MEETING GOD'S NEED AND PRESENT NEEDS IN THE LORD'S RECOVERY
Message Five
Our Need to Walk in Newness of Life, to Serve in Newness of Spirit, and to Be Renewed in Our Inner Man Day by Day
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:5a; Rom. 6:4; 7:6; 12:2; 2 Cor. 4:16; 5:17; Gal. 6:15
I. "He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new"—Rev. 21:5a.
II. As believers in Christ, we have been made a new creation—a person regenerated with the life of God and living in the inner man, not in the outer man—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; John 3:3, 5-6, 15; 2 Cor. 4:16.
III. As a new creation in Christ Jesus, we need to walk in newness of life—Rom. 6:4:
A. To walk in newness of life means to live in the realm of resurrection and to reign in life—v. 4; 5:17.
B. Concerning the matter of life, Romans 5:10 says that we will be saved in the life of God's Son, 5:17 speaks of reigning in life, and 6:4 declares that we have died and have been buried with Christ so that we may walk in newness of life.
C. After baptism we become a new person in resurrection; resurrection is not only a future state but also a present process—2 Cor. 5:17; Phil. 3:10-11.
D. We were buried with Christ into His death, and we have been resurrected as He was; hence, we should walk in newness of life—Col. 2:12; Eph. 2:5; Rom. 6:4.
E. Newness of life is closely related to the life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself in His resurrection; the Spirit is the way to walk in newness of life—1 Cor. 15:45b.
F. Walking in newness of life is the kind of living that deals with all that is of Adam in us until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ—Rom. 8:29.
IV. As a new creation in Christ Jesus, we need to serve in newness of spirit—7:6:
A. Our living should be in newness of life, and our service should be in newness of spirit—v. 6:
1. There should be no oldness in either our living or our service.
2. Concerning our service, we should have the newness of spirit instead of the oldness of law and letter—2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 7:6.
B. In Romans 6:4 newness of life issues from our being identified with Christ's resurrection and is for our walk in our daily life.
C. In Romans 7:6 newness of spirit issues from our being discharged from the law and being joined to the resurrected Christ and is for our service to God.
D. Both newness of spirit and newness of life are results of the crucifixion of our old man—6:6.
E. In Romans 7:6 newness of spirit refers to our regenerated human spirit, in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells—2 Tim. 4:22:
1. Everything that is related to our regenerated spirit is new, and everything that comes out of our spirit is new—John 3:6; 4:23-24; Rom. 1:9; Eph. 6:18.
2. Our regenerated spirit is a source of newness because the Lord, the life of God, and the Holy Spirit are there—1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:16-18.
3. Like Paul, we should serve God in our regenerated spirit by the indwelling Christ, the life-giving Spirit, not in our soul by the power and ability of the soul—Rom. 1:9.
V. The Christian life is a life of being renewed; we need to be renewed in our inner man day by day—2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23:
A. Our outer man is being consumed, but our inner man is being renewed day by day—2 Cor. 4:16:
1. The outer man consists of the body as its organ with the soul as its life and person.
2. The inner man consists of the regenerated spirit as its life and person with the renewed soul as its organ.
B. In our experience we are in the process of becoming a new creation by being broken and renewed—5:17; 4:10-12, 16; Eph. 4:22-24:
1. In the sense of being in Christ, we are a new creation, but in actuality in our daily life, we are not that new because we do not yet have Christ as the only One who occupies us, fills us, and is our life, nature, appearance, and expression—Gal. 2:20; 4:19; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 3:16-17.
2. We have been regenerated, but still there is a mixture in our daily living because our living is partly the new creation and even more the old creation—2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:4, 14.
3. Although our spirit has been regenerated, our soul with its faculties of mind, will, and emotion remains in the old creation and needs to be renewed—12:2; Eph. 4:23.
4. The cross is the greatest help to accomplish the renewing for us—Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:10-12.
5. To be renewed is to have God's ever-new essence dispensed into us to replace and discharge our old element—v. 16; Rom. 12:2; Titus 3:5.
6. Through the process of renewing, we are transferred from the realm of the old creation into the realm of the new creation to become the New Jerusalem—Col. 3:10; Rev. 21:2.
C. In our Christian life for God's purpose, we need to pass through the process of renewing—a process that involves suffering—Rom. 8:17-18; 2 Cor. 1:7; 4:10-11, 17; 1 Pet. 4:13; 5:9:
1. We are destined to suffer so that we may be renewed; all sufferings are the process to make us new—Col. 1:24; Phil. 1:29; 2 Cor. 1:6; 4:17.
2. All the sufferings that God has assigned to us have one unique purpose—to renew us—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Titus 3:5.
3. The sufferings that we pass through are a process to transfer us from the realm of the old creation to the realm of the new creation—2 Cor. 5:17.
4. The suffering that we pass through to be renewed does not compare with the glory of our being new—4:17-18; Rom. 8:18.
5. As we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart's desire—2 Cor. 4:16-17; Eph. 1:4-5, 9, 11-12.
D. The renewing of the inner man takes place as the inner man is nourished with the fresh supply of the resurrection life of Christ—John 11:25; Phil. 3:10:
1. As our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man—our regenerated spirit with our inward parts—is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of resurrection life—Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25; 12:2; 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 4:23.
2. The more our inner man is renewed, the more the functions of our soul are also renewed—Rom. 12:2.
3. Our mingled spirit spreads into our mind and becomes the spirit of the mind; it is in such a spirit that we are being renewed for our transformation—Eph. 4:23; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2.
E. Because we have been born of God to be children of God with the life and nature of God, we all have the divine element energizing in us—John 1:12-13; 3:15; 1 John 5:11-12; 2 Pet. 1:3-4:
1. In this divine element is the renewing capacity—Rom. 12:2.
2. In the resurrection life of Christ, the divine life has the renewing capacity—John 11:25; Phil. 3:10; Rev. 21:5a.
3. The capacity in the divine life is renewing us in all our actions—Rom. 6:4; 7:6.
4. We need to experience and enjoy the renewing capacity in the resurrection life of Christ so that we may be renewed in our inner man day by day—2 Cor. 1:9; 4:16.