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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 12:9; John 1:14; 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 4:13; 1 Cor. 15:9-11; Phil. 1:19; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:21
In the last chapter we have seen the all-inclusiveness and limitlessness of Christ. This all-inclusiveness and limitlessness of Christ become the riches of Christ. Regrettably, our time was too short, and we did not cover the matter thoroughly. Nevertheless, we need to remember that the person and the nature of Christ, all that He has experienced, all His works, and all that He has attained and obtained are all-inclusive and limitless. In His work He has solved the problem of sin, Satan, the self, the flesh, the old creation, the world, and all the negative things in the universe. All of these have been taken care of by Him. Positively, He has accomplished redemption, salvation, justification, resurrection, and sanctification.
Finally, He ascended to the heavens, and He has attained the kingship, the throne, glory, and honor. All of these are all-inclusive and limitless, and they are excellent beyond comparison. Today all these items have become His riches. In these riches are divinity and humanity as well. All of these are there for us to experience. Although we cannot understand them in full, we can enjoy them day by day. This can be compared to the rice that we eat every day; very few people understand the composition of rice, but we can enjoy it every day. This is truly a mystery.
All the riches of this God become His grace. The meaning of grace is God becoming our enjoyment freely. Today when we enjoy God, we are enjoying His all-inclusiveness and limitlessness being given to us freely as grace. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh.” For this reason God brought grace to us for our enjoyment. Grace is simply what Christ is. It is also all the riches of Christ.
First, Christ is God. He brought God to us. This is one side of Him as grace. Next, He became a man, and He brought His humanity to us. This is another side of grace. All His human experiences, His accomplishment on the cross, and all that He has attained and obtained, including His ascension and enthronement, are all given freely to us as our free portion. Moreover, He is light, love, holiness, righteousness, authority, power, and strength. All of these have become our enjoyment, and they are the different aspects of grace.
We know also that grace issues from the love of God, and it is communicated into us through the Holy Spirit. Hence, 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The fellowship of the Holy Spirit communicates to us the love of God and the grace of Christ, and it becomes our daily experience and enjoyment. All of these are aspects of the grace of Christ.
This grace is also the embodiment of the processed Triune God. The elements of the Triune God are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who have passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and glorification. Without these processes He would not be a man. But after passing through incarnation, He became a man. Without passing through human living, He would not know what it is like to live the human life and would not be able to taste the sufferings of human life for Himself. Without passing through the cross, He would not be able to taste death. Without entering into resurrection, although He is life, He could not have experienced resurrection. If He were to remain in heaven without descending to earth and ascending again to heaven, He could never have human living and the experience of death and resurrection.
The Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has passed through all the processes. Every time He passed through a process, some elements were added into Him. When He passed through incarnation, the human element was added. When He passed through crucifixion, the element of death was added. When He passed through resurrection, the element of resurrection was added. When He passed through ascension and glorification, the elements of ascension and glorification were added. Today the God in whom we believe contains within Himself many different elements. To Him, these elements are His riches. To us, they are our grace for us to receive, experience, and enjoy.
This grace and enjoyment is sufficient for us today. It is not lacking in any way. It is sufficient for us in a rich way. We know that it is not easy to be a human being. We have parents above us and children under us. We also have husbands or wives beside us. We do not need to mention other relationships. These three levels of relationships alone are difficult enough for us. If we can live harmoniously with our parents, children, and husbands or wives, we can be considered a success in our human living already. However, there are many trials and sufferings in the human life in addition to these relationships. But the grace of God, which is also the riches of Christ, is sufficient for us in all these environments.
If we have this Christ as grace, He will be in us as our enjoyment, and He will prove Himself sufficient to deal with all the people, matters, and things. In this way not only will we be able to pass through sufferings, but we will be able to be proper brothers or sisters in the church. We will experience sanctification and transformation. In the end we will be conformed to the glorious image of Christ. This will make us mature and will enable us to enter into His glory and to match Him. All this is what grace accomplishes for us.
This grace is what God is in Himself as all His riches. Now it is gradually wrought and constituted into us. In this way, this power becomes everything to us, and it has become the power that tabernacles over us.
Moreover, this grace is empowering us in all things. Paul told us that he became an uncommon person, not through himself but through the grace of Christ that was present in him. We can use electricity as an illustration of how Christ is present in us. When electricity is present with the microphone, it will transmit our voice. Of course, when electricity is present with man, man will be killed by it. This is the result of the presence of electricity. When Christ is present with us, the first thing He brings is the killing element. After this He enables us to live with Him.
Our destiny is to die with Christ and to live with Him. Without the presence of Christ, we can never experience death, and we can never experience resurrection. We will remain in ourselves. This is something to be condemned. We can only be a proper and right person when we die with Christ and live together with Him. This is like an electric toy: without electricity it will not move but will remain in the same place all the time. But when electricity is applied, it will turn around unceasingly. It is the same way with us, the believers. When the grace of Christ is present with the believers, it will empower them in all things and will make them uncommon persons.
The all-inclusiveness and limitlessness of Christ become the riches of Christ. Today these riches become the grace that we enjoy. This grace comes upon us through the Spirit. The Triune God is Spirit. The ultimate consummation of the Triune God is also the Spirit. Moreover, after the Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead, He also became a life-giving Spirit. But this does not mean that there are three Spirits. It is only the three aspects of the one Spirit. As far as God is concerned, His nature is Spirit. As far as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God is concerned, and as far as the Lord’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension are concerned, He is also the Spirit. Furthermore, all the riches of Christ that come to us as grace and enjoyment are also a matter of the Spirit.
From my youth I learned to treasure the grace of God, but I had no idea what this grace is or how this Spirit comes to us. Even at that time, however, grace came upon me day by day, and the Spirit was with me all the time. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” The Lord’s grace is simply the Lord being with our spirit.
This morning we feel happy and sweet while we are singing the hymns. This is because the Spirit of God is with us. This Spirit of God who is with us is grace. If your parents bother you, you can still sing and can still say Hallelujah. This is because grace is with you. If others praise you and commend your merits, you will not be proud. On the contrary, you can be humble and can have the full sense that you are glorifying God. This shows that the Spirit is present with you. This Spirit that is present with you is the grace. Whatever we could not do formerly but are able to do now is done through the presence of the Spirit, that is, through the presence of this instant grace.
The riches of Christ realized in the Spirit are the bountiful supply to the believers. Whatever we need is supplied to us in this bountiful Spirit. If we need God, this bountiful Spirit is God in us. If you think that your humanity is too poor, the Spirit within you will supply you with the humanity of Jesus. If you need patience, this Spirit will supply you with patience. If you need utterance, this Spirit will supply you with utterance. If you need joy or peace, this Spirit will supply you with joy and peace. These bountiful supplies are also the grace that continually supplies us within.
We have seen that this grace is a person, and this person is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is simply the reality of Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. In the end what comes to us is the Spirit. When He is enjoyed by us, He becomes grace. Hence, the key today is the Spirit. He is not in our ears or in our mind but in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This shows that the Spirit can become one spirit with our spirit. The end of this experience is that our whole being will become the grace of Christ, who is the all-inclusive and limitless One.
At the end of his Epistles Paul often mentions grace and peace being with us. We know that peace comes from grace, and grace is the Spirit that is present with us. Now this Spirit with His bountiful supply is in our spirit. Whenever we exercise our spirit and use our spirit, we can contact the Spirit, and we can experience the God of grace. We can also experience His all-inclusiveness and limitlessness. These are the riches of Christ that we enjoy.
