Search
I. Beginning from the believers’ spirit:
А. By God’s Spirit dwelling in the believers — Rom. 8:9a.
Romans 8:9a
But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
B. The Spirit of Christ, that is, the pneumatic Christ, making home in the believers’ spirit — Rom. 8:9b-10a.
Romans 8:9b-10a
Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. (10a) But if Christ is in you...
C. That the believers, though dead in their bodies because of sin, may have their spirits become life because of righteousness — Rom. 8:10b.
Romans 8:10b
...though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.
II. Continuing in the believers’ soul:
А. By the believers setting the mind of their soul on the spirit — Rom. 8:6b.
Romans 8:6b
...but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
B. That the divine dispensing that dwells in the believers’ spirit may spread into the believers’ soul, that their mind may be transformed and their soul renewed — Rom. 12:2b.
Romans 12:2b
...be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
III. Consummated in the believers’ body:
А. By the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in the believers’ spirit and soul — Rom. 8:11a.
Romans 8:11a
And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...
B. That He who raised Christ from the dead may spread His divine dispensing into the believers’ body through His indwelling Spirit — Rom. 8:11b.
Romans 8:11b
...He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
C. That the believers’ mortal body may also receive the supply and saturation of the divine life — Rom. 8:11b.
Romans 8:11b
...He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
Prayer: Lord, we praise and thank You that You are here with us. We believe that You will speak to us in Your Spirit. Lord, may You speak more. Speak within us, and speak through our speaking. May there be word upon word and Spirit upon Spirit so that every one of us would meet You and be touched by You. May You gain the glory. May Satan be shamed, and may the saints be blessed. Amen!
These messages are on Romans 8. Romans 8 can be considered as the most profound chapter in the Bible. It is profound in two aspects: first, our God is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; second, this Triune God is working Himself into our tripartite being. According to the revelation of the Bible, God is triune. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This means that the One whom we serve, worship, believe in, receive, and live by is the Triune God. This Triune God has a very profound distinction: He is the unique God, yet He is of three persons. That is why He is called the Triune God.
The word triune does not seem to be an accurate mathematical number. This word comes from Latin and is formed from two words: tri, which means “three,” and une, which means “one.” Therefore, the word triune means “three-one.”
According to the record of the Bible, before the Lord Jesus became flesh, and even before His resurrection, He had never revealed to man the Divine Trinity. It was not until He passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection that He revealed this matter to man. When He entered into resurrection, He immediately became the life-giving Spirit. This is a tremendous thing. Let me say this again: Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of life described in Romans 8. Before His ascension He appeared to His disciples and charged them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). The name in which people are to be baptized is the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, yet the name is one. There are three persons with only one name. This name is the aggregate title of the Divine Being. It represents the Triune God Himself.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” From this, we can see that the Word can never be separated from God. The two are one. The Word is the definition, explanation, and expression of God. This Word not only speaks forth God but speaks God into man, because this Word is the defined, explained, and expressed God. One day this Word became flesh (v. 14). The One who became flesh was the Word, who was God, the complete Triune God. For the Word to become flesh was for the Triune God to become a man of flesh. In this way He became a sinless God-man, being the complete God as well as the perfect man, having divinity as well as humanity. This is Jesus. This is also the Triune God.
This God-man Jesus remained on earth with the disciples for three and a half years. One day His disciple Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (14:8). After the Lord Jesus heard this, He answered, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father...The words that I say to you, I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (vv. 9-10). The Lord was rebuking Philip and seemed to be saying, “Why do you ask Me? Don’t you know that I am just the Father?” This shows us that the second of the Triune God, the Son, is the first of the Triune God, the Father. The Son is the Father.
After this the Lord Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality...He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you” (vv. 16-18). This Spirit of reality is just the Lord Himself. This shows that the Christ in the flesh has passed through death and resurrection to become the Spirit of life. This Spirit of life is the pneumatic Christ. This Spirit is the reality of Christ (1 John 5:6, 20), making Christ real in the believers. Hence, the third of the Triune God, the Spirit, is also the reality of the second, the Son. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). That day refers to the day of the Lord’s resurrection. On the day of His resurrection, the third of the Triune God, the Spirit, who is the other Comforter, came into the disciples with all the reality of the Triune God to abide in them. At that time the disciples knew that the Son was in the Father, the disciples were in the Son, and the Son was in the disciples. Because the Son is in the Father, when the Son comes into us, the Father also comes into us. The Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — are joined as one with us, the believers.
John revealed to us in his Gospel that the God whom we worship, serve, believe in, and live by is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Paul also revealed to us in his Epistles that we who are created by God are tripartite men, composed of spirit, soul, and body. The Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — is mysterious and is not simple at all. The three parts of our being — the spirit, the soul, and the body — also are mysterious and are not simple. When we go to school to receive an education, we are satisfying the need of the soul so that we can have a strong soul. In school we also do physical exercises. This is to meet the need of the body so that we can have a strong body. But though we study and engage in physical activities, we often feel empty. This is because our spirit is not satisfied. Our spirit needs to be filled by God. We need God. Only God can “light up” our spirit. If we are right in all three parts of our being, we will be persons who are healthy in our body, strong in our soul, and bright in our spirit.
In Romans 8:9-10 Paul says, “You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” Here we can see that the Spirit of God is just the Spirit of Christ. The two are one Spirit, and Christ is these two Spirits. Hence, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ Himself — the three — are one. After this, Paul says, “If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (v. 11). This means that if we allow the Spirit of the Triune God to dwell in us, in our experience we will not be in the flesh but in the spirit. If that is the case, He as the Spirit will spread from our spirit to our soul, represented by the mind, and will finally give life even to our mortal body.
How does the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — work Himself into the tripartite man of spirit, soul, and body? First, Christ enters into our spirit and makes our spirit alive. At this time our soul is still dead because of sin. Next, if we set our mind on the spirit continually, the Spirit will enter into our mind so that our mind will be filled with the Spirit and will become the divine life. In this way, not only our spirit will have life; our mind also will have life. Finally, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal body through the Spirit of resurrection, who dwells in us, so that we will have life also in our body. First, there is life in the spirit. Then there is life in our soul. Finally, there is life for our body. This is how the Triune God dispenses Himself into the tripartite man. This is also the greatest and the most profound mystery in the universe.
We are all tripartite persons with a spirit, a soul, and a body. We not only need to be strong in our soul and body; we need to be bright in our spirit as well. Only in this way can we be directed and led by the Spirit of God, and only then will we be a proper person who is useful to our family, relatives, friends, society, and country. Such a person has gained God and is gained by God. Before we believed in the Lord, our body might not have been very proper. Our soul was not good, and our spirit was darkened and dead. However, thank the Lord, we have believed in Jesus, and the mysterious Triune God has entered into us. Once He comes in, the Spirit comes, and the Father and the Son also come. How rich it is now that the Father is in us, the Son is in us, and the Spirit also is in us! Our whole being is now fully taken over by the Triune God. The Triune God has begotten us with Himself and has reconstituted us with His own divine elements. Now we are persons with God, those who have the dispensing of God and are saturated and constituted with God. Hence, we are God-men.
This work of putting the Triune God Himself into us is dispensing. This dispensing is not at all rough; rather, it is very refined and tender. As long as you confess that you are a sinner and believe in the Lord Jesus, this Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — will enter into you to be your life and everything. If you are a husband, He will become the love with which you love your wife. If you are a wife, He will become the submission with which you submit to your husband. You can love your wife because of Jesus, and you can submit to your husband because of Jesus. Your humility, gentleness, and patience are all Jesus. Jesus has become your all.
Moreover, through His dispensing within you, you will gradually realize that He is your Head. Before Him you are just like a wife. You will understand that He is your Lord, that only He has the real sovereignty over you. This Triune God who is within you is your life and everything. He is also your Head, your Husband, and your Lord. Moreover, He is your law, the law of the Spirit of life. This law is a tremendous thing. When you see an electric fan turning, you know that there is a law of electricity operating within the electric fan. Electricity is transmitted from the power plant to the house and is then connected to the electric fan. There is also a switch. When you want the fan to turn, you do not need to turn it with a bamboo pole. You only need to turn on the switch; the fan will immediately turn, and the cool wind will come.
As a Christian today, do you live the Christian life by “turning the fan with a bamboo pole,” or are you “turning on the switch” to allow the fan to turn by itself? Some have prayed much for the Lord to help them and to strengthen them so that they can honor their parents and control their temper. Actually, this kind of prayer is like turning the fan with a bamboo pole. Have you seen that you no longer need to turn the fan with the pole? You need to see that one fact has been accomplished — that the electricity from the power plant has been installed into this house. The electric fan is here. The switch is installed. There is no need for you to do anything else. You only need to turn on the switch, and the fan will turn.
We all have to see that the Triune God is the greatest “electricity.” He has been installed in us. Daily He is turning within us in a gentle and fine way. If you contact Him, you will receive the enjoyment. If you ignore Him, you will miss the enjoyment. Very few Christians see this matter. For this reason we need to ask the Lord to enlighten our understanding and to turn our prayer, so that we will not beg in a poor way anymore. We must praise and thank Him, saying, “Lord, I thank You. You are the law of the Spirit of life, and You have entered into me and remained in me from the first day until now. You have never ceased ‘turning.’ Lord, praise You, You are still operating in me today in many ways.” The Triune God is operating in us daily. This operation is a gentle, refined, and fine dispensing of Himself into all of us.
Tonight we have all eaten some food. When the food enters into us, there is an operation. This operation is our digestion, and this digestion is a law operating in our body. The goal of this law and this operation is to dispense the food bit by bit into our body so that the nutritious elements can be assimilated little by little by our body. The Lord told us clearly in the Gospel of John that He is the bread from heaven. When we eat of Him, there will be an operation within us, enabling us to live by Him (6:35, 50-51, 57-58). He also told us that He is the living water. We can drink of Him freely, and He will quench our thirst (4:14; 7:37). This also is an operation within us. This operation is His dispensing.
Furthermore, the Lord revealed to us that He is the holy breath and that we can breathe Him in (20:22). This holy breath is the Holy Spirit, who also is the Triune God Himself. He continues to operate and to breathe out, in order that we can continually breathe in and enjoy Him. In this way there is an organic union between Him and us, a union in which He continually dispenses and we continually receive. In the end we will lack nothing and will grow in God’s life through the increase of His dispensing in us. Today within every one of us there is such a law. The Triune God is not only our life, but He is also a law that is full of operations in order to continually dispense Himself into us.
Furthermore, Romans 8 tells us that there is another law within us, the law of sin and of death in our flesh. This law causes our body to become weak and to be powerless in carrying out the will of God. It also causes us to be strong and vigorous in doing things that offend God. This law is the law of sin, and it is also the law of death. When these two are added together, we become powerless in doing good and insensitive in doing evil. This law of sin and death is just Satan in our flesh. When man sinned, Satan entered into man. However, when we believe in the Lord, another law enters into us, which is the Triune God coming into us to be our life. This life is not in our flesh but in our spirit. Today it is very easy for man to sin. As soon as the law of sin and of death works a little, man will spontaneously lie and deceive. Actually, it is not we who are doing these things; it is the law of sin and of death that is doing the work within us. In the same way, within us there is now another law, the law of the Spirit of life. This law is a person, the Triune God. He regulates within us day by day. We do not need to ask Him to help us. As long as He operates, everything will be well. He is not far from us; He is not high up in heaven. Rather, He is within us. For this reason we must learn to hand ourselves over to Him and allow Him to be everything to us. He is life within us, and He is also a law within us.
We know that every life has its element, nature, capacity, effect, and form. In addition, every life can propagate. The peach tree has the element of the peach. Based on its element, it has its nature, and this nature produces a capacity. This capacity brings in an effect, which causes the peach tree to bring forth peaches. Moreover, the peaches bear a form, which determines their particular shape. In the same way, we human beings have the element, the nature, the capacity, the effect, and the form of the human life. This is true not only with our physical life but even with our spiritual life. If we allow the Triune God to carry out His refined and gentle dispensing within our tripartite being every day, we will grow and multiply by His growth within us.
