THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine and Eternal Life
Message Eight—Living in the Fellowship of the Divine Life
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:2-7, 9; Luke 11:34-36; Matt. 6:2, 5; 2 Cor. 10:4-5; Phil. 2:13
I. We need to enter into the vertical and horizontal aspects of the fellowship of the divine life—1 John 1:2, 3, 6, 7: (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
A. The fellowship is the flow of the eternal life within all the believers, who have received and possess the divine life; it is illustrated by the flow of the river of water of life in the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
B. First John 1:2-3 and 6-7 reveal that the fellowship of the divine life has both a vertical aspect and a horizontal aspect: (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
1. First John 1:2-3 says, “(And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us); that which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ”: (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
a. The vertical aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God; the horizontal aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
b. The initial experience of the apostles was vertical, but when the apostles reported the eternal life to others, they experienced the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
2. Verse 6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth”; this is the vertical aspect of fellowship. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
3. Verse 7 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellow-ship with one another”; this is the horizontal aspect of fellowship. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
C. We need to see the relationship between the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship—Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 1:9: (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
1. If you do not have the proper fellowship with the Lord, it is difficult to have fellowship with your fellow believers; in the same way, if you do not have the proper fellowship with your fellow believers, it is difficult to have fellow-ship with the Lord; the reason for this is that the divine fellowship is one fellowship—Acts 2:42. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
2. When we are not in this fellowship in a practical way, we are out of the Spirit, out of the Triune God, and out of the divine life—cf. 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor.1:9; Phil. 2:1. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
3. Fellowship also indicates a putting away of private interests and a joining with others for a certain common purpose; hence, to live in the divine fellow-ship is to put aside our private interests and join with the apostles and the Triune God for the carrying out of God’s purpose—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3; 1 Cor.1:9; 3:6, 12. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
D. The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ—1 John 1:4-5; Phil. 2:1-5: (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
1. The reason that the Lord has not yet come back (Rev. 22:20) is that the believers are individualistic, independent, opinionated, and divided. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
2. By being restricted in the divine fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness, and the work of the ministry continues to go on; the thing that makes everything alive is fellowship—Eph. 4:11-12; cf. Ezek. 47:9. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
E. The fellowship of life, the inner flow of life, results in joy and in the inner shining, the inner ruling, of the light of life—1 John 1:4-5; John 1:4; 8:12; cf. 2 Cor. 5:13. (2013 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
II. We need to see the obstacles that God’s life encounters in man—Luke 11:34-36; Matt. 6:2, 5; Luke 1:17; Matt. 16:24, 25: (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
A. The first problem that God’s life encounters in us is that we do not realize the darkness of our human concept—Luke 11:34-36; Eph. 6:12; 1 John 1:5, 2:11. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
B. The second problem that life encounters in us is hypocrisy—Matt. 6:2, 5; 7:5; 23:13-29. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
C. The third problem that life encounters in us is rebellion—Luke 1:17; Ezek. 3:8; Titus 3:3. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
D. The fourth problem that life encounters in us is our natural capability—Matt. 16:24-25. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
III. We need to see the subjective obstacles encountered by God’s life in us—2 Cor. 10:4-5; Phil. 2:13; 2 Thes. 3:5; Phil. 1:8: (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
A. A proper Christian is one whose mind, will, and emotion cooperate with his spirit; an abnormal Christian is one whose mind, will, and emotion cannot cooperate with, and even contradict, his spirit; thus, he lives under a veil. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
B. The first subjective problem is the problem of our mind—2 Cor. 10:4-5; Phil. 2:5; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
C. The second subjective problem is the problem of our will—Phil. 2:13. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
D. The third subjective problem is the problem of our emotion—2 Thes. 3:5; Phil. 1:8. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
E. From all this we can see that our person is truly an obstacle for the living out of God’s life; this is why we need to be broken and why we daily need to be strengthened into the inner man so that Christ can make His home in our heart, the main parts of which are the mind, will, and emotion—Eph. 3:16-17. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
IV. We need to see the pathway of life—Matt. 7:13-14: (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
A. A part of God’s work in His salvation is to pave a clear way for His life in us; this work is accomplished through the death of the cross—Phil. 3:10. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
B. There is life in a grain of wheat, but unless the grain falls into the ground and dies, the life within the grain will not be released—John 12:24-26. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
C. The way of life is the way of death; when there is the death of Christ operating in us, there is a way for the life of Christ to come out of us—2 Cor. 4:10; Phil.3:10; Gal. 2:20. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
D. The cross of Christ is experienced by us through the Spirit—5:16, 24; Rom. 8:13-14; Exo. 30:23-25; Phil. 1:19. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
E. The stronger the Holy Spirit’s work in us is, the stronger our experience of the cross will be; wherever the Holy Spirit works, there is a putting to death by the Spirit, and resurrection life can be manifested in and through us—2 Cor. 4:11-12. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
F. The discipline of the Holy Spirit also carries out the work of the cross in us: (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
1. For our spiritual understanding, it is not enough only to know the Holy Spirit; we must also know the “all things” in our circumstances (Rom. 8:28); a Christian who is spiritual and lives before God needs to “read” three things every day: first, he needs to read the Bible; second, he needs to read his inward sense of the spirit; third, he needs to read his environment and circumstances, which are the persons, matters, and things around him; God arranges our environment and circumstances to cause all persons, matters, and things to work together for good, that is, for transforming and conforming us to the image of God’s firstborn Son—vv. 28-29. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
2. The environment that the Lord has created for us causes us to know the Lord’s grace and experience the Lord’s power—2 Cor. 12:9. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
V. We need to see a vision of how the life of God can be lived out of us—Col. 3:4-4; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6: (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
A. We need to realize and know that the life of God is in us—Col. 3:4; Rom. 8:10. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
B. We need God to open our eyes to see that our natural man, our very person, is a hindrance to the life of God. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)
C. We need to see that we have been crucified on the cross, and we must hate our self; the more we see God, know God, and love God, the more we abhor ourselves and the more we deny ourselves—Col. 3:3; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Job 42:5-6; Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23; 14:26. (2012 ITERO-S, msg. 2)