Earlier Messages

The Way of Life

Words that may infuse a pursuit in Christ

Fellowship - Regeneration

Regeneration

The Greek word rendered "regeneration," palingenesia, is composed of palin ("again") and genesis (“birth"). Thus, its participial form "regenerated" literally means "born again." Although a significant New Testament term, according to Strong's Concordance it appears only rarely (Titus 3:5; Matt. 19:28). As Wycliffe explains in his Bible Dictionary, "Other New Testament" expressions are used for the same truth, but all have in common the idea of a dramatic change likened to and called a new birth, hence, to be born again or born from above (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23), born of God (John 1:13).‿ Although this definition is not doctrinally complex, in its significance and reality it is profound.

1. Regeneration – God’s salvation is exceedingly full and complete. It includes forgiveness of sins, cleansing, sanctification, justification, reconciliation, freedom from bondage, regeneration, etc. Of all these parts of God’s salvation, only regeneration is the life part.
2. The need for regeneration
   • Born again too see the kingdom of God
     • John 3:3 “ …unless a man is born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God.‿
   • Born again to enter into the kingdom of God
     • John 3:5 “…unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.‿
   • The flesh is flesh, it cannot enter into the Kingdom of God
     • The flesh was born in iniquity (Psa.51:5)
     • The flesh is sold to sin (Rom. 7:14)
     • The flesh is incurably wicked (Jer. 17:9)
     • The flesh is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, and cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8)
     • The flesh is estranged fro the life of God (Eph. 4:18)
     • The flesh cannot be improved (Jer.13:23)
   • Our condition before Regeneration
     • Our nature is corrupted (Jer.17:9)
     • The heart is hardened toward God (Ezk.36:26)
     • Our spirit is dead toward God (Eph.2:1)
     • Man is separated from God’s life (Eph. 4:18)
3. The results of regeneration
   • Receiving the divine life (Eph. 2:5; 1 John 5:12; John 6:47)
   • Becoming the children of God, partaking the divine nature (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1; 2 Peter 1:4)
   • Receiving a new heart and new spirit (Ezek. 36:26)
   • Receiving the divine life (Eph. 2:5; 1 John 5:12; John 6:47)
   • Christ living in us (2Cor. 13:5; Col. 1:27)
   • Becoming a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
   • Entering into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5; Mark 4:26; 2 Pet. 1:3—11)
   • Receiving an eternal inheritance (1 Pet. 1:3,4)
4. The assurance of regeneration
   • The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom.8:15—16)
   • The Word assures us that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13)
   • The love we have toward brothers is also a proof (1 John 3:14)
5. The security of regeneration
   • We have the eternal life, we are eternally secured (John 10:28)
   • We are secured by the Father’s hand (John 10:29)

Fellowship - Baptism

Baptism
1. The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1.1-5)
   • John the Messenger sent by God as prophesied by Isaiah 700 years earlier
   • Preparing the way of the Lord in our hearts
   • Preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins
   • Received by all the people of Judea and Jerusalem
2. Baptism rejected by the Jewish leaders
   • Rebuked by John as the "offspring of snakes," (Matt 3.7)
   • Nullified the counsel of God for themselves (Luke 7.28-30)
   • Rebuked by the Lord Jesus after He cleansed the temple, because they refused to believe baptism was "from heaven" (Mark.11.15,17,27-33)
3. The Lord's final charge before His ascension, the "Great Commission" (Matt 28.19)
4. Preached by the Apostles on Pentecost (Acts 2.36-38)
   • Peter considered baptism as important as repentance and belief in the Lord's name
   • Baptism causes us to have our sins forgiven and receive the Holy Spirit
5. The believers entrance into the kingdom of God (John 3:5)
   • To be born of Spirit is to receive by faith the Lord Jesus into our heart as our new life for our regeneration, our being born again
   • To be born of water is to be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, into His death, and into His resurrection (Romans 6.3-5)
   • Quote from Truth Lessons: "In His burial we and our past were terminated, and in His resurrection we have received His life and have a new beginning in life. Hence, when we go into the water to be baptized, we walk into the death of Christ by faith, allowing ourselves and everything that belongs to and is related to us to be buried in the tomb of the water of baptism, in the burial of Christ. Then, by faith we walk out of the water, and in resurrection we allow the resurrected Christ to live in us that we may live by Him and with Him. Therefore, through baptism we have been identified with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. His death and burial, on the negative side, terminated us and everything that is of us, that we may be delivered from the self, sin, the world, and everything that is of the old creation, everything that is of Satan, and everything that is outside of God. His resurrection, on the positive side, had made us a new creation to partake of God's life and all its riches in Christ, and has brought us into a new realm of resurrection. In this new realm old things have passed away and have become new."
6. Baptism is the symbol of our union with the Lord Jesus our Husband, just as the wedding ring is the symbol of marriage, the visible testimony of the invisible life union
7. The meaning of the word Baptism from the Greek work baptizo, meaning to immerse in water, as Martin Luther once said, "I wish that whoever is to be baptized should be sunken entirely into the water, for this would be right according to the meaning of the word 'baptism.'"
8. Old Testament picture of Israel crossing the Red Sea (I Cor.10.1-2)
   • The blood of the lamb on the door of their house saved them from God's judgment upon sin (Heb 9.22, John 3.16)
   • The water of the Red Sea saved them from God's judgment upon the world

Fellowship - Dealing with Sin

Dealing With Sin

Dealing implies that we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to purge away all the difficulties that hinder our growth in life as Christians. Once we our saved, God must cleanse us, deal with us, and purge away all our problems so that we may be fit for His use. If we wish to use a glass, we would first want it to be washed. When it is completely clean, it is a glass that we can use. When we have purged ourselves in such a way, we will become a vessel unto honor, useful to our master. "If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work." (2 Tim 2:21).

1. What are sins?
   • "All unrighteousness is sin." (1 John 5:17).
   • "Sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4).
   • Both references show that in our actions, all acts of unrighteousness and lawlessness are sins. Therefore, all deeds of unrighteousness and lawlessness are the sins of our actions and must be the object of our dealings. These deeds could include inward thoughts or outward behavior.
2. Scriptural basis for dealing with sins
   • "Therefore since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. 7:1).
   • "Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, Leave your gift there before the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matt. 5:23-24).
   • "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9).
   • "He that covers his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy." (Proverbs 28:13).
   • From these verses, we can see how we are to deal with sins: towards God, we must confess our sins; and towards men, we must be reconciled with them and agree with them; and towards sin, we must forsake it. These kinds of settlement of sin are what we mean by dealing with sins.
3. The practice of dealing with sins
   • The initial dealing with our sins before God is based on the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus on the cross. Our Lord bore for us the righteous judgment of God. His blood satisfied the requirement of God's law on our behalf. See Heb. 8:12 & 1Peter 2:24. However, if this objective fact is to become our subjective experience, there is still the need of application. There are two stages of our application - before we are saved and after we are saved.
   • Before we were saved:
   • "To this One all the prophets testify that through His name everyone who believes into Him will receive forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:43).
   • These are the words of Peter when he was preaching the Gospel to the unsaved. He told them that all the sins they committed before being saved would be forgiven if they would only believe. The forgiveness of our sins and the abolishing of our record of sin before God, before we are saved, depends on our believing. The application, therefore, is through our believing.
   • After we are saved:
   • "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9).
   • These words were written by John to those who are saved, and refer to all the sins we commit after we are saved. If we become conscious of them in His light, we must confess them before God; then we will be forgiven and cleansed. The forgiveness of our sins and the abolishing of our record of sin after we our saved, therefore, depends upon our confession. Here the application is through our confession.
4. Confession of Sins
   • "Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, Leave your gift there before the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matt. 5:23-24).
   • "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin." (1 John 1:7).
   • In carrying out our dealing with sins, God does not require us to confess and deal with all our sins at once, but to deal with all those that we are conscious of while in fellowship with Him. The above verses illustrate this point.
   • In Matthew 5:23, offering the gift is for fellowship with God. Therefore, this means that when we are having fellowship with God and are conscious of any discord between ourselves and others, or vice versa, we should immediately endeavor to rectify this situation lest our fellowship with God be affected or hindered.
   • 1 John 1:7 indicates that if we have fellowship with God, we can see our sins in His light; then, according to what we have seen in His light, we are to confess this to God and deal with it before God in order to obtain God's forgiveness and cleaning.
   • Matthew 5 speaks of our problems with others, 1 John about our problems with God. One is the remembering by the altar; the other is the seeing in the light. Both indicate our consciousness while in fellowship with God. If we wish to deal with our sins thoroughly, we should strengthen our fellowship with God. As this fellowship is strengthened, our consciousness concerning sin will become correspondingly broadened, and our dealing with sins more thorough.
   • If we confess our sins in this way, God is "faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When we sin and when we know our sin and acknowledge it as sin, God will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have to pay attention to the words every and all in 1 John 1:7 and 9. "Every sin" and "all unrighteousness" are fully forgiven and cleansed. When the Lord says "all," He means all! When He says "every," He means every!
5. How should we deal with the actual committing of sins?
   • If we have offended God, we must deal with it before God and ask His forgiveness. If we have sinned against man, we should deal with it before man by asking man's forgiveness. If our act of sinning against man involves only a moral matter, we have only to confess this and apologize before man. If it also involves a loss of money, property or profits, then we should pay accordingly the amount we owe or replace the property. This act of apologizing and reimbursing applies not only to sins committed after we are saved; we must also deal with all those sins committed before we were saved; we must deal with them one by one before man according to the inner consciousness.
   • In addition, every morning and every night we should have some quiet time with the Lord, in the Lord's presence, to allow the Lord to shine His light in our heart. This shining will uncover any sins we may have committed, but we were unaware of at the time. Then, we must make a thorough confession to the Lord. Such a thorough confession will bring us into a deeper fellowship with the Lord, with many feelings of thankfulness and appreciation and joy.

Fellowship - Consecration

Consecration
1. The Basis of Consecration-God's Purchase (I Cor. 6:18-19)
   • With His precious blood (I Pet. 1:18-19)
   • Redeeming us from the law (Gal. 4:5)
     • Ownership was transferred from the law to the hand of God
     • God now has the proper ownership over us
2. The Motive of Consecration-God's Love
   • God's love constrains us (II Cor. 5:14-15)
   • By God's compassions we should present ourselves (Rom. 12:1)
3. The Meaning of Consecration-To be a Sacrifice (Rom. 12:I)
   • To be a sacrifice means to be offered to God for His use
   • A change is made in our position and usage
   • We become food to God (Lev. 3:11)
   • We our His satisfaction
   • We are offered willingly
4. The Purpose of Consecration-to work for God
   • To be used by God, to work for God
     • To have our hands filled
     • Serving God
     • Saturation of Christ
   • We can only work for God to the extent we allow Him to work on us
5. The Result of Consecration-to Abandon Our Future
   • To cut off all relationships with people, matters, and things
   • To be consumed by fire on the altar to become ashes
     • Giving up our future
     • Having no hopes of becoming anything
   • For a sweet smelling savor to our God
   • Never letting our consecration become old
     • The burnt offering was offered every day, morning and evening
     • Every Sabbath, new moon, and festival day
   • Service to the Lord
   • The fullness of the Experience of life depends on the fullness of our consecration
   • The greatest honor of life

References:<br> Lee,W., The Experience of Life, ch. 3<br> Nee,W., Consecration, New Believer's Series

Fellowship - Dealing with the World

Dealing with the World

Dealing with the world is very important in our experience of the Christian life. According to the light in the scriptures, we will see the difference between sin and the world, how the world was formed, its definition, and its process of development. Finally, we will see how God delivers us from the world. Precise knowledge of these truths enables us to have precise experiences in dealing with and overcoming the world. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27). "These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).

1. The difference between sin and the world.
   • "Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever determines to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God." (James 4:4).
   • "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15).
   • Both sin and the world are defiling in our lives and must be dealt with and purged. Yet, the damage caused by sin and the world upon man differ greatly: sin contaminates man, whereas the world both contaminates and possesses man. Generally, people feel only the damage of sin, but not that of the world, because sin is against morality, whereas the world is against God Himself. Sin refers to all matters that are immoral and in opposition to the moral law of God, whereas the world includes all men, activities and things which are outside of God. For example, a drunkard - licentious, wanton and lustful, fearing neither God nor man - is considered immoral and condemned by men. But if someone is daily occupied with poetry and recitation and steeped in literature, completely indifferent to the things of God and unwilling to be gained by Him, men will praise him, having no feeling the he is usurped by literature.
2. The formation of the world
   • "Now You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground, and from Your face I will be hidden…" (Genesis 4:14a).
   • "And Cain went forth from the presence of Jehovah and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (Genesis 4:16).
   • The world did not exist when man was created, but developed gradually after the fall of man. The world was formed after the fall, when man became independent of God and forfeited His care. The Bible divides man's needs into three categories: provision, protection and pleasure. Prior to the fall, God was responsible for providing for these three needs of man. When man lost God and God's provision, protection and pleasure, man used his own strength and devised his own means to meet the necessities of life and survival. From this time, man created a godless civilization.
   • Genesis 4:16-24 reveals that out of Cain's descendants were produced the founders of man's own supply for these three great needs of life, thus producing a culture without God. These were the sons of Lamech. For provision, Jabal was the father of tent-dwellers and cattleman. For pleasure, Jubal was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe. For protection, Tubal-cain was the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron instruments, formed for the purpose of defense. In the beginning, these various forms of occupations involving man's livelihood seemed rather trivial, scattered and unsystematized. Later, Satan organized these into a more tangible and systematized world, thus entangling mankind in a tighter web. Gradually, man has become heavily bound and thoroughly possessed by these systems and can find no way of escape. The entire human life is completely usurped by these requirements and needs of human life and the accompanying systems to obtain them, and man totally disregards God and His will.
3. The definition of the world
   • "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15-17).
   • "And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2). (Note the direct opposition and contradiction of the world to God, and the things of the world and the will of God!)
   • Originally, man belonged to God, lived by God and relied entirely upon God. Now Satan has systematized the world to replace God in providing for man's need. Therefore, the world consists of everything that replaces God and all that usurps man. When people, activities, or things - whether good or bad, beautiful or ugly - enslave man, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man to disregard God, be removed from Him, or independent of Him is the world.
   • The Greek word for "world" is kosmos, which means system or organization. Satan not only employs the necessities of life, such as people, activities, and things, to preoccupy man; he furthermore organizes them into numerous individual systems in order to intensify his grip on man. Therefore, the world denotes the enemy's scheme, system, and organization to usurp the place of God in man and finally to gain full possession of man.
4. The objects of dealing with the world
   • "And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2).
   • The world in our daily living consists of people, activities, and things, which usurp the place of God in us. How do we know which objects are usurping us, and what is the standard of measurement?
   • First, we need to see whether these objects exceed the necessities of our life. We can say that anything that goes beyond our daily necessities is taking the place of God and possessing us; thus, it needs to be dealt with. Our existence depends upon certain people, activities, and things, such as parents, husband, wife, family, clothes, food, housing, transportation, occupation, education, etc. These are the necessities for our existence. If these necessities contribute to our purpose of living for God, they are not our world.
   • Second, what is the standard that regulates our daily necessities in regard to people, activities and things? In the Bible there is no uniform or specific standard governing these matters. God has ordained us to be born in different families, to receive different educational training, to have different professions, and to contact different social environments. In this way God permits us to have diverse concepts and standards relative to our living. Therefore, all living necessities vary with each person.
   • Third, from the viewpoint of God, the measuring rule regarding the world is God Himself. As we measure sin by the law of God, so we measure the world by God Himself. By taking God as the standard, we can define the world as those people, activities and things incompatible with God, replacing God in us, hindering the will of God being done through us, or preventing God's full control over us. All these that usurp us are classified as "unholy." Therefore, to deal with the world is to deal with these "unholy" objects.
5. The basis of dealing with the world
   • The basis of our dealing with the world is the same as dealing with sin. It is based upon the sense of life obtained during fellowship. God never asked an individual to separate himself in a moment's time from all unholiness and all things which usurp him. Practically speaking, there may be one hundred unholy things in us, but during our fellowship we become conscious of only ten. God only holds us responsible for only these ten. Not until we have attained to a greater degree of fellowship in life do we become conscious of the remaining objects and deal with them. We should pay attention to the following three principles:
     • We should deal with the world upon the basis of the inner feeling gained through fellowship. The dealing should not exceed our inner feeling.
     • We should gradually broaden the area of our fellowship so that our inner feeling touches all aspects of our life. Thus we will have dealings with the world in all aspects.
     • We should gradually deepen our fellowship so that our inner feeling concerning the world deepens; thus, we may deal more thoroughly.
   • Besides these three principles, there are two factors, which greatly influence our inner feeling toward the world: our love for God and our spiritual growth in life. God is the standard for dealing with the world. If we are far from God, we are not conscious of our worldliness. But once we draw near to God, we discover many worldly matters in us. Only those who love God desire to draw near unto God. Therefore, if we desire to deal with the world, we should first love God. The more we love God, the more we become sensitive toward the world, and the more the world is exposed in us. When our love for God causes us to meet God, who is light, He enlightens and exposes the world.
   • Our inner feeling towards the world also depends upon our spiritual growth. The more we advance in the spiritual life and knowledge of God, the deeper we will be in knowing the world. This knowledge of the world is the inner feeling we have toward the world and forms the basis of dealing with the world.
   • In each of us, the world is very strong, but our measure of dealing with it depends upon our inner feeling toward it, upon our knowledge of God, and upon the degree of our spiritual growth. Although dealing with the world will cause us to grow spiritually, yet if we wish to deal to the end that God may have a complete place within us, we should ask Him to draw us so that we may love Him more and pursue more for our spiritual growth, so that we may become more mature in life.
6. The extent of dealing with the world
   • "The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6).
   • The extent to which we deal with the world is "life and peace." (Rom. 8:6). Whenever we deal with the world, which we are conscious of, we should deal with it until we have peace and life within. Since these dealings are based upon the feelings of life, which are derived from fellowship, they are experiences of life. Dealing with the world causes us to experience life and sense the freshness, brightness, satisfaction, strength, joy, and peace of life. In other words, we should deal with the world to the extent that we have life and peace.

Fellowship - Dealing with Self

Dealing with Self

Now we come to see the matter of dealing with self. This experience is very closely related to dealing with the flesh. This is an important experience in the stage of the cross.

1. SELF IS THE SOUL LIFE WITH THE EMPHASIS ON HUMAN THOUGHTS AND HUMAN OPINIONS.
   • Read Matthew 16:21-25
     • In verse 22 Peter had an opinion, and he voiced it to the Lord.
     • Therefore, the Lord in verse 23 rebuked him, saying that he minded not the things of God, but those of men. The things of God are the will of God, or the cross. The things of men are to pity one's self and to not receive the cross. What the Lord desired was the will of God, but what Peter cared about was the human thought. Therefore in verse 24 the Lord asked the disciples to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Him.
     • When the Lord asked the disciples to receive the cross, this meant that they should receive the mind of God or the will of God. Therefore, the Lord was asking the disciples here to put aside their own thought and receive the cross, which is the will of God.
     • From this we see that self has much to do with human thought. Yet self is not human thought, and human thought is not self itself. Therefore in verse 25 the Lord goes on to say that whoever would save his life shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life for the Lord's sake shall find it. This indicates that the soul life is self itself.
     • In this passage the word of the Lord follows step by step. In verse 22 Peter admonished the Lord to pity Himself; in verse 23 the Lord pointed out that this is human thought or human opinion; in verse 24 the Lord traced this to the root by saying that this opinion is self. Therefore we need to forsake and deny it. Then in verse 25 the Lord goes to the root of self by showing us that the very self is the soul life. If the soul life is being put to death, which means that self is being denied, there will be no more human opinion. In this passage, verse 23 speaks about the opinion, verse 24 about self, and verse 25 about the soul life. Each verse mentions one matter, step by step, very clearly.
   • In John 5:30 the Lord Jesus said, "I can do nothing from Myself; as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me."
     • Here "Myself" and "My own will" equal the same thing.
     • The Lord's judgment here indicates that what He thinks and evaluates do not come from Himself or His own will. This equates to His denying His own human thoughts and opinions.
   • In Job 38:2 Jehovah says to Job, "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
     • Job responds in 42:3, 6 "You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know… Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
     • The book of Job from chapters 3 through 37 are mostly records of human words and opinions. Once Job realizes this himself, even though he believed himself to be righteous, he repents.
     • Today, just as in Job's day, many difficulties have come into the church not due to sinfulness and worldliness, but because of the Self which is full of ideas, opinions, viewpoints, and methods. This tends to be the root cause of so many divisions.
     • Martin Luther said that within him there is a greater pope then the one in Rome---himself. In the church, if Self is not broken, every person is a pope, and everyone will become a division.
   • In the New Testament, there is still another person who represents Self. It is Martha. Each time she is mentioned in the Gospels, she is always talking and giving her opinion. (See John 11:5-40)
     • Martha firstly accuses the Lord of not coming soon enough to save Lazarus.
     • When Jesus tells Martha her brother will rise again, she responds, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day."
     • When Jesus asks Martha to believe that He is the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes into Him will live, Martha responds by saying, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who comes into the world."
     • Then she goes to her sister, Mary, and says, "The Teacher is here and is calling you."
     • When Jesus requested that the stone of the tomb be removed, Martha responded, "Lord, by now he smells, for it is the fourth day that he is there." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?"
2. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF SEVEN ITEMS: THE OLD MAN, THE 'I', THE FLESH, THE TEMPER, THE SELF, AND THE NATURAL CONSTITUTION
   • The Old Man refers to the created, fallen man.
   • The 'I' is the title of the Old Man.
   • The Soul-life is the life of the Old Man
   • The Flesh is the living out of the Old Man.
   • The Temper is man's natural disposition, especially one's irritability, anger and bad temperament.
   • The Self is the Soul-life expressed in human ideas and opinions.
   • The Natural Constitution is our natural ability, capability and wit.
3. DEALING WITH THE SELF - The objective fact in dealing with Self, just as in dealing with the Flesh, rests in Christ; that is, our Old Man has been crucified with Him. This is because Self is part of the expression of the Old Man.
   • Seeing that the Old Man has been crucified with Christ is a revelation from God. (Romans 6:6)
   • The first step in our dealing with Self subjectively is to see that our opinions are one of the expressions of the Old Man.
   • We next must apply the crucifixion of Christ through the Holy Spirit to our opinions. This is how we subjectively deal with the Self. This is what the Lord meant in Matthew 16 to deny the Self and bear the cross.
     • The bearing of the cross is not a matter of suffering, but of being put to death, not of standing on the ground of suffering, but of standing in the place of death.
     • To bear the cross means to bear the death of Christ on us and allow the death of Christ to work on us continually in order to put our self to death.
4. DEALING WITH SELF IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
   • Although we understand that our Old Man has been crucified, and that our opinions are the expression of the Self, we must live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit for this to be real to us.
   • If we do not live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and yet try to deal with Self, our strenuous efforts will be like those of the Buddhists, Hindus, and Chinese moralists. It will not be a genuine spiritual experience of God in Christ. Only the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of reality.
   • Only as we live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit do we get the real seeing and the real dealing.
5. SATAN'S CONNECTION TO THE BODY, THE SELF AND ITS OPINIONS
   • Hidden in the self of man is Satan. Not only is Satan directly involved with the sin in our body (Romans 7:14-24), He gives good opinions to the Self contrary to God's will (Matt. 16:21-25).
   • On the one hand, Satan stirs up the lust of the members of the body, and on the other hand arouses the opinions in our mind. He works on both parts at the same time. When Satan comes to tempt us, He first causes man to have an opinion in his soul; then he causes the body to sin. (Gen 3:1-1-7, 13-14)
   • Ephesians 2:2-3 shows us that Satan has a two-fold operation. He works in man so that he would live in the lusts of his flesh, doing the desires of the flesh, but also according to what is in man's mind. When Satan works in our flesh, it results in the lust of our flesh, which is sin; when he works in our mind, the result is our opinion, or Self.
   • We need to put to death all our opinions through the cross. Thus, we deny ourselves in a practical way. We can deny thoroughly the place of Satan in us, overthrowing every stronghold he may have within our thoughts. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
6. DEALING WITH THE SELF IS NOT A MATTER OF MAGNANIMITY
   • The definition of magnanimous in the dictionary is (1) showing or suggesting a lofty and courageous spirit; (2) showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind.
   • The magnanimous person, when associating with others, never causes trouble by expressing his or her opinions. They endeavor to maintain peace with others; thus, in everything they seem to be very courteous and never quarrelsome. In all mattes, however, they have their own opinions and ideas. To their feeling, the opinion of others is never as good as theirs. However, if others do not accept their opinion, they can restrain themselves from expressing it; they would never force others to accept it. They would even go to the extent, outwardly, of going along with the opinion of others and following others' way of doing things. In this way there is no disharmony with others.
   • A magnanimous person develops his magnanimity by human effort; therefore, the more magnanimous he is, the stronger and grosser is the Self. A magnanimous person does not abandon the Self; rather, he accumulates the Self, until one day when this one opens his mouth many pent up opinions spring forth. Such a person is like Job. He feels that he is the father of the orphans, the eyes of the blind, the feet of the lame, always helping others and bearing with others. This proves that this one's Self is wholly sealed and that such a person has never decreased the Self at all.
   • The attitude of being tolerant will afford more growth to our opinion. We must see that we have already been crucified with the Lord on the cross; then whenever opinion and self are being expressed, we should apply the killing of the cross through the power of the Holy Spirit to put to death this opinion and self. It is only when we repeatedly apply this death that our self gradually decreases and the life of Christ gradually grows within us.
   • Quarreling exposes the corruption of man; thus when the Holy Spirit enlightens man, he will fall before God. It is difficult for those magnanimous people who never quarrel to be enlightened. It is hard for the Holy Sprit to touch them or shine upon them. Those who always swallow their opinion are those who always seek the Lord's light for others. Actually they themselves need light the most.
   • In dealing with the Self, we must see that as long as we live and grow in ourselves, Christ will have no way to live or grow. It is not that you bear the cross when you have an opinion during the meeting, and then after the meeting you throw off the cross. We should always be crucified on the cross and always bear the cross. The meaning of bearing the cross is simply to not depart from the cross.