It is a very joyful thing that there are so many newly saved brothers and sisters who came from various villages and towns to break bread with us. Though we cannot shake hands and greet each one of you, we believe we do love one another in the one Lord. He is our Lord, and He is also the Lord of the brothers and sisters from these villages and towns. We all have one Lord and one life, we enjoy one salvation, and we are in one Body.
Because of the sovereign grace of the Lord, in these few years through the Full-time Training in Taipei the Lord has prepared almost two hundred brothers and sisters who have gone to the villages and towns to announce the gospel and set up churches. We do worship Him for this. For over a year now we have seen the fruitful result. At the time when the outreach to the villages was about to set off, I could not go myself since I was in America. I made long distance calls to the ones going out and talked to them over the phone. Now, seeing such a result, I truly rejoice.
The gospel which we announce is “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” as declared in 1 Corinthians 15:3. The first crucial point of the gospel is that because of His love for us, our dear Savior became flesh, passed through human living, and finally on the cross gave up His body, shedding His precious blood to accomplish an eternal redemption. We were all sinners, yet the Lord loved us and died for our sins that we may be redeemed. Moreover, He was buried and was “raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (v. 4). This portion of the Word in 1 Corinthians 15 mentions “according to the Scriptures” twice, the first time in conjunction with His dying for our sins and the second time with His being raised on the third day. This is truly glad tidings—the dead can be raised. What a miracle that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead!
This principle of death and resurrection can be seen everywhere in the universe. For example, any kind of seed after having been sown into the ground dies first and then bears much fruit. If there is no death, there is no life. Because the seed which falls into the ground has this kind of life, it is not terminated by death. On the contrary, through death it grows and bears much fruit. After the Lord Jesus died and was buried, those who hated Him and plotted to kill Him had a great celebration. However, they did not know that in a matter of less than three days, this Jesus who had died was raised. His death was a death with accomplishments, and His resurrection was a resurrection with even greater accomplishments. The chorus of Hymns, #227 says, “Thine the cup of suff’ring, / Mine the cup of blessing; / For Thy love in Thy redemption, / Praise we ever sing!” Through the death of the Lord Jesus our sins were dealt with, and through His resurrection we have received His life.
Through His death the Lord accomplished many things for us. First, He died for the sins of each one of us (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 9:28). As believers of the Lord, we all confess that we are sinful. Even though it has been over sixty years since I have received the Lord, I still have to confess that I am sinful. Every morning when I pray to the Lord, I still have to confess my sins, such as losing my temper and speaking too rashly. Even though such things are not big sins, all trespasses, whether big or small, are sins before God.
Every morning when we draw near to the Lord, we have to “wash our hands” and confess. Confessing is like the washing of hands. We have to wash our hands many times a day because we touch many filthy things every day. In the same manner, in our experience we may not speak anything sinful, yet we often commit sins in our thoughts. Whenever we think of others, it is always easy for us to think of their wrongdoings. When we think of our parents, we ought to remember their love in raising us. Yet instead, what we often remember is how they do not understand us and how they have mistreated us. Once we think of our children, we think of how they do not appreciate us and how they do not obey us. Whenever we consider, we commit sins. Moreover, whenever we open our mouth, we commit transgressions. This is why the Chinese have a saying: “Calamities come from the mouth.” Yet it is impossible for us not to think and not to speak. Therefore, after one day our entire being has been contaminated. At this time, we need to draw near to the Lord and confess our sins to Him. He is the One who is holy and sinless. As long as we confess to Him, He forgives us and cleanses us of all our sins.
If we say that after we have received the Lord we do not sin, that is a lie (1 John 1:8). After we receive the Lord, we should not sin, but we may still sin. Even Paul said, “But the evil which I do not will, this I practice” (Rom. 7:19). This proves that after we are saved, we may still be overcome by sin occasionally. Yet after we have sinned, as promised in 1 John 1, as long as we confess to God, He forgives us, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin (vv. 7-9). Every day we need to apply the blood of the Lord Jesus for the cleansing of our sins. In this way we can maintain the fellowship we have with God.