One day Miss Peace Wang came to my hometown to preach the gospel. When I heard the news, I went out of curiosity to listen to her preaching. That afternoon she preached a message concerning how Satan, like the Pharaoh of Egypt, detains people in his system. Her preaching was so full of power that when I heard the message, I was awakened suddenly and said to myself, “I don’t want to follow Satan; rather, I want God.” That afternoon after listening to the preaching of the gospel, I came out of the chapel, and on my way home, as I was standing on the street, I lifted up my head and spoke to heaven, saying, “O God, I don’t want this world anymore. From now on, even if You give me the whole world, I don’t want it. I just want You. From now on, I just want to bring the Bible with me to preach the gospel in the villages. Even if I have to drink the water from the mountains and eat the roots of the trees, I am willing.” I prayed such a prayer. From that time on, I was freed from the Peking operas. But I still considered within myself that playing soccer was good for my health and was not harmful, so there was nothing wrong with it. Therefore, on Sundays, I would go to the church service in the morning, and then in the afternoon I would go to play soccer. One day, I was again on the playground playing ball with others. At one point while I was standing there, the ball rolled toward me and stopped right in front of my feet. Everyone was watching to see how I would kick the ball, and I also displayed a certain posture for kicking. Eventually, when I was about to kick, my foot could not function and I simply could not continue playing. So I turned around and left the playground. My friends asked me, “What’s the matter with you?” I replied, “Nothing.” From that time on, I never played soccer again. This is my experience of the washing of regeneration, and it has been washing in me for seventy years. Up to this day I still sense that I have two or three layers of my old Shantung nature that remain to be washed away. The washing is still going on.
Let us give another illustration. Thirty years ago I was here in the United States releasing the word of God. At that time many hippies came to listen to my speaking. Some of them wore a headband, and some had long beards and dark countenances. Among them there was one who resembled John the Baptist. He used to go to the campuses shouting, “Repent!” He had a big beard and was very husky, so he looked quite intimidating. He also came to our meetings. He was barefoot, and he sat in front of me swinging his feet. Eventually, after a few days, his long beard was gone. After another few days, he came in a pair of sandals. However, his five toes were still exposed. After a few more days, he put on a pair of shoes. When we look at him today standing here, we cannot imagine that he is an ex-hippie. I did not advise him to change himself. However, after he heard the word of God, the life-giving Spirit began to wash him from within. His insight changed, his sense of hearing changed, and his taste changed. This is the washing of regeneration.
Hence, regeneration is a washing in God’s salvation (Titus 3:5). Such a washing is a great renewing of the believers by God’s salvation to enable them to get rid of all that is of their natural life and the old creation and become God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). The washing of regeneration begins with our regeneration and continues with the renewing of the Spirit, both of which are on the aspect of the organic salvation and are matters of life. In the washing of regeneration there is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Following the washing of regeneration, the Holy Spirit continues to work within us to re-create us that we may become a new creation, thus making us renewed. Finally, this renewing enables us to get rid of all that is of our natural life and the old creation and become God’s new creation.
Now we will go on to see the shepherding in God’s organic salvation. After the believers are regenerated and receive God as their eternal life, they still need to receive the shepherding in God’s life. In His organic salvation God the Father of the Divine Trinity first regenerates us by God the Spirit and then shepherds us in God the Son as our Shepherd that we may grow and exist in His life for eternity. This is the second step in the organic salvation of the Triune God.
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