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Prayer: Lord, we extol You as the speaking God. You spoke in ancient times, and we have Your Word in our hand. Lord, You are still speaking as the Spirit. Your Spirit is the speaking Spirit, and we listen to His speaking. Lord, You are speaking through Your Son, and we are a part of Your sonship. We believe You are still speaking through us. Thank You, Lord, for Your speaking. In the past seventy-four years in Your recovery Your speaking has not ceased. Every year You have given us new light and new revelation by Your speaking. How we thank You! In the last few years Your speaking among us has been very much enriched. Lord, we ask You once again to release what You have shown us. Lord, bless it and use it. We know that Your intention is to build up the Body of Your Son, which is the organism of the Triune God. Lord, we can do nothing. We trust in You. Amen.
In the previous chapter we pointed out that the word secret denotes the skillful way of doing things. The secret of God’s organic salvation is the Spirit with our spirit. This Spirit is the generating Spirit, the nourishing Spirit, the sanctifying Spirit, the renewing Spirit, the transforming Spirit, the building Spirit, the maturing Spirit, the sealing Spirit, and the intensified Spirit. Have you ever realized that the Spirit has these nine aspects? Our spirit needs to be touched by Christ in nine ways and become a spirit quickened by Christ, cherished by Christ, captivated by Christ, indwelt by Christ, filled by Christ, possessed by Christ, enriched with Christ, exulting with Christ, and drawn by the Lamb. Is your spirit in these nine states? Your spirit has been quickened by Christ, but has it been cherished by Christ and captivated by Christ? If your spirit has been captivated by Christ, then you must be like the one in the Song of Songs, one who has been captivated by Christ, the captivating One. Your spirit is surely indwelt by Christ, and now the renewing Spirit is doing a renewing work within you. In order to renew us, Christ as the Spirit must dwell in our spirit. Your spirit should also be filled by Christ so that you can be transformed and then built up with others. If you would be built up with others in the Body of Christ, your spirit needs to be possessed by Christ. Building is impossible if we are not possessed by Christ in our spirit. You also need to be enriched by Christ in your spirit. If your spirit is enriched with Christ, you will be able to mature. Furthermore, your spirit needs to be in a state of exulting with Christ. This exulting is related to your being saturated with the glory of God and being brought into the glory of God for your glorification. Surely we all will exult at the time of Christ’s coming and of our rapture and the transfiguration of our body to be “conformed to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21). Finally, your spirit should be drawn by the Lamb. The overcomers in Revelation 14 are drawn by Christ as the Lamb and follow Him wherever He may go (v. 4).
In this chapter we will cover two sections of God’s organic salvation—the section of feeding and the section of sanctification. These sections are closely related, for without feeding, there can be no sanctification. Sanctification is by feeding. The more we feed on the word of God, the more we are sanctified. The word on which we feed sanctifies us. In John 17:17 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The word contains the element with which God sanctifies us. For this reason feeding and sanctification are closely related.
Feeding is the second section of God’s organic salvation. In God’s organic salvation feeding is the continuation of regeneration. As all mothers know, after a baby has been delivered, the baby needs feeding. Mothers also know that the best way to comfort and satisfy a baby is to nurse him, feeding him with milk. Feeding is, therefore, the continuation of birth, of regeneration.
Regeneration brings us into a divine existence and makes us divine persons. As the continuation of regeneration, feeding enables us to maintain and develop our divine existence. Feeding is an ongoing process that will continue through all the following sections of God’s organic salvation—sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification. Feeding, therefore, will continue all the way from regeneration to glorification. If we see this, we will not look down on the matter of feeding. It is by feeding that we receive the element with which God sanctifies us, and it is by feeding that we receive the riches with which God renews us, transforms us, builds us up, conforms us, and glorifies us.
The initial feeding is to feed the newborn babes, the new believers. We feed them through cherishing them to pray-read the Word and call on the Lord by exercising their spirit cherished by Christ. As a mother feeds her child, she will often try to make the child happy, cherishing him. After she cherishes the child, she gives him something to eat, and the child will eat. We all need to be cherished. When we are cherished by Christ, we are happy to take the word. We should cherish the new believers to pray-read the Word by exercising their spirit. If the new believers are cherished, they will be willing to exercise their spirit to pray-read the Word.
Whenever we pray, we should pray in the spirit (Eph. 6:18). We exercise our feet by walking, and we exercise our spirit by praying. When we are cherished by Christ, first we feel happy, and then spontaneously we exercise our spirit to pray, calling on the Lord. It is very difficult to pray without calling on the Lord. Romans 10:12 says that the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him.” When we call on the Lord, we enjoy His riches.
We feed the newborn babes, the new believers, with the milk of the word, which is the Spirit (John 6:63; Eph. 6:17), for their growth in the divine life unto their daily salvation (1 Pet. 2:2). In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” The fact that the word is life implies that it contains nourishing milk. According to 1 Peter 2, we feed on the milk of the word in order to “grow unto salvation.” This salvation is not the eternal salvation, which we have already, but the daily salvation.
Because we have eternal salvation, we will not perish. However, we may be defeated every day and become a failure, for example in losing our temper with our spouse. In Philippians 2:14 Paul charges us to do “all things without murmurings and reasonings.” Reasonings are of our mind and come mainly from the brothers, whereas murmurings are of the emotion and come mainly from the sisters. We need to be saved daily from murmurings and reasonings. To be saved in this way is to work out our own salvation according to God’s operating in us.
We need to be saved daily from many different things. For instance, a certain brother may be a quick person. As such a person, he always does things in a quick way. This may be good most of the time, but it is not good all of the time. Spiritually speaking, it is not good to act quickly, because when we are too quick in doing things, it indicates that we are doing things by ourselves without trusting in the Lord. Whenever we do things by trusting in the Lord, we will slow down and even stop. For a brother to be saved from his quickness is a matter of daily salvation.
The initial feeding is followed by the continual feeding. The continual feeding is to feed the growing believers with the solid word, which is the Spirit of life (Heb. 5:14), for their maturity in the divine life unto transformation and conformation to the image of Christ. At first, a mother feeds her baby with milk, but as the child grows, she feeds him with solid food. The principle is the same in feeding the growing believers. Certain portions of the Bible are solid food. For example, the word concerning the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is not milk but solid food. If we drink only milk, we cannot mature. In order to mature, we need solid food.
The feeding in God’s organic salvation also includes the feeding in shepherding. In John 21:15 the Lord Jesus charged Peter, saying, “Feed My lambs.” In verse 16 He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep,” and in verse 17 He went on to say, “Feed My sheep.” If we do not know how to shepherd, we will not be able to feed others. The main purpose of the small groups and the vital groups in the church life is not merely to take care of one another but to shepherd one another. You shepherd me, and I shepherd you. You are a sheep under my shepherding, and I am a sheep under your shepherding. This is mutual shepherding. In shepherding others, we should first cherish them in order to make them happy, and then we should feed them. This kind of feeding is the real shepherding.
Shepherding implies teaching. This is indicated in Ephesians 4:11, which says that the Head has given to the Body “some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers.” This verse does not say “some as shepherds and some as teachers.” Rather, this verse says “some as shepherds and teachers,” indicating that they are the same persons in a single category. Therefore, teaching and shepherding go together.
Christ as the One who came that the believers may have life (John 10:10b) is the good Shepherd giving His life for redeeming the believers and rising up to feed His sheep with Himself as the green pasture that they may have life more abundantly (vv. 2-4, 9, 11, 14-16). In John 14:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter.” This other Comforter is the Spirit. The Lord was the first Shepherd, and the Spirit, the second Comforter as His continuation, is also a Shepherd.
Christ shepherds all His believers and guides them to springs of waters of life (Rev. 7:17). In eternity future Christ will be our eternal Shepherd guiding us to springs of waters of life.
Christ as the great Shepherd shepherds God’s flock in resurrection for their perfection to do God’s will within them (Heb. 13:20-21). The believers can do God’s will within them by being perfected through the shepherding of Christ in resurrection. Today Christ is in resurrection, and He is shepherding us from within. When He shepherds us in this way, we do God’s will.
Christ within the believers is the Shepherd of the believers’ soul to oversee them (1 Pet. 2:25). He is our Shepherd not only outwardly but also inwardly. He shepherds us from within, in our being, in our soul, to oversee us. Our soul needs Christ’s shepherding with His observation, oversight, and correction so that we may be strengthened. This kind of shepherding also involves feeding. Our soul needs Christ’s shepherding with His feeding.
Christ is the Chief Shepherd who will reward the faithful elders, who shepherd God’s flock faithfully, with the unfading crown of glory for their encouragement (1 Pet. 5:4). Christ Himself is the Shepherd, and He has established elders in the churches and has charged them to shepherd “the flock of God” (v. 2).
The first responsibility of the elders is to shepherd God’s flock, the church, not to take care of business affairs. The elders should leave the business affairs to the deacons, the serving ones, and devote more time to shepherding. However, in most of the churches the elders are doing the deacons’ work and are neglecting the matter of shepherding. If the elders do not trust the deacons to care for the business affairs, including bookkeeping, the elders will not have time to shepherd the saints. I would urge every elder to visit at least one saint every day. Without the elders’ shepherding, the church cannot be built up. All the believers, regardless of their stage of spiritual growth, need shepherding. Even a brief word spoken to a saint after a meeting will comfort, encourage, and strengthen that one.
I would encourage all the elders to contact the saints one by one over a period of a few months. If the elders are faithful to do this, the church will be reconditioned. The elders’ shepherding will recondition the church.
Because the church needs shepherding, the Lord Jesus commissioned Peter, the apostle appointed by Him, to shepherd His lambs and feed His sheep in his loving of Him (John 21:15-17). As we have pointed out, the Lord charged him to feed His lambs, to shepherd His sheep, and to feed His sheep. Today we need to feed the lambs, the younger ones, and to shepherd the older ones.
Christ as the Head gives the Body gifted persons, one kind of which are the shepherds, who perfect the saints by teaching for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12). Shepherding is very important for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The main responsibility of the elders in the church is to shepherd God’s flock by teaching faithfully (1 Pet. 5:2-3; 1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17). An elder should be apt to teach (1 Tim. 3:2). The words apt to teach indicate that the elders should have the heart, the desire, and the habit to teach. This is a qualification for one to be an elder. In 1 Timothy 5:17 Paul says that “those who labor in word and teaching” should be counted worthy of double honor. The elders should labor not in the business affairs but in word and teaching, shepherding God’s flock by teaching faithfully.
The elders’ shepherding of the church, the flock of God, is the best way to take care of the “fierce wolves” and those speaking perverted things among the churches (Acts 20:28-30). Often elders have asked me what they should do about those in the church who speak perverted things. The way for the elders to deal with such a situation is to shepherd the church. Many years of history have proved that the elders’ shepherding will keep the saints from the “fierce wolves” and from those who speak perverted things.
Sanctification is the third section of God’s organic salvation.
God’s sanctification of the believers is of three aspects.
The first aspect is the seeking sanctification by the Holy Spirit with the enlightening word initially (1 Pet. 1:2; Luke 15:8). First Peter 1:2 speaks of “the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Here we have initial sanctification—the sanctification of the Spirit that comes before obedience to Christ and faith in His redemption, that is, before justification through Christ’s redemption (Rom. 3:24). This aspect of sanctification is seen also in Luke 15:8. In Luke 15, a chapter on the salvation of the Triune God, the Son (the shepherd) seeks the lost sinner objectively, and the Spirit (the woman) seeks the lost sinner subjectively by working within the repenting sinner. In verse 8 the seeking Spirit is likened to a woman who lit a lamp, swept the house, and sought carefully until she found the lost coin. This signifies the initial sanctification by the Holy Spirit.
The second aspect is the positional sanctification by the redeeming blood of Christ judicially (Heb. 13:12; 10:29).
The third aspect is the dispositional sanctification by the Holy Spirit organically (Rom. 15:16; 6:19, 22). Regarding the three aspects of God’s sanctification, we need to remember three words: initially, judicially, and organically.
We are created by God in the particular sense that we are for Him. But we became fallen from God, and we were lost in our position (standing) and in our nature (disposition), becoming common, a very serious matter. Hence, in saving us, God sanctified us both in our position, in our standing before Him, outwardly and judicially, and in our fallen disposition inwardly and organically. We have covered God’s positional and judicial sanctification on other occasions. What is covered in this chapter is God’s dispositional and organic sanctification.
Dispositional sanctification is by the Holy Spirit (15:16). God’s positional sanctification is to sanctify our outward standing before Him by the redeeming blood of Christ judicially, whereas God’s dispositional sanctification is to sanctify our inward fallen nature by the Spirit organically through our spirit captivated by Christ.
The Spirit sanctifies the believers in their disposition. The word disposition refers to nature. The word nature refers to the substance created by God. Disposition, a negative word, denotes our distorted and crooked nature. The nature, the natural substance, created by God was good, but in us, the fallen people, nature has become disposition—our distorted, crooked, perverted nature. Therefore, when referring to our fallen nature, we use the negative word disposition.
In God’s organic salvation we are being sanctified in our disposition with the divine, holy nature of God (2 Pet. 1:4) that we may be holy unto God. God has chosen us to be holy (Eph. 1:4). For us to be holy means that we possess and partake of God’s holy nature and participate in God’s divinity.
The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us also with the element of the resurrection life of Christ, which we received through the feeding. The more we feed on the word, the more we receive the element of the resurrection life of Christ for our dispositional sanctification.
The believers are being sanctified from their spirit, through their soul, and unto their body so that their entire being can be wholly sanctified. First Thessalonians 5:23 indicates that sanctification begins from our spirit, spreads through our soul, and consummates with the sanctification of our body. In this way our whole being will be sanctified.
Since all the believers will be the components of the holy city, New Jerusalem, all of them should be sanctified to be as holy as the holy city, the New Jerusalem. Unless we are made holy, we will not be qualified to be a part of the holy city, the New Jerusalem. As the holy city, the New Jerusalem is composed of holy believers.
