Given in Richmond, Virginia, by Brother Stephen Kaung.
If you were here last night, you know that our time together is more a sharing and fellowship of what the Lord may have to say to us from the second letter to the Corinthians.
I mentioned last night that this will not be an exposition of that letter, for which I am not competent. What I wish to share with you, brothers and sisters, are certain things in that letter which touched my heart. I do look to the Lord that they may touch each of our hearts.
We mentioned last night that there is no letter written by the Apostle Paul in which he reveals himself as he does in the second letter to the Corinthians. You do not find too much of a doctrinal approach in that letter, nor do you find him dealing with the details of practical life.
Of course, there are deep teachings in that letter—no doubt about that—and there are many very practical things to be solved in that letter. That is true. But these things are touched upon only briefly.
In other words, the motive and purpose behind this letter was not to inform the Corinthian believers of certain truths, nor was it really to solve their problems of life. The purpose of the letter was to pour out his heart to them: a sharing of himself, of that man in Christ, that they too might become men and women in Christ.
I think Paul has shown us in this letter, in a very unique way, what spiritual life really is. We talk about spiritual life. We want to live a spiritual life. We want to be spiritual. But what really is spiritual life?
In the first part of his letter, there are a few phrases which help us understand what spiritual life really is. The first phrase we mentioned last night was the sentence of death.
When we talk about spiritual life, we have to understand what it really is. Spiritual life is life out of death. Our natural life begins with birth and ends at the tomb. That is our natural life.
But spiritual life begins on the other side of the tomb. In other words, spiritual life begins at death, because it is resurrection. It is life out of death.
We know that Christ died on the cross. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. This is the result of the death of our Lord Jesus. Because He died on the cross, through His death life is liberated and given out.
Today, as we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have received eternal life. We have received His life. We have life in us. Thank God for that. The life we have received is a life out of death, a life released through death, and a life that has overcome death.
You remember that the Lord Himself tells us that He is the One who was dead and is now alive, and He lives for evermore. This is our Lord Jesus, and this is the life we have received.
We already have life. We have received this new life, this eternal life, in us. But how can that life be released in us, liberated, increased, developed, grown, and manifested? You find the same principle: it is through death, through the sentence of death.
Unless one day the Lord opens our eyes to see that there is not only a sentence of death over us, but that we accept that sentence of death within us, it is futile to talk about spiritual life. Our spiritual life may be merely a pseudo-spiritual life: life in the flesh, not life in the Spirit.
We will not go back and go over all of that again, but I mention it because, when we talk about spiritual life, probably the first thing the Spirit of God will lead us into is the sentence of death.
Is it not true that we are seeking spiritual life? Is it not true that the more you seek spiritual life, strange to say, it is not life that you experience but death?
We expect life, but God gives us death. We expect to be very lively and very powerful, and yet the more you seek life, the more you find yourself surrounded, squeezed, and cornered until you come to a place of death. You wonder why God has answered your prayer in that way.
It is only out of death that life comes, and that life is real life.
After mentioning this, this morning we will go on and see how far we can go. In the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, you find another very striking phrase. Let us read a portion from 2 Corinthians 1:15-22.
And in this confidence I was minded to come before unto you, that ye might have a second benefit;
and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judaea.
When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in Him is yea.
For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea: wherefore also through Him is the amen, unto the glory of God through us.
Now He that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
Who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
First, the sentence of death. Second, the yes in Christ.
The occasion of these words is rather strange. Paul was in Ephesus, and while he was labouring there, his heart embraced all those believers whom he had visited before, and even those whom he had never seen. That was the heart of Paul.
He was labouring in Ephesus, but his heart embraced the Lord’s interests and the Lord’s people everywhere. Of course, the church at Corinth was included.
Toward the end of his long stay in Ephesus, Paul was thinking of visiting Corinth again. He wanted to go to Macedonia, then from Macedonia go down to Achaia, where Corinth was, and then return to Macedonia. He was thinking of visiting Corinth twice.
He was prepared to visit them. But before he was able to do that, he heard reports about the situation there. So he changed his mind. Instead of visiting them immediately, he postponed his visit. He wrote the first letter to the Corinthians and sent Titus to read that letter to them.
After sending the letter, Paul remained in Ephesus for a while. Then he moved on to Troas, as we mentioned last night. He hoped that he might meet Titus there, but he did not. So he moved on to Macedonia.
Some of the people in Corinth—those who opposed Paul—used this opportunity to attack him. They said Paul did not walk in the Spirit.
“Was it not that he purposed to visit us first? Why was it that he changed his mind? If he really walked in the Spirit, if he really purposed in the Spirit, he should not be so changeable. Did he make a mistake in knowing the will of God? If he made a mistake in knowing the will of God, then he was in the flesh. He was not in the Spirit, because God cannot make mistakes.”
They considered Paul’s changeableness proof that he was not in the Spirit. If he was not in the Spirit, he was nothing. They seized this opportunity to attack him, saying that Paul was a person of “yea, yea” and “nay, nay.”
By all outward appearances, this was true. He had changed his mind. He had purposed to visit them twice, but he came only once. He did not go according to his original plan. This was fact.
How could Paul refute this accusation? If people look merely at appearances, he seemed unstable. Yet the same love that constrained him to visit Corinth was the love that restrained him from visiting them.
Outward appearance showed change and changeableness, but the reality was a love that never changed.
Paul used this opportunity to say, “You see that I have changed my mind. It is true that I have changed my mind. But I want to tell you that the word of God which we preached to you—Christ, whom we preached to you—is not ‘nay, nay’ and ‘yea, yea.’ He is yes, always yes.”
Yes in Christ. All the promises of God are yes in Christ, and they are all amen through Him.
What does he mean? He means only one thing: spiritual life is yes in Christ.
Spiritual life is not judged merely by outward appearance. Outward appearances may change, and in a sense, they ought to change.
You remember that in Old Testament times, young Christians would often ask me, “Why is it that God repents?” We need to repent because we have done something wrong, made a wrong decision, or been mistaken. If anyone says, “I will not repent,” that is a very bad thing. If you are wrong, you should repent.
But God never does anything wrong. God never makes any mistake. Why is it, then, that in the Old Testament we read again and again that God repented of what He did?
I tried to answer them. I do not know whether the answer satisfied them, but I said this: the ways of God can change, but the will of God remains the same.
Yes, God changes His ways of dealing with people, but that does not mean that God changes His will. His will toward Israel remains the same, but His method changes. God is flexible, yet God remains the same.
Is this not true with us today? Suppose you have a child in your home. How do you deal with your child? Your heart toward the child is one thing, but the way you treat the child varies.
Sometimes you try to be very strict with that child because you think that will help. But at another time you find that the stricter you are, the worse the child becomes. You have to be softer. You try another way of dealing with him, but the love remains the same.
If you judge by appearance, your child might say, “My mother changes. She loved me before, but now she hates me.” Or, “She hated me before, but now she loves me.” But mothers know better. You never change. You change your way, but your heart remains.
In other words, appearances change, but reality remains. That is God. That is our Lord. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes. With Him there is only yes—yes. That is Him.
He is not yes and no. He is yes.
Paul changed his plan. By all appearances, he changed. But had Paul changed? No, he had not changed. He was in Christ, and his love toward the Corinthians remained the same.
His going and his not going had the same love behind them. He was yes in Christ.
What is spiritual life? Spiritual life is the real life in Christ.
God is the God of Amen. You find this in Isaiah 65:16. There it says that anyone who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. The word translated “truth” is reality; it is amen.
Anyone who blesses shall bless in the God of Amen. Anyone who swears shall swear by the God of Amen.
Then, when you come to the New Testament, you find in Revelation 3:14 that when the Lord addresses the church in Laodicea, He calls Himself “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.”
Christ calls Himself the Amen. What is the meaning of amen? We use amen at the end of our prayers. In Hebrew, amen means, “This is true. This is faithful. This is certain. So be it. So shall it be done.”
Amen is truth, reality, and certainty. Yes, amen.
There is an amen in Christ, and there is an amen in God which we ought to know. God is the God of Amen. Christ is the Amen.
If you want to use modern words, you simply say, “Yes.”
I listen to people when they pray. I have discovered that as people listen and join in prayer with their hearts, some say, “Amen,” and some say, “Yes.” Actually, they are the same. One is speaking Hebrew, and the other is speaking English.
Yes. Yes.
Have you ever noticed, when you read the Gospel according to John, that our Lord has a favourite way of expression? We all have our ways of expression. The Lord has His own way of expression.
Very often, when He begins to speak, He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” What is “verily, verily”? It is “Amen, amen, I say unto you.” It is “Yes, yes, I say unto you.”
Do you know how many times this expression is used in the Gospel according to John? Twenty-four times. If you have time, count them. Twenty-four different times the Lord says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you”—“Yes, yes, I say unto you”—“Amen, amen, I say unto you.”
Why? Because He is the great Amen. Everything in Him is yes. It is real. It is true.
Of course, the word verily is used many times in the other Gospels as well—not in repetition, but many times. The reality is in Christ.
What is spiritual life? Spiritual life is Christ. He is the Amen. He is the reality.
In other words, anything that is not Christ, anything that is not of Christ, is nothing. It is not real spiritual life. Anything that is Christ and of Christ is real. That is reality. That is spiritual life.
This is a very great statement. If you really understand what it means: yes in Christ. Anything that is in Christ is yes. Christ is the Yes. Christ is the truth. Christ is the reality.
Anything that is not Christ is not true, is not real, and is not of God.
All the promises of God are yes in Christ. We do not know how many promises of God there are in the Bible, but all the promises of God are yes in Christ—only in Christ. If they are not in Christ, they are not yes. They are not real.
Let us use the matter of salvation as an illustration. How are we saved? We all have this experience, so we know something about it.
Many of us come from Christian families. From childhood, we have heard about Christ and the story of Christ. Many of us, probably from childhood, have given a mental assent to the way of salvation as given in the word of God. We believe.
Let me make this very personal by referring to myself—not that my experience is typical, but simply to illustrate the point. I was brought up in a Christian family.
My father came from a heathen family. He was the first one in our family to believe in the Lord, and he was greatly persecuted because of that. But when I came into this world, thank God, I was in a Christian family.
From childhood I was brought up, in a sense, and educated, in a sense, to be a Christian. We had family devotions every night. We read the Word and we prayed. Of course, we did not pray; my father prayed.
I went to Sunday school, and I studied in mission schools. So I was educated. I can tell you one thing, and I thank God for it: many young people have doubts about God, Christ, and salvation. I never had those doubts.
It was rather strange. I was brought up there, and I simply took everything in. I believed everything. There was no problem with me. I knew about salvation, I believed in salvation, and it was no problem.
I never questioned the Bible. I never questioned God. I never questioned anything. I just swallowed it all.
If someone had come to me and asked, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” I would have said, “Of course.” “Do you believe in the Bible?” “Sure.” “Do you believe He died on the cross for the salvation of the world?” “Of course I believe.”
But I did not know what being saved meant. I did not even know that I wanted to be saved. When I was in high school, before I was saved, I thought myself much better than many other people.
It was like one famous Chinese Christian who later was truly saved. When he was dying, he said, “Christ died on the cross for the wicked. Those sinful, wicked people need Christ, but I do not. I am too good.”
That was my attitude.
The promise of God? Yes, God promised to save the world. But it was not reality to me. It was a teaching, a doctrine, a history. I did not question these things, but they were not real. They were not life.
I still lived in sins and transgressions, and I did not even know it. I was not troubled by it.
Until one day, the Lord opened my eyes. He opened my eyes to see Him. Then everything was different.
It was no longer history to me. It was no longer merely a story. He was real. His salvation was real. His cross was real. He delivered me and forgave me. He transformed me. Thank God for that.
Why? Because all the promises of God are yes in Christ.
It is not in doctrine, teaching, or history. Yes, you must have the history, and you must have the teaching. But it is deeper than history and deeper than teaching. Behind the history, there is a yes. Behind the teaching, there is reality. But you do not touch the reality until you touch Christ.
You may know the history about the Lord Jesus, but if you do not touch Christ, there is no salvation. You may understand the teaching of salvation, but if you do not touch Christ, there is no salvation. It is unreal. There is no life. Life is only in Christ.
What is spiritual life? Spiritual life is not knowing something about Christ. Spiritual life is not knowing teachings and histories, although these are important. Spiritual life is Christ in us. It is Christ. Only in Christ do you find reality.
The Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
What is the way? One day, a brother was preaching on Romans 6 through 8. Of course, that is a very attractive portion of Scripture. He was telling people about the way of victory: how we can live a victorious life.
If you love the Lord and want to go on with Him, that is one thing you cannot miss. You have to know it. I remember a dear sister whom I knew. She lived in India, but every year she went to England to attend the Keswick Conference because that conference taught how to live a victorious life.
That is important—very important. After the brother finished preaching on Romans 6 through 8, another brother came to him and said, “Dear brother, I thank God. Now I have found the way to victory. In the past I was always defeated, but you told me the way to victory. Now I have the trick.”
“I have the formula now. I know how to be victorious.”
Is Romans 6 a formula? “Oh, yes. One plus one plus one equals three: knowing our old man was crucified, plus reckoning ourselves dead, plus yielding our members to righteousness. If you go from one to two to three and add them together, that is victorious life. That is the formula.”
Have you tried that? I did. First, I knew that my old man was crucified. Second, I reckoned myself dead. Third, I yielded my members. Did it work?
It worked a little. But it did not last. Therefore, you had to go back every year.
Is that the experience of deliverance? Yes, we have found a way. You cannot say it is not a way, because it is in the Bible. We have found a method; we have found a formula; and we try to use the formula.
It should come out right. But the strange thing is that sometimes it comes out right—not always wrong—but often it does not come out right. Why?
Because you are taking a way of victory instead of seeing that Christ is the way. He said, “I am the way.”
Often we take a way, a method, or a formula, but we do not know that Christ is the way. It is not the method. It is not the formula. But if you meet Christ, then you have the way. He is the way.
The truth is the same. We hear much about truth. There are many truths in the Bible. You hear about this truth and that truth. But if you merely take hold of truth with your mind, you may have the truth here, but it is not true here—in your life.
In your mind it is all right, but in your life it is not true. It does not work. It does not operate. Sometimes you wonder whether it is really true.
It is true. But remember, Christ said, “I am the truth.”
What is life? He said, “I am the life.”
Very often, we do not know the difference between real life and false life. We think activity is life. Of course life is active. But very often, when we find much activity, we say, “Well, there is much life in it.”
Sometimes we think good behaviour is life. Or one brother points to another and says, “That brother has life.” Why? “Because he is very gentle.”
Of course, one of the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. That is true. But whether that gentleness is natural or spiritual, there is a difference.
What is life? Christ. He is life.
He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We have all read John 11. It is a great chapter. Lazarus was dead, and Christ went where Lazarus was in the tomb, already four days.
You hear Martha say, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” She knew that He was able.
The Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” On the basis of His being the resurrection and the life, He raised Lazarus.
Our attention is often directed to the raising of Lazarus. Here was a man dead, and now he was raised from the dead. What power! We think of resurrection as an act, as a great manifestation of power. Here is Lazarus raised from the dead. Glory to God! Is it not marvellous?
But do you know that this is not the spirit of the chapter? The spirit of that chapter does not direct us to see a miraculous act of resurrection. The spirit of the chapter is to show us that Christ is the resurrection.
He is the resurrection; therefore, He raises the dead. If our attention is directed only to someone being raised from the dead, and we forget the One who is resurrection itself, we miss the point. We miss the point.
How people today look to miraculous acts. But remember: all the promises of God are yes in Christ.
If these things become things in themselves, instead of causing you to see that Christ is the resurrection, sooner or later you will find separation and distraction. You will be occupied with things instead of with Christ.
Of course, we know that God is jealous.
All the promises of God are yes in Christ. If it is not in Christ, remember one thing: it is not real.
If Christ is not our righteousness, then this righteousness is not real. If Christ is not our sanctification, then this sanctification is not real.
I was saved among holiness people. I was brought up a Methodist, but I was saved among the holiness people. I attended one of their conferences, and it was there that I was saved.
Among them, they preached the eradication of sin and the second blessing. They were very strong on this: “You must get the second blessing. Have your sin eradicated, rooted out, and then you are sanctified. You are holy.”
I am not criticizing or opposing anyone. I am simply telling you my experience. At that conference, the founder of that group was a lady, a very forceful lady.
Something irritated her, and she lost her temper in the conference. I wondered, “Is this holiness? Sin is eradicated—what is this?” They said, “That is just a weakness.”
What is sanctification? Christ is our sanctification. It is not something called eradication of sin, as though sin were removed and then you were sanctified. It is not something called sanctification given to you apart from Christ.
You may say, “I have received sanctification, and now I am sanctified forever. I cannot sin anymore.” But if you are not in union with Christ, there is no sanctification.
You may have an experience of holiness, but it does not guarantee that you will live a holy life. In Christ, Christ is our sanctification.
That is spiritual life. Paul is trying to tell us, “Do not judge my appearance.” If you judge by appearances, you can never be right.
What appears right may turn out to be wrong. What appears wrong may turn out to be right. You can never be sure. If you judge by appearances, you can never discern between right and wrong, because things can look so much alike. You will be in confusion.
But spiritual life is yes in Christ. It is not outward appearance; it is reality. It is Christ.
Behind your experience, is Christ there? Behind your understanding, is Christ there? Is Christ your experience? Is Christ your understanding? If He is, that is right. That is spiritual. If He is not, it is not spiritual.
All the promises of God are yes in Christ. Never try to take any promise of God and go into it without Christ, because you will come out with only a concept. It is not real.
All the promises of God are amen through Him. He is the only One who makes the promises of God real to us.
Do not be occupied with many things. Be occupied with Him. This is spiritual life.
It is very strange. I often like to watch children. I love children.
When you try to teach children to say words, apart from “Mama” and “Papa,” the first words that express their will are, of course, “yes” and “no.” When a child says yes or no, it is an expression of his will.
But it is very strange: you find that almost all children learn the word “no” first. It is very difficult for them to learn yes. I have tried it with children.
Whatever you say, the answer is, “No, no, no.” I say, “Yes.” He says, “No.” I say, “No.” He says, “No.” Always no. Why?
I learned a lesson from it. I do not know whether this is applicable or not, but I learned that our natural life is characterized by no.
What is natural life? Natural life is fallen life. Since the day Adam rebelled against God, he said no to God. That no is in Adam’s blood. No marks natural life.
Our life is negative. Our life is rebellious. There is no yes in us. There is no positiveness toward God; there is only no. We know how to say no, but we do not know how to say yes.
But look at our Lord Jesus. When our Lord Jesus came into this world, you find that His life was yes.
No matter where you put Him, no matter what confronted Him, no matter what problems surrounded Him, no matter what people He met, you find within Him always a yes to the Father, a yes to God.
His life was such because He is the Amen—the Amen to God and the Amen to us.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who have believed in the Lord Jesus, we who have received Him, have this life with us today. So far as our natural life is concerned, you will find it is always no to God.
Do not try to change your natural life and ask it to say yes to God. Never. When you try to get your natural life to say yes to God, it becomes yes and no. It never comes out a real yes.
That is the reason why the sentence of death must be upon that natural life. But thank God, we have received a yes-life in Christ.
There is in us a life that answers and responds to God, no matter how difficult the situation may be. Very often, when we try to reason something out, we say no. But somehow, deep down within us, there is a yes to God.
Which life do you follow? If you follow the yes deep down in your heart, you find life and peace. If you follow your reasoning and its no, there is death—spiritually speaking, there is death.
This is spiritual life. What is spiritual life? Spiritual life is not judged by appearance. You never judge spiritual life by appearance.
Spiritual life is judged by one thing: is it Christ? Is there life? Is it Christ?
You may enter into an experience. Ask yourself, “Is it Christ?” If this experience is Christ, it is a true experience. If this experience is not Christ but merely something else, remember, it can become a concept. It is Christ.
Are you forgiving people? Oh yes, the Bible says that if you do not forgive, God will not forgive you. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” You have read that verse. You know it.
Now somebody has offended you. What will you do? You say, “Of course, I should forgive.” Do you forgive? Oh yes, you do.
There was one brother whom someone offended. Of course, he knew the word of God and knew that he should forgive. So he started to write a letter: “I forgive you.”
But as he wrote that letter, he was so angry. He said, “This man was awful. He should not have done such a thing to me.” He wrote that first sentence, but then he could not go on. So he left it.
After a day, he said, “Well, as a Christian, I ought to forgive.” So he took up his pen and continued to write, “I forgive you.” But he was still so angry.
Finally, he sent the letter. But after sending the letter, he was still angry. Is this life? Is it spiritual life?
It appears to be spiritual life. “Oh, how spiritual!” But no, it is not Christ.
In Christ, you really forgive people. You forgive from the heart. You not only forgive; you forget. You cannot do that by yourself. That is Christ.
I know of one brother who forgave another brother, and for two nights he could not sleep because he had forgiven him. I am telling a fact. This is not a story; it is a fact.
Why is it like this? Because our whole concept of spiritual life is a matter of appearance. Our whole concept is a matter of conduct. Our whole concept is a matter of how we appear to people.
Remember: spiritual life is Christ. The measure in which Christ takes over in you is the measure of spiritual life.
If Christ is your forgiveness, that forgiveness is life. If Christ is your gentleness, that gentleness is life.
You remember that the righteousnesses of the saints are symbolized by shining, bright, white garments. There are garments that are white but not shining—pale.
When we are very pale, there is not much life. But the righteousness of the saints is shining white, not pale, because there is light in it. Christ is our righteousness. There is life behind it.
Do not measure spiritual life by outward appearance. Measure spiritual life by Christ.
How much Christ is there? What is the measure of Christ? Not merely knowledge about Christ, but the measure of Christ in you is the measure of spiritual life.
There is a very important thing to remember. We have life in us. Christ is our life. But very often this life is not incorporated, organized, or wrought into every area of our being.
We have the life of Christ in us, but that life is not formed. It is not organized. It has not been wrought into every area of our being. Because of that, we are trying to live a so-called spiritual life, but actually it is ourselves. It is not Christ.
This incorporation of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit. Nobody can do it. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of reality, the Spirit of truth.
The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. How often we live in the letter. We are correct, orthodox, scriptural, and accurate—but it kills us. There is no life.
It is the Spirit who gives life. The Spirit brings us to life because it is the Holy Spirit who makes Christ real to us. It is the Holy Spirit who incorporates Christ into us. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The greatest work of the Holy Spirit is this work: the Holy Spirit who dwells in us makes Christ real to us.
How do we know that Christ is the way? The Holy Spirit makes that our experience. How do we know that Christ is the truth? The Holy Spirit makes Him real. How do we know that Christ is the life? The Holy Spirit makes Him life to us.
All our experiences of Christ come from the Holy Spirit. This is the work of the Holy Spirit: He incorporates Christ into us.
How does He incorporate Christ? In two ways. All the work of the Holy Spirit in incorporating Christ into us can be seen in two aspects.
First, there is the revelation of the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, everything spiritual begins with revelation. If there is no revelation, there is no beginning of spiritual life.
How do we become Christians? When Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord said, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.”
Revelation. How do we know Christ today? How do we know Christ to be our life, our way, our truth, the bread of life, and the light of men?
How do we know Christ in a real way, so that He truly becomes life to us and is incorporated into us? It is Christ growing in us and being formed in us. How does this happen? The Holy Spirit opens our eyes and unveils Christ to us.
That is the work of the Holy Spirit—one of His greatest works.
We may read the Bible, and thank God for the Bible. It is God-breathed. But merely reading it without revelation does not give life.
You read the Bible. What is the Sermon on the Mount? You read that if someone strikes your right cheek, you should turn to him the other also. That is the Word. Do you believe it?
But do you know that the letter can kill you? It can make you live in constant fear lest someone should strike your right cheek. Then what happens?
If you do not turn the other cheek, you feel that you are not like a Christian. But it is not easy to be a Christian. If you do not strike back, that is good enough. But to turn the other cheek—that is difficult.
You may try. Someone strikes your right cheek, and you remember the Word. It may take you a few minutes before you turn your left cheek. Eventually you turn it. You succeed.
Is this life? Not at all. You cannot sleep that night afterward. That is not right.
Life is spontaneous, supernaturally natural. It is Christ Who reacts, not you. If it demands that we react, it is difficult. But if it is Christ reacting, He always reacts that way. That is His way of being. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Dear brothers and sisters, you may read the Word of God many times, and one day the Spirit opens your eyes. When you see it, it is yours. It is yours.
Take the simple illustration of how we are saved. You may hear the gospel hundreds of times. Some people have never heard the gospel, and you cannot blame them because they have not heard the real gospel.
But suppose you have heard the gospel, the truth of the gospel, a hundred times and nothing happens. Then one day, as you listen, the Holy Spirit begins to open your eyes. That is revelation.
Either He reveals the cross to you or He reveals yourself to you. When that happens, Christ comes.
Remember, the incorporation of Christ is accomplished by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Do not think of revelation only in a grand or spectacular sense.
The word revelation is a great word. When we use it, we think of something tremendous and spectacular, like Paul on the road to Damascus, when light shone from heaven. That was revelation.
I remember a friend in high school whom I tried to win for Christ. He told me, “If Christ reveals Himself to me as He revealed Himself to Paul, I will believe Him. I want to see that light.”
But revelation need not come in such an immense measure. Revelation ought to be our daily portion. It simply means an opening of the eyes.
God, by His Holy Spirit, unveils Christ. As He unveils Christ, Christ becomes real. I may not be able to explain Him, but I have seen Him.
Many people can explain very well, but perhaps they have never seen. Yet some who have really seen cannot explain.
I often think of Paul on the road to Damascus. When the light shone on him, what was the effect? He became blind. He could not see outwardly. Inwardly he had seen, but outwardly he became blind. That is very often our experience.
The Holy Spirit incorporates Christ into us first by revelation, and second by discipline.
The two greatest works of the Holy Spirit are, on the one hand, revelation and, on the other hand, discipline. Revelation alone is not enough.
You may see a vision, but that may make you a visionary unless the vision is supported by discipline. It is not enough merely to have a vision.
Do not think that because you have seen something in your spirit, it is therefore fully real in you. Not yet. It is real, but it may not have become your experience.
The Holy Spirit will arrange environments and order happenings that seem contradictory to the revelation. But actually, these things bring you into the revelation. This is the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
One day the Lord opens your eyes to see His love—unselfish love, unchoosing love, love toward the unlovely. The Lord opens your eyes to see that, and you pray, “Oh Lord, I confess that I have no love.”
Before you saw this, you thought you were full of love. But now you say, “I cannot love the unlovely. I choose those whom I love. If You want me to love, You must love through me. I cannot do it.” That is revelation.
But can you love now? It is not that simple. Strangely, in the morning you see the revelation; in the afternoon, the most unlovely person comes to you.
The one you are most afraid of may come and trouble you again. What is that? That is the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
It is not by chance. It is the discipline of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit uses environment to incorporate Christ into us.
Dear brothers and sisters, only after the Holy Spirit has done this work is the end result spiritual life. That is spiritual life.
In the first place, spiritual life begins with the sentence of death. In the second place, spiritual life is yes in Christ. It is Christ. That is spiritual.
It is not merely something given to you. Yes, it is given to you, but it is more than that. You have to see that the gift and the Giver are one.
It is not that He gives you life as something separate, and then it is yours to go and live. No. He gives Himself to you as life.
The way into this, as we have just said, is by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life. The Spirit alone can make all the promises of God yes and amen to us.
Are we willing to accept the revelation and discipline of the Holy Spirit? This becomes a very real issue.
Remember one thing: spiritual life is never cheap. If you want to get somewhere spiritually by a cheap way, it is not real.
Spiritual life demands the losing of our self-life so that Christ may take that place. This is the will of God.
I think that probably this morning we will fellowship only this much: spiritual life is Christ—yes in Christ.
Oh Father, we try to share Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the only reality.
We confess that we are often attracted and occupied by that which appears outwardly to us. O Lord, deliver us from that which is outward, and open our eyes to see that the real issue is that which is unseen.
Christ is the reality. We pray that Thou wilt strip us of all that which is not Christ. Lord, we do not want to live in unreality and try to deceive ourselves.
Lord, we are ready to be enlightened, to be reduced, to come to the end of ourselves, to see that there is nothing good in us, and to be stripped of all that is not real.
We only desire that Christ may be our reality in all things. Oh, how we praise and thank Thee because Thy Holy Spirit is given to us to do this work.
Father, Thou knowest that we cannot enter into it by ourselves. But we praise and thank Thee because Thy Spirit is with us, and He is doing the work.
O Lord, give us openness, readiness, and willingness to be exposed and to receive revelation and light from Thee.
Make us willing to be disciplined, trained, broken, and shattered, that Christ may be our experience and Christ may be our expression.