Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians?
First Corinthians 6. We will read verses 19 and 20.
Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye have been bought with a price. Glorify God then in your body.
The same book, chapter 9. We will read verse 27.
But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest, after having preached to others, I should be myself rejected.
Then we will turn to Romans, chapter 6, verse 6.
Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin.
The word does not mean annihilated. It can be translated as unemployed or disemployed. The body of sin might be unemployed or disemployed, so that we should no longer serve sin.
And verse 13:
Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as alive from among the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
The same book, chapter 8, verse 11:
But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from among the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ from among the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also, on account of His Spirit which dwelleth in you.
The same chapter, verse 23:
And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting sonship—that is, the redemption of our body.
May we have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together this afternoon. We know that Thou art with us, and there is nothing that we long after but Thy presence. May Thy presence be manifested this afternoon.
May Thy Spirit quicken our mortal bodies, that we may be alert and open to Thyself. Allow Thy light to shine upon us. Allow Thy Spirit to transform us, that Thou mayest be able to sanctify us wholly—not only our spirit, but also our soul and even our body—that Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in Thy precious name.
Well, by the grace of God, we now come to the last of our sessions. This time, we concentrate our fellowship on the matter of how spiritual exercise affects our soul and body.
The salvation of our Lord is so full and complete. He will not only save our spirit; He will save our soul and our body. It is God’s will that He will sanctify us wholly. He wants to separate us completely unto Himself. Not only does our spirit need to be sanctified; our soul needs to be sanctified, and even our body will be sanctified.
Now, this afternoon, we would like to concentrate on this matter of the body.
I do not know how many of you pay attention to your body. I realize that people in this world have recently paid much attention to their bodies. You have physical exercises all around us. We want to have a healthy, strong body.
But has it ever come to your mind that the body is not only to be healthy and strong? Our body needs to be sanctified, separated unto God.
The world has many different ideas about the body. Some consider the body to be so important. You know, the ancient Greeks worshipped their bodies, and many others worship their bellies.
Yet there are others who consider the body as nothing: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Then you find other people who consider the body to be the seat of evil. Therefore, they have to ill-treat their body. They determine to be on a cruel diet in order to be delivered from sin.
So you find among the world there are many different ideas. When you come to Christians, I do not know if Christians pay as much attention to their bodies as the world pays attention to the body.
It seems strange to me that many Christians have no idea about their body. Because of this, somehow they adopt the views of the world. Some Christians feel that the body is nothing; therefore, they neglect their body.
Even those who love the Lord may so abuse their body that they really hurt it. It is as if the more you ill-treat your body, the more spiritual you are.
I can recall that in our young days, we all had that kind of concept. If you really love the Lord, you should neglect your body. Do not care about your body. Use your body to the utmost and beyond your ability. The weaker your body, the more spiritual you appear.
Many of us committed that sin. I remember Brother Watchman Nee. He began to serve the Lord when he was nineteen, and after he finished college, he devoted himself completely to the Lord. He worked so hard for the Lord that he hurt his vocal cords.
Brother Nee could never shout. When he spoke, he spoke softly because his voice was hurt when he was young. He so neglected his body and used it beyond its ability. He began to have tuberculosis.
When he returned home, he met his professor on the road. The professor looked at him, shook his head, and said, “We had great hope for you. We thought you would have a brilliant future. But now look at yourself—a body completely destroyed.”
Brother Nee said that when the professor said this, he was hurt. But suddenly he brightened up. He said, “Lord, You are worth it.”
Brothers and sisters, it seems to me that we often feel that if you want to be spiritual, you have to abuse your body. If you have a very strong, healthy body, people will think you are worldly and not spiritual. If you are thin and weak, then you look very saintly.
We do not think much of our body. Then you find there comes a reaction.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, you find there was a very popular teaching: the prosperity gospel. You should prosper. You should be in health, because this is the will of God. You do not need to live a very poor life.
You do not need to drive a Chevrolet when you can have a Cadillac. Very popular.
There is a verse that they like to use. It is 3 John 1:2:
I desire that in all things thou shouldest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
They say there should be no suffering of any kind. God loves us. He wants us to have a good life. He wants us to be in health. That is prosperity teaching, and you find that it just sweeps through the world.
Now, is this God’s will for our body? I am afraid, when they quote this verse, they quote only half of it. You know, that is the way we usually do.
We often quote the verse, “All things work together for good,” but we forget: all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. If you do not love the Lord, all things do not work together for good. If you are not called according to God’s purpose, you are not supposed to see all things work together for good.
The same thing is found in this verse: “In all things thou shouldest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” In other words, bodily prosperity is based upon the prosperity of the soul. If your soul is not prosperous, then your body will not be prosperous.
Now, what do you mean by your soul prospering? What do you mean by prospering? If you search the Scriptures, you will find that prosper or prosperity simply means that you are blessed of God.
Now, who is blessed of God? If you turn to Psalm 1, then you can see who is blessed of God.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,
And standeth not in the way of sinners,
And sitteth not in the seat of scorners.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
And in His law doth he meditate day and night.
Now, that is the one who is blessed of the Lord. So it has nothing to do with the body; it has to do with your spirit and your soul.
Then, if you turn to the New Testament, you find in Matthew 5 that our Lord Jesus said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
All the blessings are for those who are pure in spirit and who are willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake. That is what prosperity is.
If the soul prospers in this way, then the prosperity of our body must mean something more. So you find that among Christians today, we are being swayed here and there. We do not have a very definite view of what our body really is and what its proper place is according to God.
This afternoon, we would like to go through some of the Scriptures. First, we would like to see how our body was made. That is in Genesis 2:7.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
So you find that our body was made of the dust of the ground. Our body has the same chemical elements as the earth. That is the reason why it is through our body that we can communicate with the world around us.
Earth is the cheapest thing, the most common thing; yet God used this to give us a body. He used the cheapest, most common material to build a body that is fearfully and wonderfully made.
You can see the marvelous work of God. He can use the cheapest material and build the most marvelous body. You remember David saying in Psalm 139, verse 14:
I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvelous are Thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
I wonder whether any one of us has ever praised God for this wonderful body. I think we have all murmured about our body, but have we ever praised God for this body?
If you can see God’s skillful hand, you can see how He made our body so fearfully. The better word may be awesome. When you really look at the body, is it not awesome? Even physiologists today cannot fully understand how the body works. It is wonderful.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to learn to praise God for this body of ours. Do not complain that you are too short or too tall. Variety is the spice of life.
No two persons are exactly alike. No two faces are exactly alike. In such a small area, with only a few features, yet we are all different. Brothers and sisters, is it not awesome? God created our body. It really proves that He is God.
But why did He create our body? Did He create a body for our own use, to express ourselves, to have a good time—or to have a bad time? God gave us a body for His glory. He wants to use our body to do His work and to glorify Him.
You know, after God created Adam, He told Adam, “I will give you dominion over the fowls of the air, over the beasts of the field, and over the fishes of the sea. I want you to rule and reign for Me. I want you to subdue all things unto Myself. I want you to till and guard the garden.”
In other words, God gave man a body because He wants to use it. He wants to use this body to complete His own work. He wants our body to glorify Him. That is how our body was created.
But unfortunately, we all remember the story. Adam and Eve were together, so wherever they went, they should have gone together. But somehow Eve was alone. I do not know whether it was Eve’s fault or Adam’s fault, but anyway, you find that when she was alone, the tempter came.
What does the Bible say in Genesis 3:6?
And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a pleasure for the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to give intelligence; and she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Now, you see how sin entered into the world. The work of the enemy is always from circumference to center. He always works from outside to inside. It is just the opposite of God’s way. Whenever God works, He always works from the center to the circumference, from the inside to the outside.
When man sinned, you find first the body. She saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a pleasure to the eye. That is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. Then she saw that the tree was to be desired to give intelligence. That is the pride of life.
So you find that sin entered into mankind from the body, through the soul, to the spirit.
God had forewarned them: “You can eat of every tree in the garden, including the tree of life. But this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat, because in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden tree. What happened? They lived hundreds of years. They begat sons and daughters. In other words, their body still continued. They still lived on this earth and had family. Their soul was active. Their body was active. But their spirit was dead.
The spirit that God had given to man was dead on the day that sin entered. Death began in the spirit, spread to the soul, and finally reached the body. Even though the body may live for hundreds of years, eventually the dust will return to the earth.
So we find here a fallen body. What is the condition of a fallen body? It still lives, but actually it lives entirely opposite to God’s will. It becomes a body of sin and of death, because the law of sin and death is over that body.
Instead of using the body to serve God, instead of being an instrument of righteousness, our body becomes an instrument of unrighteousness. Instead of glorifying God in our body, it comes short of God’s glory. It is under the dominion of sin and death.
That was the condition that we all formerly were: a fallen body, a body that is corrupted, a body that is defiled, and a body that is fading.
Who is now using this body? In a sense, in that fallen body, it seems as if it is our fallen Adamic life using the body. But clearly, that fallen Adamic life is under the tyranny of Satan. So actually Satan is using our body. He is controlling our body with sin and with death. We are not free; we are in bondage.
Thank God, He loves us. Even though we were fallen, even though we were far away from His purpose, yet He had not changed. In His love, He came to ransom us.
When salvation came to us, as we have already mentioned, it began with our spirit. Our dead spirit was quickened into life. God gave us a new spirit, and His Holy Spirit came and dwelt in our spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to see to it that the new life in us will grow into maturity, that our spirit will be wholly sanctified.
We have also mentioned that when we were first saved, there was some change in our soul. There would be repentance, a change of mind. But the change of mind is superficial. The Lord has to work in our soul to displace the self-life in control, and He will sit on the throne of our soul. It is the salvation of our soul.
The same thing you find with our body. When we were saved, there was a slight change in our body. A long face becomes a round face. It is very strange. You can look at a person who is unsaved and a person who is saved. They may have the same features, but it is different.
The one who is unsaved, you can see, is under the bondage of sin and death. But one who is saved, even with the same facial features, you can see the difference. There is a glorious freedom there. But this is superficial.
It is the will of God that He will not only redeem our body; He wants to sanctify our body.
Now, how is it to be done? If you return to Romans 6, you find verse 6:
Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin.
Do you know there is something happening? When Christ was crucified on the cross, outwardly it was just Jesus Himself. But spiritually, when Christ was crucified on the cross, before God our old man was crucified with Him. We were crucified with Him because we are in Him.
You know, before God there are only two men: Adam and Christ. Adam is the federal head of the old creation, and Christ is the Head of the new creation. Our Lord Jesus is called the second Man, but He is also called the last Adam.
What do you mean by the last Adam? If the last Adam died, then the Adamic race was finished.
In China, we put much emphasis on names. We want our family name to continue. That is the reason why, in the old days, people wanted sons. If all you had were daughters, they carried another family name; but if you had sons, they carried your own name.
Now suppose the last son died. I came from the Dong Kong family. If I were the last Kong and I died, then the whole family would be finished. So in the same manner, our Lord Jesus is the last Adam. When the last Adam died, the Adamic race was finished.
When He was raised from the dead, there was the second Man, the new race. So remember: when Christ died on the cross, the old man was crucified with Christ in Christ.
Now, what happened to the body? The Bible says that the body of sin might be annulled. When the Adamic race was finished, something happened to our body. Our body was disemployed and unemployed.
The old Adam used to be our employer. He used our body unto sin and unto death. You cannot do what you want to do; that is death. What you do not want to do, you do. Our old employer used the law of sin and death to control our bodies.
But thank God, our old employer was dead, and so we were disemployed and unemployed. The body that used to sin now has nothing to do. It is unemployed.
If a store is closed and then reopened, it is called “under new management.” That is what is happening in our body. This body of sin and death, because of what Christ has done on the cross, was unemployed when our old employer died.
But not for long. Immediately we are re-employed. Our new Master employs our body, and He says, “Now I will use your body for My glory. Your body is not your own. I have bought you with a price. I am going to reopen My store, and I want to use your body to glorify Me.”
Now, what should you do? Will you refuse to be employed, or will you present your body a living sacrifice?
This is what consecration is, brothers and sisters. Our Lord Jesus bought us with a price, and we cannot understand how high that price was—the price of His own life.
But strangely, He will not force us to serve Him. He says, “Now you can exercise your free will, whether you want to serve under Me or you want to find other employment.”
Some people try to find a third employer. They are self-employed. Unfortunately, many believers are like that. But do you know that God bought you to set you free? It is for the purpose that you will be constrained by His love.
He does not want to hold us by right. He wants to persuade us by His mercy.
So, brothers and sisters, we are set free. We love our Master. We do not want to go free. We want to have our ear pierced. We want to be His bondslaves. We want to allow His will to be done by our body.
Consecration has a great deal to do with the sanctification of our body. Brothers and sisters, He has bought us. What are you going to do with your body? Can you continue to use your body for your own purpose, for yourself, any longer?
Is the love of God insufficient to constrain you, for you willingly to surrender and yield the members of your body as instruments? The Word of God shows us that this is what we should do. Are we willing to be willing?
Consecration has much to do with our body, because our old master, even though he was discharged, always tries to come back. He always tries to tempt us. He always tells us the old way is better.
This is the time when you find you have to buffet your body. What do you mean by buffeting your body? To put it literally, it means to beat your body black and blue.
Now, what is the difference between buffeting the body and ill-treating the body? There is a difference of heaven and earth. Ill-treating your body comes from yourself; it is under your self-life. But buffeting your body is by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will work in your spirit. As you are in communion with God, He will reveal His mind to you. He will tell you what you should do and how you should use your body.
When He tells you how you should use your body, your old master will come back. He says, “That is too hard. There is a better way. You have to indulge yourself.” When this happens, you find you have to buffet your body.
Let us use a small illustration. Suppose you like to sleep late. You get up too late to have a time with the Lord. You say, “Good morning,” and then, “Goodbye.”
The Holy Spirit begins to convict you: “You had better rise a little earlier to have a quiet time with Me.” There is a battle between the Lord and your bed. Do not laugh at it. This is where you have to buffet your body.
Instead of being controlled by your body, you control your body.
There is a place that you like to go, and you frequented that place very often before. Yet the Holy Spirit begins to convict you: “Can you carry Christ into that place?” By the grace of God, you give it up. Your body is under you instead of over you.
Our body is not for anything else but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. So there is a certain discipline that we have to exercise. It begins from the spirit, and then it begins to deal with your body.
Now we need to remember one thing. Even though we are saved and we are ransomed, this body of ours is still a mortal body. One day this mortal body will be an immortal body. This corruptible body will become incorruptible. This physical body will become a spiritual body. Then death will be fully swallowed up.
That will be the redemption of our body. That will be the receiving of sonship. But before that comes, even though our body is liberated and is to be sanctified, it is still a mortal body.
Some Christians think that they have an immortal body; therefore, they will never get sick, and they will never die. Remember, even though this body is liberated and is to be sanctified, yet it is still a mortal body.
It will be influenced by our surroundings. We will get weak; we will be tired, just like our Lord Jesus. You remember how He was tired. In John 4, He travelled by foot, and then He was tired and hungry. So He sat by a well in Samaria.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that you have an immortal body. We all have a mortal body.
But thank God, even though this body is still mortal, we may experience the quickening of our mortal body. That is Romans 8:11.
Sometimes, for the Lord’s glory and sometimes for the Lord’s work, we find our body is insufficient. Yet when you go to the Lord, you will experience a quickening of your mortal body by the Holy Spirit.
You remember the apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12, he had a thorn in his body. Different people have different interpretations. Most likely it was a physical ailment, because Paul travelled in malaria areas, and evidently he got malaria.
When you have malaria, your eyesight is affected. So you find that he said, “See with what large letters I write.” Also, when you have malaria, sometimes you will shake. He said, “I was with you in fear and trembling.” Perhaps it was malaria; I do not know.
But anyway, because God gave him such revelation, God allowed Satan to put a stake in his body to keep him humble. You know, sometimes something happens, and God has a purpose.
Paul felt uncomfortable, but he was not thinking of himself. He was thinking of the glory of God. He was preaching among the people. If he had such a trembling body, if he had such a defect in his body, that would affect his preaching.
He spoke to people that God is the God of resurrection, and people might say, “Look at his body.” There was no testimony. For the Lord’s sake, not for his own sake, he asked the Lord to remove it. He prayed three times for it.
What did the Lord answer? The answer was:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is perfected in weakness.
When Paul heard this from the Lord, immediately he changed his attitude. He said, “I boast in my weakness, because His power is perfected in my weakness.” It magnified Christ.
Brothers and sisters, this is quickening. We have such a weak body, yet see what Paul could do. It is experiencing the quickening of his mortal body.
We all can experience something of that. How often you feel you are insufficient, as if the Lord is insufficient for you. But then, when God begins to speak to you, you find all-sufficiency in Christ Jesus.
Finally, thank God, there will be a day coming when this mortal body will become an immortal body. Today we are still groaning in this mortal body, but today we are experiencing the resurrection power of Christ in our mortal body.
The day is coming, in the twinkling of an eye. We find this in 1 Corinthians 15. Let us read from verse 51.
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed,
In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must needs put on incorruptibility, and this mortal put on immortality.
But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word that is written, Death hath been swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory?
Now the sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
We do not know what a spiritual body is. We do not know what that incorruptible body is. We do not know what that immortal body is. We only know that our body will be transformed to be like the resurrection body of our Lord Jesus.
With that resurrection body, we will serve the Lord forever and forever. This is the glorious purpose of God concerning us.
So may the Lord show mercy to us, that our whole being—spirit, soul, and body—may be fully sanctified and preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.
During the intervening time, Thou hast begun, and Thou wilt finish it. So we, by faith, commit ourselves to Thee, that Thou wilt sanctify us wholly and preserve us blameless until then. We give Thee the glory.