THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church
Message Four
Life Being the Crucial Element of the New Testament
Scripture Reading: John 1:4; 10:10b; 14:6a; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11; 1 Tim. 6:12
I. The Lord desires to recover the scriptural view and the proper realization of the eternal life of God, which we have received of God through our believing in the Lord Jesus Christ—John 1:12-13: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. The eternal life is the life that is not only everlasting but also eternal both in time and in nature—3:16, 36; 1 John 1:2. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. The eternal life is the uncreated life of God, the indestructible life, and the incorruptible life—Eph. 4:18; Heb. 7:16; 2 Tim. 1:10. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
C. The eternal life is the life that is in the Son of God and that is the Son of God—1 John 5:11-12; 1:2; John 1:4; 10:10b; 14:6. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
D. The eternal life is the life with which the believers are regenerated and which becomes the believers’ life, making the believers the children of God and the members of Christ—Col. 3:4a; John 1:12-13; Eph. 5:30. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
II. God the Father is the source of life, God the Son is the embodiment of life, God the Spirit is the flow of life, the Body is the fullness of life, the building up of the Body is the growth in life, and the New Jerusalem is the city of life—John 5:26; 1:4; Rev. 22:1; Eph. 1:22b-23; 4:16; Col. 2:19; Rev. 22:1-2, 5. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
III. God’s original intention was that man should eat of the tree of life; eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life—Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; John 6:57. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
IV. Our human spirit is the key to life—Gen. 2:7; Prov. 20:27; John 3:6; Rom. 8:6: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. God has reserved the human spirit for His purpose—Zech. 12:1; Gen. 2:7; Prov. 20:27; John 3:6; cf. 20:22: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. Our spirit was particularly created by God with the breath of God as the lamp of Jehovah for us to contact God, contain God, receive God as life, and be joined to God as one spirit—Gen. 2:7, 9; Job 32:8; Prov. 20:27; John 4:24; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. In our spirit we can overcome the world and the evil one cannot touch us; the only way to overcome Satan is to stay in the high tower of our regenerated spirit—1 John 5:4, 18; John 3:6; 14:30. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. We need to care for the sense of life in our spirit to remain in the fellowship of life, the flowing of the divine life, for the operation of the law of the Spirit of life—Rom. 8:6, 16; 1 John 1:2-3, 6-7: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. The sense of life, on the negative side, is the feeling of death—weakness, emptiness, uneasiness, restlessness, depression, dryness, darkness, pain, etc.—Rom. 8:6a. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. The sense of life, on the positive side, is the feeling of life and peace—strength, satisfaction, peace, rest, release, livingness, watering, brightness, comfort, etc.—v. 6b. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
3. The sense of life is related to the consciousness of the conscience according to the life of God—Eph. 4:19. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
V. The processed Triune God as the Spirit of life in our spirit is a “scientific” law; this law is the automatic and spontaneous power, principle, and function of life—Rom. 8:2: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. Our way in the Lord’s recovery and in the Body of Christ is the inner law of life; it is the very Triune God Himself—Rev. 22:1-2; John 14:6. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. By the dispensing function of the law of the Spirit of life, the life-dispensing Spirit, our entire person of three parts becomes life, in which we are saved subjectively through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification—1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 5:10: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. The Triune God dispenses into our spirit by the Spirit’s regenerating of our spirit with Christ as life to make our spirit life—Col. 3:4; John 3:6; Rom. 8:10. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. The dispensing God spreads His dispensing into our mind, the leading part of our soul, to make our soul life—v. 6. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
3. Through our soul the triune dispensing of the processed Triune God permeates further, into our mortal body, by the indwelling Spirit to dispense life into our body—v. 11. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
4. The divine dispensing saturates us with life to make us men of life, saving us from death and swallowing up death in our entire tripartite being. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
VI. We need to stay in touch with the pneumatic, indwelling Christ moment by moment, so that He can be our supply of life for the maintenance, sustenance, and growth of life within us—John 4:23-24; Col. 2:19: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. We need to breathe in Christ as the breath of life—John 20:22; Lam. 3:55-56. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. We need to drink Christ as the water of life—John 7:37-39; 4:10, 14. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
C. We need to eat Christ as the bread of life—6:35, 57, 63, 68. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
D. We need to walk in Christ as the light of life—8:12. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
E. We need to abide in Christ as the vine tree, the tree of life—15:5; Rev. 22:2. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
F. We need to deal with our heart for the growth of Christ as the seed of life—Matt. 13:18-23. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
VII. We need to minister life in all purity to others for their growth in life, for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Tim. 5:1-2; 1 John 5:16; 2 Cor. 3:6. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
VIII. We need to reign in life with grace over all things unto eternal life—Rom. 5:17, 21: (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. In experience to reign in life is to be under the ruling of the divine life—Matt. 8:9; Mark 4:26; 2 Cor. 2:12-14. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. Unto eternal life is a particular expression; unto (into in John 4:14b) speaks of destination and also means “to become” or “to be.” (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
C. The eternal life will eventually be the New Jerusalem; the New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine life, the totality of the life of God—Rev. 22:1-2. (2003 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)