We have seen that there are four cases of New Testament service in the book of Matthew, the case of conceiving and bringing forth Christ, the case of finding Christ, the case of testifying for Christ, and the case of following Christ. All of these main activities concerning Christ are outside of religion. Mary conceived and brought forth Christ outside of Judaism, and the heathen wise men found Christ outside of Judaism. In addition, John the Baptist bore witness and testified of Christ outside of Judaism, and Peter, James, and John with the other disciples followed Christ in a way that was also outside of religion.
Now we need to see something further regarding the testimony of John the Baptist. We have seen that he was outside of religion, and that he was not bound by anything of religion or culture. He did not care for religion or culture, but this does not mean that he was fighting against religion and culture. He did not care for religion because he realized that religion is a substitute for Christ, and he did not care for culture because he realized that culture is a preoccupation to the people who were made for Christ. He was outside of religion for Christ, and he had nothing to do with religion because it keeps people away from Christ. He was not for culture because culture is an enemy to Christ. He was not different from religion and culture merely for the sake of being different, but he was different for Christ’s sake. We should not be different from religion and culture because we are dissatisfied with them—we should be different because we are filled up with Christ!
Now we come to the positive points concerning John’s testimony. Everything we have seen thus far concerning John has been in a negative sense. He was born into a priestly, religious family, yet he did not care for that heritage. He was born into the religious center, the temple, but he was not for that center. He was born into a religious education, but he did not care for that education. In addition, he was born into something of human culture, but he did not care for that culture either. Up to this point, it may seem that he was negative toward everything. He was negative toward his home, his family, the temple, Jerusalem, the Jewish religion, and the Jewish culture. Nevertheless, Christ is not negative; He is positive, and we also should be positive, not negative.
On the positive side, there are many more points mentioned concerning John the Baptist. There are six main points of the positive testimony that he bore for Christ. Of course, we need to realize that both religion and culture are substitutes for Christ and enemies of Christ. Therefore, we abandon them for Him.
To abandon religion and culture for Christ is not at all the same as giving up religion and culture without a purpose. Some of the young people have told me about the life they had when they became dissatisfied with human culture and gave it up. Their stories made my heart ache. Surely we would not be different in that way—that was being different with no purpose. We need to be different for Christ. Many young people today have been ruined and corrupted by that kind of wrong concept. We should not be against human culture for the sake of being against human culture. Rather, we should be against human culture for Christ because we realize that it is a substitute for Christ. These young people have been created by God for Christ, not merely to be against culture. Our being different should not be without purpose, but it should be for Christ.
The first main point of the positive testimony John bore for Christ is that we need to repent; we all need a change in our mind and in our concept. Not only is repentance related to sin, but it is also a matter of changing our mind and our concept. We need to realize that not only the sinful things are against God, but even the good things, the best things, the most refined things, are against God. The sinful things are against God openly, but the good things are against God in a more subtle way. Whether we are in the sinful things or in the good things, we are nevertheless away from God and against God. Whatever we do, whatever we are, and whatever we intend to do all are altogether in opposition to God.
According to the human concept, repentance is simply a matter of morality. However, in the heavenly concept, it is altogether a matter of God. Why do we need to repent? Because we are away from God. Whether we are moral or evil, good or bad, refined or uncultured, we are all away from God. Look at today’s situation. Not only are the bank robbers away from God, but even many of the professors in the universities are also away from God—in fact, they may be even more against God. The bank robbers are against God openly, but the professors may be against God in a more subtle way. Everything that man does in himself is against God, regardless of whether it is good or evil. Even if we are trying our best to help human society, that effort is also something that is against God. Not only is robbing others against God, but even our helping of others may be against God. Therefore, what do we need? We need to repent! We need to have a change of our mind and of our concept.
Not only the unreligious people need to change their mind; the religious ones also need a change of concept. Both the religious and the unreligious people are all void of God; they are all turned away from God Himself. All of them need to repent, to change their mind and their concept. Even our gospel preaching and our teaching of the Bible will be away from God if we care for our preaching, our teaching, our ministry, our work, but we do not care for God Himself. In that case, all of these things become a preoccupation to us. Because they are a substitute for God Himself, surely they are a rival to God. Our God is a jealous God. Even the best things that take His place are something against Him and become an enemy to Him. We need to be careful. Even our spiritual seeking can be a substitute for the Lord if we care more for our spiritual seeking than for Christ. It is possible for our spiritual seeking to replace Christ so that we love our spiritual seeking much more than we love Christ Himself.
All this shows how much we need to repent. We all need to have a change in our concept. We all need to turn away from all things other than Christ and return unto Him. Satan is subtle. He utilizes all the best things to distract us from Christ. He allows us to pick up anything as long as it is a substitute for Christ. Satan would rejoice in our spiritual seeking as long as our spiritual seeking takes the place of Christ. He would rejoice in our Bible teaching as long as our teaching takes the place of Christ. This is why we all need to repent. We all need to turn away from everything that is other than Christ and turn back to Him.