeal, by their corrupt disposition? As God sees them, they are evil things. So, you must see clearly that it is a good thing for man to have terror of God at heart—with it, one can come to fear God. When one has God in their heart and can fear God, they will then be able to stay far clear of evil things. Such people are they who have a hope of being saved.
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