Fellowship From the Brother Above – January 21, 2025 (Part Seven)

The first step in pursuing the truth is to reflect on and know oneself through the truths one understands. The truth in knowing oneself is deep. Let’s fellowship on what it means to know oneself. In people’s notions and imaginings, knowing oneself means to take out the wrong things one has done, the sins one has committed, or the things one has done to resist God, reflect on and know them, and pray to God to confess and repent. They think that this is knowing oneself. Is this view correct? (No.) The way they view knowing oneself is too simple. What does truly knowing oneself refer to? It is to know the corrupt dispositions within oneself, not just the facts of your sinning or the wrong things you have done, but your corrupt dispositions. Then what governs people’s behaviors? (Their corrupt dispositions.) People’s hearts are filled with corrupt dispositions, and when they encounter things, how they choose to act, and when they encounter different kinds of people, how they choose to treat them, are all decided by their hearts. Then what are the decisions made by people’s hearts and the things they do based on? They are based on the views and erroneous practices and choices produced by the corrupt dispositions within them. Therefore, corrupt dispositions are the root of man’s sinning, and the root of man’s evildoing and resisting God. If you come to have a thorough and accurate knowledge of your corrupt dispositions, you then pray to God again and will say, “Oh God, I have come to know my corrupt dispositions, and I have come to know what my nature essence is. Oh God, it is true that You have forgiven my sins, but my corrupt dispositions have not yet been resolved. Even if I confess my sins, what good will it do? Won’t I still sin afterward? Won’t I still do evil and resist You? If this sinful nature is not cast off, I have not been saved, and I cannot achieve sanctification.” If you have seen through to this matter, you have made progress and have gained some true understanding. Tell me, can relying only on the words of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace resolve man’s corrupt dispositions? (No.) In the Age of Grace, whether it is the words of the Lord Jesus or the words of the apostles, even if you engrave them in your heart and memorize them inside and out, can this resolve your corrupt dispositions? (No.) It cannot. Then why is it that by believing in the Lord, one can only know what sins they have committed, but not resolve their corrupt dispositions? This requires knowing God’s work. The work done by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was the work of redemption, and the result achieved was only to forgive people’s sins, so that they would be qualified to pray to God and enjoy God’s grace and blessings. But people’s corrupt dispositions had not yet been cast off, and they have continued to sin and resist God as before. This is a fact that no one can deny. Then after the work of redemption, what work will God do to resolve man’s corrupt dispositions? There were prophecies about this in the Age of Grace. At that time, the disciples always asked the Lord Jesus, “Lord, when will You come again? When will You establish Your kingdom on earth, so that we may enter Your kingdom? When You come again, how can we receive blessings and enter the kingdom of heaven?” The Lord Jesus told them: “Rest assured, I will come again,” and He also said: “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” (John 16:12–13). This means that in the future, when the God of truth comes, that is, when the God who expresses the truth comes, He will lead you into all truths, your hopes will be realized, and your dream of receiving blessings and entering the kingdom of heaven will be realized. If you cannot welcome the coming of the God of truth, it is equivalent to being abandoned by the Lord, and you will gain nothing. No matter how many years you have believed in the Lord, how much you have suffered, or how much you have toiled, it will all have been in vain, like drawing water with a wicker basket. Because you cannot welcome the Lord, you are a foolish virgin, and a foolish virgin can only fall into darkness and wail and gnash their teeth. Do you now understand what the Lord Jesus was referring to when He said: “when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth”? It refers to the work of Almighty God. In the last days, Almighty God has expressed words that judge and expose man, and He has pointed out the practical path by which man can be cleansed and saved. These words are all the truths that God will lead man to enter. If these truths expressed by Almighty God had been expressed in advance in the Age of Grace, could the people of that time have comprehended them? (No.) If you do not believe it, take Volumes 1 to 7 of The Word Appears in the Flesh to a church of the religious world and say, “The God who expresses the truth has come and He has expressed so many words. I will read them to you, and you can listen to see if they are the truth.” What would the consequence of doing this be? (Some people will not understand these words, and they won’t be able to comprehend them.) Not only will they not be able to comprehend them, but they will also condemn them, and they will also seize you and send you to a judge to be sentenced, and they will condemn you for blaspheming, saying that the way you are preaching is false and misleading. If you were to enter a church of the religious world with these seven volumes, you would probably not be able to get out. You might be seized and beaten by a crowd, and everyone would kick you and punch you. Tell me, would such things happen to you? (They would.) Therefore, in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus said: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” If the Lord Jesus had gone to the churches and said: “I am now beginning to formally judge you, and I characterize your nature as satanic,” then He would have been driven out. Do you believe this? (Yes.) Therefore, if the words of the truth are spoken too plainly, corrupt mankind cannot accept them. Just as now, it may have only been two or three years since you came to accept Almighty God, so if I prune you too severely, expose your nature essence, and speak as if I were calling you names, you will not be able to accept it either. You will immediately deny it, saying, “This is not the true way. The man used by the Holy Spirit is too strict, too impolite. I’m not going to believe anymore! I still have to believe in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is full of mercy and lovingkindness for man.” Could this happen? (Yes.) I am strict in my pruning of some Chinese brothers and sisters, and they can comprehend it correctly. They know that the words of exposure I speak are in line with the facts and that I am not calling them names. Chinese people have this kind of submission, but most of God’s chosen people from other countries have only believed in God for a short time and have not been pruned much, so they do not necessarily have this kind of submission. What problem exists here? There are many who believe in God but do not know how to pursue the truth. They are always scrutinizing the incarnate God. When they see the family background of the incarnate God, they have doubt in their hearts as to whether He is the true God. When they see that the incarnate God has normal humanity and speaks in an ordinary, normal way, they again doubt whether He is the true God. If, after scrutinizing these aspects, a person has no more doubts, only then can they pursue the truth with peace of mind. If they have a little doubt, they have to scrutinize it thoroughly before pursuing the truth. Is this way of believing in God correct? (No.)

Let’s look at how Judaism treated the Lord Jesus. What was the main basis for Judaism’s refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah? (The words and work of the Lord Jesus went beyond the Bible, and they felt that this violated the law.) That is one reason. There is another, truly crucial point, which is that they believed that if God truly came, He would be called “Messiah,” and if He was not called “Messiah” but “Jesus,” then He was not God. In addition, the Lord Jesus looked like an ordinary person, so they believed that He could not be God. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees did not base their recognition of the Lord Jesus as the Messiah on the fact that He could express the truth, but rather on His family, His status, His appearance, and His name, and on these bases, they determined that He was not the Messiah. Tell me, is it not absurd that they characterized the Lord Jesus as not being the Messiah based on these external matters? (It was.) This is absurd. There was another inconceivable thing in the time of the Lord Jesus, which was that the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Who could believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit? No one could, because it violated the laws of science. So they doubted and said, “This is impossible! How did Mary give birth to Jesus? With whom did she conceive this child?” To put it bluntly, they suspected that Jesus was an illegitimate child. Was this not the case? (It was.) So they absolutely refused to accept the Lord Jesus, and they even wanted to nail Him to the cross. Tell me, is mankind not wicked? At that time, the entire Jewish religion judged whether Jesus was God based on external matters. They looked into His family, His appearance, His status, His knowledge, and His name, and after looking into these things, they came to the judgment that Jesus could not be the Messiah, and so they denied the Lord Jesus. Not a single person said, “We will not judge by external matters. The words He speaks have authority and power, and no human could express these words. These are the words of God, and based on this one condition, we determine that He is the Messiah.” Not a single person would listen to God’s voice in this way. The Lord Jesus said that God’s sheep hear God’s voice. Those people were not God’s sheep, so they did not listen to God’s voice. No matter how God expressed the truth, they did not acknowledge it. Only God’s sheep can hear God’s voice. Today, those who accept Almighty God also do so because of Almighty God’s words, not based on Almighty God’s family background, nor on the country He was born in. They do not accept Him based on these things, and instead they determine that He is the Messiah returned, the Lord Jesus returned based on these words of Almighty God. Therefore, God’s words are the only standard for determining God’s appearance and work. Base your determination on whether the words He speaks are the truth, and nothing else. To base it on anything else is wrong. Is it correct to comprehend this matter in this way? (It is.) The people of the religious world always say, “We must determine whether He is God based on the Bible. If His name is not recorded in the Bible, we will not believe in Him.” Is this view correct? (No.) The religious world determines whether it is God’s appearance and work entirely based on the Bible. How is this the same as the view of Judaism when the Lord Jesus came to work? Judaism judged the Lord Jesus based on the Old Testament, and after carrying out this judgment, they characterized the Lord Jesus as not being the Messiah, and they even nailed Him to the cross. Today, Christianity, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy also judge Almighty God based on the Bible, and after weighing up the matter this and that way, they have characterized Almighty God as not being the Lord Jesus returned, and they have begun to condemn, resist, and refuse to accept Him, and even spread the baseless rumors of the CCP. The religious world of today is exactly the same as Judaism back in Jesus’ time. Does Judaism show any sign of repentance? I have not seen any. For the people of Judaism, religious notions are deeply rooted in their hearts, and no one can shake them. Then what do you think the outcome of Judaism will be? (Destruction.) One of the administrative decrees that God has promulgated to the entire universe is: “All who worship Satan will fall down amid My burning fire—that is, except for those now within the stream, all will be turned to ashes” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 26). Except for those in this stream, all will die. In this stream, there are those who accept early and those who accept late. In another year or two, more people will accept. Those who accept will survive, and those who do not will die when God sends down the great catastrophes, and they will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Therefore, what is the key to believing in God? It is to believe in the truth. If you believe in the Bible and abide by the Bible, you will be prone to making mistakes, and highly prone to resisting God. Is this correct? (It is.) Judaism made this mistake, and they resisted God and were cursed. Now Christianity, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy have made this same mistake, repeating the mistake of Judaism, and they have also walked the path of resisting God. Is this not asking for trouble? Are they not seeking their own destruction? Resisting God and condemning God—is this not bringing about one’s own destruction? (It is.)

To pursue the truth is to base everything on the truth, on God’s words, to know God according to the truth, to know one’s own corrupt disposition according to the truth, to resolve one’s own corrupt disposition according to the truth, and finally, to enter into the truth reality according to the truth and achieve compatibility with God. This is what it means to be saved. Some people say, “We have only believed for a year or two. If the great catastrophes are about to descend, we will not have time to experience God’s words and work, and we will not be able to know God. In the end, will we live or die?” You cannot see through this problem, can you? What do the prophecies of the Lord Jesus in the Bible say? Some people work for seven hours, and some work for one hour, and they each receive one piece of silver. What is meant by this? Those who worked for a long time were jealous and said, “He only worked for one hour, so why did you give him the same amount of silver as us?” What did the Lord Jesus say to this? “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15). God does not look at how long a person has believed in Him. God treats people fairly. Therefore, in the disasters, regardless of how long it has been since a person accepted Almighty God, as long as they sincerely believe in Almighty God and can walk the path of pursuing the truth, no matter how much of their corrupt disposition has been resolved or how many testimonies they can bear for God, in the end, they can survive. However, the more truths you gain, the greater your reward will be. This reward is not a material benefit. Then what kind of reward is it? It is that the amount of work a person undertakes is decided by how many truths they have gained. If you have gained only a few truths, your stature will be small, and the work you undertake will also be small. Those with great stature will undertake great work. The Lord Jesus prophesied in the Bible that in the Age of the Millennial Kingdom, some would rule over ten cities, some over five, and some over one. This is the difference in rewards, and such a matter is decided by how many truths you have gained, is it not? (It is.) Some will be priests, some will be the people, and some will be loyal laborers. At that time, all people will be sorted according to their kind. Is that not so? (It is.) Then what about those who pursue the truth and achieve knowledge of God and can testify to God? What is God’s promise to these people who love Him? (God says: “Those who love God can walk freely throughout the world, and those who testify of God can travel across the universe. These people are beloved by God, they are blessed by God, and they will forever live within His light” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Love God Will Forever Live Within His Light).) You see, among God’s chosen people, those who love God are the most blessed by God. Those who sincerely love God will travel across the universe. How do you explain “travel across the universe”? How many planets does the entire universe created by God include? No one can say for sure, for there are too many. Then on which planets is there human life, the life of created beings? We still cannot say for sure. We can simply say that to travel across the universe means that you can go wherever there is the life of a created being. How do you go? As a spiritual body. In the future, some of those who love God will be spiritual bodies. What is a spiritual body? We do not know specifically what it is like, but according to the records in the Bible, the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus could pass through walls. He would say He was leaving and then He would be gone, disappeared. He could even enter a room while the doors were closed and locked. This is a spiritual body, not limited by any matter or space. Therefore, the blessings that those who truly love God and can testify to God will receive are immeasurable and beyond human imagination. God’s blessings exceed what people ask for or imagine. We do not need to think about this matter now, and it is useless to try. In short, you just need to seek to love God. Loving God is the highest truth. When you know God to a certain degree, you can love God. The more deeply you love God, the more deeply you will undoubtedly know God. The degree to which you know God determines the degree to which you can love God. Loving God and knowing God go hand in hand. The extent to which you love God is reached through knowing Him. The more deeply you know God, the more deeply you will love Him. The more deeply you know God, the greater your love for God will be. One day, when a person knows God’s disposition to the point of being able to submit unto death, their love for God will have reached its peak. What does it mean for this to have reached its peak? It means to love God to the utmost, to submit to God unto death, that is, to submit unto death without any complaints. This is the highest peak. Some people say, “When a person knows God to a certain degree, can they achieve the same authority as God?” They can never achieve this. We have the lives of created beings. No matter how high your knowledge of God is or how many truths you understand, you will always be an infant before God. God is too great, too lofty, and what a created being of this caliber can achieve is truly limited, is it not? (It is.) Therefore, is there any limit to seeking to love and know God? (No.) Even if you seek for ten thousand years, for all eternity, there will be no limit! Those who pursue the truth will never be empty, and they will never have a sense of emptiness. People living in the flesh are always empty. No matter what material enjoyments they have, they are all empty. When you believe in God and can pursue the truth, you will no longer be empty, and you will never feel this emptiness again. You can live for ten thousand years, a hundred million years, and not be empty. How deep can the lesson of knowing God be? It is so deep that you will never be able to finish pursuing it. How can there be any emptiness? There is none. Therefore, seeking to love and know God is the most meaningful thing. Pursuing the truth is the most meaningful thing, for in this, there is no emptiness. Solomon enjoyed all the glory and wealth of the world, but in the end, he felt that the human world was all empty. He said: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Why did he say this? He did not gain the truth. A person without the truth will always feel empty, and no matter how much money they have, they will still be empty. No matter how great their power, they will be empty. No matter how many partners they find or how many children they have, it is all empty. You see, this is what the human world is like. Only pursuing the truth is the most meaningful. Seeking to love God is the most meaningful and it is the highest realm of pursuing the truth.