总题：活在神圣三一里并与神圣三一同活
LIVING IN AND WITH THE DIVINE TRINITY
Message Three
Living in the Divine Trinity (2) Living in the Divine Trinity by Enjoying Christ as Our Life Supply, by Living Christ for His Magnification, and by the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in Our Spirit
Scripture Reading: John 20:22; 6:57, 63; Isa. 12:3-6; Phil. 1:19-21a; Gal. 6:17-18; Rev. 22:21
I. We live in the Divine Trinity by enjoying Christ as our life supply:
A. The Lord breathed Himself as the Holy Spirit (the Holy Breath) into His disciples on the day of His resurrection (John 20:22); now we can continually receive the pneumatic Christ as the breath of God so that He can become rich to us by our calling upon His name (Lam. 3:55-56; Gen. 4:26; Rom. 10:12-13; Hymns, #255); we can also inhale the Scripture, the word of God, as the breathing out of God (2 Tim. 3:16); because His spoken words are the embodiment of the Spirit of life, when we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit, who is life (John 6:57, 63).
B. God's intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment, with the goal of producing the church as God's increase, God's enlargement, to be God's fullness for His expression—Jer. 2:13; Lam. 3:22-24; 1 Cor. 1:9:
1. Our drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body, builds us up as the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ—12:13; Rev. 22:17; John 4:14b.
2. We can joyously draw water from the springs of salvation by speaking and singing to the Lord, by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord to exalt the Lord and to rejoice in the Lord in a continuing way—Psa. 46:4; Isa. 12:3-6.
3. We can enjoy the Lord as our spiritual drink by practicing to speak with Him constantly; then spontaneously, we will live Christ—Num. 20:8; Phil. 4:6-7, 12.
C. We can eat Christ as our spiritual food in order to live because of Him (John 6:57); to eat Christ is to eat His words by exercising our spirit to both pray-read and muse upon His words so that His words become the gladness and joy of our heart (Jer. 15:16; Psa. 119:15-16; Josh. 1:8-9); to live not only by but also "because of" Christ means that the energizing element of Christ becomes the supplying factor for us to live Christ.
II. We live in the Divine Trinity by living Christ for His magnification by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19-21a:
A. The believers live Christ by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the Christ who is the life-dispensing Spirit—v. 19; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6:
1. This bountiful supply includes divinity, humanity, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, the divine attributes, and the human virtues.
2. Everything we do and all our living should come about by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19.
3. Under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, we will spontaneously receive the supply of Christ within and will live a life that expresses Christ—vv. 20-21a.
B. All of Paul's life and work were not for expressing himself or for displaying his knowledge, his ability, or his other merits and strong points; what he was and what he did were for expressing Christ, even for magnifying Christ—v. 20; 3:3-10; 2 Cor. 4:5.
C. In the apostle's suffering in his body, Christ was magnified; that is, He was shown or declared to be great (without limitation), exalted, and extolled—Phil. 1:20:
1. The apostle's sufferings afforded him opportunity to express Christ in His unlimited greatness—Acts 9:16; 2 Cor. 6:4; 11:23; Col. 1:24.
2. To magnify Christ under any circumstances is to experience Him with the topmost enjoyment—Phil. 1:18; 4:23.
3. As Paul was held captive in a Roman prison, he magnified Christ, making Him to appear great in the eyes of his captors; regardless of the circumstances, Paul was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord—1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17-18, 28-29; 3:1; 4:1, 4.
4. Paul's shining forth and expressing Christ in his joy were a declaration of the unlimited greatness of Christ and a declaration that Christ is inexhaustible—Eph. 3:8, 18; cf. Isa. 9:6.
D. To live Christ for His magnification is to participate in Christ's salvation in life, in which we are saved from the failure of not living Christ and from the defeat of not magnifying Christ—Rom. 5:10.
E. As the believers' pattern, Paul lived a life in Christ's ascendancy, a life that was fully dignified, with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes, a life that resembled the one that the Lord Himself had lived on the earth years before—1 Tim. 1:16; Acts 27:21-26; 28:3-6, 8-10.
III. We live in the Divine Trinity by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit—Gal. 6:18:
A. Day by day a marvelous divine transmission should be taking place: God is supplying the Spirit of grace bountifully, and we should be receiving the Spirit of grace continually so that He can become our constituent, and we can become His expression—Heb. 10:29b; John 1:16; Gal. 3:2-5; 2 Cor. 1:12; 12:9:
1. The way to receive and enjoy grace is to turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, and enthrone the Lord:
a. Whenever we come to the throne of grace by turning to our spirit, we should enthrone the Lord, giving Him the headship, the kingship, and the lordship within us—Heb. 4:16; Rom. 5:17, 21; Col. 1:18b; Rev. 2:4.
b. God's throne is the source of the flowing grace; whenever we fail to enthrone the Lord, dethroning Him, the flow of grace stops—22:1.
c. If we enthrone the Lord Jesus within us, the Spirit as the river of water of life will flow out from the throne of grace to supply us; in this way we will receive grace and enjoy grace—v. 1; Hymns, #770.
2. As we bear the brands of Jesus, we enjoy the grace of Christ—Gal. 6:17-18:
a. Spiritually, the brands of Jesus signify the characteristics of the life that Paul lived, a life like the one the Lord Jesus lived on this earth; such a life is continually crucified (John 12:24), does the will of God (6:38), does not seek its own glory but the glory of God (7:18), and is submissive and obedient to God, even unto the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8).
b. If we bear the brands of Jesus and live a crucified life, we will enjoy the grace of Christ as the supply of the life-giving Spirit in our spirit for us to minister Christ as God's grace to God's household—3:10; 2 Cor. 4:10-11; Eph. 3:2.
B. The grace of the Lord Jesus dispensed into His believers throughout the New Testament age consummates in the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God's good pleasure in uniting, mingling, and incorporating Himself with man for His glorious enlargement and expression—Rev. 22:21; Eph. 2:10.