17 God Exposes Man in Order to Perfect Man

Liu Jie Liu’an City, Anhui Province

In the course of performing our duty, we are often exposed by God because of not knowing ourselves. For example, some of us are exposed in position, some in money, some in emotion, some because of performing their duty perfunctorily and deceitfully, some because of being arrogant and self-conceited and testifying themselves, some because of being crooked and crafty and practicing deceit, some because of being selfish and being poor in humanity, and some because of being cowardly and having no will. When being exposed, mostly we show passive resistance, become discouraged and disappointed, refuse, escape, and even write ourselves off as hopeless and act recklessly. This not only shows that we are not good at pursuing the truth, but also exposes our arrogant, hypocritical, and crafty nature of being unable to face up to true facts, and it even more shows that we still do not know the purpose of God’s exposing man and the ways of God’s perfecting man.

Actually, God exposes man simply in order to perfect man. God’s word says: “God perfects men in many ways, dealing with their corrupt disposition through various kinds of environments and exposing them through various kinds of things. He deals with men, also exposes men, and also reveals men, digging out and disclosing all the ‘mysteries’ in the depths of their hearts. Through disclosing many states, he causes men to see their nature.” God’s words clearly tell us that exposing man is a way in which God perfects man, and that it is not to eliminate man but to dig out man’s corrupt nature and man’s various corrupt states so that man will know them and thus be better transformed and perfected. Because all of us, after having been corrupted by satan, are arrogant and self-conceited by nature and feel ourselves a big good person, none of us will come before God on our own initiative to know ourselves and dissect ourselves. Only after being exposed will we be forced to come before God to examine ourselves and know ourselves according to God’s word. Only if we have knowledge of our corrupt disposition will we have a direction in pursuing the transformation of our disposition. If we fail to know our corrupt disposition, we will have no way to gain the transformation, and even if we want to gain it, we will have no idea where to start.

For example, God discloses that man has the nature of rebellion. Before being exposed, none of us admit that we will rebel against God, and we all feel that we are very strong and very safe. However, when we encounter difficulties and are unable to resolve them, when we meet with frustration and failure, when painful refining comes upon us, when God’s work does not fit our notions, or when our desires are defeated, we become passive and have misunderstandings within, and our nature of rebellion comes out. Only then do we see our true colors and see that we are indeed rebellious against God by nature and are in danger of rebelling against God at any time and in any place, and do we begin to pursue the truth to resolve our rebellion. For another example, before being exposed, we all feel ourselves very decent, and we never try to know our evil nature and do not take the words by which God discloses man’s evil nature seriously at all. Yet when we are exposed, we see our corruption, begin to know our evil nature according to God’s words, and begin to pay attention to pursuing the truth and pursuing the transformation, lest we fall and fail in this aspect. That is to say, only through being exposed with facts can we know the various corrupt states in us and know in what aspects we have lack, what truths we are still unclear about, and what principles we still do not understand, so that we will have a direction and a goal in pursuing the truth, and at the same time, we will be more certain about God’s word, have a thirsty heart, and be spurred to pursue the truth and pursue the transformation of our disposition.

Therefore, we should understand that God exposes man simply in order to transform man and perfect man. With those who pursue the truth, the more they are exposed by God, the more and deeper they will know themselves, the more they will pay attention to pursuing the truth, and the faster they will be transformed. Thus we can see that to accept God’s exposing bravely is a most meaningful thing and is also what all who pursue to be transformed should do. If we are unwilling to accept God’s exposing for the sake of preserving our vainglory and face, or if we show passive resistance or write ourselves off as hopeless and act recklessly in God’s exposing, we will be unworthy of God’s kind intention. Although it is a painful thing to be exposed, it is of great benefit to our life entering in and to the transformation of our disposition. This is because the transformation of man’s life disposition starts with man’s knowing himself, and man comes to know himself through being disclosed by God’s word and exposed with facts. If man is only disclosed by God’s word but is not exposed with facts, his knowledge will only be verbal acknowledgement but never be true knowledge from the bottom of his heart. If we cannot accept being exposed, we will never have any true knowledge of ourselves, much less have transformation in our disposition. In the end, we will surely be eliminated by God for still being an intact living satan. Therefore, those who cannot accept God’s exposing cannot attain the transformation of their disposition and be saved by God, and they will only end up ruining themselves!

Besides, the fact that we become passive and discouraged and even write ourselves off as hopeless and act recklessly because of being exposed also shows that we are by nature arrogant, hypocritical, and crafty, and thus cannot face up to true facts. In The Fellowship of the Man, it says: “Whoever loves the truth and pursues the truth should regard being able to face up to true facts as a condition and a prerequisite for accepting the truth. This is of benefit to his entering into the truth and to the transformation of his disposition. Furthermore, we should know the nature and the substance of not daring to face up to true facts and the consequence and outcome of it. For what reason is the great red dragon to be ruined? Why are the human beings who belong to satan to be destroyed? From this, we can better know about God’s righteous disposition. As we all know, God is most realistic in doing the work, while the great red dragon is most hypocritical and crafty. If we pursue to be saved by God, we should also rebel against the great red dragon, standing up boldly to face true facts and accept all God’s words and works. This is the only way to enter into the truth and attain the transformation of our disposition.” From the fellowship we see that if we want to be saved by God and be perfected by God, we have no other way to take but to accept God’s work and face true facts to know ourselves and have ourselves transformed. This is the only way to take. Being unable to face up to true facts and accept God’s exposing is altogether a manifestation of not accepting the truth and a manifestation of a person who does not pursue to be purified. Its substance is yielding to satan and rejecting the truth, which is no different from the great red dragon’s banishing the truth. God’s word has long since told us what the outcome of the great red dragon will be. Today, although we who are full of the poisons of the great red dragon are fortunate enough to receive God’s end-time work of conquering man and perfecting man, yet if we cannot accept the truth but always escape God’s exposing and cover up our satanic nature, our outcome is self-evident. Thus, we can see that it is imperative to accept God’s exposing bravely and there is no other choice. If we have understood the purpose of God exposing man and the consequence of not accepting God’s exposing but are still unwilling to accept God’s exposing, it proves that we are too hypocritical and crafty and that we do not pursue the truth at all, and in the end, we will only be eliminated by God.

Furthermore, behind the fact that because of being exposed, we become passive, have misunderstandings, and become discouraged and disappointed, thinking that we are finished and that it is useless however hard we pursue, there is hidden a misconception: If we are not exposed, our nature is good; once we are exposed, we suddenly become bad. It seems that it is the exposing that makes us hopeless and it is the exposing that causes the troubles. Actually, before we are exposed, those corrupt things have already been in us, only we did not know them before but now we see them through being exposed with facts. From this we see how ignorant we are to become passive and write ourselves off as hopeless and act recklessly because of being exposed. Isn’t it a good thing that through being exposed, we are caused to know our corruptions and thus are spurred to pursue to be transformed? Isn’t it corrupt people that God comes to save? Does God expose our corruptions in order to condemn us? Obviously not! God exposes us completely because we are disobedient, corrupt, foolish, and numb. Without being exposed, we would never see our corrupt satanic disposition but still consider ourselves as a big good person with our eyes shut. And we would follow in such a self-deceiving and muddled way and eventually fall under God’s punishment without knowing why. Wouldn’t we be the most pitiful ones? After making the comparison and weighing it up in this way, will we still refuse God’s exposing? In fact, every time we are exposed, although we feel suffering and find it hard to accept, afterward we know our disobedience and know that God’s exposing is so good and whatever God does is beneficial to us, but we are so blind and foolish as to always escape God’s salvation and push away the opportunities of being perfected by God. In experience, all who have some knowledge of themselves have the same feeling: It is very difficult for man to know himself, and without God’s exposing, man truly cannot know himself. So many times it is before the facts that we bow our haughty heads, and so many times it is in God’s exposing that we see we are extremely filthy and thus feel extremely remorseful, hate ourselves bitterly, and make up our mind to pursue to be transformed and start a new life. Besides, in our experience, God’s exposing is also a great keeping for us: When we are so pleased with ourselves as not to know who we are, it is God’s exposing that causes us to wake up and see our true stature; and when we become self-content and seek no progress, it is God’s exposing that causes us to see our lack and thereby rise up and continue our pursuit. It can be said that without God’s exposing, man can never gain the knowledge of himself and the transformation of his disposition. When we can truly realize that God’s exposing is a salvation to us and truly feel that without God’s exposing, we cannot be saved, we will bravely accept God’s exposing and will be grateful for God’s exposing and for God’s extremely great love and salvation to us.

All in all, God exposes man in order to perfect man, and God does not do any meaningless work and does not do any work unbeneficial to man. Therefore, we should all understand God’s kind intention and be able to face up to true facts and to know our corruptions and disobedience and know God’s salvation and God’s love in his exposing, so that we can reap much benefit in our experience of life and soon attain the transformation of our disposition and be perfected by God.

from : A Collection of Sermons for Supply

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