Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians 6? We will read verses 19 and 20.
Do ye 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 now then God in your body.
Romans 12:1:
I beseech you, brethren, therefore, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service.
And we will go back to 1 Corinthians 9:27:
But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest after having preached to others, I should be myself rejected.
And going back to Romans, Romans 8:11:
But if the Spirit of Him that has raised up Jesus from among the dead dwell in you, He that has raised up Christ from among the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of His Spirit which dwells in you.
And the same chapter, verse 23:
And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves also groan in ourselves, awaiting sonship, that is, the redemption of our body.
Let us pray.
Lord, we do want to praise and thank Thee, because Thou hast bought us with a great price. Thou hast even shed Thy blood, broken Thy body, in order to buy us for Thyself.
So, Lord, as we gather here this morning, we do realize that we are not our own, but we are Thine. Teach us how to really offer our bodies a living sacrifice, that in this body Thou mayest be glorified.
We offer this hour into Your hands, and just look to Your Holy Spirit to plant Thy living Word in the innermost of our being, that from now, by Thy grace, we may live for Thee and no longer for ourselves. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Well, brothers, we are still on spiritual exercise. I wonder if we are still in the gymnasium of Christ.
Again, I will repeat that if you are only here to hear some words, some teaching, it does not help you. But if you are really actively cooperating with the Lord, exercising your spirit before the Lord according to His Word, then it will bring great profit to you, not only in this life but even in the life to come.
And this morning we would like to focus our attention on how spiritual exercise sanctifies our bodies.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know from Genesis 2:7 that there is only one short verse telling us how our body was formed:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.
That is it. Look at your body today. What is your body made of? It is made of dust of the ground. It is made of red earth. The elements in your body are no different from the elements of the red earth.
And that is why we find our body gives us world-consciousness. We are in touch with the world around us.
But can you imagine that our God, Who can form our body with the dust of the ground—what a marvel our body is! In the hand of the skillful Potter, He made a body, a vessel of clay, of earth, and made it such a wonderful instrument.
So no wonder we find in Psalm 139 that the psalmist David, when he considered the body that God has created, said in verse 14:
I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvelous are Thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
How wonderful is our God, that He can use the dust of the ground and make the human body a wonder. It is fearfully, wonderfully made.
The more you study your body, the more you will feel awed. Even today, after physiologists have studied the body for so long, they still do not know fully about the body. It is fearfully, wonderfully made.
Marvelous are Thy works;
And my soul knoweth right well.
But did it ever come to your mind: Why does God give us a body? Is it that we may live, eat and drink, and tomorrow die?
Is there any purpose for our wonderful God to use such a cheap material to make such a wonderful body? Is there any purpose of God behind it? Can you think of God making something without any purpose?
Our God is a God of purpose. Even before the foundation of the world, He purposed a purpose in His heart according to His good pleasure, and that includes our body.
Now, what is God’s purpose in creating a body for us? I think it is a question we should ask. Otherwise, we do not know how to use our body and how to live in this body, because we do not know why it is there—why it is given to us.
I think it is a matter of personal importance that we should know what is God’s purpose in creating us, man, with such a fearful and wonderful body. Do you know the answer?
I think the answer is very clear. Because when our Lord Jesus came into this world to become a man, listen to what God said. You can find it in Hebrews 10, beginning at verse 5:
Wherefore, coming into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but Thou hast prepared Me a body;
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast taken no pleasure.
Then I said, Lo, I come, in the roll of the book it is written of Me, to do, O God, Thy will.
So here is the secret. Here it tells us why God gives us a body. He created a body for us for one reason: to do the will of God.
Now, if it is true with our Lord Jesus, because He is the true Man—the Man that God had in mind when He created mankind—then that must be true with all of us.
So what is the purpose of God in creating such a wonderful, fearful instrument for us? That we may live to do God’s will. Anything short of that fails in the purpose of God concerning our body.
Our body was created with a purpose. Because with a living body, we are able to live for God, we are able to do God’s will, and we are able to fulfill God’s purpose. And what a glorious purpose that is.
Unfortunately, our forefathers in the garden of Eden made a wrong choice. God gave man a free will to choose how he was going to use his body.
You can choose to live by the life of God, depend upon God, and by His grace live to glorify God. Or you can take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, develop your own self, live your whole life for yourself, be your own god, and reduce that wonderful body to be a body of sin and a body of death.
Unfortunately, our forefathers made the decision for us. So, brothers and sisters, when we are born, we are born with a wonderful body that God has created. But unfortunately, this body is already in bondage to the law of sin and death.
So what is this mortal body today? In Romans 6:6, it is called the body of sin. This body knows nothing but to sin. This body is not able to do God’s will, because this body is in bondage. It is under the enemy of God and is governed by the fallen man—sin, flesh, self.
Therefore, instead of serving God’s purpose, we find this body is a body of sin. It knows nothing but to sin against God.
And then in Romans 7:24, it is called a body of death. Not only of sin, but also of death. Sin is to do what you should not do. Death is when you cannot do what you should do. That is it.
So, brothers and sisters, look at the world today. Look at the millions and millions of bodies. What are our bodies doing? The body does nothing but sin. The body is under death, and one day dust returns to dust.
We need to have a very clear understanding of what happened when man failed concerning our body. But thank God, He came to the rescue, and He came to buy our body back with a great price.
You know, that is the reason why, week after week, we come together to remember the death of our Lord. Because we need to always remember what a price He paid to ransom us from the bondage of sin and of death. He bought us back for God.
That is why you find in 1 Corinthians 6:20: “Ye are bought with a price.”
Brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, did you find your body changed? Constitutionally, so far as makeup is concerned, it has not changed. This is still the mortal body. Even superficially, yes, there is some change: you change from a long face to a round face. But so far as constitution is concerned, it remains the same.
Now what has changed? The ownership has changed.
Before you are saved, your body belongs to the enemy. He uses your fallen self to manage your body, and that is the reason why you live to sin and live to die.
But thank God, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, a great change has come to our body. This body is no longer under the bondage of God’s enemy. This body belongs to God. He has bought us with a price. We have a ransomed body.
The ownership has changed. God regained us as our Owner, so He has the right to use our body.
I remember a story. Long ago, when this country still had slaves, there was an auction for slaves somewhere in this country.
There was a girl. She was chained and on the block to be auctioned. A group of people gathered around to auction for that girl. The girl was weeping, but secretly she tried to open her eyes to see around. Who were those people who were buying her?
As she looked at them, she lost all hope. These people were cruel, hard, harsh. She did not know what would become of her.
But suddenly another man came in, and he put in the highest price. He bought the girl. To the surprise of all the people, he asked a person to come and break the chains.
And after the chains were broken, he told that girl, “I bought you to set you free. Now go.” And he turned around and left.
The girl was stunned. She did not know what to do. But then she rose up, ran after that man, and she said, “I want to serve you.”
Brothers and sisters, this is what happened when our Lord Jesus bought us with a high price. Legally, you are His. You have no right to live for yourself.
But God does not deal with us as a master who has bought slaves. He always deals with us with love. He set us free. If, after you are bought with such a great price, you still want to live for yourself, why, you can do that. But is that what you want?
If you are constrained by the love of Christ, what will you do? You will be like that girl. Willingly, you will give yourself to the Lord to serve Him all your life. That is consecration.
So, brothers and sisters, legally our body is ransomed. It belongs to God. You are free. You are free to choose whether you still want to live your whole life—a life of sin, a life of death—or whether you want to live for the glory of God.
All you need to do is present your body a living sacrifice. A sacrifice is something to be killed and offered. But this is a living sacrifice. As long as you live, you have given yourself to the Lord and allow Him to live out His life in you. And that is your reasonable service. Are we doing that?
You know, when an old owner of a store sells his store, the store comes under another owner—new management. Now what usually happens? Some of the old employees may be reemployed.
When the old master goes out and the store is bought, all those employees become unemployed. Now that is what you find in Romans 6:6: “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Christ.”
And it is said in Romans 6:6 that the body of sin might be annulled. Now, the word annulled here does not mean eradicated—no longer there. No. In the original, it means that the body of sin may be unemployed.
Because the owner has changed, all the employees are unemployed, out of a job. But sometimes the new owner will continue to reemploy those old employees.
And when that happens, usually the store will be closed for maybe a week or a month. Why? Not only to rearrange the inside, but to retrain the employees, because the old employees were used to the old way.
If the new owner opens up the new store, by habit the employees will do things in the old way. So the employees who are reemployed have to be retrained. Their mindset has to be changed.
You know, we have a mindset. That is, our mind is set to work a certain way, and it is all according to the old master. But now we have a new Master, and our mind is to be reset.
So that is consecration. When you present your body a living sacrifice, then the Holy Spirit does something to your mind: He will renew your mind and give you a new mindset. Only with this new mind are you able to do the things of the Spirit, and no longer just the things of the flesh.
So, brothers and sisters, you will find that after He has bought us, and after we have responded and consecrated ourselves to the Lord, there will be a time for this resetting. That is what is happening today, is it not?
If He has bought us and you do not present your body a living sacrifice, then what happens? There will be no retraining. You will still be using your body in the old way. And unfortunately, that happens to many so-called Christians. I hope none of us will be there.
We are constrained by the love of Christ. We have presented our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. We are willing to serve our new Master. We are willing to live a new kind of life—not sinning, but glorifying God.
We need to be retrained. This is the gymnasium of Christ. This is spiritual exercise.
The Holy Spirit will begin to work in our lives. What we did formerly, He will tell us, “No more.” What we could not do before, He will say, “Do it, because this is My will.” And we are in this retraining course.
We need to learn. We need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us, telling us a new way of life.
Brothers and sisters, is this theory? No. This is everyday life. Every day we are going through this new process.
Once there were soldiers on a train, on their way to the front. Some of the soldiers decided to play cards, but they only had three of them. So they turned to another soldier who was sitting there: “Join us and play cards with us.”
But that soldier was a Christian. He said, “Sorry, I have no hand.”
They looked at him. “You have hands. How can you say you have no hands?”
He said, “Sorry, this is not mine. It belongs to the Lord.”
Do you have such an attitude? When you are doing anything, do you have the sense that these hands do not belong to you? You have no right to use them. They belong to the Lord.
Do you realize that your feet are not your own? You cannot go anywhere you want to go. You go where He says.
Do you realize that you cannot speak anything you like? This mouth does not belong to you. You belong to the Lord. Do you realize that your life is not yours? It is His.
Much spiritual exercise is going on. But unfortunately, many neglect it. Our body is not used for the glory of God; our body is used for our selfishness.
You know, when we really consecrate our bodies as a living sacrifice, this is a daily matter, not just big things. Life is composed mostly of small things. If we are not faithful in small things, we cannot be faithful in big things. Everything adds up.
It is in our daily life that we learn how to allow our Lord to use our body. Our body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
Even in our eating and drinking, even in the way we spend our time, even in the places where we go, and in the company that we keep—brothers and sisters, this body is not yours; it is the Lord’s.
This body is not to gratify you. This body is to glorify the Lord. How glorious that is.
That is the reason why you find in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our body that has been ransomed needs to be consecrated. Our consecrated body needs to be sanctified. That is the process.
Do you think God will accept a body that has not been ransomed? Romans 12:1 says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” What kind of body is that? Is it your fallen body, your body of sin and of death?
God will not have a sacrifice like that. So it must be a ransomed body, a body that has been ransomed. Then God will accept it.
And when God accepts it, His Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us, will begin to work to bring it into reality.
You know, in the process, there are two things that will happen. One is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27:
But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest after having preached to others, I should be myself rejected.
You know, when you really consecrate your body to the Lord, then the Holy Spirit will begin to work in you. This is where spiritual exercise is for us.
Suppose you like to sleep late. That is a common thing, because you find it even in Proverbs. Now you are always sleeping late to gratify your lazy body.
So when you get up, there is no time for you to go to the Lord, have a quiet time with the Lord, to read your Bible, to pray, to have a sweet time with the Lord.
So one sister said, “Our problem is between the bed and the Lord.” What do you like most: God or your bed?
So you have to buffet your body. Now, buffet simply means you have to beat it black and blue. Why? Because your body wants to be your master.
But because Christ is your Master, that is the conflict. You have to beat it black and blue, not to gratify it, and to lead your body captive. Your body should be under your control—or, may I say, under the Spirit’s control. Your body should not control you.
Now, it seems a small thing. We used to say eating. Why do you eat? Can you be gluttonous and indulge yourself? Now who is your master: the body, or you—or Christ?
Brothers and sisters, this is very practical, nothing theoretical. Nothing really in your own strength, but it is supernaturally natural. You do not need to be so tense and get nervous. No, God does not want you that way.
It is supernaturally natural. These things will come up. These challenges will come up. These crises will come up. And there is the opportunity for you to buffet your body and lead it captive.
That is one side. And there is another wonderful side. That wonderful side is in Romans 8:11:
But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from among the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from among the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of His Spirit which dwells in you.
So, on the one hand, you experience the buffeting of your body. On the other hand, you will begin to experience the quickening of your mortal body by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes you are led by the Lord to do something, and your body does not seem able to catch up. What happens? You look to the Lord, and you will find a quickening of your mortal body by the Holy Spirit.
In the early days, I watched Watchman Nee. His body was so weak. We are told that when he went walking from one place to another, he had to stop by every electric post, wrap himself around the post, rest, and then walk on.
And oftentimes, in his early days, he was agonizing in bed. But when the time came for him to minister, he got up and ministered for two hours. Quickening of the mortal body.
You will begin to experience the resurrection power of God even in this life, in this mortal body. So these two experiences will go on in the process under spiritual exercise.
But that is not the end. Because Romans 8:23 tells us that we all who are in this mortal body, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan in ourselves, awaiting sonship—that is, the redemption of our body.
One day, at the coming of the Lord—and thank God, the day is near—this mortal body will be fully redeemed.
That is, from this mortal body we will put on an immortal body; from this corruptible body we will put on an incorruptible body; from this physical body we will put on a spiritual body. And at that time, death is conquered. You find that in 1 Corinthians 15.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we have blessed hope. This body will be fully redeemed—accepted—just like our Lord Jesus.
When His mortal body was put in the tomb, when He resurrected, He took upon Himself a spiritual body. So one day we will be relieved of this mortal body. Thank God, we have an immortal, incorruptible, spiritual body.
And in that body, we can serve without bounds. Wonderful. So this is full salvation.
Brothers and sisters, in view of such hope, what should we do today?
D. L. Moody, that famous evangelist, was a big man—280 pounds. When he was young, he heard someone say, “God is still waiting, waiting to find a man who will wholly surrender to God, and what can God do in and through that man?”
And when D. L. Moody heard about it, he said, “It does not say God is waiting for a great man or a small man, a learned man or an unlearned man. God just says God is waiting to find a man. I am that man. I am willing to yield myself totally to God.”
He was a man of 280 pounds. He said, “Every ounce of my 280 pounds of body belongs to God.” And what God did with such a body!
Our Lord Jesus, with that mortal body, lived only thirty-three years, and He only ministered three and a half years. But the apostle John said that if he were going to write all the things our Lord Jesus had done or said, even the world could not contain the books.
Brothers and sisters, what is the difference? Same mortal body, same time, but different service.
So after all, what is our body for? In 1 Corinthians 6:20, it says:
Ye are not your own, for ye have been bought with a price: glorify now then God in your body.
That is the message God wants us to hear today.
Dear Lord, Thou hast bought us with a price, but how we have abused this body. Forgive us.
We rededicate our lives to Thee. Take them; use them for Thy glory. In Christ’s name. Amen.