The Center of Paul’s Gospel – Romans chapter 8, God’s dispensing, and the sonship

January 23, 2012 by · 4 Comments

The Center of Paul’s Gospel - Romans chapter 8, God's dispensing, and the sonshipThis post is the last part of a review of a training held in October on “The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery: Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel” (see below for links to prior posts in this review). The truth brings in life, life produces the church, and the church announces the gospel, which is the spreading of truth. Truth is what is in the word coming forth with fresh light. To speak the truth is to proclaim the gospel.

During this meeting in the training, we sang hymn 817 in which every verse ends “The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word.” These words are from a farewell address by John Robinson as pilgrims were departing Holland (where our training was held) to stop in England on their way to New England. Lord, shine on us afresh every time we open Your word and move in us to speak Your word to other people. 

Paul’s Gospel

Paul’s gospel includes the entire book of Romans. He calls it “my gospel” in verses 2:16 and 16:25. The gospels of Matthew through John present Christ in flesh, outside of us, on earth, before His death. In Romans Paul presents Christ as the Spirit, within us and in heaven, in resurrection.

The focus of Paul’s gospel is the wonderful Person of Christ: “…the gospel of God…concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:1, 3-4). This Christ in resurrection is the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God who lives in all His believers (8:9-11). The consummation of His living within us is the corporate divine sonship, the Body of Christ, expressing Christ in full.

The Contents of Paul’s Gospel

The entire book of Romans is Paul’s gospel. In this high gospel there is no mention of perdition, heaven, or prosperity. There is justification, then sanctification, then the Body of Christ, and finally the local churches. We, the sinners, are forgiven, justified, reconciled to God, and accepted by God. Nevertheless, these actions are only the first part of the gospel, not the whole. These actions make us sons of God and members of Christ, having God’s life and nature with the Triune God dwelling in us. By cooperating with His indwelling, we are gradually renewed and transformed (12:1-2). Eventually we will reach maturity in life, be conformed to Christ, and be glorified as sons of God (8:29-30). As such sons we are corporately the Body of Christ (ch. 12) which is expressed practically on earth in the local churches and in their fellowship with one another (ch. 16).

Sonship in Romans

The book of Romans begins with God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who came into humanity as the seed of David. Through death and resurrection He “was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness” (1:3-4). In His divinity He is the Son of God from eternity past. But He put on humanity in incarnation. By the operation of the resurrecting Spirit, this humanity was uplifted into the divine sonship (read more in 1:4, note 1).

God has predestined all of us unto sonship (Eph. 1:4-5). His choosing of us in eternity past is for the purpose to make us His sons. His justifying and reconciling us is for the purpose to make us His sons. His regenerating us is for the purpose to make us His sons. The end result is that we will “be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). The many sons of God are the many brothers of the firstborn Son.

The Center of Romans

The center of Paul’s gospel is Romans chapter 8. Here he unveils the dispensing of the Triune God as life into the tripartite man. This is the focus of God’s economy: God coming into us to be our life so that we may be His corporate expression. This is experiential. The law of the Spirit of life (v. 2) is the Triune God operating in us. He first makes our spirit life (v. 10) then spreads to make our mind life (v. 6), then to impart life to our mortal body (v. 11) and to enable us to put to death all our natural living (v. 13). By this spreading of life within, we mature from children (v. 16) to sons (read more in 8:14, note 3). The goal of this expanding dispensation is our conformation to the image of God’s firstborn Son (v. 29). Lord, daily spread Yourself in our entire being until we fully express You.

by Don Martin – read his blog at, newjerusalem12.wordpress.com. Picture source: Romans.

A few bloggers are cooperating for this review. Here are their prior posts. You are welcome to add your own comment.

  1. The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery: Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel (ITERO 2011) (agodman.com)
  2. The Progressive Issue of “Holding to Truth”—Four Great Pillars (holdingtotruth.com)
  3. Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move Out of Ourselves for the Oneness (holdingtotruth.com)
  4. The Truth: How to Find It and Why It’s Awesome (Clark’s Bible Blog)
  5. The Tree of Life (holdingtotruth.com)
  6. The Flow of Life with the Ministry of Life out of and for the Magnificent House of God part 1 and part 2 (agodman.com)
  7. What is the kingdom of God? (holdingtotruth.com)
  8. How to Build the Church (newjerusalem)
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the gospel is the answer and the key to the five main mysteries in the universe

January 6, 2012 by · 8 Comments

the gospel is the answer and the key to the five main mysteries in the universeThe center of Paul’s gospel is Romans chapter 8, which is concerning the Triune God dispensing Himself as life into all the three parts of man to fill man with life! In Romans 8 we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (v. 9-11) who is God the Triune for the purpose of dispensing Himself into man! Firstly, God enters our spirit (v. 10) then He saturates our mind, our soul (v. 6), and then He enters our body (v. 11) giving life to every part of our tripartite being! This is the center of the gospel!

the five main mysteries in the universe

Every thoughtful person living on the earth has – at one point in time – been puzzled by the mystery of the universe, the mystery of man, the mystery of God, what will happen in the future, and what is the church. Does God exist? How does He look like and what is He like? Why is man on the earth – here today and gone in a few years? What does our future hold, even after death? If there’s a God, how can I be related to Him or how can I know Him? – these are some of the questions many people have asked throughout the ages, and the answer is IN THE BIBLE!

The Bible unveils the keys to the mystery of God, man, the universe, the church, and the future. God is a mystery – no one has ever seen or touched God, but He exists and He is a mystery to man. The universe is also a mystery – immeasurable, uncomprehensible. Man is a mystery both to himself and to others! The church is a mystery – especially in its definition and its purpose. Also, our future is a mystery, especially the future of the mankind. The Bible reveals these mysteries, and Romans 8 especially unveils and explains these mysteries!

Romans 8 unveils and explains the five mysteries

In Romans 8 we see the Triune God (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit) who is for dispensing Himself as life into man – this is why God and man exist. Also, we see that the church is a composition of all the many sons of God who enjoy the inward working of the law of the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the resurrecting One. The Triune God is processed and consummated to become THE SPIRIT (all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, and compounded) to meet all our needs and satisfy us!

the gospel of God is the answer and the key

Actually, all the mysteries are being solved by the gospel – the answer to all the mysteries is the gospel of God. The gospel – according to Romans 8 – is that God desires to enter into man and make sinners sons of God, that these sons of God are living members of Christ for the constitution of the church (the Body of Christ), and that these ones are in the church – which is expressed in different localities, living the church life in the local churches. Praise the Lord, the gospel is the answer and the key to all the mysteries!

[sharing inspired from, The All-inclusive Indwelling Spirit, and, Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery (both by brother Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: Questions ]

Thank You Lord for the key to unlock the mysteries of the universe! Praise You for Your dispensing into us as life to be everything to us and meet all our needs. O, Lord, keep us under the divine dispensing of the divine life continually. Make us those who bring people under the divine dispensing so that they may be filled with life! Lord, we praise You – the gospel is the key to all the mysteries!

Filed Under: Christ became the Spirit, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, morning revival, the Christian Life, the church life, the gospel, the high peak, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paul’s gospel is a gospel of sonship – God’s intention is to bring many sons into glory

January 5, 2012 by · 7 Comments

Paul's gospel is a gospel of sonship - God’s intention is to bring many sons into gloryThe gospel of God is focused on the Son of God and on God’s desire to have many sons – it is the gospel of sonship. Everything that God does is for this purpose – to have many sons who express Him corporately. Paul served God in the gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:9), and the gospel of God is concerning His Son in His humanity and divinity (Rom. 1:1-4). Sonship includes everything: designation to be sons, resurrection, justification, sanctification, transformation, conformation, glorification, and manifestation! This is Paul’s gospel, a gospel of sonship (Rom. 8:14, 29; Gal. 3:26; 4:7)!

the focus of the gospel is sonship

It is so easy to have a natural understanding of the Word of God and think that the book of Romans, the gospel of God, speaks about God’s condemnation, man being justified, our sanctification, and even our glorification – since these matters are thoroughly dealt with and expounded. But the focus of the gospel is the matter of sonship, for which we need transformation, conformation, and which is expressed in the Body life. Paul’s gospel is a gospel of sonship – it focuses on human beings becoming sons of God!

God’s intention is to bring many sons into glory, so that His many sons would express God in a corporate way to the whole universe. A son expresses the father, and Christ as the Only Begotten of the Father fully expresses God the Father. But God wants an expresion in humanity – a Body for Christ, a corporate expression in many sons. Christ declared the Father (John 1:18), and God’s intention is to have an expression in many sons! This is the gospel of God – God desires to have many sons and He made Christ as the Prototype, the Model, to whose image we are conformed!

preaching the high gospel in Romans

Saints, it is enough! We should no longer preach the poor gospel telling people that “God doesn’t want them to go to hell but to go to heaven if they believe in Jesus”! We need to preach the gospel by speaking the truth revealed in the gospel of God in Romans! Tell people that once they believe in the Lord, their sins will be forgiven and they will be redeemed and justified by God, reconciled to God, and accepted by God! Let us speak the high and complete gospel!

Don’t settle for the low gospel – let’s speak about God’s desire to regenerate man in his spirit so that man may have the divine life and have God’s holy nature! Tell people about God’s desire to dwell in man so that He may renew us, transform us, and even conform us to the image of Christ, the Firstborn Son of God! The gospel of God also speaks about man being glorified to be the matured sons of God, the members of Christ who constitute the Body of Christ expressed in many local churches as God’s corporate expression!

[sharing inspired from the life-study of Romans (msg. 52-53) and, Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery, ch. 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: high mountains (high gospel!)]

Thank You Lord for such a high gospel as revealed in Romans. You desire to have many sons who are conformed to the image of Your Firstborn Son, Jesus Christ. O, Lord, praise You for bringing many sons into glory through the process of renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification! Lord, uplift our view of the gospel of God and uplift our speaking of this gospel!

Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, morning revival, the Christian Life, the church life, the gospel, the high peak, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paul’s gospel includes the entire book of Romans, from God’s condemnation to the local churches

January 4, 2012 by · 4 Comments

Paul's gospel includes the entire book of Romans, from God's condemnation to the local churchesPaul’s gospel is the complete gospel and the basic gospel, speaking of Christ as the Spirit becoming one with us to be everything to us! Actually, Paul’s gospel is a Person – he preached Christ crucified, and he ministered Christ to people. Paul received the revelation of Christ in a personal way from God Himself, and he spoke of the Christ he has seen and enjoyed! Paul’s gospel is a revelation of the Triune God processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (see 1 Cor. 15:45, 2 Cor. 3:17, Gal. 3:2, 5, 14).

the gospel is the Triune God being our life

Too long have we been under the influence of the low gospel preached in Christianity in the past. We may have been saved by such a gospel, but according to the Bible the complete gospel is not only something like “believe in the Lord so that you will not go to hell but go to heaven” – no, the gospel is much more! Paul’s gospel is centered on the Triune God being our life in order to be one with us and to make us one with Him, that we may be the Body of Christ to express Christ in a corporate way (Rom. 8:11; 12:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23).

The gospel of God – which is the gospel of Paul as seen in the book of Romans – concerns not an outward physical Christ living among men but Christ as the Spirit living within the believers after His resurrection. This is a higher and more subjective gospel than what is presented in the Gospels. Christ is now the life-giving Spirit living in our spirit, making our spirit life! When we set our mind on the spirit, our soul becomes life (Rom. 8:6). Eventually, even our physical body will be filled and saturated with the divine life (Rom. 8:16). This is the gospel!

Paul’s gospel – the entire book of Romans

Paul’s gospel is the gospel of God, and it includes the entire book of Romans, comprising all the sixteen chapters. It is not only the “gospel portions” about perdition and salvation, but every chapter in this book is the gospel of God! From God’s condemnation to justification, sanctification, glorification, transformation, and the local churches – all these are aspects of the complete gospel of God! Here are more details in Romans concerning the gospel of God:

  • The gospel of God includes God’s condemnation of sinful mankind, on the self-righteous, on the religious, and on all the world (Rom. 1:18-3:20).
  • The gospel of God is the gospel of justification (Rom. 3:21-5:11), which is us being joined to Christ as righteousness and being declared righteous before God.
  • The gospel of God is the gospel of sanctification (Rom. 5:12-8:13) – we are identified with Christ, and we are freed inwardly in the Spirit by the indwelling Christ from the law of sin and of death operating in our flesh.
  • The gospel of God is the gospel of glorification (Rom. 8:14-39) – we are created by God to be heirs if glory, made like God’s Firstborn Son, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ!
  • The gospel of God is the gospel of selection (Rom. 9:1 – 11:36). We have been selected by the God who calls, in His sovereignty and mercy, through righteousness which is out of faith, and through Christ! Before the foundation of the world, we were selected – and God has an economy in His selection! Praise God for His selection!
  • The gospel of God is the gospel of transformation (Rom. 12:1 – 15:13). The gospel includes our practicing the Body life by the presenting of our bodies, the renewing of our mind, and living a life of the highest virtues! The gospel of God includes all the aspects of the church life – the gospel IS THE CHURCH LIFE!
[sharing inspired from the Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msg. 1, and the outline of the Recovery Version of the Bible on the book of Romans, as partially quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: Sunshine wallpaper]

O, Lord, open our eyes to see the gospel and speak the complete gospel! Unveil us, Lord, to see the gospel of Paul! Christ became the life-giving Spirit! The divine Spirit is mingled with our spirit and witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God! What a gospel! We are being justified, sanctified, and transformed! We are the Body of Christ expressed in the many local churches – this is the gospel!

Filed Under: Christ became the Spirit, Enjoying Christ, expounding the truth, God became a man, God's economy, morning revival, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paul’s gospel is the complete gospel, including all the aspects of the four gospels

January 3, 2012 by · 5 Comments

Paul's gospel is the complete gospel, including all the aspects of the four gospelsThe first four books of the New Testament are called, The Gospels – the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of Mark, the gospel of Luke, and the gospel of John. But there is yet another gospel – the gospel of Paul – which is the book of Romans (and all Paul’s Epistles). This gospel is the complete gospel – it includes all the aspects of the gospel in the four gospels and speaks further of the gospel of God, even the gospel of Christ (Gal. 1:7). Paul even called it, my gospel (Rom. 16:25).

Paul’s gospel is the complete gospel

Paul’s ministry is to complete the word of God, and his gospel is the basic gospel and the complete gospel, including all the aspects in the four Gospels. Paul’s gospel speaks of Christ in the heavens and as the Spirit, while the other gospels speak of Christ on the earth and in the flesh. The four gospels speak a lot about outward things (like the miracles, signs, Christ’s birth, living, death, resurrection) while Paul’s gospel speaks of the inward experience of Christ as the Spirit for the Body of Christ.

Praise the Lord, the gospel is not about an outward historical Christ but it concerns the Triune God being processed and consummated through Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, to become the life-giving, all-inclusive, compounded, indwelling Spirit who mingles Himself with our spirit to accomplish in us God’s purpose in creating man. This is what Paul’s gospel reveals, and his Epistles form the heart of the divine revelation in the New Testament, the center of the New Testament.

Paul’s gospel and the Four Gospels

Paul’s gospel includes all the aspects of the four gospels. This morning I was encouraged to briefly see how Paul completed the Word of God by including in his writings all the main points in the four gospels and then going further to expound God’s economy, God’s purpose, His heart’s desire, to have the church as the Body of Christ to express Him in many localities on the earth. Here are some specific points concerning this:

  1. The Gospel of Matthew, the gospel of the kingdom, presents the Lord Jesus as the King-Savior who has been given all authority on the earth (Matt. 28:19) for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens. In Matthew the goal of the gospel of the kingdom is to bring people into the Triune God in order to make them citizens of the kingdom of the heavens (see Matt. 28:19 and 24:14) – this is also seen in Paul’s gospel in Rom. 14:17 and Gal. 5:21.
  2. The Gospel of Mark introduces Christ as the Slave-Savior charging His disciples to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation in order to redeem and save God’s lost creation from the slavery of corruption back to Him to enjoy the fredom of His glory in His new creation (see Mark. 16:14-16). This is also seen in Paul’s writings in Rom. 8:20-21 and Gal. 6:15.
  3. The Gospel of Luke speaks about Christ as the Man-Savior charging His disciples to proclaim repentance for forgiveness of sins in His name to all the nations so that the fallen men may be redeemed back to the way of peace that leads them into the blessing prepared by God for them according to His eternal economy (see this in Luke 24:46-48; 1:77-79; 2:30-32). In Paul’s gospel, this is seen in Eph. 1:3, 7 and Gal. 3:14.
  4. The Gospel of John, the gospel of life, introduces the Lord as the God-Savior with the eternal life; here we see the mingling of the Triune God with the believers to produce the Body of Christ, the vine tree, of which all the believers are members, and which consummates in the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal enlargement and expression. John speaks about it in John 20:31 and 15:16, and Paul speaks even more about this in Rom. 8:10, 6, 11; 12:4-5; Gal. 3:28; 4:19; 6:10, 16.
[sharing inspired from the Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msg. 26 (by brother Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: the gospels]

Lord, open our eyes and open our mind to see the complete gospel of Paul. Save us from having a low appreciation of the gospel in the New Testament. Lord, uplift our view from seeing Christ on the earth in the flesh to seeing Christ in the heavens as the Spirit dispensing all He is and has accomplish into us for the building up of the Body! O, Lord, may Paul’s gospel be our constitution until it becomes “our gospel”

Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, morning revival, our birthright, the Christian Life, the gospel, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

man cannot be justified out of works of law but out of faith in Christ, in the organic union!

January 2, 2012 by · 4 Comments

fallen man cannot be justified out of works of law but out of faith in ChristThe fourth great pillar in the Lord’s recovery is the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is the speaking of the truth. For us to preach the gospel in an effective way, we need to know the truth in the Bible. In the book of Galatians we see the basic truth of the gospel, which is mainly that fallen man cannot be justified out of the works of law but out of faith in Christ (see Gal. 2:16). No flesh is justified out of the works of law – we are justified positionally and in life through our organic union with Christ!

justified not out of works of law

The truth is the reality of the gospel, and the book of Galatians affords us a complete revelation of the reality of the gospel in basic principles. The first aspect of the truth is that fallen sinful man cannot be justified by works of law. “Out of the works of law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal. 2:16). No matter how much fallen man tries to improve himself and adjust himself by doing his best to obey the law, “by law no one is justified before God is evident” (Gal. 3:11).

we are justified by faith in Christ

Praise the Lord, all we need to do in order to be justified is to believe into Christ! In God’s New Testament economy we are justified by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). This faith denotes an organic union with Christ – “in Christ” refers to the fact that before we believed into the Lord we were outside of Him, but now we are joined to Christ and even became one with Christ through believing into Christ. Hallelujah, we are now in Christ and Christ is in us – we are grafted into Christ to be organically one with Him!

Justification therefore is not just a positional matter – we are accepted before God, justified positionally – but also a dispositional matter – we are justified before God and Christ is our righteousness by virtue of our organic union with Him. God doesn’t just “give us righteousness” as a gift – He gives us Christ and makes Him one with us and us one with Him! It is by means of our organic union with Christ that what we are becomes His and all that He is becomes ours. Christ is our righteousness in our organic union with Christ!

an uplifted view of the truth of the gospel

It is so easy to have a low appreciation and view of the truth of the gospel in its basic principle of the justification by faith. We are fallen in our concept, our way of thinking, even in this respect. We need to have an uplifted view of justification by faith – to be justified by faith in Christ, we need to believe into the Lord Jesus out of an appreciation of His preciousness! The speaking of the gospel brings us into a sweet appreciation of the Lord, and we believe into Him! When we call on His name, we are regenerated and we are organically one with Him! In this organic union, God MUST reckon Christ as our righteousness!

[sharing inspired from the life-study of Galatians msg. 8-9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: Justified out of Faith]

Lord Jesus, we love You! You are so precious, so wonderful, and so lovely. Infuse us more with Your preciousness, Lord, that we would be strengthened in our organic union with You. O, Lord, how we treasure this union with the Lord in spirit! In this organic union we are justified not by works of law but by faith in Christ! Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness and He makes us God’s righteousness in this organic union with the Lord!

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the real gospel preaching is the speaking of the truth (see: blood and water, the double cure!)

December 26, 2011 by · 8 Comments

the real gospel preaching is the speaking of the truth (see: blood and water, the double cure!)This week we come to the fourth great pillar in the Lord’s recovery, the gospel. The first great pillar, truth, brings in the second great pillar, life. The hearing of the truth brings in the divine life into us. Once we have life, the second great pillar, we become the church, the third great pillar. The church has the unique and great commission to preach the gospel (the fourth great pillar). What is the gospel? The gospel is the truth and the preaching of the gospel is the speaking of the truth (the first great pillar). Truth, life, the church, and the gospel are a wonderful cycle!

the real gospel preaching is the speaking of the truth

What is the gospel? The word of the gospel is the truth in the Bible, and the real gospel preaching is the speaking of the truth. We all have a heart to preach the gospel, but if we don’t know the truth, we don’t know what to speak and the others won’t listen to us! We may say a few sentences to them but if we are not constituted with the truth, we will soon run out of words. This is why we need to be willing to seriously learn the truth and be constituted with the truth. We need to learn the truth in a proper way, because for us to speak the word of the truth we must first know the truth!

the water and the blood – the double cure

Today we have in our hands the highest truths – the Lord has given us many rich truths in His recovery. All we have to do is to dive into the truth and learn it, be constituted with it, and then speak it. Many gold nuggets of the truth can be found in the hymns also. For example, the first stanza of Hymns #1058 says, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, / Let me hide myself in Thee; / Let the water and the blood, / From Thy riven side which flowed, / Be of sin the double cure, / Save me from its guilt and power.

Here we have the water and the blood, the double cure, and the guilt and power. What do these phrases refer to? The precious blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from our outward acts, from our sins (John 1:29; Heb. 9:22), while the water signifies the life imparted by the Lord to deal with our sinful nature (John 19:34). This is the double cure: we are cured from our sinful outward acts and from the sinful inward nature by the Lord’s blood and by His life. The precious blood redeems us from the eternal punishment, and His divine flowing life saves us continually from the power of our sinful nature.

speaking the high gospel

From this hymn we can see that the gospel is not about “going to heaven” or “prosperity and being rich”; rather, the high gospel is concerning Christ who shed His blood on the cross to redeem us from our sin and gave His life to us to save us from our inward sinful nature. We need to be constituted with the truth and then speak it to others – under the Lord’s shining and our speaking of the divine truth with an exercised spirit, the Lord will have a way to save him! Sing this stanza to him, then speak it, explain it, and the Lord will do the rest.

Our daily and continual constitution with the truth and learning the truth by reading the Bible, enjoying the footnotes, reading the life-studies and the ministry books, etc will put a rich deposit of the divine truths into our being. Then, when we open our mouth to speak, we will tell others concerning the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – who is dispensing Himself into us – sinful, tripartite men – so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may receive God’s life and become sons of God who are being transformed to be the same as Christ is! Praise the Lord!

[sharing inspired from, Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 10; and, The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, chs. 1-2, 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery. You can purchase the morning revival book online, follow the articles on The Four Great Pillars on this blog and become a fan on Facebook for more updates. Picture source: Reading the Bible]

Lord, make us those who pay the price to know the truth in the Bible in its depth and in its richness! O, Lord, may we be those who dive into the truth to learn the truth and speak the highest gospel! Praise You for Your blood and for Your life, the double cure. Your blood cleanses us from any sin and releases us from the guilt of sin. Your life saves us subjectively from the power of sin through the transformation of our inward nature. Lord, praise You for the blood and water, the double cure!

Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God became a man, God's economy, O Lord Jesus!, our birthright, the Christian Life, the gospel, the high peak, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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