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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:17-24; Rom. 8:6; John 8:12; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:2; 1 John 2:27-28a; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 2:13
Ephesians 4:17 through 24 speak concerning the consciousness of the inner life, that is, the sense, or feeling, of life. Verse 17 says, “This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk in the vanity of their mind.” This verse mentions the vanity of the mind. Whatever is in the mind of the unbelievers is vain, an emptiness and vanity, in the eyes of God. Even the best thing that they think and consider in their minds is vain. It is a vanity of vanities. They walk in the vanity of their mind because in their mind they do not have God; they do not have Christ, who is the reality.
Verse 18 says, “Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” After speaking of the mind, this portion speaks of the understanding. When the mind is filled with vanity, the understanding is darkened. That they are alienated from the life of God means that they do not have the life of God; they are cut off from the life of God. This means that they do not have the sense of the life of God, the consciousness from the life of God. This verse also mentions ignorance. This ignorance, this foolishness without knowledge, is due to the hardness of the heart. In these verses we have the mind with vanity, the darkened understanding, and the hardened heart. We should pay attention to the order here. First, the mind is full of vanity; then the understanding is darkened because of the hardness of the heart. This proves that they have nothing to do with the life of God. They are alienated, cut off, from the life of God.
We need one or two messages for each of these matters, which are all related to the inner life. In order to learn the inner life, we must know all these things. If I had the time, I would like to sit with you once or twice a day to talk about all these matters from the New Testament teachings. These things have been lost in today’s Christianity. We may have been Christians for many years and may have listened to many messages from the pulpit, but we may not have heard a message about these matters. What is the vanity of the mind? What is the darkened understanding? And what is alienation from the life of God due to the hardness of the heart? I am sorry to say that in today’s Christianity no one stands up to teach the Lord’s people about these things.
Verse 19 begins, “Who, being past feeling.” This verse speaks of feeling. Do not think that the feeling, or consciousness, of life is a term invented by us. No, this is something we have discovered in the Word of God. Darby’s New Translation renders this phrase as “having cast off all feeling,” and the Interlinear Greek-English New Testament renders it as “having ceased to care.” Those who have vanity in their mind, whose understanding is darkened, and whose heart is fully hardened have cast off all feeling, and they no longer care. They give up all care for the feeling.
Verse 19 continues, “Have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.” Because they cast off all feeling, they give themselves over. In Ephesians Paul exhausted his vocabulary, using all the words he could use. We should pay attention, however, to the matter of the feeling. The Gentiles’ minds are full of vanity, their understanding is darkened, and their heart is hardened because they cast off all feeling; they do not care for the feeling.
This is the description of the Gentiles. However, verse 20 says, “But you did not so learn Christ.” We have learned Christ not in the way of casting off all feeling but in the way of caring for all feeling. Then verses 21 through 23 say, “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus, that you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Verse 24 goes on to speak of putting on the new man. Putting off the old man and putting on the new man depend on the spirit of the mind. What then is the spirit of the mind, and how can we know the spirit of our mind? By all these verses we must conclude that in order to know the spirit of our mind, we must know the inner consciousness of life. It is by the inner consciousness of life, the inner, deeper feeling of life, that we know the spirit of our mind. Without this inner feeling, consciousness, and sense of life, how can we know the spirit of our mind? If we read these verses carefully, we will conclude from the context that there must be a consciousness, a feeling, a deeper sense within us, by which we are able to know the spirit of our mind.
This passage presents a contrast between the Gentiles and the Christians. The Gentiles cast off all feeling, but as Christians, we take care of the inner feeling. It is by this inner feeling that we know the spirit of our mind. Then we are able to realize the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new man.
Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This verse speaks both of death and of life and peace. It does not use the words feeling, sense, or consciousness, but consciousness is here in fact. We would all agree that peace refers to a certain feeling within us, something within that can be sensed, of which we have a consciousness. Therefore, this verse speaks of having peace in our sense, in our inner feeling. If peace were not a matter of feeling or consciousness, how could we know that we have it? We know that we have peace because we sense it. When we go along with the spirit and set our mind on the spirit, we have peace within. How do we know that we have peace? We sense it; we feel it and have the consciousness of it.
As we know, we have three parts—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23). In our body we have five physical senses to sense the physical world. In the soul we have the psychological sense, the self-sense. Then in the spirit we have the spiritual sense to sense the things of God, the things of the spirit. When we speak of the sense of life, we mean this spiritual sense. The spiritual sense is the very sense of life. However, we speak of the sense of life rather than the spiritual sense because this sense is one hundred percent related to life. If a man is physically dead, if his life is gone, all the senses of his body disappear. This proves that senses are related to life. The sense is in the life. If we have life, we have the sense; if we do not have life, we do not have the sense. We have a sense in our spirit because in our spirit we have the divine life.
With any kind of life there is a certain kind of sense. There is no animal without a sense. Even a little fly has a sense because it has life. However, the principle is that the higher the life is, the higher the sense is. If we have the highest life, we have the highest sense. Sense goes along with life. In our body we have the physical life; in our soul we have the psychological, soulish life; and now in our spirit we have the divine life, which is the life of God. This is not merely the higher life but the highest life. In our spirit we have the highest life, the life of God, that is, God Himself. With this highest life we have the highest sense, the highest feeling, the highest consciousness. Many of us have been in Christianity for many years, but sorry to say, all these precious matters have been lost and buried there.
We often speak of spiritual knowledge, or we may say, “Spiritually I have seen something,” or “I have seen something in the spirit.” What is this seeing, this knowledge, in the spirit? The seeing or knowledge in the spirit is nothing other than a certain kind of feeling. Spiritual seeing, spiritual knowledge, and spiritual understanding are the spiritual sense, the spiritual feeling. When I was about sixteen years old, I was invited to a feast. On the table there were two bowls of white granules, one of salt and the other of sugar. It is hard to discern what is salt and what is sugar. The color, the shape, and the appearance are about the same. As we were eating something that needed a lot of sugar, I took the wrong bowl, the one full of salt. I put salt on my food, supposing that it was sugar, and I put it into my mouth. I needed no dictionary, teacher, tutor, professor, preacher, or minister to tell me that I was wrong. Right away I sensed that I was wrong because it was too salty. This was a matter not of knowledge but of the sense of life.
Even a new baby will spit out something salty, but if you give him something sweet, he will swallow it. This is not knowledge; it is not something taught. It is the very sense of life. If someone is dead, however, he will have no reaction to whatever you put in his mouth. This is because when the life is gone, the sense is gone. This illustrates that there is such a thing as the sense of life. If we have the life of God, we have the divine sense. Because this life is the highest life, with this life there is the highest sense.
A young brother who had just been saved came to me once, saying, “I don’t know why last night I had much happiness, but this morning I lost it.” I answered him, “Brother, I am sure you do not know why in your mentality, but you know the reason deep within.” He said that he could not understand this, so I replied, “I know that you cannot understand, but please tell me: What do you sense within you?” He simply said that he had no happiness and that he had come to me to learn the reason. Still I said, “I would ask you to tell me the reason.” Eventually, I found out that he had done something wrong; he had lied to some people. In his understanding he thought that he was not wrong, but in his spirit his sense was damaged. To tell a lie damages the sense of life.
If instead of coming to the meeting you go dancing, what will happen? The faster an unbeliever walks to the place of dancing, the happier he is. He is truly happy to go dancing. But what about you as a reborn believer? Will you be happier the faster you go? We all know that it is just the opposite. The sense that you will have is not happiness but bitterness. This is the sense of life. The secret of the Christian walk after we are saved is to take care of this sense of life.
We need to know this inner sense in a full way. This inner sense comes out of five main items within us. The first is the light of life. Since we have the life from the Lord, we have the light of life. John 1:4 speaks of the light, but it does not mention “the light of life.” This phrase is in 8:12, which says, “Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Strictly speaking and according to our experience, the light of life is the sense of life. When we received the Lord Jesus, He came into our spirit as life to dwell and work there. By His dwelling, working, and living there is this sense, and this sense is the enlightening. When we have the life of the Lord Jesus within us, this life enlightens us. We know this because we sense it; we have the feeling and consciousness of it. If a believer, a reborn young man, goes dancing, as he is going, there is the inner sense within him. That is the light of life. To have this sense means that we are not in darkness but in the light. The faster the unbelievers go to dance, the happier they are, because they are in darkness. They do not have this inner sense to tell them that they are wrong. It is needless to speak of going dancing; sometimes when we have only a wrong or impure motive, right away there is the sense of condemnation in us. This sense of condemnation is the light of life. Now you can understand that the light of life is simply the inner sense in the spirit. When we have the inner sense in the spirit, we have the light of life.
How do we know when we are wrong? We may say that we feel or we sense that we are wrong. This sense within us is the enlightening; at least it comes out of the enlightening of the inner life. The inner life, which is the Lord Jesus Himself, enlightens us within, and by this enlightening we have the inner sense. There is no need for anyone to tell us that we are wrong. Many times we argue that we are right. Some things seem right as long as we argue for them, but when we stop arguing, we see that we are not right. According to our argument we are right, but in fact we know that we are not right. If we were truly right, there would be no need for argument. Many times a wife may argue with her husband, insisting that she is right. She may be right in word, but she is not right in her spirit and in life. When her words stop, she realizes that she is wrong. We know this because we sense it, and we sense it because we have the life of the Lord Jesus shining within us. Therefore, we are in the light and not in darkness.
Many times when a brother argues with me, I am happy, because I know that behind his speaking is a sense of condemnation as the light of life. The more he argues, the more I am clear that he is in the light. When such a person argues, I often do not say much. I may say, “Perhaps you are right,” although he is right only in argument. In actuality, he is in the light; he has light within. This light is not from knowledge or teaching. This is the light of life. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
If we have Christ within us as our life, this very life is the shining light within us. We simply have a sense within us that we cannot escape. We cannot escape from this shining. Young men especially always like to be right. When I was young, however, I went to people perhaps ten times a day to confess. I might say, “Brother, excuse me. I am wrong. This morning I argued with you, but now I am clear. To tell the truth, I am clear not only now, but even this morning I was already clear. While I was arguing with you, I was clear that I was wrong, but I would not lose my face. Now by the Lord’s mercy I know that I have to confess to you.” This means that I was in the light. These experiences prove that we have something living within us, because we have the life of Christ. This life within us is the light of men and the light of life. Please keep this in mind: The light of life gives us the inner sense while it enlightens. We can never separate the sense of life from the enlightening of the light of life.
Second, we have the law of life in us (Heb. 8:10). Romans 8:2 speaks of the law of the Spirit of life. The law of life and the law of the Spirit of life are one item, that is, the inner regulating. We know we have the inner regulation because we sense it. We realize the inner regulating by the inner sense. Strictly speaking, the inner law is the inner sense, or at least we can say that the inner sense comes from the inner regulating. When the inner law regulates, it gives us the inner sense. Why do we have the inner sense of life? It is because we have the inner law of life. Within us there is not only the light of life shining, but there is the law of life regulating. From the shining of the light we have a sense; from the regulating of the law we also have a sense.
When the law regulates, we sense it; it gives us an inner consciousness. This is especially the case when we are about to do something wrong. When we are going to do something right, we may not sense the regulating, but when we are wrong, we sense it. We may compare this to our stomach; if there is no trouble in our stomach, we do not sense our digestion, but when we are sick in our stomach, we sense it. As Christians, when we walk rightly in the presence of God, we may not have much sense. When we come to a meeting, for example, we may not have any sense. But if we try to go to a movie, the regulating sense comes. When we read the Bible, we do not have the sense that we are right, but if we try to read novels or look at the pictures in the newspaper, we do not have peace. Something within us is regulating. The regulating sense is very obvious and clear when we do wrong things. On the one hand, this is the regulating of the inner law, but on the other hand, it is the inner sense of life. The inner sense of life comes from the regulating of the inner law. We have the inner sense because we have the inner law.
Third, we have the anointing (1 John 2:27). Anointing is a gerund, ending in -ing. It is a moving, an action, within us. This moving and action are the working of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit works within us, His working is the anointing. When the anointing works, it anoints; it is the ointment moving and acting. To be sure, this motion gives us a feeling. If a part of our body is alive and proper, it has a feeling when it moves; the feeling comes from the moving. The anointing within us is constantly moving. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and this work never stops, regardless of what we are or where we are. However, we must be a little quiet to sense it. If I put my hand on a brother when he is arguing with someone, he may not feel it. In the same way, we often do not have the sense of the inner anointing because we are too active. If we would quiet ourselves a little, right away we will sense the inner anointing. If a brother argues that he is right, we should not argue with him. The more he argues, the more he will not sense that he is wrong. We should simply keep quiet and help him to be cool and quiet. When he is silent, he will sense that he is wrong. In quietness we sense the inner anointing, the inner moving of the Holy Spirit.
The fourth item is that Christ not only is life in us, but He is living in us (Gal. 2:20). Christ is living and acting within us. We cannot say that a chair lives in a room. We only say that a person lives in a room. To live is to act, move, work, and do things. If a person lives in a room but does not do things, he is either sleeping or sick. However, Christ is never sleeping. He is always working, moving, acting, and living within us, and from this living and acting there is a sense. The sense of life comes from the living Christ within us.
Fifth, Philippians 2:13 tells us that God operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. The word operate is a strong word. In Greek it is the word from which we have energize. For God to operate in us means that God energizes in us. This is to work not in an ordinary way but in an extraordinary way. To be sure, this involves some feeling. It is impossible for a brother to be energized but have no feeling of it.
Verse 12 says, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We have received salvation, which strictly speaking is God and Christ Himself in us. Now we need to work out the salvation that we have already received, which means to live it out, by obedience with fear and trembling. What is it that we obey? Verse 13 continues, “For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” The word for indicates that verse 13 is an explanation of verse 12. The thing that we obey is the working of God within us. We must be obedient not merely to outward teachings and doctrines but to the working of God within us both to will and to do. We must learn to obey the inner working of God. It is by this obedience to the inner working of God that we work out, live out, the salvation that we have received.
I hope that you will do some homework to read the passages of Scriptures concerning the above five matters: the light of life, the law of life, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Christ living in us, and God operating in us. We must consider these teachings not only in the meetings. We should spend some time to read all the related passages and should meditate and pray about them. I would especially ask the young brothers and sisters to practice these matters much and to remember them. Even while you sleep, you may repeat, “The light of life, the law of life, the anointing, Christ lives in me, God operates in me.” This is truly helpful. If I had ten lives, I would spend them all to teach people about these very matters. Nothing is more important than this today. This is the mark of God’s economy. How pitiful it is among God’s people today! No one helps them to know these things. They talk about many other things that do not help much. It means little whether or not you know those other things. But the sense of life is one thing that is truly meaningful. If we know this, we are alive; if we do not know it, we are dead. This is a matter of life and death. Therefore, I beg you young brothers and sisters to learn to know these matters—the light of life, the law of life, the inner anointing, the living of Christ in us, and the operating of God—in your experience. The inner sense, the inner consciousness, always comes from these five items. The more we are conscious of the inner sense, the more we are healthy spiritually. If you do not have the inner sense, I am afraid that you are wrong.
Since we know these matters, we must take care of our obedience to them. As obedient Christians, we must learn to obey the inner working of God, the inner sense, all the day long. We must take care of the inner sense and obey it. The true obedient child of God is one who truly obeys the inner sense. We may obey many teachings, but we may be rebellious to the inner sense. People may admire that we are so obedient to all the teachings and doctrines, yet we ourselves may know that we are always very rebellious to God according to the inner sense. We need to learn to obey God in the inner sense. This is the true meaning of walking according to the spirit. Romans 8 and Galatians 5 both speak of walking according to the spirit or walking by the Spirit. To walk according to the spirit is simply to take care of the inner sense deep within us. When we take care of the inner sense, we are walking according to, or in, the spirit. Thus, to obey the inner sense and walk according to the spirit are one thing.
It is by this obedience that we are able to abide in the Lord. First John 2:27 and 28 tell us to abide in the Lord according to the anointing. This is to abide in the Lord according to the inner sense, the inner consciousness. To have something wrong in our inner consciousness means that we are not abiding in the Lord.
The result of taking care of the inner sense is that we keep the fellowship with the Lord, we know the Lord in a living way, we grow in life, we are built up in the Body, and we have not merely outward power but the inner might in life. By being obedient to the inner consciousness, we realize all good things in the spiritual life. This is the secret and the key, but this has been lost by so many Christians. From now on we must consecrate ourselves to the Lord for this: “Lord, now I know that I have the light of life, the law of life, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Christ living in me, and God operating within me. I have all these wonderful, divine things that are so active, alive, and living in me. For this purpose I consecrate myself to You, Lord. I hand myself over to You.” By this you can see that to consecrate ourselves does not mean that we work for the Lord. Rather, it means that we cooperate with Him. We must consecrate ourselves to Him for this, and after our consecration we simply must take care of the inner sense, going along with it not only in great matters but also in small matters in our daily walk and even our family life. In all our daily life and walk we must take care of the inner consciousness.
We must consecrate ourselves once again, read all the related passages of the Scriptures, put ourselves on the test, and practice these things. If the dear brothers and sisters truly put this into practice, there will be a great change among us. We must strictly take care of the inner sense of life, the inner consciousness.
As we have seen, 1 John shows us that our fellowship comes from life; thus, it is the fellowship of life. This fellowship is maintained, on the negative side, by the cleansing of the blood and, on the positive side, by the anointing of the Spirit. The blood is mentioned in chapter 1, and the anointing is in chapter 2. In the Old Testament type anything or anyone brought into the presence of God needed to be sprinkled with the blood and anointed. We must learn how to apply the blood of Christ and how to take care of the anointing, the inner consciousness. The sense, the consciousness, of life has very much to do with the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life depends on the consciousness of life. If we are careless with the consciousness of life, we will lose the fellowship of life.
This fellowship comes from life and brings us into light. Fellowship brings light to us because fellowship brings us into the presence of God, who is light. To fellowship with Him means that we are in the light. Experientially, the light gives us the inner consciousness. All these things are related. When we fellowship with God, we are in the light, and when we are in the light, we are full of the inner consciousness and are clear in the inner sense. Then if anything is wrong, we can apply the blood for cleansing. Following the cleansing of the blood, we enjoy the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we have the inner sense, the inner consciousness. It is by all these things that we go on in life. Therefore, I hope that you will learn to take care of all these matters. Then you will know the way for the growth in life.
Again I would ask you to do some homework on these points. If you do, you will receive a double portion. Otherwise, you eventually will not have much benefit from what you have heard. Look into all these points, read all the passages, pray about them, meditate a little, and put them into practice. Then you will learn these things, and you will be able to help others. Among the Lord’s children there is the real need of these matters of the inner life.
