Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians 4? We will read from verse 7 through verse 18.
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.
But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak;
knowing that He that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.
Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Again, we come to the Gospel according to John, chapter 12. We will read from verse 20 to verse 28.
Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast:
these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus.
And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
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 honor.
Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify Thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee again for giving us such privilege and opportunity to gather together in Thy presence, to read Thy Word, and to hear Thy voice.
Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt open our inner ears and our inner eyes, that we may hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Lord, we commit ourselves to Thee, that whatever Thy Word says may be living, real, operative, and true in our lives, that Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we have been fellowshipping together on some life-changing lessons in spiritual exercise. God has made every provision for us that we may be transformed and conformed to the image of His beloved Son. This is the will of God for each and every one of us whom He has saved.
But how are we going to enter into all that our Lord Jesus has accomplished for us on Calvary’s cross, that we may receive all that God has promised to do in our lives? This requires our spiritual exercise.
In other words, if we do not exercise our spirit, we will not be able to appreciate and appropriate all that God has promised and has done for us. So this is why spiritual exercise is important to us as believers.
Now, this time we want to emphasize some of the life-changing lessons in spiritual exercise. As a matter of fact, these lessons are consecutive, and they continue through our whole life. It is not something that you learn as one lesson and then forget. What you have learned will be added to and added to, until all that God has purposed concerning us is realized.
We have already shared on this matter of consecration, the beginning of our Christian life. We really begin to live as Christians not merely after we have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
Yes, when we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we receive His life too. We have His life in our new spirit, and the Holy Spirit also dwells in our spirit to see to it that this life which has been given to us—this Christ who lives in us—will grow in us until His full stature may be built up in us.
So, after we have received all the mercies of God, the first reaction from us is that we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
After you have believed in the Lord Jesus, have you been constrained by His tremendous love for us? Under that love’s constraining, you realize that you cannot live for yourself anymore. You have to present your body as a living sacrifice to our Lord Jesus.
That is to say, “Lord, here am I, redeemed by Thy precious blood, constrained by Thy love. We do not want to live for ourselves anymore. We want to live for Thee.”
This is consecration. After we have really given ourselves to the Lord, then the Holy Spirit within us will begin to work in our spirit, to lead us into Christ.
So consecration is our first Christian experience, and it is not something you do once for all. It is something that you do day after day—morning, evening, all the time.
In other words, as the Spirit works in your life, showing you what is of Christ and what is not of Christ, then you respond in spiritual exercise. You obey whatever the Spirit of God teaches you in your spirit.
So consecration is a daily thing. We daily need to present our bodies, just like a burnt offering which had to be offered morning and evening. It increases as the days go on until, by the grace of God, we can live a consecrated life—a life truly set apart for God.
Then, of course, after you have consecrated yourself and the Holy Spirit begins to work in your spirit, you will begin to realize that there are two lives in you.
To an unbeliever there is only one life: his old Adamic, fallen nature. But to us Christians, we discover that there are two lives in us. We have the life of Christ in our spirit, but unfortunately we find that the old Adamic life—our own self—still lives in our soul.
In other words, we still tend to think in the old ways. We still think, speak, and act according to the old life. Therefore, sooner or later, a consecrated Christian discovers that he has two lives within him, and these two lives strive against each other.
Christ in our spirit strives against self in our soul, and self in our soul struggles against Christ in our spirit. Oftentimes this so confuses us. We want to do the will of God, but because of this struggle within us, we wonder what really is the will of God, what comes out of ourselves, and what truly comes from God.
So you will find that, when we are in that situation, the dividing of the spirit and soul is necessary. How can these two lives be clearly divided, so that we can know what really is from God and what is not from Him?
Oftentimes, when we are in that kind of situation, we become quite nervous. We begin to analyze ourselves. We turn ourselves to self-introspection, trying to find out. But, brothers and sisters, we find that introspection will never help, because the very effect of introspection is that you have fallen into your soul.
The only way we find in the Word of God is what we find in Hebrews 4:12:
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
So, brothers and sisters, when we are in that kind of situation, the only thing is to remember that you are a living sacrifice. All you need to do is to lie on the altar quietly, looking to our Lord Jesus, who is the Priest.
The Holy Spirit will wield the sword of the Word, and He will penetrate and divide the soul and the spirit. You know, as the marrow is in the joints, so the spirit is in the soul. The soul is as a shell to the spirit. Only when the living and operative Word of God begins to work in our life and cuts through the joints will the marrow be exposed.
So the Word of God is not only something written in the Bible. This is the Word of God, but this is letter; and the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens. The Holy Spirit needs to quicken the written Word of God and make it a living and operative Word.
When that Word comes to you, immediately you know what is of God and what is not of God.
Now, we will not go into these matters that we have already covered. This morning we would like to continue on. After you begin to experience the dividing of the soul and the spirit, you begin to know what is God’s will and what is not. You desire to do the will of God, but when you desire to do the will of God, you find there is a problem.
That is, to will is in you, but to do is not in you. You find that in your spirit you know the will of God, and you want to do the will of God. But unfortunately, you find that the old man in your soul objects. He raises many arguments and many questions to confuse you and weaken you, so that you are not able to do what you want to do.
Now, that is exactly what the Apostle Paul himself experienced in Romans 7. Here you find a man who is saved, consecrated, and seeking God. He said, “I know what is the mind of God, but when I start to do it, I find that I cannot do it. I know what is not God’s will, but I cannot help myself. It is as if sin within me is doing it in spite of me.”
And he said, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” So here you find a problem. You know the will of God, and you really want to do the will of God, but at the same time you find yourself bound. You are under bondage of some kind. You cannot break through.
Because of that, you cannot live as Christ has lived. You find yourself sinking back to the old way. It is a wretched thing. Who can deliver you from this body of death?
So here we come into this matter of the breaking of the outward man and the release of the spirit.
So far as man’s construction is concerned, we know that our soul is in the body, and that makes us living. If our soul leaves our body, we are dead—that is, physically dead. But at the same time, our spirit is in our soul.
Unless you can break through your soul-life, the Christ-life cannot be released. So, in 2 Corinthians 4, we find these two terms: the outward man and the inward man.
Here you find that we have an outward man, and the outward man here does not refer to the body. The outward man here refers to the soul. He is the outward man; he is the one in whom self resides.
The inward man refers to the spirit, where Christ resides. And it says that our outward man has to be broken before the inward man can come forth.
Paul uses an illustration: the treasure in earthen vessels. I believe, brothers and sisters, we all know who the treasure is. It is none other than Christ Himself. Our Lord Jesus is the treasure.
And who are the earthen vessels? We are the earthen vessels. Why? Because we are made of earth. That is our composition.
You find here that “the treasure” is in the singular number. In other words, there is only one treasure. No matter what treasure you like, or what is treasure to you, to God there is only one treasure, and it is His beloved Son.
But “the vessels,” the earthen vessels, are in the plural number. Why? Because each one of us is an earthen vessel. We are earthen vessels; therefore, there are many earthen vessels. But thank God, there can be only one treasure in that earthen vessel: that is Christ.
You know, it is amazing. If you have a treasure, where will you put it? If you have a thousand dollars in your pocket while walking on the street, where will your hand be? Probably, unconsciously, your hand will be over that pocket, because that is where your treasure is.
If you have a treasure, you will put it in a golden box. Nobody would put a treasure in an earthen vessel. Only God does it. Now, that is the wonder of the gospel.
God alone is willing to put the treasure of His heart, His own beloved Son, into us who are but earth. But that is what God has done.
The treasure is full of light, full of radiance, but the earthen vessel is opaque. So you find that, even though the treasure is full of radiance, yet because it is hidden in the earthen vessel, the light cannot shine forth.
That is our situation. So how can the surpassing radiance of the treasure be shown forth? The only way is to break the earthen vessel.
You remember the story of Mary. After our Lord Jesus called Lazarus out of death into life, there was a banquet for our Lord Jesus. Mary’s heart was so touched by the love of Christ that she wanted to give something to the Lord—the best that she had.
Fortunately, she had an alabaster flask with a pound of nard. That was her treasure. Probably she kept it for her wedding; we do not know. But she was so touched by the love of God.
So, when our Lord Jesus sat at the table, she went in, took the alabaster flask, and broke it. Then the ointment flowed upon our Lord Jesus, and the fragrance began to spread throughout the whole house.
The disciples began to murmur, “What a waste! This could be sold for three hundred denarii,” which was about the wages of three hundred days at that time. “Why such a waste?”
Furthermore, brothers and sisters, how do you consider yourself? Do you consider yourself an earthen vessel? Never. You always consider yourself an alabaster flask. That is the way we think of ourselves.
And if it is an alabaster flask, it is a worthwhile thing. It is worth something. Now, are you willing to break it? If you just open it and drop a few drops of nard upon the Lord, that should be enough. You can keep the rest for yourself.
But no, with Mary, the love of Christ so touched her that she could not wait to see Christ being anointed. So she broke it, broke the alabaster flask, and poured everything upon the Lord.
As you go on with the Lord, when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you what the mind of Christ is, and you want to obey and do the will of God, what will happen? Because you are an earthen vessel, nobody will naturally deny himself. Everybody loves himself and wants to preserve himself. That is our natural inclination.
But when the love of Christ so constrains us, we are willing to break the alabaster flask—the earthen vessel. You may feel hurt. You may feel loss. You may weep over it. But the love of Christ overcomes all. It gives us the strength to break the outward man.
In a sense, it hurts yourself, but the radiance of Christ is released. That is the way we come into the release of the spirit. We are supposed to live by the spirit, no longer by our soul.
So you find in 2 Corinthians 4:7:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
In other words, we have no radiance. We have no power. But the power to overcome and the radiance of the light come only from God.
How does it come out in verse 8? “Pressed on every side, yet not straitened.” Another translation says, “Afflicted, but not frustrated.”
You know, do you experience this sometimes? You find yourself afflicted. Why? Afflicted not because of your sin, but precisely because you want to obey God. Your flesh does not like it. Your flesh resists. Your flesh raises all kinds of reasons to save yourself.
Now, if you are really willing to afflict yourself, as our Lord Jesus said, “Deny yourself,” tell yourself, “I do not know you. I do not care for you.” Now, who will do that? When you are doing it, you are afflicted, but not frustrated, because deep down within you, you know you are doing the will of God. That is your comfort.
“Perplexed, yet not unto despair.” A clearer expression is used by Phillips’ translation: “At your wit’s end, but not at your life’s end.”
Oftentimes you come to your wit’s end. You try to get some way out. You try to find some bypass. You come to the end of your wit, and what do you do? Well, you may come to your wit’s end, but that is not the end of life. As a matter of fact, it is the beginning of life.
“Pursued, yet not forsaken.” You may be persecuted not only by your enemies, but even by your friends, and even by yourself. You are denying yourself, persecuting yourself. But remember, you are not abandoned. There is One who holds you in His hand.
“Cast down, but not destroyed.” I like another translation: “Knocked down, but not knocked out.” Oftentimes, do you feel that you are knocked down?
We want always to be in the upper hand, just like Jacob. When the angel came and wrestled with him, the angel could not overcome him, because he was such a good wrestler. Until the angel touched his thigh. In wrestling, the thigh is most important as to whether you can stand or not. When the thigh is touched, you are crippled; your strength is gone.
Oftentimes we find that we are all knocked down. So far as our own feeling is concerned, we are knocked down. But thank God, you have not been knocked out. You can rise up again.
A righteous man may fall seven times, but he rises up again. So, brothers and sisters, this is the way of the cross.
How can our outward man be broken so that the inward man, the spirit, may be released? The only way is through the working of the cross in our lives.
So it continues:
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.
There is the dying of Jesus. Now, the death of Jesus is a fact. Our Lord Jesus, two thousand years ago, died on the cross. The death of Christ is a fact; it is a truth. It is something that He accomplished on Calvary’s cross. It never changes. It is eternal.
But the dying of Jesus is the present working of that death. It is not merely a noun; it is active. It means that it puts to death everything that it comes to. It is the power of putting to death.
So we find that the cross is the dying of Jesus. It is not only in the past; it is always in the present. Day by day, the cross is applied by the Holy Spirit to our flesh, to put our flesh to death, so that the life within us may be released.
And it is released so that other people may receive life. This is what ministry really is.
Brothers and sisters, are we experiencing the dying of Jesus daily, that the life of Jesus may be released in us? It is a daily experience.
When the Holy Spirit is working in our spirit, if we do not exercise our spirit and we do not respond, if we do not consent, as it were, to be broken and put to death, such a thing will not happen.
But only when we are really in spiritual exercise do we find this release of the spirit through the brokenness of the soul working day by day.
This will lead us not only into a life conformed to the image of Christ, but also into true ministry, that we may minister to other people.
The Apostle Paul said that though our outward man decays day by day, our inward man is renewed day by day. What does it matter? The things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Then Scripture uses another example, another parable, and this we find in John 12.
In John 12, our Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem for the last time. He had a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The people cried, “Hosanna,” and welcomed Him as a prophet of God.
While He was there, even some Greeks—Gentiles—came to keep the feast because they admired Judaism, and they wanted to see Jesus. So Philip and Andrew came to the Lord and said, “Lord, the Greeks want to see You.”
So far as man is concerned, this was the most glorious time of our Lord Jesus’ whole life on earth. The whole world, really, was seeking after Him. He said, “Now is the time of My glory.”
But remember, when He spoke of His glory, it was different from what we think. When the whole world follows you, is that not glory to you? But no. Our Lord Jesus was speaking of another glory.
He said:
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.
You know, our Lord Jesus is that grain of wheat. In the whole world, we are all Adam; we are not wheat. But our Lord Jesus is that grain of wheat.
He fell into the ground. That speaks of His incarnation. He came into this world, and He lived for thirty-three and a half years.
Now, if He had not died—if, as we say, He had gone back to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration—He had every right to do that, because He was sinless. He lived a perfect life. He had the right to go back to God.
But if He had done that, there would be no salvation. He came into the world not to live, but to die.
But because that grain of wheat died, it bore much fruit, and we are the fruit that He bore.
So the Lord Jesus began to give us a principle. He said, “He that loveth his life loseth it.” If you want to save your soul-life, you lose it.
And he that hates his soul-life—hates it because it is against God—what will happen? He shall keep it unto life eternal. In other words, you will save your soul unto eternity.
The Lord Jesus applied this not only to Himself. He set the example, and then He applied this principle to all of us:
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 honor.
Our Lord Jesus went to the cross in order to give us salvation. He opened a new and living way for us to the Father, and He wants us to follow Him. If we follow Him, the Father will honor us.
Now look at our Lord Jesus Himself. He said, “Now is My soul troubled.”
Do not think that, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He had such a pure soul that His soul would not be troubled. Of course, His soul was not troubled by sin. But His soul was troubled by laying down His life for our sake.
Think of that. If you are a very clean person, and anyone visits you in your home, you find that everything is in order. Suppose there is another person who is very disorderly and unclean. He throws things here and there, one shoe here and one shoe there, and makes a mess of everything. Will your soul not suffer because of your love for cleanliness?
You find something unbearable. You want to drive that person out.
Brothers and sisters, think of the life of our Lord Jesus. How could He live thirty-three and a half years amid such a dirty, sinful world? How much He must have suffered for us.
And more than that, He had to bear all these things in His own body and die for us. Think of what the Bible says: “He who knew no sin was made sin.”
It was not merely that He who knew no sin took up some of our sins. No, He was made sin for us. He became sin itself. All the sins in the world were centered upon Him. He became sin itself.
Like a very clean person becoming such a dirty person, with every uncleanness upon him—how would you feel? Your pure soul would rebel against it; it would be troubled by it.
Our Lord Jesus was so troubled. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.”
He could have said, “I can easily save Myself, because this is not Mine. It is unnecessary. I am not obligated to do that.” But, “Father, I came for that purpose. Glorify Thyself.”
And there was a voice out of heaven saying, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
The Lord has set the example for us, and He is calling us to follow Him.
So, brothers and sisters, this is the way for the breaking of the outward man and the release of the spirit. When your spirit is released—that is to say, when Christ is released through your spirit—not only will you receive life, but other people will receive life. This is what true ministry really is.
Brothers and sisters, here we are. This is not something done once for all. This is something that goes on day by day. As long as we live, we are going through a continuous dying, bearing in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be released.
Are you willing to do that?
If we love the Lord, this is the way He has prescribed for us. He has walked before us and opened and dedicated that way to us. He says, “Come, and follow Me.”
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we do tremble at Thy Word. We know Thy Word is truth, but our soul is troubled.
Lord, we want to find an escape, but please hold us to Thy Word. May Thy living and operative Word work in us.
Make us willing to be willing to lay ourselves down and allow the radiance to break forth for the glory of God. We ask in Thy precious name.