Many of us have been addicted to traditional practices. When we read the Bible, study the Bible, or listen to a message, we may apply what we read or hear in a traditional and even a light way. We may not be serious regarding the Word. We may not regard every point found in the Word or released through a message as crucial. Regarding this matter, we need to be alert and sobered unto prayer. The elders especially need to pray concerning the church in which they are taking the lead. The elders should find out how much of the truth the saints have absorbed. If the elders examine the situation of the church in their locality, they may discover that there have been too many elements of tradition in the way we have taken in the past, and that our presentation has not been so practical.
I am burdened that all the saints would take the Word seriously. When we speak about the divine life, we must sense the seriousness of the matters of life. We need to realize that as believers, as those who love the Lord and seek Him, we must understand His Word, live His Word, practice His Word, and apply His Word first to ourselves and then to others. By the Lord’s mercy, I have prepared all the notes in the Recovery Version and all the materials for the Life-study Messages in a very practical way. For this reason, if we read the notes in the Recovery Version or any portion of a Life-study Message, we shall find that it is full of food, full of nourishment. We need to take the Word into us as our nourishment, and we also need to learn how to apply it to ourselves and others.
I am concerned that certain of the saints have attended many trainings over the years, but have not received adequate nourishment from all the messages. Furthermore, they do not know how to present the truth of the Word of God to others. For instance, in these messages on 1 Peter you have heard something concerning God’s governmental judgment. You may have a general idea regarding this, but you may not know how to use this truth or how to present it properly to others.
Once we have a clear understanding of the governmental judgment of God, this does not mean that we should go out and speak concerning it to everyone we meet. If we do nothing except speak about God’s governmental judgment, we shall offend others needlessly. It is important, therefore, that we learn how to contact people. We may realize that a certain person is not really clear about salvation. He may be a believer in name, but he may not have the knowledge or experience of God’s salvation. Perhaps we shall meet another who is saved, but who does not have the assurance of salvation. This requires that, being skillful in handling the truth, we know how to help such persons to have the experience of salvation or the assurance of salvation. In like manner, we must know how to help others understand the truth concerning the indwelling Christ. You may contact a Christian who does not know that Christ is life to him or that the Spirit of life dwells in him. Therefore, you need to pray for that one and help him to realize something from the Word regarding Christ as life and the indwelling Spirit of life. You should also help him to get into the experience of this.
As you have fellowship with other believers, you may sense that the time is right to share with them that we should not only love the Lord but also serve Him. Furthermore, you may point out to them that we need to have a healthy fear of the Lord. The apostle Paul not only loved the Lord but also feared Him. In 2 Corinthians 5:14 Paul says that the Lord is loving. At the same time Paul indicates in this chapter that we need to fear Him because one day we shall all stand before His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10). Furthermore, we know from 1 Corinthians 11 that even today the Lord is exercising disciplinary judgment over His children. On the one hand, we need to know this truth ourselves. On the other hand, we should know the right time and the right way to present this truth to others. If we speak concerning this at the proper time, others will be helped, and there will be a positive reaping from what we say. Otherwise, even though we speak about an important truth in the Bible, others will be offended. We need to speak the right word at the right season. Unless we speak the right word at the right time to the right person, what we say will be in vain. This, no doubt, requires training. We need to be trained to have the proper knowledge of the truth, to grow according to this knowledge, and to learn how to present the truth to others.
My goal in giving these Life-study Messages is twofold. First, my desire is that through the messages the Word of God will get into the saints. Second, I expect that the messages, when put into print, will become seeds sown among God’s people. No matter how much opposition there may be, I shall continue to sow this seed. On the one hand, this seed is a life supply; on the other hand, it is an inoculation. I believe that one day the seed we have sown will produce a harvest.
The future of the Lord’s recovery is very promising. At present, in the United States there are at least seven thousand seeking saints in the Lord’s recovery. Over the next ten years, many of our children will become members of the church. When some of them are in their twenties, they will be quite useful to the Lord. Brother Nee, for example, was raised up by the Lord when he was only nineteen. However, the future of the Lord’s recovery depends upon our practice regarding the truth. If we treasure the Word and grasp every opportunity to get into it and to take it into us, eventually we shall be fully equipped. We shall know the truth, we shall know life, and we shall know how to grow in the Lord. We shall have a full knowledge and an adequate experience of spiritual things. Then the Lord will have a way to break through and to gain what He has been seeking for centuries.
How can the Lord get what He is after today? According to the situation of the majority of Christians, the Lord has no way. Nearly everywhere the door is closed to Him. This is the reason the Lord must find a way to have a recovery. But my concern is that in the Lord’s recovery there is still too much of the traditional practice among us. We need to abandon the traditional way and take up a new way to know the truth, experience it, and present it to others.