Introduction

Good day, everyone. Today we come to the fourth sermon in our series on Grace and Truth. Time moves fast. This series is tough to preach. Bear with me, but there are solid, hard truths inside that you must understand. The title for this week’s message is: "Wages earned are wages paid, not grace." In the history of Christianity, this distinction is fundamental.

Once the devil deceives you into thinking you must do something to earn grace, you are trapped. What you get then are wages, not grace. That is how Christians lose grace as they go along. Then they invent a self-serving lie: "Oh, when I first believed, that was just the honeymoon period." At the beginning, they relied on faith. Later, they switched to works, feeling compelled to do something for God.

"Lord, what would You like to eat?" God gives you a sharp slap across the face: "What do You think I want to eat? Do you think I am lying in a hospital ward?" "Lord, eat and drink whatever You wish." Another slap. That is just a slap—if God were to kick you, you would be blown straight into outer space.

Grace is a concept that is easily confused. Faith versus works, grace versus earned wages—this confusion has plagued Christianity from the very beginning. A man named James, the biological brother of Jesus, pushed heavily for works, insisting that faith and works must go hand-in-hand. So he wrote the Book of James.

If you follow that logic, you are in serious trouble. Consider a practical example: if my mother suffers from dementia, how can she perform "good works"? If she refrains from smearing feces on the bathroom wall, that is already a blessing. If grace depended on works, what could a dementia patient ever do for God? But the God I believe in is full of grace. Every time I cast out demons, it works effectively.

It is not because my name has power; it is the name of Jesus Christ. Without the grace of Jesus Christ, how could any demon be driven out? My mother recovered. Every time a attack came, we cast it out, time after time. It was pure grace. Looking back at those moments today, I remain deeply grateful.

I knew a long-time Christian whose father suffered from dementia at home. The man didn't just smear feces in the bathroom; he smeared it across the living room wall. It was complete chaos. After listening to my sermon, the son came to me, completely helpless. I tested his mindset through our conversation. His view was still that he had to do something through works. I said, "He is already in this condition—what works can he possibly do? Why is it so difficult for you to simply believe?"

I demonstrated it right in front of him, yet he still could not believe. It was a tragedy. So the mess continued. This is why grace versus wages, and faith versus works, confuse people so easily. If you read Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians alongside the Book of James, you will see that James was thoroughly unhappy with Galatians and wrote his letter as a response.

That response targeted Paul directly. Paul was addressing the works-based approach preached by James. Paul insisted that faith—and faith alone—is the sole foundation. James disagreed, claiming that works must be added to faith.

Fortunately, I read the Scriptures with a clear mind. Take my mother’s dementia: if you required her to show good works, what could she produce? Not talking nonsense was already a achievement. If a person gets cancer, what good works can he offer? He can't perform any; he can only go for chemotherapy or radiation. So that logic is entirely flawed. When we first came to know God, what did we give Him? Absolutely nothing!

When you first came to church, what did you bring to God? You were barely holding your life together. Yet many Christians, as they walk longer in faith, drift into a works-based mindset. They mistake earned wages for grace. But if what you receive are wages, that cannot buy what grace offers!

You must understand this clearly: Grace is free, but it is priceless! Grace costs nothing, yet it is beyond price. You cannot exchange anything for it except through faith. Many people fail to understand the Bible; some are poisoned by the Book of James. I state this plainly—stumble over it if you wish, but facts are facts. They get poisoned by James, strip away God's grace, and end up with mere wages. Some even label this "Hyper-Grace."

Let me address a name you might know, and some of you might criticize me for mentioning him: Pastor Joseph Prince. I have listened to his preaching. His logic regarding grace is correct. It is the logic of grace. But while it is correct, it lacks one critical dimension. Receiving grace is a lifelong reality, correct?

Yet many people feel that free grace is not enough—that you must do something for God. That is a mistake. Everything is grace. Let me spell it out clearly. Chinese Mingding Doctrine adds the dimension of spiritual warfare to this framework. Look at our Course 101—it explains grace with absolute clarity.

It works like this: everything is grace. Faith is the means by which we draw upon grace, and the ultimate expression of faith is spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is where faith is tested and proven. When you cast out a demon, do you believe or not? Because I believed, the dementia demon on my mother was driven out. Because I believed, our dog's swollen face was healed through prayer. Because I believed, many brothers and sisters have received so much.

Did we do anything for God? No. Our victory in warfare is simply putting faith into practice. If demons were truly stronger, they would have destroyed me long ago. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, treat grace as grace. Do not treat it as wages. You cannot earn it; it is priceless. When you contend with the devil, you had better understand the true meaning of "grace." If you don't, you will be ruined.

What we believe in is the Gospel of grace. Whether it is engaging in warfare or building the church, it is God working together with us. Defeating the devil, climbing spiritual heights, or increasing our strength in battle—all of it is God’s grace. His grace fills our entire lives. Life itself is grace.

Just last night, the devil targeted a sister who suffers from insomnia. I had taught her repeatedly, and last night she showed signs of victory. Previously, when insomnia struck, she would fall into panic and shake uncontrollably. It was terrifying. At 3:00 AM last night, the demon came again. This time, she understood the logic of grace and abandoned the concept of works. Because those who work receive wages, not grace; what is received freely is grace.

The devil said to her, "You are not good enough." She replied, "It is precisely because I am not good enough that I need grace." The devil then said, "Your faith is useless." She said, "Even if my faith is useless, I still rely on God's grace." That enraged the demon. The demon began speaking nonsense through her mouth: "You are terrible." "I still need grace." "You are not good enough." "I need grace." "You are finished." "Even if I am finished, I still need grace."

Relying on the grace of Jesus Christ, with just a mustard seed of faith, she stood firm in God’s grace. Sometimes demons are crafty: "Where is God? There is no God. Prove it to me." Let me tell you: defeating the demon is the best proof. You were defeated before, and you are defeated now. What do you expect to get? You get a beating.

When battling such demons, if you rely on self-righteousness or human works instead of God's grace, you will fail completely. You will be crushed by the devil. Faith appropriates grace. If you wait until you have "good works" before standing firm, the devil will have destroyed you long before that. Wages are earned through labor; grace is received freely.

People lose grace as they walk in faith precisely because they mistake grace for wages. Examples are everywhere. If you serve in church and view it as your personal contribution, you are seeking wages. If you work in a company and think you are making a grand contribution, that mindset is dangerous for a Christian. Gradually, you become a mere laborer, and laborers only get wages.

I once met a pastor who suffered from brain cancer. His close friend insisted that I minister to him, so I agreed to try. I am a pastor of a small, obscure church, while he led a megachurch. The moment he spoke, communication became difficult. I asked him how he got sick. He said it was because he served too hard, resting only one day a week. Hearing that, I smiled.

I have hardly taken a day off in my entire life. I work almost every day; it is my habit. Yet I have not worked myself into brain cancer. Why? Because my work is sustained by grace, whereas his work was aimed at earning wages. When work is not driven by grace, internal stress builds up. Prolonged strain turns into illness. It is a tragic story. I learned a lesson from him: everything must be grounded in grace.

If I operated like him, I would have died many times over. The moment you rely on works, you lose grace, because you think you are doing God a favor. On this journey, you will inevitably hear a voice saying: "Life is good now, blessings are plenty, I should do something for God."

What can you possibly do? With your limited capacity, even I don't particularly need your help, let alone God. Does God need your labor? The moment you think about "doing something," you enter the realm of labor and wages. And when wages fail to materialize, trouble follows.

Faith operates differently; works cannot compare to faith. In spiritual warfare against the devil, faith is our only weapon. The moment you bring up works, the devil will rightly point out: "You are not good enough. You lost your temper yesterday."

My answer is: I do not stand on my works; I stand on faith, and I will receive God's grace. I am a work in progress in God's hands. He is refining me, and I am repenting step by step. But His grace is non-negotiable. I believe that even if I am imperfect, I receive grace.

Even when I am weak, God will enable me to overcome the devil, because victory depends on Him, not me. When I make a mistake, I correct it, but I maintain my faith in a graceful God. Many people struggle to grasp this concept. Do not assume you have understood it just because I explained it. If you are still trapped in misery—suffering from insomnia, living in fear, trembling at home without knowing why—how will you cope?

If you try to fight demons through works, you will lose. You must rely on faith and grace. I am breaking down this truth so you can absorb it fully.

Some among us have spent years trapped in a works-based mindset, cut off from grace. What a waste! We must no longer confuse wages with grace, nor faith with works. We must align ourselves clearly with Paul’s teaching.

Consider these real examples: a sister among us suffered from severe depression and was completely healed before she had done anything. Another person was admitted to a psychiatric hospital; I cast the demon out, even though she had done nothing for Christ. There are countless examples like these. It is not about what we have done for God, but what God has done for us.

Since God has done this for us and granted us such abundance of grace, what room is there for boasting? We simply continue standing in grace through faith. A doctor candidate got pregnant, and the medical check indicated her baby had Down syndrome. She was torn over whether to keep the child. She prayed with great intensity—previously she had prayed for her PhD graduation and passed. Now, facing this diagnosis, she prayed earnestly again, and ultimately delivered a completely healthy child. How do you explain that? What "work" did she do for God? She simply received His grace.

Such testimonies are everywhere: the blind see, the lame walk—is there any instance that is not grace? But after receiving grace, have people truly repented?

If there is no repentance, problems will arise. Yet God still allows you to experience His grace. Every time trouble comes, pride must vanish. We have experienced so much grace! Therefore, repent quickly and correct past mistakes. Know this: grace leads us to repentance, and truth sets us free. Enter by grace, and live your whole life by grace. Continually say to God: "Lead us, discipline us, and sustain us."

To put it bluntly: God, punish us when we go completely off course. That is still far better than losing God entirely. Once you lose Him completely, you are abandoned, left to become like Cain and Lamech. What the modern church needs most—without question—is grace. It must return to grace, plain and simple.

Do not just take my word for it. Look at the Scriptures. What about the Book of James? I have read it thoroughly. James left us in a total mess. Look at Paul instead. Paul built churches that stood rock-solid; James ran his into the ground. If we want to learn, we do not learn from the fellow who failed. He failed—how could he possibly be right? Look at the churches the Apostle Paul established; God’s presence there was unmistakable.

Scripture

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness." (Romans 4:1-5)

Prayer

God, pull us back onto this path of grace. Let us claim Your grace once again through faith. Strip away the religious rubbish inside us. Rid us of our filth—this mindset of relying on works and expecting wages for our efforts.

God, allow us to come before You through faith, just as Abraham did. Lead us, so that we live our entire lives under Your grace and never fall for the lie of earning our way through works. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Background of the Scripture

Paul spent his entire life fighting for the pure Gospel. Where lay the root problem? Satan is thoroughly malicious, constantly trying to entice God’s people away from the path of grace and the true Gospel. In the early days, Paul was obscure—much like my own current status, unknown to the world. Yet there he was, pushing grace and faith.

Faith is not a complicated concept. In the time of Jesus, faith was the bedrock. Jesus never criticized anything as frequently as He criticized people's lack of faith. Only faith pleases God. Yet by Paul’s time, this corruption had already begun spreading in the church—even before Paul began his ministry. As it spread, the church became increasingly corrupted.

Why did God raise up the Apostle Paul? God saw that His younger brother James, and even Peter—the chief apostle He chose—could not hold the line. God decided to find someone else. He raised up Paul. Paul was no uneducated brute; he was highly educated, with a rigorous, precise understanding of the Scriptures.

Once raised up, Paul served in Antioch, not far from Jerusalem. He was not the boss there, merely a junior colleague following Barnabas and the others. But staying in Antioch alone was unsustainable because Jerusalem held greater authority. Paul realized: "I must go to Jerusalem to see James, lest my work be in vain."

Consider the weight behind those words! If you defied authority, James could dismiss you; the entire church machinery belonged to James, Peter, and their circle. Paul had no choice. Guided by revelation, he went to Jerusalem. He sought one thing only: to secure the abundant grace of God.

Upon meeting Paul, James said: "Very well. We go to the Jews; you go to the Gentiles." Paul had waited a long time for those words. That was precisely what he needed: a clear division of responsibility. With that settled, Paul went to work aggressively, traveling throughout Asia Minor and the Roman Empire in Europe.

Within a few short years, the Jerusalem church withered, while Paul’s churches flourished. Paul frequently brought offerings from Gentile believers back to Jerusalem, keeping relations smooth. A few years later, Paul wrote Galatians—which was effectively a declaration of war against James. James was no pushover either; in response to Galatians, he wrote his own book: the Book of James.

After James wrote his letter, I thank God for giving me the drive to read it relentlessly. Do you know that the Book of James is the book I have read most frequently? Initially, I lacked the audacity to say James was wrong, since all Scripture is inspired by God. But when you place Paul’s Galatians side-by-side with James, the truth becomes unmistakable: James was writing a direct rebuttal to Galatians.

One launched a challenge, the other responded—much like modern theological debates. But the pure Gospel was ultimately preserved. Today, we have Romans and Galatians to read, documents born of victory over a corrupted gospel. Yet the devil has never stopped his sabotage; since Paul departed this world, this battle has raged endlessly down to the present day.

When I place Galatians and James together, the contrast is absolute. Which one is the true Gospel? Galatians. It aligns seamlessly with the logical framework of Jesus Christ. Paul prevailed. We must rely on the pure Gospel preached by Paul, grounded in faith, to appropriate God’s grace once again. This time, even more demons will be cast out.

Many brothers and sisters will gain deliverance once again; demons cannot hide. Recently, a pastor told me that in his district, many hidden demons manifested and were driven out—I am referring to demons on people, not the people themselves. Later, Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians when the Corinthians were misled, steering them back onto the Gospel track.

Paul had never visited the church in Rome. It was founded by believers fleeing persecution in Jerusalem, who scattered to Corinth, Rome, Cyprus, Spain, and Asia. Having established churches, the believers in Rome were confused about whether circumcision was required. Paul wrote his masterwork, Romans, pulling the believers in Rome away from the false, works-based theology once again.

To a large extent, this neutralized the erroneous influence brought by James, the Lord's brother in the flesh. If you are a preacher, examine this carefully. Compare these two books side-by-side. Analyze what James wrote, and you will understand the real story.

James did not even understand the Old Testament. He had the title, but lacked the substance. People must recognize that he lacked real depth. So he patched together his writing. Frankly, James should have been a Buddhist monk; his framework aligns far more closely with Buddhism. The fundamental difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that Christianity offers abundant grace and mercy—it is not self-cultivation. James spent his days practicing asceticism, and ultimately ran the Jerusalem church into the ground.

Look at Wang Chuanfu. Years ago, when he decided to build cars, what did he do? Did he consult someone who didn't know how to build cars? Did he learn from a manufacturer whose cars fell apart the moment you drove them? Obviously not. Wang Chuanfu was pragmatic: he turned to Toyota. His very first model was a direct, 1-to-1 copy of Toyota.

Why didn't he copy Nissan? Because Toyota was the absolute best at the time. If you copy, you copy the best. The same principle applies here. If you want to build a church—a victorious church—learn from Paul. Inherit from Jesus and Paul. Stop obsessing over James. I spent years studying James and could never make sense of it; every time I read it, I had no idea what he was driving at.

I have a specific way of learning: I focus relentlessly on the core points. James wrote in a scattered manner, devoid of a clear focus; I could not tell what he was trying to prove. He wrote a mountain of words that failed to support his central premise. It sounded nice on the surface, but it was just fluff.

The matter returns to a single root: Abraham. Paul’s theological system originates from Genesis. That is precisely how we built the theological system of Chinese Mingding Doctrine—from Genesis straight through to the Epistles of Paul. In Genesis, there is one figure you cannot bypass: Abraham.

Who recorded Abraham's story? Moses, the giver of the Law. And what did he write? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." This phrase—"credited to him as righteousness"—is paramount! It was not because Abraham performed exceptionally well. Many people like to pick Abraham apart, listing every flaw in his conduct while missing his faith entirely.

Men can find fault with Abraham, and so can the devil. But if you fail to see Abraham’s faith, your analysis is useless. Brothers and sisters, what are we here for? We are here to receive the promise Abraham received, to obtain the righteousness he obtained, and to possess the faith he had. Abraham believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness—even back when his name was Abram. Names do not matter—whether Abram, Ab-green, or Ab-yellow—if you believe Jehovah, He credits it as your righteousness. That is what we must learn.

Why waste time picking at details and analyzing Abraham’s conduct? You will draw all the wrong conclusions, because he had no superior works to speak of. As everyone knows, Abraham’s behavior was hardly stellar. Some of his actions were frankly embarrassing—letting his wife be taken while sitting by helplessly.

Abraham had endless shortcomings, but he possessed one supreme strength: faith. If you apply a superficial logic and look at me—obscure, unglamorous in appearance—you will lose your faith. You see only a piece of flesh, so you miss the faith within me, which is identical to Abraham's faith.

If you look for flaws, you will find plenty. "Look, this fellow is sitting on the balcony drinking coffee—how worldly!" But my faith is immense. Am I forbidden from drinking coffee? Drinking coffee changes nothing; there is no issue here. When you examine Abraham, it was not his performance that saved him, but the quality of his faith.

When Abraham was credited with righteousness, he was not even circumcised. Why did James and Peter push circumcision so aggressively later on? Circumcision is merely a minor surgical procedure on the genitals, cutting off a piece of skin. What on earth is the practical utility of that? I still fail to understand its value. Thank God! If we followed James today, we would be ruined.

Imagine telling newcomers: "You are almost there, you just need a quick surgery." We already have few men in church; if every new male convert had to undergo surgery, good heavens—people would simply walk away. If I had walked into church and been told, "Lie down on that dirty cot in the backyard for a surgery," it would be unthinkable.

They completely missed the point by insisting on physical rituals. No ritual is required; simply believe! Instead of learning Abraham’s faith, they copied Abraham’s surgery. What a massive failure of understanding!

"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

Jesus was crucified for us. He alone bore our suffering, carried our curses, and offered Himself as a sin offering for our transgressions. His resurrection was to justify us.

His resurrection from the dead builds our faith, enabling us to have the same faith as Abraham—believing that God can raise the dead and call into existence things that do not exist. Once you possess this faith, you have Abraham's faith.

Appropriating Grace Through Faith

When you battle the devil and he says, "You are unworthy!" how do you respond? You look at yourself and see a mess—you make mistakes, and you make them with practiced ease. What can you do? Nothing on your own. But God does not deal with me based on my performance. My performance earns only wages, whereas what I receive now is grace. Grace is given freely. Devil, get behind me! We will not argue about worthiness. Grace is what God chooses to give me, and I intend to receive it.

Why can brothers and sisters be healed from sickness? Because what you receive is grace—it is given to you freely, without cost. Consider those sick people who went to Jesus: what *Mingding* did they have? They had no *Mingding* at all. They were simply suffering terribly. They cried out, "Son of David, heal me!" And in the end, Jesus healed them all. Jesus said it was their faith that saved them. Therefore, it was not your good works or merit that saved you.

You must understand that what we draw upon is grace. There is no question of whether you are "worthy" or "unworthy." What the devil fears most is when you speak God’s Word. What God says, we say. The devil tells you, "Your faith is useless!" Jesus says, "A mustard seed of faith is enough." What James said and what his brother Jesus said are entirely different matters.

If you want zero doubt in your heart, must your entire heart be filled with mustard seeds? What if you do not have that many? If you have only one seed, that single seed is sufficient. My mind may be filled with the confusions of this world, but I hold onto that one mustard seed. I believe that God is all-powerful, awesome, and full of grace.

When you receive healing, get a job, and experience grace, come back and let that single seed become two. Add a little bit more. With such good grace, why shouldn't I double it? Having received one grace today, I want to receive two tomorrow, and in time, four, eight, sixteen. Only faith can claim grace. The moment you mix in a tiny bit of your own reliance on human effort or works, you are in trouble. You will not be able to overcome the devil.

## A Worker Earns Wages; It Is Not Grace

Grace claimed by faith is as straightforward as that. If you earn wages through work, that is not grace. If you try to give something to God in order to get grace in return, that is not grace—that is called wages. Our brothers and sisters must get this clear: the moment you try to bargain for grace, you are in serious trouble. You must know that this grace is priceless; it was bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

You cannot use money to buy the blood of Jesus Christ. Though it is free to you, it is priceless. We cannot buy grace with our own behavior. If you receive so much grace and God enables you to act rightly, remember this: it was not your doing. It was God’s doing. You have nothing to brag about.

Let me tell you again: why do people become foolish? Because they think everything they accomplish is done by themselves. Be very careful. No matter which country you do business in, when you make money, you had better not say, "Every single dollar was earned by my hard work." You had better say, "I made this money because the government put the right policies in place." Without those policies, you would not make a cent.

I often see people acting arrogant, when in reality they are nobody. Their wealth has little to do with their own talent; it is because a leader drew a circle on a map, and they happened to be inside that circle. If the circle had been drawn elsewhere, they would still be a poor farmer. Yet, the moment we achieve a little, we get arrogant. I do not know what there is to be arrogant about. When a person thinks he is brilliant, the devil comes. When the devil comes, the person turns into a fool. Ordinary citizens should not behave like this; Christians certainly must not.

## The Faith of Abraham

This point is crucial. Abraham’s faith came to him when he was in his seventies. At that time, he witnessed the death of his younger brother—Lot's father. The Bible simply records that his brother died in Haran.

Abraham loved his brother dearly. He wept bitterly and searched everywhere for a cure to heal him, but his brother died anyway. Attending a stranger's funeral leaves little impression, but attending his own brother's funeral struck Abraham to the core. Gone. How could he just be gone? A short while ago he was alive and well; how could he suddenly be gone? Have you ever had this feeling?

There is a sister among us whose mother passed away six months ago, and whose husband died two months ago. Gone. Just like that. An absolute emptiness inside. Have you felt this? In the blink of an eye, though years have passed, you remember your mother right there—an 80-year-old lady—and the memory remains vivid, like a video clip on your phone.

Is this not the reality right before our eyes? Here one moment, gone the next. At such moments, it hits hard. Abraham thought to himself, "One day, I too will be gone." Once you are gone, what was all this for? A neighbor is buried today; a short while later, someone in the next village is buried. The funeral procession stretches out with dozens of people in sackcloth, wailing and beating drums. It shocks the mind.

So Abram began to seek answers, much like my generation in the 1980s who sought the meaning of life and explored human existence. Do you know about the wave of existential searching back in the 1980s? I explored it too, but frankly, I did not find any grand answer. After my search, I felt that human life was largely meaningless.

Back then, it felt pointless. Abram must have felt the same. A person lives, and then he dies. Look at all the wealth I have, yet I could not even save my brother. What a tragedy. But because he sought answers, God spoke to him:

**"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:2)**

Abram heard this and felt completely bewildered. He could not grasp what it meant to be a blessing. "All peoples on earth will be blessed through me?" Looking at himself, he hardly looked the part. Why do I deeply relate to this? Years ago, when I prayed here, the church was struggling. We had no people, no resources, nothing.

One day, having nothing else to do, I prayed. I felt miserable and oppressed inside. Then, in a vision, I saw many people coming to learn from me how to build a church. I thought, "Did I see wrongly?" Later, the word of God came to me saying that this would indeed happen in the future. It was hard to believe at the time. But I tell you now, it is the absolute reality: whoever comes to us will receive spiritual nourishment.

Abraham’s faith was a faith that saw through the illusions of human life. If a person's heart is bound by worldly things, it is impossible to possess Abraham's faith. That is to say, if you live in this world so pragmatically and shortsightedly, you will find it hard to believe in God. All you believe in is your family—having a child, waiting for the child to marry, having another child, hoping the grandchild marries, and finally contracting all kinds of diseases. If life is just this endless cycle, how can you have real faith?

Recently, a sister sent me a text message that was quite revealing. It contained a plea for help from someone she was pastoring. The woman wrote: "Teacher, I need your help. I have a daughter who suffered from brain hypoxia at birth."

She got married in 2020 and divorced in 2025 because the husband developed kidney disease. The daughter could not return home for a long time, and eventually, the marriage dissolved. After the divorce, the mother wanted her daughter to find a partner and introduced her to six blind dates. But the daughter did not even know how to converse with them; not a single man was interested. The daughter now stays in her bedroom all day staring at her phone, to the point where her vision and facial expression are deformed.

"She refuses to listen to me. Others say my faith has gone off track and turned heretical, and my daughter says the same. She will not listen, and I am helpless. Now someone introduced another prospect who also has brain hypoxia and is not very bright, though he holds a job. His grandparents and parents are all idol worshipers..."

Why is it so difficult for people to see through the vanity of this world? How much knowledge does it take to see through it? In truth, it is not a lack of knowledge; it is a lack of willingness. Even if people are unwilling, life forces them to see it eventually, bit by bit. The reason a person's life remains a tragedy devoid of blessing is that his head is filled with nothing but petty, trivial worldly matters. He isn't living well; he is living miserably.

Abraham’s faith rested upon "the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not." That was his conviction. What about you? What do you believe in? "I believe God will make me a millionaire!" No, that number is too small—"a multi-millionaire, a billionaire, the richest man in town!" That is what people put their faith in because it sounds tangible.

Abraham possessed a hope grounded in eternity. Though he might not have fully understood the mechanics of "resurrection from the dead," he believed that man can live forever, and that God can create something out of nothing. When you have nothing, God can bring it into existence. If your liver is failing, God can give you a sound liver. If your kidneys are failing, God can give you a sound kidney. If your brain is impaired, God can grant you a sound mind.

Here is the question: does it cost you money to believe this? It costs you nothing. Going to see a doctor costs money; going to the hospital costs money. Receiving grace before God costs you zero dollars. A worker earns wages, but this is not labor—this is faith! By faith, you draw down God's grace.

Believing that God brings things out of nothing, believing that God raises the dead, believing that God is full of grace and mercy—this is the foundation of our victory! If you hold this faith, I tell you, you are more than a conqueror! Believe that our loving Lord Jesus has already prepared everything for us. It requires no financial outlay; what a simple task! It comes down to a single choice. Why not give it a try? Whether you suffer from insomnia or any other illness, choose to believe.

It costs you nothing; in fact, it saves you money. If it is genuinely a good thing, then simply believing resolves the matter. No matter what lies the devil releases, my God loves me; no matter what lies the devil releases, my God saves me! He will lead me and preserve me all the days of my life.

Abraham had this straightforward faith. From the very beginning to the sacrificed offering of Isaac, his entire journey was saturated with grace—full of grace and truth. Later on, he did not dwell on thoughts like, "Look, I am old, my wife is old, how can we possibly have a child?" He did not reason that way.

Brothers and sisters, never build your faith on your own self-confidence. Do not say, "Look at how poor I am, or how good I am, or what I possess." Faith is not built on yourself; it is built on God. You are incapable, but God is capable. You cannot do it, but God can. Do you understand this clear logic?

Take up this weapon of faith right now and strike at the enemy, the devil. The devil must retreat. Brothers and sisters, first choose to see through the illusions of this world. Tell yourself this simple logic: one day I will die, one day I will be finished, and one day we will be sent to the crematorium just like everyone else. I am not cursing you; this is an absolute biological reality.

When that day comes, your loves, your hates, your money, and your possessions become completely meaningless. You might say, "No, there is still some meaning; I will leave it to my son." One day, your son’s life will also become meaningless. What then? Abraham’s faith tells us that God can cause me to live forever. This life is merely a test.

## We Are the Workmanship in God's Hands

Though I am flawed, God can shape and polish me. Though I am foolish, God can grant me wisdom. You must not walk the path of judging good and evil through human flesh. If you walk that path, where do you place your faith? Place your faith in God’s grace, and let God mold you—that is the proper way. You must not look at yourself and whine, "Oh, I am like this, I am like that." The devil is a master of deception; he will whisper, "Can someone like you actually be saved?"

You reply: "Indeed, left to myself, it would be difficult. But God is my Savior. I am the workmanship in God's hands, and I put my trust in Him." When you say this, the devil runs out of tricks. We are the artistic creation in God's hands, and He will refine us into the likeness of His children. We must demolish those worldly logical frameworks.

Relentlessly demolish them, and continually rebuild God's framework of logic. Demolish and rebuild, over and over again. This is not your own doing; it is God working within you. You might ask, how is God working in me? God is working right under your nose through your daily circumstances. Look at your current distress, your sleepless nights. Why does God permit these things to happen? Because God wants you to be willing to have your old self demolished.

God is dismantling your worldly dreams and reshaping eternal dreams within you. Consider Abraham: his brother's death suddenly brought him to realize God's grace. Seeing people die one after another around him, Abraham woke up to the reality: "I must seek God." Let us begin rebuilding right now, so that our entire lives are lived within the grace of God!

That concludes our sermon for today. May God bless you all.