We need to realize that all of us are little serpents. Many times the husbands and wives appear as serpents to each other. The Lord rebuked the Pharisees by calling them serpents and a brood of vipers (Matt. 23:33). The Lord Jesus not only died on the cross instead of us to redeem us. He also died there with us. When He died there with us, He died there with Satan. He died on the cross with the human nature, and in this way He destroyed the devil. We all have to praise God for His sovereign wisdom. Satan thought he received the profit by entering into man's flesh, but he did not know that he put himself into a trap. One day the Son of God came to be that trap in form and He brought this trap to the cross.

No human word is adequate to fully explain this. It is too great and too mysterious. But the Bible does speak of this in Romans 8:3, John 3:14, and Hebrews 2:14. In the flesh, Christ dealt with the flesh. In the flesh, Christ dealt with sin. In the flesh, Christ dealt with Satan. Judicially speaking, in God's governmental administration, the flesh with sin, with death, and with Satan has been fully crushed.

You may ask me why this flesh still remains with us when it has been dealt with and crushed. This is because it still has some usage for God. Judicially speaking, it is over, but practically speaking, it is still needed. It is not needed for God, but needed for you to force you to turn to your spirit. God is sitting on the throne judicially, and the troublesome flesh of His chosen people has been dealt with judicially. In His government there is not such a thing. But practically, all His children, while they are still on this earth, need this troublesome flesh to help them to turn to Christ.

There is no such thing as good flesh. Just as there is not good dung and bad dung, there is not good flesh and bad flesh. Flesh is just flesh. When we are bothered by the flesh and forced to turn to the spirit, God is happy with us. You may have thought that after you believed in Christ, everything would be wonderful. But after a period of time, you may have become the most miserable person. You may even wish that you had never become a Christian. You may want to forsake Christ. But thank the Lord that once you get caught by the Lord, you are caught forever. In one sense, to be a Christian is a joyful thing, but in another sense, we are not very happy. What shall we do? Whether we are happy or not, we are here.

In the meetings we may be really happy, but are we happy when we get back home in our daily life? To be in a conference is like being on the mountaintop with the Lord Jesus, but to go back home is to go back to the valley. When we come to the meetings, we are coming up, but when we go back home after the meetings, we are going down. What should we do? We should not be disappointed. We need a proper realization of the Christian life. We should not dream that everything is wonderful in the Christian life. My burden is to wake you up from this dream. Do not dream anymore. We have to realize that while we are still on this earth, we need the help of the flesh to force us to turn to Christ in our spirit.