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Date: August 10, 1937Place: SingaporeScripture Reading: Phil. 1:21a; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor. 1:30
Yesterday we saw that God's goal is to give us Christ to be our life. Today we want to see why God gives us Christ. Paul said, "Christ our life," and, "For to me, to live is Christ" (Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a). But we have to admit that the way we live does not reflect the fact that Christ is our life. We fail, we are weak, and we glorify ourselves. We are short of love, and we make demands on others. We do not love the brothers, and we are not like Christ. We find it hard to speak like the Lamb. Our thoughts are filthy and unholy, and we are defeated by many sins. Christ has died for us and risen to be our life. But in our daily life we do not have the experience of Christ living within us. Although we have the life of Christ, we do not live it out. We are not very different from the worldly people, and we have not grown very much. When we look at ourselves, all of our sins are still with us.
Many Christians are like this. They do not know how Christ can be their life. Some seek to control their temper, hoping that they can become patient, and some seek for victory. But in spite of their pursuits, their prayer before the Lord, their confession, their prayer for grace, and their aspirations for a holy life of humility, gentleness, and brotherly love, their stubbornness remains and their nature is unchanged. Although they pray much, it seems as if God has never heard their prayer. They do not know what they should do before the Lord. Therefore, we want to consider what it means for Christ to be our life.
I have mentioned previously that a dissatisfied person will not receive anything. Only a hungry person will receive something. Friends, do not confuse dissatisfaction with hunger. Many people are not satisfied with their daily life, but they do not have a positive desire to pursue before the Lord. They have not had any dealings with the Lord and have never wrestled with the Lord. Hence, a dissatisfied person is not necessarily a hungry person. Let me say a strong word: Although you may be dissatisfied, you may not be experiencing the overcoming life at all. Only a hungry person can receive something. Those who are not hungry may understand what I am saying, but they will still not overcome. I have never seen a person who is not hungry overcome. A person may understand the doctrine of victory, but just being dissatisfied will not make one victorious.
Only seeking ones will experience Christ as their life. Those who think that they can pick up the overcoming life capriciously are cherishing a vain hope. You can pick up any item off the street, but victory is not something that can be picked up mindlessly. Victory does not come by chance. Only the hungry and seeking ones find it. If only three or five persons attending this conference find it, I will be very thankful to the Lord.
The overcoming life is just Christ Himself. God has given us Christ so that we will not only live by Him but that He would also become our life and live within us on our behalf. God has given us Christ. His intention is not just for Him to live within us but for Him to live for us within. He has already died for us on the cross. Today He wants to live for us within us. This is not a matter of overcoming through trusting in Christ. Nor is it a matter of Christ empowering us to overcome. This is not even a matter of Him helping us to overcome. It is a matter of us stepping aside and Christ becoming our victory within us.
Let me repeat: This is not a matter of Christ empowering us to overcome, nor is it a matter of Christ upholding us to overcome. Rather, it is Christ overcoming on our behalf, just as He died on the cross on our behalf. Christ died on the cross for us; we did not do anything. He is living for us in the same way. We do not have to put forth any effort of our own. For God to give us Christ as our life means that He has put Christ within us and has caused Him to live for us. Our old man has died, and Christ is living for us within us. This is fully a matter of substitution. If it is not a substitution, it is not the gospel. Without the cross, there is no victory.
Today we are not asking the Lord to empower us to be patient. Rather, the Lord within us is becoming our patience. We may be stubborn, proud, critical of others, lacking in love, or filled with unclean thoughts. We should not ask the Lord to empower us to overcome these things. Rather, the Lord within us is becoming our purity, meekness, and humility for us. Everything is in the principle of substitution. If we do not see the matter of substitution, there will never be any victory. A man can be conscious of his mistakes before God, but this does not mean that he will overcome. We may ask God to help us overcome, but we will never overcome. God does not help men overcome. He knows that we will only fail. He crucified our old man on the cross and gave Christ to us to be our true bread so that He would live for us within. This is the gospel, this is God's way of salvation, and this is victory.
Christ is our victory. Many people think that Christ helps them overcome or that Christ empowers them to overcome. But this is not the way. We are so weak that we cannot even stand up by ourselves. We are incurable. Overcoming is altogether a matter of Christ living for us within us. This is God's way of salvation.
During the past two years, I have seen two kinds of sickness among many believers. One is temper, and the other is anxiety. Many people only know that temper is a sin. They do not realize that anxiety is also a sin. Many people cannot deal with their temper. Neither reading the Bible nor praying will help them. They struggle for eight or ten years, yet still remain the same. They can do nothing about themselves, and they see no change in them at all. God knows that we do not have a way in ourselves. This is why He gave us another way. His way is to remove us and have the Lord Jesus be our life and victory within and to live instead of us. Many of us have not seen this. As a result we wonder what we should do.
When I was preaching in England, a friend of mine invited me to his home which was not far away. He had several sons. He and his wife could not overcome, and they were continually defeated. When one child cried, he became unhappy. When the second one cried, he became angry. When the third child cried, he could not hold back his temper. He often tried his best to suppress his temper, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not suppress it. He insisted that I come to his house to tell them how they could overcome.
When I went that evening, his wife said, "Mr. Nee, you know what victory means. Both of us want to overcome, but our children are very trying on us. We can overcome everything else, but our children are our real test. We can be patient when we are among our friends and in the church. But we fail completely with our children." When I heard this, I laughed because I realized that here were two more persons whom Christ could deliver. Some people are too moral and too refined; they can never realize the meaning of victory. The Lord only has a way with those who cannot find their own way. This was why I laughed; I felt that they were ready for deliverance.
I asked the wife, "Why do you want to be patient?" She said, "Because I have a quick disposition. I have asked God to give me patience so that I will not lose my temper." I said, "You can do nothing about this, and you have asked God for patience, but He has not given it to you. Is that right?" She said, "That's right. I have prayed for eight or nine years, but God seems to have ignored my prayer; He has not given me any patience." I said, "You have asked God for patience, but He knows that you do not need it. He has not given you patience, because you are not lacking in patience." She said, "Mr. Nee, what do you mean? I have never heard of such a teaching. Don't you think that I lack patience? Are you saying that I do not need patience?" I said, "That is right. You lack only one thing — Christ. God has put Christ in us to be our life, righteousness, holiness, redemption, and patience. Everything that God wants to give us is in Christ. God has given us Christ so that Christ would overcome on our behalf."
Then she realized that the way to victory had nothing to do with her. It is not we who overcome; it is Christ who overcomes. This is the biblical secret to victory. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It is not the power of Christ that lives in me, but Christ Himself who lives in me. I no longer live; it is altogether Christ who lives. This is victory. This was God's goal in the garden of Eden — that Christ would live for man within him. God's goal is for Christ to be life to man.
Once I was at a brother's house, and his wife said to me, "Mr. Nee, something has been wrong with me for the last few days. Everything with my family has been fine except for my few children, who have been very naughty. If I lock them up in the house, they become rowdy, and if I let them out of the house, they fight with other children. They cannot keep quiet in the house, and I worry about them when they leave the house. Many times I am driven to tears by anxiety over them. I cannot do anything about it. What should I do?" I smiled because when man does not have a way, the Lord will have a way. I said to her, "Is victory something of yourself or of Christ? If it is of you, you will not know what to do when there are three or four more children. But if it is of Christ, will three or four children fighting with each other be too much for Christ to overcome? Of course not! You are failing because you are bearing this burden. This is why you cannot be patient. But if Christ lives for you and Christ disciplines your children for you, you will be patient."
My friends, have you seen this? You cannot do anything about yourself. You can only fail. Victory is Christ. We cannot make it, but Christ can make it. The problem with us is that even though we cannot make it, we try to bear the burden ourselves and refuse to let Christ bear it for us. Many people are ignorant of the way of victory. They only know how to seek after power and holiness. Little do they realize that when they have Christ, they have everything. Victory is a matter of substitution by Christ. We do not overcome by ourselves.
Please be very assured before the Lord of this fact: Victory is not a change in ourselves; it is Christ overcoming for us. The overcoming life is an exchange, not a change. It is not a change from our own failures to our own victories. We have failed, and God has terminated the defeated "I" through the cross. He has put the victorious Christ within us to live for us. Our life has been exchanged. We were defeated, but God has put Christ within us and has replaced our "I" with "Christ" so that now we can overcome. The secret to victory is in the little word exchange. Many people hope to change, but no matter how hard they try, they are still themselves! Only when Christ lives for us within will we experience victory.
Two years ago I spoke about the subject of victory in Chefoo. I said that victory is not a matter of changing our lives. It is not a changed life, but an exchanged life. Man only wants to change himself. But in God's eyes, we are wicked beyond hope. We are thoroughly corrupted, and there is no way for us to be changed. Every kind of sin dwells within man. All the sins of the world dwell within us. We should not say that others can be robbers and prostitutes and that we cannot. We can commit any sin. We do not commit them because by God's mercy we are not faced with that environment and temptation. God has crucified our old man through the cross of the Lord, and Christ is living within us to be our victory. Our life is totally exchanged; it is not changed.
Once, over ten years ago, I had six dollars in my pocket, and I bought a watch for myself, which cost five dollars and eighty cents. It was a watch with a famous American brand name. When I purchased it, I was given a certificate of warranty, guaranteeing free service and maintenance on the watch for two years from the date of purchase. I took the watch home, and on the second day, it was off by two and a half hours. Other watches worked for twenty-four hours, but my watch only worked twenty-one and a half hours. I took it to the shop and asked them about it. The men said that they would fix it for me. After two days I took the watch home, but it was an hour off after only one day. I took the watch back for repair, and it was supposedly fixed. After I took it home again, it was in the same position after just one day; it had not moved at all. I again took the watch back and asked why it did not work. The men could only say, "Okay. Do not complain anymore. We will fix it for you." I took the watch home a week later, and the next day I noticed that it was three hours faster. I took it back and said, "I have had this watch for just twenty days. But fourteen of these days, it has been in your shop. I had it for only six days. Is this watch yours or is it mine? Since you cannot fix it, can I exchange it for another one?" The men insisted that there was no such guarantee; the warranty only guaranteed that they would fix it. If the watch broke down, I could bring it back to the shop as often as needed, and they would fix it until the two-year period expired.
My friends, do you see what I am talking about? Repair and exchange are two different things. Repairing something is fixing something that is broken. But exchanging something is turning in the old thing for something new. God's way of salvation is the way of exchange. Man wants God to give him the strength to do good, but a broken watch cannot be changed into a good one no matter how much one tries to fix it. The only way is to exchange it for a new one. God's way of salvation is not to help us overcome, but for Christ to overcome in our place. Have you seen what Galatians 2:20 is about? It is simply us not living; our living has nothing to do with us. It is no longer us, but Christ who lives in us. This is substitution. Victory has nothing to do with us. We have nothing to do with victory itself. Christ is living for us and living out of us. It is not a matter of living by Christ, through Christ, because of Christ, or by the power of Christ. It is a matter of not being us at all. We have absolutely no part; Christ is living on our behalf.
A man once said to me, "I want to overcome. I desire to overcome all the time. How can I overcome?" I answered coldly, "If a person like you could overcome, the whole world could overcome. A person like you could never overcome." He became angry and said, "Why can't I overcome?" I said, "You simply cannot overcome." His face turned red, and he said, "Are you saying that I am too evil?" I said, "That is right, you are altogether evil. However, I am not the one who says this; God says this. According to Him, you are totally wicked and completely hopeless. This is why I can tell you that you can never overcome." He said, "But what if I want to overcome?" I said, "Even though you want to, you cannot." By then he had realized a little that he could not overcome by his own strength. I then told him, "God does not say that you have to be a certain kind of person before you can overcome. You are wicked beyond hope, and God knows that you will only fail and be defeated. This is why He has put you aside. No one in this whole world can overcome. Only One can overcome — Jesus Christ. Other than Christ, there is no one who can overcome." Then he understood that victory is simply Christ Himself.
Once a brother confided in me that he could not be patient. I have heard this kind of confession a countless number of times. Perhaps temper is a common problem all Christians have, and everyone loses his temper easily. I asked, "Do you lack patience?" He said, "Yes, and I have been praying for God to give me patience. Perhaps God has not answered me because I have not been earnest enough in my prayer." Then he turned to me and asked, "Mr. Nee, did I pray the right prayer?" I said, "No. God only engages in wholesale business; He is not interested in retail business." He asked, "What do you mean?" I said, "When you lack patience, you go to God for patience. When your patience runs out, you go to God for more. You may realize that you are proud, and you go to the Lord for humility. A few days later you may realize that you lack love and that you are critical of others, and you pray to the Lord for love. When you do this, aren't you treating God just like a retail grocery store? But this is not the way that God works. This is why He never answers your prayer." God is interested only in wholesale business. Whoever comes to Him will receive the whole Christ. A whole Christ is within you, and He is your meekness, humility, patience, and love.
God does not dispense anything to us in a fragmentary way; whatever He gives to us is found in Christ. When we have Christ, we have everything. When we gain Christ, we gain all things. Christ is within us and living for us. No matter how hard and difficult a task may be, He is more than able to fulfill it. What is victory? Victory is simply Christ. We cannot overcome by ourselves. Victory is not a matter of us overcoming, but of Christ overcoming in our place. May the Lord be merciful to open our eyes so that we can see that we can never overcome in ourselves. We should not only be disappointed with ourselves but also lose all hope in ourselves. We should cherish no hope whatsoever in ourselves. Overcoming is not a matter of change, but a matter of exchange. If it is a matter of change, we will still be the same after three or five years. But since it is a matter of exchange, it happens instantly. We do not attain anything through a gradual process; everything comes from God. If we are clear about God's salvation, we will overcome in an instant. But if it is up to us, we will be the same three, five, eight, or ten years from now; we will be the same thirty or fifty years from now. However, since it is an exchange, we overcome in an instant. Anything that issues from ourselves works slowly; it will not accomplish anything after even one hundred years. But anything that is from God happens quickly, even instantly. Victory is not man-made; it is a miracle.
May the Lord open our eyes to see that it is no longer us, and may we live a life that is full of miracles. When one sister died, the following words were inscribed on her tombstone: "She did what she otherwise could not have done." This means that her living was not one that issued from herself. She could not do anything by herself, but through Christ she could do all things. As a consequence, she did what she otherwise could not have done, and she said what she otherwise could not have said. Everything is of Christ, and we have no part in it. Hallelujah! Christ is victory! He lives within us, and He is living for us. All we have to do is abandon ourselves and allow Him to live out of us. Then victory will be ours spontaneously.
