Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for Your sovereign mercy that we can still meet in this hall tonight! Lord, how we thank You for the good government that took care of the disaster. And we thank You for the effective work of all the fire stations. We thank You even for the kind care for all the suffering ones by the society. Lord, we do pray for all the suffering ones. Lord, take care of their needs. Comfort them. Even turn their heart to You that they may believe in You and trust in You. Lord, use this disaster to bless the entire city. Lord, help us to learn the lessons of the spiritual life. Lord, thank You for tonight. Thank You for such a time that we could be here in peace, enjoying the safety to seek after You and to get into Your leading. Lord, help us, and inspire every word into our being. In Your precious name, Amen.
In this chapter we need to consider once again those items in Romans 8:1-14. We need to see how the items on the positive side are versus the items on the negative side. Of course, the law of the Spirit of life is versus the law of sin and of death. One is a negative law, and the other is a positive law. One is in darkness; the other is in light. One is full of death; the other is full of life. One is of sin; the other is of the Spirit. So these two are altogether contrary.
Next we have the Spirit versus sin. We have seen that sin is just Satan dwelling in our flesh. And, of course, the Spirit is a person dwelling in our spirit. The next items that are versus one another are life and death. The Spirit issues in life, and sin issues in death. Eventually, death will go to the lake of fire, and life will be embodied for eternity in the New Jerusalem.
The next items are the mingled spirit—our spirit mingled with the Spirit of God—and our flesh. Our spirit is quite wonderful because the processed Triune God indwells our spirit and mingles with our spirit. Our flesh, however, is very negative. Eventually, the Bible tells us that our whole fallen being is the flesh. No flesh can be justified before God. That means all fallen men. The flesh first denotes a part of our being. Eventually, it denotes our entire being. Our entire fallen being is called the flesh. Our spirit is our regenerated human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. This is not our fallen, deadened spirit but our regenerated spirit.
The things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit are also versus one another. Recently, I illustrated by showing that some things are of God: Christ, the church, the saints, our experiences of Christ, the Word, the Life-study messages, the meetings, and the gospel. Of course, these things are representative; they are illustrations. Actually, the things of the Spirit are many.
The mind set on the spirit is versus the mind set on the flesh. These are not two minds but one mind. But it may be on the flesh, or it may be on the spirit. When it is on the flesh, it is the mind on the flesh. When it is on the spirit, it is the mind on the spirit.
The matter of peace in verse 6 is versus the enmity in verse 7. Peace here is peace with God. In like manner, enmity here refers to enmity with God.
The indwelling Spirit in verse 11 is versus the body, which is dead because of sin. The issue of the Spirit of God indwelling us is life, and the issue of sin being in our body is death. So the Spirit of God is versus the body.
The Spirit of Christ is versus the dead. Verse 9 says that if we have the Spirit of Christ, we are of Him. Verse 11 speaks of the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in us. This means that He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to us. By reading verses 9 and 10 carefully, we can see that there is an implication that the Spirit of Christ is versus the dead.
The Spirit of the One is versus the practices of the body. If you cooperate with the practices of the body, you are against the Spirit of the One. But if you are one with the Spirit of the One, surely you will put the practices of the body to death.
The last pair of items that are versus one another are the debtors and the sons of God. Both of these items are persons. If you are the sons of God, you are heirs to inherit all the riches. If you are debtors, you owe something to God and to man. If you live in the negative line, the result is that you will be a debtor. If you live in the positive line, the result is that you will be a son of God, inheriting the riches of God.
In the last chapter we pointed out that the matter of the leading by the Spirit is not mainly for certain matters, for business, for activities, or even for actions. It is altogether for a living of a life with God and for God and before God. We Christians should first pay our full attention to our living. This means to our being, to what we are. As believers who are in Christ, we must first pay our full attention to what we are. Our activities and actions are secondary. As long as your being is right, your activities will also be right. In other words, as long as your living is under the leading by the Spirit, then whatever you do as a kind of activity would spontaneously and simultaneously also be under the leading by the Spirit.
If you are a person living a life absolutely under the leading by the Spirit, where you go to school will also be under the leading by the Spirit. But if you are not a person living under the leading by the Spirit of life, it would be hard for you to decide where God wants you to study. It would be hard for you to get clear about God’s leading. The leading you receive at that time may not be so accurate. You should not pay so much attention to your activities, to what school you should attend, to what job you should take, to what house you should rent or to buy. As long as you pay your full attention to your living and live a life daily, moment by moment, under the leading by the Spirit, you will be clear. This is basic.
If you are right with such a living under the leading by the Spirit, whatever you say is under the leading by the Spirit. Wherever you go, that is the leading by the Spirit. And whatever you do is under the leading by the Spirit because your entire living is under the leading by the Spirit. If you laugh, that is under the leading by the Spirit. If you weep, that is under the leading by the Spirit. Even when you are angry, it is under the leading by the Spirit. You might ask how we could be angry under the leading by the Spirit. But the Lord Jesus became angry at least two or three times (John 2:14-16; Matt. 23:13-36; Mark 3:1-5). And He was angry under the leading by the Spirit.
Again I say, the leading by the Spirit is not a matter, strictly speaking, for activities. It is a matter for our daily living. What God wants of us is not a certain kind of business done by us. It is not a certain kind of work accomplished by us. No! What God wants of us is a life, that is, a living as a testimony of Jesus. We have to live a life that is a testimony of Jesus. In other words, we live a life that expresses Christ. Such a life that lives Christ is surely under the leading by the Spirit. So the New Testament says to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). To walk according to the spirit is just to live under the leading by the Spirit. In Greek the word walk means to live, to walk, even to have our being. We should walk and live and have our being according to the spirit. This is to be under the leading by the Spirit. As long as we walk this way, and we live such a life under the leading by the Spirit, whatever we do will be also under the leading. Whatever we say will be under the leading.
All these twenty-two items do not refer to an activity or to a business. They refer to the daily living or to the daily life. The law of sin and of death is not related to a business or an activity. It is related to your being. It is related to your daily walk and your daily life. Sin also is a matter in life; it is not a matter in business. You may consider that many people sin in business, but you have to realize that they sin in business because they are sinful in their living. If they were not sinful in their living, they would never sin in business. To sin in business is not the root or the basic problem. The basic problem, the root, for sinning in business, is the daily life and the daily living. If you are just a sinful person, living in a sinful way, when you do business, you will surely sin.
Death also is a matter of living. You do not live a life full of life; you live a life full of death. Your daily living is a constitution of death. Death here in Romans 8 is not related to activity, business, school, and so forth. Strictly speaking, it is related to your daily living.
Flesh also refers to your being. You are just a fallen person. You are just a person abominable in the eyes of God. You are a person reprobate before God because you are so fleshly. You even become flesh. This is your living, your being. A person does business in the flesh because he lives in the flesh. If he lived in the spirit, could he do business in the flesh? It is impossible! Whether a professor teaches in the flesh or in the spirit depends upon where he lives. If he lives in the flesh, he will be a professor in the flesh. If he lives in the spirit, he will be a professor in the spirit. So the problem always is not with what you do. It is always wrapped up with what you are, with your being, with your living.
The things of the flesh also are related to our living. There are so many items related to the flesh because you are a person living in the flesh. When you are a person living in the flesh, your clothing is of the flesh; your eating is of the flesh; even your lodging is of the flesh. Whatever you do and whatever you have is of the flesh because you are just a person living in the flesh. The food for one who lives in the spirit becomes a thing of the spirit. But the same food may become the food of the flesh because you are a person living in the flesh. Because of your living, the things that are related to you are affected. If you are living in the flesh, everything that is related to you becomes flesh.
The mind of the flesh is not mainly for business but for living. The matter of enmity with God is a matter of living. You do not have peace with God; you have something just the opposite. You have a kind of enmity with God. This enmity is not mainly related to schooling, business, jobs, or renting or buying a house. It is mainly related to living, to your daily life before God.
Then there is the matter of our body. God intended to have our body as an organ to express what we are. God did not intend so much that our body be an organ to accomplish great things. Actually, according to the Bible, God does not want any giants. God wants a lot of small persons to express God. Whenever a person becomes great, there is a big possibility for him to be ruined. To remain in a situation and condition of being a small person is your protection. It is your safeguard. Many great persons on this earth have been ruined by their greatness. If they are strong in the will, they may make up their mind to preserve themselves but not for God’s glory. It is just for their dignity, for their kind of glory.
Small persons like ourselves are protected from corruption and from being ruined. We are protected from being dignified and from being glorified. We are preserved in our condition of being small just to express God. God does not want people to be great, to be dignified, to be glorified. God wants human beings to be small persons who live Him and express Him. Do not try to be great. Do not desire to be great. We have to attract people to Him and give glory to Him. This is the truth in the Bible. God does not care for our enterprise. God only cares for our humble living as a small person. While the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was never made great. He never tried to be great. He always remained in His smallness.
The New Testament does not teach us to be successful in enterprises or in activities. Many consider that Paul was the greatest apostle. But if you read the New Testament, it seems that he did not succeed in his work. First, he was arrested and put into prison; then he was martyred. Even before he was martyred, he said that all who were in Asia had forsaken him (2 Tim. 1:15). This means that all the saints in the churches in Asia had rejected Paul.
I never saw Brother Watchman Nee trying to be great. We who had gotten much help from him always expected he could do a bigger work. But eventually, the Lord let him stay in prison for twenty years where he died. But there was a life, lived out by such a low and small man, that gave glory to God. That expressed the very God whom we serve.
In Romans 8 there is no hint that would help you know the leading of God concerning your big enterprise. If you are seeking for this kind of leading, you will be fully disappointed. How then could you know where you should go to school? How can you know what major you should take? It is by living in the spirit all the day. It is by living under the leading by the Spirit all the day. Then spontaneously you would know. This matter of the leading becomes a kind of habitual thing in your daily living. It could never be a kind of accident that happens all of a sudden. No! There is not such a leading by the Spirit. The leading by the Spirit is a matter of our daily living. This is something spoken from the negative side. Now let us look at the positive side.
No doubt, the law of the Spirit of life is for living. And life is for living. Every item is for living. The regenerated spirit is for living. God regenerated our spirit for us to live a life, not for us to be someone great. The things of the Spirit and the mind set on the spirit are also items of our living.
The matter of peace also is something of the living. If you do not have peace, that is a sign that you are not under the leading by the Spirit. If you do not have peace with God or with your wife or with your husband or with your neighbor or with people on the street or with your own thinking or your own emotion or your own love, that is a sign that you are not under the leading by the Spirit. If you are under the leading by the Spirit, you have peace with God, with everyone, and with every matter.
You will have peace even with yourself, with your thinking, with your loving, with your hating. Your inner being will become so tranquil. There will not be even one wave within you. There will be no storm, just absolute peace within and without. If you do not have such an absolute peace, that is a red signal. That is not a green signal. The green signal on your spiritual way is peace. If you do not have such a signal, peace within you in everything, you have to realize at that very moment you are not under the leading by the Spirit. All this is a matter of living. The leading of the Spirit or by the Spirit is altogether for living.
Then the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the One comprising all three of the Trinity are also matters of living. Eventually, if you live such a life with all these conditions, you are a son of God having the life of God, having the nature of God, having peace with God, living Him out, living for Him, living with Him, and living before Him. So you inherit God’s joy and God’s peace. You inherit whatever God is and whatever God has. You also inherit whatever God is able to do. Eventually, you will inherit much more. You will progress from being a son to being an heir. Then you will not have any sense or consciousness that you owe anything or anybody. You are not a debtor but a son of God.
All these points prove that the leading by the Spirit is a matter of daily living. I have received much help by considering all these items. I would encourage you to pray-read all these items into your being and to pray-read yourself into all these items: “Lord, infuse me with the law of the Spirit of life. Infuse me with the life. Infuse me with the regenerated spirit, with the mingled spirit.” This kind of prayer or pray-reading will help you a lot. It will help you to live such a life. And it will help you to bring your entire being in your daily life under the leading by the Spirit. Then whatever happens to you, it will be so easy for you to have the leading. If you are faithful and not doubting and not analyzing, it will be so easy for you to have the leading. If you will just believe, you will be clear. Then every situation and every happening will spontaneously be clear to you. You will see what is under the leading by the Spirit and what is not. You will not need to seek this or to seek that. You will be entirely under the leading by the Spirit. Of course, to say this is very easy, but to live such a life will cost you something. You have to pay a price.
