We need to use the proper organ to receive God’s salvation. On the one hand, receiving God’s salvation is like eating and drinking; we simply need to receive without being concerned whether our sins are small or big. On the other hand, we need to use the proper organ to receive.
In order to receive anything, we must use the proper organ. For example, we must use our ears to hear a message in a meeting; if we plug our ears, we will be unable to hear the words that are being spoken. We also need to use our eyes to see the different expressions of the brothers and sisters. If we close our eyes, we will not see anything. We drink with the mouth, not with our eyes; we listen with the ears, not with our eyes; and we hold the Bible with the hands, not with our nose. The proper organ must be used in order to receive.
The salvation that the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us cannot be separated from Him. When we receive His salvation, we do not merely receive what He has accomplished. In order to receive what He has accomplished for us, we must receive the Lord Himself. In other words, when we receive the Lord Jesus, we also receive what He has accomplished. The Lord Jesus is now the Spirit; God is Spirit, and we need to receive the Spirit with our spirit (John 4:24). It is not sufficient just to listen to a message about Him with our ears or to think about Him with our mind. We must use our spirit to contact and receive Him.
After rising up in the morning, many people like to go outdoors to breathe in some fresh air. We cannot use our hands to breathe in the morning air; we have to receive the air with our nose. The Lord Jesus is God, and He is Spirit. Like the air, He cannot be touched with our hands or seen with our eyes. We have to touch Him in spirit and in truthfulness. Our spirit, not our mind, is the proper organ. The more we try to receive Him by thinking about Him, the more we will be confused, and the more God will not seem real. We need to stop our outward activities and even our inward thoughts and contact the Lord Jesus from deep within, touching Him in spirit and in truthfulness. Then the Holy Spirit will work in us.
When we contact the Lord Jesus, He touches our spirit. When He touches our spirit, we are enlightened concerning our sins because He is holy and cannot tolerate sin. When He gives us a sense of our sins, we should respond by praying and confessing. When we come to the Lord Jesus, we do not have to consider what to pray; we simply need to speak to Him in response to the inward sense deep within us.
For example, the Lord may give a person the sense that he has offended his parents. He should respond and say, “O Lord Jesus, I have offended my parents.” If he also has a sense that he has offended his wife, he should say, “O Lord, I have also offended my wife.” We need to confess one thing after another to the Lord, according to His inward sense.
When someone draws near to the Lord, he may not have much feeling about his sins at first, but the Spirit of the Lord will work in him. From experience we know that the more we confess our sins, the more we sense our sins; and the more we confess our sins, the more sins we discover. When the Lord enlightens a person concerning his sins, he should confess them, because the more he confesses his sins, the lighter his burden will be and the more joyful and peaceful he will be. When he confesses his sins, he will receive the Lord in the deepest part of his being, and thanksgiving and praise will overflow from within him. Through his confession his sins will be discharged, and the burden of these sins will be lifted. In addition, his whole being will be bright and at ease.
After we confessed our sins, we could truly testify that the Lord Jesus entered into us to be our Savior. Now we belong to Him, and He belongs to us. Those who have not believed should give Him the opportunity to touch them. Many people who have lived on the earth for thirty, sixty, or even seventy years are still confused about the meaning of their human life. Because they have not been cleansed of their sins, they are like persons who have not washed their hands for their entire life. Their hands are filthy, and they truly need the Lord to shine on them in order to be cleansed of their sins.
When the Lord gives a person a sense of his sins, he should confess them one after another, as though he is spitting them out one by one. As he begins to confess, his sense of shame and sorrow will increase, and even his repentance will increase. However, his sorrow will be a sweet sorrow, and his repentance will be a happy repentance. It is truly marvelous that a person can be both sorrowful and happy at the same time. This is because it is easy for the Lord Jesus to come into one who believes and confesses his sins. A person who receives the Lord Jesus will be full of the Lord’s joy. As soon as the Lord Jesus enters into someone who believes, he experiences the forgiveness of sins, the putting to death of his corrupt nature, and the receiving of God’s life, which brings in true peace and boundless joy.