Date: October 19, 1936, eveningPlace: KulangsuScripture Reading: Rom. 6:3-11
God's salvation is wonderful. However, He did not do anything in us to accomplish His salvation; everything was done in Christ. Christ has accomplished everything for us. The only way for man to be saved is to be in Christ. We do not need to ask God to do anything in us. As long as we are in Christ, everything that Christ has accomplished will be realized in us. This is God's way of salvation. Let me ask a question: How did we enter into Christ? It is God who has put us into Christ. Strictly speaking, we must come out of Adam before we can get into Christ. For example, I must get out of this room before I can go into the next room. We must have an exit before we can have an entry. First, we get out of Adam, and then we get into Christ.
In order to know how to get out of Adam, we must first know how we got into Adam. John 3:6 says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Who are the ones who are in the flesh? They are those who are born of the flesh. As soon as we were born, we were in Adam. The life which we inherited from our parents is an Adamic life. After so many generations, the human life is still the Adamic life. Since we entered Adam through birth, how do we get out of Adam? Suppose I entered this room facing the east. In order to go out, I only need to turn around and walk toward the west. Since we entered Adam through birth, we have no other exit except through death. Once we die, we terminate our standing in Adam. Thank God that He has delivered us out of Adam by bringing us through death.
In Adam we can do nothing but sin. Death is the grand deliverance by which we are delivered from the bondage of sin. A man may be bound by many things, but everything is over as soon as he dies. The same principle applies in the spiritual realm. Romans 6:7 says, "For he who has died is justified from sin." After a man has died, he can no longer sin; consequently, he is free from sin. A dead man is one whose thoughts, will, temper, and evil deeds are dead. There was a man in Australia who was sentenced to death. He committed such serious crimes that the judge handed down one hundred and eighty verdicts of death against him. However, he only needed to die once. Then he could sin no more. A man can be a drug addict, robber, murderer, or hardened criminal, but everything is over as soon as he dies. He will no longer sin. The biblical principle is the same. Once a Christian dies, everything is over with him.
The way we enter Adam is through birth, and the way we exit Adam is through death. Once we die, we are delivered from Adam's sins. We have the way now. But how can we take this way? We are born into Adam and have become a part of him. Today if we want to get out of Adam, we have to die. Once we die, we will be delivered from Adam. But how can we die? How can we be freed from Adam? The way to salvation is death, the way to victory is death, and the way to be freed from Adam is also death. The question today is, how can we die? How can we back up this "car" to its original place? Can we die by ourselves? No. There is no way for us to die by ourselves. The way of death has been prepared by God. When we believe in Him, we die in Christ and are freed from Adam. Hallelujah! How wonderful it is to be in Christ! When we are in Christ, we die.
It is God's work that we died in Christ. When Christ was crucified on the cross, God put us into Him. We died with Him and in Him. For example, there is chalk in this chalk box. When I throw the box into the sea, the chalk will go into the sea as well. Wherever the box is, the chalk is there as well. In the same way, God has put us into Christ. All the experiences of Christ have now become our experiences. Romans 6:6 says that our old man has been crucified with Him on the cross. The last part of 2 Corinthians 5:14 says that One died for all, therefore all died. We died in Christ. God's Word says that when One died, all died because all are in Christ. When Christ died, all died in Him. There is no way for all not to die. This death is in Christ, not in ourselves. When we die, we cannot lose our temper or sin anymore. This is God's way of salvation.
The second time I was in Kaifeng, I told everyone that when a man dies, he is delivered from sin. One lady, a Mrs. Yan, came to me and said, "The Bible says that I have died. In my daily life, however, it does not seem that I have died." Then she asked, "Mr. Nee, how can I really die? If I can be assured that I am really dead, I will be delivered from sin." I told her, "We died in Christ. In ourselves we are still alive and living. If you abide in Christ, you will be dead all the time, but as soon as you live in yourself, you will not be dead. The death that God has accomplished, the death that He has created, is in Christ. If you look at yourself, you will not die. Never look at yourself in yourself. You have to exercise your eyes of faith and consider yourself dead in Christ. When you do this, you will die. God's work is not done in you, but in Christ. If you remain in Christ all the time, all that Christ is and has done will flow into you."
A lamp cannot shine by itself. It shines when electricity passes through it. We cannot control our temper by ourselves. But when we are in Christ, we will be patient spontaneously.
Some people seek for death while they are alive. We seek for life through death. I have said that we should exercise our eyes of faith and view ourselves as dead in Christ. We are not the object of our faith; the object of our faith is Christ. If I, Watchman Nee, look at myself, I will not find death. But Watchman Nee has long been dead in Christ. There is no need for me to die anymore. Thank God that we are dead in Christ. Many Christians fail on this very point. They seek for death in themselves but never find it. When we search within ourselves to see whether we have died, we will find that we are still living in ourselves. In fact, we will find that we are very much alive. Death is something that can only be found in Christ; it can never be found in us. It is a marvelous thing that man can live in two realms. We were in Adam, but God has put us into Christ. Yet in our daily life, it is possible for us to return to Adam. This is our problem. Many Christians fail because they continue to look inward. As a result they continue to live in themselves.
One sister has much experience in the Lord. When others asked her about the secret to the Christian life, she answered, "If you want to experience the overcoming life all the time and remain victorious, you must never consider yourself outside of Christ. Whenever you consider yourself outside of Christ, you will be the same as you were before you were saved. When you look within, you are exercising your feeling and trying to see with your own eyes. But when you look at Christ, you are exercising your faith and seeing with God's eyes."
What else should we do after we die? After a man dies, the first thing to do is to bury him. This is the biblical meaning of baptism; baptism is a kind of burial. Yesterday, six people were baptized. This means that six people were buried. A man must first die before he can be buried. We bury a man because we believe that he has died. One woman's husband died, and she would not let others put him into a coffin for three days and three nights. She said that she was afraid her husband would suffocate in the coffin. She did not believe that her husband had really died. Would you bury a man if you did not believe that he had died? No. If I have not died, I surely would not allow others to bury me. Baptism is the acknowledgment of our position in Christ. It is to believe that we have been crucified with Christ. Everything of Christ has become ours, because everyone who believes in the Son of God is in Him. After you believe and have the faith that you have died in Him, what should you do to show that you have died? You should be baptized. Baptism is our declaration that we are in Christ and that we have died with Him. Through this act of burial, we acknowledge this fact.
A Christian must go through the station of "death" before he can be delivered from Adam, and he must go through the station of "birth" before he can enter into Christ. Between these two stations, there is a "pontoon bridge" called "burial," which is signified by our baptism. This bridge brings us from the side of Adam to the side of Christ. Baptism is joined to Adam on one end and to Christ on the other end. On one side, we say to Adam, "Farewell forever. I have left you behind and have nothing more to do with you." On the other side, we enter into Christ and begin a new life in Him.
The Bible shows us the perfect arrangement God has made for us: In Christ. This enables us to leave the community of Adam and enter the community of Christ. These two communities are separated by a grave. When a man dies, we put him into a coffin and bury him. No water in this world can wash away our sins, but the Lord's shed blood has washed us of all our sins. Through the water of baptism we can now testify, "I have been delivered from Adam through death. I am now in Christ through burial. In Christ I have been washed of my sins, and I am saved."
