GENERAL SUBJECT

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Message Two
A Grafted Life

Scripture Reading: John 15:1, 4-5; Rom. 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 6:17

I.　As believers in Christ, we should live a grafted life—a life in which we are one spirit with the Lord and live in an organic union with Him—1 Cor. 6:17; John 15:4.

II.　The Bible reveals that the relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man become one—1 Cor. 6:17:

A.　God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life— John 15:1, 4-5.

B.　This oneness is an organic union, a union in life—a grafted life.

C.　The concept of the divine life and the human life being grafted into one is mysterious, beyond the natural concept, and foreign to human thought.

III.　In grafting, two similar lives are joined and then grow together—Rom. 11:17-24:

A.　Grafting can be effective only if the lives to be grafted are similar.

B.　Because our human life was made in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, it can be joined to the divine life.

C.　Our human life resembles the divine life; therefore, the divine life and the human life can be grafted together and then grow together organically.

IV.　In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection:

A.　Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the branch of David, the Shoot, so that we might be grafted together with Him; He became the same as we are so that He and we could be grafted together—John 1:14; Matt. 1:1; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15.

B.　Christ was "cut" on the cross so that we could be grafted into Him:

1.　Christ's becoming the branch of David does not by itself mean that He could be grafted together with us.

2.　Grafting requires cutting; two branches cannot be grafted together unless both are cut:

a.　Christ was cut when He died on the cross.

b.　We were cut when we repented and received the Lord.

3.　After the cutting occurs, the joining and the organic union take place; therefore, in grafting we have the cutting, the joining, and the organic union.

C.　After Christ was cut on the cross, He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit— 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a:

1.　By becoming such a Spirit, Christ was ready for grafting.

2.　Once we repent and receive the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our spirit, bringing the divine life into us, and we are grafted together with Christ— John 20:22; Rom. 8:11:

a.　This life is a life of death and resurrection.

b.　As the life-giving Spirit, Christ brings the key to death and resurrection into us, the believers, that we may die and be raised with Christ—Gal. 2:20.

c.　In this death and resurrection we are grafted together with Christ.

V.　As regenerated ones, we should live a grafted life—a life in which two parties are joined to grow organically—John 15:1, 4-5:

A.　After we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us—Gal. 2:20.

B.　We should no longer live by our flesh or by our natural being; instead, we should live by our regenerated spirit, a spirit grafted with Christ—Rom. 8:4.

C.　Through this grafting we are united with Him, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him to become the Body of Christ—12:4-5.

VI.　The grafted life is not an exchanged life but the mingling of the human life with the divine life—Gal. 2:20:

A.　The concept of the exchanged life is that we yield our human life to the Lord, and He replaces it with His divine life.

B.　The Christian life is not an exchanged life but a grafted life—the mingling of the human life with the divine life—Rom. 6:3-5; John 15:1, 4-5:

1.　There is no exchange, or trade, of lives.

2.　Instead of exchange there is the dispensing, the infusing, of the divine life into the human life and the mingling of the divine life with the human life.

C.　The most wonderful reality in the Christian experience is that the believers in Christ are united with Christ in the way of life—1 Cor. 6:17:

1.　Whatever Christ is and whatever He has done are altogether for one thing: that He and we could be organically united and live a grafted life—John 15:4-5.

2.　In His recovery the Lord is recovering this neglected matter of the grafted life.

VII.　In the grafted life the human life is not eliminated but is strengthened, uplifted, and enriched by the divine life—Rom. 11:17-24:

A.　In the grafted life the branch still retains its same essential characteristics, but its life is uplifted and transformed by being grafted into a better life:

1.　The higher life subdues the lower life.

2.　The higher life enriches, uplifts, and transforms the lower life.

B.　In the grafted life the divine life works within us to discharge the negative elements— 2 Cor. 3:18:

1.　The divine life works in a gradual way to eliminate whatever is natural.

2.　The negative element in our disposition is killed, and then, instead of casting away our disposition, the Lord uplifts it and uses it.

C.　In the grafted life the divine life resurrects God's original creation—John 11:25:

1.　Instead of giving up His creation, God will reclaim it.

2.　God intends to bring all the aspects of our being into resurrection—Phil. 3:11:

a.　As the divine life discharges the negative things, it works to resurrect God's original creation.

b.　In this way our original functions—the functions given us at creation—are restored, strengthened, and enriched—Gal. 2:20.

D.　In the grafted life the divine life supplies the riches of Christ to our inward parts— Rom. 12:2:

1.　Our resurrected and uplifted faculties are supplied with the riches of Christ.

2.　Through such a supply we are renewed in our mind, emotion, and will.

E.　In the grafted life the divine life saturates our whole being—8:29-30:

1.　The riches of Christ saturate us and transform us—12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18.

2.　By this saturation of the divine life we are conformed to the image of Christ—Rom. 8:29.