In the preceding message we have seen that in the New Testament God desires that every saved one should be not only a priest but a priest of the gospel. To be a priest of the gospel is to work on sinners with the gospel of God. Such a work consists mainly of three steps. The first step is to save sinners with the gospel of God and offer them to God as sacrifices. The second step is to minister to the saved ones the grace of God that they may grow and offer themselves to God as living sacrifices. The third step is to present these saints, in the wisdom of God, one by one, full-grown in Christ to God. These are the three steps clearly shown in the New Testament for the ministry of the priests of the gospel of God, and this is also the overall work of the gospel of God. Such an overall work is not carried out by only a few. Rather, it is a work which every one of us as saved believers should do because we all are the New Testament priests of the gospel. In the church there are not two classes of people-the clergy and the laity. Rather, there is only one group of people. Everyone is a saint and a priest of the gospel who should fulfill the priestly ministry of the gospel. I hope that we can hear this matter clearly and see it accurately.
We see from the Old Testament that a priest was one who had God’s image to express Him, who had God’s authority to represent Him, and who had God’s life to live Him out. A priest was also one who had fellowship with God, who drew near to God, and who was united with God. Furthermore, a priest was a prophet who spoke for God. As such a one, he could bring God to man and bring man to God. In the New Testament, such a priest is a person who has been saved and regenerated, who experiences Christ’s complete salvation, and who enjoys all the riches of Christ. He not only brings God’s salvation to others but, much more, imparts to people the Christ of God as a living person. In this way he helps sinners to be saved and offers them up to God as sacrifices; he leads them to grow in life and be transformed that they may present themselves to God as living sacrifices; and he teaches and perfects them in all wisdom and eventually presents them full-grown in Christ to God. This is what every one of us should do. Both the older ones and the younger ones, those who have been saved for many years and those who have been saved recently, should carry out this gospel work on sinners.
All of us as believers in Christ should beget spiritual children and feed them. Through the gospel we help sinners to be regenerated and become the children of God, and then we nourish them in the Lord that they may grow. Physically, to give birth to a child requires less than one year. This is very suitable for applying this matter spiritually: we beget one person per year. However, as Christians, we are often imbalanced in begetting spiritual children by the preaching of the gospel. When we are cold, we do not preach the gospel at all, not begetting one even in eight or ten years. When we are revived and become zealous, we are eager to beget a troop. Both are wrong. Of course, to be barren is not good, but to give birth to a troop and not be able to feed them is also not good. Therefore, we must follow the natural law of life by giving birth properly to one person every year. Our problem is that either we are barren or we give birth to many but do not feed them. It is no wonder that there are many who are saved but very few who are brought into the church.
We need to preach the gospel to help people be saved that they may be regenerated, but much more, we need to nourish the newly saved ones. In John 21, after His resurrection, the Lord appeared to Peter and said, “Do you love Me more than these?” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” The Lord said to him, “Feed My lambs” (v. 15). To feed the lambs is to nourish the young or weak believers with the riches of the inner life. This requires that we love the Lord and enjoy the riches of His divine life. When we enjoy the Lord as our rich supply of life, we should and we can feed His lambs.
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