Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John, John chapter 12? We will read from verse 24 to verse 26.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will the Father honour.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, our hearts bow before Thee. Thou hast once again exhibited Thy great love towards us. Thou hast placed before us the cross and Thyself crucified.
Dear Lord, Thy love has constrained us. There is only one way before us: we must follow Thee. Do show us once again the way of following Thee.
We want to follow Thee as closely as possible. Deliver us from the world, deliver us from the law, and deliver us from our flesh, that our whole being may be possessed by Thee and Thy name be honoured in us.
Prepare us for Thy return. Lord, we long to see Thee. Come quickly. In Thy precious name we pray. Amen.
We thank the Lord for gathering us together these days. Even though we seem to be talking much about the cross, brothers and sisters, we must remember that it is Christ crucified.
He is the One who makes the cross what it is today. The cross is only a way, a means—the only way, the prescribed way of God. This way will lead us to Christ, and this way will lead us to the eternal purpose of God.
What should always be before us is God’s eternal purpose: Christ and His church. May the Lord, through these days, lead us by the way of the cross, that we may really arrive at God’s eternal purpose.
We have talked about the cross and the world. Why must we be delivered from the world? That Christ may be our world.
We have talked about the cross and the law. Why? That Christ, in His grace, may be our law.
And we have talked about the cross and the flesh. Why must we be delivered from our flesh? It is because we want Christ to be all and in all to us.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us have Christ always before our eyes. As we look steadfastly upon Christ, He will give us strength to take up our cross and follow Him.
We first talked about the cross and the old man. The old man is Adam, but Adam is a corporate person. All who were born into this world were in Adam. This was our position before.
But thank God, when our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, the Bible tells us that our old man was crucified with Him. Thus, we are delivered from the power of sin, that we may be able to serve our God.
This is the position that we have in Christ Jesus. Today, we are no longer in Adam; we are in Christ Jesus. Because we are in Christ Jesus, we were dead to sin and made alive unto God. This is a position that we must always maintain by faith.
Then we talked about the cross and the flesh. From our position, we now come to our condition. From eternal truth, we come into experience in the Holy Spirit.
They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
We know that the works of the flesh are very manifest. They can easily be seen. But thank God, those who are in Christ Jesus walk by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit strives against the flesh and delivers us from our flesh, that we may live according to the Spirit. That will be life and peace.
This morning, we would like to go a step further. We will fellowship on the cross and the self-life.
The self-life is the life of the flesh. In other words, the cross deals not only with the works of the flesh. The cross goes deeper, into the very life of the flesh.
Unless the life of the flesh is touched, even though the deeds of the flesh have been dealt with, you find that the work is still unfinished.
In the work of the cross of our Lord Jesus and in the work of the Holy Spirit, He goes very deep into the very life of our flesh, that Christ really may be our very life.
In order to understand this, especially for the sake of the younger people, probably we need to go back to the very beginning—to the time when God created man.
We find in Genesis 2:7 that God used the red earth, the dust of the earth, to form a human body.
The psalmist said that our body is fearfully and wonderfully made. Think that God could take the most common material and make a human body, which is a masterpiece.
By this body, we have world-consciousness. By the five senses, we are in touch with the world around us.
The Bible tells us that God breathed His breath of life into the nostrils of that form. There is the breath of life coming out of God Himself, and that reaches into that earthly form.
That breath of God becomes the spirit of man. Because God is Spirit, He breathed into man, and that breath became the spirit of man, that man might be able to communicate with God.
Our spirit gives us God-consciousness.
Then, when God’s breath entered into that earthly form, a third element was formed. The Bible says that man became a living soul.
The soul is where personality dwells. With our soul, we know ourselves. It gives us self-consciousness.
You know what you are because you have a soul. Through your thinking, through your emotion, and through your will—your opinions—you express yourself. The Bible says that man became a living soul.
There is a created life in man. There is a created life in our soul that makes us living. That is how we were created.
Now, so far as God’s order is concerned, our spirit should be at the top, because it is by our spirit that we are in touch with God, who is Spirit.
So far as our soul-life is concerned, when it was created, it was neutral. That is to say, it was neither sinful nor righteous nor holy.
At that time, the living soul did not have the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, it had to look to the spirit for direction. It was dependent upon the spirit.
By the spirit, man knew God’s will, that he might be able to obey God and work it out in his body. That was how we were created.
You remember that God put man in the Garden of Eden. It was a garden of pleasure, because God created all kinds of trees and all kinds of fruit trees to be food for the physical body of man.
In the midst of the garden, God planted a tree called the tree of life.
God had already given man a created life; man had become a living soul. Why, then, should God put a tree of life in the midst of the garden?
Because that tree of life represents the very life of God. It is the divine life, the uncreated life of God. That shows that God’s heart is to give His own life to man.
Man was created in the image of God and after His likeness. In other words, in the whole creation, man is the only one who has the capacity to receive God into him.
It is God’s will that man should receive His uncreated life into his created life. That would enable him to fulfil all the missions for which God had commissioned him, and man would fulfil God’s purpose for man.
But beside the tree of life, God planted another tree. It is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Some people think that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a bad tree, because God told man, “Of all the trees in the garden, you may freely eat,” including the tree of life. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said, “You shall not eat; for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
So people think the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must have been a bad tree. I wonder whether you agree with me. I feel that God would never put a bad tree in the Garden of Eden. It cannot have been a bad tree.
To me, I feel it was the second best. The tree of life was the best, because it gave us God’s own divine life.
If we should eat of the tree of life, that divine life would come into our spirit and become the life of our spirit. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, however, was actually food for our soul, just as all the other trees were food for our body.
There is no knowledge higher than the knowledge of good and evil. Scientific knowledge and philosophy cannot be compared with the knowledge of ethics—of good and evil.
That tree would be food for the soul of man, because our soul longs for knowledge. Our soul is satisfied with knowledge, especially with the knowledge of good and evil.
Why did God forbid man to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Number one: because He wanted man to eat of the tree of life.
Number two: because He knew that without the life of God, if you have the knowledge of good and evil, it will bring you to death. You know what is good, but you do not have the life or power to do the good. You know what evil is, but you yield to evil. The result is death.
That is why God wanted man to seek after the life of the spirit. By that life, he would be able to live and fulfil God’s purpose.
But if man took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would decide for himself what is good and what is evil. He would become independent of God. As Satan suggested, “You shall be as God.” The result is death.
Unfortunately, our forefathers, instead of eating of the tree of life, took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord said, “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.” But Adam lived more than nine hundred years, and he had many sons and daughters. His body seemed to be living, and his soul seemed to be living. What was dead?
His spirit was dead. His spirit lost the ability to communicate with God, who is Spirit. Death is the cessation of communication with one’s proper environment.
When the body is dead, it has lost communication with the world around it. When the soul is dead, man is dead to himself. When the spirit is dead, it has lost its communication with God.
What is the condition of fallen man? His spirit is dead. That does not mean the spirit does not exist. The spirit is still there, but it has lost its proper function.
That is why people can communicate with evil spirits, but they cannot communicate with God, who is Spirit. Man becomes flesh—soul and body without the governing function of the spirit.
What about the life of man? In the Bible, sometimes the word soul is used as representing man. For instance, when Jacob went into Egypt, Genesis says that seventy souls entered into Egypt, because the soul represents the man.
The soul is the “I,” the “me,” where personality dwells. After man fell, the life of that soul was not only contaminated but even dominated by sin.
Instead of man looking to God for direction, man fell into himself. Man became a fallen man, a man of the flesh, a selfish and self-centred person.
Self is the very life of the soul. That is our situation.
Brothers and sisters, if you deal only with the deeds of the flesh, it is just like dealing with all the branches. You have to deal with the very root of the tree.
How does the cross of our Lord Jesus deal with the very life of our fallen man—the life of the flesh, which is self?
In the Word of God, in many places, life and soul are the same word. For instance, if you love your life, you will lose it. That word life can be translated soul.
You can say, “If you love your soul, you will lose it. If you lose your soul in this world for the Lord’s sake, you will gain it unto eternity.”
This matter of soul and life is actually self. It is “I”; it is “me”; it is myself. That is our condition.
The cross of our Lord Jesus has to dig deep into the very core, the very life of our flesh. This very life of the soul, which is self, must be dealt with.
In John chapter 12, our Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time. When He entered Jerusalem, great crowds followed Him. Even some Greeks who came to the feast wanted to see Jesus.
It seemed as if the whole world was now after our Lord Jesus. It was the most glorious time in the life of our Lord Jesus when He was on earth.
When these Greeks asked the help of Andrew and Philip, Jesus answered them in John 12:23:
The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Perhaps even the disciples thought, “This is the time when our Lord will be glorified. He will now sit on the throne. He will rule over the whole world.”
But strangely, immediately after our Lord said that the time of His glorification had come, He continued:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
The time of being glorified to our Lord was His death. He is the grain of wheat.
Our Lord Jesus is the only grain of wheat. God became man. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
He said that if the grain of wheat fell into the ground but did not die, it would abide alone. He spoke of Himself, because He is the grain of wheat that fell upon the ground. He came into this world and took the form of a man.
Even if He lived in this world for thirty-three years, or even shorter than that, He demonstrated to the world what man should be—the kind of man that God is after. He demonstrated it.
Suppose that on the Mount of Transfiguration, He was transfigured, glory filled Him, and Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Him. They were talking about His departure—how He would go out of this world.
He came into this world by emptying Himself and taking the form of a man. Now, how would He depart from this world? They were talking about this matter.
As they were talking, Peter woke up and saw that Moses and Elijah were about to leave. He wanted them to remain, so he blurted out, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
God cut him off. A glorious cloud overshadowed them, and they heard the voice:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
Suddenly Moses and Elijah disappeared. When they opened their eyes, they saw Jesus only.
Brothers and sisters, if our Lord Jesus had made His departure from the world on the Mount of Transfiguration, there would have been only the one grain of wheat.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus refused to make His departure on the Mount of Transfiguration. He came down from the mountain and set His face toward Jerusalem.
This grain of wheat not only had to fall upon the ground; it had to die. If it died, it would bear much fruit.
In other words, the outer shell of that wheat had to decay, in order that the life within it might be able to come forth and multiply into many grains.
Our Lord Jesus explained this parable in John 12:25:
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Our Lord is the first grain of wheat. He fell into the ground and died. His outer man was broken, so the life within Him was released. It produced much fruit, and you and I are the result of that.
The soul-life of our Lord Jesus was without sin. His soul-life was not selfish. But even He had to go to the cross and die, that His life might be released and given to all of us.
How much more must our soul-life—our self—go to death. If our soul-life does not go to death, the life of Christ in us will have no opportunity to bear fruit.
Our Lord Jesus said, “If you love your soul-life—that is, yourself—you will lose it. If you hate your soul-life in this world, you will keep it unto life eternal.”
Let us use another illustration. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We will read from verse 7.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;
we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed;
always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We who have believed in the Lord Jesus are but earthen vessels. Look at ourselves. Even though this body is wonderfully made, it is earthly in nature. We are but earthen vessels.
But thank God, He has put a treasure in the earthen vessel. I always wonder: if you have a treasure, will you put that treasure in an earthen vessel? You would perhaps put it in a golden box.
But that is the wonder of God. He is willing to put the treasure in the earthen vessel. The treasure, of course, is our Lord Jesus.
God puts Christ Jesus into you, the earthen vessel, and into me, the earthen vessel. But the purpose of putting the treasure there is not for it merely to be kept there and hidden.
God’s purpose is that the surpassing greatness of the power of the treasure may be manifested through the earthen vessel. It is not the power of the earthen vessel; it is the power of the treasure.
The earthen vessel is opaque. Only the treasure has light. God’s purpose is that the light of the treasure may be manifested.
But how can it be manifested? The treasure is hidden in the earthen vessel, and the earthen vessel has to be cracked. Unless that earthen vessel is broken, the power of the treasure will have no chance to exhibit itself.
That speaks of all of us. We have Christ, the treasure, in us, and the power of the treasure is to be manifested. But we, as earthen vessels, imprison that treasure within us.
We love our self, and because we love our self, we refuse to be cracked. We refuse to be broken. We treasure the earthen vessel more than we treasure the treasure within the vessel.
Is it not true that we all love ourselves? Even though ourselves are so ugly, we still love them. We do not want to part with them.
Because we love our self-life, Christ has no opportunity to manifest His power.
But thank God, that is where the Holy Spirit begins to work. The Holy Spirit arranges our environment. He arranges people around us. He arranges our circumstances. He arranges things to happen according to His wisdom.
He arranges everything around us in order to crack us and break us.
That is why you find that we are afflicted in every way, yet not straitened. Sometimes we find ourselves surrounded, and it seems that we have no way out. But thank God, even though we are surrounded, there is still an upward way that God opens to us.
Sometimes we see no apparent way, but our way is not entirely shut up. I like Phillips’ translation: “We come to our wit’s end, but not to our life’s end.”
We may not know any way out, but somehow God opens the way up.
It is almost like the scenery in China. There is a saying that the scenery of Guilin surpasses all other scenery. I have been there. Actually, in Yangshuo itself, there is nothing. It is the way from Guilin to Yangshuo that is beautiful.
You have to take a boat. As the boat begins to sail, you come to a point where it seems as if the river ends. But when you arrive there, you find there is a passage by the side. That is where the scenery really is.
Our life is like that. Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us forward, and we come to a dead end. We feel that we are finished. But suddenly, you find that God opens up a way out.
Then it says, “Persecuted, but not forsaken.” People may persecute us, but God will never forsake us.
Then, “Smitten down, but not destroyed.” I like Phillips’ translation again: “Knocked down, but not knocked out.” You may be knocked down, but you are not knocked out yet. You stand up again and continue to fight.
I believe we have all gone through such experiences. These are the arrangements of the Holy Spirit.
Why does He put you in such a condition? He has a purpose behind it. He wants to break you—to break your self-life—that Christ may be manifested.
The Bible says that we bear about in the body the dying of Jesus. In the original, it has the meaning of bearing about in your body the putting to death of Jesus.
The death of our Lord Jesus has power. His death is able to put you to death. Who wants to die? Who is willing to die? But the death of our Lord Jesus has the power to put you to death, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in you.
Brothers and sisters, this is the way that God has provided for us: to break us down that He may build us up.
What is broken down is ourselves, and what is built up is Christ. There is no other way. If you try to keep your life, you will lose it. If you are willing to lose your self-life in this world for the sake of Christ and for the gospel’s sake, then you will gain it unto eternity.
Now we would like to analyse this a little more. We will see how the cross deals with every aspect of your soul-life.
Your soul-life, your self, is expressed through your emotion. Who is using your emotion? It is your self, your soul-life, that is using your emotion. Your emotion expresses yourself.
At the same time, it is our mind, our thinking, that expresses ourselves. It is our will, our desire, and our opinion that express ourselves.
We will see how the cross works in these areas.
Turn to Matthew chapter 10. We will read from verse 37.
Our Lord Jesus told His disciples that He had not come to send peace upon the earth, but a sword. He came to set a man at variance with his father, a daughter with her mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law. A man’s foes would be those of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he that doth not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
Our Lord Jesus knows that our soul-life, our self, needs to be purified. Even in the matter of love—human love, which is the highest and noblest expression—you find self behind it. It is not pure love; it is governed by self and selfishness.
Our Lord Jesus wants to purify even our emotion. He said that if you love your father or mother, brother or sister, husband or wife, children, or even your own life, more than Him, you are not worthy of Him.
This is a very strict demand. If you want to follow the Lord, if you want to be like your Lord, you have to love Him above all these loves.
Sometimes, after we have believed in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit arranges our circumstances. God wants us to love our father and mother, because this is the first commandment with promise.
In Old Testament times, if a child did not honour his father and mother, or even cursed his father and mother, he was to be put to death. God wants us to love our father and mother.
But God wants to purify our love from self. There will be times when the demand of our Lord Jesus and the demand of our parents seem to cross each other.
When you find such a situation, what will you do? Will you love the Lord more than you love your father or mother?
It does not mean that you should not love your father and mother. But do you love the Lord more than your father and mother? Will you follow the Lord, or will you follow your parents?
If your parents say that you should not believe in the Lord Jesus, will you simply obey your parents, or will you obey the Lord Jesus?
Then the cross is constituted, and the Lord calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. Death comes into the love side of your self-life, that our love may be purified and Christ may be able to express Himself through our love.
Now turn to Matthew chapter 16.
In Matthew 16, God revealed our Lord Jesus to His disciples, and our Lord Jesus revealed the church to His disciples. Following that, He said, “I must go to Jerusalem and be killed, but on the third day I shall be raised from the dead.”
Then you see what Peter did. Peter got hold of the Lord and perhaps shook Him a little. “Lord, do not do that. You should not die.”
Our Lord turned and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan, because thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.”
Immediately following that, in verse 24, Jesus said to His disciples:
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
Here you find that our Lord Jesus is dealing with our natural mind. The mind of Peter was self-centred. He did not want Jesus to go to the cross and die because he himself did not want to do that.
Behind that mind was self. Behind self was Satan. Therefore, we must learn to take up our cross in the area of our mind, that we may be delivered from it.
Then turn to Luke chapter 14. Our Lord Jesus turned to the crowds and said:
If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
Then He said that one should sit down and count the cost. Are you able to pay the cost of following Me? Are you able to forsake all and follow Me?
Do not merely be stirred up emotionally for a moment. Sit down and count the cost, so that you may make your decision.
That is to say, our will has to be purified. If you are willing to do that, He will give you the power to do it. If you are not willing to do that, you will not experience His surpassing greatness of power.
Brothers and sisters, why does the Lord call us to take up our cross and follow Him? It is because, by doing that, the self-life—the very life of the soul in the flesh—may die, and the life of Christ within us may be released and manifested.
What comes out of you will then be Christ and not yourself.
First of all, the Lord says, “Deny yourself.” I have already mentioned this: deny yourself means giving up your right.
Peter denied the wrong Person. He should have denied himself, but he denied Christ. How often we do the same thing.
Brothers and sisters, who can deny himself? No one can. Martin Luther said, “I am not afraid of the popes and the cardinals. I am afraid of the pope within me.”
Are we like Job? Job said, “I uphold myself.” How can we deny ourselves? We need to see the Lord Jesus. If He reveals Himself to us, nothing is impossible.
When we were having the Lord’s table this morning, during the last few days we talked about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. At the Lord’s table, Jesus Christ crucified is openly exhibited before us. He reveals Himself to us.
If we see Him, we will deny ourselves. If we do not see Him, we cannot deny ourselves.
Job saw the glory of God, so he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. This is what we need.
We need to see our Lord. We need to see His bleeding hands. We need to see His bleeding feet. We need to see His bleeding head. We need to see the blood and water coming out of His side.
We need to hear Him say:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
We need to see His love. Only His love can constrain us to deny ourselves and make us willing to take up our cross and follow Him.
May the Lord help us, that we may not only know that our old man was crucified with Christ, and that we who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts, but that we may also be willing to lose our self-life for Christ’s sake, that we may follow Him.
May the Lord, in the days ahead, always be before our eyes. If we look unto Jesus, by His love and by His grace, we will be able to follow Him.
Dear Lord, a sight of Thee is all that we need. Reveal Thyself to us, that we may all rise up, forsake all, take up our cross, and follow Thee.
By Thy grace, we will follow Thee where Thou art.