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In lesson 1 we considered nineteen aspects of our salvation. Some of these aspects include being forgiven, reconciled to God, made alive, set free, and being saved. But our salvation does not consist of merely these aspects. We also need to help new believers know the kind of persons we have become after being saved. There are at least eight points related to this matter of our salvation.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” We know that the universe is the old creation of God. Although there are many different items in the old creation, they do not have God’s element within. Even though they were created by God, they are not mingled or united with God. They were created by God, not begotten of God. They have been created by God’s power, not begotten of God’s life. They were out of God’s hand, not out of His nature.
But the new creation is completely different. Within the new creation there is the element of God because the new creation comes from the union and mingling of God with the created ones. The new creation was created by God and also begotten of God. Whereas the old creation was based on God’s power, the new creation is based on God’s life. God created the old creation with His infinite power, but He begot the new creation with His eternal life. The old creation is old because it did not have the element of God. It was defiled by sin and corrupted by Satan, thereby becoming old. The new creation is new because God’s element of newness has been added to it. Everything of God is new and eternally fresh. Therefore, in eternity future the New Jerusalem will exist forever and ever.
Every believer has God’s element mingled with him and, therefore, is a new creation. Although the new creation has the element of God’s power, the emphasis is on God’s life, not on His power. God regenerated us with the life of His resurrection power, thereby causing us to become the new creation. Therefore, the old things in us have passed away and have become new.
Since we are begotten of God, we are surely the children of God. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God.” Everyone who receives the Lord Jesus is not only saved; he also receives authority from the Lord, and this authority is of life. We have received a life from the Lord, and this life becomes the authority for us to become the children of God.
First John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and we are.” We are all children of our natural parents, and at the same time, many of us also have children. We know that the relationship between children and parents is altogether a relationship of life. This relationship gives unlimited rights to the children. The rights that the children enjoy before their parents are unlimited. As long as it is within the ability of the parents, there is nothing they will not do for their children. Not only so, the character, natural disposition, and life of the parents are in their children. This means all that the parents are and all that the parents have belong to the children. This also applies to the children of God. As those who have been saved and have become the children of God, we have received all that God is and all that God has as our inheritance. We have inherited what God is, and also we have inherited what God has. God Himself and all that He has are our portion.
Once we are saved, we become this kind of person. Previously we were God’s enemies, but now we are God’s children. In the past we had nothing to do with God and could not receive an inheritance from Him. All we could do was accept His judgment and His condemnation. But now we have become God’s children. We have not only escaped His judgment and condemnation, but we have also received God Himself and all that God has as our inheritance.
A child is a member of a family. We who have been saved are not only children begotten of God but also members of God’s household. Ephesians 2:19 says that we are “members of the household of God.”
However, this is not the experience of many believers. Many times when a person is brought to salvation to become a child of God, he does not have a home in reality. This can be compared to people who give birth to a child but who have no home for the child. Therefore, the child is taken to a child-care center or to an orphanage. The result of our bringing people to salvation may also be the same as sending them to a “child-care center” or to an “orphanage.”
This result is because the ones who preach the gospel do not have the church as their home. Since they do not have such a home, the children they beget cannot be taken to a home. If they had a home in reality, when the child was born, he would be born into a home and spontaneously become a member of a family.
Everyone admits that the household of God spoken of in Ephesians 2:19 is the church of God. First Timothy 3:15 says, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God.” We should never think that after a person is saved, the church is a small matter. Those who are not properly living in the church are not in the house of God, even though they have the life of God and have become God’s children. Therefore, once we are saved, we should properly live in the church as members of God’s household.
It is truly a blessing for a child to have a home. The children in a home are often the most blessed. The riches of the home are their portion. Because it is their home, they can even enjoy things that their parents would not use for themselves. It is truly a pitiful situation if a child does not have a home. It is especially a blessing for little children to have a home. This also applies to God’s children. We should never be those who are saved, have become God’s children, and yet are a homeless people.
Believers are not only members of God’s household; they are also citizens of God’s kingdom. This is seen in Ephesians 2:19. Furthermore, Revelation 1:6; 5:10; and Philippians 3:20 show that we are the heavenly citizens of God’s kingdom. Titus 2:14 says that we are God’s particular people. After we are saved, we become citizens in God’s kingdom; hence, we are heavenly, particular, and different from others.
The emphasis of a home is enjoyment, but the emphasis of a kingdom is obligation. In the physical realm there are homes and nations. Even though there are obligations in a home, the emphasis is on enjoyment. With respect to a nation, even though there is enjoyment, obligations surpass enjoyment. As believers, we also have a spiritual home and a spiritual kingdom. Our spiritual home is God’s house, and our spiritual nation is God’s kingdom. In God’s house we have more enjoyment than we have obligations. In God’s kingdom we have more obligations than we have enjoyment. So once we are saved, we should not only have full enjoyment in the house of God, but we should also fulfill our obligations in the kingdom of God.
We need to remember that we are members of God’s household and citizens of His kingdom. In the household we enjoy the Father’s care and provision, but in the kingdom we are under the Lord’s ruling and are subject to His authority. There is no citizen of a country who is not under the protection of that country. Since we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are also under the protection of God’s kingdom. This protection is stronger than the protection of a house.
However, we must know that today we are citizens of God’s kingdom, but ultimately we will reign in the kingdom of God. In the end we will all be kings in the kingdom of God. Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 say that God has made us a kingdom. This means that, as citizens of God’s kingdom, we allow Him to reign, and we reign for Him. Today it seems as if we are citizens in God’s kingdom, but we are actually being trained to be kings.
Brothers and sisters, have we considered that as citizens in God’s kingdom we are actually being trained to be kings? This can be compared to a prince who grows up in a royal palace as a son but is actually being trained to one day reign as a king. Have we ever thought that as believers, we are citizens of God’s kingdom for the purpose of being trained to reign for God? Revelation 20 says that one day the overcomers of Christ will be co-kings with Christ to reign with Him.
Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 speak of us being priests. In God’s household we are children, and in God’s kingdom we are citizens being trained to reign. We are also priests of God serving before Him. As soon as we are saved, we should serve God as priests. But today in degraded Christianity only a small number of saved ones are separated to be priests. Today the so-called fathers in the Catholic Church are called priests. Even in Protestantism the pastors in the Episcopalian Church are sometimes called priests. But according to the Bible, every Christian is a priest. Every believer should be a priest and should be one who serves God.
The brothers and sisters have referred to me as a person who serves God. My question to them is this: “Whom do you serve? I serve God, but what about you? Whom do you serve?” Once a brother even said to me that he had the liberty to do many things that I could not do because he was not serving God like I am. I immediately responded, “Brother, yes I serve God. But whom do you serve? Do you not realize that if you do not serve God, you are serving the world, and you are serving mammon?”
Every believer must be a priest who serves God. Our specific duty, our primary occupation, is to serve God. All other things are side jobs. Being a teacher is a side job, taking care of family is a side job, doing business is a side job, farming is a side job, and working in an office is a side job. Whatever we do is a side job. Our primary occupation is to serve God as a priest. The priests and Levites in the Old Testament farmed and had household chores, but these were their side jobs. Their primary occupation was to serve God. This applies to Christians. Every believer should serve God as his primary occupation. Everything else is a side job.
Ephesians 1:11 and 14 speak of being God’s inheritance. It is difficult to see in the Bible any inheritance in the universe for God, other than His saints. In a broad sense, all things in the universe belong to God, but God does not consider them as His treasure and His inheritance. In the Old Testament God said repeatedly that His people, the Israelites, were His inheritance. However, the Israelites are merely the earthly people of God, and the believers are the heavenly people of God. So we are all the more God’s inheritance, all the more God’s possession.
We are God’s possession. We are His precious inheritance. We are in God’s hands and under His protection. Even though we are still in the old creation, Ephesians 1:13 says that as God’s inheritance we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. This can be compared to buying things at a factory. Once we have bought them, we need to put our seal on the items because we have not taken them from the factory. We need to seal the items, to separate them from everything else in the factory. Then at the appropriate time we take the sealed items home. In the same manner, even though we have not been raptured to be with the Lord, the Lord has already placed His Holy Spirit in us to mark us out, confirming that we are of God and that we are His inheritance.
First Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19 say that we are God’s temple. God is in us; the Spirit of God is living in our spirit. Once a person is saved, he is not only begotten of God, having God’s life; he is also God’s dwelling place, God’s resting place. God lives in him, and God can completely entrust Himself to him. This is the high status of a believer.
In the Old Testament a priest was a priest, and the temple was the temple. But in the New Testament a spiritual priest is the spiritual temple because the priest and the temple are the same. We, the saved ones, are God’s priests and His temple. We are, on the one hand, those who serve God, and on the other hand, the temple in which God dwells. These are all very great things.
Ephesians 5:30 and Romans 12:5 say that we are also members of Christ. This means that once we are saved and have the life of Christ, we are a part of Christ, just as our hands and feet are our members and a part of us. If we cut off our feet, we would immediately be incomplete. We praise the Lord that once we are saved, we enter into a high status of being a part of Christ and being indispensable to Christ. Our salvation is eternally secure.
There was a black slave girl who was saved and very happy. One day a highly educated friend of her master saw that she was very happy. She was happy while she washed clothes and swept the floor. She was smiling so much that it seemed as if she could not close her mouth. Out of curiosity, he asked her, “Why are you so happy today?” She said, “Oh, I am saved! I am saved! I am in the hands of the Lord Jesus!” Based on John 10:28-29 she added, “We are the Lord’s sheep. He gave us eternal life, and we will not perish. No one can snatch us out of His hand.” She explained that the Lord Jesus’ hand was big and powerful, and that, being in His hand, she could not be snatched out by anyone. She was eternally saved. Her master’s friend was not saved, but having some knowledge of Christianity, he made fun of her. He said, “Don’t you see that our hands have spaces between the fingers? You must know that since our hands are small, the spaces also are small. But because the hands of the Lord Jesus are big, the spaces also are big. A small child like you must be careful in His hands. Do not be too happy; otherwise, you may slip between His fingers!” But this child was so clear. She said, “Sir, the hands of the Lord Jesus are big; that is absolutely correct. I am small, and that is also correct. Let me tell you, I am not only in the hands of the Lord Jesus, but I am also His little finger. So I will never slip out of His hands.”
This shows that she knew she was a member of Christ and could not slip through His fingers and perish. Our salvation is firm and secure. The Lord has not only made us citizens of His kingdom, priests who serve Him, and His temple and His dwelling place, but He has also made us part of Him, His members. Our salvation is secure to this extent.
A member is not only secure, but he also has a function. In relation to God, we are priests to serve Him, and in relation to Christ, we are members with a function to express Him. On the one hand, we are God’s dwelling place for God’s rest and His priests to serve Him, and on the other hand, we are members of Christ with living functions to express Him.
In order to manifest our function as members, we need to grow in life and to exercise. On the one hand, we need the Holy Spirit in us to cause us to grow and mature in life gradually, and on the other hand, we need to exercise much in the church. We cannot be lacking in either of these aspects.
For example, all children have life and can grow. But a child in a Chinese family will learn to speak Chinese, and a child in a Japanese family will learn to speak Japanese. As a result, they will speak different languages, and their functions and skills will differ, even though their life and growth are the same. This shows the importance of the church. The leading and training by the church to new believers shapes the functions they can manifest in the future.
In order for a member to manifest his function, he must have inner growth by the Holy Spirit and outward exercise. It is regrettable that some people repudiate and condemn outward exercise and put too much emphasis on the inward growth in life. However, our example clearly shows that although both children grow, the one in the Japanese family does not speak Chinese, and the one in the Chinese family does not speak Japanese. Therefore, we cannot underestimate outward exercise, just as we cannot underestimate the inward growth in life.
We have considered eight “beings.” Let us now consider the matter of belonging. We belong to God, that is, we are of God (2 Tim. 3:17). Since we are the children of God, we are of God; since we are God’s household, we are of God; since we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are of God; since we are priests of God, we are of God; since we are God’s temple, we are of God; since we are God’s inheritance, we are all the more of God. We belong to God because we are God’s.
Since we are of God, we belong to Him. We are not without the Lord. Even the most educated person in the world does not know whom he belongs to, but we know that we belong to God. As soon as we are saved, we belong to God. In other words, He is our Lord, and He has sovereign right over us. Thus, we do not need to be afraid of perdition. Every person is careful with his precious items and keeps them safe out of a sense of responsibility. In the same way, since we belong to God and are under His sovereign right, He eternally bears full responsibility for us. We can forget God, but He cannot forget us. Even if we want to stay away from God, because we are His possessions and He is our Lord, He will never let us go. The sovereignty over us is in God’s hands. We are of God.
Romans 8:9 shows that the believers belong to Christ also. Since we are members of Christ, we are of Christ. Once we are saved, we are eternally saved. Furthermore, once we are of Christ, we are of Him eternally. He will never change, and in the same way, our being of Christ will never change.
First Corinthians 15:48 says that we are heavenly, that we are of heaven. We were originally in Adam, who was made of clay and earthy. But now we are saved, and we are in Christ. We are heavenly because we have the heavenly life and nature within us. We are on the earth but not of the earth, for within us are the heavenly life and nature.
Because we are heavenly, our taste is often heavenly. The more earthly desires we have, the more we suffer within. Whenever we taste the heavenly flavor and touch the heavenly reality, we feel very comfortable, sweet, and happy. This is because our nature is heavenly. Christians are special people. Our inner nature is heavenly; hence, we often cannot follow people in the world. Outwardly we have the same appearance as people in the world; we all have four limbs and five senses. We have wives, husbands, and children, and we all eat, wear clothes, study, and work. Outwardly there is no difference between the people in the world and us, but inwardly our nature is different. They are earthy, while we are heavenly. This difference is because we belong to heaven, not earth. For this reason those who are of heaven and those who are of earth often cannot go together.
We also have a few things. First, we have God. In preaching the gospel, we often say that if man does not have God, he feels empty, but if man has God, he no longer feels empty. We do not feel empty because we have God. We do not merely have God objectively, but we have Him subjectively. God is abiding in us. First John 4:13 and 15 say that God abides in us. Verse 15 says that God abides in us because the Lord Jesus became our Savior. Verse 13 says that God abides in us because God has given us the Holy Spirit. This means that the Lord Jesus came to be our Savior and that the Holy Spirit entered into us in order to bring God into us so that He may abide in us. Today we not only have God as our Lord, bearing full responsibility for us in the heavens, but we also have God abiding in us to be our everything.
First John 4:4 says that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. The greatest one in the world is Satan, but the One who abides in us is greater than Satan. Outwardly speaking, we are insignificant and unimportant because we have no position in the world. But inwardly speaking, we are great because the God who is greater than anyone in the world abides within us.
First, we have God abiding within; second, we have Christ living within. This is mentioned in the New Testament numerous times. The clearest verse is 2 Corinthians 13:5, which says, “Do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved?” Regardless of how weak we are or how little faith we have, as long as we are saved, we have Christ in us. Christ being in us does not depend on the amount of our faith but on whether we have faith. Our faith can be so small that it seems as if it cannot be any smaller. But even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed, we are not disapproved. We have Christ in us. Not only did He die on the cross for us, but He is even inside of us, living for us. From our perspective, we may consider ourselves to be weak, but from His perspective, we are strong.
We must see that once we are saved, the God who is above all and greater than all abides in us. At the same time, we have Christ in us. Even though we are weak, Christ in us is strong. Thus, we must learn not to look at ourselves but to look only at Christ. We should not be concerned that we are weak or that we have only a little faith, but rather, we should simply believe that the Christ who abides in us is strong. If we do this, we will become strong. This is our salvation.
We have God and Christ, and we also have the Holy Spirit. This is spoken of in the New Testament many times. It is sufficient, however, for us to refer to just two portions. In John 14:16-17 the Lord Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will be with us forever and shall be in us. Romans 8:9 also says that whoever is of Christ has the Spirit of Christ within him. Since we have God and Christ, we also have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Regardless of how dead, dry, down, or bored we may feel, the Holy Spirit in us is living, fresh, and uplifting. Thus, we should not look at ourselves, but instead, we should believe in, pay attention to, and follow the Holy Spirit within.
Our salvation not only includes being accepted by God, belonging to God, and becoming heavenly objectively, but it also includes gaining the Triune God subjectively. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the Triune God — are all in us. From the standpoint of the Father, God is in us. From the standpoint of the Son, God is in us. And also from the standpoint of the Spirit, God is in us. The entire Triune God is in us. What we believers have is great, full, rich, and high.
When we have the Triune God, we have the eternal life of God. John 3:15 and 1 John 5:12 state this clearly. God in us is life. We should not separate the eternal life of God from God Himself; instead, we must see that God is life. The phrase life of God is spoken of once in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:18. Apart from this verse, the Bible speaks only of God being life or God as life. We often speak of “the life of God,” and people may understand this to mean the life in God coming out to become our life. This, however, is not completely accurate. God Himself comes into us to be our life. The life of God is God Himself. Therefore, the New Testament rarely refers to the “life of God”; rather, it speaks of God being life or God as life.
The Triune God who indwells us is the eternal life that we receive. As the Father, the indwelling Triune God is great; as Christ, powerful; and as the Holy Spirit, full of vitality and living. The Triune God within us is our life, enabling us to live, walk, and work.
A person’s living, activities, and work all depend on his life. The kind of life a person has determines the kind of man he is, the living he has, and the work he does. The Triune God is in us to be our life. What a transcendent life this is! Therefore, we can also be transcendent men, living a transcendent life, and doing a transcendent work!
The importance of eternal life is not related to receiving eternal blessings in the future but in being our life today, in leading us in our conduct, living, work, and walk. Once we are saved, the eternal life lives in us, enabling us to live the life of God in heaven on earth today. This is real, and it is for us today. Concerning this point, we are not afraid of speaking too strongly or too much, for the more we stress this point, the better. We must impress new believers that the Triune God within them is glorious and great; He is very great, very strong, and very living. He is great because He is God, He is strong because He is Christ, and He is living because He is the Holy Spirit. He is great, strong, and living. He is in us as our life, living for us and enabling us to live on earth the life of God in heaven. Oh, this is such a glorious matter! This is what it means to be a Christian!
Hence, no Christian should have a sad face. We do not need to wait until we “go to heaven” in the future to enjoy the eternal blessings. This is the concept in Catholicism and degraded Christianity. No! While we are still on this earth, we can enjoy the glorious God within us as the glorious life. Even though we are in a body of humiliation, we can live a glorious life and be a glorious people. On the one hand, Christians are lowly and insignificant, as if they are the scum of all things (1 Cor. 4:13). Yet on the other hand, Christians are great. We have the Triune God in us as life, we can live a glorious life, and we are a glorious people.
Is this a theory and doctrine to us? Praise God that this is true in our experience. We are higher than the people in society who have the highest positions. We are not lower than them. Outwardly, our clothing may not match theirs, our position may be lower than theirs, we may not be as well known as they are, and our wealth may not match theirs, but inwardly, they cannot match us. Therefore, Christians are weighty. We should not be proud, but God lives in us as our life. This is glorious and honorable. If we realize this, we will spontaneously express this weightiness in our living.
Second Peter 1:4 says that as believers, we are “partakers of the divine nature.” Since we have the life of God, we also have the nature of God. The emphasis on life is on the capacity to live, and the emphasis on nature is on the inclination of our living. We desire to be heavenly because the nature of God, the inclination of God, is heavenly. We desire to be holy because God’s nature and inclination are holy. We feel uneasy when we are proud and comfortable when we are humble because this is the nature and inclination of God. We feel uneasy when we take advantage of others and very happy when we share with others because this is God’s nature and inclination. These are all matters of nature and inclination. The life of God within us is the capacity to live, and the nature of God within us has become the inclination of our living.
Some people like to eat sour things. They feel good when they eat sour oranges, sour grapes, or sour vinegar. I, however, cannot eat sour food; for me, sweet things are better. Therefore, I will readily eat something sweet, but something that is sour I will eat only with difficulty. This is a matter of taste. Brothers and sisters, if we realize that the divine nature within us has a particular taste, we will see that it is easy to be freed from the world and not love sin and evil. God is in us not only as our life but also as our nature. Within us He is the capacity to live, and He has also become our taste in our living. His life and nature in us make it very easy for us not to love the world and to overcome sins and evil.
Hebrews 8:10-11 and Romans 8:2 reveal that in addition to having the capacity to live and having a taste in our living, we also have a natural law. The law of life in us enables us to spontaneously know what is wrong and what is right. We spontaneously know what is of God and what is not of God. We have a spontaneous ability to stay away from wrong and draw near to what is right, to choose what is of God and forsake what is not of God. This is a natural law.
All laws are related to some natural ability. For example, according to the natural law of gravity, an object thrown up into the air will fall down. We do not need to bring an object down from the air; it will come down by itself. Here is another example: if we wave our hand in front of a person’s eyes, he will blink. This is in response to a natural law. A law is a natural ability that causes a person to spontaneously feel or behave in a certain way. Every believer has the Triune God, God’s life, God’s nature, and the law of life within him. This law is the life and nature of God, and God’s life and nature are the Triune God. No matter how we say it, God Himself, the Triune God, is in us as our life, nature, and law of life.
The anointing involves more than just the Holy Spirit, because there is not only ointment but anointing. First John 2:27 says that we have an anointing. According to the original text, the word anointing is a verbal form of the word ointment. This means that the ointment is moving. Therefore, this verse does not merely say that the Holy Spirit is in us but that the operating, the moving, of the Holy Spirit is in us. Every believer not only has God’s life, nature, and the law of life within him; he also has the continuous operating of the anointing. The law in us spontaneously regulates and empowers, and the anointing constantly enables us to know how God is leading and teaching us. We are so blessed! We have seven items in us — God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, life, nature, the law of life, and the anointing, but these seven items are just one. God is Christ, Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is life, life is nature, and nature is the law of life. When the law operates within us, it is the anointing. These are all the working of God in us.
Romans 8:1 says, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” As a result of the eight “beings,” three “belongings,” and seven “havings,” we are in Christ as soon as we are saved. A thorough knowledge of the thirty-eight points in this and the previous lesson form a firm foundation for our salvation. We will know clearly and solidly that we are saved.
