Chapter 5: The Outer Man is Destroyed

Scripture Reading:

Mt. 16:24-25; 2 Cor. 4:7-10, 16

Rm. 8:28-29; 1 Pet. 5:6

Introduction

All of our messages have been about entering the "Pathway of the Inner Life”. We hope that those who have not yet entered this path will do so. Otherwise, the loss we will suffer in eternity will be too great to be counted, irreparable, and regrettable. Especially for those brothers and sisters who are willing to pay the price, it is even more regrettable.

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He said, "I have come that they (sheep or people) may have life, and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) This means that believing in the Lord Jesus is not only to give people eternal life, but also to bring us to the fullness of life. Therefore, whoever does not enter the path of life here, his or her spiritual life will not be abundant at all.

We have mentioned above that the way to enter into the inner life is, firstly, to have inner prayers. Saints pray every day from the first day of the year to the last day of the year, but are these prayers from the outside or from the inside? Because only the prayer inside can touch life.

Secondly, it is the inner reading of the Bible. If not for the inner reading of the Bible, the Christian would still be outside the path of life. We must realize that believing in Jesus for eternal life is one thing, and walking the inner path of life is another thing. Many people believe in Jesus, and then stay there for the rest of their lives, waiting to go to heaven, not realizing that after they have received eternal life, they still have to enter into the inner path of life, so as to achieve the fullness of their spiritual life. A person who enters the way of life must be a person who reads the Bible from the inside.

Third, it is internal ministry. Admittedly, in Christianity today, we can see that many brothers and sisters are serving the Lord with great fervor, but are they serving on the inside or on the outside? It is important to realize that only the inner service is the service of life, while the outer service is just a religious activity.

Fourth, it is the feeling on the inside. This is a more in-depth experience because the inner life has a sense, and if this sense is sharp, then the Spirit (life) inside can lead the way. In other words, the life of the living God is already inside you and me, reviving our spirit. Therefore, the feeling of the conscience part of our spirit has also been sharpened. And because the sense of God's life is sharp and tender, we are able to distinguish between what is offensive to the Lord and what is pleasing to the Lord.

Fifth, it is the inner fellowship. When God created man, he divided him into three parts: spirit, soul, and body. The greatest reason why God gave man the Spirit is that God's leading and work in the saints is based on the spirit, so all spiritual experiences must be in the spirit. Therefore, the spirit of the saint must be connected to the Spirit of God, meaning that he or she is in communion with the Lord on the inside. Only those who live in communion with the Lord on the inside can keep moving forward on the path in the inside. In other words, only those who have fellowship with the Lord inwardly can have spiritual establishment on this foundation.

Sixth, it is internal guidance. The Lord is the Great Shepherd of the sheep, and the saints are His flock. How does this Great Shepherd guide the sheep in heaven? We thank God for the life of His Son, who is guiding us from within today. Therefore, the word "guide" refers to the inner movement, not the outer routine.

In the days of the Old Testament Law, the Lord guided His people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In the days of the New Testament, the law of God's life is within us, and so the word of God (the Bible), and the voice of the Holy Spirit, are also within the story. God's life, God's nature is peace, and He uses peace and the voice of the Holy Spirit (the teaching of the anointing) to guide the saints in the way of life.

---

The Outer Man is Destroyed

Now we come to the seventh experience, which is the tearing down of the outer man. This is a message that is not often preached in churches for fear that the newly saved saints will be deterred by a lack of understanding. Thank you, Lord! We have been laying our spiritual foundation for several years, and we are convinced that we should be able to grasp it now that we have a good foundation. The outer man is being torn down, the so-called way of the cross. The cross is a big topic, so for the sake of space, we can only look at it briefly and condensed from a living perspective:

I. The Outer Man is the Soul of Man

The human constitution can be divided into three parts: spirit, soul, and body. In the beginning, God's original intention in the creation of man was that man should receive His life, and that this life should be brought to its fullness.

A. Human beings are composed of spirit, soul and body

Since God created man, he is composed of three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. The spirit is located in the deepest part of the human being. It has the function of fellowship to worship and interact with God; it has the function of conscience to determine right and wrong for God; and it has the function of intuition to understand the things of God. Therefore, when a person is saved by grace and regeneration, the spirit comes to life. The outside of the spirit is the soul, which is commonly called the "spirit". The Chinese mix the spirit with the soul, but in fact the spirit is separate from the soul. The "soul" also consists of three parts, namely, the mind, the emotions, and the will.

1. Mind

Everyone has a mind. It is the mind, the intellect, which can also be called consciousness, opinion, or intelligence, knowledge. To be able to understand or think, to be able to understand things. This is the part of the mind.

2. Emotions

Everyone has emotions, that is, emotions and feelings. When a person is stimulated and attracted by the outside world, he or she will have seven emotions and six desires. Seven emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil and desire. Desire is the desire of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind as six desires. These are all part of the emotions.

3. Will

Everyone has a will, and the organ that determines human behavior is called the will. When a person is planning or making a decision to do something, the function of making a decision is called the will. Some people make decisions and put them into practice; others are indecisive and hesitant.

The "body" is the visible body, including the limbs and the five senses.

 B. The Bible says that the born-again spirit is the inner man

In the beginning, when man was created, the spirit governed the soul and the soul governed the body. However, after the first man and woman fell into sin, the spirit lost its function because it was cut off from God, and the soul rose to take the place of the spirit and dominate the body. But it is not that the spirit is gone, it just lost its function. It was not until one day when you and I believed that Jesus was born again that the spirit was restored to its original order. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, our spirit is revived and renewed, and the Holy Spirit puts the life of God in our spirit, which is called the spirit of rebirth.

In this way, God uses this born-again spirit to dominate the soul and direct all the activities of the body. If we walk in the path of the inner life, God will further enable us to realize what is the inner man and what is the outer man? What is the outer man? Ephesians 3:16 tells us, "......to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man." The Spirit of regeneration is explicitly called the inner man.

C. Outer man is the soul of the man

What does it mean to be on the outside? 2 Corinthians 4:16 reads, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." The word "outward man" means the outer man, meaning the outer man was destroyed. The “inward man” refers to the inner man, “but the inward man is renewed day by day,” meaning it is renewed day by day. From this, we can see that this verse clearly identifies the Christians as one who is on the outside and one who is on the inside. The other is the inner man.

1. The outer man

The outer man is the one who has the human body as his servant and the human soul as his master. Just as we have to use our mind, emotions, and will to dominate our physical life every day.

2. The inner man

The inward man refers to the born-again spirit, with the soul renewed by the Holy Spirit as its servant and the born-again spirit as its master. In other words, it is Christ as the life that governs our minds, emotions, and wills to act and behave as human beings.

II. The Outer Man Hinders the Growth of Spiritual Life

Next, we need to take a closer look at the outer man which is blocking the growth of the spiritual life.

A. The mind does not think of heavenly things

Colossians 3:1 reads, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God." This shows that the key to the Christian's spiritual life to continue to grow is to think about heavenly things. For there is Christ sitting at the right hand of God. Therefore, our minds must be connected to Jesus Christ. But this is not the case. Most Christians have an earthly mind and think about earthly things. When you get up in the morning and go to bed at night, do you think more about heavenly things? Or do you think more of earthly things? Oh! Almost all of them are earthly, and are thinking hard about how to work hard to operate, get money, power, reputation, status, learning ...... to improve the enjoyment of life, in order to satisfy the desires of the flesh. I don't realize that thinking about earthly things is the biggest obstacle to the growth of spiritual life. Some may say that if we keep thinking about heavenly things, then we will become ignorant and accomplish nothing. Brothers and sisters, this is not the case. As students, you should still study hard, and as businessmen, you should still work hard, but you should think about Christ in your spirit.

When Jesus was on earth, he told the parable of the sower. The sower sowed the seed of life in four kinds of fields, namely, by the roadside, in the shallow and stony ground, in the thorn bushes, and in the good soil, to illustrate that there is a seed of Christ's life growing in every man's heart. In one of the thorn fields, when the seed was sown and wanted to grow, the thorns sprang up and choked it. Later the disciples asked Jesus why he used parables to teach them. Jesus further explained the parable to them. When talking about the seed that fell among the thorns, the Bible specifically says, "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22)

This explains that if the mind is not thinking about heavenly things, but about earthly things, it will hinder the growth of the spiritual life.

B. Emotional dislike of God

There are 150 psalms in the Bible, divided into five books; the first book is from 1 to 41, the second book is from 42 to 72, the third book is from 73 to 89, the fourth book is from 90 to 106, and the fifth book is from 107 to 150. And the first book is about basic spiritual experiences. Starting from the second book, we enter into the experience of spiritual growth.

Look at the first Psalm of the second book of Psalms, Psalm 42:1, where the psalmist says, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God." And then in verse 2, he says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Whether it is “longing” for God or “yearning” for God, it is a story of emotion. Therefore, in order to grow in spiritual life, we must love God emotionally.

On the other hand, in 2 Timothy 3, the believers in the last days are described as "lovers of money"(v.2), "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (v.4). "Love" is an emotional inclination. The believer's emotions are inclined to money and pleasure, and because he does not love God, his heart is bewitched by the money of the world, and is seized by pleasure, and so he drifts farther and farther away from God, and in the end he even forsakes God altogether. Isn't it true that many Christians today would rather attend their friends' weddings on Sunday than attend the Sunday meeting to break bread and worship? There are some who, after the Sunday message, refuse to stay for the branch meetings, but are invited to the feasts or appointments of their friends and relatives. What is the difference between this kind of running for the sake of the world? From this we can see how the lack of love for God hinders the growth of the spiritual life.

C. The will does not surrender to God's will

Not only that, but the will of man, if not surrendered to God's will, is also a hindrance to the growth of the spiritual life. Therefore, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Therefore pray, saying, 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'" This means that we should honor God's will, i.e., let God's will be done in you and me (the church).

However, the facts tell us that there are many things that we know are God's will, but we refuse to surrender to God's will and obey man's will. Thank the Lord, in recent years, there have been many marriages among young people in the church, but there are many marriages which have never been finalized. One of the biggest reasons for this is that they do not want to marry the person of God's will, and they know that if they marry this person, they will surely be able to continue to love the Lord, serve the Lord, and walk in the Lord's way. However, they chose the object of their flesh, the worldly one and thus they fell after marriage. Because the “soul” -- the outer man always blocks the growth of God's life and refuses to let God's will pass on earth as it is in heaven.

III. The Cross Deals with the Soul of Man

How does God grow this group of people to spiritual maturity? Thank God! He uses the cross of Christ to deal with the souls of men.

 A. Jesus called His disciples to carry the cross

No wonder, the Lord Jesus laid down strict requirements for those who wanted to follow Him and be His disciples. Matthew 16:24 reads, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'" You and I are all disciples of the Lord, and we are willing to follow Him for the rest of our lives. However, the Lord has put this condition here, that whoever wants to follow me should deny himself and take up his cross and follow Him. Unfortunately, to this day, many disciples stopped at this point, and some even turned back. On that day, after the Lord Jesus changed the loaves and fishes to satisfy the 5,000 people, they crowded around Him. But when Jesus further mentioned the cross a little, the Bible specifically says, "Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’" "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." (John 6:60, 66)

Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them, “Do you also want to go away?” Simon Peter answered without hesitation, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (John 6:68) This means that Peter saw in his spirit that the Lord is the way to eternal life, and although this way requires self-sacrifice, he was willing to follow the Lord all his life, so that his life would grow until it reaches its fullness.

B. Rejecting the cross to save souls will lead to loss of souls

Jesus then went further to say specifically that when the cross is to be used against the soul life of man, if man refuses to accept the cross, he is rejecting the cross. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it." The word "save his own life" means to save his soul. And he who would save his own soul "shall lose it". It means that one cannot be filled with the life of Christ without embracing the cross and sacrificing oneself to the cross.

In terms of experience: If one saves his soul, protects it according to his mind with his emotions and will, seriously, his mind, emotions, and will are preserved intact. Spiritually, however, the soul is lost, for the soul prevents the life of God from passing through, and the work of the Holy Spirit from entering, and inevitably the whole soul is not filled with the life of Christ.

C. Accepting the cross as a means of losing one's soul, but gaining one's soul

Look at the second half of Matthew 16:25, which says, "Whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it." Here it is clearly stated that if one loses his soul for the Lord, “he shall find it”, that is to say, his soul will be filled with the life of Christ.

Speaking of experience, that is to say, for the Lord, my mind, emotions, and will are given to the Lord, dedicated to the Lord, and accepted by the Lord's work. To be so devoted to the Lord and to let His will pass is called losing one's soul. In the end, the soul is completed by the life of Christ, that is, the soul is saved. Therefore, there is a choice here. If you keep your soul and refuse to accept the cross, your spiritual life will not grow; on the contrary, if you accept the cross and lose your soul, your soul will be filled with Christ. To be saved in spirit is to believe in the Lord, but to be saved in soul is to accept the cross. In this way, our minds, emotions, and wills will be filled with Christ, and we will eventually live out the model of Christ. May we be blessed to see the preciousness of the cross and pray to the Lord as the psalmist did,

Lord, I take up my cross;

I would follow Thee.

Fleeting fame, honor, wealth—

Dropping willingly.

Scolded, mocked, ridiculed,

I no heed would pay;

Sufferings, pressures too—

Walk Thy narrow way.

Trust Thy grace, heed Thy word,

Faithful to the end

IV. The Cross Breaks Down The Outer Man

How then is the cross to be practiced concretely in you and me as human beings?

 A. The fact of the cross and the fact of death

First of all, we must see that we were crucified with the Lord Jesus when He was crucified. This is the fact of the death of the cross, and that's what Paul said in Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

B. The experience of the crucifixion

How does the death of the cross work in you and me in terms of subjective experience? It is when we live in fellowship with the Lord that the Holy Spirit miraculously heals our flesh by the death of the cross, so that the death of the cross of Christ is activated in us. As Romans 8:13 says, "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." 

C. The cross destroys those outside

2 Corinthians 4:7-16 goes further and specifies that the cross has an important work of destroying us on the outside. In this account, the Apostle Paul mentions the four destructive works of the cross.

1. Hard pressed on every side, perplexed .persecuted . struck down - the breaking down of the cross (2 Cor. 4:7-10, 16)

The phrase "hard pressed on every side" refers to the adversity of being surrounded by difficulties and adversity; the phrase "perplexed" refers to the pressure of the environment, which causes suffering in the heart. For example, financial pressures, marital setbacks, family difficulties, etc., make it difficult for us to bear and cope with them. "Persecuted" means misunderstood, attacked, insulted, hurt, slandered, etc. "Struck down" means suffering great blows and unspeakable hardships that bring you to the point where there seems to be no way out and no hope at all. These are the crosses that are tearing us down on the outside.

2. Always carrying Jesus' death (environmental suffering) - The breaking of the cross (2 Cor. 4:10)

That is, when we are subjected to many difficult and painful circumstances, Paul says that these encounters in us are called "always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus". In other words, these pains and difficulties are the actual cross that the Holy Spirit carries out in us through difficult and painful circumstances with the killing function of the cross of Christ, in order to get rid of the external flesh.

3. Destruction of the Outer Body - The outer man is destroyed by the cross (2 Cor. 4:16)

May we all be blessed and see that one thing here is that when the work of destruction is done on us from the outside, God will bring about undesirable and difficult encounters, such as being misunderstood, belittled, humiliated, or even suffering loss of reputation, or loss of property or business, so that we will be destroyed. You will be physically and mentally wounded..... to tear down the outer man. The apostle Paul uses another word for these things in 2 Corinthians 4:16, namely, the perishing of the “outward man”, i.e., the destruction of the outward man by the cross.

4. The inward man is being renewed day by day - the inner man is being renewed (2 Cor. 4:16)

Thank you, Lord! While the cross of Christ destroys those on the outside, we on the inside are renewed daily, one day after another, so that our spiritual life grows until it reaches full maturity.

Jacob of the Old Testament was a selfish, self-interested, and deceitful man. After he cheated his brother Esau out of the title of firstborn, God's hand took him to his maternal uncle Laban's house for twenty years to make him through the work of the cross. For the love of Rachel, he served Laban for seven years, but God allowed him to be deceived through Laban who gave him his daughter Leah as his wife. Because of his deep love for Rachel, he worked for Laban's family for another seven years, which was fourteen years, torturing Jacob's old mind, emotions, and will. During his twenty years of shepherding in Laban's family, he was deceived by Laban to change the price of his labor ten times, and this long twenty summers and winters caused Jacob to suffer repeated blows to the outside world. As a result, after the long period of demolition by the work of the cross, he finally became Israel. The original word "Israel" means the Prince of God in a spiritual sense, i.e., it means that the image of the Son of God was manifested in him, because when the outer man was torn down, the fullness of life was manifested.

Look at Paul in the New Testament. Before he met the Lord, he was taught according to the strict law under Gamaliel, a famous teacher of his time, who was not only learned and eloquent, but also had a moral standard that exceeded that of ordinary people, which was admirable and admirable, and he was proud of himself. He was so zealous for the heritage of his fathers that he spared no effort to persecute those who believed in Jesus. On that very day, when he was traveling to Damascus with the high priest's papers, intending to arrest Christians, a great light suddenly shone from heaven on all sides, and as soon as the light shone on Paul, he immediately fell to the ground, and this encounter with the Lord caused a 180-degree change in Paul's whole being, and the hand of God was always on him from that time onward.

Let’s look at the history of his life’s ministry, 2 Corinthians 11 describes in great detail how the cross of Christ was a destructive work in him. The sufferings that were upon him were truly vicissitudes of life, through weariness, pain, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, beatings, imprisonment, stoning, shipwrecks, perils on land and sea, and perils among false brethren ...... (II Cor. 11:23-28).

After Paul had suffered a lot of pain and suffering, Paul's outer man was torn down, but his spiritual life reached full maturity and he became a spiritual man. Acts 13 tells us that a young man named Mark, who loved the Lord with a passion in his spirit and had a desire to serve Him, followed Paul and Barnabas to learn the ministry. But Mark was afraid of suffering, "Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John (Mark), departing from them, returned to Jerusalem." (Acts 13:13) Therefore, when Paul returned to Antioch from his work in Pamphylia and was about to go out to work again, Barnabas intended to take John, who was called Mark, with him. However, Paul decided not to take Mark with him because he thought that Mark had suffered a little bit in Pamphylia before he left, and Barnabas insisted that he had to take him with him.

Thank the Lord! Later, after Paul had tasted the manifold work of the cross of God, and after the outer man had been torn down, he became a spiritual man, and an apostle of great spiritual depth. Therefore, when he was informed that Mark had been trained and led under Peter for many years, he accepted Mark as his co-worker (Col. 4:10-11), (2 Tim. 4:11), which shows that Paul's outer man was torn down, and his inner man was completely renewed. Furthermore, while Paul was in prison in Rome, there was a fugitive slave named Onesimus who had stolen money from his master, Philemon, and fled to Rome where he met Paul, who then preached the gospel to him and led Onesimus to believe in the Lord and be saved. So Paul sent him back to his master, and at the same time he wrote a letter to Philemon. Paul had been led and trained by Philemon, but when Paul wrote to Philemon, it was in the tone of a sincere plea, begging Philemon to forgive the runaway slave and to accept him as a brother in the Lord. At the end, Paul made a special plea for Onesimus, "If he owes you anything, put it on my account." By Paul's intercession for Onesimus, the letter reveals Christ's humility, gentleness, and love; the man in him is completely renewed!

V. Accepting the Dismantling of the Cross

To "accept the destruction of the cross" means not to reject the cross. If we reject the cross, our spiritual life will stop growing. May the Lord be gracious to us, so that we may accept the cross gladly, so that our lives may grow quickly and abundantly. In terms of practical experience, how do we accept the cross without rejecting it? Here we would like to offer three points:

 A. Seeing (knowing) that each blow is a demolition of the cross ordained by the Lord

First of all, we must see from the inside that each blow is the demolition of the cross arranged by the Lord. In our social life, we will inevitably be misunderstood, slandered, belittled, and rejected. If we do not have mercy and see that this is the Lord's hand, or else how could this have happened to me, we will complain, get angry, retaliate, harbor hatred, defend ourselves, and doubt. May the Lord be gracious to us, so that whenever we encounter any suffering, whether it be in the family, in society, in school, in business, or in the organization, we can see that all the things that are hard for you to bear are the demolition of the cross that the Lord has arranged.

 B. The Difficulty of All Kingly Realms

Romans 8:28-29 reads, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." What comfort and encouragement these two verses give us.

“We know all things” means that we see, believe, recognize, and know in us that all things have come to us. “All things work together” for us by God's deliberate permission and transcendent arrangement. Whether it be joy, or sorrow, or good times, or hard times, it is always “for the good of them that love God,” which means that if we gladly accept all the difficulties of our circumstances, we will be greatly benefited. Finally, “being conformed to the image of His Son” means manifesting the glorious image of the Son of God.

Take today's film as an example: when the photo negative is placed in the camera, and then the bright and beautiful, just people pleasant scenery photographed on, the photo studio will have to take out the negative, placed in a darkroom, soaked in medicated water, and wait until the beautiful scenery is clearly presented before taking it up.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus has been revealed in you and me, and at the same time His glorious image has been in us. Now the Lord is placing us in a dark room and drenching us with medicine, symbolizing the coming of difficult circumstances and painful encounters. If we are blessed with grace and accept it gladly, we are confident that Christ's glory and beauty will be revealed in you and me after a certain period of time. However, we are afraid that when the photos are being processed, there will be light coming in from the dark room, which will spoil the image. May the Lord be gracious to us that when we are placed in the darkroom and immersed in the sink, we do not secretly peek out the window, because if only a ray of light comes in, the picture will be exposed. It means that the work of the cross cannot be accomplished in us. May we all pray as psalmist prayed: Lord, Thou shalt not give way, sooner or later I am going to obey, let me change my mind, Lord, come and obey. Amen.

 C. Submission to God's Mighty Hand

Peter, in his later years, was well aware of the law of God's work, and reminded us that "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (1 Pet 5:5) The main factor in a person's rejection of the work of the cross is the pride of the flesh. However, there are unchanging laws in God's work, one of which is to resist the proud and give grace to the humble. The humble man stands before God and always sees that he is nothing and humbles himself. Peter says, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time," (I Pet. 5:6) To submit to the power of God means to accept the breaking down of the cross of God in us.

In short, the outer man must be torn down so that the inner man can grow up. Therefore, we must have an attitude of unconditional acceptance of God's work of demolition, that is, the demolition of the cross, that is, to "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God". That is to say, we must humble ourselves and accept all the circumstances, hardships, and detestable people, things, and objects that God arranges, so that even though the outward man is being destroyed every day, the inward man is being renewed day by day, and so that God's work can be accomplished in us.

<--Back to "The Pathway of Inner Being" Next Chapter -->