February 12, 2019
God’s judgment is judgment through the truth and it can only be experienced and enjoyed within God’s house. It cannot be gained out in the world. Isn’t this exceptional elevation by God? (Yes.) God is allowing us to attend the feast—what feast is that? It is being purified through judgment, and finally gaining the truth through eating and drinking Christ’s words.
The value of this feast is enormous. What words are fulfilled by having people gain the truth? God uses the truth to perfect people, to be people’s lives that they may live out an image of the truth—this is the outcome gained by attending the feast, and this is God’s will. From the outside, the words of judgment look like condemnation, but in fact they are purifying and perfecting. Just mentioning judgment causes those who don’t love the truth to run for the hills while those who seek the truth are obedient. “If I’m judged, it is what it is, and I’ll also obey if I’m pruned and dealt with. However I am treated will be fine; I will submit to whatever God arranges.” At the beginning it’s very difficult, but after a period of suffering, people say: “Why do I have such a wonderful feeling? How is it that I have really undergone a bit of a change? How is it that my perspective on things has also changed and I have a closer relationship with God? How is it that I understand quite a few truths now? Oh, so this is what attending the feast is about. Through the bitter comes the sweet, and I have tasted the sweetness. It turns out attending the feast really isn’t bad. Now I know God’s wonderful intention is to perfect people. From the outside, it is the condemnation, judgment, and chastisement of God’s words, and it is God’s righteous disposition coming upon us, but the outcome in the end is all purification and perfection.” Now you understand what judgment is, what the truth is, and what attending the feast is, right?
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 103)
Sermons and Fellowship, Christian pray to God
There are some people who have now been attending this feast for twenty or thirty years, and some who have been attending it for a few years. Haven’t they reaped a lot? The harvest has been immense; they have gained so much! One thing is that God’s judgment and chastisement has allowed people to understand many truths and mysteries. Another is that God’s words of judgment and chastisement have truly borne the fruit of purification in them as well as the fruit of gradually being perfected. What does “the fruit of purification” refer to? The satanic philosophies, laws, logic, and all sorts of poisons that exist within human beings are first cleansed and they come to know the truth of mankind’s corruption as well as their satanic nature and essence. This is very effective for people’s entry into life and transformation in their disposition. And what is most precious is that they develop hearts of reverence for God to varying degrees because they have had a taste of God’s righteousness revealed through the judgment carried out by God. Because they have true reverence for God, they are able to stay far from all sorts of evil and dare not sin in word or carry out any more violence. Even their thoughts and intentions have been cleansed considerably. In the past it was very commonplace for them to resist God and make judgments on Him, but now they dare not make judgments or run off at the mouth when they don’t fully understand something. On top of that, they don’t dare think of luxurious desires such as blessings, the kingdom of heaven, being crowned, or rewards. They don’t dare pursue those things, feeling that gaining them isn’t meaningful. They all begin to focus on seeking the truth, growing in their lives, knowing God, and changing their dispositions. They focus on performing their duty acceptably to repay God’s love. Isn’t that the process of being purified? This is also the outcome achieved from being purified. Isn’t having this kind of entry into life and these kinds of genuine changes the fruit of God’s work of judgment? The more of God’s judgment you undergo the more you will gain. The more clearly you understand the truth, the more you will change. If you undergo little of God’s judgment and chastisement you will also reap little and transform little; the truths you understand will certainly be superficial. This is a fact. Among God’s chosen people all those who understand the truth and enter into reality, whose corrupt dispositions have been largely purified in general very rarely resist God or pass judgment on Him. Even if their obedience to and love of God are inadequate, deep in their hearts they already feel God’s loveliness and have seen what true obedience to God is. For this reason, their entry into life deepens continuously. They become less and less corrupt, they obey God more and more, and their love for God grows and grows because of God’s judgment and chastisement. Haven’t people like this gained purification? (They have.) They are people who have a place in the kingdom of heaven.
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 103)
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