You should not look to the help of teachings alone. Teachings alone will not help you. There is only one thing that will help you-to realize that Christ is within you as your life and that you must learn to live by Him, not by yourself. The teachings as well as the gifts are not so effective. You need a silent faith, the faith within to realize that Christ is such a living One within you. You also must learn to deny the self (Matt. 16:24). One of the central teachings in the four Gospels is that we must deny the self (Matt. 16:24-26; 10:39; Luke 9:23-25; 17:33; John 12:25). In the Epistles, to walk by and live in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 18, 25; 3:3; Rom. 8:4-5, 13) and to live by Christ (Phil. 1:20-21; John 6:57) are mentioned frequently.
There is no other way to enjoy Christ. We must learn on all occasions, daily and at all times, to deny ourselves. Although we may have heard this word many years ago, we must take it today as something living for us. If we would deny ourselves, turn to the spirit to contact the Lord, and live by Him, we would see the consuming of the outer man and the renewing of the inner man. We would see a real decrease of the self and a real increase of Christ. Then we will enjoy Him and we will realize that His grace is really sufficient in our daily experience (2 Cor. 12:9). With this kind of experience, regardless of what happens, there is the inner strengthening, supporting, and all-inclusive supply, which is the sufficient grace. This inward grace becomes the strength, the power, which is made perfect in our weakness. The weaker we are, the more we will realize the grace which is constantly strengthening us into the inner man. In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed that the saints would be strengthened with power into the inner man that Christ might make His home in their hearts, that is, that He might take over their entire being.
Our need is just to cooperate with Him. God’s intention is that we would put our natural life, the soul-life, aside all of the day and take Christ as our life to live by today. We have a natural life and a spiritual life. God’s intention is not to adjust or improve the natural life, but His intention is that we deny the natural life to live by the spiritual one-to live by Christ. Regardless of the circumstances, our need is to learn to live, move, behave, and have our being by Christ, not by our self. As a result, we will enjoy Him and realize that He is really the treasure within us. We will sense His preciousness and sweetness day by day and hour by hour. We will also sense how sweet He is, taking care of us in all kinds of circumstances, and we will realize in our experience that His grace, which is just Himself, is so sufficient.
Ultimately, we will testify like the apostle Paul that we are “well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, and distresses, on behalf of Christ” because whenever we are weak then we are powerful (2 Cor. 12:9-10). We are weak in our old being, but there is another One living within us. This is the central message given in 2 Corinthians. The many biographies, autobiographies, and the history of many of the saints confirm that there is only one lesson to learn-to put aside the natural life and take Christ as our life to live by Christ. As regenerated persons, we must put ourselves aside and take Christ as our life in a practical way.
We must live this way not only with outsiders but also with our own folks, our own family members. Deny yourself and take Christ as your life. Let the outer man be consumed and the inner man be increased all the time. If we would practice this, Christ would be so real, living, precious, and sweet to us. Praise the Lord! In 2 Corinthians the treasure, the power, and the grace are Christ Himself, who is so precious, sufficient, powerful, and near to us.
In the Lord’s recovery we do not need forms nor do we merely need doctrine or gifts. We need to learn to live not by ourselves, but by Him as the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit. We have two men within us. We must learn to live not by the first man, the outer man, but to live by the second man, the inner man. This is the way for us to enjoy Christ all of the time. We must take this word not as doctrine or knowledge, but as something to put into practice. Then we will see the difference. We will experience Christ as such a living One who is so real, sweet, and precious.
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