Man has been living under the shroud of the influence of darkness, shackled without release by the influence of Satan. And the disposition of man, after it has been processed by Satan, is becoming increasingly corrupt. In other words, man lives constantly with his corrupt satanic disposition, unable to truly love God. Hence, if man wishes to love God, he must be stripped of his self-rightness, self-importance, arrogance, conceit, and the likes of which belong to the disposition of Satan. Otherwise, the love of man is an impure love, entirely the love of Satan, and one which absolutely cannot receive the approval of God. If man is not directly perfected, dealt with, broken, pruned, disciplined, chastened, or refined by the Holy Spirit, then none can truly love God. If you say that a part of your disposition represents God and hence you can truly love God, then you are one who speaks words of arrogance and are a preposterous man. Such men are the archangel! The inborn nature of man cannot directly represent God. Man has to cast it off through the perfection of God, then care for and satisfy God’s will and go through the work of the Holy Spirit, before his living out can be approved by God. No one who lives in the flesh can directly represent God unless he is a man used by the Holy Spirit. However, even such a person’s disposition and what he lives out cannot be said to completely represent God; it can only be said that what he lives out is governed by the Holy Spirit. The disposition of such a man cannot represent God.
Though the disposition of man is ordained by God—this is unquestionable and can be considered a positive thing—it has been processed by Satan. That is why all of man’s disposition is the disposition of Satan. A man might say that God, by disposition, is straight-forward in His work, and that he too behaves in this way; he too has this sort of character, and so he says that his disposition represents God. What kind of man is this? Can the corrupt satanic disposition represent God? Whoever declares that his disposition is representative of God blasphemes God, and it is an insult to the Holy Spirit! Looking at how the Holy Spirit works, the work of God on earth is solely to conquer, hence much of man’s corrupt satanic disposition has not been cleansed. What man lives out is still the image of Satan. It is the goodness of man and represents the actions of man’s flesh. More precisely, it represents Satan and absolutely cannot represent God. Even if a man already loves God to the extent that he is able to enjoy a life of heaven on earth, is able to make such statements as: “God! I cannot love You enough,” and has reached the highest realm, you cannot say that he lives out God or represents God, for the substance of man is unlike that of God. Man can never live out God, much less become God. What man lives out as governed by the Holy Spirit is only in accordance with what God asks of man.
All the actions and deeds of Satan are shown through man. Now all the actions and deeds of man are an expression of Satan and hence cannot represent God. Man is the embodiment of Satan, and the disposition of man does not represent the disposition of God. Some men are of a good character; God may do some work through it and their work is governed by the Holy Spirit, yet their disposition cannot represent God. The work God does in them is just working with and expanding on what already exists within. Be it prophets from ages past or men used by God, none can directly represent Him. All men come to love God only under compulsion from their surroundings, and not one subjectively strives to cooperate. What are positive things? All that directly comes from God is positive. However, the disposition of man has been processed by Satan and cannot represent God. Only the love, will to suffer, righteousness, submission, humbleness, and hiddenness of God incarnate directly represent God. This is because when He came, He was without a sinful nature and came directly from God; He has not been processed by Satan. Jesus is only in the likeness of sinful flesh and does not represent sin; therefore, His actions, deeds, and words, until that time prior to His accomplishment of the work through crucifixion (including the crucifixion) are all directly representative of God. This instance of Jesus is sufficient to prove that any man with a sinful nature cannot represent God, and the sin of man represents Satan. That is to say, sin does not represent God and God is sinless. Even the work done in man by the Holy Spirit can only be considered to have been governed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be said to be done by man on behalf of God. As far as man is concerned, neither his sin nor his disposition represents God. Looking at the work done in man by the Holy Spirit today and in the past, most was performed by the Holy Spirit. This is what allowed man to have living out. However, this is only one side, and very few are able to live out the truth after being dealt with and disciplined by the Holy Spirit. That is to say, only the work of the Holy Spirit is present and cooperation on the part of man is absent. Do you see this clearly now? So then, what should you do to diligently work in concert with the Holy Spirit and, in so doing, fulfill your duty?
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
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