Scripture Reading:

John 3:6b-7 …and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Go not marvel that I said to you, you must be born anew.

Rom. 5:10b Much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.

2Cor. 3:17-18 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Rom. 8:29-30 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

I. The purpose of God’s salvation is to accomplish all that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life—Rom. 1:17b; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:10b; 17b, 18b, 21b.

II. Through the life of God for the believers to be transformed and to grow and mature in the life of God is the fulfillment of God’s salvation.

III. Eight steps of God’s organic salvation:

A. Regeneration being the center of God’s complete salvation and the commencement of God’s salvation in its organic aspect:

1. It being to regenerate and re-create the believers in their spirit through the Spirit of God—John 3:6b.

2. Through God’s Word of life—1 Pet. 1:23.

3. For the believers to have the spiritual life of God in addition to their natural life—John 3:15.

B. Shepherding being the second step of the Triune God’s organic salvation:

1. Shepherding including feeding—1 Pet. 2:2, John 21:15-17, Eph. 4:12; 1 Pet. 5:1-4

2. The Lord being the life and the good Shepherd—John 14:6, 10:9-11, 14-16.

3. The Lord being the Chief Shepherd and the great Shepherd—1 Pet. 2:25, 5:4; Heb. 13:20; Rev. 7:16-17.

C. Dispositional sanctification being for the believers to be sanctified in their disposition that they may partake of the holy nature of God and be one with God in this attribute of His—Rom. 15:16:

1. Through the sanctifying work in the believers by the Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2.

2. This aspect of sanctification implying transformation—Rom. 6:19, 22.

3. Both the positional sanctification in the judicial aspect and the dispositional sanctification in the organic aspect of God’s salvation being ultimately manifested in the New Jerusalem for it to become the holy city—Rev. 21:2, 10; 22:19.

D. Renewing being the spontaneous renewing in the believers spiritual life when they are sanctified dispositionally by the Holy Spirit:

1. Requiring the believers not to be fashioned according to this age, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind—Rom. 12:2a

2. To be renewed in the mind is to get rid of all the old concepts concerning the things of the human life and be made new again by the teaching of the holy Scriptures and the enlightening of the Holy Spirit.

3. Such a renewing of the mind issuing in the transformation of the believers in their spiritual life.

E. Transformation being not an outward change or correction but the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers:

1. By the believers’ turning to the Lord and thereby removing the various kinds of veils of their old concepts—2 Cor. 3:16.

2. Even more, by the believers, with an unveiled face, beholding the Lord and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord and thus being transformed into the same image as the Lord from one level of glory to another level of glory for the Lord’s expression—2 Cor. 3:18.

3. Even as from the Lord Spirit, that is, Christ as the life-giving Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17-18.

F. Building up being the God-men’s being joined and knit together with other God-men in the divine life by their growth in the diving life:

1. Being brought forth through the joining and knitting by the transforming Spirit—Eph. 4:15-16.

2. The building up of the Body of Christ in the New Testament is this kind of building up by being joined and knit together in the divine life, and its purpose is to consummate the building of the holy city, the New Jerusalem.

G. Conformation being the consummation of the believers’ transformation in life, and being to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son—Rom. 8:29:

1. God’s firstborn Son being Christ as the God-man.

2. To be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son being that the believers’ become full-grown in life as God-men:

a. To be conformed to Christ death in all things through the power of His resurrection—Phil. 3:10.

b. To live Christ for magnifying Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (who is the God-man)—Phil. 1:19-21a.

c. To be the reprints of the God-man, Christ, that the believers may be exactly like Him, the firstborn Son of God—1 John 3:2.

H. Glorification being the spreading forth of Christ’s glory from the believers by their growing to maturity in Christ’s life—Rom. 8:30:

1. Being the entering into the glory of God—Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12.

2. Being also the believers’ enjoyment of the redemption of their bodies—Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30.

3. Being also the ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation in the believers.

IV. The ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation being the New Jerusalem—the crystallization of the union and mingling of God with man, the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed and glorified tripartite elect.

 

Reference: The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, chapters 1-5.

 

Excerpts from the ministry:

THE PURPOSE OF GOD’S SALVATION

The organic aspect of God’s salvation is through the life of God (Rom. 1:17; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:10b, 17b, 18b, 21b). Whereas the judicial aspect is according to the righteousness of God to accomplish God’s redemption, the organic aspect is through the life of God to carry out God’s salvation, including regeneration, shepherding, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification. This is the purpose of God’s salvation to accomplish all that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life. (The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, p.16)

EIGHT STEPS OF GOD’S ORGANIC SALVATION

Regeneration

After we repented and believed in the Lord, our sins were forgiven and we were reconciled to God. Then this God who loves us and who is the life-giving Spirit comes into us to regenerate our spirit. John 3 refers to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He respectfully addressed the Lord Jesus as One who had come from God as a teacher to Israel, and he therefore came to get some advice from Him. However, the Lord Jesus said to him, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v.3). Nicodemus did not understand the meaning of regeneration. He thought that regeneration was for a man to enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born. So he said to the Lord Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”(v.4). However, the regeneration which the Lord Jesus referred to was for one to be born of water (that is, death) and the Spirit (that is, life) (v.5). Then the Lord went on to say, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v.6). The first Spirit is the divine
Spirit, referring to God. God is Spirit. When we are born of Him, we are born of the Spirit and eventually, we are spirit, the second spirit referred to in John 3:6. This is to be regenerated.

First Peter 1:23 says, “Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.” This shows us that regeneration is through God’s word of life. A great majority of the regenerated ones were regenerated through the word of God. The word of God as a gene enters into us and operates in us. In this way we were regenerated.

John 1:12-13 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This portion tells us that the way to be regenerated is to receive the Lord Jesus by believing into Him. He is the Word from God (1:1), and He is also the light from God (v. 9). When we receive Him, we have the authority to become children of God. This authority is nothing other than the life of God. God gives us His life as our authority that we may become children of God. Hence, we are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This is regeneration, which is a great matter.

Therefore, we may say that regeneration is the center of God’s complete salvation and the commencement of God’s salvation in its organic aspect. It is God Himself as the Spirit coming into our spirit to make us alive. In other words, we are regenerated, made alive, in our spirit by the Spirit of God. This is regeneration. (pp. 26-28)

Shepherding

Shepherding includes feeding, as the nursing mother feeds the baby for the baby to grow, as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:2. In this way the Lord commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and shepherd His flock on His behalf (John 21:15-17). He also raised up those such as Peter to be His deputy shepherds to feed His lambs and shepherd His flock (Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

The Gospel of John tells us not only that the Lord is the life (11:25; 14:6) but also that the Lord is the good Shepherd who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (10:10-11). He Himself is also our pasture for us to eat freely of Him and be nourished by Him (10:9). Furthermore, the Gospel of John tells us that the Lord as the good Shepherd would lay down His life to form the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers into one flock under the shepherding of Himself as the one Shepherd (10:14-16).

The believers throughout the generations have been under the shepherding of the Lord as the good Shepherd (1 Pet. 2:25). As the Chief Shepherd (5:4) and the great Shepherd of God’s flock (Heb. 13:20), He will shepherd us for eternity as the Lamb of God and guide us to springs of waters of life for us to have eternal satisfaction, without thirst or hunger (Rev. 7:16-17). By this He accomplishes a great part of God’s organic salvation.

We all were regenerated and are under the shepherding of the Lord as the good Shepherd. Thus, we partake of God’s life and are nourished and grow unto maturity in it (Eph. 4:13b; Col. 1:28), manifesting the function of God’s life in us for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy and the achievement of God’s eternal purpose. (p. 32-33)

Sanctification

Before we were saved, we were altogether in the world. After we were saved and regenerated, the Lord completely separated us to make us holy. This is positional sanctification, …but it is not sufficient to be separated and made holy unto God positionally. After we are sanctified positionally and reconciled to God, as we begin to pursue in life, we will sense something within us which is not our disposition but God’s nature. This nature within us deals thoroughly with our natural disposition, our peculiar disposition, and our temperament so that the divine nature becomes our disposition. This is to sanctify the believers dispositionally that they may partake of God’s holy nature and be one with God in this attribute of His (Rom. 15:16). This kind of sanctification uses the element of God’s life as the material and is carried out through the sanctifying work in the believers by the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2).

Brothers and sisters, do we regulate ourselves with outward regulations? Do we live and walk according to the holy nature of God or according to outward regulations? Today we do not need these outward regulations; we need only God’s holy nature, which is able to make us holy. For example, concerning women’s apparel, the Bible gives us only a word saying that women should adorn themselves in proper clothing (1 Tim. 2:9). But what kind of clothing is considered proper? The divine nature within you will tell you. This is dispositional sanctification; this is the organic work which Christ as the Spirit is carrying out in us. It is not something judicial; it is something altogether organic. This aspect of sanctification implies transformation (Rom. 6:19, 22) for the fulfillment of God’s purpose in choosing the believers (Eph. 1:4). Eventually, both the positional sanctification in the judicial aspect and the dispositional sanctification in the organic aspect of God’s complete salvation will ultimately be manifested in the New Jerusalem for it to become the holy city (Rev. 21:2, 10; 22:19). (pp. 41-43)

Renewing

Romans 12:2a says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” We should not be fashioned according to this age. …The renewing taught by the Scriptures is the renewing of the mind; it is altogether a matter related to the mind. The mind is our mentality, our philosophy, our religious concepts, our views concerning people and things, etc.

How can our mind be renewed that our whole being may be renewed? The way of renewing lies in prayer and in reading the Scriptures, because for us to be renewed in our mind is for us to get rid of all our old concepts concerning the things of the human life and be made new again by the teaching of the holy Scriptures and the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. …In this way, your view is different and your being is renewed

Such a renewing of the mind issues in the transformation of the believers in their spiritual life. Titus 3:5 refers to the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. …When our mind is renewed, our whole being is transformed. This is to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. The washing of regeneration purges away all the things in the old nature of our old man, whereas the renewing of the Holy Spirit dispenses the new things, the divine essence of the new man, into our being. Through this we turn from the old condition in which we were into a completely new condition, from the state of the old creation into the state of the new creation. (pp. 45-44)

Transformation

Transformation is not an outward change or correction but the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers. Transformation is not to make some corrections from without; it is the function of metabolism from within and is manifested without. …If the believers are willing to grow in the divine life, the element of the divine life will increase in them and bring forth a metabolic change. Thus, their inward disposition will be transformed, and their outward image will also be transformed to be the same as the image of the Lord. This is not moral cultivation by examining oneself and mending one’s ways as taught by Confucianism in China. That is man’s own moral cultivation. When we are transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding Him, this is not the result of our self-cultivation, but it is the Lord Spirit, the life-giving Spirit whom the Lord Christ became in His resurrection, who moves within us to bring forth a metabolic change through the increase of the element of the divine life in us (2 Cor. 3:18). This is altogether a transformation brought forth by the moving and working of the Lord Spirit and the divine life within us. (pp. 52-53)

Building Up

The transformation of the believers in the divine life causes them to be joined and knit together with other believers as fellow members of Christ because of their growth in the divine life. This joining and knitting together becomes the building of the God-men with other God-men in the divine life.

This building in the divine life is the building of the jasper wall of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is not the result of piling a piece of jasper upon another piece of jasper, but the issue of the joining of all the jasper stones by the transforming Spirit. This building is also the building referred to in Ephesians 4:15-16 as the issue of the believers’ growing into the Head, Christ, in all things, that is, “all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”

The building up of the Body of Christ mentioned in the New Testament is the building up by being joined and knit together in the divine life. This kind of building which is first carried out in the Body of Christ will consummate the building of the holy city, the New Jerusalem. (p 56-57)

Conformation

How can we be conformed to the image of God’s Firstborn? To know how to be conformed to the image of God’s Firstborn, we must understand how God’s Firstborn lived on earth. The firstborn Son of God is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the God-man, and He lived the life of a man on earth. The life which He lived on earth was the very life which God desired man to live when He created man. After the fall, man was not able to live the life which God wanted man to live. Hence, the only begotten Son of God came to become the Son of Man. In the four Gospels, from beginning to end, the Lord called Himself the Son of Man (Matt. 8:20; 26:64); He lived as a man on earth. He lived as a man daily under the shadow of the cross, denying and crucifying Himself daily. He told people that none of the words which He spoke was spoken by Himself and none of the things which He did was done out of His own desire (John 8:28-29; 14:10). He spoke words and did things according to His Father’s will. By doing this He fulfilled what God required judicially. This was why He was qualified to die for us on the cross. In Hid human living on earth for thirty-three and a half years, the Lord Jesus was tested and tried by God. Eventually, according to God’s requirement of righteousness judicially, He was qualified to go to the cross to bear our sins and die for us. God considered Him a sinner, even sin (2 Cor. 5:21), and condemned Him on the cross. His death was altogether a judicial matter for the accomplishment of God’s requirement of righteousness judicially. This was what He did as the Son of Man. The crucified life which He lived on earth as the Son of Man became a mold; we should be conformed to such a mold (Phil. 3:10b).

In summary, conformation is the consummation of the believers’ transformation in life, and it is also to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God, who is Christ as the God-man. To be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son is the believers’ becoming full-grown in life as God-men. This is to be conformed to His death in all things through the resurrection power of Christ (Phil. 3:10) and to live Christ for magnifying Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the God-man (Phil. 1:19-21a). This is to be the reprints of the God-man, Christ, that we may be exactly like Him, the firstborn Son of God (1 John 3:2).

Glorification

To be glorified is to enter into glory. After passing through regeneration, shepherding, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, and conformation to the image of the firstborn Son of God, the believers are mature and qualified to be raptured, and they are simply awaiting the Lord’s coming back. When the Lord comes back, they will enter into glory to enjoy the highest portion of the divine sonship (Rom. 8:23). Hence, glorification is the spreading forth of Christ’s glory from the believers by their growing to maturity in Christ’s life. We may say that glorification is the manifestation of the glory of the firstborn Son of God from within us, or that it is our entering into glory (Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). This glory is the Triune God. Hence, to enter into glory is to enter into the Triune God. When our entire being enters into the Triune God, we are glorified. Glorification is also the believers’ enjoyment of the redemption of their body (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30). This is also the ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation in the believers. At this point, God’s organic work has been completed.

THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION OF GOD’S COMPLETE SALVATION BEING THE NEW JERUSALEM

God’s organic work is from regeneration to glorification, from God’s entering into man to man’s practically being brought into God. Regeneration is God entering into man, whereas glorification is man entering into God. Thus, man is altogether mingled and joined with God to express the image of God. That is glorification. The ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation is the New Jerusalem—the crystallization of the union and mingling of God with man, the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect. (pp. 71-74)

 

Questions:

1. According to the Bible, by what means does God carry out His organic salvation?

2. According to the Bible, briefly describe the eight steps of God’s organic salvation.

3. What is the ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation?