THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Consummated Spirit
Message Four
The Focal Point of God's Economy—the Mingled Spirit
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4, 16; Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 4:23; 6:18; John 4:24; 15:4-5; Phil. 2:1
I. The focus of God's economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; whatever God intends to do or accomplish is related to this focus—Eph. 3:9, 5; 1:17; 2:22; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
A. The union of God and man is a union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man; the union of these two spirits is the deepest mystery in the Bible—1 Cor. 2:11-14; Eph. 5:32. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
B. The essence of the New Testament is the two spirits-the divine Spirit and the human spirit-mingled together as one spirit—1 Cor. 6:17. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
C. The mingled spirit is a spirit that is one spirit with God and that is the same as God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead—1 John 5:11; 2 Pet. 1:4. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
D. The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man, a life that is God yet man and man yet God—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
E. The God-man living is the living of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man joined and mingled together as one—Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:4. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
F. To be proper Christians, we must know that the Lord Jesus today as the embodiment of the Triune God is the Spirit indwelling our spirit and mingled with our spirit as one spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
II. All our spiritual experiences, such as our fellowship with the Lord, our prayer to Him, and our living with Him, are in this mingled spirit—John 4:24; 15:4-5; Rom. 1:9; 8:4, 16; Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 4:23; 6:18; Phil. 21: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
A. Romans 8 speaks of the Spirit of life, the spirit of the believers, and the mingled spirit—vv. 2, 9, 11, 15-16: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
1. Through the Spirit of life the eternal, only wise God, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden through the ages, dispenses Himself in His processed and consummated Spirit into the believers to be their consummated salvation as their life and everything—16:25; 8:11; 5:10. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
2. Through the regenerated human spirit the believers participate in God's dynamic salvation as their living—8:10, 16. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
3. "The Spirit…with our spirit" (v. 16) is the most crucial secret in Romans for God to execute His dynamic salvation and for the believers to participate in it—v. 16. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
4. We need to know these two spirits in the divine enlightenment so that, by the Spirit of life mingled with our regenerated spirit, we may enter into the intrinsic significance of the dynamic salvation of God in Christ, which is the Triune God processed and consummated to be our eternal inheritance for our enjoyment—vv. 2, 10, 16; 2 Cor. 13:14; Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:13-14. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
B. The spirit of faith in 2 Corinthians 4:13 is the mingled spirit-the Holy Spirit mingled with the regenerated human spirit: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
1. Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit—1:24; 5:7. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
2. We must exercise the spirit of faith to believe and to speak the things that we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection—4:13. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
3. It is by the mingled spirit as the spirit of faith that the apostles live da crucified life in resurrection for the carrying out of their ministry—3:8-9; 4:1, 10-12; 5:18. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
C. To abide in the Lord as the true vine is to be one spirit with Him and to live in the mingled spirit—John 15:1, 4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
1. The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord as the true vine—John 15:1, 4-5; 1 John 2:24, 27-28; cf. 4:1. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
2. The mutual abiding in John 15:4-5 is the practice of being one spirit with the Lord. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
III. Ultimately, the Bible requires only one thing of us—that we walk according to the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45: (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
A. The key to experiencing and enjoying the processed and consummated Triune God through the divine dispensing is found in the wonderful Spirit who is in our regenerated spirit and who has become one spirit with our spirit— Phil. 1:19; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
B. By living in the mingled spirit, we can experience Christ as everything to us—1:2, 9, 24, 30; 2:8, 10; 3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 45b, 47. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
C. When we live in the mingled spirit, we spontaneously bear the cross—Rom.8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17; Matt. 16:24. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
D. Whether or not we are under Satan's authority is not determined by the things we do but is determined by whether we are in the spirit or in the flesh; if we remain in the mingled spirit, we will be kept from Satan, and the evil one will have no way to touch us—Gal. 5:16-17; 1 John 5:4, 18-21. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
E. To live in the spirit is to let Christ fill and saturate us until He permeates our whole being and is thereby expressed through us—Eph. 3:16-20. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
F. By living, walking, and having our being in the mingled spirit, we will be saved in life to the extent that God and we, we and God, will be completely mingled as one, having one life and one living—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:6, 10-11. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)
IV. If we enter experientially into the depths of the truth concerning the mingled spirit, our inner being will be radically changed, and our life, ministry, and service in the church will be affected in a revolutionary way—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 2:11-16. (2011 TGC, msg. 4)