In this chapter we will consider once more Romans 8:14, which says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” We have come to a point that we can never avoid. If we would know the leading of the Spirit, we must get through the point that we are going to cover in this chapter. You may consider the point of this chapter as something quite common or quite ordinary. But actually it is not that common. You might consider it so common because our understanding of the leading of the Spirit has not been adequate.
The problem is this: most Christians through the centuries have considered that God’s leading is just God’s action, God’s activity. Because you are a child of God, you like to please God. You do not like to do anything by your own way; you like to follow His way. So you pray, asking God the Father to give you a leading that you may follow. This kind of prayer indicates that you consider the leading of the Lord as His action, His activity.
But Romans 8:14 says that the leading is to be led by the Spirit. When you read such a word, you must be alert, and you must pay your full attention to understand it. It does not say that we need the leading of the Spirit. This is something different. To have the leading of the Spirit is one thing; to be led by the Spirit is another thing. Sometimes Christians say that they have a leading from the Lord, but eventually they discover that they went the wrong way. They prayed, they touched their inner feeling, they looked at their outward circumstances. It seems they were fully confirmed that a certain thing was fully from the Lord. But eventually they went the wrong way. This is because our realization of the matter of the leading of the Spirit has not been so accurate. We were taught in the wrong way, so our realization has not been adequate.
By our natural birth we have a tendency to receive this kind of teaching. Some have been taught to seek the leading of God according to three things: the inner feeling, the Word of God, and the outward circumstances. If these three things line up, that indicates the will of God. Many Christians have heard this kind of teaching. It is easy to understand, and we all have the inclination toward this kind of teaching. We have the tendency to receive this kind of teaching.
But I am going to fellowship with you concerning one point, which is contrary to your natural tendency. The leading in Romans 8:14 is not a leading of the Lord. Rather, it is a leading by the Lord. A leading of the Lord is one thing, and a leading by the Lord is another thing. When we had our life-study of Genesis, I stressed strongly that from the first time Abraham was called out, the Lord did not give him any leading. The Lord only told him that he had to leave. The Lord did not tell him how he should go on. In other words, the Lord did not give him any road maps. Abraham’s leading was the Lord Himself, a person. This person was with him all the time doing the leading. Abraham was led by the Lord. Abraham did not receive a leading of the Lord. There is a big difference.
In order to understand clearly the matter of being led by the Spirit, we have to realize it is absolutely a fact that we Christians who have believed in the Lord Jesus and have been really regenerated do have another person living within us. You may think that you know this already. But to know this is one thing, and to realize daily, hourly, and even momentarily that you have another One living within you is another thing.
Now I would like to add a further word: This One who lives within us is not our roommate. This One is to replace us. He has come to live within us, not to be our roommate but to replace us. From now on, it is no longer I, but Christ (Gal. 2:20). Yet He wants to live Himself out of me and through me with my living coordination. So we two become one living person. We become one person with two different lives, one person with two different natures. Even we become one person with two classifications of characteristics. This is hard for us to see. This is not a small thing. When we heard that the Lord Jesus lives within us or that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, we may have considered that we would now have a roommate, a companion. We did not realize that this One is within us to replace us. From now on, it will be no more I but He who lives within me. The Triune God is now living in us not to be our roommate but to be our life, our nature, our everything, even eventually to replace us. We have to realize the indwelling of the Triune God to such an extent.
Then we must live by this kind of realization. We must behave ourselves according to this kind of realization. We must live a life all the time taking this One as our living. The indwelling One is within us to be our life, our nature, our everything, and even to replace us. We just need to coordinate with Him.
Let me illustrate further. Suppose you are such a person: you have this One living within you to be your life, to be your nature, to be your everything, to replace you. Now you need to cooperate and to coordinate with this One. If a brother comes to fellowship with you asking for some help, what would you do? You should not say anything without looking to Him. If you say anything or do anything by yourself, without looking to Him, that is your self. That is not to be led by the Spirit. That is something by your self. When a brother comes and asks you to render some help to him, you must look to Him. You should not even say Praise the Lord to the brother without looking to Him. To look to Him means to take Him as your life. It means to take Him as your practical life, as your practical nature, as your everything. You have to build up such a spontaneous habit of asking, “Lord, what would You say?”
Sometimes we may speak spiritual words such as Praise the Lord, or Hallelujah, or Amen, but these are a natural speaking. They are not a speaking by being led by the Spirit. We have to build up a habit to speak every word by looking at Him. I believe by such an illustration we are all exposed. Even in saying Praise the Lord we may be living in ourselves. When we say this, we are not led by the Spirit. We are simply led by certain spiritual sayings. If this is the case, when you say Praise the Lord, spontaneously you leave the Lord aside. Right away you become your life, you become your nature, you become your everything. It is not just a matter of taking the Lord as your boss or your manager or your director. It is a matter of taking Him as the One who is your life, your nature, your everything. Then when you say Praise the Lord, surely that is His saying. You are led by Him.
In the past two chapters we have pointed out that the leading by the Spirit is composed with three things: the Spirit as the person, the divine life, and the law as the divine life’s function. This indwelling One today is really everything to us. He is our redemption. He is our human living. He is our salvation. He is our objective justification. He is also our subjective justification. He is our sanctification. He is our everything. So He is our life. It does not mean that the three components of the spiritual leading are only three things. The person is the life, and the life is the law. So when you have this One, you have everything. When you have this person, you have everything. This person who indwells you is your life. He is the life, and He is also the law.
Strictly speaking, you do not need to take care of the life or the law as long as you take care of the person. If you take care of the person, you take care of everything. A person who is all-inclusive is now indwelling you. He is within you all-inclusively. If you have Him, you have life. If you have Him, you have the law of life. If you have Him, you have all the components of the spiritual leading. So what you need to do is just to take care of Him. It is not just to listen to one of His words but to take Himself as your living. When you look at Him, His life right away supplies you the energy. When you look at Him, the law of His life right away works within you and becomes a kind of automatic strength. It is wonderful!
The genuine and trustworthy and proper leading is this kind of leading. It is not a leading as an activity of God, as an action of God, but just God Himself. It is just the Triune God Himself in you to be your life, to be your nature, to be your everything. When you look at Him, He leads, and you are led. When you are led in this way, you know from within that you are living, that you are full of anointing, that you are refreshed, that you are watered, and that the light is within you. You have the comfort and encouragement.
But the other kind of leading—following the inner feeling plus the Word plus the outward circumstances—may leave you still dry, still discouraged, still full of death. It may leave you short of encouragement. All these are signs that that kind of leading was not the genuine leading, because there was no life with it. But the genuine leading that is full of life and freshness and watering and enlightening and comforting and strengthening is the leading that is described in Romans 8:14. You have to underline this short word by. As many as are led by the Spirit, directly by the person, these are the sons of God. This is the leading that we should have. I hope that many of us could receive a clear vision concerning the leading and that we would all pass through the crisis of being led by the Spirit.
As we have seen, the leading of the Spirit is just the Spirit Himself who is so practical and so present. So all the time before saying anything, before doing anything, before going to any place, even before thinking anything, we must first look at the indwelling Spirit. You may ask how you can have the turn to do this. The answer is simple: you have to build up a habit. Do not say anything before you look at the indwelling Spirit. Do not do anything before you look at the indwelling Spirit. Do not go to any place before you look at the indwelling Spirit. Even do not think anything before you look at the indwelling Spirit. Supposedly you have already passed through a crisis so that it is no more you who lives but He who lives. It is no more you to be your life, your nature, your everything. But the indwelling One now is your life, your nature, and your everything.
We all love the Lord, but I would like to tell you that the best love we can render to the Lord is not doing anything before looking at Him. I do not say looking unto Him. Unto Him may indicate that He is far away from you, in the heavens. I mean looking at Him, realizing that He is not only with you but in you. You need such an intimate contact, even such an instant and constant contact, with Him. You must learn to build up such a habit. If we all could live this way, what a revolution it would make in our daily life! Please take this word in a simple way.
Now we need to go a step further. In Romans 8 you have the leading by the Spirit. You have the setting of the mind on the spirit. You also have the walking according to the spirit. By experience we could realize that being led by the Spirit is the initial step and, strictly speaking, this is in our spirit. Being led by the Spirit is not something in our mind or in our outward being. It is absolutely a matter in our spirit because the indwelling One is within our spirit. It is in our spirit that the indwelling One leads us.
Following the leading, there is the second step, to set your mind on your spirit. This means do not let your mind go away somewhere else; do not let your mind be distracted; do not let your mind be carried away. It is not only to concentrate your mind but to set your mind on your spirit. Finally comes the third step, walking according to the spirit. This is the outward doing. The outward doing is to walk according to the spirit. First, you are led by the Spirit in your spirit; following this, you set your mind on the spirit; following this, you just walk according to the spirit. This is the Christian walk, and this is the Christian living. This is the living that is led by the Spirit. If this is your case, then you become one of those who, being led by the Spirit, are the sons of God.
Of course, in another chapter we mentioned another group of three things: the Spirit’s residing, the Spirit’s life giving, and our putting to death the practices of the mortal body. These three things are spontaneously included in these three steps. The residing of the Triune God is included in the indwelling of the One who leads us. The life giving is included in the setting of your mind on the spirit. And the putting to death of the practices of your mortal body is included in the walking according to the spirit. As long as you walk according to the spirit, that really means you put every bit of your natural activity to death. So there are not six steps of the spiritual leading; there are only three. The first step, the initial step, is in your spirit. The second step is in your soul, or in your mind. The third is in your body, where there is the outward doing. These three steps include God’s residing in you, His supplying you with life, and your putting to death of your natural activities.
Then we are persons led by the Spirit. Then we are the sons of God. I hope that we all may see a clear vision so that we would pass a crisis. This is the way to take the leading by the Spirit, and this is to be led by Him.
Whether you feel that you can practice this or not, you have to. Before doing anything, before saying anything, before going to any place, even before thinking anything, you must look at Him. You do have another One living with you and in you. Look at Him. Whether you feel that you can look at Him or you feel that you cannot look at Him, just look at Him. Forget about your ability and forget about your disability. Do not consider whether you are able or disabled. Just practice it.
