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I. God regenerates us that we may have His divine life — the base of God’s organic salvation — Titus 3:5; John 3:3, 16, 36a:
А. As the base for us to grow in the divine life:
1. The Spirit of God regenerates us in our spirit with the divine life:
а. That we may be born of God as God’s species — 1:13.
b. That, in addition to our natural life, we may have the divine, eternal life of God (3:16, 36a) as the basis and means of our spiritual life and living.
2. We not only receive the divine life through regeneration but also grow in the divine life with regeneration as the base:
а. By being nourished with the supply of the milk of the word of God unto our daily, gradual salvation — 1 Pet. 2:2.
b. Through denying our natural life to live by the divine life — Matt. 16:24.
B. As the base for us to be built up in the divine life:
1. We are being built up in the divine life by the growth and increase of the divine life in us — Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16.
2. In this divine building up, which is based on the growth of the divine life, the regenerated believers as Christ’s brothers and members (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:27) are constituted into the Body of Christ as the increase and fullness of the unlimited Christ (John 3:30a; Eph. 1:23) for the achievement of the purpose of God’s organic salvation.
II. God renews us that we may become His divine, new creation — the building up of God’s organic salvation — Rom. 12:2b; Titus 3:5c; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15:
А. That we may be built up in the divine, new creation:
1. Through regeneration we have been created in Christ into one new man (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10) as God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
2. This new creation is out of God’s old creation, of which so many old elements should be renewed to become new.
3. In fact, the creation of the new man has been completed by Christ on the cross (Eph. 2:15); but in practicality, having been made the members of the new man, we should apply to ourselves what Christ has completed by being practically renewed in our living so that we may be built up in the divine, new creation.
B. That we may be built up in God’s organic salvation:
1. In God’s organic salvation, regeneration is a washing, and renewing is the continuation of the washing of regeneration — Titus 3:5.
2. The means of renewing in God’s organic salvation:
а. By the renewing Spirit (v. 5) mingling with our regenerated spirit as one spirit to spread into our mind (Eph. 4:22-24) and infuse our inward parts with God’s attributes, which are forever new and never become old, thereby renewing our entire being.
b. By our walking in the newness of the divine life in the resurrection of Christ — Rom. 6:4.
c. By our being consumed by the environmental sufferings for the killing of our outer man and the renewing of our inner man day by day — 2 Cor. 4:16.
3. Through such a renewing we are built up in God’s organic salvation to ultimately become as new as the New Jerusalem — Rev. 21:2.
Prayer: Lord, You are the Christ; we worship You. Your economy, Your plan in eternity, is for the manifestation of Your glory. Lord, we pray that You will support us and give us the Spirit from heaven and the words that are of the Spirit. We pray also that You will release new light and new revelation here all the time. Amen.
The general subject of this series of messages is “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life.” We may use the following statements as a summarized explanation of this subject:
(1) God regenerates us that we may have His divine life and renews us that we may become His divine, new creation.
(2) God sanctifies us that we may have His holy nature and transforms us that we may have His divine image.
(3) God conforms us that we may have His divine element and glorifies us that we may have His divine image in full.
(4) We reign in God’s life by His organic salvation to accomplish His eternal economy and achieve His divine purpose.
In this chapter, the first chapter on God’s organic salvation, we would like to see the matters of regeneration and renewing. It is not easy to speak such messages, but each message has an outline that can help us enter into the content of the message. Therefore, today I am not speaking to you in the way of delivering a message. Rather, I will speak item by item according to the message outline. I hope that you will try your best to follow me in each point. Every item mentioned in these outlines is a development, and the ultimate issue of this development is the New Jerusalem, which is an indescribable constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man. Never consider that the New Jerusalem is a physical city. The New Jerusalem is an indescribable constitution of God and man. As such, it can be understood only according to the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be expressed with human words.
In God’s organic salvation God first regenerates us that we may have His divine life. We have said that regeneration is the center of God’s entire salvation and the commencement of God’s salvation in its organic aspect. Today we see further that regeneration is the base of God’s organic salvation. This base is of two aspects: first, it is the base for us to grow in the divine life; second, it is the base for us to be built up in the divine life. Regeneration is the base both for our growth and for our building up.
In regeneration the Spirit of God regenerates us in our spirit with the divine life. Regeneration is not an outward matter. It is not “to mend one’s ways and turn over a new leaf” as people generally say; nor is it, as the Chinese say, that “everything in the past died yesterday, and everything henceforth is born today.” That is the common Chinese saying, not the biblical revelation. The reality of regeneration is related to the two spirits. One is the divine Spirit of God, the life-giving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ; the other is our created human spirit. On the day we received the Lord with repentance by believing into His name, He as the divine Spirit came into our spirit to enliven it; thus, we were regenerated in our created spirit. This is the real meaning of regeneration. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The Spirit begetting the spirit is the reality of regeneration. Our spirit has been regenerated and made alive; hence, we are a group of regenerated ones.
Regeneration is our being born of God as God’s species (1:13), that is, that we may be of the same kind as God. Such a concept is exceedingly great, high, and profound. In the beginning, we human beings were created according to the image of God and were of God’s kind, yet we did not have God’s life or His divine nature. However, when our spirit was made alive by His Spirit through regeneration, we were born to be children of God. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.” God’s children are God’s species. Goats beget goats, cows beget cows, and humans beget humans; likewise, God begets gods. We who have been born of God are God’s species. We do not share in the divine Godhead, but we have God’s life and nature. The heart’s desire and good pleasure of God are to have a group of people who are exactly like Him, having His nature and His life to be His expression. This is why we need regeneration. We need to be regenerated not because we have sins but because God’s desire is that we have His life and be exactly like Him.
Furthermore, regeneration means that, in addition to our natural life, we may have the divine, eternal life of God (3:16, 36a) as the basis and means of our spiritual life and living. Regeneration is not that we may improve our behavior, that we may have religious zeal and live a devout life, or that we may pay attention to ethics and morality. Rather, regeneration is for us to have God’s eternal life in addition to our natural life; this is to have the uncreated life, which is God Himself, in addition to our original, created life. This divine, eternal life becomes the basis and means of our living. What God desires today is for all our living to be based on this life and by this life.
We not only receive the divine life through regeneration but also grow in the divine life with regeneration as the base.
After being regenerated, we must be nourished with the supply of the milk of the word of God unto our daily, gradual salvation (1 Pet. 2:2). This gradual salvation is a daily salvation in which we are saved in the common situations of our daily living, both in big things and in small things. God’s organic salvation has a long span — from regeneration to glorification. Our regeneration is the initiation. Then we need to grow by feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in the word of God unto maturity for glorification, unto salvation in full.
In order to experience this daily salvation, we need to live by the divine life through denying our natural life (Matt. 16:24). We have two lives within us: one is our natural life, and the other is the divine life. We all must deny and reject the first life, our natural life, and live according to and by the second life, the divine life. We should live, walk, and conduct ourselves by another life — the divine life — as Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). This is the proper living of a normal Christian.
Regeneration is not only the base for us to grow in the divine life but also the base for us to be built up in the divine life.
After our regeneration we are being built up in the divine life by the growth and increase of the divine life in us (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16). Regeneration is for us not only to grow in the divine life but also to be built up as the universal Body of Christ. Colossians 2:19 says, “Out from whom [the Head] all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.” We grow with the growth of God. The growth of God’s life within us is the increase of God Himself, God’s element, within us. As He increases in us, we grow. This growth is for us to be built up.
In this divine building up, which is based on the growth of the divine life, the regenerated believers as Christ’s brothers and members (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:27) are constituted into the Body of Christ as the increase and fullness of the unlimited Christ (John 3:30a; Eph. 1:23) for the achievement of the purpose of God’s organic salvation.
Through regeneration we have become Christ’s brothers and God’s children, the members of Christ. As members of the Body and as Christ’s brothers, we are being constituted and built up into the universal Body of Christ. With regeneration as the base, the divine life grows and increases in us. As a result, we will become the increase and the fullness of Christ and thereby attain the ultimate purpose of God’s organic salvation — the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem as the constitution of God with man is indescribable.
Whereas regeneration is the base of God’s organic salvation, renewing is the building up of God’s organic salvation in order that we may become His divine, new creation.
Although we have been regenerated with the divine life and nature, we still need to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). When our mind is renewed, our whole being is transformed. Then the Holy Spirit imparts something new, the divine essence of the new man, into our being. Thus, we pass from our old state into a wholly new one, from the old creation into the status of a new creation (Titus 3:5).
Through regeneration we have been created in Christ into one new man (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10) as God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Ephesians 2:15 says that Christ died on the cross in order that He might create us, the regenerated ones, both Jews and Gentiles, in Himself into one new man. Hence, in God’s eyes we are the divine, new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” To be in Christ is to be one with Him in life and nature. We, the believers regenerated of God, are a new creation in Christ, having the divine life and nature.
This new creation is out of God’s old creation, of which so many old elements should be renewed to become new. In order to build up the new creation, the old creation must be torn down. God’s work in us daily is to tear down the old creation and build up the new creation. We should experience this throughout our entire Christian life.
In fact, the creation of the new man has been completed by Christ on the cross (Eph. 2:15); but in practicality, having been made the members of the new man, we should apply to ourselves what Christ has completed by being practically renewed in our living so that we may be built up in the divine, new creation.
God renews us that we may be built up in God’s organic salvation. This is to bring us into the practical experience, since God’s organic salvation is altogether subjective and organic.
In God’s organic salvation, regeneration is a washing, and renewing is the continuation of the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). We need not only the judicial washing by the Lord’s redeeming blood to cleanse us from every sin (Heb. 1:3; 1 John 1:7) but also the organic washing, the washing of regeneration, which begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
We receive an organic washing by daily experiencing God’s organic salvation. The washing of regeneration washes away the old elements, the old nature, and the old things that are within us; the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts new elements, a new essence, and new things into us. Both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation so that we may be built up in God’s organic salvation.
Such a washing, such a renewing, in God’s organic salvation is being carried out continually in us by means of the following matters.
The renewing in God’s organic salvation is by the renewing Spirit (Titus 3:5) mingling with our regenerated spirit as one spirit to spread into our mind (Eph. 4:22-24) and infuse our inward parts with God’s attributes, which are forever new and never become old, thereby renewing our entire being. Our God is newness itself. In the universe God alone is new, and everything else is old. This God, who is forever new and who never becomes old, infuses His ever-new essence into us to renew our entire being.
The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our walking in the newness of the divine life in the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:4).
In order to walk in newness of life, we need, on the one hand, to put off the old man and, on the other hand, to put on the new man. To put off the old man is to deny and renounce our old self and to apply the cross to the self. Furthermore, we need to put on the new man, that is, to apply what Christ has accomplished in creating the new man, by living and magnifying Christ through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is what it means to walk in newness of life. All these matters are for the renewing Spirit to renew us by imparting the new essence and new element into us so that we may be renewed day by day.
The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our being consumed by the environmental sufferings for the killing of our outer man and the renewing of our inner man day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).
God’s renewing us is accomplished through the consuming by the outward environmental sufferings. Our sufferings are for us to be renewed. Although our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. In order to renew us, God has arranged all kinds of environments to come to us for a positive purpose, that is, to dispense God’s new essence and new element into us. We should have such a subjective experience of our outer man decaying and our inner man being renewed day by day.
Through such a renewing we are built up in God’s organic salvation to ultimately become as new as the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue and goal of the sixty-six books of the Bible. Concerning the New Jerusalem, we have published dozens of messages and composed more than ten hymns. I hope that we would sing these hymns often. If in our singing of these hymns we would follow each word and line with our spirit, we will receive a divine transfusion. Such a divine transfusion will issue in our becoming a part of the New Jerusalem. I repeat, do not consider that the New Jerusalem is something physical. The New Jerusalem is something divine, organic, and spiritual. It is the organic constitution of God and man, both having passed through a long process. It is the totality of the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man, expressed in the universe for eternity.
I hope that this kind of word is not just for our reading. Rather, we should experience it subjectively day by day so that we may in reality come out of the old creation and enter into the status of the new creation so that eventually we will become a group of people who are absolutely for God, a genuine new creation that is wholly of God and for God.
