From Glory To Glory

From Glory to Glory
WATCHMAN NEE
Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright ©1985
Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc.
New York
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 0-935008-64-0
Available from the Publishers at:

11515 Allecingie Parkway
Richmond, Virginia 23235
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
The glory of the Lord is not only in His person, but also in His
work. Though glory is His dwelling, He divests himself of glory and
takes up a humble fashion as a man. He endures the shame of the
cross for fallen mankind, and nowhere does His moral glory shine
brighter than on the cross. By means of His finished work at Calvary,
the Lord Jesus is able to bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2.10). It is
His prayerful desire that we may behold His glory (see John 17.24).
And “we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of
the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as from the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3.18).
In this present volume Watchman Nee interprets for us what is
meant by the phrase, “from glory to glory.” He begins with the name
of Jehovah—the glorious name of God—and shows that man’s only
sin is falling short of God’s glory. Yet God is so ready to forgive,
although His forgiveness must be received by faith. He then cites the
case of David and Mephibosheth to illustrate the mercy of God. The
author further demonstrates the riches of God’s grace by reviewing
with us the salvation which comes through baptism, the food with
which God provides His own, and a believer’s value before God. By
way of conclusion, He assures us of the love of Christ which is ever
available to us and exhorts us to have the mind of Christ—which is
indeed from glory to glory.
CONTENTS
1 Jehovah 7
2 Man’s Only Sin 21
3 Forgiveness and Confession 37
4 David and Mephibosheth 51
5 Saved Through Baptism 69
6 Food for God’s People 87
7 A Believer’s Value Before God 97
8 The Love of Christ 105
9 The Mind of Christ 111

Scripture quotations are from the
American Standard Version of the Bible
(1901), unless otherwise indicated.
1
Jehovah
Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of
your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to
me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM
hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and
this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the
elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath
appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that
which is done to you in Egypt: and I have said, I will bring you
up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite,
and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite,
and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And
they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the
elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him,
Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us: and now let
us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that
we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. (Ex. 3.13-18)
God and Jehovah
Let us note that the names of God in the Bible are never used
casually. Each time a certain name is employed, it has its special
meaning. So are the names of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament;
for example, none of the names such as Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and so forth can be changed within the context in
which it appears. If we were to change Jesus Christ to Christ Jesus,
we might commit a doctrinal error. And such is the nature of the
revealed names of God that besides that of “God” itself He employs
the name of “Jehovah” to express His relationship with the children
of Israel. What is the distinction between God and Jehovah? By
8 From Glory to Glory
looking at the way in which God uses His name to reveal His own
self, we may come to an understanding of these names.
From Genesis to the third chapter of Exodus, God employs

various names by which to disclose himself. He uses at least three
different names. In Genesis 1, we have the name “God.” In Genesis
2, we have the name “Jehovah God.” Why in the first instance is God
used and in the latter instance Jehovah God is used? Is it not strange
that God had not explained to anyone the meaning of this name?
Abraham knew it because God had told him that His name was
Jehovah, but Abraham did not know what it meant. Not until the time
of Exodus 3.14,15 does God explain the meaning of “Jehovah” to
men.
Why is it that Genesis 1 only uses God, and not Jehovah God?
According to the original, the word “God”—“Elohim” in the
Hebrew—means primarily “the Strong One.” This name of God is
employed in respect of the creation, for it speaks of God’s
relationship to creation. Jehovah, on the other hand, is God’s name in
relation to man. So that in Genesis 2 God’s relationship to man is
spoken of, and hence immediately 1 is creation (for man is not
created until the sixth day); therefore the name “God” is used.
Genesis 2, however, centers on man, and hence the name “Jehovah
God” appears. Each time the term Jehovah God is used, it shows
God’s relationship with man. But each time the term God appears, it
is to express His power as well as His relationship towards creation.
Let us look at a few passages to show this distinction.
“They that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God
commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in” (Gen. 7.16). Do you
notice the distinction here? All that went into the ark went in male
and female according to what God had commanded, but it was
Jehovah who shut Noah into the ark. Can these names be reversed?
No. He who commands is God, for command is related to the power
of Deity. Therefore the word “God” is used. But now man came into
Jehovah 9
the ark, and so the record tells us that it was “Jehovah” who shut him
inside because the act of being shut in is expressive of the care of
Deity.
“This day will Jehovah deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite
thee, and take thy head from off thee; and I will give the dead bodies
of the host of the Philistines this day unto the birds of the heavens,
and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that
there is a God in Israel” (1 Sam. 17.46). It says here that “Jehovah”
will deliver the enemy into my hand that all the earth may know that
there is a “God” in Israel. It does not say God will deliver an enemy
into my hand that all the earth may know “Jehovah.” Why? Because
Jehovah is related to me. He looks after me and delivers the enemy
into my hand. But with respect to all the earth—that is to say, to all
the peoples outside the commonwealth of Israel—God does not
reveal himself to them as Jehovah, but only as God. “Jehovah” is
associated with those who are near to Him, whereas “God” is
connected with the rest of the people in causing them to know His
power.
“It came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw

Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they
turned about to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and
Jehovah helped him; and God moved them to depart from him” (2
Chron. 18.31). He who helped Jehoshaphat was Jehovah, but He who
moved his enemies to depart the scene was God. “Jehovah” helped
Jehoshaphat because the latter was close to God, but in relation to the
enemies the name of “God” was used since they had no
communication with the Creator.
“God” is the common name of Deity, whereas “Jehovah” is His

intimate name. The term God speaks of Deity’s power, while the
term Jehovah speaks of Deity’s love. The word God points to His
creation, but the word Jehovah points to His nearness. In Genesis 1
the name Jehovah is not used because this passage relates the story of
creation. Though it also mentions man, it nevertheless pertains

primarily to God’s creative power. In Genesis 2, though, it is
recorded how God and man have intimate relationship; therefore, the
name Jehovah God is employed. Why were not simply Jehovah and
Jehovah God used instead? Let me say that this proves that the
Jehovah in chapter 2 is the same One as the God mentioned in
chapter 1. For Jehovah God is not only powerful but also
approachable. In spite of the fact that the name Jehovah is employed
thereafter, it is still not explained until the time of Exodus 3.14.
“I am Jehovah”
“God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto
you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations” (Ex. 3.14,15). Moses had asked God: “Behold, when I
come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of
your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is
his name? what shall I say unto them?” And God had answered with
this: “I AM THAT I AM [that is to say, Jehovah] . . . hath sent me
unto you”! The primary meaning of the name Jehovah is “the self-
existent One”—“He that is who He is, therefore the eternal I AM.”
“I AM”—“I AM THAT I AM!” Oh! Do we realize the

preciousness of that name? Do we truly know that “God is?” What
He utters is great, what He leaves unuttered is equally great. When
He speaks fully it is wonderful; when He speaks partially it is also
wonderful. When He declares plainly it is marvelous, but when He
discloses hesitantly it is just as marvelous. Here He does not fully
reveal what He is; He merely says “I AM . . .” Hence the meaning is
Jehovah 11
not complete. The “I AM” sent me. This is the revelation of God
which Moses received that day.
If God were to add “power” onto the name “ I AM,” then His
revealed name could not bespeak “love.” If He were to add “love”
onto “I AM,” then His name could also not bespeak of himself as
“power” or “wisdom” or “righteousness” or “sanctification” or
“redemption” or “comfort” or “fortress” or “high tower” or “refuge”
or whatever. And so He simply said to Moses, “I AM . . .” without it
stating what He is. God thus leaves this to the believers to add to it
(and let me say that this is not mere letter, this is spiritual reality).
We may fill in what God left unsaid according to faith. If we have
faith as well as need, we may complete the “sentence-name” of “I
AM” with whatever our need is, and we shall be supplied by God. If,
for example, we are in need of comfort, then God can be to us as our
comfort. If we are in need of refuge, He by faith can become our
refuge. If in need of a high tower, then by faith He is our high tower.
If in need of victory, He is our victory. If we are in need of holiness,
then He can be our holiness. If we need light, then by faith He is to
us our light. And if we need the bread of life, He is that to us too.
Whatever be the need, we may fill that in by adding that to His name.
We have no doubt that we may fill in whatever we need. It is not
unlike a checkbook with an authorized signature already signed on
every check and given to us. We may fill in whatever amount we
need, whether it is a thousand or ten thousands of dollars. We simply
fill in the amount of our need, because the signature is already there.
How unfortunate that there are so many who do not really know who
God is—so many who do not realize what Jehovah can be to them!
Yet I see the breadth and length and height and depth of that name
Jehovah! It truly includes everything.
No wonder those who know God take His name as a strong tower
into which the righteous can run and are safe. Once we too have
recognized this name, will we not also say with David, “They that
know thy name will put their trust in thee” (Ps. 9.10)? The Old
Testament saints knew God as Jehovah, and therefore they prayed:

“For thy name’s sake, O Jehovah, pardon mine iniquity, for it is
great” (Ps. 25.11); “Save me, O God, by thy name” (Ps. 54.1); and,
“Deal thou with me, O Jehovah the Lord, for thy name’s sake” (Ps.
109.21). Therefore they could declare: “Through thy name will we
tread them under that rise up against us” (Ps. 44.5); “He guideth me
in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23.3); and, “I
will lift up my hands in thy name” (Ps. 63.4). Therefore they could
praise: “As is thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the
earth” (Ps. 48.10); and, “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name . . .
his name is Jehovah” (Ps. 68.4). God himself has declared: “I will set
him on high, because he hath known my name” (Ps. 91.14).
God’s name reveals himself. His very name is the foundation of

our faith. We will be able to do valiantly in God’s name if we can
enter into the reality of His name in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Is Jehovah
Some may consider Jehovah to be God’s revelation in the Old

Testament and therefore wonder if the New Testament people can
enjoy the same benefits of that name. We thank and praise God
because the Old Testament Jehovah is also the New Testament Jesus.
The meaning of Jesus, in fact, is “Jehovah the Savior.”
While on earth the Lord Jesus acknowledged himself to be the

Jehovah of the Old Testament: “Except ye believe that I AM, ye shall
die in your sins” (John 8.24). He told us here that He is the “I AM.”
Further on He also said this: “When ye have lifted up the Son of
man, then shall ye know that I AM” (v.28); and again: “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I AM” (v.58). He
clearly declared that He is Jehovah, and the Jews themselves
understood it, for it was because of this statement that “they took up
stones . . . to cast at him” (v.59). Let us rejoice, for our Lord Jesus is
the great I AM. HE IS! For our sakes, He is! He himself announces: I
Jehovah 13
am the life, I am the resurrection, I am the light of the world, I am the

bread of life, I am the good shepherd. We may receive all our
supplies in the name of our Lord Jesus—Jehovah the Savior! When
we have His name, we have everything. How we thank Him for
giving His name to us.
Jehovah
“Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them,
Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and
of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you,
and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: and I have said, I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the
Canaanite, . . . unto a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex.
3.16,17). This name Jehovah was used especially during the period
from the Exodus to the entering in of Canaan. Throughout this time,
this name was frequently employed. Hence, from the day in which
we are saved to the time in which we inherit the kingdom—and
however difficult our paths may be—Jehovah is our great I AM. His
name shall lead us to the end. The name Jehovah is not God’s name
relative to creation, but is His intimate name for the believers in the
wilderness. It enables us to pass through the wilderness and enter the
Promised Land.
Believers’ Responsibility
What is the effect of this name of Jehovah in relation to the

children of Israel? That they might take up their responsibility before
God.
God will not argue, for if He does, who can answer Him? His
reason is often beyond our understanding, since He himself is the
reason. Let us illustrate from Scripture this that we have just said (all
from Leviticus, except where noted):
Mine ordinances shall ye do, and my statutes shall ye keep, to

walk therein: I am Jehovah your God. (18.4)
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and mine ordinances;
which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am Jehovah. (18.5)
I am Jehovah. (18.6b)
I am Jehovah. (18.30b)
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and
say unto them, Ye shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy.
(19.2)
Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I
am Jehovah your God. (19.4)
Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather
the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor
and for the sojourner: I am Jehovah your God. (19.10)
Ye shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name
of thy God: I am Jehovah. (19.12)
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block
before the blind; but thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.
(19.14)
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy
people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy
neighbor: I am Jehovah. (19.16)
Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against
the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. I am Jehovah. (19.18)
I am Jehovah thy God. (19.25b)
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor
print any marks upon you: I am Jehovah. (19.28)
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am
Jehovah. (19.30)
Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor unto the
wizards; seek them not out, to be defiled by them: I am Jehovah
your God. (19.31)
Jehovah 15
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face
of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.
(19.32)
The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the
home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye
were sojourners in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.
(19.34)
Ye shall observe all my statutes, and all mine ordinances, and
do them: I am Jehovah. (19.37)
Thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am Jehovah) instead of
all the first-born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of
the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the
children of Israel. (Num. 3.41)
Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the
children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their
cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am Jehovah. (Num. 3.45)
Do God’s commands have a reason behind them? Only that it is

because “I am Jehovah.” No other reason than this is given to explain
God’s various commands here. I will chastise you because I am
Jehovah. I will take the Levites for myself. Is this because the
children of Israel defraud Me? No, but because I am Jehovah. You
must not curse the deaf, because I am Jehovah. You cannot do this or
that, because I am Jehovah. Continually, there is no other reason put
forward. How blessed a person is if he will obey simply because God
says “I am Jehovah.” There are plenty of reasons in the world to
induce a person to sin, but blessed is he who will not sin simply
because God is the I AM.
To put it more clearly, however, the name of God as the “I AM

THAT I AM” shows us at least two reasons for His commands: (1) “I
AM”—that is to say, I am powerful, therefore you should not do
anything. I am your power, protection, holiness, righteousness and
supply. Hence you have no need to sin. You say you have passions
and lusts in you, but Jehovah declares: “I am righteousness and
holiness.” So why must you sin? You say you have no money, so you
ask for a loan; but Jehovah says to you: “I am your supply. Hence
why should you borrow? Therefore, if you sin, it is not because I
cannot help you or keep you from sinning. I am indeed able to keep
you. But you sin because you want to sin.”
(2) “I AM”—that is to say, I am not only your power and wisdom

who loves you dearly and has chosen you, I am also Jehovah your
God who will chasten you if you do evilly. So that, yes, the I AM is
first of all powerful; but second of all, He will judge. First, He is
most powerful in being our righteousness and holiness; but next, He
will judge us according to His righteousness and holiness. When He
uses this name of Jehovah the—I AM THAT I AM—He does not
bother to explain the reason for His commandments. He simply tells
His people, “I am Jehovah.” I am Jehovah who brought you into
Canaan. I am Jehovah, therefore you must do or not do these various
things.
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”
“God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto
you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations” (Ex. 3.15).
Here an additional explanation is being given. Who is this

Jehovah your God? He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob. So far as God himself is concerned, He is Jehovah, the I AM.
So far as men are concerned, though, Jehovah is the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. On Deity’s side, He is God, He is
Jehovah; this is what He has revealed to men. On men’s side, God
has revealed himself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and this is
to cause us to see what power He will manifest in our lives just as He
has manifested His power in those men.
Jehovah 17
Why does God not declare himself as the God of Adam? For we
know that Abraham sinned even as Adam did. Why then did He not
call himself the God of Adam? Why did He not say the God of Abel,
the seed of Adam? Why instead did He call himself the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob? Why according to the flesh was our
Lord Jesus presented in the New Testament as having been born of
the seed of Abraham? Why from among all men should God have
called himself the God of these three particular persons? Wherein
lies the difference between these three and other people? Well, apart
from the fact that God had covenanted with these three men, He
takes them up as representative personages. He chooses them to
represent three types of men in the world.
What type of man is Abraham? He is a giant of faith. He is rather

uncommon; in fact, he is quite special. As the God of Abraham, God
declares himself to be the God of excellent people. Yet, thanks be to
God, He is not only the God of the excellent. Were He merely this
kind of God, we would sink into despair because we are not persons
of excellence. But God is also the God of Isaac. What type of person
is Isaac? He is very ordinary. He eats whenever he can, and sleeps as
he has opportunity. He is neither a wonder man nor a wicked person.
How this fact has comforted many of us! Yet God is not only the
God of the ordinary men, He is also the God of the bad men: He is
the God of Jacob too, for in the Scriptures Jacob is pictured as one of
the worst persons to be found in the Old Testament.
Hence through these three persons, God is telling us that He is the

God of Abraham the best, the God of Isaac the ordinary, and the God
of Jacob the worst. He is the God of those with great faith, He is the
God of the common people, and He is also the God of the lowest of
men such as thieves and prostitutes. Suppose I am special like
Abraham; then He is my God. Suppose I am ordinary like Isaac, then
He is also my God. And suppose from my mother’s womb I have
been bad like Jacob was in that I have striven with my brother; then
He is still my God. He has a way with the excellent, with the

common, and with the worst of humanity.
From that day in Exodus onward, God has always called himself
by this wonderful name without any change. Even when the Lord
Jesus was about to face death, He said this: “As touching the
resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken
unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of
the living” (Matt. 22.31,32). Here our Lord adds one more meaning
to that name. When God calls himself by such a name, it reveals the
fact that He is also the God of resurrection. However excellent
Abraham may be, he is subject to death and decay; but God will
cause him to be raised again from among the dead. As common as
Isaac is, he too will die and decay; yet God will also raise him. And
as bad as Jacob is, he also will die and decay; nonetheless, God will
raise him up too. In the realm of resurrection, all which belongs to
the natural will pass away. God is the God of the living, not of the
dead. So that in the resurrection realm, God is to be the God of these
three men. This indicates to us Christians—and whether we are
naturally talented, ordinary, or bad—that we will all decay;
nevertheless, our God will re-create us and make us new in Him.
Though we are so different in the natural, God will eliminate all the
differences and be our God all the same. For what He looks at is not
our natural endowment but the life He has given us. According to the
natural, there exist vast differences among Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob; but in resurrection they all receive the same life. God
overlooks the natural and looks only at His work of grace. He is able
to dispense grace to totally different people and make them almost
the same.
What is meant by resurrection? It means the natural has passed

away and the supernatural has come. Regardless the fact that some
people are highly talented, that some are rather ordinary, and that
some are tricky and bad, God in His Son can make all new. How
Jehovah 19
useless is the natural, only the supernatural is profitable. For the eyes
of God are focused on resurrection. And hence He can be the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
Memorial Forever
“This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all

generations” (Ex. 3.15). This means “I eternally AM,” that “in Me is
the yea.” Here the name Jehovah bespeaks two things of note: (1) I
am forever Jehovah. As My name is, so shall I be for eternity. And
(2) My memorial. Let Me be remembered as Jehovah to all
generations. And I too will always remember I am Jehovah. Unless
God forgets He is Jehovah and we forget He is Jehovah, God stands
forever as is to us, and He will forever supply all our needs.
Hallelujah!
2
Man’s Only Sin
Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. (Gen. 2.17)
The man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be
with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Gen.
3.12)
Esau said unto Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same
red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
(Gen. 25.30)
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight. (Luke 15.18)
He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not
hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the
name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3.18)
Of sin, because they believe not on me. (John 16.9)
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God
hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye
crucified. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren,
what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the
remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. (Acts 2.36-38)
Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God,
neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and
their senseless heart was darkened. (Rom. 1.21)
Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto
uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among
themselves. (Rom. 1.24)
For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their
women changed the natural use into that which is against nature.
(Rom. 1.26)
And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God

gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are
not fitting. (Rom. 1.28)
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Rom.
3.10)
All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3.23)
What I want to emphatically present is the only sin in the Bible. It

appears to be quite strange that the way man looks at sin is totally
different from the way God looks at it. It is a pity today that in
preaching the gospel, people often incorrectly present the principle of
sin. Man is in need of a Savior because he has sinned. If there were
no sin, there would be no need for a Savior. But what is the sin which
man has committed? The word sin is a generic term. You have your
sin, and I have mine. If we therefore do not commit the same sin,
then why do we all need the same Savior?
The Bible from the beginning to the end lays stress on but one sin.
Whether a person receives eternal life or perishes depends on his
attitude towards this one sin. His standing before God is determined
by his treatment of this sin. The Bible does not stress tens of
thousands of other sins. Even were all the tens of thousands of these
other sins resolved, you would still be a sinner if this one particular
sin were not solved in your life. What, then, is this sin? It is a
controversy between man and God, that man does not have a proper
relationship with God. Although lying, pride, and jealousy are all
sins, these are merely bits and pieces of this one particular sin. What
according to the Bible causes man to perish is but one particular sin.
You may not commit many other sins, but if you commit this one,
you are qualified indeed to descend to hell.
We may not commit adultery or gamble, but we doubtless have

committed this one sin—which is the lack of a proper relationship
with God. There may be a clean man or woman, but he or she has
committed the sin of having a controversy with God. We have all
Man’s Only Sin 23
committed this same sin of having broken the proper relationship

with God. We are born sinners.
The inventory of sin is so massive that it is beyond counting. You

may happen to have not committed any of the numberless sins in the
world, yet there is one sin you cannot deny having committed—
which is, that you have broken off your relationship with God.
Without Christ today, you are indeed a sinner. What is sin? It is
nothing less than man standing in a position of being unable to
commune with God. To sin is basically to stand in a position opposed
to God. Sin is more than murder or pride or jealousy: it is having a
controversy with God.
Let me use an illustration to show how important such sin is.

Suppose there is a man who is married and has children. He also has
in his big family parents, brothers, and sisters. He is working, and
naturally he has his colleagues where he works. He has in addition
many relatives and friends. In his own home he may be a good
husband and father. At his work he may be most diligent and faithful.
He is loyal to his friends and does good towards his relatives. In fact,
he is good in every respect. He does not smoke or drink; he tells no
lie and is not jealous. He keeps all the commonly accepted moral
codes. He is a real gentleman. Nonetheless, he has one peculiar
aversion; he hates his parents. He is agreeable with everybody else
except with them. He is courteous to all save his parents. He is easy
on everyone but them. It can be said that he is moral and good to all,
that he has not committed any of the gross sins which other people
usually have done. Even so, he has committed a great sin—that of
maintaining an improper relationship with his parents. He has not
committed sins commonly perpetrated, yet he has committed this one
grave sin of having a controversy with his parents.
Let me say that such is the position of the world of men today.
When asked if they are sinners, many will answer back, How have I
sinned? According to the human viewpoint, these who reply in such
fashion are no doubt gentlemanly, moral, and polite. They seem also
to follow their conscience well. Nevertheless, each of these people
needs to be asked this question: Has anything bad happened between
you and God? True, you have maintained a good relationship with
friends and relatives, you are moral and courteous, but what about
your relationship with the heavenly Father? Keep in mind that
besides your wife, children, friends, and relatives, there is also God
above towards whom you must relate.
Hence, we may accurately say that man is a sinner for no other

reason than his having an improper relationship with God. It is not
because he has killed people or his conscience is too black that he is
constituted a sinner; he is such basically because he stands at enmity
with God. He is a sinner because he has no spiritual intercourse with
God. Man can make excuses by saying he has not committed this sin
or that sin, but there is one particular sin which he must have
committed. We each may put forth excuses to explain away a
hundred and one other sins, but we cannot deny we have in fact
committed this one sin. It is this sin that makes you and me sinners.
Today I would not ask concerning how you behave at home.

Possibly you are a good member of your family. Neither would I ask
if you are at peace with your brothers. Perhaps you have indeed not
sued any of them because of some inheritance conflict. Nor would I
ask you how you treat your colleagues at work. Your colleagues may
well in fact respect and think highly of you. And I would not ask if
you are a good citizen. Perhaps you are a very good one, for you are
loyal, submissive to authority, and faithful in paying taxes. But I
would ask you today if something is wrong in your relationship with
God. What is your relationship with Him? God will not ask you how
you behave towards your wife, brothers, and colleagues. He will not
even ask you whether you have killed someone or committed arson.
He will only ask you about your relationship with Him. You may not
have created many other problems present in the world, but if this
Man’s Only Sin 25
universally common problem of man’s relationship with God is not

resolved, you are nonetheless a sinner.
The Bible teaches plainly concerning this sin. Let us be clear as to

just exactly how sin first entered this world. It did not enter in the
form of murder, nor a lie told by someone calling his wife his sister.
It did not enter the world by a man having taken another’s wife or
having sent a rival to the battlefront to die. Nor did it enter through
fornication or gambling or pride or jealousy. No, sin first entered the
world quite simply by man having eaten a piece of fruit.
“Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” commanded God
of Adam, “thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2.17). We will not touch upon the
reason that lay behind God’s word here. We will merely observe that
man overturned what God had commanded. If the Creator God
orders me not to eat, then I shall not eat; otherwise I contradict and
oppose God. Now as soon as Adam had eaten the forbidden fruit, he
quickly hid himself among the trees of the garden since he had
placed himself in a posture of fearing to see God. What, then, is sin?
Sin is simply having a wrong relationship with God. Sin is standing
in an improper position towards God.
It was doubtless sin for Cain to kill Abel; but before he had ever
contemplated killing Abel, sin had already been present. God did not
reject Cain after he murdered his brother; He had rejected him
beforehand—when he had offered the produce of the field. Cain was
rejected because his relationship with God was already wrong. Now
he had actually thought of pleasing God when he decided to offer up
the produce of his field. He could be termed what is today commonly
known as being religious. Cain offered up the labor of his hands to
God in order to please Him. But he had failed to see that sin was
already present in the world, and that therefore the only position he
could take would be to stand on the ground of the blood. He was thus
rejected because he refused to stand on the ground of the blood. In

other words, Cain’s position was faulty.
We are all familiar with the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.
What was the sin he committed? Many would say, Look, the younger
son took his share of his father’s property and wasted it in riotous
living, and thus he later became a prodigal. Let me say, however, that
the day on which he received his inheritance into his hands was when
he became a prodigal, even though he was a wealthy man at the
moment. He became a prodigal not because he had failed, wasted all
his inheritance, and fallen into feeding swine. The moment he left his
father to go into a far country was the moment he became a prodigal.
When he stepped out of his father’s door, that was when he became a
prodigal. His one fault that made him a prodigal was to leave his
father. Yet suppose this younger son had become even more wealthy
rather than poor abroad. Suppose that instead of having five
thousand, he now had ten thousand dollars. His father could still not
have said to him, Well done, good and faithful son. Even if he had
become ten times richer, the younger son still remained a prodigal.
Hence the problem today is not whether one has spent all, or has
resorted to feeding swine for a living, or has ended up hungry and in
rags. The real problem is, where are you? Is there something wrong
in your relationship with the heavenly Father? If you are in a far
country, you must have become a prodigal son also. But when the
prodigal in the Biblical account came to his senses, he did not plan to
work hard and accumulate money so that he might turn from beggar
to rich man. What did he say to himself when he was inwardly
awakened? “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight” (Luke 15.18).
He did not return just to satisfy his stomach with food and to have
shoes and clothes to wear. He said, “I will arise and go back to my
father.”
Man’s Only Sin 27
What is meant by being saved? It means to have restored a proper

relationship with God. What is eternal life? To have eternal life is to
have a right relationship with God the Father: “this is life eternal, that
they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst
send, even Jesus Christ” (John 17.3).
Had the younger son maintained a proper relationship with his

father, he would not have left at all. Whoever leaves one’s heavenly
home is a prodigal son or daughter. Whoever leaves the Father in
heaven is a prodigal. But when in the story the prodigal son returned
home, he was to his father dead and now alive, lost and now found.
So is it in the spiritual realm, too.
Hence, let us see that you and I became sinners not because we
had committed so many different sins, but because we could not see
God’s face. I do not say these many sins are not sins with which we
need to be concerned; I would only say that not to have a proper
relationship with God is the sin.
In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul shows us most plainly

the qualification of being a sinner. What makes one a sinner? How
does he “earn his degree”? The sin of a sinner is none other than
having a problem with God. Three times in the first chapter of
Romans Paul mentions that “God gave them up.” Let us look at each
case.
“Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God,

neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their
senseless heart was darkened” (1.21). The “they” here points to men.
Men know that God is God and yet they do not treat Him as God.
They know He is God, but they do not glorify Him as God. All the
many different sins which appear are not the root of sin; these come
from the one sin, which is, that men do not respect God as God, and
thus their reasoning becomes vain and their senseless heart is
darkened to commit all kinds of sin.
“Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto

uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among
themselves” (1.24). “Wherefore” follows the preceding thought.
Because men have turned the glory of God into creature likenesses,
God therefore gives them up. Thus, they commit uncleannesses
according to the lusts of their hearts. Let us recognize that men’s first
sin is not uncleanness according to the lusts of their hearts, neither is
it a dishonoring of their bodies. The first sin which men commit is to
be at odds with God. Allowing such a controversy to occur, men
naturally will subsequently commit all the other sins. Today we
consider lying, pride, jealousy, fornication, killing, and so forth to be
heinous sins. Actually these are but symptoms, not the disease itself.
Merely treating symptoms such as the treating of the head when there
is a headache and the foot when there is foot pain is not reckoned as
the mark of a good physician. A good physician will prescribe
according to the cause of the disease. And in the spiritual realm, the
one disease men have is that of having a problem with God himself.
“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
Amen” (1.25). This indicates that the farther away one is from God
the worse the relationship with God becomes.
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their
women changed the natural use into that which is against nature”
(1.26). “For this cause” again continues on with what precedes it.
This is the second use of the phrase “gave up.” The sins mankind
commits have increased: “God gave them up unto vile passions.” All
this is because they do not honor the Creator. These sins are fruits,
not the cause.
“And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God

gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
fitting” (1.28). This is the third instance of the use of these two words
Man’s Only Sin 29
“gave up.” Even more sins are to be committed, as is evident in the

verses that follow:
Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural
affection, unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that
they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the
same, but also consent with them that practice them. (1.29-32)
How do these numerous sins come about? All are due to the fact
that men “refuse to have God in their knowledge.” Men sin because
they refuse to know God. Men sin because they have problems with
Him. Once the relationship between man and God becomes
improper, all kinds of sins quickly follow.
Once again we see that the one and only sin of man is his having a
problem with God. The supreme question today is whether or not
one’s relationship with God is right. The first sin committed by the
very first man was his eating fruit. There was no killing, no lying, no
pride, fornication, or jealousy. None of these sins was present. Only
one sin was committed—that of having an improper relationship with
God. And as a consequence God was forced to ask man, “Where art
thou?” (Gen. 3.9) So that today we do not stand on the original
ground, but stand on an improper ground since our relationship with
God is improper. And because of this, numberless sins end up being
committed. Let us never conclude that because we may have dealt
with some small sins, we are therefore somehow all right. Not so.
Let me ask you who suppose you are not a sinner, what is your
relationship with God? I do not ask what is your relationship with
your brothers, wife, children, friends, or colleagues. I merely ask
what your relationship is with your Father. Cain at the very outset
was rejected by God because he stood on the wrong ground. He was
not rejected after he slew his brother; on the contrary, Cain slew his
brother because he had already been rejected by God. On the other

hand, because Abel was accepted by God, he did not kill his brother
Cain. Only those who are accepted by God will not commit sin.
There was once a man—told of in the Bible—who fought with his

brother even while in his mother’s womb. He later became most
cunning. He cheated his father and father-in-law. Whatever was
advantageous to him he did without hesitation. His morality was
tremendously low. Who was this man? Jacob, of course. His brother
Esau was rather candid. Though he had vowed to kill his brother,
nevertheless, when he saw his brother’s humility, he let him go. He
was indeed the better man of the two, yet God was not pleased with
him. Bad as Jacob was, he nonetheless had a proper relationship with
God. Though his means were deceitful, his aim was good. For he
desired after the covenant which God had made with Abraham and
Isaac. He respected the birthright of the firstborn. Abraham and Isaac
had a right relationship with God because God had made covenant
with them. And Jacob sought for that too. Esau, on the other hand,
appeared to be a gentleman who was willing to let go of everything,
but he had lost contact with his God. He despised the relationship
with God. He did not appreciate his position before Him, and thus he
was unable to receive the inheritance (a type of the kingdom.) But
Jacob, though deceitful, still had a proper relationship with God.
Let me openly acknowledge one thing here, which is, that among
the believers there are many whose moral status falls behind that of
worldly people. Yet I can testify for such believers that their
relationship with God is proper. To you who are still unbelievers, let
me say that you may be courteous and diligent, with everybody
praising you; but I need to ask you one question: what is your
relationship with God? Some believers may not morally be as high as
you are, yet they exceed you in one very important respect, which is,
that their relationship with God is right whereas yours is not. We
believers can approach God with boldness and without fear in our
conscience. This is a most precious gift. But can you who are still
Man’s Only Sin 31
unbelievers claim the same gift today? You who are yet a sinner, ask
yourself this: “Do I have a problem with God? Can I see God’s face?
What is my relationship with Him? Will I perish?” You probably
consider yourself most healthy, so how could you possible perish?
But let me remind you that this is only your physical condition. You
should instead think of your condition in the sight of God. The Bible
lays stress on one sin which all of us must deal with—the matter of
our relationship with God; it must be corrected.
According to the Bible “there is none righteous, no, not one”

(Rom. 3.10). All of us are sinners because not one of us seeks after
God but everyone has turned aside and become altogether
unprofitable. The cause for sin lies in our not seeking God nor
knowing Him: “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”
(Rom. 3.23).
But God has come into this world. The Word has become flesh
and has tabernacled among men. God has manifested himself to the
world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Two thousand years ago
God appeared in our midst. He has been preached to us. And the
question He will ask you today is this: what is your relationship with
this Jesus of Nazareth? Formerly we did not know what kind of god
is God; we had only a vague idea of Him. But now, thank God, He
has come into the world and has dwelt among us. He is not only God
but also Man. He is the Word become flesh. He was crucified to
atone for our sins. Today, this Jesus of Nazareth will ask you what
your relationship with God is, what you think of Him. And your
attitude towards Jesus of Nazareth will be your attitude towards God.
For this Jesus of Nazareth is the Word become flesh, He is God
clothed with flesh in order to dwell among men.
Do not misunderstand. Hereafter, no one will go to hell because of

many different other sins. All who enter hell do so for but one sin—
that of not believing in the Son of God: “He that believeth on him is
not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because
he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God”
(John 3.18). Men are judged not because of killing or committing
arson; they are judged for but one reason—they do not believe in the
name of the Son of God. Not believing in the name of the Son of
God is tantamount to not having a proper relationship with God. The
logic of the Bible is that the unbelievers are judged because of their
unbelieving. For God looks especially for this sin.
What is your attitude towards Christ today? This is what God will
consider, because Christ is the bridge that spans the distance between
God and men. He is Man as well as God. Today God dwells among
us in Christ. Men’s attitude towards Christ is their attitude towards
God. Once as I shook hands with a friend he said to me: “Let me take
off my gloves first.” I replied, “That will be unnecessary, since I
shall really be holding your hand and not your gloves.” Similarly,
Christ is God, except that He is clothed with a human body, just like
the hand that has a glove over it. “He that hath seen me,” the Lord
observed, “hath seen the Father; . . . I am in the Father, and the
Father in me” (John 14.9,10). Jesus further explained with these
words: “I and the Father are one” (John 10.30).
What the Bible shows us is that after the incarnation of the Lord,
the one and only sin which the Holy Spirit convicts people of is that
of unbelief: “And he [the Holy Spirit], when he is come, will convict
the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of
sin, because they believe not on me [Christ]” (John 16.8,9). Of sin
because they believe not, because they do not have a proper
relationship with Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts people not of their
killing, perpetrating arson, having pride or jealousy, but of their not
having a right relationship with Christ. Just here I must mention one
thing to the believers. Today much preaching in the church is faulty.
People have preached incorrectly not only concerning the Savior,
redemption, and salvation, they have also done so with respect to sin.
How sin has been inaccurately presented! As if men go to hell for
Man’s Only Sin 33
their many sins! Actually there is but one sin which condemns people
to hell—that of not having a right relationship with Christ.
How evangelists try to prove men’s sinfulness by citing arson,

murder, fornication, pride, lying, jealousy, and so on! Now, of
course, people should deal with these sins, clear them up with God,
and receive forgiveness. Yet even if all these sins are confessed and
God’s forgiveness is sought, people will not be saved if that one sin
is not cleared up. How sad that we pay no attention to the one sin
which the Bible emphasizes, the only sin of which the Holy Spirit
convicts. There is no doubt that murder, arson, pride, jealousy and so
on are truly sins, but the root of all sin is unbelief. The most basic
sin, according to the word of God, is unbelief.
Therefore, when we go out to preach the gospel, we do not

persuade men to cease killing, burning, despising, or envying, for
even if they should stop doing these things they will still perish and
not have eternal life. In hell there are countless people like these. In
preaching the gospel one thing to insist upon asking people is: is
there anything wrong in your relationship with Christ? As long as
people do not have a proper relationship with Him, they remain
sinners in the sight of God.
This that I have been saying I know whereof I speak. How Satan
attempts to destroy the work of Christ by altering the Biblical
emphasis on sin. Today people look at these many fragmentary sins
instead of at the root of sin. In so doing they overturn the work of
Christ and pursue psychological salvation which is merely moral
improvement and change of lifestyle, but not the receiving of life
itself. A wrong emphasis on sin will not save souls. Sin is that men
do not have the right relationship with God. The younger son was a
prodigal because of his controversy with his father. In like manner, if
you have a problem with God the Father, this is your sin. I sincerely
hope all of us have a proper relationship with God.
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God
hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said
unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?
And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2.36-38). The first
work of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was to prick the heart
of those who heard. What had they heard? “God hath made him both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.” This meant that there
was something wrong between them and Christ and that they did not
have a right relationship with Him. They and God were at odds. God
had established Christ as Savior, and they had killed Him. But when
they heard this, their hearts were pricked. Not because of their strife
with brothers, or their gambling, beating, murder, or arson, but
because of their not having a proper relationship with Christ.
“What shall we do?” they asked of Peter and the rest of the
apostles. Let us notice Peter’s answer here: “Repent ye, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.” He called
them first to repent, then to be baptized.
What is repentance? In truth, they did need to repent. Yet let me

ask, repent of what? Does repentance point to our former killing but
that now we are to kill no more; does it refer to our previous acts of
arson but that now we are to do so no more, to our former lying but
that now we are to lie no more, to our earlier pride but that now we
are to cease being proud anymore? Does repentance refer only to
this? No, to repent is to repent of our lack of a proper relationship
with God. To repent is to repent of only one thing, and that is, that
formerly my relationship with God was wrong, so now I repent.
Therefore, we find the apostle Paul declaring both to Jews and to
Gentiles “repentance toward God” (Acts 20.21).
Man’s Only Sin 35
To be baptized means to come out of all these things—come out

of the world, come out of Adam. Yet how can we come out of the
world and of Adam? The only way is to die. And once dead, all is
finished. Yesterday I read in the newspaper about a man who asked
to have his citizenship revoked. He had to get the permission of the
Ministry of the Interior before he could have his status abolished. But
when a person is dead, he is freed from all these things pertaining to
citizenship—he is freed from national conscription, taxation, the
census, and so forth. In like manner, baptism overturns our former
position. To be baptized is to acknowledge that when Christ died He
took me to the cross with Him and I was thus crucified also. To be
crucified is the work of Christ; and to be baptized is to testify to that
work. To be buried in baptism is to write the final page in a man’s
old biography. Death is not the last thing, but burial by means of
baptism is: it is the final act: it concludes all that is in Adam.
Please keep ever in mind that the only sin which the Bible stresses
is that of not believing Christ. If you have not dealt with this sin by
receiving Christ as your Savior, you are doomed. With this sin dealt
with, however, all the other fragmentary sins can easily be resolved.
Without having this sin dealt with, and even if all the other sins are
solved, you will still go to hell. May God give us all a proper
relationship with Christ. May He constrain us to deal properly with
this one sin. We thank God, for His view of sin is quite different
from ours. May we, like Him, also have the right emphasis
concerning sin.
3
Forgiveness and Confession
To forgive is God’s heart desire. He loves men and

delights in forgiving their sins. Ever since man fell,
God has provided ways to atone for sins.
In the Old Testament time, God used bullocks and

sheep to atone for men’s sins. In the New Testament period, He
appoints the Lord Jesus—the Lamb of God—as the sin-offering, who
then offered himself once for all to obtain eternal redemption for
men. In God’s view, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus on the cross
has completely solved the sin problem of the world. But from
humanity’s standpoint man still needs to add one ingredient—faith.
Whoever believes that the blood of the Lord Jesus was shed for his
sins, that one is redeemed and the person’s trespasses are forgiven.
Anyone who disbelieves will perish and go to hell. But so far as
atonement is concerned, the work is already done. It is of God,
originated by God, and is what God wants to do. He does it by
sacrificing His only begotten Son, a tremendous price that God has
paid. Hence, there is absolutely no question that God wants to
forgive sins and to provide for men the means of atonement. Are
there any sinners who are still afraid that their sins cannot be
forgiven? God wants to forgive such people. He delights in forgiving
them, and He has already paid a great price to forgive them.
God Is Able to Forgive All Sins
Whenever a sinner believes that the Lord Jesus shed His blood on
the cross for his sins, that person’s sins shall be forgiven at that very
moment. If a believer is overtaken in any trespass and sins, he will be
forgiven if he honestly repents and confesses his sin before God (1
John 1.9). For the blood price the Lord Jesus has paid is great enough
to forgive all sins and to cleanse all unrighteousness. So the way of
forgiveness is open to saints as well as sinners.
God Forgives Forever
On one occasion the Lord Jesus said to Peter that he must forgive
seventy times seven, which means he must keep on forgiving and
forever forgiving as long as his brother is willing to repent. Since the
blessed Lord taught Peter such gracious words, would He not himself
put His own words into practice? Surely God will forgive all who are
sorry for their sins and who truly repent. He will forgive them
forever.
God’s Forgiveness Leaves No Mark
Many people think that sinning is like making an error in writing,

and forgiveness is like erasing that error which will nevertheless
leave an indelible mark. They do not realize that this is absolutely
untrue in God’s forgiveness. The blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses
men’s sins. What is cleansing? Cleansing is a process so perfect that
it leaves no spot. Our sins are so washed away as though we had
never sinned and as though we were as holy as Christ himself.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Is. 1.18). Look how white snow
and wool are, for there is not one speck of red. Accordingly, when
God washes away sins, He leaves no mark behind but cleanses
purely and perfectly.
God’s Heart to Forgive Surpasses Our Heart for Forgiveness
What the father in Luke 15 did to the prodigal son enables us to

know the forgiving heart of our heavenly Father toward sinners.
While the prodigal son was yet on the way home, his father saw him
afar off and ran to meet him. The old man did not stroll slowly; he
ran. His heart was so eager after his son that walking was too slow
for him. His legs had to move quickly. Today God’s legs of
Forgiveness and Confession 39
forgiveness also run after every repentant sinner. How He longs to

forgive man’s sins as rapidly as possible. Did the prodigal run
towards his father? No, he did not. Judging from the movements of
them both, we can readily see that the father’s heart of forgiving
surpasses the son’s heart for forgiveness. If we continue observing
how the father fell on his neck and kissed him repeatedly, we shall
understand what pleasure God the Father himself takes in a repentant
sinner. Though the son hated what he had done and felt guilty
towards heaven and his father, and continued confessing his sins to
the father, the latter, out of intense love for his son, was impatient to
allow his son to finish his confession, and therefore commanded
instead that the servants fetch the best robe and put a ring and shoes
on the prodigal son (please note that there were less words of
confession recorded in verse 21 than in verses 18 and 19 because the
father broke in).
How precious to know that our heavenly Father’s love to forgive

exceeds our heart for forgiveness. He does not wait for us to cry
three days and three nights, confessing over and over again before
He will forgive. Frequently we cry and cry, confess and confess, beat
ourselves black and blue—in order to be forgiven. How we
misconstrue God’s heart, and in actuality we wound His heart. Let us
realize that He loves those whom He has bought with a price far
more than we could ever love ourselves. How He longs to forgive us,
indeed He “runs” to forgive us. And before we can even finish our
confession, He has already forgiven us!
How often when your loved one in the family sins against you,
you are anxious to forgive. You will immediately forgive him if he is
willing merely to apologize. Truly, where there is love, there is the
forgiving heart. If this is factual among men, how much more this is
the case with the heavenly Father, who is full of mercy and
compassion to eternally and completely forgive the sins of men.
God Cannot But Forgive
God sent the Lord Jesus to the earth to shed His blood on the cross
for the sins of the world that the problem of sin might be resolved.
All this speaks of the loving heart of God. But after the Lord Jesus
had shed His blood, God himself bore witness to Him, saying that all
who believe shall have their sins forgiven—that all who confess shall
have their unrighteousness cleansed. Have faith if you are a sinner,
confess if you are a believer, and God cannot but forgive your sins.
Otherwise, God would be unfaithful and unrighteous. Let me
reverently ask how the holy God could ever be unfaithful and
unrighteous? Oh, this fact of sins forgiven is something guaranteed!
Let us rejoice in God, for sin shall not reign over us. We are
delivered from sin and we are forgiven.
God’s Grace of Forgiveness Is to Lead Us to Repentance
God’s truth has two sides. What has already been mentioned
stresses the side of grace which is true and guaranteed. As long as a
person is kept in the grace of God, he has nothing to fear regarding
the matter of “sins forgiven.” Even so, if anyone should think that he
can waste the grace of God—that is to say, “Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6.1)—let him read the following
sobering words: “Behold then the goodness and severity of God:
toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God’s goodness, if
thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off”
(Rom. 11.22).
Some have dared to say: “I sin daily by hiding under the precious
blood;” or, “I sin in the daytime and confess before God in the
evening to have my sins forgiven. I go on sinning the next day, and
keep on confessing the next evening for forgiveness. Since the Lord
Jesus taught Peter to forgive seventy times seven, surely He will
forgive me. And then, too, there are the words in 1 John 1.9 that, God
being faithful and righteous, He cannot but forgive my sins which I

confess, for Christ has already died on the cross for me.”
Thou fool, do you not know that the grace of God is to lead you to
repentance (see Rom. 2.4) and not to encourage you to sin? If you
think you can waste the precious blood, it shows that the precious
blood has never washed away your so-called “confessed” sins.
The Condition for a Christian to Be Forgiven
Let us answer this question with the word of God: “if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1.7).
From this verse we learn that there is one condition and two
consequences. From the one condition there flows two consequences
without failure. What is the condition here? “If we walk in the light
as he [God] is in the light.” This means that if we Christians walk in
the light, we are not walking in darkness, and therefore we shall have
works of light and not deeds of darkness. What kind of light is this?
Or what degree of light is it? The light here corresponds to the
words, “as he [God] is in the light”; and according to verse 5, “God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (note that all other lights are
mixed up with darkness).
Thus walking in God’s light will bring two consequences. First,

“we have fellowship one with another”—that is to say, we have
fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord. With the above
condition fulfilled we can fellowship with one another. If there is no
fellowship it must be due to the condition unfulfilled. Then, the
second consequence is, “and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.” This means that having walked in the light we find the
precious blood being effective in cleansing all our sins. So that it is
clear to us that “fellowship one with another” and “the blood
cleanses us from all our sin” flow out of the condition, “if we walk in
the light.” If a Christian does not walk in the light, he will lose the
benefit of “fellowshipping one with another” as well as that of “the
blood cleansing from all sin.” And to reverse it, we may say that in
order to have fellowship and cleansing one must walk in the light;
otherwise, there will be neither fellowship nor cleansing.
The first consequence—fellowship—is visible. It can be

experienced on earth and is experienced in the sight of men. The
second consequence—the cleansing—is invisible, yet it is a fact in
heaven before God. As the visible is factual on earth, so the invisible
is factual in heaven. As it is true before men, so it is true before God.
For this reason, a Christian who sins is not able to fellowship freely
with other Christians on earth; rather, he will attempt to avoid them.
Let me warn you most solemnly that if you sin and walk in
darkness, you will not only lose fellowship with other believers but
will also miss the effectual cleansing of your sins by the precious
blood before God. As you lose the first consequence for not walking
in the light, so you will forfeit the second consequence also. You
may confess your sins with your mouth, yet you will not be cleansed
by the precious blood. This is not, however, because the precious
blood has lost its cleansing power, but because your situation of not
walking in the light does not fulfill the condition for cleansing. For
the condition for cleansing is to “walk in the light,” but you continue
to sin and to walk in darkness; therefore the precious blood will not
cleanse you. The precious blood will only cleanse the sin of those
who walk in the light.
Consequently, do not deceive yourselves. If you sin and fall and

lose the fellowship which is visible on earth, I fear you will also miss
the cleansing of the precious blood which is invisible in heaven. Let
me warn you most earnestly that if you refuse to deal with your sin
with a truly sorrowful and repentant heart, you will have to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ to settle your account. Hence, a
confession of sin from the mouth without a corresponding deed of
“walking in the light” and a heart truly sorrowful and repentant (Ps.
51.17) will not result in cleansing.
What I would especially emphasize is this one condition of

“walking in the light,” because this condition is often neglected by
those who have wasted the precious blood (in actuality the precious
blood can never be wasted by them)—though it is their only remedy.
This is why I want to stress this point. According to the Bible, for a
believer to receive forgiveness after having sinned, at least the
following three conditions must be present: (1) a broken and contrite
heart (Ps. 51.17); (2) a confession of our sins (1 John 1.9); and (3) a
walking in the light (1 John 1.7). If anyone should assume that he can
sin daily by hiding under the precious blood or that he can sin in the
day and confess at night, let me emphatically declare that there is no
such thing. God will not be mocked. Whenever one walks in
darkness, then he is not cleansed by the precious blood, for the blood
cannot serve as one’s shelter or refuge. If a person wishes to be
cleansed by the precious blood, he must first walk in the light and
purpose to sin no more.
True confession must be in line with Paul’s observation when he

wrote to the previously “puffed up” and “glorying” Corinthian
believers (1 Cor. 5.2,6) that “ye were made sorry unto repentance;
for ye were made sorry after a godly sort. . . for godly sorrow
worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no
regret” (2 Cor. 7.9b,10a). Furthermore, according to the apostle Paul,
such genuine repentance is characterized by the following seven
traits: (1) earnest care, (2) the clearing of oneself, (3) indignation, (4)
fear, (5) longing, (6) zeal, and (7) avenging (see 2 Cor. 7.11). He
who exhibits these seven traits is truly confessing his sin. Otherwise,
one’s “confession” is merely of the lips, not of the heart. The mouth
may confess the sin, but the heart does not hate it. If so, then let me
repeat that the precious blood is not operative in such a person.
Some keep on sinning because they have acquired a formula for

forgiveness of sin. He knows by heart 1 John 1.9 that “if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He figures that since the Lord
Jesus has shed His precious blood for him, surely this precious blood
is able to cleanse his sins. At the same time, God, being faithful and
righteous, will without fail forgive all his sins and cleanse him from
all unrighteousness if he but confesses his sins. Having obtained this
“magic charm,” as it were, he can afford to be less careful, for has he
not achieved the way of forgiveness? Surely he can sin a little, if
only he confesses his sin as well. Yet how perilous is the position of
such a person!
Once I heard of a brother A who opened a private letter of a

brother B. And after he looked into it, A confessed to B on this wise:
“It is not right, I know, to open and read another person’s letter, but I
knew you would forgive me, so I went ahead to open and read it.”
Now this illustrates how one deliberately sins upon his knowing the
way of forgiveness. Yet this is a falling into the snare of the devil.
Such a person has stumbled upon a hidden rock along the spiritual
pathway. It is a most perilous path to follow. May all who only know
the formula of forgiveness but who do not know as well the
condition of “walking in the light” fear and tremble lest they sin
against God. Let me reiterate that the goodness and grace of God
should lead us to repentance (Rom. 2.4), not encourage us to sin!
Four Kinds of Heart Condition in Confession
When people realize they have sinned and have then confessed
either to God or to men, their heart conditions may be quite different
from each other. From my personal observation, I have detected at
least four different conditions of the heart in people. Let us examine
each of these in some detail.
(1) An uneasiness in one’s own conscience. After a person has

sinned, his conscience becomes uneasy and accuses him. By
confessing his sin, his conscience returns to peace and no longer
accuses him. It is permissible to confess sin due to the accusation of
one’s conscience. But if one confesses only for the sake of the peace
of one’s conscience—for the sake of stopping its accusing voice—
yet without seeing a deeper reason for confession (this deeper reason
being to cultivate a hatefulness of the sin itself), such confession is
but a bribing of the conscience. For conscience is the organ in us
which tells us of our actual condition. It accuses because sin is
hateful. It persists in raising its voice against sin. Now you are tired
of its accusation and conceive of a way to stop its accusation, but you
fail to hate the sin that the conscience hates. What you pay attention
to is the accusing conscience and not the cause of its accusation,
which is sin. You do not hate sin, you are merely uneasy over the
accusation of the conscience. You do not deal with the root of the
matter—sin; instead, you deal with the accusation which comes out
of the root—that is to say, the conscience. With the result that you
use the method of confession to bribe your conscience. But God
demands much more than that.
(2) A fear of an accusation by the other person’s conscience.

Sometimes you offend a person and regret what you did. Meanwhile
you are afraid this other person will hate you and accuse you of being
wrong. In order to appease his conscience and restore peace, you find
an opportunity to confess to him. You figure that if he forgives you,
you will be reconciled to him. He will no longer hate you and his
conscience will not accuse you anymore. And if he will not forgive
you, then this becomes his problem before God (and not yours any
longer) and it will be to his disadvantage (“if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”
[Matthew 6.15]). Such a mental attitude is not much different from
the first heart condition described above because what it deals with is
not sin itself, but the other person’s conscience. There is nothing
wrong in our being reconciled with other people, but a failure to hate
the sin itself is not the kind of heart condition which God requires in
our dealing with sin.
If your confession only flows out from the above two heart
conditions, the inevitable result will be an easiness to sin and an
easiness to confess. You do not sense in your heart that each time
you sin against men you sin against God. You do not feel the
absolute necessity of the precious blood. You are only conscious of
your relationship with man. As long as you are reconciled with him
you reckon it is satisfactory enough. Yet you do not see the
hatefulness of sin, nor do you realize the seriousness of confession.
Moreover, you will not have a truly broken and contrite heart, and
you do not find it an embarrassing thing to confess your sin. To sum
up, you look lightly upon sin, and consequently you can easily sin
again. You may sometimes even commit the same sin as you are in
the process of confessing it. May God give all of us grace that we
may see sin as He sees it.
(3) A fear of future punishment. Someone may recall the solemn

words of 2 Corinthians 5.10 that “we must all be made manifest
before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the
things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it
be good or bad.” He knows of the awaiting judgment before the
judgment-seat of Christ. Not only his works will be judged, his life
will be judged also. Whatever has not been judged by conscience
under the illumination of the Holy Spirit and has not been cleansed
by the precious blood will be judged by the Lord in the days to come.
Hence he harbors fear in his heart. Since today’s sins will be judged
in the future anyway, it is most profitable to clear them up now than
to be judged for them later.
Now it is not wrong for you to confess with this kind of heart
condition; as a matter of fact, this is better than the above two
conditions, since with respect to just the first two, you are only
related to men, but with respect to this third heart condition you are
at least related to God. You confess your sins out of a fear of God.
Obviously, your confession has two sides: on the one hand, you
confess to God; on the other hand, you also confess to men (if you
have sinned against them). And upon confessing, you maintain a
conscience without offense both towards God and towards men. This
is commendable, but it is still not the highest kind of heart condition
in confession.
(4) A seeing the uncleanness of sin. This is the kind of heart

condition God truly wants. And why? Because God has put His own
life in us, and with this life, we have a most holy nature (as holy a
nature as God has). Sin is most unclean in the sight of God, and it is
absolutely incompatible to His holy nature. God gives His holy life
to us that we may hate sin as He hates it. If we allow this holy life to
grow in us, we will recognize the uncleanliness of sin. We will cry
out as did Madame Guyon, when she declared: “I would rather go to
hell than to want to sin.” The life of God in us is to manifest Christ.
The more manifested is the nature of Christ, the more hateful to us
will sin appear, and the farther apart from sin we shall become (see
Heb. 7.26). Let us look at sin as we do leprosy: the farther away we
are from it the more comfortable we become! All who have such an
understanding of sin as this will not sin easily. If confession is done
with such a heart condition as this fourth kind, that person will live a
godly and holy life before God.
How to Cultivate the Right Knowledge of Sin
How can we develop a right knowledge of sin? This requires the

enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and our obedience to the light. We
must reject all sins which have been exposed by light. The Holy
Spirit who moves in our spirit will reveal to us the character of all
sins. He will also cause our renewed mind to know how most
unclean sin is as well as cause our conscience to rise up and condemn
sin as sin. Meanwhile, our new life—the life of Christ—naturally
hates sin, since such an aversion to sin is a characteristic of God’s

very nature (see 2 Peter 1.4). Let me simply point out that the Holy
Spirit reveals the reality of sin by the light of life∗ and according to
the nature of God’s life in us we obey the light and hate the sin which
is revealed by the light.
Hence the more we obey the light, the brighter will the light shine
within us, the dirtier will the sin be manifested, and the stronger will
be the animosity of our hearts toward sin. It is similar to the way
minute particles of dust which float in the air and which are not
usually visible become visible under the bright sunlight. Hence one
who abides in God’s strong light will condemn as sin those things
which others might not ever consider to be sin. Madame Guyon, for
example, repented of her former deeds of giving alms and asked for
the cleansing of the precious blood when, under the light of God, she
finally perceived that her former good deeds had been done out of
her own good and not out of the life of God. She therefore realized
that they needed cleansing by the blood. Like Madame Guyon, a
person will become increasingly more sensitive to sin, and one’s
practical holiness will also be greatly increased.
We may say that just as the nature of one who belongs to Adam
(that is, the nature of an unregenerated person) inclines toward sin,
so the nature of God in one who belongs to Christ abhors and is
repelled by sin. Aversion toward sin is the natural expression of
God’s nature in men. Such kind of heart condition is of God and
well-pleasing to God.
By our analyzing these four kinds of heart condition, I believe we

can now easily conclude that the first three are centered upon self
∗
Let us take note of the words found in John 1.4 ("the life was the light of men"). The life of
Christ in men is the light of men. It is not something which is outwardly visible, and
therefore all who look for outside light are exposed to the danger of deception.—Author
and are directly related to self-interest, whereas only the last one is
centered upon God and is of God. And those with this fourth kind of
heart truly stand on God’s side.
Confession Must Be Made to God First
Concerning this matter of confessing sin, there is a bad tendency

among Christians to incline gradually more and more to having
dealings with men rather than having dealings with God. There are
even Christians who do not mention the precious blood at all. They
only seek for the peace of conscience with each other, putting God
aside completely. Such a situation is most dreadful, since it will end
up in their losing the fear of God. Let me most emphatically state:
the notion of confession without the need of the precious blood must
incontrovertibly emanate from hell. Let us ever keep in mind that in
our committing each sin God, not man, is the first one who is being
offended. God, not man, is the one who is most frequently being
sinned against. (It is not unlike the fact that when you break a piece
of furniture in someone’s house, the first you offend is the owner of
the house, not the thing belonging to the owner.)
Recall how David confessed in Psalm 51.4, “Against thee, thee

only, have I sinned.” He did not say here that he had sinned against
Uriah or against Bathsheba (though obviously David had sinned
against them as well). In contrast to David’s heart, we find that Judas
the betrayer of the Lord Jesus confessed his sin to men and returned
the money; but though Judas cleared up the matter with men, he
nevertheless remained a son of perdition. By my saying these things I
do not wish to be misunderstood as meaning that we should not
confess to one another, because confessing to one another is
something right and Biblical for us to do (see James 5.16). I only
stress that it is more important to deal with God than with men. We
should never reverse the order. We must not put aside God and the
precious blood. It is essential to confess our sins before God, and it is
also essential that we not neglect clearing up matters with men. May
God have mercy upon us.
4
David and Mephibosheth
Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame
of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came
of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse took
him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste
to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was
Mephibosheth. (2 Sam. 4.4)
And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of
Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? And
there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba,
and they called him unto David; and the king said unto him, Art
thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is
there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the
kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan
hath yet a son, who is lame of his feet. And the king said unto
him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in
the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. Then king
David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of
Ammiel, from Lodebar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan,
the son of Saul, came unto David, and fell on his face, and did
obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered,
Behold, thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not; for I will
surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will
restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat
bread at my table continually. And he did obeisance, and said,
What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and
said unto him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house have
I given unto thy master’s son. And thou shalt till the land for him,
thou, and thy sons, and thy servants; and thou shalt bring in the
fruits, that thy master’s son may have bread to eat: but
Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall eat bread alway at my table.
Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba
unto the king, According to all that my lord the king commandeth
his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons. And
Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually at

the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet. (2 Sam. 9.1-13)
And when David was a little past the top of the ascent, behold,
Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses
saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and a
hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. And the king said
unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses
are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and
summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as
are faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, And
where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold,
he abideth at Jerusalem; for he said, Today will the house of
Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to
Ziba, Behold, thine is all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. And
Ziba said, I do obeisance; let me find favor in thy sight, my lord,
O king. (2 Sam. 16.1-4)
And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the
king; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard,
nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the
day he came home in peace. And it came to pass, when he was
come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him,
Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? And he
answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy
servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and
go with the king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath
slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king
is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.
For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the
king; yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at
thine own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry
any more unto the king? And the king said unto him, Why
speakest thou any more of thy matters? I say, Thou and Ziba
divide the land. And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let
him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come in peace unto
his own house. (2 Sam. 19.24-30)
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the
son of Saul, because of Jehovah’s oath that was between them,
between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. (2 Sam. 21.7)
David and Mephibosheth 53
Let us observe a marvelous scene in the Old Testament: a lame

child sat at the king’s table. As a matter of fact, the New Testament
is full of marvelous things too—such as a harlot being saved, a
robber being saved, a publican being saved, and a Pharisee being
saved. Here, however, we see that a lame child was saved.
Whenever we who have read the Scriptures think of friendship,

we will most likely mention David and Jonathan. Even in world
literature, the story of David and Jonathan is used as an illustration of
friendly love. Yet the emphasis which I would like us to focus on in
this story of the lame child in 2 Samuel is on how David treated
Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan with kindness and not on how
Mephibosheth expressed his gratitude to David.
Mephibosheth Was Lame (4.4)
“Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet.
He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan
out of Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to
pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And
his name was Mephibosheth.” (4.4)
One fact to be recalled is that Saul, the grandfather of

Mephibosheth, had been an enemy of David. How he had frequently
persecuted David, wishing to put him to death. But now both Saul
and Jonathan had been killed in warfare. And Mephibosheth’s nurse
had taken up the child and fled. This was the only child left to his
grandfather and his father. If he had not fled with his nurse,
Mephibosheth might have been killed later on by David. But in the
haste to flee, the child had fallen to the ground and had thus become
lame. Is not this entire situation a picture of every sinner’s attitude
towards God? Allow me to explain.
Oh, how man misunderstands God! Because man has evil

thoughts about God, he believes God thinks evilly of him too.
Because he hates God, he surmises that God also hates him. He

knows he has sinned, therefore he concludes that God hates him.
Mephibosheth may have reflected that David must hate him because
his grandfather Saul had been David’s arch enemy. David could not
possibly love him since he himself had no affection for David. In like
manner do we think about God. Would God ever love us since we
have no affection for Him? Would God ever love us since we hate
Him? Permit me to say that God’s attitude is absolutely opposite to
yours. Mephibosheth had not the slightest idea of receiving grace, yet
he received abundant grace. And so will God treat us with grace too.
David Dealt Kindly with Mephibosheth (9.1-13)
“And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul,
that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (v.5)
Today God is continually asking if there is any left of Adam

towards whom He can show kindness. David expressed kindness to
Mephibosheth for the sake of Jonathan. And God shows kindness to
sinners for the sake of His Son Christ Jesus. How men have erred in
thinking that God hates them. They imagine they have to do much
good in order to turn God’s face towards them, to appease His anger,
and for Him to be pleased with them. But Mephibosheth had no
position whatsoever before David. Nor did David know him, for he
only knew Jonathan, Mephibosheth’s father. Yet for Jonathan’s sake,
he would show kindness to his son.
Now it was not due to any good which Mephibosheth did to earn
David’s favor. Mephibosheth received grace not because of himself
but because of a third person. So is it with a sinner before God. Some
may fancy they have to do something good first before they can court
God’s pleasure; but the Bible tells us God loves us without any
cause. We have no position before Him and we should not receive
His care; nevertheless we too have a Jonathan, even Jesus Christ, and
for His sake God extends kindness to us. We are saved because
before God there is the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him we can come
before the presence of God.
In former days at the university, a student had been required to

take two years of preparatory studies before he could take the main
courses; and at some medical colleges three years of preparatory
courses had been required. Let me tell you, however, that no one
needs to take any preparatory courses for his salvation. How many
conceive the idea that they have to prepare a little to restore God’s
heart. Not so! We do not need to do anything to court His pleasure.
Nowhere in the Scriptures is it said that God wants to be reconciled
to us; it says instead that we are to be reconciled to God! God loved
us, so He gave His Son to us. He did not give His Son to us in order
that He might love us. Some people speculate that fortunately for us
the Lord Jesus has died so that God could love us. Not at all, God
first loved us, and therefore He gave His Son to us.
“And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I
may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the
king, Jonathan hath yet a son, who is lame of his feet. And the king
said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he
is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar” (vv.3,4).
“Lodebar” in Hebrew means “no pasture.” The world today is like
Lodebar. Lodebar could never make people full nor quench their
thirst. It could not satisfy men’s hearts. Let us recognize the fact that
we human beings were created for God, and not for ourselves. Those
who have not returned to God will never be satisfied.
You may have dreamed of a beautiful and restful future. But as

time goes on, what the world seems to promise cannot be cashed in.
It will disappoint you time and again until you finally realize what
you have is but a dream, a mirage, a land of no pasture. Do
understand that a life without God is an unsatisfied life. A life
outside of God is never fulfilling. Mephibosheth away from David
lived in a land without pasture; even so, a sinner away from God also
lives in a land of no pasture.
What did David do when he heard that Mephibosheth lived in a

land of no pasture? Praise and thank God, that “king David sent, and
fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from
Lodebar” (v.5). Romans 3.11 declares that “there is none that seeketh
after God”; and Luke 19.10 records the fact that “the Son of man
came to seek and to save that which was lost.” Some people might
conclude that at least we “no good people” would surely seek after
God, that surely the fallen would search for Him. Yet the fact of the
matter is that if God were to wait for us to find him, we would never
be saved because we would not and do not seek after Him.
Mephibosheth did not have the courage to seek after David, since his
grandfather had been David’s enemy; nor had he the strength to
make the search because he was lame in his two feet. It was not
Mephibosheth who sought after David, it was David who sent and
fetched Mephibosheth. Just so with us as unbelievers; it is not that we
seek after God, but that God sent His Son to seek us out and to bring
us back to himself.
The Bible makes clear that it is God who wants you, it is God who
calls you, it is God who sends people to tell you He wants you. “Say
not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring
Christ down): or, Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring
Christ up from the dead)” (Rom. 10.6,7). Here we are told that no
one can go up to heaven to ask the Lord to come and die for him, nor
is there anyone who can go down to hell to bring Christ up from the
dead. This is immediately followed by the statement: “The word is
nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart:…because if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (10.8,9).
Like Mephibosheth, no one needs to do or spend anything, because
the king himself had sent and fetched for Mephibosheth. And so too
with the Lord and sinners. If anyone is still unsaved today, it is not
because God does not save him, but because he resists His grace.
What did David say to Mephibosheth after sending for him? “And
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came unto
David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said,
Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy servant!” (v.6) What a
sweet sound to the ear! “Mephibosheth.” When David saw
Jonathan’s son, he did not say to him, “Who are you?” Neither did he
say to him, “Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul”; nor
did he say, “Mephibosheth, so you are here.” He merely said,
“Mephibosheth.” Just imagine, if you can, how David must have felt
in his heart. With what kind of tone did he utter that name? For
behind this word was a stirred-up heart which represents the heart of
God towards you and me. To say “Mephibosheth” expresses the fact
that God does not hate you and me, but rather that He wants us and
loves us. Each time our name is called without any additional word,
it carries a deep meaning within it which heaven alone can totally
appreciate.
I have mentioned on other occasions the story of how Mary

Magdalene mistook the Lord to be a gardener. The Lord did not
answer with, “I am not a gardener”; or with, “I have not taken His
body away”; or with, “Woman, how could you possibly carry the
body?” He merely said, “Mary!” As she heard this most familiar
sound, she instantly responded with “Rabboni!” And here we see
David beholding the grandson of his archenemy, and he simply said,
“Mephibosheth.” This reflects the fact that in David’s heart there was
no trace of animosity but only fullness of compassion.
Unfortunately, Mephibosheth did not know David’s heart. When

he came into the presence of the king, his heart must have been
beating hard because he was to meet the ruler of Judah who might
have him killed. And after he saw David and heard him call
“Mephibosheth,” he should have understood that the king had no ill
will towards him but only tender affection. Nevertheless, his fear was
so deep that he responded with, “Behold, thy servant.” Perhaps he
figured that if he, a grandson of the former king, would humble
himself to be a slave, he might please David’s heart and be spared
from being killed. Yet let us all be assured of the fact that no one can
possibly earn God’s pleasure by his works as a servant.
As though to demonstrate the heart of God, David said to

Mephibosheth, “Fear not; for I will surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul
thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually” (v.7). By
this we see that all is well. I wonder who among us truly knows that
God loves him? Some may have worked for the Lord many years but
still do not know that He loves them. If we truly know that God loves
us, our lives will undergo a tremendous change.
During the nineteenth century, there lived in America a man

eminent in literature. He was the editor of a well-known newspaper,
but he was also very much against Christianity. One day he heard the
preaching of D. L. Moody and was saved. Many American
newspapers printed the story of his conversion. On one occasion, J.
Wilbur Chapman happened to be in a certain city and stayed in a
hotel room next door to this very man. Having known him before,
Mr. Chapman asked if the story about his conversion were true.
Upon which he replied: “I indeed repented and believed in the Lord
Jesus after hearing Moody’s preaching. However, I need to add that
when I was eighteen, I had already come to know the Lord God. I
myself had been a prodigal son in my earlier youth. Unaccustomed to
being shut in the house, I left home for a number of years when I was
only twelve years old. But in my adolescence, I became seriously ill.
I spent all my money, and in extremity I despondently returned
home.
“My father treated me well, yet I regretted I had come home. This
was because my father was old, his hair was hoary, and he had
contracted a certain disease. Every day he forced himself despite his

ill-health to go out to work in order to exchange his labor for some
bread to feed us. But the income was so little that it was not enough
to feed three people. I was truly sorry that I had come home. I could
not bear anymore to eat the bread which was being earned at the
expense of my father’s blood.
“As my strength regained itself a little, I immediately notified my

father that I was leaving. Never in my life had I seen such sadness.
He said to me, ‘You are not well yet; why must you leave? As long
as this home has a piece of bread, there is always your share: as long
as there is a piece of tile on the roof, there is your share underneath
it. Why must you go?’ But I was determined to leave home. So he
said to me, ‘My child, let me tell you, never in my life have I thought
of getting rich, but today because of you I wish that I were rich, that I
might have more money to keep you from wandering away from
home. We may get some help yet, so why must you go?’ However, I
could not but go because I could not bear anymore to eat the bread
which was earned at the cost of my father’s blood. Finally, my father
said, ‘Child, may God bless you! I may not see you today, but I hope
to see you in heaven!’
“In sending me away, he walked with me for half a mile without

saying anything, and neither did I utter any word. After a mile, he
was too tired to walk farther. So at that point he said goodbye to me.
On that day, I realized how hard it was to leave home! After having
taken two steps, he turned and called me. With tears in his eyes, he
took out of his pocket a half dollar and gave it to me. He said, ‘This
is for you.’ I knew what this half dollar meant. I knew that all my
father had in the world was bound up in this half dollar. For the first
time I realized how my father loved me! I stood there watching my
father going home. Although the day was raining and the air was
rather chilly, I felt great warmth in my heart. I sang all the way
afterwards, My father loves me!
“From that day onward, I was no longer to be prodigal. I

determined first of all to lessen the burden on my father: the very
first dollar I was to earn would be sent to him because he loved me.
Thereafter I was a changed person. This did not mean that my father
had not loved me before; it simply meant that at the time of my
utmost destitution I realized how he loved me. So one day I heard
Mr. Moody preach, saying: ‘Many people talk about the father’s
prodigal son in Luke 15, but I will talk today about the prodigal’s
father.’ And I saw that that father was the same as my own father,
and therefore I believed and received Jesus as my Savior.”
Let me observe that I have known this God for quite a number of
years now. I know indeed what His heart is like. Do not conceive the
thought of doing anything to restore His heart’s pleasure towards
you. Let me unequivocally declare that He loves you and wills that
you be saved. He has no need for you to regain His heart. Many will
say God has not told them He loves them; but please look at the
cross, and then you will know that He has loved you. The death
penalty of the cross is yours, but for the sake of love, God has caused
the Lord Jesus to die in your place.
What is love? Love is not mere word. As a matter of fact, the

deepest love is unspeakable. Recall how the prodigal son had
prepared to say to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me
as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15.18,19). But while he was yet
afar off, his father saw him and was deeply moved with compassion,
and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. “Ran” is the word used
in the story, and it reflects how the father’s heart greatly desired to
shorten the distance of sin. When his father kissed him, the prodigal
came to know his father’s heart. Yet his father had not said, “I love
you;” instead, his kiss told the prodigal of the father’s heart. He was
not able to finish his preconceived thought of saying, “Make me as
one of thy servants,” for his father’s heart had told him by this kiss
that his father indeed loved him.
Please do not misunderstand God’s heart. Come to the foot of the

cross. Jesus has died for you; and by this is revealed to you God’s
heart towards you. In seeing the blood of the Lord Jesus, you know
what love God has for you.
“Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him,
All that pertained to Saul and to all his house have I given unto my
master’s son. And thou shalt till the land for him, thou, and thy sons,
and thy servants; and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master’s
son may have bread to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall
eat bread alway at my table. . . . As for Mephibosheth, said the king,
he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons” (vv.9-11). How
marvelous that there is not one condition nor any command but all is
promise. Here nothing is said as to what one must do and how much.
It is all being given; and this is grace. If we understand God’s love,
we cannot but believe in Him.
Man’s Repentance
Probably some may ask that if a sinner will be saved merely by

believing in God, is there any need for repentance? Please do not
reverse the order found in the Bible. Many have the idea that they
must possess some necessary righteousness and goodness in order to
gain God’s favor. But that is law, not grace. How can you tell a
shivering person to warm up before he comes to the fire? You will
instead say to him to come to the fire and get warmed up. The
Biblical order for us is not to stop sinning and then to believe, but to
believe and then to refrain from sinning. Mephibosheth was formerly
full of fear, but after he was graciously treated by David, he realized
who he truly was. He said to the king, “What is thy servant, that thou
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” (v.8)
I am reminded here of that statement in Romans which says, “not

knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom.
2.4). Upon knowing the goodness and love of God, one will just
naturally repent. When Mephibosheth came to the king, he hoped he

could still return to the land of no pasture. But after he had tasted
grace, he prostrated himself on the ground and repented. It was
Mephibosheth who had erred, therefore he needed to repent. David
had not erred, so he had no need to repent. God does not need to
repent, but we do. Before Mephibosheth knew David loved him,
David loved him; after he knew David loved him, David still loved
him. So is God towards us. However, after we know the love of God,
our mind and concept will undergo a change. Come to God just as
you are because He has already loved you.
The Feet under the Table
Perhaps some may raise this question: Salvation is indeed based

on grace and not on works, for God treats me just as David treated
Mephibosheth; yet after being saved, should I not do good? Why is it
that I feel sometimes up and sometimes down, sometimes good and
sometimes bad? Before answering this question, please read this
verse: “So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat
continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet”
(v.13). The beginning of our salvation is grace, but so is the keeping
of our salvation to be grace also. The error many commit is in
thinking that grace begins our salvation but works maintain it
thereafter. There is no such thing. We should recognize that whatever
is the condition before salvation is the condition for preservation
after salvation. I am saved through Jesus, and I am being kept to the
end also by Jesus. Though Mephibosheth dined often with the king at
his table, both his feet were still lame. If a person is only lame in one
foot, he can still leap about, but if lame in both feet he cannot move
at all. Let us see that the sitting at the king’s table is real, but so is the
lameness of both feet real too. The king will not have the lame man
at his table merely for one day and then drive him away if he should
still be lame after a few days.
Although your feet are lame, they are under the table. You can
therefore eat whatever is on the table. So why as it were put your feet
on the table? Just concentrate on the table, for what God has
provided there is good, rich, sweet, and nourishing. Eat to your
heart’s satisfaction. Do not look at yourself, but look at the riches
which God has given you.
Every time we look at ourselves, we lose our peace. Human eyes

are made to look outside, not to look inside. Introspection is not our
portion. Our eyes should be fixed upon the Lord, and thus shall we
be transformed from glory to glory according to His image. If we
turn to look at ourselves, we will be like Mephibosheth seeing the
lame feet. After we are saved, we receive a new life, and the Holy
Spirit dwells in us. We are a new creation. Nevertheless, the self
which comes from Adam never changes. That is why, when the
saintly Augustine was dying, he said this: “All the seeds of sin in the
entire world are within me.” As long as we are not freed from this
body, our feet are yet lame. Let us not turn back to look at ourselves,
but keep looking at the abundant grace which God has set on the
table before us; and then shall our hearts be satisfied.
Mephibosheth towards David (16.1-4, 19.24-30)
Several years have now passed. In the meantime David’s son

Absalom had rebelled, and David had been forced to flee Jerusalem.
When David was a little past the top of an ascent, Ziba, the servant of
Mephibosheth, came forth with a couple of asses saddled, and upon
them sat two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a
hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. “And the king said
unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses are
for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit
for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the
wilderness may drink. And the king said, And where is thy master’s
son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem;
for he said, Today will the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of
my father. Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine is all that
pertaineth unto Mephibosheth” (16.2-4a). Was all this true? By
reading chapter 19 we shall know the truth of the matter.
After the rebellion of Absalom had been quelled, David returned

to Jerusalem; and Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, came down to
meet the king. From the day the king had departed until the day he
had come home in peace, Mephibosheth had restrained himself from
doing three things: he had “neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his
beard, nor washed his clothes” (v.24). Can we perceive what this
means? This which we have just read is nothing less than the
unveiling of the heart of a widow in Mephibosheth! For in essence he
is saying that the David who treats me well is no longer here. And
although no one comes to harm me, I have already lost interest in the
world. What is the sense of beautifying myself? The king is not here;
who, then, has the heart for any embellishment? The same sentiments
would be echoed in the hearts of some rare believers today. They
would say: We know how unworthy we are to be saved. This world
has rejected our Savior and has crucified Him, and therefore we now
live here with a widow’s heart. The reason we can deny the world is
not because of the unlovingness of the world but because our Lover
is no longer here. Since all He himself got from the world was a
tomb, how can we, His beloved ones, love the world? We feel the
world is against us.
The heart of Mephibosheth was a widow’s heart. The king was

not there, so he lost interest in all things. A believer deep in the Lord
once said, “Where Jesus is, there is heaven. If Jesus is in hell, hell is
heaven; if Jesus is not in heaven, heaven is no longer heaven.” When
I first heard this, I thought, how could this be! But now, I can readily
say this is indeed true. For previously we only thought of the
problem of sin, but now we ponder the Lord Jesus. Formerly we
thought of how to escape the penalty of hell, yet now we think of the
Lord himself. Hence heaven is lovely because the Lord is there; but
if the Lord were in hell, hell would become lovely too!
This world is but a wilderness. What is a wilderness? It is

someplace desolate. This is not to say that the arts and natural
sciences of this world are ugly; but because He is not here, these
things amount to nothing. How can I love a world that despises the
Lord Jesus? I have said before that wherever your lover is there is the
happy place. Hence, clothes, food and drink may remain the same,
yet these are not the same to you if your lover is absent. My home is
Foochow, and I often think of going there. But what I desire is not
Foochow itself, but the brothers and sisters of kindred spirit who are
there. Together we have passed through affliction, poverty and
persecution. If these brethren were not there, I would easily forget
Foochow. And thus are we to be towards the world. Today the Lord
is not here, therefore we cannot find rest or joy in this world. Our
attitude towards the world should be that of a widow.
When Mephibosheth came down to meet the king, he was asked

by David why he did not go with the king. His answer was:
My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said,
I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go with the
king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy
servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel
of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes. For all my
father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet
didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own
table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more
unto the king? (vv.26-28)
In these words we find that Mephibosheth did not mention

anything about bread and wine; he merely related the fact of being
deceived. His heart was satisfied with the safe return of the king;
what did it matter if he had earlier been abused?
We realize that when a person tries to disclose his heart, it actually

does not depend on the words. For a love slave of the Lord, his heart
is more than his words can express. The deeper the love, the more
mysterious it becomes. If you truly love the Lord, you may preserve
your purity in the midst of universal opposition. On that day when
we shall see the Lord face to face, we will not tell Him how much we
have forsaken for His sake because we will not talk about ourselves.
Rather, we will say how regretful we are for not having loved Him
more and served Him more faithfully while on earth. At that time, we
shall truly feel that offering ten thousand worlds to Him would still
be too small a gift for Him.
Apart from mentioning his having been deceived by his servant

Ziba, Mephibosheth said nothing else. For his heart was occupied
with one thing only, which was that his king David had come back.
Nothing else mattered anymore. He is satisfied with simply sitting at
David’s table. He does not need to explain nor ask for revenge. As
long as the king was back, Mephibosheth was satisfied.
“And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy
matters? I say, Thou and Ziba divide the land. And Mephibosheth
said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the
king is come in peace unto his own house” (vv.29,30). Each time I
read this word of Mephibosheth, I say, Amen! What does it matter
about my loss if the king has come back in peace? As long as my
Lord is gaining, my loss is nothing to me. The whole question for
Mephibosheth was whether he was peaceful, not whether that which
David had given him was still there!
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13.15 AV). On
the eve before he was strangled to death, a Christian martyr declared:
“God, if You do not intervene, tomorrow I still will go blindfolded.
Come heaven! Come hell!” Here was a hero of faith. His attitude
was, “O Lord, You will never mistreat me. Yet even if it is Your
pleasure to ill-treat me, I shall still take delight in Your ill-treatment.

So long as You are pleased, even my suffering is most sweet.”
David’s own settlement of the matter was doubtless wrong, but

our Lord will never wrong us. Nonetheless, in being wrongly treated,
Mephibosheth’s true heart was manifested: “Yea, let him take all,
forasmuch as my lord the king is come in peace unto his own house.”
Here we see that God will save us to the point where we seek only
His gain and not our own. God’s gain or loss is real gain or loss;
mine is nothing at all.
On one occasion I knew I should obey God, yet I just could not
obey. Finally I told Him, “Please do not yield, wait until I yield.” We
ought to be the one who yields, not God. He who has once captured
my heart has it forever. My heart is captured, and therefore my all is
His. What is our expectation and pursuit before God? Is it something
for ourselves? or all for Him? May we hereafter reckon our all to be
His. May we seek only His gain as our satisfaction.
David Preserved Mephibosheth (21.7)
“But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of
Saul, because of Jehovah’s oath that was between them, between
David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.” This verse speaks of the end of
this lame child. We need to recall that there was a famine in the days
of David for three years. This famine was due to Saul and his bloody
house on the occasion when he had put to death the Gibeonites. As
atonement for this sin, the Gibeonites had asked that seven sons of
Saul be delivered up to them to be hanged. The first one to be
delivered would naturally have been Mephibosheth. But David
spared him and delivered seven other sons of Saul. Therefore
Mephibosheth was never killed. This can serve to illustrate how a
saved person shall never perish. David never purposely treated
Mephibosheth wrongly, so will God ever treat us wrongly? If David
protected Mephibosheth from the beginning to the end, will not God
keep us to the end?
“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no
one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who hath given
them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them
out of the Father’s hand” (John 10.28,29). These are two familiar
verses. They tell us so plainly that the reason none can snatch us
away is because of “my hand ... the Father’s hand.” The hand of the
Lord Jesus and the hand of the heavenly Father hold us fast; who,
then, can possibly snatch us from Their hands? There is absolutely
none. Some may think it is true that none can snatch us but that we
may escape ourselves. Whoever thinks that way betrays his
ignorance of the gospel. Will not a father who holds the hand of his
child tighten his grip when he sees a danger or when he notices the
child himself is struggling to get away?
Once a black woman in America was saved and joyfully sang

aloud, Once saved, forever saved! A half-believing Christian asked
her whether in so singing she could be sure of going to heaven. So
she recited the words of John 10.28,29 to him. He insinuated that
although these words were true, she should not be too careless
because the bigger the hand the greater the hole through which she
might slip away. Her reply was, “I will never slip away because I am
God’s little finger.” She really knew the Bible, for what she said is
true, since the Lord is the head and we are the members of His body.
We are joined to Him in Life. If a Christian can perish, then the body
of Christ will forever be short and never full. May all Christians
shout hallelujah to the Lord! Once saved, forever saved; therefore,
give all to God.
5
Saved Through Baptism
It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the
face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair; and they took them wives of all that they
chose. And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with
man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days
be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were in the earth in
those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the
same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
ground; both man and beast, and creeping things, and birds of
the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah
found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations:
Noah walked with God. (Gen. 6.1-9)
God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle
that were with him in the ark. (Gen. 8.1a)
The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of
the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters
decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month,
on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
(Gen. 8.4,5)
It came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first
month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from
off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and
looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dried. And in the
second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was
the earth dry. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth from
the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with
thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of
all flesh, both birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the
earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah
went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with
him. (Gen. 8.13-18)
Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah, and took of every clean
beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar. And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in
his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s
sake, for that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his
youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I
have done. (Gen. 8.20,21)
That aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism,
not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation
of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3.20,21)
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. (Mark
16.16a)
The story of Noah’s ark is familiar to all. What we would like to

do is to learn what the Bible really shows us in that story. In the
matter of our salvation, the Bible approaches it from several different
angles: some of it speaks of our position before God; some of it, of
our acceptance by God; some, of our communion with God; and
some, of our position with the world. All this may sound
complicated, so let us use some illustrations to explain them.
Several Expressions of Salvation
The coats of skins mentioned in Genesis 3—“Jehovah God made

for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them” (v.21)—
expresses salvation. But what aspect of salvation does it represent? It
pictures for us how we human beings may be justified before God.
The offering of Abel told of in Genesis 4 also expresses an aspect

of salvation. Now the offering of Cain was rejected by God, but
Saved Through Baptism 71
Abel’s offering was accepted. This is because Cain offered what was
of himself, whereas Abel offered what was of God—even the lamb
of atonement. All the proper sacrifices mentioned in the Scriptures
are a reflection of God’s acceptance of us human beings. The story,
for example, of the prodigal son recorded in Luke 15 speaks of God’s
acceptance of sinners. The first chapter of Ephesians discloses how
God accepts us in the beloved Son (1.6 AV). Likewise, too, the
fourth chapter of Genesis with its narrative of Cain and Abel
suggests this aspect of salvation, which is, God’s acceptance of man.
Even the rapture of Enoch spoken of in Genesis 5 reveals God’s
salvation—in this case, that aspect of it which denotes victory over
death.
Thus Genesis 3 expresses that facet of God’s salvation which the

Bible elsewhere calls justification; Genesis 4 speaks of God’s
acceptance; and Genesis 5 stresses the matter of overcoming death.
The ark in Genesis 6 also expresses salvation, only it deals with an
aspect different from those of Genesis 3, 4 and 5. For it reflects the
relationship of Christians to the world. How is a Christian to be
delivered from all which is condemned by God? How is he to be
released from all which is subject to God’s judgment? We shall see
how, through accepting God’s salvation, we are freed from the
condemnation and judgment of God.
Sin has its various aspects. That sin depicted for us in chapter 3 of
Genesis is a sin against God—both a sin before Him and a sin that is
rebellious against Him. Wherefore, in the very same chapter, we are
told how such sin before God needs to be covered by the coats of
skins provided by God, so that man can be justified before Him. The
sin told of in chapter 4 is likewise a sin against God, but it is also one
against man’s neighbor. Cain committed the sin of murdering his
brother. He violated the two greatest commandments of God: “Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind”; and, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself.” Such sin requires sacrifice to be offered by man to God so
as for him to be accepted. Even sin against man needs acceptance

before God, otherwise that sin shall remain. The sin of Genesis
chapter 5 is again different from the aforementioned sin since it tells
of the sin of forgetting God. For by this time people had largely
disregarded God and walked according to their own will. They ate
their own meals and passed their days as they desired. Only one
person at that time—Enoch—walked with God. The whole world
was full of death because people did not want God. However, God
redeemed Enoch completely from this deadly world so that he should
not see death. Yet while the sin of chapter 5 was the sin of the
multitudes, the sin delineated in chapter 6 was a corporate sin. It was
a sin which was committed against God by the world of mankind as a
“kosmos”—as one grand organized entity. Hence the world was its
scope, and thus Genesis 6 tells of how the entire world system had
sinned against God.
The Judgment of the Flood
At the inception of chapter 6 we discover that the fallen angels

sinned together with fallen men. The “sons of God” spoken of here
were the fallen angels and the “daughters of men” spoken of were the
fallen men. Both had been created by God and both had spirit. But
when they joined themselves together to sin, the world was bound to
come to an end. Those who sinned in the first world were angels in
the heavenlies; those who sinned in the second world were men on
the earth. And when they sinned together, the end unquestionably
was soon coming to pass. Sinful angels and sinful men would shortly
be judged by God. Now man had become especially “flesh”—
whether in doing good or in committing sin, it nonetheless was flesh.
Therefore, God would not strive with man forever. Formerly the
Spirit of God strove with man, but still man refused to hear the voice
of God. Consequently, He finally gave man up. In other words, man
had become so corrupted that the Spirit of God could not strive with
him anymore, which meant that even the Holy Spirit could not
change him. As a result, the Holy Spirit drew back and let the world
go through judgment.
Please understand that your own flesh today is not any better than
the flesh was in Noah’s time. Unless we allow the flesh with its lusts
and passions to be crucified, then the Holy Spirit has no way to work
in us either. As in Noah’s day, the Holy Spirit will not attempt to
persuade man to reform, for he is beyond repair; He today can only
try to convince man to be born again. The flesh can do nothing
except to sin; the regenerated of God alone can do any good.
Regeneration is not tears, confession or zeal; it is not being a good
church member, reading the Bible, and praying; regeneration is the
act of receiving a new life from above, that is, from God himself. In
short, regeneration is a second birth.
If the world becomes full of sin, something must be done first

before the Holy Spirit can commence to work. That first thing is for
God to send the Lord Jesus to this world. Once man becomes a
sinner, the Lord Jesus and not the Spirit must come first. Should the
Holy Spirit come first, He can do nothing. Only after the Lord Jesus
has the sinner judged will the Holy Spirit be able to work. Hence, the
first of the many parables found in Luke chapter 15 is that of the
shepherd—the Lord Jesus—seeking the lost sheep. The second
parable is the woman—the Holy Spirit—who sweeps the house to
find the lost piece of silver. Without the redemptive work of Christ,
the Holy Spirit can do nothing. If the work of Christ remains
unfinished, the work of the Holy Spirit cannot commence. But since
the work of Christ is already done, the Holy Spirit is now able to
work. Accordingly, in Genesis 6 we have delineated for us first the
work of redemption, and only then in Genesis 8 do we observe the
dove which expresses the work of the Holy Spirit.
“The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with
violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the
earth” (Gen. 6.13). God saw that the earth was filled with violence
and sins, that it was corrupted to the core. So, He declared that its
end had come. There was no other way but to bring all before Him to
an end. God judged them all and destroyed all flesh—both of men
and of living things—by the universal flood.
What many Christians fail to realize is the position of the world

before God. Today when the brothers and sisters are exhorted to be
separated from the world, it is almost as though it were as difficult as
trying to snatch away a piece of chocolate from a child’s mouth. It
appears so hard because of the fact that Christians do not discern the
position the world has before God. Let us recognize that salvation
has not only its personal aspect but also its corporate aspect, just as
sin too has its corporate dimension as well as its personal dimension.
The people who crucified the Lord Jesus at Calvary were not only
the Jews but the whole world as well. Those at enmity with God at
that time were not merely Jews, they included all and everything that
constituted the entire world system.
Let us take, for example, the enmity between two nations: is it

something personal or corporate? We of course know that this cannot
be termed a personal relationship. If some person in one of the two
countries was to treat somebody in the opposite country well, then
this would be a personal relationship. But today it is not a matter of
being good or bad on the part of one or several individuals in one
country towards one or several individuals in the other, such as in the
case of a personal animosity emerging as a result of one person’s
parents being killed by one or several people from the enemy
country; it is instead a matter of the whole country standing as an
enemy nation. It is a corporate antagonism between country and
country. So that here is not a speaking of one individual but a
speaking of the entire world system—including its organization,
customs and reputations—as the enemy of God. As long as you and I
are part of that world system, we are an enemy of God, from which
we need to be delivered. And once having seen this, you and I will
not be found exhorting people to reform or change, for we know that
all these are useless. In the eyes of God, the entire world system—the
“kosmos” itself—is corrupted. So that God is at enmity with the
world, and the world is at enmity with Him. All who love the world
do not love God, and the love of God cannot be in their hearts. All
who befriend the world just naturally become enemies of God. And
this is precisely the way God perceives it.
Let me ask you, do you want to be delivered from hell, which is

the lake of fire? I believe we all desire to be delivered from such a
destiny and to enter New Jerusalem. Many expect to be saved and to
go to heaven. And this aspect of salvation is called, in the Bible,
justification and acceptance by God. Yet there is another aspect of
salvation which Biblically can be termed deliverance from the world.
Deliverance from the world actually goes hand in hand with
deliverance from the lake of fire.
The Bible tells us God found but one man, Noah. The first man
Adam had been corrupted and had come to his end. Nothing could be
done with him. So God found another man, and this second man was
Noah. Noah was accepted by God, and he served as a type of Christ.
Through him, God set up a way of salvation by which to save people
from the world. God ordered him to build an ark with gopher wood
and bring all kinds of living creatures, birds, cattle, creeping things—
each after its kind—to the ark. He then caused rain to fall upon the
earth till the whole earth was deluged. Who were the saved? Those
who were delivered from the world by staying in the ark. Those who
were delivered from the world were those delivered from the flood.
In like manner, therefore, whoever is delivered from the world is
delivered from the lake of fire. For it is not sinners who are going to
hell but the people of the world who are. Preachers often say sinners
go to hell, but actually they should say that the world goes to hell. As
long as you are among those of the world, you are destined to go to
hell.
Once I met a man on a boat. He asked me: “What kind of person

is qualified for hell?” My reply to him was: “People such as you
should go to hell.” I said this to him because all mankind must go to
hell. To be saved means you are saved from the perishing federation.
Although we are not all criminals we nonetheless are all sinners, for
the Bible says that all men are sinners. You and I may not commit a
certain sin or violate some special law, and therefore we are not
criminals; yet all of us are sinners. To be saved from the world is to
be saved from the world which is under God’s judgment.
The Salvation of the Ark
At the time of the Deluge, Noah and living creatures—birds, cattle

and creeping things—were saved. Noah as well as the ark typify the
Savior. But whereas Noah is a type of the Son of God, the ark stands
as a type of the Son of Man because it is made of gopher wood, it
thus representing the human nature of the Lord Jesus. Those who
were saved in the Deluge were manifested to be those who were
saved from the world. As all the fountains of the great deep were
broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, the whole world,
and not just some individuals, was condemned. Consequently, to be
saved is to be saved from the world federation. All who are in the
Ark of God are saved, that is to say, they are saved out of the world.
Today a saved person cannot be saved and yet remain in the world,
even as no one in Noah’s day could have had one foot in the ark and
one foot in the world: all who entered Noah’s ark were shut into the
ark.
Since that day, therefore, it is impossible for a saved person to

love the world on the one hand and to love the Lord on the other.
Although you may do so stealthily, you are not permitted so to do by
God. One who believes in the Lord must wholly reject the world and
not love it. Do not fancy you can change things to make them less
worldly, because salvation means God has fundamentally already
taken you out of the world. And since you are outside the world, you
ought, accordingly, to live such a life. Now this which has just been
said is something quite different from exhorting people not to love
the world. Countrymen of one nation hate the people of an enemy
country not because their faces were slapped by their adversaries but
because hostility exists between the two countries. And such is now
our problem.
As we have said, we are a people who have been delivered from

the world. Yet how are we delivered? God shows us that since the
world is occupied by the enemy and it thus opposes Him, He saves
us out of it. He as it were “builds” an ark in the person of His Son
and brings people out of the world into His Ark. In Noah’s day God
caused all the living things upon the earth to die except for what He
kept both of men and living things in the ark through the death of the
flood, and then He released them to fill the new world. So that what
is illustrated here is that the old federal head Adam and all who were
in Adam were rejected by God, and only the new federal head Noah
and all who were in Noah would manifest new life with their seeds
replenishing the entire earth.
Now those who were in the new earth of Noah’s day typify all
who in the future day shall inherit the new heaven and the new earth
because they are in Christ. The people who were in the ark represent
the people of our day who are in Christ. Accordingly, all who are in
Christ are those who shall be in the future new heaven and new earth.
Those who were outside the ark of Noah represent those people who
are in Adam, and therefore they are the people who will be judged by
God in the future. On the other hand, those who had entered the ark
were brought through the judgment of water and entered and filled
the new earth. And this can explain how Christ is to fill the future
new heaven and new earth.
“The ark rested . . . upon the mountains of Ararat.” Ararat means

“holy land.” It thus stands for resurrection—the coming out of death.
It also speaks of the ascension of our Lord Jesus. As the ark rested
upon the mountains of Ararat, their tops were seen. It only awaited
the moment for the ground to become dry. Likewise, we are today
resting on the mountains of Ararat, having seen their peaks and
waiting for the ground to dry. Because our Lord has died, been
resurrected, and has ascended, we wait until God has finished His
judgment upon the earth.
The Ark and Baptism
What we would like to focus on, however, is not this that we have
briefly touched upon above, but rather to lay stress on the matter of
baptism. We have seen what Noah did and how he and his family
passed through death by entering and remaining in the ark until they
inherited the new earth. In 1 Peter 3 we learn that the ark, in passing
through water, expresses the act of New Testament baptism. The
waters of the Deluge signify the water of baptism: “[who] that
aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true
likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of
the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience
toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (vv.20,21).
How are we saved and what saves us? Baptism saves us. Are you
surprised at my saying this? Does baptism indeed save people? May I
frankly tell you that unless we are baptized we cannot be saved. For
Peter likewise declared that the baptism as typified by the flood saves
us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mark 16.16a declares that
“he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
How we change Mark 16.16a to read: “He that believeth and is

saved shall be baptized.” The Bible, though, puts baptism before
salvation. And thus we become confused. Our view is that only the
saved can be baptized. Yet the word of God asserts that without
baptism there is no salvation—that “he that . . . is baptized shall be

saved.” In short, a person is saved because he has been baptized.
Please do not misunderstand the meaning of being saved through

baptism. For the Bible tells us of various aspects of salvation, not
just one. Justification, for example, is that aspect which emphasizes
man’s position before God; the aspect of God’s acceptance of man
emphasizes the difference between the believing ones and the
sinners; forgiveness, the remission of our past transgressions; and
eternal life, the disparity between us and death. But the aspect of
salvation as represented by baptism emphasizes our relationship with
the world. For salvation speaks not merely of our escaping hell in the
future; according to its strictest interpretation, salvation points to our
deliverance from the world today.
Who will know you are saved? Who will know you as being of
Christ? You may readily say you are saved, yet you are not able to
open yourself up and expose your faith to people. We as human
beings are unable to see man’s inward faith. Only God can see faith
in man. He knows you are already justified, accepted by Him, that
your sins have been forgiven and you have received eternal life. But
men do not know all this. James asserts that men cannot see faith;
they can only see works. Hence the first work every Christian must
do before men is to undergo baptism.
The first act before God is to “believe,” but the first act before
men is to be “baptized.” To be baptized is to come out of the world
and enter into Christ. It is to come out of the house and enter the ark.
Baptism is a declaring—as Noah did in his day—that the judgment,
wrath and punishment of God have fallen on the world because it
resists and rejects Him. Baptism is also a declaring that we are not
willing to be ranked among the people of the world but will come out
of them and enter the Ark that God has prepared for us. Accordingly,
baptism is not a ritual of having water sprinkled upon us or of our
being immersed. It is rather a declaration that there is no longer any
relationship between the world and us since you and I have been
delivered from the world.
The real meaning of baptism lies in the fact that we who formerly
lived in the world are now dead and shall never rise again because of
the judgment which Jesus Christ has suffered for us. Though
physically we are in the water for but one or two minutes, spiritually
speaking, it means we shall never come up out of the water again.
From the viewpoint of the world, we are hereafter separated forever
from it. We have no part with it. Our parents, wives and children are
dearest to us. Yet if they are dead, they will be put away. They will
not be taken out of their graves and kept in their house with the
living. Similarly, in the eyes of the world, Christians are looked upon
as being dead and buried.
The world is composed of two sizeable federations: one is the men

of the world, the other is the saved ones in Christ. To be saved is to
come out of the world federation which opposes God, is sinful and
unclean, and to enter into the Christ federation. And therefore, we
must be baptized, because baptism can save. (Of course, one must
first believe in the Lord; otherwise he cannot be saved). According to
Mark 16.16, to be baptized is to be liberated. Baptism thus stands as
a great liberating force from this world and all that is of it. Yet
baptism is even more than a liberation, it is also an entry; through
baptism we enter into Christ because it is a being baptized into His
death.
The Bible declares that all who believe have eternal life. This fact
of spiritual life is due to the blood of the Lord Jesus; and this is
irrefutable. But to be saved from the world is due to our entering into
the Ark of God. And baptism serves as a demonstration of the fact
that we have indeed come out of the world federation. Should
someone ask you, for example, if you have really believed in the
Lord, you should say, “I truly do believe in the Lord Jesus, and
through His blood my sins are forgiven.” For the Scriptures declare
that “he that hath the Son hath the life” (1 John 5.12). You are very
clear about this. But suppose you lose your temper and fight with
some brothers. You may ask yourself after this incident whether you
still believe and are saved. Your answer comes forth in the strongest
affirmative, you not having the slightest doubt about it. Nevertheless,
these brothers will doubt about your salvation. How is it? Let me
now observe that many people are most certainly qualified to live in
heaven but they are not qualified to live on earth. They are able to
live before God but not competent to live at home. Allow me to say,
therefore, that you should not permit people to baptize you merely on
the ground of your saying you believe. You ought to know what
baptism truly expresses before you are ever baptized. You ought to
know you have been delivered from the world, because baptism is
that action which declares to the entire world that you are no longer
joined to it and are no longer standing with it because you have been
emancipated from it. Baptism declares that henceforth you and I
stand on the side of Christ.
I am not pressing you today to be baptized; I simply want you to

understand before you receive baptism that the world federation and
the Christ federation stand as opposing camps and that there is no
ground of negotiation between them. Ages ago at the time of Noah,
God had declared that the world was His enemy, that it was at enmity
with Him. In the face of this reality, the salvation He provided was
the ark; and all who entered it thereafter stood on God’s side, they
having capitulated to Him. And hence the Bible quite amazingly
explains to us that the entering of the ark in order to pass through the
flood now signifies and expresses baptism.
I would consequently speak not merely to those who are yet to be

baptized but to all brothers and sisters in Christ: Today many of you
have already been baptized. Yet why were you baptized? Was it
because baptism to you is only a church procedure? Merely a church
ritual? Or perhaps a command of the Bible? Or even that it is an
appropriate expression of a Christian? Or a matter of following what
other Christians have done? In contrast to all these explanations, let

us ever keep in mind that basically baptism is a turning our backs
towards the world and a turning of our faces towards Christ. It is a
leaving of the world federation and a joining with the Christ
federation. And between these two—between the world and Christ—
there is no middle ground. For let us not forget that there was a door
in Noah’s ark. And that spiritually speaking, within the door is Christ
but without the door is the world. If you would see this at your
baptism, you would have no need for people to tell you how you
must change a little here and change a little there. For your leaving
the world is not as though it were a pulling out of a hair or two from
your head, but a shaving off of all the hairs. Unfortunately, though,
many believers have not seen this.
We are often thinking of how we may change this world; but

God’s intent is to judge this world and give us a new one. No human
ways such as religious doctrine, literature, science, philosophy or
ethical teaching can change this world. God has shown us that in
spite of the loveliness and enjoyment this world gives, it nonetheless
is His enemy. So that if you are still loving this world and living
according to the world, it is because you have hope that the world
will change. Yet God has no other way to deal with the world than to
judge it.
The world of Noah’s day became new through the washing

judgment of the universal flood. In that day, God washed the world
with water; and in the future day He will burn it with fire. Are we
today like Lot who lingered in Sodom and Gomorrah which were
ready to be burned? Or are we those who are unmoved by the
world’s blandishments. How sad that many are like Lot’s wife living
in and according to the world. Like her, are we the willing
inhabitants of the earth, or are we those who let everything of this
world pass us by because our expectation is the new heaven and the
new earth where righteousness dwells?
“A light [a window] shalt thou make to the ark” (Gen. 6.16a). This
Hebrew word here translated as “light” is used 24 times throughout
the Old Testament, of which on 23 occasions it is translated as
“noon” (that is to say, twelve noon)—although here it is translated as
“light” or “window.” So that the light spoken of here does not signify
a small amount of light but a fullness of light, which is to say that it
bespeaks a living in the Light of God.
“He That Believeth and Is Baptized Shall Be Saved”
At this point I would say a few words to the unsaved. You need to
realize that we humans cannot change the world. God will instead
judge this world; such is quite certain. How, then, can you prepare to
escape God’s judgment? Please note that the ark was pitched within
and without with pitch. This word “pitch” in the original is the same
Hebrew word translated as “atonement.” Hence the word “pitch”
betokens the atoning of sin; in other words, it signifies the covering
of sin. The pitching of the ark within and without with pitch speaks
of the atonement made by the Lord Jesus. Having the ark pitched
within and without means that through the atonement by the blood of
Christ the lives inside the Ark of God—Christ himself—are
preserved. Outside Noah’s ark—that is, in the world—was the flood,
and all in the world died of that flood. Inside it, however, the ark was
dry and clean. Spiritually speaking, today all our punishments have
fallen on God’s Ark—Christ—while none has fallen on us. Whoever
looks for peace, forgiveness and salvation has but one way to go: to
walk into the divine Ark.
Although the world is full of the judgment of God, you who are
believers should know that Noah’s ark had been pitched within and
without with pitch, which today represents the redemptive work of
Christ. And if you are in the Ark of God, not a drop of God’s
judgment on the world will fall on you. Suppose someone in the ark
of old—say, the wife of Japheth or Noah’s wife—had wept and cried
aloud, “What if the ark should leak or sink?” We would today laugh
at her! Yet let me ask you, If you consider the redemptive work of
Christ to be real, if you believe the Lord Jesus was crucified to
redeem you, why, then, do you not dare to say you are saved?—why
are you still uneasy? For perhaps you too speculate, What if the
blood of the Lord Jesus should lose its effectiveness? What if the
divine Ark should leak? If this is your thinking, then I need to ask
you if you really do trust in the finished work of Christ.
Once a person came to Dwight L. Moody with tears in his eyes.

When asked the reason, he answered, “I am afraid of perishing. I
have believed in the Lord but what must I do in order not to perish?”
Mr. Moody responded by observing that the Bible makes clear that
“he that believeth hath eternal life” (John 6.47), that “him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6.37), that “he is able
to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him”
(Heb.7.25). Moody used Scripture verses like these while he talked
with the man, but after two or three hours this man’s problem was
still unresolved. He insisted he truly believed in the Lord but that he
was afraid of perdition. To which Moody replied: “Now I am
beginning to think you are like one of Noah’s daughters-in-law who
might have cried in the ark out of fear lest it leaked.” Upon hearing
this, the man retorted by saying: “Mister, there is no such thing, for
the ark is unleakable!” “But you are that very person,” said Moody,
“who cries in the ark of safety because you are afraid it may leak.”
Now as the man heard this, he immediately understood the
implication and realized how faithless he had been.
The Lord Jesus is able to save to the very end all who approach
God through Him. There is no difference between the wise and the
foolish. To be saved or to remain unsaved depends on whether or not
one is in God’s ark. It has nothing to do with whether a person is
most wise or most foolish, whether one is wealthy or quite poor.
Those are not relevant issues at all because the one and only question
is, are you or are you not in God’s Ark of Refuge? Those who
depend on the work of Christ and enter the divine Ark are saved. As
many lives as there are today in the ark—that is, in Christ—exactly
that many will be those who are kept by God in the future.
If you want to be a real Christian, you must—like Noah and his

family—be in God’s ark and not on the ground. You cannot be saved
by your works. But you must tell the Lord, “Whatever is of the world
is not mine, for I stand on Your side.” Alas, many have believed in
the Lord, yet they have not severed themselves from whatever comes
from the world. May you be faithful to what you have done at
baptism.
Finally, let us be clear that the water of baptism does not save, it is
the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus which saves. Baptism is
that which expresses our salvation. The blood of the Lord Jesus saves
us before God, and the water of baptism saves us from the world.
6
Food for God’s People
They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire,
and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast
with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards
thereof. (Ex. 12.8,9)
The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness: and the
children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the
hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-
pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us
forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from
heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s
portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk
in my law, or not. (Ex. 16.2-4)
When the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of
the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoarfrost on the
ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they saith one to
another, What is it? for they knew not what it was. And Moses
said unto them, It is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to
eat. This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded. Gather ye
of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head,
according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every
man for them that are in his tent. (Ex. 16.14-16)
All the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from
the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the
commandment of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim: and there
was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people strove
with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye
tempt Jehovah? And the people thirsted there for water; and the
people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou
brought us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst? And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, What shall I
do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me. And
Jehovah said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take
with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou
smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite
the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may
drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And
he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of
the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted
Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not? (Ex. 17.1-7)
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought;
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and
the garlic: but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all
save this manna to look upon. (Num. 11.5,6)
Today we would like to touch upon the subject of the food that the
people of God eat. In looking into the record of Exodus, we can see
that there are three kinds of food for God’s people: first, the flesh of
the lamb which is mentioned in chapter 12; second, the manna which
is mentioned in chapter 16; and third, the water which came out of
the rock told about in chapter 17. These were the kinds of food and
drink with which God provided the children of Israel. These were all
necessary; none could be missing. It would not have been well had
they had the flesh of the lamb but no manna and water; neither could
they have lived with manna but no water. With the flesh of the lamb
plus the manna and the water, they were brought out of Egypt, went
through the wilderness, and entered Canaan.
The Flesh of the Lamb
Let us first consider the lamb. The Bible tells us explicitly that the
lamb points to our Lord Jesus. The children of Israel not only put the
blood of the lamb on the doorposts, they also ate its flesh. We not
only have our sins borne by the Lamb of God and thus escape
perdition but we also accept Him to be our inner strength. Hence we
must accept Him as well as believe in Him.
We notice from the account given how the children of Israel were
delivered from the hand of the Destroyer by the placement of the
Food for God’s People 89
blood of the lamb on the outside of the door and how they gained
strength to march out of Egypt through eating the flesh of the lamb.
Today some have indeed believed in the Lord, yet they do not have
the strength to forsake the world as typified in the Bible by Egypt.
This is because they have not taken the flesh of God’s Lamb into
them. True, the blood has already been put on the doorposts of their
hearts, but they have no strength to exit from worldly Egypt.
Accordingly, the strength to obey the Lord and to follow His way
depends on our eating flesh, not on the blood.
Exodus 12.8 informs us that the flesh of the lamb had to have
been eaten on that same night of the exit of God’s people out of
Egypt. Though the word of God plainly says this, the experience of
many of God’s people nevertheless seems to be different. You ask a
person today if he has believed in the Lord and has had his sins
forgiven, and he may clearly and quickly give you an affirmative
answer. But if you were to ask again, Why, then, do you love the
world so much?, he might reply, “I do not have the strength to deny
the world.” (Quite possibly for him the scope of the world which he
admires and cannot forsake is very limited, it perhaps being only a
few people or a few tens of dollars). Now the reason for his
inadequacy is due to his failure to eat the flesh “that very night” and
thus be delivered from the bondage of Egypt. The meaning of eating
flesh is to accept the Lord Jesus to our hearts to be our Savior. This
will give us deliverance in our practical daily living.
On the one hand, we may speak of other Christians as to why their

lives have undergone such a change and are so holy after they had
believed in the Lord Jesus, and on the other hand we may ask why it
is that the world still has so much attraction for us who have also
believed. Let us clearly see that for a believer to be delivered from
the world the basis lies not in putting on the blood, but in eating the
flesh. All believers have put on the blood of God’s Lamb; what
differentiates them one from another is this eating of the flesh.
How should the flesh be eaten? Verse 8 tells us that two things
were to be taken with the flesh of the lamb. First was the bitter herbs.
“Bitter herb” is not a name of a particular herb; this phrase merely
describes the taste of an herb. So that whatever herb was bitter was to
be used. The word bitter signifies that which is displeasing to the
heart. And hence the spiritual meaning here is for a person to repent
of his past sins or faults. Second was the unleavened bread.
According to the New Testament, in Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians, the meaning of unleavened bread is the putting away of
sins (see 5.7,8). Thus, on the one hand there is to be the repenting of
past trespasses, and on the other hand there is to be the forsaking of
present sinful deeds. No one can hold on to sin with the one hand and
hold on to God with the other. All who in their hearts desire after
Egypt are unable to exit from Egypt. Hence the forsaking of present
faults must accompany the repenting of past mistakes. Without
purging out the leaven, even the eating of the flesh of the lamb will
not get one out of Egypt.
How often we feel bad after having spoken a wrong word. Yet
Satan will suggest that we are wrong all the time. But we should say,
I would rather stand on God’s side and not be a companion of Satan;
I will not mind my dignity but will confess to whoever I have spoken
the wrong word that I have been wrong. Such a reaction is to treat the
past with bitter herbs and to face the future with unleavened bread,
thus qualifying ourselves to eat the flesh of the lamb. The reason the
spiritual life of many believers makes no progress is because they are
not willing to repent and to put away their past sins. Whoever refuses
to get rid of their past sins but returns there instead can never
advance in the spiritual course.
Manna
Is it enough, though, to eat the flesh of the lamb? No, it is not

enough. Yes, you have come out of Egypt, but ahead of you you
have the wilderness journey on which to travel. In the wilderness you

need to eat daily. The eating of the flesh of the lamb occurs but once
because it typifies your initial need of accepting the Lord Jesus as
your Savior only once. For the journey ahead, however, you need
daily food to give you daily strength. We must recognize the fact that
we must have strength to meet the work, the events, the affairs, and
the battles of each day. What, then, is the food? In the New
Testament, John 6 tells us it is the Lord who is our Manna from
heaven. Let me ask you: since you have accepted the Lord Jesus as
your Savior, how many times have you experienced Him as your
daily manna? This is most important. No one expecting to survive
physically can eat one meal and then eat no more. He must eat daily.
Yet the same is true in the matter of our spiritual survival. No one
can eat the flesh of the lamb just once at Passover, and then eat no
more. He must eat the daily bread; otherwise, he will die in the
wilderness of his spiritual journey, never making any progress.
What is this daily food? Is it reading the Bible? It may look like it,
but it is not. Is it prayer? Again, it seems to be so, but still it is not. Is
it waiting on the Lord? No, it is not that either. All these are but
means, the reality is the power of Christ. Through these means we
draw on that power. Why should we read the Bible in the morning?
Is it merely to understand the Scriptures? If that is the only reason for
our morning reading, how pitiful we must be. We rise up early to
read the Bible in order to gain the power of Christ for the day’s
living. Why do we get up in the morning to spend half an hour or an
hour in prayer? It is to draw nigh to God and absorb the power of His
life for our inner strength.
Let me illustrate this with a real case. There was a sister who
served the Lord. She was most afraid of water buffaloes and dogs;
yet if anyone ever goes to the villages to preach the gospel, he cannot
avoid these two creatures. Now it so happened that whenever this
sister saw a fat, black water buffalo, she would immediately flee.
Once, even, she was walking along a country road when all of a
sudden a few dogs barked at her from behind and a herd of water
buffalo came towards her at the front! She was frightened to death!
In trying to avoid the dogs, she met the buffaloes; and in attempting
to avoid the buffaloes, she had to face the dogs. And besides this, the
road was quite narrow. Being thus caught on the horns of a dilemma,
she nearly fainted. But at that very moment she prayed, “Lord, You
are my life, give me strength.” With each step she prayed that prayer,
and she passed the twelve terrible water buffaloes safely. Now that is
what I would call absorbing the strength of the Lord!
I have a friend who prays an excellent prayer each morning. He

humbly declares: “God, I offer myself once again to you this day.” I
asked him what he offered himself to God for. He promptly
answered, “I offer myself to God for Him to fill me.” This is indeed a
most excellent prayer to pray each morning of our lives.
Without such contact as this in the morning, where can the

strength come for the day? Hence reading the Bible is essential to
gain Christ, prayer is also necessary to absorb divine power. Yet
what exactly is this action of absorbing power? It can be likened to
our taking of meals time and time again, thus assimilating in our
bodies the food we ingest that becomes our physical strength. So too
is it in relation to our spiritual strength; it must be renewed daily.
Sometimes our prayer is most sweet; and this is spiritual manna to
our hearts. By contacting God each day, we gain spiritual strength to
travel one day’s journey.
Now the Bible also informs us that the manna of old was not to be
left overnight for the next day’s use. The spiritual lesson to be drawn
from this is that each day there must be a new meeting with God for
new strength. We need to cultivate this daily habit of gathering
manna—that is, we must receive from God a daily new message, a
daily new influence, a daily new portion of Christ. This is a good
daily habit to have. We need to cultivate now the habit of gathering
manna and absorbing power. We recognize how futile it is if we only
know the Bible but not Christ. Let us therefore seek after this
precious experience of knowing Christ as our Manna from heaven.
At the beginning we quoted Numbers 11.5 and 6 in which the

children of Israel murmured, saying: “We remember the fish, which
we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and
the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried
away; there is nothing at all save this manna to look upon.” One
thing will always be certain: whenever we grow tired of manna, the
food of Egypt will appear before us. The leeks and onions and garlics
of Egypt are very strong in taste. In fact, all the food of Egypt had a
potent flavor. Things with strong flavor can always easily be
recalled. How strange that what the children of Israel remembered
were these eatable things, whereas they easily forgot the many
afflictions in Egypt—such as the male children having been thrown
into the river, the making of bricks amidst harsh conditions, and the
cruel beatings perpetrated by their overseers. Many who fall often
forget the bitterness of sin, the bondage of Satan, and the struggle of
the past; they only recall how they could do anything they wanted to
do before they had believed in the Lord Jesus but that now they feel
bound and miserable. In one sense their memory is quite good
because they remember a lot, yet their memory is also poor in that
they forget even their deliverance and salvation.
One reason why Christians cannot bear fruit is because they too
easily forget how they were initially rescued and saved. The fact of
the matter is that it really is not fatal to not have those smelly foods
such as leeks and onions and garlic, but it is vital to have the manna.
All who begin to grow weary of getting close to Christ have already
thought of Egypt and of the potent flavor of onions and garlic. For
this reason, each Christian must keep receiving his daily manna. It is
simply not adequate to eat a little manna solely on the Lord’s day or
every three or five days as many Christians seem to be doing. But if
we touch the Lord day by day, we shall find that such a touch is truly
our strength.
The Water Out of the Rock
Eating the flesh of the lamb is the beginning of life, eating manna
is the maintenance of life to grow, and drinking water is to enjoy life.
The meaning of water lies in its power to awaken, to refresh, and to
give renewed strength. The flesh of the lamb gives us life, that is to
say, Christ lives in us. But the Christ who lives in us needs to be
nourished by the Christ on the throne in order to have the strength for
the rest of the pilgrimage. However, if there are only these two
elements—flesh and manna—there can be no enjoyment, and the
Christian’s face will become long and he will pass the day sadly just
as did the children of Israel in complaining that their soul had dried
up because they had nothing to look upon save the manna. It is
therefore essential to have water for enjoyment.
How did the water make its appearance in the lives of God’s
people of old? According to Exodus 17.5, the first action was for
Moses to take up the old rod which the passage describes as the one
“wherewith [Moses] smotest the river”; it was not to be taken up as
“the rod of God.” God’s description of the rod in these terms was for
the purpose of reminding the children of Israel about the earlier act
of Moses in Egypt of striking the river. When the water of Egypt was
smitten by the rod of God, the water turned into blood. And blood
meant death. This for us today serves to indicate that all the
enjoyments and pleasures of Egypt were under the judgment of God.
All the amusements of this present age, in fact, are but blood.
Perhaps in the eyes of the Egyptians many things were quite
enjoyable, but to us these things are but blood. For this reason, some
complain that being a Christian subjects a person to much bondage.
Does the Christian have things to enjoy? Certainly, yet their nature is
different from that of the things which the Egyptians enjoyed. And
hence God had to bring out the rod used back in Egypt.
We have already seen that life comes from Christ, and even the
maintenance of life is also of Christ. But where comes joy? Some
mothers take their children as enjoyment. Our joy, though, comes

from the smitten rock. God said to Moses: “Behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb [Horeb is one of the peaks
in the wilderness of Sinai]; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there
shall come water out of it, that the people may drink” (17.6). So that
the spiritual water we have flows from the Rock that is before God.
And according to 1 Corinthians 10, this Rock is Christ himself (v.4).
The smiting of the rock speaks of the death of Christ; and the water
which flows out has reference to the Holy Spirit. Hence our joy and
enjoyment are all to be found in the Holy Spirit. This joy more than
compensates for any loss of ours. Oftentimes in the dark days of our
lives our knees may tremble and our hands may hang down. There is
nothing for us to enjoy. But at the very same time God will give us
joy which fully compensates all our loss.
The prophet Isaiah once spoke of our Lord as One who grew up
before God as “a root out of a dry ground” (53.2). What can this
mean? A root cannot grow in dry ground; consequently, this
metaphor was used to show us that what the Lord Jesus relied on
when on this earth was God, for the world could not give Him any
supply. And so shall we who follow Christ also be in this world. To
drink of this world is to drink the blood of death; yet not to drink of
this world is to remain thirsty; but Christ is the Living Water that can
quench all our thirst and grant us full satisfaction.
Today God stands on the mount before the smitten Rock, and thus
spiritual joy for us is not something vague but is directly before us.
How great is our God! For indeed, many times before we end up
weeping we have already begun to smile and to laugh.
7
A Believer’s Value Before God
Scripture Reading: Exodus 30.11-16, Leviticus

27.1-8
During the Old Testament period each time a

person’s life was to be numbered before God, he
needed a sin-offering lest he be subject to a plague: “Jehovah spake
unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of
Israel, according to those that are numbered of them, then shall they
give every man a ransom for his soul unto Jehovah, when thou
numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou
numberest them” (Ex. 30.11,12). It is for this reason that God was
displeased with David and sent a plague upon the children of Israel
when the king ordered Joab to number the Israelites (see 1 Chron.
21). Whoever is without the blood will be instantly judged.
Several points are raised in this passage from Exodus 30: (1)
“Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the
children of Israel, according to those that are numbered of them, then
shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto Jehovah, when
thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when
thou numberest them” (vv.11,12); (2) “This they shall give, every
one that passeth over unto them that are numbered; half a shekel after
the shekel of the sanctuary . . . for an offering to Jehovah” (v.13); (3)
“ . . . them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward,
shall give the offering of Jehovah” (v.14); and (4) “The rich shall not
give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when
they give the offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls”
(v.15).
Likewise several points are raised in the passage from Leviticus

27: (1) “Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall accomplish a vow,
the persons shall be for Jehovah by thy estimation” (vv.1,2); (2) “thy
estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty
years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the
shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation
shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto
twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty
shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old
even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male,
five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three
shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and upward, if it
be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the
female ten shekels” (vv.3-7); and (3) “if he be poorer than thy
estimation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall
value him; according to the ability of him that vowed shall the priest
value him” (v.8).
Let us notice the vast differences which exist between these two
passages. In the Exodus segment all who were numbered—regardless
whether male or female, rich or poor—had to give half a shekel of
silver, whereas in the Leviticus segment the shekels given vary with
the differences in age, sex, and possession. Why are there such
differences? It is because Exodus 30.11-16 speaks of ransom money,
while Leviticus 27.1-8 speaks of the estimation of a special vow.
The Value of Salvation
Since Exodus speaks of ransom money, all who are twenty years
old and upward, both male and female, must give half a shekel of
silver, for this has reference to salvation. Each must give half a
shekel, otherwise there will be a plague upon him. In applying this to
believers today, everyone must have the Son of God in order that his
life may be saved. Our positions as sinners saved by grace are of
equal value before God.
A Believer’s Value Before God 99
“Half a shekel” is equivalent to the “two shillings” spoken of in

Luke 10.35. Our Lord Jesus has already paid the two shillings for us.
And this amount is sufficient to enable us to stay in the inn (that is, to
sojourn in this world until the return of our Savior).
“Twenty years old” refers to the year of man’s accountability for

himself. Hence the teaching here is that all who are able to bear
responsibility for themselves must have the Son of God. With respect
to the children of Israel, the year of accountability was counted
according to their physical age; in the dispensation of saving grace,
no one really knows what is the age of accountability. Some may
reach this age of responsibility when they are but seven or eight
years old.
“The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less.”
Since the precious blood of our Lord is the payment, there can be no
differentiation between the rich and the poor. Rich or poor may be
applied to man’s works. People cannot save themselves either by
doing good or by doing bad. All must present half a shekel. The
salvation which the Lord has accomplished can neither be added on
to nor taken away from. All need to be saved through the precious
blood. It is called precious blood, because it is of great value (1 Peter
1.19). The precious blood is a costly price, which our Lord Jesus
himself has paid for us.
The Estimation of a Special Vow
We notice that the estimation of a special vow was at least six

times more than the value of a soul ransomed, for the least amount to
be given was three shekels (Lev. 27.6). The most to be given in
estimation of a special vow was one hundred times more because
some had to give as much as fifty shekels (v.3). Why was there this
vast difference? It is because the Exodus passage speaks of salvation
whereas the Leviticus passage speaks of consecration.
Consecration in this connection does not refer to how much I am

willing to offer; rather, it refers to how valuable God looks upon
what I am willing to give. From the standpoint of salvation, God
reckons every one of us to be worth half a shekel. No one is valued
more than the other. Whether rich or poor, old or young—all have
the same value placed upon them by the Lord. What belongs to the
natural is all being set aside by God. What saves us is the Son of
God. And no one can add anything to or subtract from the Son of
God. So that according to grace, each one is as sinful before God as
the other, and all have the same ransom price. For Christ’s sake, God
considers all of us of equal worth before Him. He treasures us; He
counts us valuable. But this value is to be found only in His Son, and
therefore the value we come into through salvation is the same for
each of us in God’s sight.
Nevertheless, this does not, in another sense, inhibit God from

reckoning some believers to be more valuable than others. Although
all are equally saved and all equally become children of God, some
may be estimated to be of more value to God than others because
their consecration is more complete and their spiritual usefulness is
greater. Just here let us take note of these two important factors: that
of spiritual usefulness, and that of hearty consecration. It is for these
two reasons that God will reckon us as valuable. If a believer has
spiritual usefulness but is not consecrated, he has no other value
before God than that which he obtains through Christ. Yet if he is
willing to offer himself with a pure heart, he will have some
additional value before God even though he may be only a month to
five years old. What is most terrible is for a believer to be worth not
a cent more than half a shekel before God: he has the ransom money
of half a shekel which guarantees him salvation, but he has nothing
more to offer before God.
Let us note that among the children of Israel, people were

classified into four age periods: from one month to five years old—
childhood; from five years old to twenty years old—youth; from
twenty years old to sixty years old—adulthood; from sixty years old
and above—decline. In relation to the children of Israel, these were
actual physical years; but in relation to Christian believers, these
point to the variations in spiritual strength.
So far as salvation is concerned, all believers are valued the same;

but so far as consecration is concerned, it varies with the individual.
Each saved person ought to have some actual value. God’s
estimation of one month to five years old was either three shekels
(for female) or five shekels (for male). So that in spiritual terms, one
who is newly saved should have at least a little worth. And this
value, let us keep in mind, comes from consecration. Without
consecration, a person is without actual value in God’s sight. The
work of the Holy Spirit in a saved person is to lead him to consecrate
himself that he may live for God. The age period of the five-year-
olds to twenty-year-olds may be applied spiritually to those young
believers who are zealous and who also have some spiritual
experience. And the adulthood age period can be applicable to those
strong and experienced believers.
Let us note, though, that the Hebrew people sixty years old and
above had their estimation decreased. Yet it need not have been, for
let us look at the case of Caleb. Although he was far advanced in age,
his strength remained as it had been in his youth (see Joshua 14.11).
Furthermore, “they shall still bring forth fruit in old age,” says the
psalmist; “they shall be full of sap and green” (92.14). All this would
indicate to us that the matured age should be the best years. Our
spiritual life need not become aged. Unfortunately, however, there
can be, and often is, decline in the latter years. Do not incorrectly
assume that the estimation we have before God today will last
forever. Our spiritual life in terms of value to the Lord has the
possibility of declining.
The value estimation for the ages from twenty years old to sixty
years old was higher than for any other period, and this class of
people, significantly, was mentioned first in this passage. And why?

Because from twenty years old and upward they were able to go
forth to war (Num. 1.3). When God numbered the twelve tribes of
Israel as recorded in Numbers 1, He counted the number of those
twenty years old and upward who were able to go forth to war. And
so will He similarly evaluate His children of today. All who will
consecrate themselves shall be of value. Even the weakest has some
value. And those who will stand up for the glory of God, who with
God will destroy sin, and who will fight against Satan for God’s right
are far more valuable in His sight than other believers.
Unquestionably, the eyes of God are upon these warriors.
Why, though, is there a difference in estimation between male and

female? In our day this is not according to the flesh (though with the
Israelites it was something physical), but rather it is according to the
strength or weakness of spiritual life (cf. 1 Peter 3.7). It is possible
for a Christian who has believed the Lord for only one year to be
more advanced than he who has already believed for five years.
From this brief discussion we now know that Christians do differ

in spiritual age. There is a possibility for decline as well as for
advance. Where are you at this present moment?
“But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall be set

before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the
ability of him that vowed shall the priest value him” (v.8). What does
this mean for today? According to our spiritual age, we ought to give
such and such; yet under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we
discover we have nothing to match what we should give. In that case,
we can only come to our great high priest—the Lord Jesus—
confessing our inadequacy and asking Him to re-estimate us. We will
have to start afresh.
Finally, it is important to note that the shekel was according to

“the shekel of the sanctuary” (v.3). This meant that an Israelite was
worth only that which God declared he was worth; and such was
unquestionably the most accurate estimation. Human estimation
often erred, but the shekel of the sanctuary was most exact. So that
what God estimates concerning us believers today is perfect.
We have already had given to us at great cost to the Lord Jesus

half a shekel for our initial salvation. Yet today we should inquire of
God, saying, “O God, how much more am I worth in your sight?”
May our value to Him increase with an ever increasing consecration!
8
The Love of Christ
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, For
thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8.35-39 mg.)
The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge,
that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that
they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him
who for their sakes died and rose again. (2 Cor. 5.14,15)
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom
every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be
strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that
ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to
apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God. (Eph.
3.14-19)
In these three passages there is one phrase common to all of them:

“the love of Christ.” Although the Bible speaks much on this theme,
it most distinctively mentions the love of Christ only these three
times, while the rest speak of the love of God. Yet the Bible makes
clear to us that actually the love of God is the love of Christ. For
although in Romans 8.35 it asks “Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?”, in verse 39 of the same passage it concludes with
the statement that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love
of God.” So that the love of God and the love of Christ are two in
one. Nevertheless, we want to discuss specifically “the love of

Christ” in relation to three kinds of people.
One—The Love of Christ in Romans 8 Is for the Suffering Ones
Every believer in this world has his particular experiences,

problems and environments. But according to Paul, whatever your
special situation may be, the “love of Christ” is always the answer.
You may have a hundred problems, yet the solution to all of them is
the love of Christ. Some believers may incur tribulation, some may
encounter poverty, some may meet with persecutions, and some may
even suffer abject hunger. Yet, should even nakedness or peril or
sword or famine come our way, nothing can separate us from the
love of Christ because His love will solve all such difficulties. When
a person is gripped by the love of Christ, he is able to go through
what many people usually cannot undergo.
A certain widow lived in poverty after the death of her husband.

She pawned away all her belongings and she also owed her rent. Yet
despite such misery, she still maintained a smiling face. When did
she smile? She smiled whenever she saw her child of less than one
year old. She smiled because of love.
I treasure the word of Romans 8.37, which says: “Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors.” More than conquerors in all
these things, not outside all these things. Without these things
coming to us, there would be no need to conquer. Many think they
can conquer if there is no tribulation, no distress and no persecution.
But the word of God declares that we are more than conquerors in all
these things. It is the love of Christ that causes us to overcome
tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword. For the love of Christ is the power that enables us to
conquer all these things. All these things are rather painful,
nonetheless those who have tasted the love of Christ do not find them
so.
The Love of Christ 107
Two—The Love of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5 Is for the Servants
This “love of Christ” mentioned here is for those who serve the
Lord: “the love of Christ constraineth us” who serve, said Paul
(v.14a). The word “constrain” in the Greek original has the idea in it
of something being washed away by the water. Hence the love of
Christ can be likened to the power of water washing you away.
David Livingstone once said that if people came to Africa for the
sake of the slave trade, could not and would not the love of Christ
constrain a person to go to Africa too? So, he himself went to Africa.
Due to that one man who was constrained by the love of Christ to lay
down his life, numberless people received divine life. Only the love
of Christ can constrain us. Love is something which cannot be
displayed, yet all who have tasted the sweetness of it cannot help but
be washed away by its power.
“Because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died;
and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto
themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again”
(vv.14b,15). The word “judge” means “conclude.” The love of Christ
constrains us as we make our judgment in two matters. One is, that
Christ died for all. His love and His death cannot be separated. We
have the love of Christ because He has died. And two is, that they
who live should no longer live for themselves but to Him who for
their sakes died and rose again. This is the end, the conclusion to the
matter. Being constrained by the love of Christ, I cannot stand in my
old position and not live for Him.
Frequently we find it so hard to witness to a sinner. Before we

open our mouth, we are already blushing. When I was first saved, I
tried to witness to a schoolmaster. But when I saw him I could hardly
speak. It seemed so difficult to open my mouth and talk about Jesus.
Nevertheless, as one is constrained by the love of Christ, he cannot
but witness. Let us praise and thank the Lord because His love is able
to constrain us.
Oftentimes it seems difficult to preach. Hunger and persecution

are things which cannot be avoided. Once I had people pointing a
gun at me, forbidding me to preach Jesus. But I would rather be shot
than not to speak about Christ, for His love has carried me away. I
frequently persuade young believers to consecrate themselves to the
Lord. This is because of His loving us. Many brothers ask what they
should do in order to devote their lives to the preaching of the gospel.
Unless you truly feel—as did Paul—that “woe is unto me, if I preach
not the gospel” (1 Cor. 9.16), it would be better if you did not
become a preacher. Unless necessity is laid upon you, people will not
be affected. In preaching the gospel, we must be washed away by the
love of Christ. I would not persuade all to be preachers, but I do
insist that every believer must witness for the Lord. Let me ask, have
you ever told people of the love of Christ? Have you ever felt the
love of God burning within you so that you cannot but speak of His
love? May the love of Christ fill us today to constrain us.
Three—The Love of Christ in Ephesians 3 Is for the Learner
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, . . . that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be
filled unto all the fulness of God” (vv.14,17-19). Here “the love of
Christ” mentioned is for a learner. Paul is a learned man who can
hardly make a grammatical error or compose an ungrammatical
sentence. All his letters in the New Testament are written in excellent
Greek. Nevertheless, when in Ephesians 3 he writes about the love of
Christ, he commits a serious grammatical error. For he stops at the
phrase “to apprehend with all the saints” and suddenly writes down
“breadth and length and height and depth” (in the original, there is no
“what is”). It appears that there is no connection between the
preceeding words and the words that follow. This is indeed reflective
The Love of Christ 109
of the true condition when speaking of the love of Christ. As Paul is

writing up to this point, he does not know how further to set down
what is on his heart, so he exclaims: “breadth and length and height
and depth.” He cannot describe it. Yet this provides a far better
understanding to people than should a description of the love of
Christ be written down in the best of grammar and style. Whenever
we think upon the love of Christ, we are at a loss as to what to say,
for it appears that the mind is almost useless at that point!
“To know” means the same as “to apprehend.” The love of Christ
is unknowable and yet it is also knowable. Day by day we learn on
this earth a little more concerning the breadth and length and height
and depth of the love of Christ. Once, a preacher, while speaking
experienced a kind of pressure within him so that he could not say
what he wanted to say. He asked the audience for prayer. While
people were praying, a black man prayed continually, “Precious
Jesus!” That preacher heard this prayer for over an hour.
Subsequently he said to his audience, “I have no sermon to preach
today; yet from among all your prayers I heard but one word—
“Precious Jesus!”
Being constrained by the love of Christ, we love Him though we

have not seen Him. By faith we know He is precious.
9
The Mind of Christ
If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any
consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any
tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy, that
ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through faction
or through vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind each
counting other better than himself; not looking each of you to his
own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this
mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the
form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even
unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God
highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above
every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2.1-11)
For the past few weeks this portion of Scripture has been very
much on my heart. As a matter of fact, this passage is what we
Christians must pay constant attention to. Let us consider together
this portion of God’s word for a few minutes.
“If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation

of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and
compassions” (v.1). At a glance this verse does not seem to inspire
much thought, and many who read it do not derive much from it. But
let me say that this verse is most meaningful. For the realization of
the succeeding verses in our lives depends very much on an
understanding of this initial verse. These opening words of the
passage may be deemed the “soil” for all the other verses. A seed
cannot be sown in the air because it has nowhere to be rooted there.
It must be sown in soil deep and fertile enough for its growth. And
that is why this verse serves as the necessary soil for the following
verses. It furnishes the nutrients as well as the water for later growth.
Without this verse, then, the rest of this Scripture portion will be
extremely difficult to implement in our lives.
“If there is therefore any [thing] . . . in Christ.” These words of

Paul are exceedingly important. What he means is this: if there is any
exhortation in Christ, then we will naturally be of the same mind: if
there is any consolation of love in Christ, it will be easy for us to
have the same love: if there is any fellowship of the Holy Spirit and
if there be any tender mercies, and compassions in the heart, it will
be possible to be of one accord and of one mind. On the other hand,
though, if there be no exhortation nor consolation of love nor
fellowship of the Spirit nor any tender mercies and compassions,
then how can there be the same mind, the same love, the same
accord? In other words, if these things are in Christ, the rest will just
naturally follow; otherwise, nothing will be possible.
Do you have any exhortation in Christ, any consolation of love,

any fellowship of the Spirit, any tender mercies, and compassions? If
you lack these, then how can you expect to practice the things
mentioned in the verses that follow? But once having the exhortation,
consolation, fellowship, tender mercies, and compassions in Christ, it
is most easy for you to be of the same mind and of the same love.
And thus the joy of our Lord will be full.
Paul lays out this first verse as the source, the foundation, and the
“fertilizer” or “nutrient.” If in the absence of this first verse Paul
should set about exhorting the brethren at Philippi to be of the same
mind and of the same love, to be of one accord and of one love, to be
without faction or vainglory but instead to be in lowliness of mind
and to be looking after the things of others, how would they respond
to him? They would probably say something like this: “Sir, as good
as these things you have told us are, we cannot do them. Only Christ
can. Yet we do not have the power of Christ because we belong to
the world. How can we possibly achieve these things? We may
The Mind of Christ 113
indeed love the lovable, but we find it hard to love the unlovely. And
I have my own thought, and someone else has his own idea. So how
can we be of one mind?” It is for this reason that Paul prepared the
way for the Philippian brethren to enter into the reality of the
succeeding verses by first laying down the prerequisite condition in
verse 1. In that verse he told them the secret: “If there is any [thing]
... in Christ,” then all will be easy. In order to be full, food must be
taken in; in order to have strength, power needs to be supplied first.
A brother put it well when he observed: “People exhort others to put
out strength, but I advise them to put in strength.” How can strength
be expended if it is not first taken in? And that is exactly what this
verse calls for. Paul shows us that there is the necessary power in
Christ. “In Christ”—Oh! how significant is this phrase! For only in
Him can we do all things. Outside of Christ, we are sinners; but in
Christ, we are saved. Outside of Christ, we are defeated; but in
Christ, we are victorious.
“Make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind” (v.2). As a result of the
supply cited in the first verse, we can experience the reality of this
second verse. Because there is this source of power in Christ,
therefore one mind can be a reality here.
Can there be the same mind? the same love? Once I asked a
brother in Foochow the process whereby we two would be of the
same mind. Would it be necessary for me to change my mind to his
or for him to change his mind to mine? Now it might be possible
with two persons, but what if there were three people involved? How
could two people’s minds be changed to the mind of the third
person? And supposing there were five or five hundred or a thousand
people involved, how could so many minds become the same? Yet
according to Paul it would appear to be very easy for all to arrive at
the same mind. For the apostle, it is simply as verse 5 suggests:
“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The
solution to the problem is not to be found in the formula whereby I
am to lay aside my mind in deference to yours nor by you laying

aside your mind in deference to mine. It is instead achieved by our
placing the mind of Christ in the midst and allowing both of us to be
of the same mind with Him. If every mind is to be of the same mind
as Christ’s, then it is a matter of all of us simply having the same
mind in spite of the great number of people involved. When we are
attempting to undertake something, it is quite likely that you will
have your thought and I will have mine. Should you, then, submit to
me, or should it be that I must submit to you? Some people may
think that perhaps the other person should submit. But this is not
God’s way. His way is to “have this mind in you which was also in
Christ Jesus.”
What loss it will be to God if any brother or sister should go

astray and refuse to obey the Lord! Were we of the same mind, it
would give God joy—yea, much joy; for here in this verse 2 Paul is
representing the Lord’s heart. The heart of the Lord will be full of
joy if believers are of one mind. A number of things can indeed
gladden the Lord’s heart, but the one accord of Christians will make
Him full of joy. Winning souls will give the Lord joy; victorious
living will also give Him joy; but having one mind will alone give
Him great joy. Such oneness is internal as well as external. God can
so work in us that we are not only one in speech but also one in heart.
Some people’s oneness is merely in their mouths because their

hearts are not really one. Even though their hearts are so far apart,
and their attitudes betray the fact that they are not of one accord with
other people, they can still declare they are one. Such oneness is not
that which is spoken of here. Only on the basis of “if there is . . . in
Christ” can there be any one-mindedness.
“Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in

lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself” (v.3).
This is still based on Paul’s understanding of the phrase “in Christ.”
What is faction? Factionalism denotes the taking of sides. Instead of
the Lord, someone else becomes your goal. When two persons are at
odds, for example, you declare that you are for one of them. But this
is wrong. You can only stand on the Lord’s side, or else you will fall
into factionalism.
What kind of glory is vainglory? The Scriptures at one point speak

of “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4.17). Glory is weighty and
substantial, therefore it sinks to the bottom, not floating on the top.
Such weight of glory can only be seen by God. What is apparent and
seen by many people is something vainglorious. What does a person
obtain from such vainglory? Nothing but a lusting, for who can ever
obtain that which is vain and empty? All he can do is to lust
continually after it.
Sometimes unfortunate strife occurs among brothers and sisters. If

this is not due to faction, then it usually is because of seeking after
vainglory. Each desires to be great; none is willing to give in.
Actually, desiring greatness will not make one great; there will
always be someone greater.
When one is being praised and honored he seems to be glorified,

whereas in fact his feet tread on floating clouds. We need to
remember that all glories which come from men are but vainglories.
Once a renowned English scholar wrote a famous novel. One day he
was invited to a feast by a duke. At the table, a woman of nobility
profusely praised his novel. The author stood up and said to the
woman that she was not qualified to praise his book. He considered
her praise to be disgraceful. Who, then, is worthy to praise us? Apart
from our Lord, no one is worthy. When we are praised by men, we
have already been downgraded, so why should we lust after it? We
will not accept men’s praise nor seek for such praise if our mind is
set on the future and our heart seeks to hear the Lord say, “Well
done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25.21).
Not only should we, negatively, refrain from pursuing after

vainglory, we should also, positively, “in lowliness of mind count
others better than ourselves.” What is lowliness? Lowliness means
reserving no place for oneself. He who reserves a place for himself is
never lowly in mind. He who claims he has authority and deserves to
get something is not humble. One may speak humbly, but he may not
be lowly in mind. It may come through the mouth, but it may not
pass out of the heart.
Where does lowliness of mind express itself? It is expressed

through the attitude of “counting others better than oneself.” Such is
the unmistakable hallmark of lowliness. How difficult it is to count
others better than oneself! Once I met an elderly believer who had
served the Lord for many decades. A brother asked him which was
the most difficult of all Christian virtues. His answer was Philippians
2.3: “In lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself.”
Yes, indeed, it is exceedingly hard to have lowliness of mind. For
what sin turned the archangel Lucifer into Satan? Was it not pride?
He fell because he wanted to be equal with the Most High. What sin
caused man to become a sinner? Was it not also pride? Adam ate the
forbidden fruit, expecting to know good and evil as did God. He ate,
and he fell terribly. Hence humility is truly the hardest to attain to of
all the virtues. Possibly no one on earth has ever fully attained to it.
We can find people with ability or eloquence, but where can we find
a truly humble person?
How can we count the other person better than ourselves? One
believer has said it well: “See the old man in myself, and see the new
man in the other.” If we truly look at our natural life and perceive
how corrupted we are, and then look at the other person and discern
how the grace of God has transformed him, we cannot help but count
the other better than ourselves. The believers in Rome should receive
help from Paul, yet Paul expected their help because their faith was
at that time being proclaimed throughout the entire world (Rom. 1.8).
He expected to be comforted by the new work of God in their midst

during his anticipated visit with them in the future (1.12,13ff.).
I had a conversation with a woman missionary on the following

point: Who demands more—the Lord towards the believers or the
believers towards the Lord? I thought that the Lord would probably
demand more. We who are so imperfect often make great demands
on people and have great expectations of them; surely, then, the Lord
who is perfect would make even greater demands and have even
greater expectations. To my surprise she said no to my notion. I
asked for her reason. Her answer was that we believers see the
apparent failures of people, but the Lord sees their hidden victories. I
confess that this word came out of deep experience, for I have since
learned how true this that she said is. What we see is somebody who
has failed once, twice, or many times; but what the Lord sees is
someone who has secretly overcome once, twice, perhaps even a
hundred times. You yourself may be tempted five times and you fail
those, five times, whereas quite possibly the other person may be
tempted three times but he only fails once. He may experience many
victories in secret which you cannot see and which you do not
experience yourself. You may wage ten battles and lose once, but he
may fight a hundred battles and only lose twice. If only we could
understand this we would be more inclined to count others better
than ourselves.
“Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also
to the things of others” (v.4). This is something not easy to
implement. Due to my poor health in recent years, I have been
unable to look after the things of others very much. Frequently we
feel we neither have time nor energy to take care of our own things,
so how can we possibly take care of others’ affairs. To look after the
things of others is truly a self-denying life. I once met a missionary
with the China Inland Mission. I asked her if she had ever seen
Hudson Taylor in person and what she felt was his distinctive
characteristic. She replied that so far as she knew, the one most
distinctive characteristic of the man was that whenever anyone went

to see him, he seemed to have nothing to do but to consider that
person’s affairs as the most important business at hand. Actually he
wrote many letters and interviewed numerous people each day. Yet
he appeared as though he had only others’ affairs to take care of.
This is truly self-denial. If our Lord were as cold and careless to
others as we are, where would we be today? Where would I be? Our
Lord indeed cares only for the things of others; for did He not die for
us because we had sinned? Let us therefore be taught by this
profound example to care for the things of others.
“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (v.5).
This statement is actually a summing up of the preceding four verses.
Everything will be fine and nothing will be impossible if we have the
mind of Christ. What is the mind of Christ? Paul gives his classic
definition in verses 6 to 8 that follow.
“Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an

equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men” (vv.6,7).
The prerogatives of Christ—that which is legally and rightfully
His—is His being in the form of God and being equal with God. Yet
He “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the
likeness of men.” What, then, you ask, is the mind of Christ? It is to
do what He did: to forfeit one’s rightful privileges. Perhaps you are
concerned about how you should be treated by other people. But
Christ does not hold on to what is rightfully His. He took the attitude
of mind that His being on an equality with God was not something to
be grasped after, but instead He emptied himself and took the form of
a bondslave. Such is the mind of Christ.
How we dwell on having our lawful privileges. Nevertheless, our

Lord observed this: “Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Not so
shall it be among you” (Matt. 20.25,26a). Moreover, the teaching of
Jesus found in Matthew 5-7 may be summed up in two succinct

statements: Forsake what rightfully belongs to you, and, Accept
gladly what is not your due. Other people may return eye for eye and
tooth for tooth, but the Lord says to pray for those who persecute
you. Lay down what is rightfully yours and take up what is unworthy
for you—such is the sum total of the law and the prophets. Whether
at home or abroad, no Christian should speak of his rights. Had our
Lord argued among the Godhead as to whether or not the Father
could send Him, would the Father have ever been able to send Him?
On the one hand Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10.30);
on the other hand He also said this: “the Father is greater than I”
(John 14.28). Is there any inherent gradation of power and authority
between and among the members in the Godhead? Certainly not.
And hence the consideration of greater or smaller here cannot have
reference to that which one is born with; rather, it is something that is
willed or desired or submitted to gladly. The Father sends the Son,
and the Son sends the Spirit. And such a submissive arrangement is
according to the sublime humility to be found in the Godhead.
“The form of a servant” are words which speak of the lowliness of

our Lord; “the likeness of men” is a phrase which signifies the
human restriction our Lord takes upon himself. The form of a servant
is presented in contrast to the form of God, while man is presented in
contrast to God. God is not restricted by time and space, by food and
rest. The form of God is glorious, whereas the form of a servant is
lowly. The mind of Christ is therefore expressed in His willingness
to humble himself and to suffer restriction.
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,

becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross”
(v.8). The obedience of Christ is profoundly demonstrated in His
obeying His equal, not in His obeying His superior. His obedience is
from the heart and goes all the way to the death of the cross.
We Christians ought to be more loving and more at peace with

one another. The way described in verses 6-8 is truly the way of the
cross. Any brother or sister who has not learned to deny self, to lay
down legal rights, and to humble himself or herself among his or her
equals, has never traveled along this way of the cross. Once a
missionary made a significant comment. A certain brother, she
observed, is always exhorting people to walk the way of the cross, to
tread the narrow way; yet I have noticed, she added, that he himself
has not even stepped through its gate! How true it is that unless we
have denied ourselves, we have not entered upon the way of the
cross. How we wish to choose the way of the cross, yet we fail to
realize that it lies in the denying of self and in dying daily.
A sister in the Lord met a physician who was very active in the
assembly. This learned physician was knowledgeable in the word of
God and eloquent in preaching. Yet this sister one day told him, “Sir,
you preach well, but you walk wrongly.” “I preach the way of the
cross,” replied the physician, “for we all need to deny ourselves and
take up the cross.” “Indeed,” said the sister; “but I notice that you
yourself have never died.” The physician humbly asked for help; and
the sister spoke to him quite frankly according to God’s word.
Sometime later, he wrote a letter to that sister, in which he said:
“After you left, I told God that I neither knew what the cross was,
nor what the way of the cross was, nor what denying self was. But,
with my ignorance I offer myself to You, Lord, and ask You to
enable me to deny myself. Then, my problem came. My wife began
to oppose me. When I could no longer endure, I heard a voice saying
to me, Deny self and die to these things. Previously, I had often
spoken of the cross and of self-denial and of death to self, though I
really did not know when or where or how I should die to myself.
Now, however, I know how to make it work out in life; for whenever
I now speak on this matter, many people oppose me. Even my
medical practice has suffered. I now know that I need to die among
my own contemporaries.”
Many know the truth and know they must deny self. But where
are they to die? As this physician discovered, they must begin to die
to themselves among their very contemporaries. We must die among
people we daily see and touch. May God bless us that we may fill the
Lord’s heart with joy because we are “of the same mind, having the
same love, being of one accord, of one mind”—in Christ.

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What is the significance of God's name 'Jehovah' according to the passage?

What is the significance of God's name 'Jehovah' according to the passage?

How does the passage illustrate God's mercy and forgiveness?

How does the passage illustrate God's mercy and forgiveness?

From Glory to Glory

Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc.

Available from the Publishers at:

2 Man’s Only Sin 21

3 Forgiveness and Confession 37

4 David and Mephibosheth 51

5 Saved Through Baptism 69

6 Food for God’s People 87

7 A Believer’s Value Before God 97

8 The Love of Christ 105

9 The Mind of Christ 111

God and Jehovah

From Genesis to the third chapter of Exodus, God employs

“It came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw

“God” is the common name of Deity, whereas “Jehovah” is His

creation. Though it also mentions man, it nevertheless pertains

“I AM”—“I AM THAT I AM!” Oh! Do we realize the

Testament saints knew God as Jehovah, and therefore they prayed:

God’s name reveals himself. His very name is the foundation of

The Lord Jesus Is Jehovah

Some may consider Jehovah to be God’s revelation in the Old

While on earth the Lord Jesus acknowledged himself to be the

am the life, I am the resurrection, I am the light of the world, I am the

What is the effect of this name of Jehovah in relation to the

Mine ordinances shall ye do, and my statutes shall ye keep, to

Do God’s commands have a reason behind them? Only that it is

To put it more clearly, however, the name of God as the “I AM

(2) “I AM”—that is to say, I am not only your power and wisdom

Here an additional explanation is being given. Who is this

What type of man is Abraham? He is a giant of faith. He is rather

Hence through these three persons, God is telling us that He is the

He is still my God. He has a way with the excellent, with the

What is meant by resurrection? It means the natural has passed

“This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all

And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God

What I want to emphatically present is the only sin in the Bible. It

We may not commit adultery or gamble, but we doubtless have

committed this same sin of having broken the proper relationship

The inventory of sin is so massive that it is beyond counting. You

Let me use an illustration to show how important such sin is.

Hence, we may accurately say that man is a sinner for no other

Today I would not ask concerning how you behave at home.

universally common problem of man’s relationship with God is not

The Bible teaches plainly concerning this sin. Let us be clear as to

rejected because he refused to stand on the ground of the blood. In

What is meant by being saved? It means to have restored a proper

Had the younger son maintained a proper relationship with his

In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul shows us most plainly

“Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God,

“Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto

“And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God

“gave up.” Even more sins are to be committed, as is evident in the

brother because he had already been rejected by God. On the other

There was once a man—told of in the Bible—who fought with his

According to the Bible “there is none righteous, no, not one”