你堕落罪恶境

In this chapter we want to fellowship with the elderly brothers and sisters concerning the matter of changing the system. Because our God is ever new and never old, the elderly saints, though advanced in age, do not have to decline and have a flavor of staleness. We can be ever new and never old. There is a hymn in our Chinese hymnal that says, "The withering days of life are seemingly increasing but actually decreasing" (#715, stanza 3). This means that the days of our human life are withering; that is, they are actually decreasing rather than increasing. As believers, however, we are not decreasing, because we are regenerated people who have died and resurrected. In resurrection we are new and never old.

In addition, you can use #715 in the Chinese hymnal to preach the gospel. I wrote this hymn, and it is very simple, but its descriptions are very appropriate. This hymn should be sung with expression; it should not be stiff or formal.

The first stanza says, "You are fallen in a world of sin; / Why don't you repent now and escape? / You are walking in the way of wickedness and snares; / Why don't you turn back before you fall into the abyss?" And the chorus says, "The Lord wants to save you! He is waiting for you! / Why don't you let Him save you today?" The entire hymn is a good gospel message with four main points: sin, Satan, death, and the Lord's redemption. The students can sing this hymn to eight or ten of their classmates. After they finish singing, they can tell them, "Do you not see that you are like a fish or a bird caught in a net? You are like a patient on the operating table, allowing the surgeon, the world, to do whatever he wants." Such a gospel will be moving. We must be inwardly filled with the truth, and we must experience the truth so that we can write hymns. Then our preaching of the gospel will be effective.