We receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit also by putting on Christ through the baptism that puts us into Christ (Gal. 3:27). To put on Christ is to be clothed with Christ. We were once naked, without any covering. To be naked is a shame. However, at the time we believed and were baptized, something was put on us to clothe us. We were clothed with Christ through baptism. Matthew 28:19 says, "Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." We baptize people not only into water but also into the Triune God. In so doing, we put Christ upon them; we clothe them with Christ through baptism.
Baptism puts us into Christ. When we go to preach the gospel, we need to have the full realization that when we baptize people, we are putting them not only into water but also into the consummated, processed Triune God. We should tell them, "From today onward you are no longer naked; you are clothed and covered with the processed, consummated Triune God." This is the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who is the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God.
The fifth way in Galatians to experience the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is by being identified with Him so that it may be no longer we who live but He who lives in us; and the life which we now live in the flesh we live in the faith of Christ (Gal. 2:20). To be identified with Christ is to be made one with Christ. Baptism identifies us with Christ by making us one entity with Christ. We are identified with Christ especially in His death. Romans 6:3 says, "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" We have been baptized into two things—into Christ and into His death. Therefore, we are now one entity with Christ in His death. This means that He died, and we died also. His death is our death. With Him, His death is history, but with us, it is a present, living, vivid experience. When we are baptized, we are put into Christ's death, making Christ's death ours. Since we are dead and buried, how could we live any longer? We have been identified with Christ in His death that it may be no longer we who live but He who lives in us; and the life which we now live in the flesh we live in the faith of Christ.
To live in the faith of Christ means that the very Christ who lives in us becomes our faith. Galatians 2:20 says that it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. It then goes on to say that the life that we now live, we still live in the flesh, yet we live this life by Christ as our faith. Christ is living within us, and this living Christ within us eventually becomes our faith. It is by this faith, which is the very realization of Christ, that we still live in the flesh. This kind of living is actually not we who live but Christ who lives in us. Christ's living in us means that we still live in the flesh by Christ as our faith. Thus, the life spoken of in Galatians 2:20 is a life that is absolutely Christ. People may say, "Since you are still eating, sleeping, studying, working, and doing things, you are still living." To this we may reply, "Yes, I am still living, but I do not live by anything of myself; I live by Christ as my faith. And this Christ is the One who lives in me. So actually this is not my living. This is Christ's living, because I live no longer, but Christ lives in me. I still have a kind of living, but this living is not by me but by Christ as my faith. The more He lives in me, the more I realize His preciousness. The more I appreciate His preciousness, the more faith is within me. This, therefore, is altogether not a life by myself but a life by Christ. As for me, I am terminated; I am finished; I have been crucified and even buried. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I am still living, yet I am living not by something of myself but by Christ Himself as my faith."
It is in this way that we enjoy, experience, and receive this wonderful Christ. Paul's presentation concerning the way is not simple. It is very deep and very logical. This is the Christian life. I do not believe that such a truth is being adequately taught among Christians today. We thank Him that He has opened both His Word and our eyes so that today we can see something. I hope that you all will learn such things. Then you will spontaneously have more experience of Him, and you will have something as a testimony or a teaching of the truth to render to others. Today the whole world is in need. The entire earth is in a famine like that at the time of Joseph (Gen. 41:30-31). Therefore, we need to be raised up in His stewardship to dispense all the riches of our Father's great household. I hope that many of you will be stirred up to sacrifice all the things that are considered by people as blessings so that you may gain the real blessing. The whole world is starving, waiting for help from the proper sources. We all need to realize the Lord's sovereignty in raising up the present world situation. We also need to realize that God's ordained way is not to use a big speaker but to raise up all His chosen people to prophesy for Him. We all have accumulated quite much of the Lord's riches in His Word; therefore, now the time is ripe for all of us to go and minister to the hungry ones what we have received.