Introduction

Good day, everyone. This week, we come to the second sermon in our series on Grace and Truth: "God’s Kindness Leads You to Repentance." This is an exceptionally good topic. Many will find deliverance through this and stand once again in God’s grace. Make no mistake: we need God’s grace desperately.

Just the other day, a friend came to see me—a classmate of one of our church members. Years ago, his daughter suffered from severe depression. Nothing worked; no medical treatment could resolve it. Then they came to us, and she was healed. Once she recovered, we did not resort to moral blackmail. We told them plainly, "Do as you wish." Neither he nor his daughter had any interest in continuing to pursue God’s grace and truth among us.

Recently, however, trouble struck again. A medical check-up revealed poor kidney function, followed by poor liver function. Frankly, if you run a comprehensive check on every internal organ, none of them will show up well. Panic set in, so they came back to find me.

It was quite an interesting encounter. When he arrived, he did not want to discuss his illness immediately. I spoke a few words to him, and he countered with a question: "Pastor Liu, I feel Buddhism is accommodating toward Christianity, but Christianity refuses to accept Buddhism." I understood immediately. I said, "You are trying to manufacture a syncretism."

People have tried this before. Look at Yiguandao. They did a neat integration: placing Taishang Laojun, Jesus Christ, Shakyamuni, and even Muhammad on the same table. Just enough players for a game of mahjong. Quite amusing. But I told him, "Let us be fair: many Buddhists understand the vanity of human existence far better than many Christians."

Make no mistake: many Christians simply do not see through it. Buddhists see 'vanity of vanities'—all four fundamental elements are empty (si da jie kong). What about us? At best, we manage three out of four. We fall short by one.

So I told my friend: "Let me tell you where the fundamental difference lies. The greatest difference is that Jesus Christ possesses grace—abundant, overflowing grace. What is grace? It is given to you freely."

This is not something you achieve through self-cultivation. You believe, and you receive it. The reason is simple: I walked that path myself. In my hardest days, when life was unbearable, what did I do? I went to temples to consult monks; they gave me a lecture. I went to Daoist temples; the priests gave me another lecture. I had Buddhist friends, Daoist friends, Christian friends—a whole spectrum.

Then I realized: if this relies on my own self-cultivation, how many lifetimes will it take? When will I ever attain enlightenment? I would rather pick the fruit directly. Eventually, I walked into a deliverance church. At first, I did not even know what deliverance meant.

I went in, heard the message, and the Spirit of God moved me. I wept. It felt like a wandering child returning home to his parents. It was extraordinary. From that moment on, my life turned around completely. But here is the hard question: what merit did I have? I had not read Genesis; I had not read Matthew.

Later, I got hold of an English Bible. There were twenty unfamiliar words on every single page. I wrestled with a dictionary, reading for dear life. You might say I had a selfish motive—my English was poor, so I was using it to study English. Even so, God gave me grace. Endless grace. My career and personal life were turned around, one after another. My physical ailments were resolved.

It was then that I realized how good this God is. I learned the word Grace. You know the song Amazing Grace? It is given freely. I thought, this God is marvelous—He gave it freely when I had done nothing for Him. At that time, I was not even baptized.

An unbaptized person enjoys one practical privilege: you do not have to tithe. I took full advantage of that window! You may laugh, but I had not officially joined yet. Later, I attended classes, was baptized, and began to tithe. The moment I started giving, the grace multiplied. My salary shot up like a rocket. Incredible.

That was how I came through. It was not a transaction where I gave Him something first and He gave back. I had nothing to offer, yet He gave. After receiving such grace, I devoured the Bible. Why did I rarely sleep before 2 a.m. in those days? I worked during the day, and at night, I read the Scriptures until 2 a.m. Pure, unadulterated dedication. The grace was abundant; this God is good.

So I spoke to everyone I met, regardless of who they were. It did not matter whether they were my boss, my subordinate, or my colleague—I spoke about grace incessantly. They gave me a nickname: "Christianity." When they saw me coming, they would say, "Here comes Christianity!" They meant it as mockery, but I took pride in it. Grace and Buddhist self-cultivation operate on entirely different planes. Do you understand?

How wonderful is Christian grace! It is freely received. Which of you did not receive it freely? Did you give God something first, and then He reciprocated? Certainly not. You do not need to bring a chicken, a duck, a cooked fish, or an offering of fruit. You do not need to burn incense. You simply receive, because God is rich in grace and mercy.

God saw the wretched state I was living in. He could not bear to watch it any longer. He said, "Come, receive it freely." Look at our foolishness—we even utter blasphemies against Him at times. I did that too.

Yet when crisis strikes, God is the only One who works. When bad days arrive, when our destiny derails and we head down a destructive path, God is effective. And His effectiveness is meant to lead us to repentance. God’s kindness leads you to repentance. We have far too much to correct. The first hurdle is money. When it comes to real cash, people hesitate—it hurts their feelings. Even now, looking back, I feel the need to repent. My God is truly good.

Grace is given to lead us to repentance. If you had suicidal depression and God set you free, it was not because you were good enough, but because you were pitiful enough. If you suffered from insomnia and anxiety, it was not because you were worthy, but because you were pitiful. You did not deserve deliverance, yet God delivered you anyway. We have seen immense grace manifested among us. But let me give you the cold, hard fact: out of all who experience God, if five percent remain, that is already a good outcome.

Do the arithmetic: five percent. If we have 500 people today, we have effectively ministered to 10,000. Countless people have experienced grace. If your arthritis was healed, it was not your merit, but God’s mercy. If your back pain vanished, or if you botched an exam but ended up passing beyond expectations, it was not because you were exceptional, nor because your petty affair was so important.

Let us be realistic: what does your exam mean to God? Absolutely nothing. But it mattered to you, so God showed mercy. If you were stuck on your PhD, God does not care whether you get a doctorate, but you do. You wonder how you will survive without it, so God enabled you to graduate. All this grace is meant to lead us to repentance.

Remember: you do not deserve it. But having received God’s grace, have we changed? Have we? As people grow older, their judgmental spirit—the knowledge of good and evil—grows by the day. We did not earn this. Yet many do not repent; they think they are capable, take the credit, and use it as capital to judge others. The result? They store up wrath for themselves until God’s retribution falls.

When God gives you grace, do not abuse it. If you abuse grace, retribution will follow. And when retribution comes, what will you do? Even retribution is a form of grace; otherwise, you would remain utterly blind to your own arrogance. Do not wait until you cannot urinate, cannot defecate, cannot walk, or cannot breathe before you remember God.

If only you remembered God’s grace earlier and said, "I must repent! This is God’s grace; I must turn around." Why cling to vanity and pride? Why obsess over trivialities? Losing God’s grace is the worst possible transaction. Do not walk into the wrath and judgment of God.

We had a brother who found a job as an interior designer. He managed to close a deal. Immediately, he boasted: "Pastor, I closed a deal! In the future, I will close many more and buy you a landed bungalow!" Look at that posture—his ego shot straight through the roof.

I waited for my bungalow! I prayed: "Lord, give him another contract, and another!" For the next six months, he did not secure a single deal. His average income dropped to a few hundred dollars a month. After paying for utilities and phone bills, he could barely afford plain porridge.

Where was my bungalow? Let us not even talk about bungalows. It is a pity, but this is human nature: the moment people achieve a small success, they think they are extraordinary.

Then I discovered a fundamental truth. Listen carefully: the moment you think you are capable, you fall from grace. That is called establishing your own righteousness—relying on your own hands and ability, which becomes the fuel for your pride.

If you acknowledge that everything is God’s grace, what room is there for pride? None. What if everything is truly by grace? Take the Chinese Mingding Doctrine: I am the founder. Impressive? What is so impressive about it? Without God’s revelation, what could I possibly do? It is entirely God’s grace and mercy. When God presses you to the floor and lets you taste what it feels like to be ground into the dirt, you quickly realize your own insignificance.

Today, I consider myself a lightweight. We must all be careful. I, too, must repent, because occasionally I slip into thinking I am capable. I need to read books that bring me back to reality and stay sober.

Human nature is treacherous. The world can be deceitful: it grants you a doctorate, but in reality, it digs a deep pit for you. A doctorate can become a trap that causes you to fall from grace. When you cannot tolerate others' mistakes and refuse to extend grace, losing your temper over a minor fault, you lose grace—because that is judgment.

Once you think you are someone special, you are in danger. Today, I must still keep my head down and maintain a low profile. The moment you puff yourself up, grace disappears—and the bungalow vanishes with it! Someone else got proud, and my bungalow was gone! So I keep a low profile and lower my threshold for happiness. That is the highest state of living.

When I go brisk walking with friends, we finish at a Singapore hawker centre—where ordinary citizens eat every day. Ordering a cup of coffee: that is the peak of life. I take out my camera to capture the moment. I do not dare think I am great; I keep a low profile. Everything is grace. In Chinese Mingding Doctrine, remember this phrase: It is all grace. My ministry is a grace.

Look at our cell leaders and pastoral team, including myself: you rarely see burnout. In many churches, leaders turn over every three years. A pastor once told me before he died of brain cancer: "Pastor Liu, look at the church I built, look at all the cell groups I manage." His leaders had to come twice a week—once for training, once for Sunday service—and lead cell groups at home during the week. How could they sustain that? It sounded completely wrong to me. Why did they burn out?

Because they viewed their service as making a contribution, whereas I view mine as receiving grace. My service is receiving grace; their service was making a "great contribution." Consequently, their efforts led them straight into God’s displeasure. For us, work is grace, ministry is grace, everything is grace.

Living in Grace, Free from Self-Righteousness

The office toilet was filthy. Yet, there I was, scrubbing away while humming a tune, looking as if I had just won the lottery. People wondered what on earth had happened to me. When the cleaning was done, I thought to myself: this is the highest state of grace in life. Some might say, "You have reached quite a high plane, have you not—all the way down into the toilet?"

Everything is pure grace. I am a sinner, yet I have received the grace of God and have been chosen to serve Him. That is an extraordinary privilege. I do not have fancy words, but this expresses the deep gratitude within me. If everything is grace, what right do I have to pass judgment on others? If everything is grace, what standing do I have to condemn anyone? I am merely a sinner. If we are all sinners, by what authority can I condemn another man?

Lord, let me dwell in Your grace all the days of my life. May I live to please You, never departing from Your presence, and standing firmly upon Your promises and grace forever. I tell you, if a pastor can reach this level of understanding, it is a tremendous thing.

Whether you can attain this highest state of life depends entirely on whether you can clear that mental hurdle. If you recognize that everything is grace, life becomes remarkably straightforward. Your threshold for happiness becomes low; you are easily contented and consistently joyful. You operate at the highest level. You may envy this, but it is simply the best way to live.

Make no mistake: be extremely careful. How does a man fall from grace and forfeit God's favor? It begins the moment we think we are quite something. What is the point of losing God’s grace? When you consider yourself superior while looking down on others, you will sit at home stewing in bitter resentment until you literally work yourself into physical illness—even hemorrhoids!

Falling from grace means convincing yourself that you are entirely right, setting yourself up as the paragon of virtue—the most righteous person in the world. Yet, you will never attain the highest state of life; only your afflictions will reach their peak. People say, "There are deities three feet above our heads watching us." Do you think God watches only the other person? He is watching over your head as well.

God is right above us; we cannot afford to judge. When you judge someone, God will judge you by the very standard you applied to them. We often wonder why a seemingly "good" person suffers far more than an evil person. It is because when a "good" person takes pride in his own goodness, he invites upon himself severe affliction. What is the sense in inviting such misery?

A man must watch himself. Say this strictly to yourself: God is above me; I cannot judge. I do not judge others. Having received grace, I must repent quickly, standing securely in God’s grace and His promises. That is incomparably good. Remember how a man becomes foolish: by establishing his own righteousness and clinging to his vanity. Step by step, he loses his wisdom.

I often say to you: your brains work fine. Physically, nothing is missing. You have one nose, one mouth, two eyes, two ears, sound legs, and sound arms. Yet there is a vital link missing inside—the grounding of standing in grace. God’s grace is meant to lead us to repentance. When a man refuses to repent, insists on his own righteousness, and feels self-satisfied, he invariably becomes foolish.

I have observed that many people have sharp minds, yet every practical thing they touch goes wrong. They become extraordinarily proficient at making mistakes. What is the value of such proficiency? To work exhaustingly hard at foolishness simply because one is self-righteous and judgmental—that is nothing but an invitation to God's wrath.

Let us step out of self-righteousness. If you provoke God’s anger, how can you expect your days to go well? Our 101 Course sets this out with absolute clarity. Life is fundamentally a spiritual matter; therefore, man needs God. God has prepared grace for us, and we lay hold of it by faith.

Our faith rests on the fact that we are sinners and that our God is rich in grace and mercy—not on the delusion that we are inherently good. Even if you are a "good person" by worldly standards, what does that amount to? Through faith in God, we appropriate His victory. God goes before us to win the battle; we follow in His train, and He says, "You have overcome, here is your reward." He plunders the enemy and credits the spoils to our account.

From every practical angle, this is the most advantageous deal possible. Where under heaven can you find such a blessing? If you want to rely on self-cultivation, you may turn to Buddhism. But if you want unmerited grace, come to Jesus Christ. Nothing compares to Jesus Christ. When I wrote the 101 Course, the logic was so cohesive and tightly knit that one might ask: who could be so brilliant as to produce this?

It was God's brilliance, not mine! Do not assume I am praising myself. Without God’s revelation, how could I have known any of it? For three months, I paced back and forth in my office with a furrowed brow, looking so intense that people thought I was losing my mind. They said, "Pastor, take it easy." I replied, "Do not worry; I am thinking, seeking, and knocking." In the end, God granted us this foundational 101 Course. What is merely copied from others cannot hold a candle to this.

Scripture

"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God 'will repay each person according to what they have done.' To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 2:1–10)

Prayer

Lord, have mercy on us once again. Correct our course wherever we have gone astray, that we may walk upon Your path and please You anew. Fill us abundantly once more with Your grace and truth, for such has always been Your divine intention.

Lord, deliver us from the trap of discerning good and evil by our own standards, from judging others, and from establishing our own righteousness. Grant us Your grace afresh, lead us into deep repentance, and heal us completely.

May Your precious blood wipe away our transgressions and deliver us from all calamity and disease. Our single-minded purpose is to be people who please You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Context of the Scripture

When Paul wrote the Book of Romans, he had never set foot in Rome. Yet Rome had many churches, and Paul was already a towering figure in the Christian world. When people heard Paul's name, they took his words as absolute truth.

Human nature is a curious thing. A man may achieve nothing of significance, yet simply because he was born in Shanghai or Beijing, he carries himself with immense pride. But when you examine them, they have the same one nose and two eyes; they have no extra limbs and are no different from anyone else.

Take the urban villages in Shenzhen: people there think they are extraordinary simply because an elder leader once drew a circle on a map, and their village happened to fall inside that circle. A man buys a Mercedes-Benz and suddenly imagines he has become the car itself, swelling with unearned pride.

In Shenzhen, there is an interesting dynamic: non-locals sometimes look down on the locals. A brother from Shenzhen told me he was mocked while working; the non-locals said to him, "Why are you doing manual labor? You are a local—leave some livelihood for the rest of us!"

What I am illustrating is this: the Romans were intensely proud. Living in the capital city, they felt superior. It is like taking a taxi in Beijing—every driver talks like an encyclopedia, claiming full knowledge of everything in the skies, on earth, and in the seas, dissecting national and global geopolitics with supreme confidence. Rome was the capital, not just the empire at large. And where did this civic arrogance spill over? Right into the church.

Inside the church, believers developed a sense of superiority. They began pointing fingers: "How can you still be like this?" They started judging others. The moment they received a measure of grace, they became puffed up.

Let me tell you: the Gospel we believe often gets derailed precisely after people receive grace. Once grace is received, people frequently go off track, giving rise to all manner of sectarian divisions. Yet in every group, there was genuine grace at the beginning. Over time, however, people start establishing their own righteousness, passing judgment on others, and eventually sliding into the very wrath of God. This is an all too common pattern.

Do not imagine that Paul was addressing only the historical Romans. He was speaking directly to you—the brothers and sisters in the church. You, who pass judgment on those who do such things and yet do the same, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

When the Roman believers read this, it resolved their great perplexity: Why has the grace vanished? Believers there had coined a phrase, claiming that their "honeymoon period" with God was over. In truth, it was neither a honeymoon ending nor a "seven-year itch"; it was a fall from grace. By establishing their own righteousness and feeling self-satisfied, they assumed their blessings were of their own making.

They forgot one fundamental reality: God’s kindness is meant to lead a man to repentance. Grace is given so that you will repent; yet they failed to do so. In major cities, educated and wealthy people struggle immensely because they rely on their credentials—their PhDs, double master's degrees, or elite university diplomas.

What practical good does any of that do if your heart remains stubborn and unrepentant? Paul wrote directly to the believers in the Roman church who were storing up wrath for themselves, heading toward the day when God's righteous judgment is revealed.

I tell you plainly: this is why some fall ill with cancer, why arthritis flares up again, and why depression returns. Why does the power seem to fail? Because of self-righteousness. This logical framework is laid bare in the Book of Romans. Paul wrote this specifically to confront Christians who were strutting around with their noses in the air.

Someone comes and asks, "Paul, I used to win renovation contracts easily, but why can I not secure them now? Why are my prayers no longer answered?" It is because you became arrogant. Another says, "I was promised a villa, but the deal fell through. Everything is going downhill. Where is God’s grace?" God gave you grace not to make you arrogant, but to bring you to repentance. Hold firmly to this principle, lest you invite depression, arthritis, cancer, and kidney stones back into your life.

You were not healed because you deserved it; God granted you grace so that you would repent. To receive grace and then imagine you have made some grand contribution to God is a fatal mistake. Refusing to repent, insisting on self-righteousness, and judging others provokes God’s wrath. Today, we must return squarely to God’s grace.

This is a profound point. Paul concludes that having the Law and feeling superior because of it is a delusion. Having the Law means you must keep it; and even if you do keep it, taking pride in it gives you no standing to look down on others. "Look at me, I keep the Law; look at you, failing to keep it. Why can you not follow something so simple?" Does that sound familiar? Is that not the exact language often heard among pastors and co-workers?

"Why can you not follow it?" That is not the language of grace; it is a distorted mindset. We receive grace in order to repent, just as others receive grace to repent. Thus, we return once more to grace. What is the root reason? God’s Word is not a rigid dead letter; it is Spirit.

Why do people make repeated, practiced errors? Because the wrong spirit is tormenting them. It is not that you lack intelligence; it is that your mind lacks grace. Since God has forgiven our sins, why can we not forgive others? Since God has pardoned our transgressions, why do we grip tightly onto the faults of our fellow man? Let us return now to the grace of God. For this matter depends on the Spirit, not on the letter.

The moment you act in this manner, the demonic forces arrive. The demon says, "I do not want to go." God says, "No, you must go. Strike him hard. Make him understand what grace truly means. Make him taste affliction, so he recognizes his own utter inadequacy." You cannot even determine when you can relieve your bowels, pass urine, or walk. None of this is within your own control, yet you still seek to establish your own self-righteousness?

Even whether you can draw your next breath is not within your control. Not long ago, I myself could barely catch my breath; these words applied directly to me. We have no ultimate say. My schoolmates used to go hiking regularly. On one occasion in the mountains, one of them suffered a sudden heart attack and collapsed dead. An ambulance could not even access the site. He was gone.

Today, we must stop condemning others. We must stop judging people and nitpicking their faults. We must examine our own need for repentance and stand firmly once again in the grace of God.

Everything Is Grace

Why is everything grace? Because none of it is what you have earned or deserved. If you work and receive wages, that is an earned entitlement. But everything we have is pure grace. I am not brainwashing you; I am clearing the rubbish from your minds. If your head is cluttered with garbage, how can you possibly live well?

Everything is grace. It is not about whether I am superior to you or you are superior to me. Such comparisons are completely futile; they generate nothing but endless friction. If we must compare, let us compare who repents more thoroughly. What does it mean that everything is grace? Being healed is grace. Being able to work after being healed is grace. Emerging from days of misfortune into a blessed life is grace. Learning to serve once you are blessed is also grace.

The hard reality is this: even if you do not serve, even if you do nothing at all, God will sustain the church. The earth will not stop rotating; the sun will not cease to shine. God’s sovereign hand will uphold everything. You may stamp your feet on the ground as hard as you like, but the earth will not even tremble—not with your negligible stature. Do not overestimate your own importance. Once you recognize that everything is grace, your sense of true fulfillment will soar instantly.

We must reinforce this truth: everything is grace. You might say, "If everything is grace, isn't life straightforward?" Precisely. If everything is grace, we no longer need to pass judgment on this person or that person. Take your mother, for example; she has her flaws, but can you see even that as a grace? You realize: "I was born of my mother, and I carry those very same flaws." With that perspective, there is more grace and far less judgment.

Let me tell you: if everything is grace, can you still afford to be arrogant? That villa wouldn't have slipped through your fingers, would it? You might ask, "Pastor, why are you still thinking about that villa?" Well, a promise was made, so it crossed my mind—though I say that in jest. My genuine desire is for brothers and sisters to be truly blessed and to receive God's grace.

Nothing belongs to you. In China, people often declare: "Every single dollar was earned through my own hard work." Do not kid yourselves. Without Deng Xiaoping, the great Chief Architect of Reform, would you have had such opportunities? You might otherwise be living under a regime like Kim Jong-un's. Every single cent is not your own doing; it is grace, the policy dividend of the nation.

Once you firmly grasp that everything is grace, you will find true peace. Everything is received freely; everything is granted by God. It is that simple. There is no room left for grievances. If I were sold into Egypt as a slave, that too is God's grace. You might argue: "How on earth can that be grace? Doesn't that destroy my entire life?" No, it does not destroy you; it is rigorous training for you to become prime minister.

Grace Leads Us to Repentance

If you were Joseph sold into Egypt and found yourself suffering bitterly, you must tell yourself: "I have no reason to be bitter." Once sold into Egypt, countless voices flood your mind: "It is over, your life is ruined. You were supposed to attend university, pursue a master's, earn a doctorate, become a professor, and so on."

Joseph was bewildered. He cried out, "O God, I once thought highly of myself, but when these voices assail me, I am in immense anguish. Lord, I repent." Thus, grace leads us to repentance. Treat everything as grace; nothing falls outside God's sovereign control. Adopt this posture, and you will become wise.

You will no longer provoke God's wrath, because you understand that He governs all things. Even if someone strikes you, glares at you, kicks you, or insults you, consider it all grace, grace, grace. If that old root still lingers within you, and like Joseph you still feel bitter, begin to repent immediately.

The highest plane of life is to stand firmly within God’s grace and His promises. I live not by my own striving, nor because I am a master over slaves; I live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What God has promised, He will bring to pass. Even if I am reduced to slavery by others, God will surely deliver me. In this manner, all pain is forgotten, because grace abounds.

Grace Is Rooted in God's Mercy

When we find ourselves unable to carry on, we often sink into deep distress. In God’s eyes, these matters are trivial, but to you, they seem monumental. God does not regard your doctorate as critically important; in the eternal kingdom of God, whether you obtain a PhD matters very little to Him.

Yet because it matters so intensely to you, God extends His mercy. Your national exam scores are not inherently significant to Him, but because they affect your entire family's well-being, God grants mercy. Securing a particular contract means nothing to God per se, but because it impacts you, God grants you grace and mercy.

Therefore, understand that God is rich in grace and mercy. Everything is grace, designed to guide us toward repentance. Whenever you receive grace, repent promptly. Maintain that discipline of repentance for ten years, twenty years—indeed, an unceasing commitment throughout your entire life.

Then, your concerns become God’s concerns. He will grant you promotions and resources—starting small, then expanding steadily into substantial resources. In themselves, these mean little to God, but in His mercy, He desires that we prosper.

Whatever you encounter—whether being sold into Egypt, being cheated, being undermined, failing in corporate competition, or making an utter mess of your personal life—treat it all as grace, and let it serve as the catalyst for your repentance.

I thank God, for through my circumstances He has thoroughly shattered my worldly ambitions. Worldly ambitions—who doesn't have them? Everyone wants to live well; I understand that completely. But can you understand my position now? I have completely dismantled all worldly illusions.

Thus, one reaches the highest plane of life in an instant: standing squarely within the grace of God, knowing that everything is His grace. I once compared myself to Job, only to realize later that Job was nothing extraordinary—he too had to repent. Looking back, I tell myself how fortunate I am to have stepped out to build the church. It is truly liberating.

Some time ago, I was hiking with a retired university professor, a veteran scientist. I said to him, "You look in good health." He replied, "Not quite; I have only recovered my health in recent years." I asked him why. He said, "You have no idea. Scrambling for funding and resources in academia—the cutthroat rivalry, the backstabbing, having to fabricate stories. That academic circle is brutal; it wears you down completely."

As a result, his blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol all surged. Everything went up except his height, while his belly expanded. Only after retirement did his health normalize. Thank God, I stepped down from the secular grind years ago, which granted me far more years of sound health. Had I slugged it out like him into my sixties, I wonder if I would even have survived. It is all God’s grace and mercy.

Therefore, heed my advice: no matter what you go through, do not complain. Transform every circumstance into an occasion for God’s mercy. When David was driven from his throne, he looked solely to the grace and mercy of God, and God restored him to the throne. Everything originates from God.

No Ground to Judge Others

If everything is grace, what right do you have to judge? It is just like the Christians in Rome. They had undergone severe hardship; that was not a church Paul founded himself, but one established by believers fleeing persecution from Jerusalem, who migrated to Rome and built their livelihoods. They succeeded in business, embraced the faith, experienced abundant grace, and promptly began passing judgment on others—criticizing this and condemning that.

We must discipline our tongues. Even if you judge in your heart, keep your mouth shut. But holding it in makes you feel suffocated. If you want to eliminate that discomfort, eradicate the root of judgment within you. Never fall from grace. What qualification do you have to judge others? Both you and your mother are sinners; your only role is to receive.

Do not disguise it under the noble pretext of "pastoral care." Many delude themselves into thinking they are shepherding when they are merely judging. Some pass judgment while assuming it is pastoral guidance, until they can no longer contain themselves because they harbor a persistent sense of superiority. They think well of themselves, look down on others, and are constantly searching for faults to criticize.

Look at how sharp they are at pointing fingers! They would make excellent quality-control inspectors, where fault-finding is a requirement. But for us as Christians, if we wish to stand in the grace of God, we must unconditionally surrender our supposed right to judge. We are all sinners.

Those Who Judge Shall Be Judged

Why do people judge? Because they do not view life as grace; they believe they are entitled. The moment you judge, God judges you, and your suffering begins. Over time, I observed how a person truly becomes wise: eliminate the toxic habit of judging others. It is not that your intellect is lacking—you remain sharp and capable. What you lack is the fundamental anchor of grace.

When we assume the right to judge, we ourselves fall under judgment. A person then becomes foolish, stumbling into blunder after blunder with practiced regularity. It is clear when demonic forces are at work—it is spiritual sabotage. Having accomplished a task, you claim personal merit and look down on those without achievements.

We must renounce this vicious habit, lest God manifest His wrath. Sickness is often the expression of God’s indignation. You find yourself failing on all fronts. Examine it closely: those riddled with ailments often possess deeply ingrained vices. They think highly of themselves, yet they have won no Nobel Prize. If there were a Nobel Prize for Discerning Good and Evil, they would certainly qualify for it.

They reach the pinnacle of judging good and evil, and consequently, they are severely judged. It is a miserable state. Such a person is pitiable, living under the wrath of God. Can anything be more tragic? Having heard this, brothers and sisters, can you gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual realm? This is why Paul stated: it is of the Spirit, not of the letter.

Of the Spirit, Not of the Letter

This is strictly a matter of the spiritual realm. Once you engage in this behavior, demonic forces will target you spiritually. You did things right yesterday, yet today you botch it entirely, leaving you bewildered: "How did I make such a mess again?" Evil spirits are harassing you. Never assume that human logic is sound. That logic does not align with the spiritual realm; it is utterly worthless rubbish.

It is of the Spirit, not of the letter. The spiritual realm governs all reality. If you triumph in the Spirit and re-establish yourself in God’s grace, demons will no longer have a foothold over you. Even if a demon is dispatched by God to discipline you, I assure you, it can be cast out in the name of Jesus Christ. This is an absolute spiritual law.

The standards God established in the New Testament are far higher than those in the Old Testament. Brothers and sisters, will you repent anew? This is a spiritual imperative. Stand once more in the grace of God; break away from the root of discerning good and evil, and firmly reject the devil's lies.

Let this grace lead us to repentance once again. Even if your transformation is incomplete, as long as you have the resolve to repent—even if the process is agonizing because demonic oppression holds you—begin repenting and invoke the name of Jesus Christ to drive the demons away.

And what follows? It is not that you are inherently good, but that you genuinely desire to change, and God intervenes to help you. Once God helps you, do not assume the matter is concluded. The path of repentance has only just begun. Do not be complacent; the work of repentance is far from over. I have laid out these hard truths so that you may lay hold of grace and enter into it afresh.

This concludes our sermon. May God bless you all.