Chapter 6: Inner Man Enters Into the Fullnes of Life

Scripture Reading:

John 12:24-25; 15:1-2, 5

Romans 6:3-5

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

INTRODUCTION

God's purpose in creating man was that Christ might dwell within him and that He might fill him up to his fullness and ultimately be manifested in all His fullness. From this we can see how lofty, honorable, and glorious you and I have been created to be. Do not underestimate yourself, thinking that our 70 or 80 years on earth will be nothing more than labor and sorrow, and that we will die and go to heaven. We must know that God's original purpose in creating man was that all men would display the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ.

However, because mankind is fallen and in need of Jesus Christ's salvation, when a person believes in Jesus, God does not use artificial efforts, nor does He rely on man's wisdom and methods to achieve the process of manifesting Christ's glory. Rather, He gradually and progressively grows in us through Christ's life until Christ's glory is manifested in living form. Therefore, if we do not pay attention to or neglect the experience of spiritual life, then God's plan will not be realized and completed in you and me. In other words, if we do not enter into the path of inner life and grow in God's life to maturity, so that Christ's glory and deity can be manifested, then God's eternal plan will not be accomplished.

Therefore, after a person is saved by grace and has Christ as his life, from that day onward, he must always be attentive to walking on the path of the inner life, so that Christ's life will gradually grow in us until it reaches maturity, and finally Christ will be filled and manifested. In the course of time, we are to allow the life of Christ to grow in us until the Lord returns and the body is transformed. In this way the whole person is filled with the glory of Christ from the inside out. Because God uses His own life as the driving force for multiplication and growth in us to accomplish His will. Therefore, the Lord Jesus instructed His disciples, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14). This means that the way of life is set before you, and you must enter into it, step by step, and go deeper and deeper.

Regarding the experience of entering into the inner path of life, we have already talked about seven points. When we are born again by grace and saved, we receive the life of God (Jesus Christ), and He enters into you and me. Naturally, from the depths of the inner path, we pray to God, and in this way we unite our hearts and minds with Him, and our spiritual life is sustained and grows. Therefore, the prayers of the saints are inward prayers.

Bible study is no exception. Honestly, although we read the Bible with our physical eyes and minds, inside we are in a constant relationship with the Lord, that is, we allow the Word of the Bible to enter into our souls, so that not only is our spiritual life fed by the Bible (the Word of God), but also we are able to enjoy the fattening of our souls and grow. At the same time, the life we receive is also a life of ministry. Therefore, a normal saint by grace will ask for ministry as soon as he or she is saved, but the ministry must be an internal one. Further, a saint's life and behavior must be sensitive to the inner sense of life, or else life cannot be developed. Whether it is the sense of conscience or the sense of life, one must be sensitive to it. At the same time, the saint's behavior is guided by the inner guidance, by the peace and the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is true that people in society must have common sense to judge right and wrong, but saints are guided by the peace within and the voice of the Holy Spirit. However, when we pay attention to our inner experience and grow in our spiritual life, we will find that there is a difficulty, that is, we, as the outer man (the life of the soul), have been destroying and blocking the growth of the inner life.

According to 2 Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." This means that through the destructive work of the cross, the Lord destroys our outer man, but on the other hand, the Spirit of regeneration wears this soul on the inside, growing and renewing it all the time. So that the life of Christ will continue to flow out of the inner man, even to the point of overflowing. If we are attentive to the demolition of the cross, our minds, emotions, and wills will naturally be subdued.

Because since the fall of man, the life of the soul has become independent and refuses to surrender to God, and because the life of the soul is centered on one's own interests, and because the life of the soul protects itself and refuses to allow God to work, God arranges to mobilize all people, things, objects, and environments to tear us down, so that our minds, emotions, and wills are stricken, thwarted, and shattered and have to surrender to the Lord. The inner man (Christ as life) can grow.

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The Inner Man Enters Into Abundant Life

The fact that the cross destroys the whole outer man is the negative side, but the positive purpose is to bring the inner man into the abundant life. By “outer man” we mean those who have the born-again spirit as their master and the soul as their servant, that is, Christ is in you and me, or the Holy Spirit of God and the life of God are in our souls, so how can the inner man enter into the abundant life? It is still through the cross.

I. The meaning of the cross is to rise from the dead

First of all, we must realize and understand the meaning of the cross. For a fallen person, God's way of salvation is through the cross. The meaning of the cross includes death and resurrection. When we talk about the destruction of the cross, we are referring to the "death” side, but there is another side, the "resurrection". This message focuses on the resurrection side.

Romans 6 is one of the clearest chapters in the Bible that explains the meaning of the cross. Verses 3 and 4 say, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." All brothers and sisters here have been baptized. When we enter the baptismal font, the church baptizes us in the name of Jesus Christ, and then we come up from the water, the main experience means to die, be buried, and be resurrected together with the Lord, which also indicates that the experience of the cross is the resurrection from the dead.

In terms of the experience, when we are baptized, it is a testimony that I have trusted Jesus as my personal Savior, and it is also a sign that from now on, I am one who is united with Christ and belongs to Him. It is an objective fact that Jesus was crucified more than 1900 years ago and we are all crucified in Him. This is an objective fact. But when do we take this fact and apply it to us? It is when we believe in Jesus, when we begin to be united with Him in our spirit, and when we are witnessed to by baptism. Now we are truly united with Christ. I went down into the water to die with Christ, and I came up out of the water, and it was Christ who clothed me and raised me up with the Lord. That is why Romans 6:4-5 specifically says, "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection."

The Greek word for "united” is a union of vitality, as when one branch is cut down and another is put up. As Romans 11:17 says, the Jews were God's chosen people, united with the Lord, but because of their unbelief and rejection of Jesus, they were like the branches of an olive tree that were cut off, so that we Gentiles, like wild olive branches, could be grafted in among them, and with them become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

In recent years, Taiwan produces a kind of fruit called apple mango, which has an apple and a mango flavor, and is both fragrant and sweet. It is said that this kind of fruit is made by cutting down the branches of the mango tree and attaching them to the apple tree, and then it is cultivated and improved through grafting.

Our union with Christ by baptism is a union of vitality. Thus we can grow in his resurrection.

 A. Christ's death ends the old creation and destroys the outer man

In Romans 6:4-5, it is said that we are buried with Him by baptism into death. This means that to be united with Christ is to be immersed in His death, which puts an end to our natural old creation. Experientially, when we are baptized and united with Christ, we are like branches attached to a tree, it is a living union, therefore Christ's death is living. In other words, Christ's death is dynamic, it has an energizing function. Therefore, Christ's death has the function of killing and will put an end to our natural, physical, and old creation. Therefore, when we are united in Christ's death, our outer man is always being torn down. As John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

B.  Christ's resurrection brings in the new creation, enlarging the inner man

Therefore, the Apostle Paul further said, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." This shows that our union with Christ by baptism is a vital union, and naturally we grow, live and move in His resurrection.

Experientially speaking, when we are united with Christ in the resurrection, His life passes through you and me in the inner man. Naturally, the life within will continue to multiply and flourish. From this we can see that the reason for the vital union is that when God, through the arrangement of circumstances (the demolition of the cross), demolished our outer man all the way through, that is, Christ's death put an end to our old creation. On the other hand, when we are united in Christ's resurrection, the life of His new creation runs in us and brings in the new creation to those inside of us, so that the new man inside of us keeps growing and expanding.

As in the past, when the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, that is, when they separated themselves from the Egyptian world and returned to God, and went through forty years of life in the wilderness, that is, referring to the work of the cross, and at the end of their journey to the border of Canaan, they had to cross the Jordan River, how did they cross the Jordan River at that time?

It is written in Joshua 3: 14-17, "So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan."

1. Twelve Stones at the Bottom of the River - Deeper Death Destroys Those Outside

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Tell each tribe to choose one man to come, and each man to carry a stone and place it in the middle of the river where the priests are standing." The "twelve stones" are indicative of the twelve tribes of Israel, i.e. all Christians. The "placing of the stones in the Jordan" signifies that all Christians died and were buried with Christ (Joshua 4:8-9). The Jordan was a symbol of the deeper death of the cross.

2. The Twelve Stones of Gilead - Entering into the Fullness of Life in the New Creation

But it did not end there. When the people came up from the Jordan, they had to take twelve stones from the Jordan and set them up in Gilgal in the land of Canaan (Joshua 4:19-20). "Canaan" prefigures the fullness of Christ. The "twelve stones which they took out of the

Jordan” refers to the resurrection of all Israel through death. These twelve stones had to be set up in Gilgal in the land of Canaan, signifying on the one hand a departure from the old creation, and on the other hand an entrance into the fullness of Christ's life in the resurrection. From this we can see that the experience of the cross, on the one hand, destroys the outer man and, on the other, brings the inner man into the fullness of life.

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:10, "always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." This "dying of the Lord Jesus" is a verb that refers to a living action that is taking place, i.e. Jesus' death by crucifixion, and this "death" has the function of killing, which is happening to you and me. So every shock, frustration, hardship, pain, and damage that comes to us is the death of Jesus. In other words, in our daily life, when we encounter difficulties in our family, some of them are the wife's flirtatiousness and spiciness, some of them are the husband's rudeness and tyranny, some of them are the children's tyrannical and rebelliousness, some of them are the parents' insistence and stubbornness, and some of them are the unsuccessful ministry, all of them are the cross. All these pressures are the death of the cross. What is the result? I thank God that life is developing in me because the cross kills, ends the old creation, and destroys the outer man on the one hand, and on the other hand, it unites the inner man with the resurrection of Christ, so that the life of Christ increases and the new creation grows and reaches fullness. May the Lord be gracious to us, so that we may truly see in our spirit that every time the suffering of the cross comes, it destroys the outer man, so that the inner man may enter into the abundant life. Because God's way of salvation is to live from death to life, we are nailed to Him by faith in the cross, and we can live out His life from you and me.

II. The Inner Man wins through the power of the resurrection

In fact, your victory over sin, the world, difficulties, hardship, etc., is not a result of your own natural instincts, but of Jesus Christ in you and me, the so-called "power of the resurrection", which is also known as the power of the infinite life.

There used to be a mango tree in the backyard of the assembly hall, and because of the power of the roots of the tree, it cracked the concrete floor. In the same way, Christ is in you and me, and He is the power of infinite life, enabling us to overcome the temptations of sin, the lures of the world, and difficult circumstances.

 A. The power of a treasure in a vessel is great.

That is why the apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." The word "treasure" refers to Christ. The “vessel” refers to us as human beings who are as fragile as a vessel. The"treasure in the vessel" is the life of Christ when we are born again. "To show that this great power is of God and not of us" means that this life of Christ is a resurrection from the dead, i.e. the power of the resurrection.

In terms of experience, we as human beings are sometimes unable to sleep when we are belittled or despised by others, or we are overwhelmed when something difficult or frustrating comes our way. It is as if a vessel is shattered by a single blow. But when you and I are born again and saved, this treasure (Jesus Christ), because He was raised from the dead, this life is the power of the resurrection, so that you and I may be surrounded by enemies, but not be trapped; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; knocked down, but not destroyed. In the church, there are some young brothers and sisters who were born in a Gentile nonbelieving family, and were persecuted because their parents did not understand and refused to allow them to meet and serve, but they still love the Lord, and meet, serve, and pursue the Lord's cause, and this is all because of the power of the resurrection of life. Some brothers and sisters who are parents have suffered repeated setbacks in their careers, and even lost the people, things, and objects that they love, and thus their hearts were devastated and they seemed to be in a state of grief. Miraculously, after a short time, not only did they come to the meetings, but they even shouted out thanks, praises, and testimonies during the meetings, and they were strong and moving forward.

2. The power of the resurrection is the life of victory

The power of the resurrection is the life of victory, that is, the very person of Christ Jesus. The power of the resurrection not only enables us to overcome sin, the world, and difficulties, but also enables us to overcome the flesh and death. In the old days, it was a Japanese custom to fly a carp flag during one festival each year. Carp is one of the longest-lived fish in the aquatic world. While ordinary fish die instantly when they leave the water, the carp will always swim to the water source in the streams. If it reaches a place where there is no water, it leaps away. Carp are said to be the most energetic of all aquatic species. The Japanese symbolize men by the courageous nature of the carp, which swims against the water, indicating that they have a personality that is capable of overcoming circumstances and difficulties. A normal Christian must also be able to break free from the bondage of sin, overcome the temptations of the world's vanities, and triumph over the evil desires of the flesh, and be a witness for Jesus Christ, for the life we have gained by being born again is the power to resurrect life without end.

III. Inner man enters into abundant life through the resurrection

We have mentioned time and again that those on the inside have the born-again spirit as their master and the soul as their servant, and that Christ dwells in the spirit. While those on the outside are being torn down, those on the inside are being renewed day by day and are entering into abundant life through the power of the resurrection.

 A. One grain of wheat falls to the ground and produces many grains

Jesus said to His disciples in a parable in John 12: 24-25, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

And behold, this very small grain of wheat in my hand, if it were laid on the table, would be but a grain. This grain of wheat is like Jesus Christ. All the fullness of God in form and body was in Jesus. When He was crucified, He was like a grain of wheat that fell to the ground and was covered up by the earth, and first the outer shell rotted and decayed (i.e., the dismantling of the cross). Since this grain of wheat is the seed of life, we thought it was buried in the ground and died, but after a period of time, it sprouted, and indomitably broke through the hard ground and sprouted (i.e. the power of the resurrection); when the new sprout stood tall and strong, it grew into ears of wheat (i.e. Christ's increase, the growth of life); and finally it bore much fruit (i.e. the abundance of life); the parable illustrates that people enter into the abundant life through the power of the resurrection.

When Jesus finished this parable, He went on to say, "He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life will keep it for eternal life." This means that it is through the loss of soul life that the Lord will release His eternal life in the resurrection and bring us to eternal life. If we are willing to lose our souls, we can enjoy eternal life in the resurrection to its fullness. In this case, in terms of experience, the original life was Jesus Christ, or the first grain of wheat was Jesus Christ. After He fell into the ground and died (i.e., when He was crucified), He gave birth to you, me, and Him, so that you, I, and He came from the first grain of Jesus, and it is the life of Christ that produces us. In the same way, all saints have Jesus Christ in them, and then Jesus led you, me and Him to the ground, that is, to the hardship, torture, pain and destruction of the cross. When we lose our souls in this way, our minds, emotions, and wills are repeatedly battered and torn down, like the husk of wheat cracking and rotting. Wonderfully, while the outer man is being torn down, the inner man is being resurrected and brought into the fullness of life, i.e., producing many grains.

The Apostle Paul was no exception. He was also a grain of wheat, and this grain of wheat went through many hardships, suffered whippings, imprisonment, insults, curses, and sufferings, and fell to the ground like wheat, but in the end his life was resurrected and he produced many grains. When he wrote letters to the churches, they were helped everywhere. When he went out to preach the gospel, people were saved by grace and visited the saints, and many were supplied, so that churches were established throughout Asia.

B. The vine branches bear more fruit

In the second parable in John 15:1-2, the Lord Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." Then verse 5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

It says here that Jesus is the vine, and the disciples (the saints) are the branches, and as long as the branches are attached to the vine, they will naturally bear fruit; and then the Lord said, "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." It is no wonder that many saints do not love the Lord and do not serve Him, but are safe and sound. On the other hand, those who love the Lord, pursue and serve much are in trouble; undoubtedly, because you do not love the Lord in a sloppy way, and you do not pursue and serve, it is as if the branch is no longer on the vine. Of course, in terms of status, when we believe in Jesus, God places us in Christ and unites us with Him, but in terms of subjective experience, anyone who does not draw near to the Lord and pray and read the Bible is like a branch that has left the vine. Naturally this branch cannot bear fruit, and the one who repairs it has to set it aside. On the other hand, as long as you pray, read the Bible, pursue, and serve, you are like a branch attached to the vine. Though it doesn't bear much fruit, it can be seen to have a little bit of Jesus, and a little bit of His life is touched. At this point, the Father who is cultivating and pruning begins to prune you and me and sees the hardened part of our flesh, which has too much talk, or is selfish. If this branch is too thick, or if this branch has thorns, cut it off. When the branch is cleaned up, that is, when the cross cuts away the old creation, the new branch bears more fruit, that is, the resurrected life enters into a state of abundance.

From this we can see that while the cross destroys the outer man, the inner man enters into the fullness of life in the resurrection. Therefore, if the saint accepts the cross (death and resurrection), the ministry will have a supply of life.

In the Old Testament, Jacob, when he blessed the prophecy of his twelve sons, said of Joseph, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall." (Gen. 49:22) These prophecies were fulfilled in Joseph. The history of Joseph's life shows that he accepted the work of the cross from an early age. His brothers were jealous of him, so they sold him to a foreign land in Egypt, where he suffered a lot of hardship and degradation, and was alone and in a difficult situation. Later on, he went through an even deeper crucifixion, that is, he was wrongfully and falsely imprisoned by the mother of the Lord, and due to the successive adversities, grievances, and sufferings that came to him, he had the old creation in his body cut off, and was finally promoted by Pharaoh to be the prime minister of all the land of Egypt, that is, he became the king in his life. Life was abundant, and in the end, he not only preserved the life of his family, but also supplied his family and all the land of Egypt, and through him his life was preserved.

If the Lord is gracious and merciful to us, and if we too have been worked by the cross, we will likewise become conduits of life, canals of blessing, full of grace and life, supplying the hungry and thirsty and the needs of the church.

C. Carrying in the body the dying of Jesus that the life of Jesus be manifested

Finally, let us look at 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, where the apostle Paul says, "always carrying about in the body the dying (killing in original text) of the Lord Jesus”, which means that the subjective experience of the cross is to allow the killing function of the cross to work in us, and to allow the "killing" of the cross to be carried out in you and me at all times. What is meant by the killing of the cross in us is that we gladly accept all the blows, setbacks, and painful and disgusting encounters that cause us pain, so that the outer man will be demolished, so that the life of Jesus will be manifested in the body, i.e., the inner man will enter into the fullness of life in the resurrection. In other words, the life of the resurrected Christ is thus made abundant and manifest.

And then verse 12 goes on to say, "So then death is working in us, but life in you." Here "death is working in us" refers to the demolition of the cross, i.e. after a person has been worked on by the cross, "life working in you" refers to the fullness of the resurrected life, which is shed on the other person. For example, there is an outpouring of life in his words and actions, whether in prayer or in fellowship, so that the other person receives spiritual provision, or so that the other person's spirituality is revitalized and renewed to run the race ahead.

The size of our church today is due to the grace of the Lord, the blessing and the work of the Holy Spirit, and to God be all the glory. On the other hand, according to the law of life, we should not overlook one thing, which is that there is a group of people who are walking on the path of life inside, who accept the cross secretly, pray for brothers and sisters in secret, and serve with great diligence, helping to supply brothers and sisters to walk on the path of life, and thus there is a flow of life going out. Especially in meetings, when we pray or fellowship with the Lord, we release life.

Though the words or content of the fellowship are simple, there is life being given out. Especially during the summer and winter special meetings, the life of all the saints is released, so that those brothers and sisters who are weak and lukewarm, or who are not alive and dying, will be revived as soon as they come into contact with life. This is because we have accepted the cross, so that the resurrection life grows in us until it becomes abundant, and becomes the content of the whole church.

On the other hand, if no one in the church is willing to accept the cross, then no one will be able to show their life, and the words of testimony and fellowship will be just words; prayers will become consuming and burdensome, and the brothers and sisters attending the meetings will not be supplied, and people will not be attracted to them. Gradually, the meetings will become traditions, formalities, and burdensome, and they will only have an appearance without any spiritual life and content, and thus the church will be in a state of decadence and deadness. From this, we can see that the future of the church depends on walking on the path of life on the inside, and the most important thing is that those on the outside will be torn down, and those on the inside will enter into the abundant life.

Brothers and sisters, in the eternal New Jerusalem, there is the throne of the Lamb. The word "Lamb" refers to the sacrifice of Christ, the experience of the cross. Jesus Christ went through the cross to reach the throne. So living water flows down from the throne of the Lamb. This stream of living water, His resurrection life, flowed throughout the city as a testimony of life. If you and I will release the life of Christ from the whole church today, our gathering will be the holy city, the New Jerusalem. For the holy city, the New Jerusalem, is full of abundant life, manifesting all the virtues of Christ, which is the testimony that God wants to appear in the world.

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