Amazing Grace (14 page)

Luke 18 shows us what is impossible with man, but Luke 19
shows us that with God all things are possible. Things are impossible with man
if such depend for their realization on him. Yet if God is permitted to work in
man, He is well able to deliver man. Having living faith in God, man will be
able to do what he could not do before. All in the world love
money,
even children learn to love money. When the Chinese began
to learn English, the very first word they wanted to learn was the word for money!
Moreover, in the process of creating one’s will, a person is actually writing
about money. Everybody loves mammon, but God and mammon are opposed to each
other. If you are not serving God, declares the Scriptures, then you are
serving mammon (Matthew 6:24). In fact, the influence of money is so great that
it stands in opposition to God. Here in Luke 18 and 19 the Lord is showing us
that if God can deliver us from what we love best, He can also save us from all
other sins. With man, of course, that is impossible; with God, however, all is possible.

Let us notice again in Luke chapter 18 that after the
young ruler heard the Lord’s words that he should sell all his possessions and
distribute the proceeds to the poor, he departed in extreme sorrow for he felt the
Lord’s words were impossible for him to carry out. Indeed, it
was
impossible
for
 
him
to do so. And had his subsequent heart
attitude been right, he would have gained the eternal life he so earnestly
sought. At this moment, however, this rich young man committed a serious error.
For what he did wrong was that upon recognizing his weakness and realizing the
impossibility of his being himself able to implement Jesus’ words, he went away
from the Lord (Mark 10:22), he incorrectly assuming that God also could not. It
is right for man to discern and acknowledge his personal limitation, but to
consider his situation as totally hopeless and beyond even God’s ability to
overcome is grossly wrong and a great error.

In Luke chapter 19, though, we find that what is
impossible with man is altogether possible with God if only He is allowed to
work in us. The way of victory lies in seeing that by oneself it is impossible
to overcome, but with God such is possible. God can make us victorious through
Christ. If we look to ourselves for overcoming power, we cannot be victorious: we
can only be defeated. Yes, we must see and acknowledge the impossibility of our
overcoming in and of ourselves; but we must also see that God has given Christ
to us to overcome rather than trying to depend upon ourselves. The issue for us
need not end, as was the case with the rich young ruler, with man’s
“impossibility.” We cannot, that is very true; yet through Christ, whom God has
placed in us, all things are possible.

As I speak I am reminded of one person in particular
about whom I believe that if
he
were
able to overcome his life-dominating sin, then all other people in the world could
also be victorious in overcoming in their lives. Last year in Shanghai a
Christian brother and friend of mine who served in a missionary society came to
see me. He told me about another person who had been sent by an American foreign
mission organization to serve as a teacher in my missionary friend’s mission school
in Shanghai. This teacher had been there now for some five or six years but was
in bad relationship with all his colleagues and students in the school. This had
come about due to his very bad temper. All in the school felt helpless, with even
those in the mission society believing the situation was hopeless and thinking
of calling him back. In fact, the mission school was planning to send him back
to the United States in August. So this Western missionary friend of mine came
to ask me if I had time to talk with this person. I asked why he had not brought
him along that day. His answer was that it would have been quite a task to
bring him since he believed this man must be demon-possessed; otherwise, this
brother added, how could he be like that?

I thought this word appeared to be excessive, yet I sensed
that he could not be too much off the mark. I actually was somewhat surprised,
so I asked this brother for more details. He said to me: “This man is truly
strange. He never laughs. Every time he meets people, he gives them an
unpleasant face. He is angry from morning till evening. Should a person have done
or said anything wrong, he would immediately deal severely and most angrily with
him. As a matter of fact, everybody is afraid of him. When people see him
coming, they immediately try to avoid him. It has been like this now for almost
six years. No one in the school can work with him. Servants in the house where
he resides have had to be changed every two days. He cannot maintain a good
relationship inside the home and quarrels with rickshaw coolies outside.
 
In fact, wherever he goes, he quarrels. It
seems as though he has always to be quarreling as his way of spending his days.
From my birth till now, during these fifty some odd years on earth, I have
never encountered such a bad-tempered person as he. I have been in England, in the
United States, and in China, but wherever I have gone, I have never met such a
person like him. I am afraid he is demon-possessed. Hence, I am truly
disappointed in him. We are therefore thinking of sending him back to the
States in August. Mr. Nee, you are a person who truly knows the truth of the
way of victory; do you think you can help this man? Before his return I was thinking
to invite you to go see him to learn whether or not he is truly demon-possessed,
and if so, that you try to cast the demon out.”

Upon hearing all this, I was glad, because here again was
a person with a humanly impossible situation in his walk with the Lord. When it
is impossible with man, it is possible with God. God specializes in hopeless
cases. So I promised to go see him. This missionary friend told
me,
however, that I could not go to his home, for it was
certain that he would refuse to see me. He explained that I could only go to
another’s house, and at the same time, he added, they would bring him there so
that I could meet him. So this was our plan.

After two days I went to a certain house as arranged, and
that person came. After those who brought him introduced me to him, they all
left. As I initially observed him, I was truly frightened, for I had never seen
such a person like him. It seemed that every part of his face—whether his eyes,
nose, mouth, lips, or other parts, whatever that part was—all seemed to have
been specially made for exhibiting bad temper! All his facial features expressed
bad temper. I now realized that what my missionary friend had told me was all
true. It truly appeared to me that he could hardly laugh at all,
 
for it seemed to me, as I looked at him, that
there was no place on his face for laughter. He had developed such alarming facial
features through his many years that I had never seen such a person before nor
would I see such ever afterwards. Indeed, I was terrified upon seeing him for
the first time. In fact, I feared that he was truly demon-possessed after all.

Nevertheless, when he saw me, he began to cry profusely and
his tears kept falling down. He exclaimed to me: “They do not want me anymore!”
As he wept, his face became so ugly as though he was beginning to lose his
temper. At that very moment I became so frightened that I would rather have sat
in a tomb for three years than to have been required to sit before him for
three minutes. How frightful it would be, I thought, if he should indeed lose
his temper!

I asked him, “How do you view yourself?” He explained to
me: “I often buy things for others, I preach the gospel, I pray for people.
When people are sick, I pray for them and they get well. Except that my temper is
a little bad.” “Is it just a
little
bad?” I inquired. “To tell you the truth, it is just too bad!” he replied. I
further inquired, “Have you been like this from your childhood or is it only recently
that you have been like this?” (The reason I asked this was to learn whether this
terrible behavior of his was natural or a result of being demon-possessed). He
told me: “If I remember correctly, I could beat my father when I was only seven
years old. Whenever my temper flared up, I would wildly throw things here and
there. It has been like this till now. I am truly helpless. It cannot glorify
God and yet I continue to sin. I feel I am the most pitiful person in the world
for no one will nod at me or speak to me. The whole world has deserted me, all avoiding
me as being the worst person in the whole world.”

As he said these things, he again wept. I, however, began
to exhibit laughter. So He said, “Please do not laugh at my bad temper.” I
responded by saying: “I am not laughing at your
badness,
I am laughing with great joy in the Lord. And the reason is that I am glad that
you are helpless, but God is able.” He said, “Perhaps you have never seen my
bad temper, you thinking that I am still able to be helped.” As he said this,
it seemed as though he was on the verge of showing me his bad temper. His face
was really terrifying.

In response I said to him: “There is no difficulty to
solve a problem like yours. It is not hard for you to overcome.” He countered
with these words: “How can you say this? I have been here praying for these
many years, even fasting to this very day. But I am helpless. How can you possibly
see any hope for me?” I replied: “You can overcome instantaneously. It is not a
matter of whether
you
can or cannot;
rather, it is a matter of whether God can. Can you say that because you are so
bad God cannot save you? You yourself cannot, but God can. For victory does not
and cannot come from you, it can only come through Christ in you. He overcomes
for you. Should victory be expected to come from the believer, then it could
legitimately be said that those with better tempers could easily overcome whereas
the truly bad-tempered could never overcome. The reality of overcoming has
nothing to do with good or bad temper. It cannot and does not depend on you
yourself; it is wholly dependent upon Christ. It is entirely a matter of Christ
in you overcoming for you; for the source of victory resides with Him, not with
you.”

“Do you really think I can overcome?” he inquired. I
answered as follows: “You cannot
overcome,
you in
yourself have no way to overcome. Do you acknowledge this? Even so, though you
cannot, Christ can. The solution to your problem lies not in you only seeing ‘
your cannot
’ but that also, through seeing ‘your cannot,’
you come to see that Christ can.” To which he responded with this question: “Then
what should I do for me not to lose my temper?” I replied as follows: “You are
to do nothing; you have already been doing too much all these years and yet you
remain the same, unable to overcome. You need to step aside and let Christ do the
overcoming. Let Christ who is in you do it for you. Do not look at
yourself,
look only at the Christ of God. He alone will
enable you to overcome.”

Then both of us knelt down to pray, I asking him to pray,
confessing all his failures before God. So he prayed the following prayer: “I
honestly confess that I am totally corrupt. I have no hope in myself. I am
helpless. Hereafter, I will not trust in myself anymore. I cannot overcome. O
God, You overcome for me. I am forever helpless. From now on, I give up myself.
O God, You be responsible.”

Thus did he honestly
pray.
When
he got up, it was already time for lunch. He asked me again, “What should I do
after I go home?” “Do nothing,” I replied. “Right, I already forgot. I am to do
nothing.” Then he laughed. This was perhaps his very first laugh; indeed, I
could tell that it was quite unnatural for him to do so. After a few steps he
turned and asked again, “Truly, I am to do nothing?” I answered, “Truly, do not
do anything. When Satan tempts
you
to
try being patient, you must simply say: ‘I cannot be patient, but Christ, You
be
patience in me!’” In response he agreed: “Yes, yes,” and
he continued by saying: “Now I am to do nothing. If I am to be delivered from
my temper, it is God, not I, who does it.” He even said this to himself as he
walked away.

I was a little concerned whether he had the living faith and
whether he would truly lay himself aside. After a few days, therefore, I
telephoned to inquire. A person answered me on the phone and explained what had
happened: “It is strange, truly strange! The entire school has never experienced
such peace. Never in these six years have we seen him so quiet, not a sound is
heard. God has manifested His miracle and power in his life.”

Today I want to say to us all that if this man can
overcome, anybody can. After a few days more, the formerly bad-tempered brother
came to our meeting. He was able to laugh. Later, all his colleagues and
students testified for him in positive terms. Originally the school was intent
on sending him back to the States, but now he had truly changed and hence he
was never sent back.

Thank God that though with man overcoming is
impossible,
with God all things are possible. Victory comes
not from ourselves but comes from Christ! You may not be in as extreme a
situation as was that bad-tempered missionary teacher; nevertheless, you must look
to Christ and not to yourself for victory over sin and self. If you should look
to yourself, you will surely fail. When Satan tempts you, he is not tempting you
to commit sin; instead, he is tempting you to try to be good. But in our old
man there is nothing good. On the contrary, he only knows how to sin, and apart
from death there is no use in him. God calls us to acknowledge that we have died
together with Christ, for this is His outlook towards the old man. The old man
is only worthy of death. God’s attitude towards the old man is simply and only death.
The old man deserves nothing but death.

Our error is that in realizing our weakness in a given
issue of our life we then ask the Lord to give us strength that we may resist; so
that when temptation comes, we by our old man try our best to resist. For
example, when Satan tempts us to lose our temper, we try our best to be
patient. Yet we do not realize that when we make a move from ourselves to
resist, we ourselves come forth, and that is the trouble.

It is very strange that when Satan tempts you, his
purpose is not for you to resist but to cause you—that is, your old man—to come
forth. Once you come forth, you sin. What Satan is afraid of is that you do not
come forth. If you take Satan as your object, you are defeated. Therefore, if
temptation comes, do not make a move out from yourself, for you are unable to
resist. And as you desist from moving, Satan will leave. You may wonder why
temptation goes away. The issue is not you, but Christ in you had overcome.

One day while I was in Chefoo a foreign lady came to see me.
She, too, had a problem with bad temper. It seems as though bad temper is a
common sin among Christians. She told me how she would lose her temper when her
children were quarreling, for she had no way to be patient. I jokingly told her
that since she had no patience, she should not try to be patient. She replied
that if with great effort she was unable to be patient, what would happen if
she made no effort to be patient! I said in reply: “Because you try to be
patient, your temper flares up. If you did not try to be patient, you would be
all right.
Your
trying to be patient spoils patience.
Since you are not able to be patient, why even try?”

Is God able to be patient enough? With man it is
impossible, but with God all things are possible. We need to know and
acknowledge that we ourselves cannot do what is required, and at the same time
also acknowledge that God is able. Usually we do know we are unable, and yet we
still try to do what is called for in a given situation. Consequently, God can do
nothing but let us try to do what we cannot accomplish. Victory does not depend
on can or cannot, nor does it depend on just knowing and acknowledging that we
are unable. Man cannot, he must not think he can, nor should he try to do.
Since he cannot, then he should simply let go and let God. Man must not change
his self-acknowledged “I cannot” to “I still can”; for by his not doing so,
then God will be given the opportunity to show forth His “can do” ability in
our lives.