Message Four

The Divine Transfer and the Grafted Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:12, 17, 19; 6:4-5, 14; 11:17, 24

1. As those who have obeyed the gospel of God concerning His Son and have believed into Him to have the obedience of faith, we have experienced the divine transfer—Rom. 10:16; 1:5; 5:12, 17, 19:
   1. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ—1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12, 17, 19:
      1. In the sight of God there are only two men in the universe—Adam and Christ—1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:14:
         1. In Adam we inherited sin, we were constituted sinners, we were under the reign of death, and we were under God’s condemnation—vv. 12, 14, 19; 1:18.
         2. As the result of being in Christ, we have grace with righteousness, we have been justified, and we have eternal life—v. 17; 3:24, 26; 5:17.
      2. We were transferred out of Adam into Christ by believing into Christ and by being baptized into Christ—John 3:15; Rom. 6:4:
         1. When we believed in Christ, we actually believed ourselves into Him, and when we were baptized, we were baptized into Him.
         2. Because God has put us into Christ, we should boldly testify that we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ—1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17.
   2. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of death into life—John 5:24; 1 John 3:14:
      1. The source of death is the tree of knowledge, and the source of life is the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 17); hence, to pass out of death into life is to change the source of our living.
      2. By repenting and believing into the Lord Jesus, we received the divine life into us and were transferred out of death into life—John 3:15; 5:24.
      3. Faith in the Lord Jesus is the way for us to pass out of death into life; love toward the brothers is the evidence that we have passed out of death into life—1 John 3:14.
   3. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of darkness into light—Acts 26:18:
      1. Darkness is the expression and sphere of Satan in death; light is the expression and sphere of God in life—1 Pet. 2:9.
      2. God has transferred us out of Satan’s death-realm of darkness into His life-realm of light—1 John 1:5-7.
      3. Formerly, we were in darkness under the authority of Satan, but we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and God—Acts 26:18.
   4. As believers in Christ, we have been delivered out of the authority of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love—Col. 1:13:
      1. To be delivered out of the authority of darkness is to be delivered from the devil, who has the might of death; we have been delivered from the devil, Satan, by the death of Christ and by the life of Christ in resurrection—Heb. 2:14; John 17:15; Col. 2:15; John 5:24.
      2. To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is to be transferred into the Son who is life to us and who rules us in His resurrection life with love and in light—Col. 1:12-13.
   5. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred from law to grace—Rom. 6:14:
      1. This grace is the Triune God processed and consummated through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to be everything to us for our enjoyment—2 Cor. 8:9; 1 Pet. 5:10; Heb. 2:9.
      2. The grace into which we have been transferred is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us—God Himself in Christ as the Spirit with all that He is for our enjoyment—John 1:14, 16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14.
   6. The practical and experiential transfer is the transfer out of the flesh (the practical and experiential Adam) through our being crucified with Christ and into the Spirit (the practical and experiential Christ) through our union with the Spirit—Rom. 7:1-6; 8:16.
2. As believers in Christ who have experienced the divine transfer, we should now live a grafted life—a life in the union of the divine life with the human life and in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the regenerated human spirit—6:5; 11:17, 24; 1 Cor. 6:17:
   1. The Bible reveals that the relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man become one—v. 17:
      1. God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life—John 15:1, 4-5.
      2. This oneness is a union in life—a grafted life—Rom. 11:17, 24.
   2. In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 1:14; 3:14; 12:24; 20:22:
      1. Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the Shoot of David, so that we may be grafted together with Him—1:14; Matt. 1:1; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15.
      2. Christ was “cut” on the cross so that we could be grafted into Him, and He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit to enter into us and make us one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a; Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 6:17.
   3. Grafting produces an organic union—Rom. 6:5; Gal. 2:16:
      1. This is not the exchanging of a poor life for a better life; rather, it is the uniting of two lives as one so that they may share one mingled life and living—v. 20; 1 Cor. 6:17:
         1. Such a mingling takes place when two similar yet different lives pass through death (cutting) and resurrection (growth).
         2. This depicts our union with Christ—Rom. 12:4-5.
      2. Faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) refers to an organic union with Him through believing; in such an organic union we and Christ are one.
   4. Grown together with Him (Rom. 6:5) denotes an organic union in which growth takes place, so that one partakes of the life and characteristics of the other; in the organic union with Christ, whatever Christ passed through has become our history—v. 6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6.
   5. Grafting discharges all our negative elements, resurrects our God-created faculties, uplifts and enriches our faculties, and saturates our entire being to transform us and conform us to the image of Christ—John 11:25; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 8:29.
   6. Since we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves but allow Christ to live in us—John 15:1, 4-5; Gal. 2:20.
   7. Through grafting we are united with Christ, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him to become the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5.