Some today would oppose the fact that Christ is in us. They say this is to make Christ too small. They ask how such a great and unlimited Christ could get into you. This is their systematizing, theological mentality. It is terrible! Don’t read the Bible in this way. The Bible says Christ is in you! Even the Lord Jesus charged us to abide in Him and let Him abide in us (John 15:4-5). In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus was even stronger: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” It is not a small thing for Christ to be in us making His abode. Paul spoke of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). To say Christ dwells in us is a strong expression. I have mentioned previously that the root of the word dwell is actually the Greek word for house. Actually, this word could be translated using the word house as a verb. He is housing Himself in us. It is not a light word. Christ is making His home in us. Christ lives in us. But some Christians today don’t believe this. They reject and deny these two facts: that Satan is in their flesh, and that Christ is in their spirit. Many Christian teachers today do not teach according to the principles of the Bible; they just teach ethical principles. They teach Christians to be on the alert and not to sin and not to hate others. They teach people to improve themselves and to behave themselves and to conduct themselves in the best way to glorify God. Do you realize that this kind of teaching is in the same principle as those of Confucius? These are ethical teachings. These are not the teachings according to the biblical revelation.
How then should we live? We must live in a way to avoid or to escape the first person—Satan in our flesh. Our daily living must be one that escapes this person. At the same time our living should always be with the second person—Christ in our spirit. We should live by the second person. We don’t behave ourselves; we live Christ. Sisters, do you behave yourself and conduct yourself in a very nice way, or do you live by Christ in your spirit? Let me illustrate. When I was young I learned Confucius’ teachings, so I surely know what is morality and what is ethics. I know how to humble myself, how to forbear others, how to have a broadened heart, how to honor the parents, how to obey the parents. I was taught these things, and when I was young, I practiced them a lot. But the more I practiced, the more I did many things against ethics.
Then I got saved and I still remember that the first thing I did was to make up my mind strongly that I would never be the same. I would never lose my temper again. I would never again be mad with my mother. Because she loved me to the uttermost, it was easy for me to be mad with her. When someone loves you so much, it is easy to be mad with that person. Once I became a Christian I made up my mind not to be mad with my mother. I attempted to exercise a strong will with a sober mind to behave myself. But eventually I found out that there are two troubling persons within me. Gradually, I found out that to live the Christian life according to the ethical teachings is not in the Bible. That way of living is according to the principle of Confucius’ teachings. But today, even in the Western World, many Christians simply teach ethical teachings. They don’t really teach the biblical revelation.
Today surely you have had some history of both the flesh and the spirit. So have I. Don’t consider that when you become old you graduate from the flesh. No. The older you are, the easier it is to be in the flesh. The young infants are not so much in the flesh. But the more you grow and the older you become, the more you are in the flesh. When I was young, children never bothered me, but today it is easy for the young children to irritate me. Even today I had some story of being irritated. That was a history of the flesh. But because I fully realize that evil person, right away I escaped from him. In a sense I didn’t go to another person, but I just stayed with the other person, Christ in my spirit. Because He is here, I just stayed with Him. I didn’t try to behave myself or to improve myself, I just stayed with Him. This is the Christian life. The Christian life simply lives Christ. The Christian life is not that you improve yourself and adjust yourself and correct yourself. That is not a Christian life. That might be a Greek philosophical life or a Chinese ethical life. But the Christian’s life is one that escapes the first person—Satan in his flesh—and lives the second person—Christ in his spirit. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no more I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20). This is the Christian life. You have to see that there is a big difference. We are not here simply debating concerning certain doctrines nor fighting merely for certain truths. We are here living a testimony. We are here living Christ. We do not only preach and teach Christ, but we also live Christ. But I am afraid that today your real daily life still is more in the ethical line than in the Christ line. We live more according to the ethical realization than according to Christ. But I believe our history will be advancing. I have the full assurance that after not too long a time the day will come when all of you will live in the line of Christ.
You have to fully realize the two histories with the two persons in Romans 8:10. This is why we have to spend so much time on this one verse. This one verse is too great! It will stop your behaving. According to the dictionary, to behave is a good word. But according to the Christian life to behave yourself is a damaging word. The Christian life is not a matter of behaving yourself, but of all the time putting yourself under the killing of Jesus that His life might be manifested in your mortal body.
The Christian life is just a life in your spirit. This is why Romans 8 first says walk according to the spirit (v. 4). Then it says to mind or consider the things of the spirit (v. 5). Verse 6 says that you have to set your mind on the spirit, and verse 9 says you have to be a person in the spirit. This is the Christian life. The Christian life is to walk according to the spirit, to mind the spirit, to have your mind set on the spirit, and to be in the spirit. When you are in the spirit, you are okay. When you are in the spirit, you escape the first person and you stay with the second. Not only do you stay with Him, but you live Him, and you are one with Him.
We all need to see the history of our two parts, and we all have to see the two persons in these two parts. Also, we have to have a clear vision that God doesn’t want any ethical life. He only wants a life that is in your spirit. He wants a life that walks not according to ethics or morality but according to the spirit. Forget about your temper; that is altogether in the kingdom of ethics. It is in the realm and empire of morality. God has rescued us out of that realm, and He has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son. We are here living in another kingdom. It is not a matter of whether you are moral or immoral or ethical or unethical. It is a matter of whether or not you are in this kingdom or in that kingdom. As long as you are in the ethical kingdom, you are absolutely wrong. Although Confucius was a top ethical person, he was wrong because he keeps people away from the kingdom of Christ. His teachings retain people in the ethical kingdom.
As far as human society is concerned, Confucius’ teachings have helped. What has kept the people in the Western World is the influence of the Bible teachings, but what has helped the people in the Eastern World is the influence of Confucius’ teachings. We have to thank God for this. First, God uses these influences to keep people so that they may not behave themselves like wild beasts. For nearly three thousand years, the Chinese people and others in the Far East have been kept from being like wild beasts. They have been cultivated and somewhat proper people. Then in the last century the Lord sent the gospel there. So in a sense the ethical teachings of Confucius were used by the Lord to preserve the people. Even today the Western World needs more influence of the Bible. Of course, people who practice the sinful things such as homosexuality are against the influence of the Bible and against the influence of the ethical teachings.
But you have to realize that at best and to the uttermost, all these influences of the ethical teachings are only used by God to preserve humanity. If you only have these ethical teachings, still there is no way for God to accomplish His eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose is not just to have a preserved humanity. God’s eternal purpose is to have a Body for Christ. This is revealed in Romans 12. How can we get to Romans 12? We must pass through Romans 8 and experience the matters there. We still need an even longer time to see all the experiences in Romans 8 for the proper Body life. Only the Body life can fulfill God’s eternal purpose. God has used the government, the law, the culture, and ethics to preserve humanity. Without these things the human beings today would be wild beasts. Then the man created by God would be finished, and God would have no place to collect material for the formation of the Body of Christ to fulfill His eternal purpose.
So God exercised His divine sovereignty and authority to use the law, government, ethics, and culture to preserve humanity. To some extent, humanity has been preserved throughout all the centuries. Even Romans 13 tells us that the government represents God exercising His authority, so we have to subject ourselves to this authority, to the law, to the good order of society. Although this is right, many Christians have only gone that far. But the Bible reveals to us that God’s heart’s desire is to have a Body. This Body is an organism, a group of people, who have a life in their spirit, and who are living and walking according to the spirit. They are persons in the spirit, not improving themselves, not behaving themselves, but just living Christ. This is different. Of course, they will have the top ethics and the highest morality. But we have to say again: the Bible revelation doesn’t stress ethics; it emphasizes Christ as our life in our spirit. So the New Testament tells us again and again something practical and experiential concerning our spirit. Even in this one chapter of Romans, chapter eight, how many times it touches our spirit! We have to walk according to our spirit; we have to mind the spirit; we have to set our mind on the spirit; we have to be a person absolutely, entirely in the spirit.
In such a situation, no doubt, we live Christ. Here we are one with Christ. If you have ever seen this, you could see how far off many Christian teachings are today. Some Christians today just stress the teachings, and others just stress the outward experiences of the “Holy Ghost.” But we have to see the inner life in our spirit. Christ is the very Spirit, and this inner Christ is the indwelling Spirit. And this indwelling Spirit is the ultimate expression of the Triune God. The processed Triune God in reality becomes the indwelling Spirit. He is so real, so silent, so quiet, yet so living in our spirit. Today we must be persons knowing our history, knowing all these stories, and knowing where we should be. We must be in our spirit. You don’t need to improve yourself; you don’t need to learn to behave yourself; you just need to escape the first person—Satan in your flesh—and stay with the second person—Christ in your spirit—and remain in the spirit. You need to enjoy Him as everything to you—as your life, as your person, as your everything. Then you will live Him, and you will be one with Him.