Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for this gathering again. Thank You that You have brought us back to Your Word. Lord, we trust in Your inspiration, in Your anointing, in Your infusion. We have no trust in ourselves. Do cleanse us with Your precious blood that we may enjoy the full anointing. Lord, do shine upon Your Word, and shine from within us. And give us understanding; give us wisdom; give us the expression; give us the utterance; we need You. We all need You. Lord, do grant us Your presence, Your anointing, Your self, that we might touch You once more and be touched by You. Cover us, Lord. Amen.
In this message we need to spend more time on Romans 8:9-14. Many crucial points are covered by these six verses. The Triune God is covered very clearly and very strongly in these few verses. Also, in these few verses the inward part of our being, our spirit, is covered. Our outward part, our body, is also covered. There is also our self, that is, our being. Our spirit is not our being, nor is our body our being. Our spirit is our inner organ, and our body is our outer organ. Every human being has these two organs. The inner organ, our spirit, is for us to contact God Himself. The body, our outer organ, is for us to contact the physical world.
Of course, the pronoun you in these verses indicates your being, your person. This person is just your self, your soul. Although the word soul is not mentioned in these verses, there is the word you. You is your being, your soul. So there is the very being, you, with the inner organ, the spirit, and the outer organ, the body. This is man’s entire being. This is the tripartite man—spirit and soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23). The pronoun you in these verses signifies the soul, especially referring to your will and to your mind and to your emotion. These are the components, the parts, of your soul. Have you ever noticed that in these verses both the spirit and the body are mentioned as organs? When verse 13 says that you put to death the practices of the body, it means that your mind and your will and your emotion all have to be exercised to put to death the practices of your body. All three parts of your being must be exercised in this way.
The problem with most of us concerning the spiritual life is this: either we are at the north pole, or we are at the south pole. When we say that we trust in the Lord, we feel we don’t need to do anything. In the past I told you we have to cease from our effort. That is right, but there is also another side. Many times we have mentioned that in the entire universe, nothing can exist without two sides. Even a very thin piece of paper has two sides. But when we come to the spiritual life, it is easy for us to take just one side and forget about the other side.
Then you might consider that you need to exercise your self. But to exercise your self is one thing, to have your mind, will, and emotion exercised is another thing. To say that you need to exercise your self is active. But to say that you need to have your mind, will, and emotion exercised is equal to being saved and to being empowered. This is active-passive.
The problem always lies here and even hides here. You have to realize that in God’s salvation, He saves, but you need to be saved. He is willing to save, yet if you are not willing to be saved, you cannot receive the salvation. It is not that God is going to save a piece of driftwood. That would be altogether up to Him, because the driftwood doesn’t have a will, a mind, or emotions. But you and I have a will, a mind, and emotions. God is willing to save, but we are not willing to be saved. We have no appetite and no desire to be saved.
Good preaching is always to stir up the appetite to be saved. The good speaking many times is just to stir up your hunger, to stir up your thirst, to stir up your interest. Even among those in attendance at this Perfecting Training, the degree of the appetite differs. Some may have the highest appetite, and others may not have any appetite. If you have no appetite, the Training cannot help you. Actually, it doesn’t depend upon the Training; it depends upon your appetite. If your appetite is higher, you will get more help. If you don’t have any appetite, regardless of how many times you would attend the meetings, you will get little help. This is a matter having two sides: God is willing to save you. But are you willing to be saved? We must see these two sides.