Prayer: Lord Jesus, we would bow down before You and offer to You our praise from the depth of our being. You have brought us through the past three days. We have seen Your glory. We praise You as the Alpha and the Omega. You are the Beginning and the End. Lord, You have given us a glorious beginning and have led us through a glorious time. Tonight we ask for an even more glorious ending. Lord, draw near to us. You have not accepted us based on what we are, but on Your blood. Lord, thank You that Your redeeming blood cleanses us all the time. Under Your blood and by Your mercy, we receive Your anointing. Lord, we admit that we have nothing and that we can do nothing. For this reason You must speak and must point out to us one by one the mysteries in Your Word. May You supply Your word to us once more, and may You glorify Yourself. Shame Your enemy. Lord, by Your victorious name and under Your victorious blood, we bind what You have bound in heaven, Your enemy. We also ask You to release Your riches and to glorify Yourself. Amen.
The message that we will consider now is the key of the keys. It concerns the mysterious law of the Spirit of life in God's New Testament economy. This is a three-in-one subject. The three are life, the Spirit, and the law. These three are one; they are triune. The consummation of these three is the law. This is like the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The consummation of the Three is the Spirit. The Father is embodied in the Son. The Son is realized in the Spirit. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. The Triune God has been processed to become the completed God. This completed God is the all-inclusive, essential, economical, compound, life-giving, and indwelling Spirit. This Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. He is also the Triune God Himself. When we talk about the law of the Spirit of life, the same is true. Life is in this Spirit, and the Spirit is this law. Hence, this law is the Spirit, and the Spirit is life.
We cannot tell if there was such a branch of knowledge as physics among mankind two thousand years ago when Paul wrote the book of Romans. But Paul did use this term law in his spiritual writings. It is not the legal law, but the natural law, the law of the Spirit of life. Today, many who are sitting here have studied physics and know science. Through physics and science we find out the laws and principles behind all matters in the universe. In Romans 7 and 8, Paul mentioned four laws. One is the law of God outside of us. The other three laws are inside of us. They are the law of evil in our flesh, the law of good in our mind, and the law of the Spirit of life in our spirit.
Paul discovered that there was a law of evil in his flesh, which wars with the law of good in his mind. Through this he was made a captive and was put under sin (Rom. 7:23). These two laws fit the description of the "conflict between reason and lust" described by the ancient Chinese. Reason is the law of good, and lust is the law of evil. These two are warring with each other. In the end, reason always fails, and lust always wins. Except for those who have a strong will, who walk by reason, and who temporarily overcome their lust, most are caught by it. The experience of millions of people can testify to this. However, Paul said in Romans 8:2 that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death." In Paul's experience, the law of the Spirit of life is versus the law of sin and of death. It is not only versus sin but also versus death. Sin and death cannot be separated in the same way that the Spirit and life cannot be separated. One law is versus the other. The Spirit is versus sin, and life is versus death.
I must tell you that every life is itself a law. The human life begets humans. The dog life begets dogs. No one can change this. Take, for example, the sprouts of four kinds of trees—the apple tree, the pear tree, the peach tree, and the almond tree. It is difficult to differentiate between them. But when they grow up to a certain stage, the apple tree will bear apples, the pear tree will bear pears, the peach tree will bear peaches, and the almond tree will bear almonds. This does not come about through any regulations in outward circumstances, but through the respective regulations of the different lives within them.