In tenderness He sought me

Only when our person is right can we go out door-knocking. Do not think that leading people to be saved and baptized is a small matter. Door-knocking from house to house seems to be a small matter, but actually to lead people to salvation and baptize them into the Triune God is an exceedingly great matter. The Lord Jesus tells us that there will be joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting (Luke 15:7, 10). A hymn that describes a sinner being brought back to the flock says, "While angels in His presence sang / Until the courts of heaven rang" (Hymns, #1068, stanza 1). Therefore, do not consider this as a light matter. If today you were to visit the president, you surely would be very excited. You would comb your hair neatly and consider what clothes you should wear, what your attitude should be, what your manner of speaking should be, and what you should talk about. Leading people to salvation by door-knocking is far more important than seeing the president. This is not an easy matter, and because of this, we should take it seriously.

In the Old Testament the Lord Jesus was the door for God's elect to enter into the custody of the law before He came. The Lord is the door for God's people not only to go in but also to go out. Now that He has come, He wants His elect to come out of the fold into Himself as the pasture so that they can enjoy His riches. Peter went out of the fold and so did John, James, and the blind man. His sheep know His voice (v. 4). He went before the sheep, and they followed Him out of the fold of the law and of Judaism into the pasture. The pasture is Christ. He leads the sheep into the pasture where they can enjoy His riches, and He also leads them to form one flock, the church, with the Gentile sheep. The chorus of one hymn says, "Oh, the love that sought me! / Oh, the blood that bought me! / Oh, the grace that brought me to the flock, / Wondrous grace that brought me to the flock!" (Hymns, #1068). The phrase to the flock is not in the original lyrics. The original lyrics read, "to the fold," which is erroneous. In our hymnal we changed fold to flock. We are not in the sheepfold but in the flock, where we enjoy Christ as our pasture. Both Judaism and Christianity are folds. Every denomination and every free group is a fold. Only the church is the Lord's flock.

There are many tunes in our hymnal that are classics from generations of sacred music; they have a particular style and are dignified, weighty, and elegant. The young people should learn to sing the hymns more often until they become familiar to them. This will be a great help to the small groups. When we read John 10, which is concerning leaving the fold and returning to the flock, we can use Hymns, #1068: "In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin, / And on His shoulders brought me / Into His flock again... / Oh, the love that sought me! / Oh, the blood that bought me! / Oh, the grace that brought me to the flock!" To read and sing is to emphasize the words by singing.

Hymns, #1068, stanza 1 says, "While angels in His presence sang / Until the courts of heaven rang." This hymn says that whenever we bring one person to repentance, the angels in heaven will sing and rejoice. The angels might be saying, "If you do not preach the gospel, we have nothing to do." If we are all preaching the gospel, and someone is saved in Taichung, in Nantou, and in Fong-yuan, the angels will be very busy, singing and rejoicing. Therefore, please remember Paul's word: "I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent" (2 Cor. 12:15). Paul spent his money, his energy, and even himself for the Corinthians. Not only did he spend money and energy, but he also spent his person.

I hope that the young brothers and sisters would have such a heart and are willing to spend their lives for the sake of people's souls. They still have many days ahead of them, so they should have a firm resolution of heart to give their lives to the Lord for His move on the earth. It may not be suitable for the working saints and the older saints to serve full time due to their age and circumstances, but they should nevertheless spend their money on the gospel. Then the church where we are will be able to declare, "We spend money, energy, and even ourselves for sinners' souls."

In this chapter we will fellowship concerning the way to preach the gospel. Stanza 1 of Hymns, #1068, a gospel song, says, "In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin, / And on His shoulders brought me / Into His flock again. / While angels in His presence sang/ Until the courts of heaven rang." The angels sing until the courts of heaven ring because a sinner is saved. This sentence is based on Luke 15:10, which says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting." This is a good hymn. From the perspective of sinners, receiving God's salvation is an occasion that is full of warmth and affection. From the perspective of the angels, it is an occasion for singing. When we sing this hymn, we must understand the feeling of the angels.

THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL BEING THE PRINCIPLE OF INCARNATION

The rejoicing of the angels shows that a person's salvation is important and that his repentance is precious. It is possible that our feeling toward a person's repentance and salvation does not compare to the feeling of the angels. It is also possible that the angels are jealous that the Lord did not entrust the responsibility and the blessing of preaching the gospel to them. The gospel cannot be entrusted to the angels, because the basic principle of preaching the gospel involves the principle of incarnation. God must entrust it to those who are in the flesh. The angels do not have flesh and hence cannot preach the gospel.

In the case of Peter going to the house of Cornelius to preach the gospel, an angel appeared to Cornelius and said, "Now send men to Joppa and send for a certain Simon, who is surnamed Peter" (Acts 10:5). Even though an angel appeared to Cornelius and spoke to him, the angel did not have the privilege of preaching the gospel. If I were that angel, I would have been jealous that Peter was so blessed. The angel did not have that privilege. He was not in the right position and therefore could not carry out that task. All he could do was tell Cornelius to send for Peter. Peter had the position because he was a person in the flesh.

We have already seen that the Spirit, the Word, singing, and prayer are the four crucial elements of the meetings. The meetings of the Christians are all related to these four matters. When you have these, the meetings spontaneously become living. The first two of the four are nouns, while the latter two are from verbs. We have the Spirit and the Word of the Lord, and in the meetings we must exercise to sing and to pray. I do not sing very well, but I like to sing because it fills me with feeling and enjoyment. When I sing, "In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin," the feeling is so sweet. This was exactly my condition sixty-one years ago. I was weary and sick with sin, gambling, watching Chinese opera, and playing soccer to the extent that I could go without meals. At that very time, "In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin, / And on His shoulders brought me / Into His flock again." Therefore, every time I sang this song, I was full of sentiment. Sometimes I would even be moved to tears and would pray with a grateful heart, "Lord, I truly praise You. Formerly I was in a dunghill, and I was a vile sinner, but You delivered me out of that situation. You even gave me the ministry of Your word. I am truly unworthy." I praised Him while weeping before Him.

The way to worship in the New Testament is for all of us to use our spirit. Before we attend a meeting, we are a worshipper of God already. Every morning we have a revival, and every day, in our daily living, we are constantly renewed and overcoming and are in constant touch and fellowship with the Lord. In addition, our lives are filled with hymns. Hymns, #501 and #1068 or a more simple one such as #1024 are hymns that I like to sing. They are all very good songs. We can learn to sing them often in our daily lives.

Among the collection of old hymns there were certainly some good ones, but even in these good hymns some of the wording was not according to the truth. For example, one hymn says, "In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin, / And on His shoulders brought me / Into His flock again" (English Hymns, #1068). The original hymn speaks of being led back to His "fold," which is not according to the Bible. The fold refers to Judaism as a religious organization. In John 10 the Lord said that He would lead His sheep out of the fold. He also said that there were other sheep which were not of this fold; He would lead them both and they would become one flock (v. 16). The fold is where the sheep are kept temporarily on winter nights, which signify times of trouble. Therefore, the fold is the product of abnormal times. However, the writers of the hymns in Christianity regard the fold as a pleasant thing. This was contradictory to the truth. The Lord Jesus leads people out from the fold, but the hymn writers have opened the fold wide again and called the sheep back in.

When we save the sinners and baptize them, humanly speaking, we are putting them into the water. But according to God's view, we are priests "priesting" these offerings to God. All who have done this know what joy it is when a person comes out of the water. Our joy is ecstatic. We feel as if we are being raptured. In reality, this is because God is rejoicing there. In Luke chapter fifteen, the Lord speaks to us in a parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?" (v. 4). When the sheep is found, the angels in heaven rejoice over it (v. 7). This is what is described in Hymns, #1068: "While angels in His presence sang until the courts of heaven rang" (stanza 1). If a sinner is not a treasure, why do the angels rejoice when he is saved? The writer of this hymn knew the heart of God and wrote accurately.

We must see that this is a joyful and exuberant matter and a most glorious charge. We all have to go forth to bring the sinners to salvation that they would become offerings in Christ to be offered up to God.

All the angels rejoice when just one sinner is saved, when one captive is released (Luke 15:10, 7). The first verse of hymn #1068 says:

In tenderness He sought me,
Weary and sick with sin,
And on His shoulders brought me
Into His flock again.
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang.

This verse tells us that when a sinner is saved, the angels' singing fills the courts of heaven. The angels in heaven rejoice every time a sinner is saved.