Man’s way of improving his behavior is by developing the good life he received through creation, but God’s way of deliverance is by His Spirit and life. Throughout the centuries, in the East and in the West, man has attempted to improve his behavior by developing the element of good in man and by dealing with the lusts in the flesh of man. All religions and forms of moral cultivation are focused on these two aspects. For example, Hinduism practices the severe treatment of the human body. Sometimes Hindus walk on hot iron so that they can forget their lusts through suffering; others sit on spiked chairs when their lusts are aroused in order to deal with their lusts through suffering. They ill-treat their body in order to deal with their lusts. They also use various methods to cultivate their conscience, to develop their “bright virtues.” On the one hand, they cultivate the element of goodness in their soul, and on the other hand, they try to restrain the lusts in their flesh. These are the two efforts in religious and moral cultivation; these are also the methods used by man for the improvement of behavior.
The way of God’s salvation is different. God saves us by enlivening our deadened spirit with His Spirit and His life. When our spirit is enlivened, He spreads from our innermost being to renew our soul; eventually, when the Lord comes again, He will renew our body, working His element into us from the inside out. This is different from the behavioral improvement of man. The most that man’s behavioral improvement can attain is a high level of goodness that has no element of God. God’s salvation is not to make us good men but to make us God-men who live out God—God mingles Himself with us and lives out from us. This is the goal of God’s salvation. God’s salvation does not take goodness as the goal; rather, it takes God Himself as the goal. God’s salvation is not to work goodness into man but to work God Himself into man.
Since God’s salvation is for us to live Him out, we must live in Him. Saying that we must live in God seems vague. Precisely speaking, God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit, that is, they must contact Him in spirit (John 4:24). We use our mouth to eat food and our eyes to see colors; we must use our spirit to worship and contact God. To live in God, man must live in the spirit. Specifically, living in the spirit is to walk according to the law of the Spirit of life; to walk according to the law of the Spirit of life is to follow the sense of life within.
First, we need to live in God; second, we need to live in the Spirit; third, we need to follow the law of the Spirit of life; and fourth, we need to follow the sense of life. Sense is related to what we can touch and feel. God is Spirit. In the Spirit is the law of life, and in the law of life is the sense of life. If we desire to live in God, we must live in the Spirit. If we desire to live in the Spirit, we must live in the law of the Spirit of life. If we desire to live in the law of the Spirit of life, we must live in the sense of life. When a doctor examines a patient to determine his illness, he must search methodically to find the source. Life is the content of the Spirit, and the law of life is the function and operation of the Spirit; in other words, the law of life is the manifestation of the Spirit. These points are all related.
This is similar to light being the manifestation of electricity. Electricity is invisible, but it has a manifestation. Similarly, although the Spirit is intangible, He has some manifestations. The law of the Spirit of life is the greatest manifestation of the Spirit, but the law of the Spirit of life is contained in the sense of life. By its function and operation, the law of the Spirit of life provides us with a sense of life. These matters are being explained in great detail so that we may learn the lesson of spiritual fellowship in a proper way. I hope that we can all be calm before the Lord and learn to touch these fine details.
When the Spirit of God regulates us inwardly, we have some feelings. The fact that we have feelings means that we have touched the operation of the Spirit. When we touch the law of life, we touch the Spirit, who is God. We touch the law of life through our inner sense; hence, when we obey the inner sense, we obey God. When we constantly live in the sense deep within, we live in God. The top Christians are those who obey the sense deep within. When the inner sense moves, they move. When the inner sense stops, they stop. When the inner sense agrees, they go forth. When the inner sense disagrees, they stop. Their living and work, their message and prayer, and their contact and conversation with others are all according to the inner sense. All the great and small things in their living are according to the inner sense. To obey the inner sense is to obey the law of life, to obey the law of life is to obey the Spirit, and to obey the Spirit is to obey God. In this way, they live in God, in the Spirit, and they move according to the law of the Spirit of life. At a certain point, what they live out is God Himself.
Our living is not according to the law of good but according to the law of the Spirit of life. We do not take goodness as our goal; rather, we take God, Christ, and the Spirit as our goal. We take the Triune God as our goal. Ultimately, what we live out, what we express, and what people touch and sense from us will be life, which is God Himself. This is the way of life.
Those who have touched the way of life advance and progress in life rapidly. But those who have not touched this way, even though they speak about spiritual matters and seemingly pursue spiritual progress, are merely going around and around without much growth. We need to learn to obey the inner sense of the Spirit of life in a simple way. Instead of making resolutions and exerting effort, we need to cease our efforts. When God comes to shine on us and give us revelation, we need to stop our being; we need to stop our desire and effort to do good. When we completely stop, God has an opportunity to spread Himself in us. In this way, the law of the Spirit of life within us will operate and manifest its functions, and we also will be full of spiritual feelings.
We should obey and walk according to the inner sense. Then we will live out and work out God Himself, not our goodness. The purpose of a Christian is to be a God-man. This is God’s salvation, and this is also the goal that God desires to attain in us.