We need to fulfill our divine commission to help others receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in the Lord (Acts 26:18).
Before we can help anyone else to be saved, repent, have forgiveness of sins, and enjoy Christ as their God-allotted portion, we ourselves need to go through this experience.
Even we ourselves as believers need to pray over this verse very much and ask the Lord to make this our experience.
We need to ask the Lord to open our eyes, give us a spirit a wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge and seeing of Him, so that we may have His fresh appearing and be enlightened to see His economy; then, we can enlighten others to see Christ and the economy of God.
We need to have our being full of light, live in the light and walk in the light, and have God’s presence with us all the time as light; then, we can shine forth as luminaries in the world, and we can tell our the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
We first need to be turned from the authority of Satan to God, having a clear sky between us and God with the throne above it, and then we can help others be brought under the authority of God.
We first need to receive forgiveness of sins by having a thorough repentance for our sins and confession, and then we can bring others also to turn to the Lord, have a change in mind, and receive the gift of repentance from God.
We first need to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of God, our allotted portion with all the saints in the church life, and then we can bring others into the enjoyment of this wonderful Christ for them to enjoy and experience Christ even as we do.
We need to be open to the Lord, even be “knocked down” by Him so that we may see the heavenly vision and receive the divine commission, and we need to pray over all the contents of our commission so that we may first enter into the jubilee and then bring others into the enjoyment of the jubilee.
May the Lord have mercy on us and bring us fully into the jubilee, into the full enjoyment and experience of Him as the good land and our possession together with our family, the church life, so that we may proclaim the good news to bring others into the enjoyment of Christ, their rightful possession and inheritance.
Having a Thorough Repentance to Receive Forgiveness of Sins and Bringing others into this Experience
Part of our divine commission is that we may bring others to receive forgiveness of sins; for this to take place, we first need to have a thorough repentance and receive forgiveness of sins.
King David was a good example in this experience, for after he committed a great sin, he went to the Lord in prayer and had a deep and thorough repentance of his sins, as seen in Psa. 51.
David begged God to blot out his transgressions, wash him thoroughly from his sin, cleanse him from his sin, and purge his sin with hyssop. These verbs that he used in his prayer of repentance indicate that his repentance and confession were thorough, and that his asking for forgiveness was genuine.
We need to realise that we were born in sin, so we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask for His forgiveness.
We need to be in God’s presence, remain here, and have a thorough repentance and confession of our sins, pleading with Him to wash us and cleanse us, to blot out our transgressions, and to purge our sin.
Our repentance should not be shallow or as a routine, because sin is serious, and God grants His gift of repentance and forgiveness to those whom He wants.
Realising that we are sinful and that God is holy, we trust only in Him, having no trust in ourselves, and we take Christ as our unique Mediator and sacrifice.
What God wants is not for us to promise to not do something bad or to improve – He simply wants us to come to Him and confess our sins as He exposes them under His divine light.
He wants to cleanse us and forgive us, so we need to repent and confess.
By sinning we become old, but after we are forgiven by God we may be renewed; therefore, after we ask for God’s forgiveness, we need to ask Him like David did, to renew a steadfast spirit within us.
We need our spirit to be renewed after our heart has been cleansed from an evil conscience. Then, we can have God’s presence, which is His Spirit with us.
When we sin, His presence leaves us, but after we repent and are cleansed and renewed, we can enjoy His sweet presence as the Spirit.
We need to go to the Lord to receive a thorough forgiveness of all our sins (1 John 1:7, 9). When we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Then, we need to stay in the presence of God to have a thorough and genuine repentance and confession to receive a full forgiveness from God. Repentance and forgiveness are gifts from God, and we need to ask Him to give us the gift of repentance so that we may receive the gift of forgiveness of sins.
We need to repent, have a change of mind, and then we will be able to encourage others to repent and have a change of mind, turning from all other things to God Himself.
If we confess our sins to receive God’s forgiveness, we will have the gladness of God’s salvation and we will be sustained with a willing spirit (Psa. 51:12-13).
The result of our thorough repentance and receiving forgiveness of sins is that we will have the joy of God’s salvation and our spirit will be willing to preach the gospel and teach transgressors God’s ways, and sinners will turn back to God.
This is how we preach the gospel, by first repenting and confessing so that a ourselves would have a full enjoyment of God’s forgiveness and salvation, and then we will bring others into this living and dynamic experience.
Lord, we come to You as we are – we were born in sin and we are sinful; we repent of our sins, Lord, and we seek Your forgiveness. Blot out our transgressions, wash us thoroughly from our iniquity, cleanse us from our sin, and purge our sin with hyssop. Lord Jesus, grant us a full and thorough forgiveness of all our sins. We would leave nothing that is not dealt with, nothing that Your light exposes and remains untouched. Create in us a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Don’t cast us away from Your presence but cause us to enjoy the Spirit with our spirit, Your inner presence. Oh Lord, grant us the experience of full repentance and forgiveness so that we may also bring others into such an experience.
Enjoying the All-inclusive Christ as our Inheritance in the Church life and Bringing others into this Experience
The last part of our divine commission is that we would bring others to receive and enjoy an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord (Acts 26:18).
The result of having our eyes opened, being turned from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, and receiving forgiveness of sins, is that we receive an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord, in the church life.
This is what God wants – He wants us to return to the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land, our rightful possession, and when we repent, are enlightened, and confess, we are transferred into Christ to enjoy Him together with all the saints.
We see this in type in Psa. 51, where David – after his thorough repentance – prayed for God to do good to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, and be satisfied (Psa. 51:18-19).
This signifies the participation in the enjoyment of God in the local church we God’s house and in the church as God’s city through the all-inclusive Christ as the offerings.
Through repentance and confession we enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, who is our allotted possession from God together with all the saints in the light.
Our inheritance is not something outward like material things; God is not after “blessing us with material things” – He Himself in our inheritance.
Our inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all that He has done, and that He will do for His redeemed people.
And this Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (see Col. 2:9; 1:12).
Today we can have a foretaste of enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive land, and in the next age we will have the full taste.
Today we can enjoy the pneumatic Christ – Christ as the life-giving Spirit – as the pledge of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14), and we do this “among those”, that is, in the church life (see 2 Tim. 2:22).
Our unveiling, seeing, repentance, confession, and salvation are personal, but our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ is in the church life, together with those who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart.
We need to be those who enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive One today, and we need to bring others into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life!
What we enjoy and experience is what others can also enjoy and experience; we want to bring others that they may also enjoy Christ as we do and be sanctified dispositionally with God’s holy nature through the exercise of their spirit (Heb. 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 4:13).
Amen, may we be such ones, who enter into the enjoyment first, and then bring others into this enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life!
Lord Jesus, we want to enter into the enjoyment of our inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in You. Amen, Lord, bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of all that the Triune God has, has done, and will do. Bring us into the enjoyment of Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the pledge of our inheritance, among the saints in the church life. Amen! Lord, may we enjoy Christ in the church life and may we also bring others into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as they exercise their spirit and are sanctified dispositionally!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 9, The Divine Commission according to the Heavenly Vision for the Continuation of the Book of Acts in the Unique Flow of the Divine Stream.
- Hymns on this topic:
# From my iniquity / Wash me thoroughly, / And from my sin cleanse me. / For I do know my transgressions, / And my sin’s before me continually. (Song on, From My Iniquity Wash Me Thoroughly)
# Create in me a clean heart, O God, / And renew a right spirit within me. / Create in me a clean heart, O God, / And renew a right spirit within me. / Cast me not away from Thy presence; / Take not Thy holy Spirit from me. / Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; / And renew a right spirit within me. (Scripture song)
# When I’m with the saints, / Christ we employ! / Without alloy! / Christ we enjoy! / When I’m with the saints, / Hopeful am I! / They are my life supply! (Song on, When I’m with the saints)
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