Brother Zhang took from his bag a book, and said that the words within this book could resolve my problem. He then went on to read: “When people leave behind the filthy, corrupt things of Satan, they gain God’s salvation. But if they remain incapable of divesting themselves of filth and corruption, then they will still be under the domain of Satan. People’s conniving, deceitfulness, and crookedness are things of Satan; by saving you, God separates you from these things and God’s work cannot be wrong, and is all in order to save people from darkness.
When you have believed to a certain point and can divest yourself of the corruption of the flesh, and are no longer enshackled by this corruption, will you not have been saved? When you live under Satan’s domain you are incapable of manifesting God, you are something filthy, and shall not receive God’s inheritance. Once you have been cleansed and made perfect, you will be holy, and you will be normal, and you will be blessed by God and delightful to God” (“Practice (2)”). “The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within the corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely extirpated, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to grasp the path of growth in life, to grasp the way of life, and to grasp the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to act in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the will of God, so that he may cast away his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
When you have believed to a certain point and can divest yourself of the corruption of the flesh, and are no longer enshackled by this corruption, will you not have been saved? When you live under Satan’s domain you are incapable of manifesting God, you are something filthy, and shall not receive God’s inheritance. Once you have been cleansed and made perfect, you will be holy, and you will be normal, and you will be blessed by God and delightful to God” (“Practice (2)”). “The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within the corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely extirpated, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to grasp the path of growth in life, to grasp the way of life, and to grasp the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to act in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the will of God, so that he may cast away his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
Brother Zhang then gave fellowship, saying: “Thank the Lord, these words have made it crystal clear as to what true salvation is! True salvation means that, once someone has gained the truth and been cleansed and perfected by God, they cast off sin completely and cast off the dark influence of Satan, and they no longer commit sin or defy God. The work the Lord Jesus did was actually the work of redemption, and we merely no longer belonged to sin. But the satanic nature within us was deeply rooted, and even though our sins received the Lord’s absolution, when we encounter issues, we are still capable of coming under the domination of the satanic dispositions, such as arrogance and conceit, crookedness and deceit, selfishness and meanness, and insidiousness and maliciousness, and we often can’t help but sin and defy God, and are simply unable to put the Lord’s words into practice. This is like being a thief who is caught by the police for stealing other people’s things. His parents can’t stand the thought of their son languishing in detention, and so they pay a king’s ransom to keep their son out of jail. But the thief’s nature is still within him, and when a suitable opportunity comes along, he will again be dominated by his nature and will continue to steal things. Therefore, if we understand all aspects of the truth, being completely freed from Satan’s domain, having our satanic, corrupt dispositions cleansed, casting off the binds of sin, and seeking God’s will, practicing God’s words and truly revering and obeying God no matter the environment, then we are always saved, and only then are we people who are completely gained by God.”
I said happily, “Thank God’s enlightenment and guidance for enabling me to understand that the view of ‘once saved, always saved, and then one can enter into the kingdom of heaven’ is wrong. I also understand that eternal salvation means ridding ourselves of our sinful nature and being cleansed, and that this is entirely different from being saved once and having our sins absolved. This book really makes it clear what true salvation is, so is there a way within its pages that can allow us to rid ourselves of sin and be saved? If we could find a way to rid ourselves of sin, and practice in accordance with that way, wouldn’t we then be able to of attain true salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven?”
Brother Zhang said with joy, “Brother Yang, you are so right! Thank the Lord, if we could only find the way to rid ourselves of sin and resolve the problem of our sinful nature, we could then attain true salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven. This book talks very clearly about this aspect of the truth, so let’s keep reading …”
Editor’s Note: Thank God for His enlightenment and guidance. The conditions of every one of us who believe in the Lord are indeed as it mentions in this article: Committing sins in the daytime and then confessing them in the evening, and sinking so deeply into sin that we are unable to get free. If our belief in the Lord is a justification by faith and we believe that, as we were saved once, then we are always saved, how then can God’s righteous, holy and inviolable disposition be expressed? If we want to earn God’s praise and enter into the kingdom of heaven, then we should actively seek the way to rid ourselves of sin—only this is the smart choice of the wise virgins! This Editor would like to recommend you watch gospel movie “Stinging Memories” (7) – The Way of Removing Sin, so that we may seek the way to enter into the kingdom of heaven together!
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