Selected Preachings of the Leaders from Different Levels in the Church

Most of those who serve God think that they have done many works for God and should be given credit for hard work if not for good work, so they cannot believe that they are the ones who resist God, and they feel it is inconceivable. They all think that as long as they are doing the work of the church, they are serving God, as long as they can do the work of the church properly, they serve God after God’s heart’s desire, as long as they are faithful to the work of the church, they are faithful to God, and as long as they can serve God to the end, they will be the ones who are after God’s heart. So, all those who have served God for years think that they are the ones who are faithful to God and who are surely after God’s heart because they have done many works and undergone many sufferings. Thus, after serving God for years, they begin to indulge in the enjoyment of position without scruple. They stand high above others and think that they are beyond the administration of God’s family, so they begin to reign and rule. They do not have any fear of God in their heart, and they all are contending with God for his chosen people, racking their brains for power and profit, trying hard to win over God’s chosen people and control them, and even want to make them their own people, and they try every possible means to fulfill their ambitions and desires, do anything they want to do, take satisfying themselves as the standard, and think that God will be satisfied if they are satisfied and thus they will be entitled to the enjoyment of position. In this way, they stray into the path of an antichrist unconsciously. The apostle Paul in the Age of the Grace was a typical example. When he first began to believe in God, he was a typical antichrist, being arrogant and conceited, obedient to no one, and loyal to religion, striving for position, and having no fear of God in his heart at all. After he was punished by God, God gave him an opportunity to make amends for his sins by testifying about God. Only then did he begin to testify about Jesus. Although he served God for years, he did not gain any knowledge of the substance of Christ or gain the knowledge of the substance of his being the foremost of sinners who resisted God, much less gain the knowledge of God’s nature and the purpose of God’s work. He merely gained some scriptural knowledge and received some inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Then he considered himself somebody, indulged in boastful talk, and lectured others and showed off wherever he went. Although he underwent many sufferings, he did not gain the transformation of his life nature, and he even relapsed into his old nature and became more and more arrogant and conceited. He not only did not have a fear of God, but shamelessly testified about himself—to him to live was Christ, and had others listen and submit to him. Actually he had long since become an absolute antichrist. After he had toiled for God, he received his deserved punishment. Just as God’s word says, “He fully represented the archangel.” Thus we can see that Paul did not have any truth and was not one who truly obeyed God. Paul’s failure teaches us this lesson: If a person who serves God does not pursue the truth, he is doomed to fail. Thus we can see that if a corrupt person who serves God does not resolve his problem of serving God but resisting God, he will surely stray into the path of an antichrist. If people who serve God do the work according to their notions and imaginations and with the desire of receiving blessing and can never change it, they will all end up in failure. We have seen that many people who served God did many things that frustrated God’s work and resisted God and thus were eliminated, because they did not pursue the truth but served God only according to their own will and did the work according to their imaginations. People resist God while serving God. This is something they cannot help doing. No one wants to resist God. It is completely determined by man’s innate nature of rebelling against God and completely conforms to the inexorable trend of corrupt mankind serving God. It can be said that all who serve God are the ones who serve God but resist God before they have gained the truth and the transformation of their life nature, and none of them can be an exception. This is because those who do not pursue the truth will surely not have the knowledge of God’s work, understand God’s intention, or be transformed in their life nature. How can such people serve God according to God’s heart’s desire? That is something absolutely impossible! As corrupt mankind does not have the truth, even if they serve God, their service will be resisting God, and none of them can serve God according to God’s heart’s desire. This is determined by the innate nature of corrupt mankind. People who serve God must see this clearly.

If one who serves God wants to be made perfect by God and serve God completely after God’s heart’s desire, he must first enter the right track of believing in God. Only then can he enter the right track of serving God. Only when one who serves God has entered the right track of believing in God will he be able to serve God truly. To enter the right track of serving God, one must know God’s work. Only when he has truly known God’s work will he truly understand God’s intention, and know how to cooperate with the working of the Holy Spirit to cause God’s chosen people to be saved. This is the necessary condition for entering the right track of serving God. To know God’s work, one must understand such things as how God judges and chastises people to cause them to be saved, why people have to know the substance of mankind’s corruption and know what corrupt mankind is before they can be saved, and why people have to know how to experience God’s work before they can be saved. Only when one has been clear about these things will he truly understand how God saves people, and will he begin to pursue the truth, formally receive God’s judgment and chastisement, obey God’s work submissively in order to be saved, and truly enter the right track of believing in God. Only when he himself has entered the right track of believing in God to be saved will he be able to lead God’s chosen people to enter the right track of believing in God. Only if he has led God’s chosen people to enter the right track of believing in God will it mean that he has truly cooperated with the working of the Holy Spirit and serves God according to God’s heart’s desire. If one who serves God cannot lead God’s chosen people into the right track of believing in God so that they can be saved, he will not be serving God but frustrating God’s work, and his service will be resisting God. So, it is very important for one who serves God to first enter the right track of believing in God. If he has not entered the right track of believing in God, he will never be able to lead God’s chosen people to enter it. If one who serves God has not truly known the substance of corrupt mankind and cannot see how God judges and chastises people to cause them to be saved, he cannot possibly submissively obey all God’s work. How can such a person be qualified to serve God? Even if he serves God, he will be resisting God and will never be able to serve God truly.