Today is Thanksgiving. And how thankful are we? Is there something for us to thank the Lord for? So my wife was asking me in the car, what do you give thanks for? What's the first thing that comes to your mind? So I said, well, I thank the Lord for Himself. And she said, "Yes, this I know already. What else?" And you know what? I didn't know what else to say. I said, well, if I thank the Lord for Himself, I've thanked Him for everything that matters.
I just want to thank the Lord for a warm home to live in. Maybe I'm not down to earth enough. That's my problem. Flying somewhere else. Well, you would say, I give thanks for having a nice place to live in, or at least a reasonably comfortable place. And somebody may say, yeah, but the non-Christian next door, he has a much nicer house, and he doesn't give thanks for it. You say, well, I even have a car. I can drive around. And you say, yeah, but the non-Christian next door, he has two cars, and both of them are nicer than mine. And they never give thanks. I give thanks for my food, which is also good food. My neighbor eats even better food, and he never remembers to give thanks. And the Lord doesn't seem to judge them, does He? So what's the point of giving thanks anyway?
Well, that's why I said I give thanks for the Lord Himself. I want to develop a little bit further what I mean. Because I'm sure my non-Christian neighbor, he can't say that. I'm not so sure how many of you can really say that either, from the heart, that is. Because some of us are very used to giving standard Christian answers. That's the sort of thing Christians ought to say, even if you don't really mean it.
I think we cannot really thank the Lord for Himself unless we are living in a sweet relationship with Him. Would you give thanks for your wife or husband? You wouldn't give thanks for them unless you have a very good relationship with them. If your relationship is quite bad, the last thing you want to do is give thanks to God for your wife, for your husband. And so why would you give thanks to God if you don't even have a relationship with Him?
Now here is the crucial thing I'd like to talk about. You see, many Christians, we believe that Jesus did something wonderful for us. He brought us into a relationship with God through His death. His death on the cross accomplished something for us and we will be saved. At least that's what we think. Will we? Not yet. If we can't even give thanks for the Lord, how are we going to be saved?
I said that it all depends on whether you have a relationship with Him. Be perfectly honest. Do you have a relationship with Him? I didn't ask you whether you believe in Jesus. I don't even want to ask that question, because if you're a Christian, you have to say yes. But I am asking you this question: Do you really have a relationship with Him? Do you even understand my question? Some Christians may not know what I'm talking about. That's the amazing thing. Do you have a relationship with God? If not, then to talk about Jesus dying for you is frankly meaningless.
Because you have to ask, why did He die for you and me? Do you know why? You say, of course, for my sins. Another standard answer. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to listen to standard answers. So let me ask the next question. Why did He die for your sins? What did He want to accomplish? He died to reconcile us to God. That's what the Scripture tells us. To remove sin, what for? So that we can now have a relationship with Him. Now do you have that relationship? Let's be honest. Today, were you talking to Him from morning till now?
By relationship, I am not talking about five or ten minutes of quiet time. Most Christians try to do that. It's a religious exercise. And I'm not talking about religious exercises. I am saying, are you communicating with Him? By the time we finish these questions, we might not be talking to very many people. Because I think, if I'm not mistaken, very few actually have a living relationship with God. And if that is true, then the conclusion is quite terrible. That means very few people have benefited from the death of Jesus. Because His death, as I said, was to bring us into relationship with God. What did it say in Hebrews? He died so that we can enter into the holiest place. But you can't get into the holiest place. At least not in your experience, do you? And if you don't have that experience, Jesus' death didn't reach you.
Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm not talking religion. I'm not talking Christianity. I'm talking about knowing the living God. I am never impressed to convert anybody to Christianity. That's not going to help anybody. The death of Jesus was to bring us into relationship with Him. The word that the apostle Paul likes to use is the word "reconcile." He has reconciled us with God. Unless we understand this vital principle, we don't even know what being a Christian truly is.
And I say this to be true not only for average Christians so-called, but also even for those engaged in full-time work. Now this is something to be worried about. Unless we have that relationship, let me remind you what I said at the beginning. You can't give thanks for knowing God because you don't really know Him. You would not say, "I give thanks for God Himself, that I know God, I have God." Because there isn't a relationship. And I fear that unless you know the distinction between these two things, your Christianity might not be much more than self-deception. It is just a religion. And if we reduce Christianity to religion, that is, as a ritual practice, then I'm not sure one religion is really a lot better than another. Because it's just a religion. It's an outward practice. And you just believe certain things to be true, which people in other religions also believe. But the living relationship, that is the all-vital thing. Everything depends on relating to God. And let me tell you this, there is no theologian in the world who can contradict me. Because every theologian knows that this is in fact the heart of the gospel. But to know it is one thing. To have it is something else.
How to have it? How to have it in such a way that this relationship is something which the Lord Jesus said, "I have come, not just that you can believe in Christianity, I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance." Have you got that life? Not if you are not communicating with Him, because that life comes from that communion with Him.
I always think of the fact that in China we are privileged to have John Sung. John Sung, in my opinion, and I don't think too many people would disagree with me, is China's greatest evangelist for the last century, the 20th century. And I'd like to learn from these great men of God. So when I found a copy of his biography in East Malaysia, when I was at a meeting there, I was looking for a book, and there was his diary. He was not preaching to anybody. He's recording his own feelings and thoughts. That's why it is very valuable, like a window into a person's soul.
Now, I try to learn some of his great secrets. Why God used him so greatly. I wonder if you know anything about John Sung. John Sung was the son of a pastor in Fujian. Very poor pastor. All pastors are very poor in China. My father was also the son of a pastor, that's why I know. And I see a lot of things in common between my father and John Sung. Because my father was brought up in the home of a pastor, he was so poor that he determined he didn't want to be a pastor. He was very good at his studies, like John Sung. And so he went overseas to study, to the United States at Harvard first, and then on to Europe doing his master's and doctorate and so on.
Now John Sung was like that. He went to the United States where he did his studies and took his doctorate. So both these poor sons of pastors became highly educated. And John Sung took his doctorate in chemistry. And before he had even finished, they were offering him teaching jobs in China, including for example lecturing at Peking Union Medical College. But he declined. Because by then God was working in his heart, which unfortunately was not the case with my father, because my father was not interested in pursuing spiritual things. But John Sung, God was working because he was looking for things more important than earthly success. And the Lord kindled a fire in his heart. I wish the same was true of my father, but unfortunately, as I said, that didn't happen.
Now, through John Sung, hundreds of thousands of people in China came to God. He lived only fifteen years. His ministry lasted only fifteen years. He died in 1944. He was only in his early forties by that time. In fifteen years, he accomplished more than most people accomplished in fifteen lifetimes. The Lord used him so mightily. Sometimes in a single day, there would be hundreds of people coming to the Lord. Sometimes thousands in one day.
In his diary, he said at the beginning of more than one year, he said, "Lord, this year I ask You for one hundred thousand souls." I wonder if you dare to ask for one soul in the year, never mind a hundred thousand. When I first looked at his figure, I thought, hey, let's be a bit realistic. But indeed, in his lifetime, probably something close to a million people, both in China and Southeast Asia, came to the Lord. In fact, he records in his diary today how many people came to the Lord at this particular meeting, how many at that meeting.
Now, for a man of God like this, you really want to know how does he function? How come God's power works through him in this unique way? And when you read his diary, you realize one thing immediately: here is a man in touch with God. He is constantly communing with God. As a result of that, through him, people are being healed. He would say in his diary, today, in this meeting, four deaf people were able to hear, four blind people were able to see, two mute people were able to speak. All kinds of miracles are happening. But he treats them as just a matter of fact. He just puts one note and it goes on to something else. Day after day, this kind of thing happens.
He could prophesy. Because he told the officer in one area, he said the Japanese forces will withdraw from this area in 24 hours. It made no sense because the Japanese were advancing, not retreating. And the commanding officer believed him. Within 24 hours, the Japanese had withdrawn. This man knows these things from God because he's in touch with God. God is telling him these things.
The other reason why he can bring life, God's life to others, is because he himself is in touch with God's life. If I'm not in touch with God, the only thing I can give you is my teaching. In other words, you just get some knowledge from me. Now, knowledge is not bad. It has its use. But the gospel is not knowledge, it is life.
Now, how does this man, day after day, pouring himself out, sometimes preaching three times a day, to the point of exhaustion, how can he have that ongoing strength? When he preached, he uses a term, he says, he preached with his life. He throws his whole life into it. He is giving his life in his preaching. And this life he is getting from God, he's passing on. And this is why thousands of people turned to the Lord.
But what's the secret? I know there's something he keeps repeating in his diary. He keeps talking about repentance. Not only repentance for the non-Christian, but for every believer. His concept of repentance is quite different from most Christians. Most Christians think that when we repented, we did that when we first believed in Jesus. We repented of our sins. But for John Sung, repentance is something you go on doing every day. In fact, all the time. He keeps saying that repentance is not one act. For him, repentance is a way of life.
Here is a man so greatly used by God, through whom miracles are happening, what's there to repent of? But that's precisely it. He finds something to repent about all the time. And because he lives in this life of repentance, God's power is working through him. I have yet to find many servants of God who understand this principle. And that includes myself. Because I am learning this in depth from John Sung.
You see, repentance is something that we need all the time because it affects the way we think, our attitude. Every little sin cuts off our relationship with God. That is why so many Christians have no relationship to God. Because small sins, big sins, everything is happening all the time. And your relationship to God is gone within two minutes. By sin, I don't mean you are committing some big thing like robbing the bank or killing somebody. Sin is an attitude of the heart and mind.
Two or three days ago, I went to buy something to repair something in the house. So I went to this store where they sell all the hardware. And then having collected a few things in the pushcart, I was lining up at the checkout. And suddenly a woman comes along with a very unpleasant face. And she came from behind me around and pushed her cart right in front of me. Now as a Christian, how do you feel? Of course you feel a bit angry, right? And what happens? The moment you feel angry, something happens inside you, right? Now as soon as you are angry, you start trying to talk to God and see what happens. You find immediately the communication is very difficult. Something got cut off.
How are you going to complain to God? What is this going on here? What is with this woman? As though it was God's responsibility this woman pushed in. Immediately you have unhappiness in your heart, you are complaining. What do you want? God to strike her dead right there? So frankly you don't even know what to say to God, right? Except that you are very unhappy now.
You see what happens? That's what I mean. You haven't committed any sin. You were sinned against. You are not the one sinning. Somebody sinned against you, but you lost your communion with God. Have you been driving before, and somebody cuts in front of you, and you have to slam on the brakes, and your temperature goes up? And at that moment you try talking to God and see how it works. Have you noticed that at that moment you don't want to talk to God? You want to go out and twist that guy's neck. Now you see what I mean? Every time, every moment, something can happen, not necessarily your fault, that cuts off your relationship to God. And this kind of thing happens all the time.
Now you can see what I'm saying. Repentance then is immediately I repent, not because she cut in front of me, but I repent because I'm so angry. But you say it doesn't make sense. You are right to be angry. So now, this is precisely the problem I have to deal with. The difficulty of repentance. And that is why there is such difficulty of maintaining the relationship with God.
I'd like to examine a number of reasons why it is so difficult to repent. Well, one of these, as I said, is that God's requirements seem quite unreasonable. He says don't be angry. "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord. That means you don't have to avenge yourself. You just leave the vengeance to Me. But that takes a lot of faith to believe. If God says vengeance is mine, she pushes the cart in front of you, I will deal with her. Then you say, "Okay, how about You deal with her while I can see it, right here?" But then we know the problem that Jonah faced. "You're a merciful God, You're not going to do anything about her." That's my problem. That's what Jonah was complaining to God about. "These people here in Nineveh, they are living in sin, and now they repent, You're not going to deal with them. I know You're not going to deal with them." You are too merciful, that's the problem.
And this guy who cut in front of me, he's going to cause a car accident. Are You going to deal with him? No, You're a merciful God, You're not going to deal with him. I have to go and twist his neck. So how do I pray? How do I have a spirit of repentance? I don't want to repent. I want revenge. And here you see God is merciful. Is it easy to maintain communion with God? You tell me, is it easy? Very difficult. Because you have to function on His level. So in the end, instead of being angry with this woman, I have to repent because I'm angry.
Wow, you thought this was easy to be a Christian. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." If you want to receive mercy, be merciful to this person. But by nature, I don't want to give her any mercy. That's the problem. In other words, my very nature is opposed to repentance. That is the whole thing you have to understand. That is why having this relationship with God is so difficult. His character is different from mine.
Let us survey this problem of repentance, so you understand what we are talking about. Let's take recent events. We all know about the World Trade Center. These planes flew into the building, killing thousands of people. Do you think that these pilots, these people who flew the plane into the building, are repentant about what they did? Of course not. Now, you see, are you a human being or not? Do you have a conscience or not? Do you know you have killed thousands of people? And do you know what they would say to you? "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think you're smarter than me? Don't you know that the reason I flew into the building was to kill a few thousand people? What do you think I did that for?" The whole thing was planned. The purpose was to kill. And do you think they would have, if they lived, something to repent of? They would not repent. This was the purpose, to kill.
What's the reason for the killing? To send, in their mind, an important message to the United States. Don't be arrogant. Don't think you are the only superpower in the world. And you can go around doing whatever you like. This message is so important that I am prepared to die for it and take a few thousand with me. Why they will not repent is because they believe what they do is right. If they didn't believe what they did was right, do you think they would sacrifice their lives to do it? So, if you are doing something that you believe is right, no matter if everybody else thinks it's wrong, then obviously you are not going to repent for it.
Take the Oklahoma bomber, you remember him? He killed a few hundred innocent people as well. Did you see his trial? As he was tried, did he repent of what he did, killing all these innocent people? You remember, he maintained that what he did was right up to the end when he was executed. He still insisted that what he did was right. He would not repent. Some people were quite angry watching the trial, that this fellow, who absolutely has no reason, according to us, to do this kind of thing, believes that what he did was right, and no reason to repent. But don't be so angry with him. You'd be surprised how many times you and I did the same thing. We did what we thought was right, no matter how much it hurt somebody else.
We can go on with this, there is no end to examples of this kind. For us Chinese people, the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese is one of the most horrific events of the Second World War. An estimated 350,000 people were murdered by the Japanese army. Have the Japanese ever apologized? Have they ever repented? Of course not. They even changed the history books to say it never happened. They found it very troublesome that one Japanese soldier from that time was going around apologizing because he was present and he witnessed that it was true. He repented, at least as far as a non-Christian can repent. He said his conscience cannot live with it. But one person in the whole nation repented.
Have you seen the Nuremberg documentary, the trial documentary? Twenty-one top Nazi officials. Did any of them repent? Did any of them apologize for what they did? They were shown a documentary film taken by the army that went in to see the concentration camps. Six million Jews were executed by them. Four million non-Jews. A total of ten million people exterminated just in the concentration camps. Not to talk about the millions who died in Russia in the Russian campaign. Did any of them apologize? Not even apologize, never mind repent. They still insisted that what they did was right.
So there are those who under no circumstances will ever repent. What I am touched by is that the German government later did apologize to Israel, and did compensate with a large amount of money, still in the process of dealing with that. Very different from Japan, who refused to acknowledge anything.
So that is the problem with us, that so many times we refuse to repent because we insist that what we did was right. But the cost of refusing to repent is that our relationship with God is broken. Now, there are many ways, even theologically in the church, that repentance is made unnecessary. You'd be surprised that even theology will cooperate to reduce or exclude the need for repentance. So outside the church, inside the church, there seems to be a kind of conspiracy that prevents or makes repentance unnecessary.
What do I mean by the reference to theology? Well, there is a well-known doctrine in the church called the doctrine of original sin. The doctrine of original sin is hardly understood by most people. And they think that original sin simply means that Adam sinned. And you say you don't accept original sin, they say, "What? You don't believe that Adam sinned?" That isn't the doctrine of original sin. The doctrine of original sin is the doctrine...
# Hindrances to Repentance (Side B)
The doctrine of original sin is the doctrine that we have sin in us, we have a sinful nature, and therefore have to sin, because we inherited that sinful nature from Adam. I don't want to go into the theological details. But if I sin because I inherited the sinful nature, and the reason I'm guilty of sin is because I inherited the guilt as well, then what is there for me to repent of? In other words, God not only transfers the sin to me according to this doctrine, but the guilt as well. I'm guilty of sin, but it was Adam who sinned. So why should I be repenting for what Adam did? I don't have to be repenting for what Adam did. In other words, repentance would be for somebody else's sin, namely my father Adam.
So it's not my problem, it's Adam's. When I was reading a book on original sin, they couldn't quite figure out what we're supposed to repent of. It's pretty ridiculous if I come to the Lord and I say, "Lord, I'm so sorry because Adam sinned." What's that got to do with me? Well, I inherited it. If I inherited it, how can I repent of it?
And some theologians of this persuasion say that original sin is like you get a disease, like you inherited HIV from your father or mother. So if you got it from your father or mother, what's there for you to repent of? You should feel very sorry for yourself. If you got it from your father, you didn't do anything bad.
Now very close to this is the notion that sin is really a disease, a sickness. In other words, if sin is a sickness, well, you don't repent because you're sick, do you? I got a sore throat today. I say, "Lord, I'm so sorry. I have this sore throat. I really offended You because I got a sore throat." And you say, "What's with you? You're talking complete nonsense, aren't you?" Once we treat sin as a disease, we remove the importance of repentance. That is something you need to know. When sin is treated as an inner sickness, then what you need is inner healing. You don't have to repent. You have to be healed.
If somebody got cancer, he is the victim of cancer. He did not commit cancer. He was the victim of that disease. Something happened to him. If a person gets sick, he is the object of pity. You don't say he needs to repent. Of course you say, "I'm so sorry for you." You comfort him. You encourage him. But sin can have sickness as a consequence. But sin is not sickness, and sickness is not sin.
So now we can see the important factor. Once we talk about inner healing, we have destroyed the biblical foundation of talking about repentance. You don't need repentance. You don't need forgiveness. You need healing. Now you can see that all kinds of things go on that reduce the importance of repentance. The result is no living relationship with God.
I hope you understand why it is so difficult to repent. By now you can see there are so many reasons that block us from repenting. Now inner healing is from a psychological perspective. In other words, we no longer treat sin as a breaking of the relationship with God, but as an emotional matter. And yet this kind of teaching is very common in Western Christianity today, especially in charismatic circles.
So what happens here is that we lose the deep understanding of the importance of repentance. Our time is fast going. But there is another teaching in the charismatic churches that does the same kind of thing. And that is to treat every kind of negative emotion as a demon. That is to say, it's not a sin but a demon. That means if you are angry, it's because you have the demon of anger. If you are depressed or discouraged, you have the evil spirit of depression. And if you have hatred, it's because you are possessed by some evil spirit of hatred. So you don't need to repent. What you need is to be exorcised. Have somebody come along and tell the evil spirit to get out of you. And then you're free.
So all the problems, all you need is an exorcist. You don't need repentance. You see how dangerous these teachings are? And in the end, you have a church that has no communion with God. So you don't have to accept responsibility for hating people. It's not your fault, it's because some demon somehow got into you. So all you need is to have somebody nearby to keep throwing out the devil every time you get angry. You have to make sure that you have the exorcist with you all the time, otherwise you'll be in trouble all the time.
Now this may sound funny to us, but I'm speaking the truth. I'm not joking at all. You go to a charismatic meeting, and what does the man in front do? He's throwing out spirits all the time. You wonder, I never realized there's so many spirits around. Well, I also believe in evil spirits. I know that they are there. I am not denying the existence of evil spirits. But to blame everything on evil spirits and not on yourself is another matter. Let me tell you this: if you habitually live in sin and don't repent, you may come under the influence of evil spirits. This can happen. But we cannot go to the other extreme and say all my problems are because of evil spirits and I have no responsibility at all.
Therefore I hope you understand that the difficulty of having a relationship with God is partly due to us, because we are unwilling to repent. We simply don't repent. We have the excuse that we didn't do anything wrong. Most of the time, when you talk to two people who have a problem between them, one says, "It's because of him." The other person has no need to repent because it's the other person's fault. So whenever two people have a relationship problem, it's always, "It's his fault, not my fault." Many times, when I have to work at reconciling people, I can tell you, this is an impossible task. It's always the other person who has the problem.
They look for whose problem it is. That's my problem. "Of course it's your problem. You're the overseer of this church. So if there's a problem in the church, it's because of you." I'm familiar with this. If they can't blame me, they blame God. Some people blame God. "It's God's problem." "We're in this terrible situation because God didn't do a good job."
So there's another reason why we don't repent. Because we have this critical spirit. We're always blaming others. Everything that goes wrong is not my fault. It's this brother, this sister, this leader, and maybe ultimately, God's. None of it is my fault. It might be this brother, this sister, that leader, or God. I'm sure you know this well. We practice this all the time, don't we?
If this couple has tension, it's always your problem. "Because my husband is too slow, this problem, that problem." Or, "My wife has the same problem. She's too fast." So whatever is done is wrong. In the end, why do you need to repent? You're the best person in the world. There's no need to repent. How then do you have a relationship with God?
So I come back to what I said at the beginning about John Sung. When you read his diary, you see that he accepted responsibility for everything. If somebody was hurt in his meeting, he would repent before God. He didn't say, "It was his own fault. He shouldn't have been standing there." He said, "I should have taken better care." When he dropped a bowl and it broke, he repented before God for his clumsiness. Not because breaking a bowl is a sin, but because he said, "Lord, I was careless. You deserve better because I'm so clumsy."
Now when I read that, I said, "Lord, I can't even understand his thinking." He wants to accept responsibility for somebody else's hurt. When a certain missionary criticized him in a very rude way and said to him, "Your old self hasn't died," she was talking to somebody through whom hundreds of thousands of people had turned to the Lord. That's how arrogant that person could be. This foreign missionary should have asked how many people came to the Lord through her and how many through him. And she could have been a bit more humble after that. But she goes to John Sung and says, "Your old self hasn't died."
And what was John Sung's response? He said, "Then please pray for me." Stunning. He didn't say, "Who are you to speak to me?" He didn't say, "Look at my performance record and look at your performance record and see whose old self hasn't died." He didn't say, "The whole country knows me, John Sung. Does anybody know who you are?" His response was nothing like that. He said, "Then please pray for me." What a man of God. This is a man who is in constant communion with God.
Now you can see why I have to close. And you may have one last question here: if you're all the time repenting, you must be a very sad and sorrowful person, all the time saying, "Sorry Lord, I'm sorry Lord, I'm sorry Lord." What kind of a Christian life is this?
You say, I don't understand this. You see, I will mention only Isaiah 66 verse 2. This verse talks about God being close to those who are of a broken heart and of a contrite spirit. This contrite spirit is not about inner wounds that need healing. A contrite spirit is a spirit of repentance. There are several passages in Scripture where you will find this. And in many of these passages, it says, "I dwell with those who are of a broken heart, a contrite spirit." There is a secret. God says, "I live with that kind of person."
Now, to understand how this works would take too much time, but I will just hint at it. There is a spiritual principle that comes into operation when you are in communion with God. And that is the principle of reversal. Everything switches around. Everything becomes the opposite.
"Blessed are those who mourn." If you mourn, you will be comforted. But if you live in comfort, it will switch around, and you will be mourning. In John 9:39-41, for example, the Lord says to the Pharisees, "Because you say you see, therefore you are blind." But if you are blind, you will be able to see, if you are willing to confess or repent of your blindness.
In 1 Corinthians 10:12, the apostle says to the Corinthians, "When you think you stand, that's when you fall." When you think you are righteous, that's when you are unrighteous. But when you acknowledge you are unrighteous, that's when you are righteous. That you will see in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. That is the whole point of that parable.
When you think you are rich, that's when you are poor. That's what you see in Revelation 3:17. But when you confess your poverty, that's when you are rich. If you think you are alive, that's when you are dead. If you think you are wise, that's when you are foolish. If you accept your own foolishness, that's when you become wise.
And there you see this principle. When you live in a brokenhearted spirit, it says that God will revive you. He will pour His life into you. And you are full of joy. You see, this is not the principle of logic. This is a principle of the spiritual life. It is a revolution. Everything turns around. Everything changes upside down. It is the wonder of the spiritual life. Therefore, as you think you are living in sorrow, in brokenness, repenting all the time, that man is full of joy. That is the mystery of it all.
Let us close in prayer.