4)Old ways of living. Old ways of living refer to our entire old manner of living before we were saved. After we are saved, we should not only put an end to all unrighteous, improper, and evil and unclean matters, but we must also put an end to our whole former manner of living and have a new beginning.

Usually, when we speak of the clearance of the past, we emphasize the ending of unrighteous, improper, and evil and unclean matters, but we are not likely to pay any attention to the ending of the old way of living. This is insufficient. As a matter of fact, when a man is regenerated, his old way of living ceases at once. Since regeneration enables man to obtain a new life, it naturally brings to man a new way of living. The old way of living ends with the old life, and the new way of living begins with the new life. Thus man has changed to a new human living. It can be said, therefore, that what really wrecks the old manner of living is the salvation of the Lord. Whoever receives the Lord’s salvation has his old human living wrecked and terminated, and his new human living begun and being built up.

How then should we regard the ending of the old human living and the beginning of the new? We are not saying that after a person is regenerated he should change his present occupation-stop going to school, close his business, ignore caring for his family-and go out preaching. The ending of the old human living means that after a person is regenerated, he may continue in his original profession, provided that it is proper, but the taste within him is changed, his mood is changed, and his feeling is changed. No matter what a person does before he is regenerated, his taste, his mood, and his feeling are all toward the world, all desiring to accomplish something in the world. The more he works, the more he relishes his work and the deeper he enters into it. But after regeneration, when God’s life enters into him, that taste within him becomes tasteless, that mood is changed, and his feeling is also changed. He even has a different taste for eating, clothing, and other daily necessities. In this sense, his old way of living is ended, and his old life comes to a conclusion.

We have referred to Zacchaeus’s clearance of his past. His clearance included the ending of his old way of living. Formerly he had extorted money from others and was thus unrighteous; so he put an end to his unrighteous deeds by restoring fourfold. Moreover, he also gave half his goods to the poor; that was to end his old way of living. Had he not given to the poor, would that be unrighteous? Would that be improper? Would that be evil and unclean? Indeed not! His unwillingness to give was his old way of living. In his former life he put an extreme value upon money; covetousness was his philosophy of life, and loving money was his old way of living. When he was saved and God’s life entered into him, his concept concerning money was immediately changed; he esteemed it of little value; he was willing to give-this shows that his life was changed and his old way of covetous living was ended. This does not mean, of course, that after he ended his old way of living he did not possess or spend any more money. It is possible that afterward he still had much money and spent it. But his taste in possessing money was different; his taste in spending money was different. His old life was changed; his old way of living came to an end.

I recall my own experience of ending the old way of living. It was also a very evident change. When I was nearly twenty years old, I was pursuing the knowledge of this world, full of ambition and with great purpose. At this time a sister came to preach the gospel in my locality, and I was saved at the first listening. She spoke at that time from Exodus, telling how Pharaoh usurped the Israelites and would not allow them to leave Egypt. She said that this typified Satan’s usurping of man, not allowing him to worship God. Her words were indeed Spirit-inspired and moved me greatly. At that time I had a feeling within which said: “Never again do I want this world. I must serve God.” Since then, this feeling within me has never died. On one hand, I felt that I could no longer walk in the way of this world and that it was henceforth no longer possible to possess my ambition and great purpose toward the world. On the other hand, I felt that a new path, a new life was before me, causing me to follow the Lord and go on. In this way, the taste within me was changed, my mood was changed, and my feeling was also changed. My old way of living then came to an end.

It seems difficult to find words to express these changes in taste, mood, and feeling, but they are definitely the result of being regenerated. Furthermore, the more thoroughly a person is regenerated, the more drastic these changes will be. For those who have more future in their enterprises or more accomplishment in society, the change will be more evident. Even those who are barely saved can still sense that these changes have taken place in their lives, although their experience of regeneration is not so clear. Once there are such changes within, the old way of living comes to an end.

Although this ending of the old way of living is a preliminary experience of a Christian, yet it has a deep effect upon his future walk with the Lord. When our old way of living comes to an end, our ambition and interest in the world are changed, our estimation and point of view toward men and all matters are also changed, and our purpose in life is different than before. Thus we can escape from all anxieties, leave all our burdens behind, and run the race in the way of the Lord.

Since this matter of ending the old way of living is so important, we must give heed in this matter of the clearance of the past, whether in self-examination or in leading others, to see that the old way of living is ended and that there is such a change in taste, mood, and feeling. If these changes are not great enough, we must look for a deeper work of the Holy Spirit to make them stronger and more weighty. The more drastic these changes are, the more thorough will be the ending of the old way of living.

Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to wait till after a person is saved before he can be led to consider this change in the old way of living. When we are preaching the gospel, it is also necessary to add this point to enable others to see that regeneration means a change in their human living. A certain kind of life must have a certain kind of living. If a man is regenerated, he obtains a new life, and his old life then naturally comes to an end. Thus, once a man is saved, he will have this change of affection, and it follows that he will have a good ending of the past.
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