At the very beginning of his Christian life, every new believer should be taught emphatically to have no trust in himself. Suppose a brother is saved at the age of forty. For the past forty years, he has lived in the world, squandered his days in sin, followed the customs of this age, and been bound by Satan. For the past forty years, he has lived according to his own temperament and walked according to his own concepts, feelings, and ideas. Now that he is saved, he absolutely should not have any further trust in himself. He should have a strong distrust of himself.
Christians have standards. There are standards for the Christian life, Christian ideals, and Christian ideas. Those who do not know these standards do not know the meaning of being perfected. They arrogantly boast about themselves and are prone to be satisfied and confident in themselves. Those who do not know these standards take wrong to be right and right to be wrong. Only those who have learned the lessons and who know these standards can tell others what they should not do and what they should not say. Only they can differentiate between right and wrong. The building up of a new believer consists of teaching such a one the standards of the Christian life so that he can walk accordingly.
The first thing a new believer needs is a total and thorough breaking down of this past. Why did the Lord say, “Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 18:3)? This means that our past living was wrong. We lived in vanity, and our former days count for nothing! We all should have to have a fresh start. The regeneration that is spoken of in John 3 shows us the need of a new life, while the turning and becoming like little children that is spoken of in Matthew 18 shows us the need of the nullification of our past walk. Everything of the past needs to be torn down and removed. The perfection of a new believer consists of the tearing down of his past item by item. If a man is saved at the age of forty, perfecting means a total destruction of everything that he has acquired during his previous forty years. Many people regret their sins but not themselves. We pass from death into life. We are not putting life into death. The building up of a new believer consists of identifying the things to be dealt with, the things to be eliminated, and the things to be added. Everything should be judged by the biblical standard. If something does not pass this test, if a person’s walk is still based on past experiences, past habits, or past concepts, he is living in gross error. As soon as a man believes in the Lord, he has to drop every one of his past concepts. Regeneration gives man a new life, whereas turning to become like little children breaks down his past life. On the negative side, the building up of a new believer consists of tearing down everything that he had in the past. On the positive side, it consists of a fresh start for a new living.
If a new believer does not break down everything that he had in the past, he will experience much frustration in his Christian walk. The things he did in the past will continue to haunt him, and what he receives from the Lord will become a mere addition to what he already has from the past. The result will be a mixture of the Lord’s life and his past life. He may still consider himself highly, telling others of his sincerity and patience and of his many sufferings. He may be full of pride yet act in a humble way. He may be greedy for vainglory and earthly treasures, yet think that he is above worldly pursuits and base gain. Many sisters have peculiar temperaments; it is hard for them to get along with others. Many parents have strange ideas about their children. They can go on this way as Christians for ten or twenty years. This is why a new believer should have a strong distrust of himself from the very beginning. He should put a big question mark on everything of his past. From this point forward, he has to drop his old concepts, tear down his old ways, remove his old ideas, and get rid of everything that is old. He has to turn and become like a little child and start his life all over again.