Date: October 21, 1936, eveningPlace: KulangsuScripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:30; John 3:16; Heb. 11:1; Rom. 6:3, 11
During the past four evenings, we have seen the biblical meaning of being "in Christ." The opposite of being in Christ is being in Adam. First, we spoke on the life and nature of two great communities — the community of Adam and the community of Christ. Next, we saw that we need to move out of the community of Adam and into the community of Christ. This is our salvation and regeneration, which gives us a new beginning and leads to our life in Christ. We also saw how we moved out of the first community and into the second community, that is, out of Adam and into Christ. We saw that God did not work individually on men. All other religions work on men individually. But Christ's salvation is not accomplished through human ways; it is God's own work in and through Christ. A Christian is one who is joined to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and who partakes of all that Christ has. Although we are poor in ourselves, we are joined to Christ. Everything of Christ flows to us. We do not have to do anything. When God put us into Christ, He became everything to us. This is the gospel. Of course, we need to emphasize the truth in our messages. However, after we have presented the truth, we must also present the way to practice the truth. Some can tell me that Amoy is very good, but in the end they must also tell me how to get to Amoy. Tonight we will consider the way we can be in Christ.
The first half of 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus." Being "of Him" means to originate from God. At the time the Lord died on the cross, we were put into Christ already. This is God's work. During the first evening, I spoke of putting chalk into a chalk box and throwing it into the sea. If an ordinary person like me, who is five feet eleven inches and one hundred forty pounds, has the power to do this, how much more power does God, the Creator of the universe, have in putting us into Christ? God has done this and unveiled it to us in the Bible. We do not know how He did it; we only have to believe it.
It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus. Since this is the case, what do we have to do? We have said that God has put us into Christ. But how can we obtain this blessing? There is one book in the New Testament that tells us how we receive life in Christ — the Gospel of John. The most familiar verse in John is 3:16. It says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life." Many unbelievers have criticized the church for not exhorting people to do good and for not teaching people other things; it only does one thing — it asks people to believe. Actually, the Bible does not ask people to just believe; it asks people to believe into Christ. The Bible does not say that we should believe a thing, like believing some news published in the newspaper. The Bible says that when a man believes, he believes into Christ. Through believing, we become one with Christ. To be one with Christ means to be in Christ. On the one hand, it is of God that we are in Christ. On the other hand, we have to believe into Him.
Let us now find out what faith is. The most important matter in the Bible is faith. Perhaps the faith that we know of is not the faith that the Bible speaks about. The Bible mentions faith several hundred times. But the only place that gives a definition to faith is Hebrews 11:1. This verse says, "Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The word "substantiation" is not a noun in Greek, but a verb that is turned into a noun. It can be translated as "substantiating." Most English translations render this word as "substance." Only J. N. Darby's translation renders it as "substantiating." In Chinese there is no comparable word for it.
Human beings are made with a physical body. How can we relate to the material world around us? We relate to it through our five senses. If a man is deprived of the five senses, he will not know anything about the physical universe. The world is full of physical objects of all sizes and forms, each having its own shade, color, and shape. These objects are realized through our eyes. When sight is transmitted into us, we know that all these objects exist in the world. Colors are outside of us, but they are transmitted into us through the eyes. These colors are the substance that the Bible speaks of. The eyes substantiate the colors of objects. In the same way, faith substantiates the substances that are in the spiritual world. We may talk to a blind man about colors, and there may be all kinds of colors in this world, but to him there is no color. This does not mean that there is no color in the world. It only means that a blind man does not have the faculty to substantiate the colors that objects possess.
Today God wants the things that He has accomplished in Christ to be substantiated in us. This is a function of faith. Faith is a kind of substantiating; it reveals the substance that is in the spiritual world. Discussing spiritual things with a person who does not have any faith is like a painter discussing color with a blind man. The blind man may deny the existence of any color. This does not mean, however, that there are no pictures or colors in the world. It merely means that the blind man lacks the proper faculty to substantiate the colors. What are the spiritual things in Christ to you? Is my speaking to you like the painter speaking to the blind man about his painting? I hope not.
The question is not whether there is a spiritual world. The question is whether or not there is an organ to realize the things in the spiritual world. Although a blind man cannot see with his eyes, he can hear with his ears. If I speak to a blind man about color, and he tries to listen with his eyes, he will not hear anything. You may laugh at this thought. It is ridiculous because the man has used the wrong organ to substantiate colors. Every organ and faculty in the human body has its special functions. The only organ that will substantiate spiritual things is faith. It is wrong to try to substantiate spiritual things with one's feelings.
Why does faith substantiate or make spiritual things real? It is because Christ has accomplished everything. God has put everything into Christ. In the spiritual world, God does not need you to create "colors" and "shapes"; He has finished everything. All you have to do is exercise your spiritual eyes, that is, your faith, to substantiate them. The faith that the Bible speaks of is a faculty that substantiates spiritual things.
A question may arise in our actual experience. You may say, "You have said that I have died, but I do not feel as if I have died. I feel as if I have not died. I still have many sins, and I am still very much alive!" Please remember that our physical eyes can only substantiate physical things. Only faith can substantiate spiritual things. Faith is acknowledging that whatever God says is true. If we look at ourselves and try to feel something in ourselves, we will only substantiate the things in Adam. Why are we not able to substantiate the things that are in Christ? It is because we have used the wrong organ. We are seeing with our physical eyes, and we are feeling with our feelings. We are not exercising faith.
You may ask, "What should I believe now that you have told me to believe?" How does faith work in reality? Please remember that our faith is based on God's Word. Believing in God's Word means that when God says in His Word that certain things have been accomplished, we believe that they have been accomplished. A missionary once asked me, "What is the difference between God's Word and His work?" I was shaking his hand and I had my gloves on. I explained that God's work is like the hand, while His Word is like the glove. When someone holds my glove, he is holding my hand. In the same way, when we hold onto God's Word, we hold onto His work. When I explained it in this way, he became clear. All we have to do is to hold onto God's Word; His work is in His Word. If the hand is not in the glove, it would be useless for anyone to shake the glove. But God's work is now in His Word. We should say to the Lord, "You have said that Your work is accomplished. I believe in what You said." If God's Word says it, we should also say it. God's Word says that our sins are forgiven in Christ. We should respond by saying that our sins are forgiven in Him. God's Word says that our sins have been judged in Christ. We should respond by saying that our sins have been judged in Christ. God's Word says that the old man has died. We should respond by saying that our old man has died. God's Word says that we have received a new life. We should respond by saying that we have received a new life. If we do this, everything in Christ will be ours.
John 15 says that the Lord is the vine and the Christians are the branches. To outsiders this may not seem like anything sensational, but to a Christian this is a revolutionizing fact. All the sap in the vine flows into the branches. The fruit, leaves, and branches all derive their growth from the tree. A Christian is a branch on Christ the vine. He does not need to struggle to grow leaves or bear fruit. All he has to do is remain in the vine. However, many Christians feel that they do not look like a branch. They pray and ask to become a branch. These prayers are absolutely useless. We are branches already, and there is no need for us to pray to become a branch. We only need to see that we are branches. If we see that we are branches, we will no longer pray to be one, but will acknowledge that we are one already. This is the meaning of faith.
Once I was very sick, and I prayed to the Lord: "Heal me, Lord. The doctors can do nothing about me now. Please heal me." I had seen many promises of God in the Bible prior to this. But the Lord spoke to me through one word. "He Himself took away our infirmities and bore our diseases" (Matt. 8:17). At first I prayed for the Lord to bear my disease. Then He gave me a promise, but my illness was still there. I prayed again and the Lord rebuked me and showed me that this was wrong. He opened my eyes, and I saw that He had already borne my disease. When I believed in this word, I did not pray any longer; instead, I began to praise Him for bearing my disease even though outwardly everything was still the same and the illness was still with me.
Faith is not believing in what God will do; it is believing in what God has done. It is not believing that God will heal me, but that He has healed me. The Bible does not mention faith as something belonging to the future. Faith is believing in what God has done in Christ. When we believe in what God has done and accept His accomplished facts, we have genuine faith.
There was another time when I was sick. I asked the Lord to heal me, and He told me that the Holy Spirit is living in me and will give life to my mortal body (Rom. 8:11). I knew that the Lord had healed me, yet I could not go to sleep that night. The fever was high and the condition was worse than before. Satan came to me and said, "You say that God has healed you. But look at yourself, your temperature is very high and you cannot sleep. You say that you are healed, but your sufferings are worse than before. How can you say that God has healed you? This is not true." I thought that perhaps I was wrong. But then I realized that this was nothing more than a mood that came from Satan, and I began to ignore it. I told Satan, "God said that He has healed me. My temperature may be high, and I may still feel pain and be unable to go to sleep, but none of these conditions are trustworthy. There is only one thing which is real in this world — God's Word. All pains and problems are false. Only God's Word is real." After I said this, I fell asleep within a few minutes.
Satan may say, "Look at yourself! You are so filthy within." You have to tell him, "Yes, I am filthy in myself. But I am in Christ, and everything in Christ is clean." If you stand on God's side, Satan will be defeated immediately.
In reading the Bible, we have to pay attention to two matters — being in Adam and being in Christ. There is a great difference between these two things. They have a great deal to do with the way we live our Christian life, and we must deal with these two matters properly. When our life does not match the biblical description of being in Christ, we have to stand on God's Word. We must not trust in our feelings or consider our conditions. We have to stand on God's Word and believe in His Word. If we do this, He will lead us into all the riches that are in Christ.
