The truths in the holy Scriptures are always of two aspects: the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. We have to be clear that all the objective doctrines are for the subjective experience. If we pay attention only to the objective doctrines and neglect the subjective aspect, we will not be able to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, which is the church. The objective doctrines are for the subjective truths, and the subjective truths are for the producing of the church. Because today’s Christianity has neglected the subjective truths, they do not have the practical church life. The practical church life is an issue of our experience of the subjective truths. When we have the experience of the subjective truths, the church is spontaneously produced.
Furthermore, all the subjective truths are linked to the Spirit and life. The Spirit and life are the substance of the subjective truths. If you take away the Spirit and life, there will be no subjective truths. Objective doctrines are composed of letters, whereas subjective truths are constituted with the Spirit and life, not with letters. Without the Spirit and life you do not have subjective truths. Therefore, it is by the Spirit and life that the church is produced. Because we live by the Spirit and in life, we have the experience of the subjective truths and therefore have the church life.
At this time we will look at the subjective truths in the Gospel of John. Actually, the Gospel of John is entirely about subjective truths. I have spoken a little regarding this in the previous message; in this message I would like to speak further to show you the subjectivity of the matters covered in the Gospel of John.
First, John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him....” How do we receive Him? We should not expound the Bible by taking it out of context. We must explain a verse at least in the context of the book to which it belongs. When we ask about how we can receive Him, we must look at chapter four. There we see that we receive by drinking. The Lord said, “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever” (v. 14a). Therefore, to receive the Lord is to drink the Lord as the living water. Then in chapter six the Lord said, “I am the bread of life....He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (vv. 48, 57b). This tells us that the receiving in chapter one is not only the drinking in chapter four but also the eating in chapter six. When we drink the Lord as the living water and eat Him as the bread of life, we receive Him.
We all know that eating food and drinking water are definitely not objective but absolutely subjective. When I take in food and drink in water, the food and the water become one with me. Whatever has been taken in will be digested in a few hours to become my living, organic components. In other words, what I eat becomes me. Eating is a very subjective matter. Therefore, the Gospel of John tells us about subjective experience, not objective doctrines. We have to receive Him by eating and drinking Him.
Then chapter seven says, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water...the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive” (vv. 38-39). The Spirit is a particular title. From this portion of the Word we see that what we have received into us becomes rivers of living water flowing out of us.
This is even clearer in chapter fourteen: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality,...He abides with you and shall be in you....In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (vv. 16-17, 20). What is this? This is the subjective mingling. We are in Him, and He is in us.
I will never forget how once in a certain place while I was releasing a message, a middle-aged sister stood up and asked, “Brother Lee, can you tell me how we can abide in the Lord and how the Lord can abide in us? This is confusing to me.” I said, “Sister, please be patient. At a certain time you will easily understand.” So I continued to speak, and then at a certain point I said, “The Lord today is just like the air that we breathe. When you inhale air, the air comes into you. Thus you abide in the air, and the air abides in you.” When I said this, she was clear. This morning in this big meeting place we all abide in the air, and the air abides in us. Therefore, we are living. Likewise, our Lord is the spiritual air; we abide in Him, and He abides in us. The Lord said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Is this a doctrine? This is not a doctrine; this is a practical and subjective experience.
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