In order to satisfactorily perform one’s duty, the most important thing is to make a great effort for the truth. Only by grasping the truth principles can people act in accordance with these principles. In addition, people need to learn about various areas of expertise and specialized skills related to their duties, and it is essential to learn some simple and practical techniques. Some people have a bit of technical expertise, but they don’t know how to apply this to their duties. When they do things, their hearts are never clear on the matter. They don’t know which way of doing things is correct, complies with the truth principles, and can benefit others, or which way is incorrect and violates the principles. Their minds are in a confused state. To them, it seems that this way is correct, but other ways seem feasible too. They are never sure how to act appropriately and do not know how to practice so as to follow the correct path. What does this prove? (They don’t understand the truth.) These people do not understand the truth, and they are in a state of ambiguity concerning their inner state and their understanding and assessment standards for many things. When they are not engaged in something, they feel that they understand everything and that everything is easy for them. When they actually encounter a real-life situation, however, they don’t know what to make of it, how to deal with it, or the right way to proceed. Only then do they feel that they have nothing and understand nothing of the truth. The doctrines they discoursed on previously are useless. They have no choice but to seek from other people and discuss the situation with them. This is what happens when people who don’t understand the truth encounter a situation—they are at a loss, full of anxiety, feel that it’s wrong to do this and incorrect to do that, and cannot find the correct path. Only then do they see that, without the truth, it really is difficult to take a single step! What are such people most in need of at this time? Is it satanic philosophy and knowledge, or an understanding of the truth? The most crucial thing is to understand the truth. If you don’t understand the truth, even if you finish a job, you will feel uncertain about it. You will not know if you did it properly or what the result will be after the job is completed. You cannot measure these things. Why can’t you measure them? Why is your heart always full of uncertainty? It is because, when you do things, you are not sure if you do them in a way that really and truly accords with principles, if what you are practicing are principles, and whether or not your practice conforms with the truth. You cannot verify this. If you achieve some little result in performing your duty, you will feel that you are very capable and have gained some capital, becoming complacent. However, if there is no obvious result or it does not meet the standards of principles, you will immediately become negative and think, “When will God enlighten me? Why does God always enlighten others, while I receive no inspiration, no enlightenment, and no illumination?” Sometimes you may feel that you have done things with correct intentions and made a great deal of effort, so you hope that God will happily accept, approve, and affirm your effort. At the same time, however, you also fear that God will say you acted incorrectly and not approve of it. Does this not show a concern for gain and loss? When you see that you are small in stature, too rebellious and arrogant, and that you become complacent whenever you achieve the slightest thing, you will feel that you are too corrupt, you are a devil and Satan, and unworthy of God’s salvation. Then, after making some further small achievements, you will think that you are not so bad after all, that you have some ability and can achieve some results, and so you should be rewarded. Does this show a concern for gain and loss? What gives rise to this state of worrying about gain and loss? It is directly related to a lack of understanding of the truth. When people do not understand the truth, it produces many states and many manifestations. The main thing is that people often live in a state of concern about gain and loss. This is their normal state. Because you don’t understand the truth, you can’t measure your own capabilities; you don’t know what you can and cannot do. Because you don’t understand the truth, you don’t know what principles and standards to follow when performing your duty, or the result to aim for. You also don’t know what the goal and direction of life is. You don’t know why God is angry with you, why God approves of you, or why God is lenient with you—you don’t know any of these things. You don’t know where you should stand, and you can’t measure whether what you have done has fulfilled your duty as a created being and whether you have performed satisfactorily. Sometimes you do things timidly, and other times you are bold and frenzied. Your state is always unstable. How does a person’s state become unstable? Ultimately, this is related to a lack of understanding of the truth. When people don’t understand the truth, they handle things without principles. They are highly erratic when they do things, and unfailingly deviate in one way or another. When not doing anything, they seem to understand everything and they speak well on doctrine—but when something happens and they are asked to sort it out, to apply all of the truths they understand to real life, they have no path, they don’t know what principle to use, and they say to themselves, “I understand that I must perform my duty loyally, I must be honest, I must not have notions or misunderstandings about God, I must be submissive to God—but how should I actually handle this?” They keep thinking it over and trying to apply regulations, and end up with no idea of what regulations to apply. Do you think that someone who has to search through a book of God’s words when something happens to them is someone who understands the truth? This is not truly understanding the truth. Such people merely understand a few doctrines, but have not yet grasped the reality of these truths. This shows that what they usually say, and what they believe they understand, are nothing but doctrines. If you understand the truth, if you possess the truth reality, then when something happens to you, you will know how to act in accordance with God’s intentions, and how to act within the bounds of principle. If all you understand is doctrine—and not the truth—then when something really does happen to you, if you rely on doctrine and follow regulations, you will have no way through. You won’t be able to find the principle and won’t be able to find a path to practice. Which is to say, it might seem as if you understand an aspect of the truth, as if you understand the meaning of those words of the truth, and as if you understand a little of God’s intentions and what God asks—as if you know all of this—but when something happens to you, you are unable to put the truth into practice, you blindly apply regulations and make a mess of things. Is this not shameful? When something happens to people who truly understand the truth, they are able to find the principles to practice, they have a path of practice, and can put the truth principles into practice. As for those people who can only spout words and doctrines, it seems as if they understand the truth, but when the time comes to act, they get all muddled up. This proves that people who spout words and doctrines absolutely do not understand the truth. People who spout words and doctrines are trying to mislead others, they are deceivers. They are deceiving both themselves and others—which means they are harming themselves as well as others!

Is what you understand now more truths, or more doctrines? (More doctrines.) What is the cause of this? (It is the result of not pursuing the truth.) (A lack of effort to go and ponder the truth.) It has something to do with all of these things, but the reasons you gave are all subjective. There is also an objective reason, which is related to people’s caliber. Some people have listened to sermons for more than a decade but cannot distinguish truth from doctrine, nor can they discern the difference between following regulations and practicing the truth. They listen to sermons earnestly and work carefully to make discernments, but they just cannot tell the difference. They feel that the fellowships everyone does are all about the same, that is, they are all pretty good, and they are all quite practical. After listening to them, they can’t tell what is doctrine and what is truth. Is this a problem of caliber? (Yes.) Can your caliber rise to the level of the truth reality? Every time leaders and workers fellowship at gatherings or associate and interact with you at other times, can you tell how much of what they say is the truth reality and how much is doctrine? (Yes.) If you can tell, it proves that you have some discernment, and you are not completely incapable of discernment. If you can tell the difference, it proves that your caliber is not bad. People’s calibers are divided into several grades: poor, average, good, and exceptionally good. These are essentially the four grades. Those with even worse than poor caliber cannot grasp the truth; they have no caliber at all. They can’t understand anything they hear and do not act with thought, logic, or principles in anything they do. In their heads, it is all a tangled mess. They are muddled people, what we might colloquially call brutes. If their caliber is extremely poor, they are intellectually disabled. They lack the reason of normal people. These are people we might call stupid, half-crazy, or half-baked.

People with extremely poor caliber are intellectually disabled—we needn’t discuss them any further. Let’s talk about how poor caliber shows itself. Some people have believed in God for many years but still don’t understand the truth. They can’t even perform the basic duty of spreading the gospel, they can’t fellowship on the truth, and they can’t give testimony. These are manifestations of poor caliber. What are other manifestations of poor caliber? After listening to sermons for many years, people with poor caliber feel that all of them are the same—they are all about the same things. They can’t clearly differentiate between the details of various truths, let alone tell the difference between truth and doctrine. They can’t even speak the simplest words and doctrines, let alone understand the truth. Do such people have the worst caliber of all? For such people, no matter how they listen to sermons or how many years they have listened to sermons, they cannot make sense of them, and they don’t understand what the truth is or what it means to know oneself. No matter how long they have believed in God or how many sermons they have listened to, in the end, they still cannot practice the truth. They can only follow a few regulations and remember a few things they consider important—anything more, and they can’t remember it. Why is this? Because their caliber is poor, they can’t rise to the truth, and can’t comprehend too many things. At the very most, they can understand some superficial doctrines. This is the furthest they can go. Such people are often quite arrogant and talk themselves up. Some people will say, “I believed in the Lord when I was still in my mother’s womb. I became holy a long time ago, and have long been baptized and cleansed.” Some of them have accepted God’s new work for three, five, or even ten years, yet they still repeat the same thing. Isn’t this a sign of poor caliber? Some people say, “You say I don’t know myself—you’re the ones who don’t know yourselves. I became holy long ago.” People who say this are those most lacking in spiritual understanding, those with the worst caliber. Can you still fellowship on the truth with such people? You cannot. No matter how much you talk, they will not understand what the truth is, what it is to practice the truth, what it is to submit to God, what life entry is, and what it is to change one’s disposition. They can’t understand these things or reach this level. In their belief in God, they are attentive to following some regulations, such as withdrawing from worldly affairs, renouncing the world, having no dealings with devils, not doing evil, committing fewer sins, holding fast to God’s name, not betraying God, and praying and relying on God in all things—just these matters. They basically remain confined to the formalities of religious belief. After hearing so many of God’s words and sermons on the truth, they don’t understand what they hear. The more they listen, the more confused they feel, so they don’t take any of it in. If you ask them what God asks of people in this stage of work, they can’t tell you. They can only say a few simple things about doctrines. This means that their caliber is extremely poor and they cannot understand God’s words.

What are the manifestations of people with average caliber? The main manifestation is that they do not have the ability to comprehend God’s words. After listening to sermons, they only understand some words and doctrines, but they cannot discover any new light. When things befall them, they still cannot handle them, nor can they practice the truth. They can only spout some empty doctrines and follow regulations. When listening to sermons, they seem to understand, but when things befall them, they will still follow regulations and act according to their own will. And they always upbraid others by spouting words and doctrines. After believing in God for many years, they understand many doctrines, and when fellowshipping with others, they can talk a bit more about their knowledge. They can express their meaning in a complete and concrete way and can have normal conversations with people. However, they still don’t understand what the truth is or what reality is. They think that the doctrines they talk about are the truth reality, and cannot make out what other people say about their experiences involving the truth reality, their own understanding, or paths of practice. These people of average caliber feel that there is no difference between truth and doctrine. No matter how many sermons they listen to, they cannot make out the truths they should practice and the truths they must possess in order to be saved. They also do not know to understand themselves, and do not know what truths they should practice to cast off their corrupt dispositions. In their real lives, they can only follow regulations, follow religious rituals, persistently attend gatherings, persistently preach doctrines to others, and persistently exert some effort to perform their duties. However, for the truths that involve changes in disposition, knowledge of their own corrupt disposition, or life entry, they do not enter into or go deeper into them. This is what it means to possess average caliber. People of average caliber can only reach this level. There are people who have believed in God for 20 or 30 years and still only talk about doctrines. Have you ever come into contact with people who have believed in God for more than a decade, yet all they do is spout doctrines? (Yes.) People of this sort have average caliber.

What are the manifestations of people with good caliber? No matter how long they have believed in God, after listening to a sermon, they will be able to tell that it is different from what the Bible says and that it is completely different from what is taught in religion. They can tell that it goes deeper, is more detailed, and is absolutely practical. Therefore, after they accept God’s new work, they start to focus on practicing the truth and entering into reality. In their real lives, they train themselves in how to practice and experience God’s words. For example, God says, “You must be honest people.” In the very beginning, these people only observe this as a regulation, and speak whatever’s on their minds. Gradually, in the process of listening to sermons and in their real experience, they continuously summarize what they have learned and, in the end, they experience and understand what the truth of being an honest person really is and what life really is. They have the ability to apply the words spoken by God and the truths they understand from listening to sermons to their real lives and make them their own reality. With real experience, their life experience gradually deepens. When these people listen to sermons or read God’s words, they can comprehend the truth they contain. What is meant by truth here? It is not an empty doctrine, not a turn of phrase, not a theory about a certain thing. Rather, it involves the difficulties encountered in real life and the various corrupt states one reveals. People with good caliber can identify these states and hold them up for comparison against what God says and exposes. Then, they will know how to practice according to God’s words. This is what is meant by good caliber. Where is good caliber mainly reflected? The ability to understand what is being said in sermons, comprehend the relationship between these words and one’s real state, comprehend what effect these words will have on oneself, and link these words to oneself—this is good caliber. In addition to being able to understand these words and link these words to themselves, people with good caliber can also grasp the principles of practice in real life and apply these principles to every difficulty or situation they encounter in their real lives. This is what it means to have insight. Only those who have such insight truly possess good caliber.

When people of average caliber reveal some of their corrupt disposition, they can’t clearly discern their own state or the essence of the problem. They only judge them by matching them up against the doctrines they understand. They cannot see through to the essence of the problem or recognize the root of this essence and the aspect that involves the truth. When faced with some situation, after being pruned, after dissecting it and analyzing it, they gain a deep impression and some understanding of the situation itself. However, when faced with a different state or circumstance, they once again will not understand it, will not know what to do, and will not find the principles to follow. This is what having average caliber means. As for those with good caliber, why do we say they have good caliber? When faced with a situation, people with good caliber may not immediately have a path of practice, but they can find a path by listening to sermons or seeking God’s words. Then, they will know how to approach the situation. Will they know what to do the next time they encounter a similar situation? (Yes.) Why is that? (They don’t just follow regulations. They can ponder a situation to find a path, and then apply what they have learned to similar situations.) Correct, they’ve found the principle and they understand this aspect of truth. Once they understand the truth, then they know the states, revelations, and corrupt dispositions of people to which this aspect of the truth refers, as well as the matters, the circumstances they encounter in their lives, and so on, that it involves. They are clear on the principles of doing such things, and when they encounter similar things in the future, they know how to practice according to the truth principles. This is what it is to genuinely understand the truth. Therefore, because some people can understand the truth, because they have the caliber to understand the truth, they are able to become team leaders or church leaders. However, some others can only understand at the level of doctrine, so they cannot be team leaders because they are unable to grasp the principles or handle oversight. Asking you to serve as a team leader is asking you to assume leadership and handle oversight. What must you use to handle oversight? Not doctrine, slogans, knowledge, or notions. It is asking you to use the truth principles to handle oversight. This is the most basic and the highest principle by which anything is done in God’s house. If your caliber is average or poor and you can’t understand the truth, how can you handle oversight? How can you bear this responsibility? You are not up to this job, this duty. Some people are selected as team leaders, but they don’t understand the truth and can’t accomplish anything at all. They are not worthy to be called team leaders and should be replaced. Some people are selected as team leaders and, because they can understand something of the truth principles, they can take charge of the work and solve some practical problems. This is what makes someone qualified for the work and suitable to be a team leader. Some people cannot shoulder the work or perform their duties well. What is the main reason for this? For a minority of such people, it is because they are of poor humanity. For the majority, however, the reason is their low caliber. This is the cause of their not being able to do their jobs or perform their duties well. Whether it is comprehending the truth or learning a profession or specialized skill, people of good caliber are able to grasp the principles they contain, to get to the root of things, and to identify their reality and essence. In this way, in everything they do, every job they are engaged in, they make the right judgments and determine the correct standards and principles. This is what good caliber is. People of good caliber are able to handle oversight of the various work of the house of God. Those of average or poor caliber are incapable of such work. This is by no means a case of the house of God favoring or looking down on some people, or treating people differently—it is just that many people cannot handle oversight because of their caliber. Why can’t they handle oversight? What is the root cause? It is that they do not understand the truth. And why don’t they understand the truth? It is because their caliber is average, or even very poor. This is why the truth is beyond them and they are unable to understand the truth when they hear it. Some people may not understand the truth because they do not listen attentively, or it could be that they are young and have as yet no conception of faith in God, and it is of no great interest to them. However, these are not the main reason. The main reason is that their caliber is insufficient. For people of inferior caliber, no matter what their duty is or how long they have been doing the work, no matter how many sermons they hear or how you fellowship on the truth with them, they still cannot get their head around it. They drag out the performance of their duty, make a complete mess of things, and achieve nothing. For some people who serve as team leaders and handle oversight of some of the work, when they first assume responsibility for the work, they do not grasp the principles. After several failures, they come to understand the truth and grasp the principles by seeking and asking questions. Then, based on these principles, they can handle oversight and shoulder the work on their own. This is what it means to have caliber. For other people, you can tell them all the principles and even describe in detail how to implement them, and they will seem to understand what you tell them, but they still can’t grasp the principles when they do things. Instead, they rely on their own ideas and imaginings, even believing this to be right. However, they cannot clearly say and don’t actually know whether they do things in accordance with the principles. If the Above asks them questions, they become flustered and do not know what to say. They only feel assured when the Above handles oversight and provides guidance. This indicates their caliber is very poor. With such poor caliber, they cannot satisfy the requirements of God or live up to the truth principles, let alone perform their duties in a satisfactory manner.

Just a moment ago, I mentioned that there is another level above good caliber, which is very good caliber. After people with very good caliber come to believe in God, they read God’s words and, in their experience, gradually go through, feel, and understand what the various states mentioned in God’s words refer to. Even when they receive very little provision or help, they can find the path of practice in God’s words, set requirements for themselves according to the principles, directions, and standards as told by God’s words, and avoid deviations and distortions. They can understand the truth, and come to know themselves and know God, by eating and drinking God’s words themselves. This is the highest caliber, and such people have the greatest insight. Tell Me, are there people like this among humans? Maybe you cannot find people like this among the humans of today, but can you think about anyone like this in the Bible? (Yes, Job and Peter.) Job and Peter are both of this sort. They are among the human beings with the highest caliber. Leaving aside their humanity, character, and faith in God, in terms of caliber, they are the two people with the highest caliber. What is the basis for saying this? (Job never read God’s words, yet he came to know God, fearing God and shunning evil.) God never spoke to Job, so where did his experience and knowledge come from? Job made observations and discoveries in his life, then savored them carefully, which created certain impressions in his heart, and brought him some enlightenment and illumination. He comprehended the truths bit by bit, and after comprehending them, he practiced in accordance with his comprehension and his understanding of the truth, gradually coming to fear God and shun evil. “Fearing God and shunning evil” is what people should observe and practice. It is the highest way that people should follow. In the eyes of later generations, it seems that Job put this dictum into practice quite easily. You think that it was simple and easy because you do not know or have not experienced the practical side of these words. How did Job come by this dictum? He obtained it through his own practical experience. In people’s eyes, the words “fear God and shun evil” should serve as a motto; they should follow and practice it as a truth principle—this is correct. But Job didn’t focus on how to say it; he only focused on how to act. So how did he arrive at the principle he put into action? (Through the experience of his everyday life.) How was he able to follow this principle in his actions? (Through his experiences in life, he came to have knowledge of God.) He saw God’s deeds and the work God did on people in his normal life. Through these experiences, he developed fear of God, genuine faith in God, true admiration, and true submission and trust. This is how his fear of God was produced. He was not born knowing to fear God. Fear of God is the summary of his practices and behavior after he had believed in God and followed God for many years. We could say it was the essence of his behavior, knowledge, and principles of action. His demeanor, what he revealed, and how he behaved before God, as well as his deepest intentions and principles of action—the essence of all these manifestations was that he feared God. This is how God defined him. Job was able to do these things, but it was not because God said a lot of words to him or supplied him with a great deal of truth, after which he gradually achieved fear of God through his own comprehension. In that age, God did not say any clear words to him. What Job could see was, at most, God’s messengers; and what he could hear at most were the legends or stories about God passed down from his ancestors. This was all he could know. However, relying only on this information, Job gradually learned more things and more practical things from living his life. Gradually, his faith in God grew stronger and stronger, and true fear of God was also produced in him. After these two things were produced in him, Job’s true stature and his true caliber became apparent. What can we see from Job? We can see that there are many truths—truths related to God’s intentions, knowing God, God’s requirements for humankind, and humankind’s salvation—which people can actually come to comprehend bit by bit in their everyday lives, as long as they possess normal human thinking and caliber. Job is an example of this. He was able to comprehend some practical things. What did he comprehend? His highest motto, which was confirmed when he experienced his trials; this was also his highest understanding. What is this motto, this highest understanding? (“Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21).) Within the present human race, in terms of this issue, is there anyone with the same true understanding as Job? Is there anyone who can attain the understanding of Job? (No.) What people understand now is only a doctrine. These words arose out of Job’s experience. Later generations can say these words, but they don’t have an understanding of them in their hearts. Job didn’t have this understanding at first either, but these words came from him and arose out of his firsthand experience. Job had this reality. No matter how much later generations have parroted and imitated Job, they only understand a doctrine. Why do I say that it is only a doctrine? First, it’s because people can’t put it into practice. Second, people simply don’t have the experiences Job had, and don’t have the knowledge gained from these experiences, so their knowledge is empty. No matter how much you say it or how loudly you shout—“Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah. I willingly submit to all of God’s orchestrations and arrangements”—when things befall you in life, can you acknowledge in your heart that it is the work of God? If God deprives and destroys, can you still bless the name of God in your heart? This is difficult for you. Why is it so hard for you to do this? It is because you don’t know God’s original intention in doing this, and you also do not recognize His sovereignty. You can’t understand these two things. You cannot apprehend God’s intentions, nor can you understand the position that a created being should hold, the submission a created being should have, or the actions a created being should take. You cannot do any of this. Thus, when you recite the words of Job, they imperceptibly become empty, nothing more than ornamental and stylish words. Therefore, although you and Job both spoke the same words, Job’s understanding and comprehension of these words in his heart was different from yours, and he spoke these words within a different emotional context than you. These are two completely different states of mind. Job didn’t ordinarily say these words. Rather, when God deprived him of everything, he prostrated himself on the ground and praised God’s deeds. You, however, often preach these words, but how would you behave in the face of God’s deprivation? Would you be able to kneel down and pray? You would not be able to submit. Even if externally you say, “I should submit. This was done by God, and we humans have no ability and can’t resist, so I will let things play out,” is this true submission? Leaving aside the nature of your negative, rebellious, and resistant emotions, is there any difference between your attitude and that of Job? (Yes.) There is an immense difference. This is the difference between having and not having the truth reality. This is the obvious difference between things that one has experienced and comprehended becoming the natural revelation of one’s life, and merely understanding doctrines without having reality. When not confronted by anything, people will preach Job’s words, but when things happen to them, many people cannot say Job’s words. This shows that they only understand doctrines. These words have not become their life and do not guide their thoughts and attitude when things happen to them. However, when things befall people who have these words as their life, it is clear to see that these words are not only a motto they preach in everyday life, but also their true attitude toward people, events, and things. Even more, it is their true attitude toward God. These words are the embodiment of their lives, not just some slogan they shout. This highlights the difference between understanding the truth and not understanding the truth.

Now let us consider Peter. Why do we say that Peter is of good caliber? It is because Peter could comprehend the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus and understand the words of the Lord Jesus. The era in which Peter lived was the Age of Grace. The way of redemption taught by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was higher than the way in the Age of Law. It involved some basic truths about man’s life entry, and also some initial truths about changing human disposition. For example, it involved submitting to God, submitting to God’s sovereignty and orchestrations, as well as how people should respond when they reveal some of their corrupt dispositions. Although these matters were not discussed in an extensive and systematic manner, they were mentioned. Of course, they were discussed much more than in Job’s time, but significantly less than today. Although there are no words recorded in the Bible about such aspects of the truth as changing human disposition, the attitude of humans toward God, the essence of the corruption deep in people’s hearts, or the revelation of one’s corrupt disposition, the Lord Jesus definitely spoke on these things to some extent. It is just that people could not rise to this level, and so these words were not recorded. For instance, the Lord Jesus said this to Peter: “Truly I say to you, That this night, before the cock crow, you shall deny Me thrice” (Matthew 26:34). To this, Peter responded: “Though I should die with You, yet will I not deny You” (Matthew 26:35). What kind of words are these? (They are words of arrogance that indicate a lack of self-knowledge.) They are arrogant words spoken by someone who does not know himself. So this has to do with knowing oneself. What did Peter realize after the rooster crowed? (That he spoke boastfully of himself.) When he realized this, did he feel something in his heart? (Yes.) After this happened, what was his first reaction? (Remorse, his heart was full of guilt.) His first reaction was guilt and remorse. He said, “What the Lord said was true. What I said about loving the Lord was just a wish, an ideal, and a sort of slogan. I don’t possess such stature.” Faced with the circumstance of the Lord Jesus’ arrest, Peter was cowardly and afraid. Someone asked him, “Is that your Lord? Don’t you know Him?” And what was Peter thinking to himself then? “Yes, I know Him, but if I admit it, they’ll arrest me too.” Because of his cowardice and fear of suffering, and because he was afraid to be arrested with the Lord Jesus, he did not admit to knowing Him. His timidity won out over his faith. Was his faith genuine or false, then? (False.) At this time, he realized that when he earlier said “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both into prison, and to death,” these words were wishful thinking. They were not his genuine faith, but just empty words, a slogan, and doctrine. He possessed no true stature. When did he realize that he had no true stature? (When the facts were revealed.) It was only when confronted with the facts and when he felt guilty and remorseful that he realized, “As it turns out, my faith and stature are very small, just as the Lord said. What the Lord said was correct. What I said to the Lord was only boastfulness. That was not genuine faith, but a momentary impulse. When confronted with something, I was cowardly, unwilling to suffer, had my own selfish ideas, made my own choices, did not submit, and did not have a heart that truly loved the Lord. Such was the meagerness of my faith, such was the size of my stature.” His remorse made these thoughts arise in him, didn’t it? His remorse shows that he already had knowledge of himself and an accurate measure of his stature, state, and faith. The New Testament only records that Peter denied the Lord three times, but it does not record Peter’s experiential testimony of how he was remorseful, turned himself around, and changed. In fact, Peter wrote letters about this, but the editors of the Bible did not choose to include them. This is an obvious problem, which shows that the leaders of the church at that time all paid attention to how to preach and testify, but none of them understood life experience. They all focused on how those apostles preached and worked, and how they suffered, not knowing that the most crucial thing is people’s life entry, as well as people’s understanding of the truth and knowledge of God. Those who edited the Bible recorded what happened to Peter in overly simplified and general terms, but they recorded the events of Paul’s life in particular detail and volume. This shows that these people were biased. They didn’t understand what the truth was, nor what it meant to bear witness for God. They worshiped Paul, so they chose more of Paul’s letters, while only selecting a few of Peter’s. By editing the Bible in this way, they committed an error of principle, which caused those who believed in the Lord to worship and imitate Paul for two thousand years. This led the entire religious world to go down the path of resisting God, becoming a religious kingdom under the control of antichrists. They ignored the excellent testimony of Peter, only recording two of Peter’s letters—the first and second epistles of Peter. But as to how Peter actually experienced what happened to him, how God enlightened him, what Jesus said when He appeared to him, how Peter accepted God’s judgment, chastisement, pruning, trials, and refinements, how he was finally willingly crucified upside down, how Peter got to this point, how he achieved such a change in his life disposition, and how he attained such faith and submission—there is no record of this process of experience. This is not how it should be at all. It’s such a pity that these most valuable things were not recorded!

From Peter’s three denials of the Lord as recorded in the four Gospels to Peter’s ultimate upside-down crucifixion for God, what do people see when they put these two events together? Peter went from denying the Lord three times to finally being crucified upside down for God. Wasn’t there a difficult process here, a process worthy of exploration? What was this process? (The process of man’s life entry and change in disposition.) That’s right, the change in human disposition is a life journey of being able to forsake and expend oneself for God and willingly submit to all of God’s orchestrations. Life experience is exactly this process. It is absolutely not a dramatization. From the very beginning when Peter dared not admit that he was a follower of the Lord Jesus, to the end when he had courage and faith, willing to be crucified upside down for God, and rose to this level. What a process of transformation he underwent in his faith, his disposition, and his submission! There was certainly a process of growth. Modern people don’t need to know exactly what sort of growth process this was because the words spoken today are the truths that those who experience God’s work must understand. Today, God has already made these things clear to people and supplied them with these truths. So what was Peter’s experience like? After the Lord Jesus left, no one told him in clear terms what he should experience so as to achieve submission to God. In that age when clear words from God were not available to him, he ultimately achieved a stature and faith of willing submission without any complaints or personal choices. Tell Me, what truths did he gain in the end? And how did he gain them? It was through prayer, seeking, and then gradually experiencing and groping. Of course, during this time, Peter received God’s enlightenment and illumination, and God’s special grace and guidance. Apart from such things, he could only gain insight through his own efforts. During this process, Peter’s knowledge of himself, of God’s intentions, and of all aspects of truth that people should enter into gradually transitioned from murkiness to clarity, then to accuracy, and then to a practical and definite path of practice. This process stretched all the way to the end, when he was able to submit absolutely without any deviation. He dared to practice this way only after he obtained confirmation in his heart. Where did this confirmation come from? Through groping as well as through prayer and seeking. He allowed the Holy Spirit to act and allowed God to act. There was no hindrance or discipline. He had the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, peace, and joy, and at the same time possessed God’s support, blessing, and guidance. This is how he received confirmation. After receiving confirmation, he continued to boldly go forward to seek, grope, and practice. After going through such a complicated process, Peter gradually came to a precise understanding of the aspects of human nature, self-knowledge, and disposition, as well as the various states that man’s corrupt disposition produces in various environments. After grasping this, he set to work on these things to seek the corresponding paths of practice. In the end, he resolved each of the states that resulted from various corrupt dispositions in different environments. How did he solve them? He solved them bit by bit by using the truths and principles enlightened by God. Of course, he experienced many trials and refinements during this time. To what extent did God test and refine him? In the end, he grasped God’s intention and understood that God wants people to learn the lesson of submission. So then, to what extent did God work on Peter to make him realize that people should practice submission? We previously mentioned something Peter said. Do you remember what it was? (“If God treated me like a toy, how could I not be ready and willing?”) That’s right, that’s the one. In the process of experiencing and undergoing God’s work or guidance, Peter unconsciously developed this feeling: “Doesn’t God treat people like toys?” But this is certainly not what motivates God’s actions. People rely on their human perspective, thinking, and knowledge to assess this matter and feel that God casually plays with people as if they were toys. One day He says to do this, and tomorrow He tells them to do that. Unconsciously, you start to feel, “Oh, God has said so many things. What is He even trying to do?” People feel confused and a little overwhelmed. They don’t know what choices to make. God used this method to test Peter. What was the final result of this test? (Peter achieved submission unto death.) He achieved submission. This was the result that God wanted, and God saw it. What words that Peter spoke show us that he had become submissive and grown in stature? What did Peter say? How did Peter accept and view all that God had done and God’s attitude of treating man as a toy? What was Peter’s attitude? (He said: “How could I not be ready and willing?”) Yes, that was Peter’s attitude. Those were his exact words. People who have no experience of God’s trials and refinements would never say these words because they don’t understand the narrative of the story here and have never experienced it. As they have not experienced it, they definitely are not clear on this matter. If they are not clear on this matter, how could they say this so casually? These words are something a human could never think up. Peter was able to say this because he had experienced so many trials and refinements. God deprived him of many things, but also gave much to him at the same time. After giving, He took away once again. After taking things from him, God made Peter learn to submit and then gave to him once more. From man’s point of view, many of the things God does seem capricious, which gives people the illusion that God treats people as toys, does not respect people, and does not treat people as human beings. People think that they live without dignity, like toys; they think that God does not give them the right to make free choices, and that God can say whatever He wants. When He gives something to you, He says, “You deserve this reward for what you have done. This is the blessing of God.” When He takes things away, He just has something else to say. In this process, what should people do? It is not for you to judge God as being right or wrong, it is not for you to identify the nature of God’s actions, and it is certainly not for you to give your life greater dignity in this process. This is not the choice you should make. This role is not yours. So what is your role? Through experience, you should learn to understand God’s intentions. If you cannot understand God’s intentions and cannot meet God’s requirements, your only option is to submit. Under such circumstances, would it be easy for you to submit? (No.) It is not easy to submit. This is a lesson you should learn. If it were easy for you to submit, you wouldn’t need to learn lessons, you wouldn’t need to be pruned and undergo trials and refinements. It is because it is difficult for you to submit to God that He constantly tests you, willfully playing with you as if you were a toy. On the day it becomes easy for you to submit to God, when your submission to God comes without difficulty or hindrance, when you can submit willingly and joyfully, without your own choices, intentions, or preferences, then God will not treat you as a toy and you will do exactly as you should. If, one day, you say, “God treats me as a toy and I live without dignity. I don’t agree to this and I won’t submit,” that may be the day when God abandons you. What if your stature has reached the level where you say “Although God’s intentions are not easy to grasp and God always hides from me, everything God does is right. No matter what God does, I will willingly submit. Even if I cannot submit, I must still adopt this attitude and make no complaints or choices of my own. This is because I am a created being. My duty is to submit, and this is a clear obligation I cannot escape. God is the Creator, and whatever God does is right. I should not entertain any notions or imaginings about what God does. This is not proper for a created being. For what God has given me, I thank God. For what God did not give me or gave me and then took away, I also thank God. The actions of God are all beneficial to me; even if I cannot see the benefit, the thing I should do is still submit”? Aren’t these words to the same effect as those of Peter when he said “How could I not be ready and willing”? Only those who possess such stature truly understand the truth.