Message Seven
The Overcomer’s Living (2)—
Being Redeemed from Our Vain Manner of Life,
Losing Our Soul and Praying Ourselves
into an Incorporation with the Consummated God

Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:14-15, 18-19; Acts 20:28; Matt. 10:39, 16:18, 24; Mark 8:34, 15:27; Luke 9:23; 10:38-42; 17:33; John 12:25; 19:17; Rom. 16:5; 1Cor. 16:19; 1 Tim. 3:15; Col. 4:2; Eph. 4:1-6.

I. God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blemish before Him in love; predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ—Eph. 1:4-5:

A. But according to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also be holy in all your manner of life; Because it is written, “You shall be holy because I am holy.”—1 Pet. 1:15-16:

B. God predestinated us unto sonship, to be full-grown sons—Eph. 1:5:

II. The precious blood of Christ has redeemed us from our vain manner of life that it may cause us to have a holy manner of life with a holy fear—1 Pet. 1:14-19; Acts 20:28:

A. Christ’s redeeming blood is the blood of the covenant that ushers us into God’s presence, into God Himself, and into the full enjoyment of God in His holy nature so that we might be holy in all our manner of life to become His holy priesthood and holy city—1 Pet. 1:2, 15-17; Eph. 1:4; Rev. 21:2, 16.

B. Suffering responds to Christ’s redemption to deliver us from our vain manner of life by preserving us from a sinful manner of life, from the flood of dissoluteness (1 Pet. 4:3-4); to undergo such suffering, mainly from persecution, is God’s discipline in His governmental dealing (vv. 6, 17).

III. The Lord was willing to take up the cross and be crucified for the fulfillment of God’s purpose—Matt 16:18, 24; John 19:17; Mark 15:27:

A. We need to know the genuine meaning of the cross. The Lord Jesus was not compelled to go to the cross; He was willing to do so because His cross was God’s will. Hence, His crucifixion was for the fulfillment of God’s will—Matt. 16:18, 24.

B. What you need to do is to willingly bear the cross. Do not make any selection, for all the churches are the same. If you cannot be happy in one place, you will not be happy in any other place. Do not try to deal with the church, but deal with your taste—Mark 15:27.

IV. We must deny ourselves as He did and must allow ourselves to be crucified as He did; without this, it is impossible for the church to be built up—Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23:

A. Among the brothers and sisters in the church, there should be a pure divine love, but there should not be any personal affection—Lev. 2:11-13.

B. “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” —Matt. 16:24.

V. We need to lose our soul in the family life and in the church life; the church is built up through the losing of the soul—Matt. 10:39; Luke 17:33; John 12:25:

A. With respect to the losing of the soul, the Lord did not speak about suffering. To lose our soulish enjoyment is a joy because as a result we see the building up of the church. This is not a suffering; it is a joy—Matt. 10:39.

B. In the church, we all need to learn to lose our soul, to lose our soulish enjoyment. This is the way for the church to be built up—Luke 17:33; John 12:25.

VI. We have to realize that the way the Lord is taking is to build up His church in the believers’ homes; once the church is built up in the homes, the homes will be transformed—1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5; 1 Tim. 3:15:

A. Husbands and wives need to cherish each other all the time. If a couple does not know how to cherish each other, they will have trouble—Eph. 5:29, 33.

B. A husband and a wife should not condemn each other; instead, they should always apologize to one another. In this way they live out Christ’s death. Whoever sees them will be edified—2 Cor. 4:10-12.

C. The husbands and the wives might have been arguing couples, but once they have meetings in their homes, they will stop their arguing. The children will also be preserved from drifting along the current of the age. In the end, the family will become proper and normal—Col. 4:6.

VII. “Persevere in prayer”; prayer means that we pray ourselves into God. To pray ourselves into God is to love Him by setting our entire being absolutely on Him according to Mary’s pattern of sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to His word—Luke 10:38-42; Col. 4:2:

A. To pray is to realize that we are nothing and can do nothing; prayer is the real denial and repudiating of our self for the enjoyment of Christ as our jubilee—Col. 4:2; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:3; 4:6-7, 11-13.

B. By praying ourselves into God to be filled with the riches of His supply, we experience and Man-Savior in His divine attributes and human virtues so that we may live a life that is the highest standard of morality in order to enjoy and proclaim Christ as the reality of the New Testament jubilee—Luke 4:18-22; 9:54-56; 19:10.

C. The Lord’s prayer in John 17 was for the all-inclusive oneness of the Body of Christ, the oneness of the believers in the Triune God; through this all Christ’s believers have been brought into the union of life with the processed Triune God and mingled with the consummated God into an incorporation — Eph. 4:1-6.