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Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13; 5:4, 18-21; Heb. 4:12; 6:18-20
The Triune God became the life-giving Spirit to abide in our spirit and to become one with us (1 Cor. 15:45; 6:17). Now He wants us to live by Him, having one life and one living with Him. I believe that we have all seen and heard this already. What we need is to look to the Lord that He may continue to grant us mercy and grace so that we would live according to what we have seen. It is not necessary to see this again or to seek some other method. We just need to live according to the vision we have seen.
First John 2:24 says, “As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” We should appreciate the words abide and abides. If we let that which we heard from the beginning abide in us, we will abide in the Son and in the Father. This speaking is not of the earth but of the heavens. One cannot hear this kind of speaking among human beings on earth. This kind of speaking is from the heavens. It is amazing that we can abide in the Son and in the Father. The apostle John says, “Little children, abide in Him” (v. 28). This does not mean to abide for just one day or three days but to abide until He comes.
To abide in the Lord is not just to stay in Him but to live and move in Him. Since we have heard this eternal mystery, from now on we should simply abide in the Lord, living and walking in Him. Do not ask how to abide in the Lord. Simply abide in the Lord. If you have been saved, then you have the Lord in you, and you will surely know how to abide in Him. Therefore, do not study. Simply abide in the Lord. We need to abide in Him until He comes.
In God’s economy there is a great fact that we are often not conscious of and do not care much about. This fact is that when we repented and believed into the Lord, the Lord as the living Spirit entered into us in an imperceptible way. If you do not believe this, you can try an experiment. Try to say, “I do not feel that the Lord is abiding in me. I do not want Him, and I do not believe in Him anymore.” If you would try such an experiment, immediately you would discover that the Lord is in you. The more you would say, “I do not believe anymore,” the more the Lord would say, “You cannot do that. I have to remain here.” You may say, “I do not want Jesus anymore,” but He would say, “I want you.” If you would try this, you would realize that there is such a person in you. The unbelievers do not have such a person in them. How can we tell who are believers in Christ and who are not? We cannot judge merely by outward appearance. The believers have a mysterious person in them. This is truly a very mysterious matter.
There are millions of people throughout the world today who have believed in Jesus, yet none of them have seen the Lord Jesus with their eyes. In a sense, we have seen Him in spirit. Outwardly, however, none of us have seen Him. Nevertheless, within us is something that makes it impossible for us to stay away from Him. Even if we were to fall and become degraded to the extent that we appeared improper to others, this mysterious person would still be in us. The more we say, “I do not believe in Him, I do not want Him, I do not care about Him, and I do not care for Him,” the tighter He will hold us within. This proves that something mysterious has happened in us — the wonderful One, the all-inclusive Lord Spirit, has entered into us.
The Lord’s desire is not that we would be zealous and that we would do this or that for Him. Rather, His desire is that we would be one with Him and live by Him. He is our life and our person. Eventually, He wants to become us, and He also wants us to become Him. This is a very simple matter, yet we are not willing to do it.
To be saved is very simple. We are not required to do many things. All that is required of us in order to be saved is that we believe. Once we believe, we are saved. The unique sin of the unbelieving Gentiles before the Lord is their unbelief. Sinners will go to hell not because they stole and robbed but because they did not believe in the Lord. Sinners will perish mainly because of one sin — unbelief. We believers also have one sin — not living by the Lord. With the unbelievers, their main sin is their unbelief. With us believers, our main sin is our not living by the Lord. Simply speaking, we do not live in the spirit.
We may pray, read the Word, attend meetings, work for the Lord, serve Him, and worship Him, yet most of the time we do not remain in the spirit and live by the Lord Jesus. We need to drop our religious views. We should not think that it is good enough just to pray, read the Word, attend meetings, serve, and worship. We should never think this way. This is our religious view. It is very possible to be outside the spirit and apart from the Lord while praying, reading the Word, or meeting and worshipping. We may do all these things yet not be in the spirit. Then our worship becomes something religious, something done to God without God in it, and our service becomes religious, something that is a service to the Lord but lacks the Lord in it. We may have religion but may not have the Lord and may not be in the spirit.
Before the Lord Jesus came to the earth, there was already a temple in the city of Jerusalem, built according to God’s ordination. It was exclusively for the worship of God. In front of the temple there was an altar. The priests, having been trained to serve, served daily in the outer court, wearing their priestly garments and offering sacrifices according to the order of each one’s course. Moreover, they also went into the Holy Place to burn the incense, light the lamps, and arrange the table of the bread of the Presence for the worship of God. Undoubtedly, there was a set pattern of orthodox worship. However, one day God came as the Lord Jesus. When He came, He did not go to the temple. Instead, He went to a manger in a little city called Bethlehem. At that moment, where was God? Was He in the temple, or was He in the manger? Was the worship that was being carried out in the temple true or false? It is difficult to say. On the surface the worshipping in the temple was true worship, but intrinsically, people could not touch God, because God was not there. Instead, He was in the manger. He grew up in Nazareth and then went forth to preach the word. One day He went to Bethany to visit a brother and two sisters in a little house. He went into that house and fellowshipped with them. At the same time, the priests in the temple were busy offering sacrifices and burning incense. Where was God at that time? He was not in the temple but in Bethany, in that little house. Where was the true worship being rendered? It was being rendered not in the temple but in Bethany. The worship in the temple was fundamental, scriptural, orderly, proper, imposing, and impressive. Everyone recognized it as the true worship. No one would have acknowledged that what was taking place in the little house in Bethany — three young people sitting casually before the Lord Jesus and talking with Him in a natural way — was a form of worship. People would have said that they were too loose, that they did not put on priestly garments or offer sacrifices, or that they were too casual. We all should see this picture clearly. The true worship depends not on outward ceremonies but on the inward reality. If the Lord is in something, it is worship. If He is not, it is a religious ceremony.
The first Epistle of John may seem like a shallow book, a book that is not very deep. Actually, the first Epistle of John is one of the most mysterious books in the Bible. It says that we can abide in the Lord, which is truly something mysterious. It also says that there is something within us that “has been begotten of God” (5:4a). The Gospel of John shows us what this is. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” What is this thing that has been begotten of God? It is the regenerated spirit within us. The spirit in us is that which has been born of God. There is only one thing in the whole universe that has been begotten of God. It is in you, it is in me, and it is in every believer in the Lord. The word for everything used in 1 John 5:4 was chosen very carefully. It is important to properly translate this Greek word as everything. Without this verse we simply cannot understand the first Epistle of John. I read 1 John 3:9 for decades without knowing why it says that everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin. I did not understand this, because although we have been begotten of God, according to our experience, we still commit sins.
In modern Christianity there is a school of thought that teaches the eradication of sin. Those who teach this say that once a person believes in the Lord, sin is eradicated from him. They base this teaching on 1 John 3:9, which says, “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin,...and he cannot sin.” Therefore, they say that once you are born of God, sin is eradicated from you, so you cannot sin anymore. Forty years ago in Shanghai there was an elderly man who adhered to this school of thought. He spoke about regeneration in a very strong way, telling people that they had to be born again. However, he also told people that once they were regenerated, sin was eradicated from them, and they could no longer sin. One day he took four young people to a park. Tickets were required to enter the park, yet that elderly man bought only two tickets. Two of the young men entered the park using the two tickets. Then one of the two came out with the tickets and then entered the park again with another young man. This was repeated until all five people had entered the park using the same two tickets. One of the young men related this incident to me. When he saw this situation, he was perplexed, wondering how it could be right to buy only two tickets and bring five people into the park. He asked himself, “What is this?” After they returned, he asked the elderly man, “Has not sin been eradicated from us? Then how could we use only two tickets to bring five people into the park?” The elderly man replied, “This is not a sin. It is merely a weakness.”
Whether it is a sin or a weakness, neither is good. After a person has been saved through regeneration, experientially speaking, he still can sin. Even 1 John says that to this day we still have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life (2:16). Why is it then that chapter 3 says, “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin” (v. 9)? For many years we were unclear about this matter.
One day as I was reading 1 John and studying the Greek text, I came to verse 4 of chapter 5, which says, “Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world.” It was then that the light came, and suddenly I was able to understand what was once unclear to me. The word everything refers to every person who has been begotten of God. Such an expression, however, refers especially to the part within a person that has been regenerated with the divine life, that is, the spirit of a regenerated person. The regenerated spirit of a believer does not practice sin (3:9), and it overcomes the world. The only thing in the universe that has been begotten of God is our spirit. Our flesh and our soul, including our mind, emotion, and will, were not begotten of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). No one can deny that the spirit in us has been begotten of God. Eventually, after checking with our experience, we must say Amen to this word. Our flesh can sin, as well as our mind, but our regenerated spirit cannot practice sin. In fact, while our flesh is sinning, our regenerated spirit continually warns us, “Do not sin! Do not sin!” The spirit always admonishes us. When we go along with our lust and go to see a movie, the spirit within us may say, “Go home! Do not watch anymore!” After we were saved, we found that there was something that always bothered us and gave us no peace. That was the regenerated spirit in us. Our regenerated spirit constantly bothers us. There is only one piece of land in this universe that is still clean, that has been reserved by God, and that does not have Satan’s footprints on it. This piece of land is our regenerated spirit.
Regardless of how much the sisters love the world and its fashion, and regardless of how much they love to make themselves look pretty, their spirit will often speak from within, “Forget about all these things! Do not do all these meaningless things! Why do you spend so much time on these things?” We all have had this kind of experience. A strong sister may suffer a great temptation, and as a result, simply ignore the feeling in her spirit. She might say, “I do not care. Anyway, one day I will go to heaven. I do not believe that I will go to hell just for trying to make myself pretty. I am a young lady. I should not make myself look like an old woman.” However, her spirit will still say to her, “It is useless to argue. Do not do this anymore! You will make the Lord unhappy.” She will sense there is something within her that will not let her go.
In a way, I do not care whether we have overcome or failed. I hope we would all realize that there is something in us that has been begotten of God — our spirit. We may be in the worst place in the world, but our spirit will still say, “Get out of here! Stop fooling around here! How meaningless this is!” We may say that this is the Lord Jesus speaking to us. However, where is He when He speaks to us? He speaks to us not in our mind or in our emotions but in our regenerated spirit. Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world.
Furthermore, 1 John 5:18 says, “He who has been begotten of God keeps himself.” As regenerated believers, we have been begotten of God specifically in our spirit. Thus, our regenerated spirit, as that which has been begotten of God, keeps us from sinning. We all can testify that many times we have been kept by this spirit which has been begotten of God. Many Christians have had such experiences. Perhaps while you were on your way to a movie theater, something within you said, “Go home! What are you coming here for?” After you entered the theater, something within said again, “Go home!” Eventually, you had to say, “Forget about this!” Thus, you went home. Who kept you? Who brought you back home? It was the regenerated spirit within you that kept you. We are all vile sinners and are all capable of committing gross sins, yet all these years we have been kept. This is because our regenerated spirit has kept us. Within us we have something that has been regenerated, something that has been begotten of God. This something is our spirit.
What is within this spirit? God Himself is in it. First John 3:9 says that it is God’s seed, that is, God Himself and Christ Himself. This is a very mysterious matter. In our regenerated spirit is God Himself and Christ Himself as our seed. All we need to do is to abide in our regenerated spirit and to live and walk in our spirit. First John tells us that we have something that has been regenerated. We have God’s seed in our regenerated spirit. Thus, we need to abide in our regenerated spirit. If we do, then we are of God.
First John also tells us that the whole world lies in the evil one (5:19). The world includes the events, things, and people of the world. In God’s eyes the whole world — all human beings, all human societies, and all things — is under the hand of Satan. The only exception is our regenerated spirit. We should not think that the unbelievers are under the authority of Satan and that we are not. We cannot speak in such a general way. It is possible that our mind is still under Satan’s authority and that only our regenerated spirit is not. Actually, it is very possible that even our reading of the Word and our prayer are under Satan’s authority, because they may come not out of our regenerated spirit but out of our mind, emotion, and preference. I hope that we would be under a finer, deeper light. Only one thing in the whole universe and on the whole earth does not have Satan’s footprints on it — our regenerated spirit. Aside from our regenerated spirit, all the other parts of our being are under the hand of Satan.
Let us consider again the illustrations given earlier. For example, let us consider the day the Lord Jesus went to the little house in Bethany and sat down to fellowship with His disciples. At that very moment, the high priest in Jerusalem was offering sacrifices and burning incense. Where was God at that time? He was in the house in Bethany, not in the temple in Jerusalem. Then how should we consider the worship in the temple? Was it merely something religious? Actually, the high priest’s service, the burning of the incense, and the worship in the temple were under the hand of the evil one. Therefore, although the Jews were worshipping God and learning the Scriptures in their synagogues, in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus called the Jews “a synagogue of Satan” (2:9; 3:9). The Jewish synagogues had become synagogues of Satan. The synagogue not only became something religious but even became the synagogue of Satan, because although that was where the Jews worshipped God, studied the Scriptures, and served God, God was not there. God was in another place — Bethany. Where is today’s Bethany? Today’s Bethany is right within our spirit. If we would consider this matter from such a perspective and angle, we would immediately realize that any worship or service that is without the Lord Spirit is of the devil. This is a solemn matter!
We must ask ourselves whether the Lord is in our prayer, our reading of the Bible, and our bread-breaking meeting. If we are not in the spirit and no one else is in the spirit, then the Lord is not in these things, and all these things are still under Satan’s hand. Not only our dancing, going to nightclubs, and playing mah-jongg are under Satan’s hand, but even our reading of the Word, our prayer, and our going to meetings can be under Satan’s hand unless they are done in the spirit. This is because the only thing in the whole universe that does not have Satan in it is our regenerated spirit. Unless we are in our spirit, whatever we do is under Satan’s hand.
Where is God today? He is right in our spirit. We must see that our spirit is God’s Holy of Holies. The three parts of our being — our spirit, our soul, and our body — correspond exactly to the three parts of the tabernacle. Our spirit is the Holy of Holies, and God’s habitation in the heavens is also the Holy of Holies. According to Hebrews, these two realms are connected. God’s habitation, the place where God dwells, is the Holy of Holies. Today our spirit is also the Holy of Holies. Our spirit as the Holy of Holies is connected and joined to the Holy of Holies in the heavens. If this were not so, we would not be able to enter the Holy of Holies and touch the throne of grace for timely help, as mentioned in Hebrews 4:16. If God’s Holy of Holies were only in the heavens and not in our spirit, we would have no way to behold the Lord every day. However, our spirit today is the Holy of Holies.
Furthermore, the totality of all our spirits is the church. The church is not in a physical building. The church is in our spirit. The church is God’s Holy of Holies because the church is the aggregate of the regenerated spirits of all the saints.
Therefore, when we pray, read the Word, worship, and serve, we must be in our spirit and in the church, because the church is the aggregate of our spirits. Sometimes we are not in the spirit, yet we come together to worship. At such a time, we must realize that our worship is not the worship in the church. If we are in such a situation, we are no longer inside the Holy of Holies but outside. Only our regenerated spirit as the Holy of Holies is not under the authority of Satan. Besides our regenerated spirit, everything else in the universe and on this globe has been defiled by Satan.
If we would read the last section of 1 John 5 again, we would understand its real significance. Verse 18 says, “We know that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin, but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.” Everyone who is begotten of God refers not to the entire being of a regenerated believer but to his regenerated spirit. In this entire universe God has drawn a line around one thing — our spirit. I am convinced that God has done such a thing. God has set a limit for Satan, saying, “Satan, this is off limits to you! Do not transgress this boundary!”
We can see this principle in the book of Job. God permitted Satan to do this and that, yet He also set a boundary and forbade Satan from going beyond it. If we would carefully read the New Testament and also check with our experience, we would see that God has indeed drawn a boundary. The evil one cannot touch man’s regenerated spirit. First John states very clearly that “he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.” As long as we remain in our regenerated spirit, we will be kept, and Satan will have no way in us. This does not mean that Satan will not try to use any of his schemes. On the contrary, he will try every possible way, but in the end he will have no way. Therefore, once we get into our spirit, we can say, “Satan, think of another way! Do you have any other ways?” Then Satan would say, “I have lost. I have exhausted all my ways. I would have a way if you were in your soul. I would have a way if you were in your mind. I would have many ways if you were in your flesh. But once you turn to your spirit, I have no way. I cannot harm you. I cannot touch you.”
Verse 19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one.” The whole world is like a fish lying on a chopping block, about to be cut up by the chef as he wishes. Only our regenerated spirit is not under Satan’s hand. Besides this, everything else, including our flesh, our mind, our emotion, and our will, are all under Satan’s hand.
Verse 20 says, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true.” Him who is true refers to the Triune God, the all-inclusive Christ, and the all-inclusive Spirit. To know this One is to have real understanding. Although the professors and the people with doctorate degrees have the knowledge in the world, many will not come to receive the Lord Jesus. Thus, they do not have the real understanding. We, however, have the real understanding. Verse 20 continues, “We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Notice that this verse does not say, “He is.” It says, “This is.” The word this refers to this particular matter, circumstance, or situation, which is the true God and eternal life. There is only one thing in the whole universe that is real — the real God and eternal life.
Finally, there is a warning: “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (v. 21). This means that anything that is not of the true God, not of the eternal life, and not in the regenerated spirit is an idol. Our reading of the Bible may be an idol, our prayer may be an idol, and even our bread-breaking may be an idol, because we may be reading the Word, praying, worshipping, serving, and even breaking bread outside of our regenerated spirit! We may be lying in the evil one because we are not in the spirit.
In His seventh epistle in Revelation 3 the Lord seemed to be saying to the church in Laodicea, “O Laodicea! I am ready to spew you out of My mouth. You are neither cold nor hot, so I will spew you out. Do you know that I am standing at the door and knocking? I am not inside of you but outside of you, and you are not in Me.” Under such circumstances, the church in Laodicea was lying in the evil one. Practically speaking, the Laodiceans were not in the Lord, and the Lord was not in them. I am concerned that many times the churches are not in the Lord even while they are breaking the bread and that the Lord is not in the churches in the breaking of bread. The result is Laodicea. They have the teachings, the knowledge, and the rituals of worship, but they are not in the spirit, and the Lord is not in them. This is a serious matter!
First John 5:21 says, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” You may say that there are no idols in your meeting hall. However, you may not realize that your idols are yourselves, your scheming, and your domineering. You may not realize that your desire to win others over so that they will agree with you is an idol. You may not realize that your idol is your insistence on teaching others the spiritual experience you had three years ago. You may love your Bible and insist that others read it the same way you do. This is also an idol. Whatever is not in the spirit is an idol. Whatever is not of the spirit is an idol. If the elders and co-workers in a local church have opinions, they have idols. If we are in the spirit, we will not have any opinions. The Lord Jesus is one, and He is also one in our spirit, so there cannot be any opinion if we are in our spirit. Any church in which there is dissension between the elders and the deacons, among the elders themselves, or between the elders and the co-workers, has idols.
What are idols? Whatever is not the true God is an idol. Today the true God is in our regenerated spirit. We abide in Him, and He also abides in us. This is the true God and the eternal life. When some responsible brothers are not in one accord and are at a stalemate, that is an idol. When a few brothers who serve together protect themselves from each other, that is an idol. It is terrible to advertise the name of the Lord Jesus yet sell our flesh.
For many years I did not understand why this word suddenly appeared at the end of 1 John: “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” One day, however, the Lord showed me this mystery, and then I realized that anything we do that is not in the regenerated spirit and that does not live out the Lord Spirit is an idol. Today there is only one true God, and this true God is in only one place, that is, our spirit. Everything outside of this spirit is an idol. If our bread-breaking and our praising are not in the spirit, they are false. Our bearing of responsibilities and our work may also be false if they are not in the spirit. Our insistence with one another in our service is also an idol.
Hebrews 4 says that the word of God is living and able to pierce through us, dividing our spirit, as the Holy of Holies, from the soul that surrounds it (v. 12). Hebrews 6 says that we are all fleeing (v. 18). From what are we fleeing? We are fleeing from our idols, our flesh, our ideas, our views, our dissenting thoughts, and our old experiences. In the Greek text the word for fled is used only twice in the New Testament. It is used once in Acts 14:6, where the apostle Paul fled from Iconium to Lystra and Derbe, and it is also used in Hebrews 6:18. The Greek word translated “fled” implies “to flee intensively, seriously, and speedily,” just as Lot and his wife fled from Sodom. This is what the writer of the book of Hebrews meant. He seemed to be saying, “O Hebrew brothers, you need to flee! Flee from Judaism and your old doctrines.”
Then where should we flee to? We should flee to the Holy of Holies. We should flee from our disposition, our views among the co-workers, and our dissenting thoughts. If we do not flee, we will be under the hand of the devil. Our Forerunner has already entered into the spirit, into the Holy of Holies. Today we should not remain in the outer court or in the Holy Place. We all need to flee to the Holy of Holies, to the presence of God. We must flee until we have nothing else to flee from, until we are directly touching God and are face to face with God. In this way we will be with God in the Holy of Holies. There will be no need for us to flee anymore. However, today we all must flee.
The word Hebrew means “river crosser.” Abraham crossed a river. Hence, he was a river crosser. We all need to cross a river, to cross over from one side of the river to the other side. We need to cross the river of the flesh, the river of knowledge, the river of old religion, and the river of the old ways. May the Lord be merciful to us that we may be river crossers. We need to cross over to the land of Canaan, to enter into the rest where God’s temple, God’s sanctuary, is. The churches in the recovery have had a long history. Today they have come to the edge of the river. We must say, “O Lord, have mercy on us that we would flee into the Holy of Holies.”
