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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:17a, 21; Rom. 10:6b-9, 12-13; Acts 9:14; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 24; 12:3, 13
We have seen that God’s purpose is to express Himself and to conquer His enemy. Whatever we do in our Christian life must be for this purpose. Let us use the illustration of wives being subject to their own husbands (Eph. 5:22). Even in this matter, there are these two aspects: expressing God and conquering God’s enemy. If a sister who is a wife would not be willing to be subject to her husband, this kind of rebellion would be a glory to Satan and a shame to God. But if the dear sister would be willing and able to be subject to her own husband, this would be a glory to God and a shame to Satan. When a sister subjects herself by enjoying the Lord within her, spontaneously she expresses God. God is expressed in her subjection, and spontaneously Satan is conquered. The enemy, the devil, the evil one, is subdued. If a wife and husband are fighting each other, God is put to shame. God is not expressed. But if a sister is subject to her husband out of her enjoyment of Christ, you can see Christ expressed in her subjection.
Even in the smallest things in our daily walk, we need to express God. If we enjoy the Lord day by day, we will be dealt with by the Lord in the way that we dress. Something in us will be touched. When we are calling on the Lord, the Lord may say, “What kind of tie is this that you are wearing?” As we are combing our hair, the Lord would say, “How will you comb your hair?” The Lord will touch us in these little things as we remain in the fellowship with Him. Eventually, the way we dress will be the expression of God. Even in our dress, the enemy, the evil one, will be subdued. In the way that some people dress, you can see the darkness of Satan. Everything of our daily walk is either the expression of God or the expression of Satan. Either the enemy is subdued or he is prevailing.
But we also need to remember that the Christian life is not a matter of outward correction. Outward correction is not something of life. It is like the work of morticians, the work of outward decoration. They can make a corpse look presentable outwardly, but this is not the transformation of life. The transformation of life comes from within. As we call on the Lord, pray to Him, and pray-read His Word, we enjoy Christ as life, and this life transforms us.
If we do everything in our daily life by enjoying the Lord, whatever we do will be the expression of God and the subduing of His enemy. Suppose another brother rebuked you, and yet you were so patient with him, without losing your temper, by the enjoyment of Christ. Others would be able to realize the expression of Christ and the conquering of the enemy with you. But this should not be your doing. This must be Christ’s doing through your enjoyment of Him. Do not try to do anything by yourself. Never try to express God by yourself. Never try to conquer, to subdue, the enemy by yourself. If you try to conquer him, be sure that you will be conquered. We can never face our enemy, because we are not adequate. But praise Him, we have Christ as our life. Christ must get into us as our life so that He can live Himself through us.
Now we have to ask again, “How can Christ get into us?” We have the Holy Spirit within us and the Holy Bible in our hand. The Holy Spirit within us is actually the wonderful Christ, the all-inclusive Christ, the compounded Christ. When I say the compounded Christ, I mean that now this Christ is no more simply God. He is God but also man. He was God incarnated to be a man, and now He still has the human nature. He is divine as well as human. He is compounded. He also went to the cross and was crucified. He walked into death, through death, and out of death. He was not captured by death. He conquered death, subdued death, and walked out of death. Then He was resurrected, and He ascended to the heavens, where He was enthroned. He has accomplished all these things and has attained the highest place in the universe. His accomplishment is a complete accomplishment, and His attainment is the highest attainment. He has the divine nature and the human nature, and He has such a complete accomplishment and high attainment. He is the compounded Christ. He is the all-inclusive Christ, yet today He is within us as the Holy Spirit.
Do not consider that the Holy Spirit is someone other than Christ. Christ is the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The last Adam is Christ, and the life-giving Spirit, no doubt, is the Holy Spirit. So Christ became the Spirit. Also, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. This is our quotation from the Bible, not our interpretation. The Lord Christ is the very Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
Furthermore, the Bible is the breath of God, and the breath of God is the Spirit. The Lord Jesus told us that the words He speaks to us are spirit and life (John 6:63). The holy Word says that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Every word of the Holy Scriptures is the breath of God, the Spirit. So we have Christ within us as the Spirit, and we have the Bible in our hand as the Spirit. The way to enjoy Christ as the Spirit is to call upon Him and to pray-read His Word.
When you live a life of calling on the Lord, all the barriers will be broken down. Then there will be a thorough passage for Christ to get in and to get out of you. If you open the window, the air without gets in, and the air within gets out. When you call, “O Lord Jesus,” the window of your being is opened, and the air gets in and gets out. This is the way to enjoy Christ. The way to touch the Word is to pray-read. You need the calling, the praying, and the reading. You have to mingle your reading with praying and calling on the name of the Lord.
Now we need to consider Acts 2:17-21, which is a quotation from the book of Joel. This portion of the Word begins by saying that God will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh (v. 17). Then it ends by saying, “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (v. 21). If you put the beginning and the end of this quotation together, you see something marvelous. This means that God pours out of His Spirit and that we have to call upon the Lord to get this Spirit. God has poured out already. Now what shall we do? Shall we ask Him to give us the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by fasting, by not sleeping, or by weeping with tears? This is the wrong way. God has poured out. Now what we need to do is to call on the name of the Lord. Then we get the Spirit.
If I present a glass of water to someone, all he has to do is take it and drink. In the same way, we do not need to ask God for the Spirit, because He has already been poured out. God has presented the Spirit to us already. He has poured out of His Spirit upon all flesh. Now all we need to do is to call on the Lord’s name.
The Bible says that God has poured out of His Spirit, not upon all spiritual or religious persons but upon all flesh. We all are flesh, and the Spirit has been poured out upon us. The drink has been presented to us, so we do not need to beg for it. We just need to take and drink by calling on the name of the Lord. The presentation of the drink is in verse 17; the way to drink is in verse 21. God says, “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.” Then He says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We simply need to call, “O Lord Jesus.” Calling on the Lord in a simple way will water us and even flood us with the Spirit. This is the way to take in the Spirit.
First Corinthians 12:13 says that we were all given to drink one Spirit. This means that we have been positioned to drink, and we are in a position to drink. God has accomplished everything, but God can never drink for us. Regardless of how much God loves you, you still have to drink. The way to drink is in verse 3. This verse says that when you say, “Jesus is Lord,” you are in the Holy Spirit. In other words, when you say, “Lord Jesus,” you are drinking. To be in the Holy Spirit means that you are drinking of the Spirit.
You may feel that you are so sinful, but your sinfulness has been taken care of on the cross. We were kept away by our sins, but our sins have been taken away (John 1:29). Then we were brought back to God and have been positioned and given to drink. You may say that you are so weak, but this is why you need to drink. There is no excuse or reason for being kept away from drinking the Spirit. Whatever sin you have committed cannot be bigger than the redemption accomplished on the cross. The redemption accomplished by Him on the cross is big enough to cover all your failures. You have to realize that you were positioned to drink. Forget about your failures, your sins, and your weaknesses. The redeeming blood, the prevailing blood of Christ, has taken care of all things. This is why we are told that we were all given to drink. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free, we were all given to drink. Now that we have been positioned to drink, we should drink simply by calling, “Lord Jesus,” again and again. Call on the Lord for fifteen minutes, and see what will happen.
Some of the older saints may say, “All of this is good for the young people but not for me.” But breathing is the same for all ages. The young ones need the breathing; the old ones also need the breathing. As an older one, you may need more breathing. Do not consider that because you are old, you are qualified to graduate from breathing. There is no graduation from breathing. Calling on the Lord makes you younger. By calling on the Lord, you enjoy the Lord as your new strength, and you mount up with wings like eagles (Isa. 40:31).
Many people have been Christians for years, and it is easy for them to read and consider the Bible. But if you ask them to pray or call on the Lord, you put them on the cross. When a newborn babe is delivered, sometimes the doctor has to spank him to get him to breathe. Sometimes we need to be “spanked” so that we will call on the name of the Lord. One brother did not want to call on the Lord. But one day he was involved in a car accident. That was a real spanking. Right away he began to call, “O Lord Jesus.” If you are not breathing, the Lord will give you a “spanking”; then you will right away say, “O Lord Jesus!” Whenever we have troubles or get sick, we may call on the Lord, but afterwards we may forget. We should build up a habit of calling on the Lord all day long. Do not think that this is a small matter. We should be the calling people.
When Saul was saved by the Lord on the way to Damascus, the Lord told him to go into the city, and then he would be told what he must do (Acts 9:6). Then the Lord came to a disciple named Ananias and asked him to go to Saul (vv. 10-12). Ananias told the Lord that he knew that this man had authority from the chief priests to bind everyone who called on the Lord’s name (v. 14). Ananias did not say that Saul had authority to bind all the Lord’s disciples but all those who called on the Lord’s name. This shows that in the early days calling upon the Lord’s name was a sign of the Lord’s followers (1 Cor. 1:2). This calling must have been audible so that others could hear; thus, it became a sign.
We are the calling people. We are not the silent believers of Christ. Day by day we call on the name of the Lord Jesus. This is our mark, our sign. In the days when Saul was trying to bind all who called on the name of the Lord, it was hard for the believers to hide themselves, because it was their habit to call. Everyone knew that they were a calling people, and this calling became a sign.
When I was staying in one locality for a conference, I stayed in the home of a brother who had two little boys. The older was about three years of age. As we were going to the meeting, I asked him where we were going. He said, “We are going to ‘O Lord.’” Even such a little one had the impression that the saints are the “O Lord” people. Whenever we come together, we come together to “O Lord.” Acts 2 tells us that God has poured out of His Spirit upon us. What we need to do now is to call on the name of the Lord. This is the way to take the Spirit.
Romans 10 tells us that this is also the way to contact the Word. It says that we do not need to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down or to descend into the abyss to bring Christ up from the dead. This is because the word, the living word, is near us, in our mouth and in our heart, just like the air, the breath, that can be taken into our being (vv. 6-8). The air, the breath, is always in our mouth. The living word is like the air which is in our mouth. Now we just need to exercise our mouth to confess, “Lord Jesus” (v. 9). The way to take in the Spirit is to call on the Lord, and the way to take in the Word is to call on the Lord.
Romans 10 also says that the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him” (v. 12). It does not say that the Lord is rich to all who believe on Him, but to all who call upon Him. We need the calling. In your home you need the calling. In your kitchen you need the calling. In your office you need the calling. On the street you need the calling. When you are weak, you need the calling. You can say, “O Lord Jesus, I am weak. O Lord Jesus.” If you call in this way, you will become stronger. If you are going to lose your temper, do not try to restrain it. Just call on the name of the Lord: “O Lord Jesus.” This calling on the name of the Lord Jesus will be a kind of power, a kind of authority, and this will chase away all the darkness. In any kind of situation, whether it is one of darkness or weakness, just call on the name of the Lord. By calling, “O Lord Jesus,” you will enjoy the riches of Christ. The Lord is rich to all who call upon Him. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (v. 13). Now is the age for us to recover the practice of calling on the name of the Lord.
First Corinthians 1:2 says that we are the called saints who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place. We have been called to be the calling people. On the one hand, we have been called. On the other hand, we have to be calling. We are the called people to be the calling people. We should not merely believe on Him or pray to Him; we must call on Him. God called us into the fellowship of Christ (v. 9). To us, the called ones, Christ is power and wisdom (v. 24), but how can we enjoy Christ as power and wisdom? It is by calling on His name. We have been called to enjoy Christ (v. 9). If we want to enjoy Christ, we have to call on Him. We have to be the calling people who call on the Lord all day long.
In some situations you may have the feeling that you are in darkness. The best way to chase away the darkness is to call on the name of the Lord. You have to say, “O Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!” Sometimes you may feel depressed in every way. If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be released. This is not a doctrine but something for our experience. If you do not take this and put it into practice, this fellowship will not mean anything to you. But if you put this into practice, you will see that this is the way to breathe in the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord is to breathe Him, and this includes drinking and eating Him. The drinking and eating are included in the breathing, and breathing is by calling on the name of the Lord.
Christ is everything to us, and He has accomplished everything. He was incarnated, crucified, and resurrected, and He has ascended to the third heaven. He has been glorified and enthroned to reach the highest attainment. Now He is the Spirit within us and the element of the Word outside of us. The Spirit within is the pneuma, the breath, and the Bible without is also God-breathed. In order to take Him in, we need to breathe. The best way, even the unique way, the only way, to breathe Him is to call on His name. Just open up yourself all the time and call on His name. This is the breathing. Then learn how to mingle prayer and the reading of the Word with your breathing, your calling. You will have the deep sense that whenever you call on the name of the Lord by praying and reading the Word, you are breathing the Lord. In this breathing, you have the drinking and eating. All day long you will participate in Him and enjoy Him. Christ will be taken into you to become a part of you. You will then be in the rich enjoyment of Christ as life.
