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Truth occupies a prominent place in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is not only a book of life but also a book of truth. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life,” and verse 14 says that He was “full of grace and truth” (KJV). Furthermore, John 1:17 says, “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (KJV). In John 14:6 the Lord Jesus declared, “I am...the truth” (KJV). This Gospel reveals that the compound Spirit, the Spirit which was “not yet” (7:39) before the Lord was crucified and resurrected, is the Spirit of truth (14:17, KJV). Regarding the Father’s word, the Lord Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (17:17). Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the truth, the Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and the Father’s word is truth.
The Gospel of John reveals two functions of the truth. The first is to set us free. John 8:32 says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” In John 17:17 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth.” Therefore, according to the Gospel of John, the functions of the truth are to set us free and to sanctify us.
John 17 indicates that truth, sanctification, and oneness are interrelated. Here we have the Father’s word, which is the truth that sanctifies us. Hence, verse 17 puts together truth and sanctification, for sanctification issues from the truth. When the truth works within us, the result is sanctification. This sanctification through the truth is for oneness. Verses 17 through 23 of chapter 17 cover truth, sanctification, and oneness. Truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness.
The truth that sanctifies us for oneness involves the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of reality, and the word of the Father. Therefore, all three of the Triune God are related to the truth. The Lord Jesus, the Son, is the truth; the Spirit is the Spirit of truth; and the Father’s word is truth. In the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John, truth does not mean doctrine; it means the reality of the Triune God. We may have known that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all related to life, but we may have never seen that all three of the Triune God are related also to the truth.
We have pointed out that the Father’s word is truth. Because the Father’s word is His expression, and because His word is truth, truth is the expression of the Father.
The whole Bible is the word of God. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Bible is not merely a book but a word that expresses God. Whenever we come to the Bible, we should have the consciousness that we are coming to God’s expression, to God expressed. Every time I come to the Word, I have the sense deep within that I am coming to God Himself, and not to a hidden God or a concealed God, but to the God who is expressed. By means of the Bible I can meet with God, talk to Him, and listen to Him. We all need to have such a conviction whenever we come to the Bible.
Christ, the Son, is also the truth. This is somewhat easy to understand because the Father’s word is the Son, who is the expression of God. Many Christian teachers have rightly said that the Bible is the written Word and that the Son is the living Word. I agree with this. The Bible is the word without, and the Son is the word within. But these two, the outer word and the inner word, are one.
All this is realized through God the Spirit. We have pointed out that in the Gospel of John the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit of reality. The Spirit is the realization of the Son as the embodiment of the Father. Therefore, the Spirit is the reality. The Spirit is also the word. John 6:63 says that the Lord’s word is spirit, and Ephesians 6:17 says that the Spirit is the word. Hallelujah, we have the Word without and the Spirit within!
Whenever we come to the Word with an open heart and an open spirit, we immediately touch both the Word and the Spirit as the truth. I can testify that every time I open my heart and spirit as I come to the Bible, I meet God. Through this one act, I touch both the Word and the Spirit, both the written Word and the living Word. Two or three times every day we need to come to the Word. It is rather difficult to come to the Lord as the Spirit apart from the Word. Although it certainly can be done, we do need the Word. What a wonderful instrument the Word is for contacting the Lord! When we are disappointed or depressed, feeling empty within, we can open ourselves and come to the Word. After reading for a while, something within us rises up, and we enjoy the presence of the Lord. This is the experience of the truth, the reality. It is the Triune God in His word being imparted into our being. This is the truth.
The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is one with the word. When we touch the Word, we also touch the Spirit. Then something is infused into our inner being. Whatever is infused into us in this way is the truth. Although this involves the acquisition of biblical knowledge, there is something living inside this knowledge. This is the Triune God realized by us and transfused into us through the word. This is not merely the word. It is the word mingled and saturated with the Triune God and infused into our being. This is the truth that sets us free and sanctifies us.
We cannot sanctify ourselves. The more we try to be sanctified, the more involved we become with things that are common. But when the word mingled with the essence of the Triune God is imparted into us as the truth, this truth sanctifies us. We have all experienced this. By contacting the written Word that is mingled with the living Word, something is transfused into us and works in us all day long.
Suppose the young people touch the Word with the Spirit in morning watch and then go to school. Throughout the day at school this word of truth will work within them to separate them and make them different from their classmates in their behavior, actions, work, thoughts, and feelings. Something is working within them to sanctify them, to make them holy.
By taking the Word in this way, we have the clear conviction that something of the Lord has been wrought into us. This is not the mere knowledge of the Bible or of things concerning the Lord. It is the reality of the Triune God living, moving, working, and separating us. This makes us different from the worldly people. I can tell by the faces of the young people that they are graced by the Lord’s presence. What a blessing! Every morning we can touch the living Word and have the divine reality infused into our being. In this way the Triune God is transfused into us.
This transfusion of the element of God frees us from such negative things as temper, jealousy, hatred, and pride. It sets us free from every kind of falsehood. This is real liberation, real freedom. As we are being set free, we are also sanctified, separated, made holy to God, not only positionally but also dispositionally. We become one with God because His very essence is being wrought into us. This is what it means to be sanctified by the word of truth.
Daily we need to practice coming to the Word in this way. Like breathing, we cannot do this once for all; rather, it must be a continual exercise. We need to be sanctified unceasingly every minute of the day. This is the reason we need to come to the Word every morning and, if possible, at other times as well. When the word is mingled with the living Spirit in our spirit, we are sanctified with the essence of God.
Throughout the years I have been in this country, I have not been burdened to teach you what to do or what not to do. I have no trust in mere teachings because, according to my own experience, they do not accomplish very much. Our crucial need is to have the Triune God infused into us through the Word. This infusion works to sanctify us and transform us. To take the Word in this way is not a religious practice or ordinance. It is to experience the living Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—being wrought into us through the living Word. By contacting the Word in this way, God is added into us day by day. As a result, we are permeated with God and made one with Him.
Sanctification through the word of truth results in oneness. The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one. Therefore, if we are being sanctified, we can be nothing else but one. We are one spontaneously because all the factors of division are taken away.
The first of these factors is worldliness. As long as you love the world in a certain aspect, that aspect of worldliness becomes a cause of division. It separates you from the brothers and sisters. Anyone who is worldly is through with oneness. Such worldliness is like a wolf.
Another cause of division is ambition. Ambition is like a gopher that works underground in a hidden way to cause damage. Ambition undermines from within. We all must admit that we are ambitious. What can kill our ambition? Rebuking does not avail. The more you rebuke someone, the more you arouse his ambition. I can testify from experience, however, that when we contact the Lord through the Word and allow Him to infuse Himself into us, the truth thus imparted into our being kills our ambition. There is no other way for ambition to be rooted out of us. Day by day the sanctifying truth kills the element of ambition within us. The germ of ambition is in our blood and needs the sanctifying truth as an “antibiotic” to kill it. If our ambition is not killed, there can be no genuine oneness.
I thank the Lord that we brothers are one, not because we have the same disposition or because we have made a certain agreement. Rather, we are one because our ambition is being killed. The hidden “gopher” of ambition needs to be exterminated by the sanctifying word. If we desire to have the genuine oneness in the church life, we need the sanctifying truth to deal with our ambition.
In John 17:17-23 we see that sanctification issues in the genuine oneness because this sanctification keeps us in the Triune God. Verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” In order to be one we need to be in the “Us,” that is, in the Triune God. The only way to be in the Triune God is by the sanctifying truth that deals with all the factors of division. By being kept in the Triune God, we are one. But whenever we are out of the Triune God, we are divided immediately.
A third cause of division is self-exaltation, which usually accompanies ambition. Some people, however, are ambitious but do not seem to exalt themselves. Others are ambitious and are consumed with the desire to have preeminence and to be exalted. Such self-exaltation is like a serpent; it causes division among the saints. Therefore, in order to keep the genuine oneness, we must learn not to exalt ourselves.
If you are an elder or a leading one, you should not boast about this. Do not claim that you are somebody. It is better to be nobody. Recently, I heard that a certain Christian group has a slogan that in their fellowship they make everybody somebody. The church, on the contrary, makes everybody nobody. If you want to be somebody, you should not come to the church, for this is not the place for you. Instead, you should go to that group that claims to make everybody somebody. In the Lord’s recovery everyone is brought low. But praise the Lord, we are willing to be nobody and to exalt Christ, who has the universal preeminence! Christ is the only Somebody. We like to be nobodies, because by being nobodies, we are truly one.
During the past months I have told the elders at least a few times that I like to be despised, attacked, criticized, and defamed. I do not want to publish any books with the intention of making myself famous. I do not even care now to print any more refutals of the false accusations made against us. Some have encouraged me to publish a book refuting that slanderous book called The God-Men. But when I brought this matter to the Lord, the Lord said, “Don’t do anything. Let them oppose you. You should simply live a crucified life. The victory is not with outward fame; it is with the crucified life. Let others defame you, criticize you, and oppose you. It is enough that I am with you and that you live a crucified life.” Here in the crucified life self-exaltation is defeated. Hallelujah, in God’s economy the preeminence belongs to Christ alone! It pleases the Father to give Him the first place in all things (Col. 1:18).
I thank the Lord that the vast majority of the saints are willing to be nobodies so that we can have the genuine oneness. During the past fifty years we have encountered opposition and rebellion. However, most of the saints in the Lord’s recovery have been faithful. Only a small percentage have caused trouble. But even the trouble caused by them has been a help to us. How we thank the Lord for the sanctifying truth that defeats worldliness, ambition, and self-exaltation!
The fourth factor of division is opinion and concept. Opinion is like a scorpion. We should not hold to our own opinion but simply pursue the Lord’s goal: the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the church. Those who have been with me throughout the years can testify that I do not insist on anything except Christ as life and as everything to us for the church. We should all be for this, not for our opinions and concepts regarding other things.
The four factors of division—worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion—can be dealt with only by the sanctifying truth. Do you think that if you contact the Lord every morning, touch the living Word, and have the divine reality infused into your being, you will still be divisive? I do not believe it. As we contact the Lord in this way, the factors of division are overcome. What I am sharing here is not a mere teaching; it is my own experience.
When the factors of division in us are put to death by the sanctifying truth, we are brought into the genuine oneness, for sanctification keeps us in the Triune God. Only by being in the Triune God do we have the genuine oneness. Christians today are divided by worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. It is impossible for worldly Christians, ambitious Christians, self-exalting Christians, or opinionated Christians to be one. The Lord’s recovery, on the contrary, is based upon the genuine oneness, which we can have only by being sanctified through the word of truth. This is clearly revealed in the Gospel of John. When worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion are dealt with by the sanctifying word of truth, we are kept in the Triune God and we have genuine oneness.
The fact that the Lord cares for the genuine oneness among His people is seen by the rather negative record in Matthew 18:15-17. According to these verses, if a brother sins, we are to reprove him. But if he does not hear us, we should take one or two witnesses. If he still refuses to hear, we should bring the matter to the church. Then if he is not willing to hear the church, he should be regarded as a Gentile and a tax collector. To be considered by the church a Gentile and a tax collector means to be outside the fellowship of the church. Those who are rebellious or disobedient to the church are to be viewed by the church as outside the fellowship. This is necessary to maintain the genuine oneness among God’s people.
Romans 16:17 says, “Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.” Recently, there have been some among us who have made divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which we have learned. We need to keep a watchful eye on such persons. Whenever we see them causing division, we must turn away from them. Although this is not pleasant, it is necessary to preserve the health of the Body. In order for the Body to be healthy, it must be kept from all the factors of division.
Some divisive ones have said that if we turn away from them, we are not the church and do not have the oneness. They have been undermining the Lord’s recovery and causing divisions; nevertheless, they expect the church to include them. But we must be bold to declare that we cannot tolerate division. We cannot permit divisive ones to remain in the fellowship of the church. Do not think that the church should include those who cause division. Yes, the church includes all the believers but not those who cause division.
After speaking about those who make divisions and causes of stumbling, Paul says, “Such men do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own stomach, and through smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (v. 18). The Greek word translated “stomach” refers to the belly or the entire abdominal cavity; it is a derivative of the word meaning “hollow.” Those who make divisions have a gap, a hollow space, within them. In their greed and ambition they desire to fill this empty spot. They do not serve the Lord or care for the Lord’s recovery. Instead, they care only to fill the hollowness within them. They do not care for the saints, for the churches, for the recovery, or for the Lord’s testimony. We, however, are slaves of the Lord and are here only for the Lord’s recovery. Nevertheless, there have recently been some among us who did not care for the recovery or for the churches but only for filling the gap in their own inward being.
Romans 16:18 says that those who serve their own stomach, not the Lord Christ, deceive the hearts of the simple through smooth words and flattering speech. In these days many simple ones have been deceived by flattering words and promises.
Titus 3:10-11 is another portion of the Word dealing with divisive ones. Verse 10 says, “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” A factious man is one who causes divisions. Such a person is to be refused, rejected, after a first and second admonition. To refuse here means to avoid, to reject.
Verse 11 says, “Knowing that such a one is perverted and is sinning, though he is condemned by his own self.” This indicates that the conscience of the factious ones is not completely dead. Rather, their conscience convicts them that they are wrong, that they are acting against God. Deep within, they know that they are divisive. Hence, they are self-condemned.
Romans 16 and Titus 3 exactly fit today’s situation. Because we cannot tolerate division, we need to keep a watchful eye on those who are divisive and refuse those who are factious.
In 1 Corinthians 5 we see the casting out of a sinful one. The church simply cannot tolerate such a sinful one as described in this chapter.
These four portions of the Word confirm the fact that the church must keep its sanctified position. The church cannot tolerate anything divisive or defiling. How we thank the Lord for the sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying God, and the sanctifying truth! The word of truth is continually dealing with the factors of division within us. Worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts are being put to death so that we can maintain the genuine oneness. May we all see this, exercise ourselves in prayer concerning it, experience it, and practice it.
