How To Live With God

Transcription

1 Monday Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:7; Matt. 16:24-25; John 4:24; Rom. 8:6, 10-11; 2 Cor. 3:17 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13) The Purpose of Full Salvation Throughout this series of the Daily Food the Lord has given us more revelation and burden. This is because He needs many people to help Him administrate the earth in the coming kingdom and expects that we will grow in life in order to reign with Him. When we first read about the standard of the living of those who will reign with Christ, according to what is recorded in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, we felt we were not able to attain it because it seemed that the demands are too high to fulfill. But the Lord does not expect us to reach the standard He established based on our natural life, that is, by ourselves, but by the Spirit who dwells in our spirit. Today we are living in the age of the Spirit and have God Himself dwelling within us. Through Him we grow in life and are thus enabled to live according to the standard proposed by the Lord. The Triune God who lives in us helps us in this way to practise the word and fulfill God s will. The subject this week is related to the salvation of the three parts of our tripartite being: body, soul and spirit. The Lord wants each one of these parts to receive full salvation a process which began when we believed in the Lord Jesus. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Lord and believe in our heart, we receive the divine life and are thus born again (Rom. 10:9; John 3:16). From then on we have the life of God and are qualified to cooperate with Him. After being born again we need to grow, and for this we need to eat, which we do with others of God s children who have been brought together by Him in the church. The church is very special. When the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples about the church for the first time, He was careful to take them to a place free from the religious atmosphere of Jerusalem. After He revealed the church to them, the Lord also told them what the most important item was for the church life. The Lord did not give details of the truths or practices regarding the church, although they are important. Rather, He stressed that whoever would come after Him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him. He also said that every one must lose his soul-life in order to gain it. So we see that the Lord has put us in the church so that we might deny ourselves and grow in the divine life. This is related to the second stage of our full salvation the salvation of our soul. God wants us to deny our soul-life today in order to gain it in the future. When the apostle Peter wrote his epistles, already close to the time of his martyrdom, he made reference to God s complete salvation in his first epistle: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1:3). Through this life that we receive, we grow in life and therefore have a living hope, which is an incorruptible inheritance, that is, which never fades away, reserved in the heavens for us (v. 4). In order to receive this inheritance we have to gain the full salvation that will be revealed in the last days, as the apostle tells us: Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls (v. 9). Considering this, we can understand why the Lord established such a high standard for those who will reign in the millennial age. He wants us to have a living worthy of one who will have a high position in His kingdom. For this we need to go on to gain the salvation of every part of our being: spirit, soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23). Growing to cooperate with God, reigning with Him. Your What is the purpose of full salvation? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 1

2 Tuesday Scripture Reading: Psa. 90:2; 2 Cor. 1:2; 12:3; 15:45; Col. 2:9; 1 Tim. 6:16; Heb. 1:14; 2:5 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Romans 8:10) The Purpose of the Lord s Crucifixion Full salvation is regarding God reaching all the parts of our being spirit, soul and body with His life. In 2 Corinthians 1:10 we read, Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us. This verse may be applied to the three aspects of our salvation: delivered us is related to the salvation of our spirit, which took place when we believed; does deliver us is related to the salvation of our soul, as we are worked on by the divine life; and will still deliver us is related to the salvation of our corruptible body, when it will put on incorruption (1 Cor. 15:51-55). As we have seen, the goal of full salvation is that the three parts of our being may be saved that we might enter into the kingdom to rule with the Lord (Heb. 2:5; cf. Isa. 32:1-2). Because of this He is so strict in His demands toward us. In order for this complete salvation to reach each one of us that it might lead us to become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; (Rom. 8:17), the eternal God, who dwells in unapproachable light, became flesh (1 Tim. 6:16). This can be seen in the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (1:1, 14). In other words, the Word is God Himself, who became flesh. He received a body like ours and partook of flesh and blood like us, but there was no sin in Him (Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:3). Further, through His incarnation the Lord Jesus was called Immanuel, which means God with us (Matt. 1:23). The Lord Jesus is the very Triune God, who came to the earth to manifest all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). The Father was revealed through Him (John 1:18; 14:9). In spite of this, if He had remained in the flesh only as Jesus, the Son of Man, He would have been limited by time and space. He was born more than two thousand years ago and lived in Palestine; therefore it would be impossible to be everywhere at once with His physical body. Since God s desire is that He would enter into our spirit to save us and give us His divine life, the Lord Jesus went to the cross and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. After His death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and came as another Comforter, who is the Spirit of reality. Today this Spirit saves us, gives us life and is with us everywhere and all the time (John 14:16-17). The Spirit of reality, who will now be with us forever, is no longer restricted by time or space. Wherever we may be, we only need to call on the name of the Lord Jesus and He will be there, ready to save us, because He is not only close to us but lives within us (Rom. 10:12-13). Our spirit was saved when we believed. Your What was the purpose of the Lord s crucifixion? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 2

3 Wednesday Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:21; Heb. 9:12; 1 John 1:7, 9; Rev. 2:26 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54) The Assurance of the Salvation of Our Body We have seen that God s full salvation includes the three parts of our being: spirit, soul and body. Our spirit receives salvation instantly, the moment we believe in Christ (Eph. 1:13). Today we will speak about the salvation of the body, and tomorrow we will deal with the salvation of the soul. The salvation of the body is guaranteed to everyone who believes in Christ. At the Lord s return, all the saints including those who have died will receive a transfigured body. When the Lord Jesus comes back, all the saints who have died will resurrect and, if we are still living, we will be with them (1 Thes. 4:16-17). We are assured of this because it is God s promise to us. Today we still have a corruptible body, but on that day we will have an incorruptible body, a body in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:50-54). Let us look a little more at Christ s resurrection in order to better understand this matter. When the Lord told His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem to suffer at the hands of the scribes and priests and be killed that He might rise on the third day, Satan used Peter to try to stop Him, because he was afraid that the Lord Jesus would resurrect. Peter loved the Lord very much, but it was with his natural love. This motivated him to say to Him, Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You! (Matt. 16:22b). This supposed goodness of Peter s was nothing more than his soul being used by Satan to try to stop the Lord from accomplishing redemption. Therefore the Lord said, Get behind Me, Satan! (v. 23). As we see, the Lord Jesus did not rebuke Peter directly, but addressed Satan, who was using Peter s soul to stop the fulfilment of God s plan and purpose. The Lord needed to be crucified, die and resurrect in order to become the life-giving Spirit to redeem us. After He was buried, the Lord came out from Hades victorious in resurrection, which until then had only a gate of entry. Praise the Lord! We also, having been buried with Him in baptism, were resurrected through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. Therefore, we are no longer under the power of death. In addition, at the Lord s second coming we will receive an incorruptible body over which Satan will no longer have power. We will have a body in resurrection, then we will go up into the air and will meet the Lord. Hallelujah! A transfigured body. Your Why don t we need to be worried about the salvation of our body? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 3

4 Thursday Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:13-17; 26:15, 29; Matt. 16:19; John 1:1, 14; 12:25 Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you (1 Peter 1:9-10) The Salvation of the Soul and the Purpose of the Law Regarding our tripartite being, our spirit was saved when we believed, and our body will be transfigured at Christ s second coming. There remains, therefore, the salvation of our soul, which should take place in our being daily. The emphasis in the past regarding our salvation was on being freed from our sins. But this problem has been resolved, for, if we repent and confess our faults, the Lord will cleanse us immediately (1 John 1:7-9). Some saints still think, How terrible I am I repent but sin again and stay in this cycle! Others say, I have no way. There s no hope for me! But I tell these saints, You have believed in the Lord. It doesn t matter how many sins you have committed; the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, who offered Himself without blemish to God, is effective to wash all of them away. The problem of our sins is resolved when we repent and confess them, for God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God s full salvation includes the salvation of our soul. God wants to save our soul because He wants to use it to express Himself through it. In order for this to take place, the Lord as the life-giving Spirit needs to gain our soul. The part of man s emotion needs to be filled with God s pleasure that man might cooperate with God to fulfill His purpose of loving God and what He loves. Mans s mind should also not always be hardened by the things of the earth, for it was made to think about how to practise God s will such as leading others to salvation. For this to occur, our mind needs to be set on the Spirit that we might understand what the Lord s will is (cf. Rom. 8:5-6; Eph. 5:17). Once we know God s plan and purpose, we begin to think of the things above and our mind is renewed, thus becoming proper in order to cooperate with God. Even man s will is to fulfill the mystery of God s will. The yearning and desire of our will must be to exalt the Lord s name. There are many ways to do this and the most practical and simple is to call on His name. Besides this, our soul must want what God wants: that His kingdom would come to the earth. As we have seen before, our soul can be represented by the wood used in the construction of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. The tabernacle was made of acacia wood covered with gold (Exo. 26:15, 29). According to God s demands, a better, more resistant wood was needed for His work, which represents a proper, refined human nature. Because acacia wood has this quality, God ordained that it should be used and covered with gold. This indicates that He wants to add His divine nature to our human nature. God does not want to destroy our humanity; on the contrary, He wants to use it. In the Old Testament, God gave the law to His people so that their humanity might become proper. In the New Testament, God Himself experienced human living for thirty-three and a half years when He became flesh in the Person of the Lord Jesus. During this time He uplifted human virtues to a much higher standard than the existing moral standard by adding the divine nature to the human nature. In chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord presented a standard of living to His disciples that was higher than that demanded by the law of Moses. The level of demand in these chapters became greater than that upon the Israelites. Although His demand upon us may be greater, God s life that indwells us enables us to fulfill it. Moreover, the Lord wants to work in our humanity with His divinity to prepare us to cooperate with Him to rule over the nations in the millennial kingdom. This shows us that God needs our soul. The problem is not our soul in itself, but the fact that we live under the influence of our self, that is, our soul-life, which is independent of God. This autonomous living of man hinders and frustrates what God wants to do through him. For example, the Jews analysed the Bible with their mind because they thought that in it they had eternal life and there is nothing wrong with this (John 5:39-40). The problem is that they valued the knowledge of the letter and were only occupied with this. They were not seeking to grow in life, to be transformed and thereby be useful to God. When man sees how terrible his soul-life is and denies himself, he opens the way for God to cleanse and save him, and he becomes useful to carry out His will. Setting the mind on the spirit. Your What was the purpose of the law? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 4

5 Friday Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-28; Matt. 16:24 You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Revelation 4:11) God s Purpose for Man God s will already existed before the foundation of the world. When He recreated the earth in seven days, He also made it for His will, for His purpose. In Genesis 1:28 we can better see this desire of His in creating man and woman and ordaining them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. God created man and woman in His image and likeness so that they would eat of the tree of life, receive the divine life and subdue the earth that had been usurped by Satan. As we have seen in previous weeks, God did not obtain His intention through Adam and his descendants nor through Abraham and his numerous descendants. It was because of this that the Lord Jesus, through His death and resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit that He might dispense Himself to each one of us and cause us to grow in His divine life. We must cooperate with Him by seeking this growth and preaching the gospel of the kingdom in order to accomplish His desire, that He might return and reign over the earth. In order to fulfill the Lord s will and fill the earth as He ordained, it is not enough to simply beget people, that is, it is not enough to bring them to the salvation of their spirit. It is necessary to raise up the children who have been brought forth and cause them to grow in life that they might gain the salvation of their soul. Bringing forth a child is relatively easy: after two-hundred and eighty days it is ready to be born. But to properly raise a child is not so simple. For example, many parents want to do and give the best of themselves to their children, but among these, in the majority of the cases, there are not a few who feel frustrated because of not raising them properly. In some cases, instead of growing to be grateful and responsible, these children become rebellious and irreverent because of being loved too much and always getting their own way. As far as we are concerned, we need to raise the spiritual children we beget well. After the children of God are mature, they can fill the earth. Because they are mature in God s life, they go out to take this life to others, preaching the gospel of the kingdom in the whole earth. When God gave man the commission to subdue the earth, He did not say, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and I will come and subdue it. He created us, redeemed us and gave us a commission for the fulfilment of His purpose. This commission to fulfill God s will has been given to the church. We praise the Lord that we have been put in the church, where we have His word, we call on His name, we deny our self, we are filled with His divine life and thus carry out His will of being fruitful to fill the earth and subdue it. May we be faithful to the Lord! God has an eternal purpose. Your What has God ordained for man? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 5

6 Saturday Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:3; Eph. 4:3 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) The Purpose of the Kingdom Today As we saw yesterday, the Lord has put us in the church so that we may fulfill His eternal purpose. But for this to be our reality we need to deny our self, our soul-life. For example, we want oneness in the church life, but if we don t deny ourselves there will be no oneness. When I went to Argentina for the first time, I took part in a meeting of pastors with more than thirty Christian groups, where each one was doing his own work. They were not in oneness in spite of having seen in the Bible, mainly in Ephesians 4, that God wants us to be one. When they heard that they needed to have the oneness and that they needed to change their situation, they met together, sang hymns full of love and all embraced each other, saying they were one. But when the meeting ended, each one went back to his affairs as before. That day I said to them, Dear brothers, oneness is in the Spirit. If you are not in the Spirit it will be impossible to practise the oneness, because every one s soul is different from the other. If you live by your soul you won t even be able to be one with the one who brought you forth. The Bible says that we must strive diligently to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). When we endeavour to be in the Spirit, we are one with the other saints. We will only be able to have oneness if we call on the name of the Lord, for no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. Once we turn to the life-giving Spirit, who causes us to grow in life and makes us one, it will be easy to deny our self. Every person places much value on his soul-life because he doesn t know how terrible, selfish, proud and self-sufficient it is. It frustrates God s purpose, so we must deny it so that God s life might grow in us. This is why God has put us in the church life, where the most important thing is that each one deny himself. In the church life we have much enjoyment, joy and peace, but the church life is not restricted to this, for God s purpose is to save our soul by us denying our self. Denying the soul-life and staying in the spirit. Your Why is denying ourselves the most important item in the church life? ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 6

7 Powered by TCPDF ( Week 18 - Full Salvation Sunday Scripture Reading: Matt. 3:11-14; 6:10, 25, 33 Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15) God s Purpose in Putting Us in the Church In Romans chapter 14 we see that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (v. 17). It is easy to understand the meaning of joy and peace, but few understand what righteousness in this verse means. Righteousness in this passage of Romans refers to subjective righteousness, that is, to doing what God considers right, and not what we think it to be. Therefore, in order for us to enjoy peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, we must do what God has ordained. This is the kingdom of God. Some think that this righteousness is related to what we receive through Christ s redemption. Of course the Bible says that the Lord has justified us, but this is not the righteousness this verse is referring to. God s eternal purpose is that His will may be done on the earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). Therefore, we need to check to see whether or not we are fulfilling the divine righteousness. If we don t do what God has ordained we will be deceived by Satan and will end up doing our own will and acting independently of God. However, if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we will sanctify the Lord s name, bring His kingdom to the earth and will practise God s will in the church. Hallelujah! Before the beginning of the Lord s ministry, John the Baptist began to preach and to baptize. In Matthew 3:11 we have the record of his words, referring to his ministry and to that of the Lord Jesus: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John was preaching repentance, for whoever wants to receive the Lord Jesus and follow Him needs to have a change of mind. In verses 13 and 14 we read that the Lord came to John to be baptized and that John the Baptist was surprised at this, saying that he was the one who needed to be baptized by the Lord, and not the other way around. But the Lord answered him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (v. 15). Only after this did John the Baptist agree to baptize the Lord. John was designated by God to baptize people and also to submit to what God had ordained. He did the first part, but regarding submitting to God s righteousness, that is, to burying his old man, we don t find any biblical record that John the Baptist was baptized by the Lord. He probably did not submit to God s ordination because he was imprisoned by his concepts. The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, submitted to God s ordination and was baptized by John the Baptist. We learn from Jesus experience that we must submit to God s righteousness in what He has ordained. In our experience this means to have a change of mind, repent, believe in His name and be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. In this way we will experience true righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Lord has put us in the church because it is the place to experience the reality of the kingdom of God, true righteousness, peace and joy. If we submit to what God has ordained, we will receive full salvation, that is, in addition to the salvation of our spirit and body, we will obtain the end of our faith: the salvation of our soul. Without this full salvation it will be impossible for us to enter into the coming kingdom to reign. But if we lose our soul-life today, we will gain it and will reign with Him in the kingdom of Christ. Denying the soul-life to enter into the kingdom of the heavens and gain the reward. Your What is the Lord s purpose in putting us in the church? Additional Reading Enrich your reading of the Daily Food by simultaneously reading the books suggested below: The Salvation of the Soul Watchman Nee ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS TO GAIN THE REWARD - God s Purpose in Creating Man 7