We Have Received the Necessity of a New Living (1)


	We Have Received the Necessity of a New Living (1) Introduction We have seen that being born again has three results. The moment we believed in the Lord Jesus we received a new life, a new position, and the necessity of a new living. Of these three results, perhaps the one that is most neglected is the third result, the necessity of a new living. We must realize that it is possible for us to be born again and yet lose the reality of being born again. We have all received a new life, yet we may not have a new living. If we don't have a new living after being born again, it doesn't mean that we have lost our salvation. It means that we are like a person in a deep coma in the hospital. No matter what you say or how you interact with a person in a coma, he has no reaction. Is he still a human being? Of course. Does he have a human life? Yes. But is he normal and healthy? No, because a person who is in a coma has no feeling or sensation. He has a human life, but not a normal human existence. In the same way it is possible to be born again and have the divine life from God, and yet not have the living that God intended for us. We must realize that being born again results in the necessity of a new living. If we don't take care of this new living, then we will be in a "spiritual coma." But many Christians who are genuinely born again are in such a coma. For example, as we said in the first message, the teaching of "going to heaven" can bribe a person's conscience and cause him to have no spiritual feeling or sensation. Suppose a person is born again, but is merely waiting to go to heaven. Meanwhile he lives however he chooses. Is he saved? Yes. Is he truly born again? Yes. But does he realize that he has received the necessity of a new living? No. He is born again, but it's difficult for anyone else to realize that he is born again. It's even difficult for himself to realize that he is born again. Unfortunately, when you talk with many Christians you find out that they are in a spiritual coma. When you ask them, "Are you born again?" they will say, "Yes. I believe in Jesus Christ." But if you ask them, "So how have you changed since then?" they will be perplexed. They won't understand your question. If you explain by asking, "What has happened to you since you were born again? How has your living changed?" they won't know how to answer you. Every life demands a certain kind of living. You cannot say, "I have the human life, but I will live like a dog." That is nonsensical. If you have the human life, it demands a human living. When you are born again, you receive the very life of God. That life within you demands a different kind of living. We should not be in a "spiritual coma." Our living should match the new life that we have received. A New Living of Enjoying Christ What is the new living that we must have, after being born again? It is primarily a living of enjoyment. We who are born again must have a living of enjoying Christ. We must enjoy the riches of our salvation all the time. No Christian should consider himself as a mere church-goer. No Christian should be satisfied with "going to heaven." If we cannot enjoy Christ today, then what is the point of hoping for the future? We should not allow ourselves to be cheated. We were born again so that we would enjoy Christ in our daily living. The Lord would say to us, "The moment you were born again I brought you into a rich enjoyment. Your living should be filled with the rich enjoyment of Christ. Don't wait until the next age. Today, while you are on this earth, you should be in the rich enjoyment I prepared for you. One day the holy city New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven to the earth. Then I will display and exhibit all My riches for eternity. But I do not want you to wait for the New Jerusalem and miss your opportunity now. I want you to have a wonderful foretaste of the New Jerusalem. I want you to enjoy all My riches in your daily living." The Spirit of Reality Will Bring Us into the Enjoyment of Christ The Bible reveals that there is a way for us to enjoy Christ. That way is the Spirit. John 16:13 tells us, "But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality." What will bring us into the reality of the enjoyment of Christ? It is the Spirit of reality, as revealed in John 16:13. This verse continues, "For He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming." This means that the Spirit will constantly unveil to us all the riches of Christ. The Spirit of reality will declare these things to us. If we are in the enjoyment of Christ, then every year we should be a different person. We become different when the riches of this wonderful Christ are constantly unveiled to us by the wonderful Spirit. If we want to enjoy the Lord, we must realize that all the enjoyment is in the Spirit of reality. Using Our Human Spirit to Worship God, Who Is Spirit How do we enter into the enjoyment of Christ, which is in the Spirit of reality? We need to look at another verse. John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." The Lord Jesus said something quite interesting. He said, "Do you know who God is? God is Spirit." God is not in the physical realm. Neither is God in the theoretical realm. God is not a material, nor is He a theory. Then who, or what, is God? According to the Lord Jesus, God is Spirit! Then the Lord said, "Do you want to worship God? If you want to worship God, you need to worship Him in spirit." First, God is Spirit. Second, we are God-created human beings, who also have a spirit. It is in our human spirit that we were born again. John 3:6 tells us, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." We were born again in spirit, and now we must worship God in spirit. No matter how excellent our minds are, no matter how high our IQs are, we can never find God with our minds. Why? Because God is not a theory. God is not found in the mind. When Jesus was on the earth He told us this. He said, "Do you want to know God? God is Spirit. Do you want to worship God? Then you must use your human spirit." What does it mean to worship God? It means to have a deep, personal, and intimate contact with Him. We often misunderstand the true meaning of worship. We may think to worship God means that, since God is so high and we are so low, we must bow down and "worship" God. We think that God, who is the object of our worship, has nothing to do with us. But Jesus told us that God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit. The end result of such a worship is that the two "spirits" - God the Spirit and our human spirit - become one. Worship brings the Spirit and the spirit together. When you worship God, who is Spirit, He is mingled with your spirit. You and God then become one. When we worship God, it does not mean that we are far from Him. It means that we become one with Him. We contact Him, we experience Him, and we enjoy Him. When we worship God in spirit, it means that we enjoy all the riches of Christ. It means that the Spirit of reality operates within our spirit to unveil the Christ to us for our subjective enjoyment. Enjoying Christ as a Living Person In the new living we must have after being born again is one in which we enjoy Christ as a living person. This is what it means to worship God. The enjoyment of Christ takes place in our human spirit. The Lord doesn't want us to enjoy a lot of different moods and feelings. He doesn't want us to enjoy a lot of zeal or excitement. He doesn't even want us to enjoy what we consider to be "blessings." The Lord wants us to enjoy Himself as a living person. We may desire to enjoy those other items, but the Lord would tell us that such things won't last long. He would say, "I don't want to give you good feelings, or excitement, or blessings. I want to give you Myself to enjoy." Have we ever fully realized that we can enjoy the living Christ? As those who are born again, we have received the necessity of a new living. This new living is one of enjoying the person of Christ. Many Christians who are genuinely born again miss this enjoyment. They may enjoy God's care for them, or God's blessing upon them. But they can seldom say, "I enjoy the presence of a living person! Christ Himself is my enjoyment!" We must see that Christ is a living person for us to enjoy. We are not just enjoying an emotion or a kind of excitement. We are enjoying an actual person, Christ Himself. What kind of person is this Christ? In other words, what are the riches of Christ that we may enjoy? The riches of Christ include hundreds of items. We will begin by looking at six items from the Gospel of John. 1. Enjoying Christ as the Lamb of God First, Christ is the Lamb of God. "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). How do we enjoy Christ as the Lamb? We enjoy Him by realizing that all our sins are taken away. All our sins are not merely forgiven and covered, but they are even taken away. This is true not only of the sins we committed yesterday, but even of the sins that we will commit twenty years from now. The sins in our future have already been taken away by the Lord as the Lamb of God. We should all tell the Lord, "Lord, I am so happy. I can enjoy You as the Lamb, as my Redeemer. All my sins have been taken away. Hallelujah! There is nothing left." How about the sins we will commit several years from now? Those sins have already been taken away. We should learn to worship the Lord in our spirit this way. "Praise the Lord, I have the Lamb of God. This Lamb takes away all my sins, not only in the past, not only today, but even in the future. All my sins have been taken care of. The more I enjoy Christ, the more I feel sinless. The more I enjoy Christ, the more I'm released from the burden of sin. The more I enjoy Christ, the more I'm set apart from the world. All the negative things in the universe are taken care of by my enjoyment of the Lamb of God. This is wonderful! Hallelujah!" Even when we tell the Lord, "I love You," we experience Him as the Lamb. The more we say, "Lord Jesus, I love You," and the more we take Him as a person, the more Christ as the Lamb becomes subjective to us. We realize, "Because of the Lamb, I'm so clean, so sanctified, so purified. I have no more sins. I have no more problems." We don't need to pray, "Oh, Lord Jesus, take away this sin," or, "Lord Jesus, help me overcome my sin." We don't need to pray this way; we just need some enjoyment. We were born again to enjoy the living person of Christ. We were born again to enjoy Christ as our Lamb, the very Lamb of God. The more we enjoy this Christ, that is the more we experience the Lamb, the more our sins are taken care of. We should have this experience all the time. When we are so much in the enjoyment of the Lord's presence, we completely forget about our sins. We even forget that we are a sinner. If someone tries to convince us, "You're a sinner," we'll say, "I don't know what you mean. I don't remember that." They might say, "Didn't you behave improperly this morning?" We'll say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot all about that!" "How could you forget about that?" "I don't know, but I'm just with a person. I don't think about my sins and shortcomings. I'm with Christ, the Lamb of God. This person is so holy. When I experience Him, when I enjoy Him, He takes away all the things related to sin." We should all experience such an enjoyment of Christ as the Lamb. 2. Enjoying Christ as Our Friend The second way to enjoy Christ is as a Friend. In John 15:14 the Lord tells us, "You are My friends if you do what I command you." Who is Christ? He is our Friend. What does that mean? It means that we can be frank with Him. When we come to the Lord, we can be so honest and sincere about our true situation. We don't have to hide things from Him. We don't have to "beat around the bush." We can be completely open with Him, because He is our Friend. We can tell Him everything. Unfortunately we often have the concept that the Lord is far above us, observing us, and waiting for us to fall. He has a rod in His hand, and He is ready to punish us if we displease Him. If we come to His presence, His only question will be, "Have you misbehaved? Have you done anything wrong today?" We do not have such a Lord. If we did, we would all be in trouble. But Christ is our Friend. First, He is the Lamb of God, who takes away all our sins. Then, He is our Friend. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we realize that we can open up everything to Him. We don't need to hide anything. Even the worst sin we have, we can tell Him. There may even be things that we can't tell our own family, but we can tell Him. Because He is truly our Friend, we can talk with Him about everything. He has an ear to listen to every problem that we have, whether large or small. That is why 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, "Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you." We can open up everything to the Lord Jesus as our Friend. All of us should practice this. When you are home and have some time, try to open yourself to Him, even if it is just for a few minutes. Tell Him everything. Tell Him even about all the things that you think are too shameful, or too low, or too insignificant. You may think that there are things you cannot tell Him, but that is not true. The more you are aware of such things, the more you should let Him know all about them. You should tell the Lord, "Lord, I'm thankful that You are my Friend, and I can tell You everything. Lord, let me tell You about my problems. Let me tell You about my frustrations." Only you know what your real problems are. If you say that you have no problems, then you must be God Himself. If you are not God, then surely you have problems and anxieties in your daily life. So what can you do? You should learn to enjoy Christ as a living person by opening your whole being to Him with all of your problems. He is your Friend, and He will listen to you. He knows, He understands, and He can fellowship with you and restore you. 3. Enjoying Christ as Our Older Brother We should also enjoy Christ as our older Brother. John 20:17 tells us, "Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God." When Christ was resurrected He became the firstborn Son of God, and we became His many brothers (Rom. 8:29). To say that the Lord is our older Brother means that He is the pioneering one. He has perfected a certain kind of humanity, and we should follow Him. The way He lived, we should also live. This designation of Christ as our older Brother also means that we will become the same as He is. We are being conformed to His image. That means He is a prototype of what we are becoming. Christ today is the image of our future. Someday we will all be exactly the same as this wonderful Christ is today. 4. Enjoying Christ as the Good Shepherd Fourthly, we should enjoy Christ as the good Shepherd. John 10:11 says, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." Then John 10:14 says, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me." When He was on the earth, the Lord's shepherding even reached the point of forsaking His life for us on the cross. Now He is the good Shepherd in the heavenly places. He has ascended and is enthroned with authority, kingship, and lordship. As such a One He is shepherding us today. He shepherds us outwardly by sovereignly arranging our lives. He shepherds us inwardly by ministering Himself to us in the midst of our situations. We don't have to fear or worry about His shepherding, because Christ is a good Shepherd. Our enjoyment of Christ as our Shepherd should bring us peace. We don't need to be so anxious or be concerned about so many things. We don't need to worry so much about our future, or about our marriage, or about our job, or about our education. The Lord is on the throne, and He is our good Shepherd. There is no need to worry. If we know such a wonderful Christ, we will truly worship Him. "Lord, I worship You for being such a great and wonderful Shepherd! My life is in Your hands, and I can entrust myself to You." 5. Enjoying Christ as the Builder of the Body The fifth way we should enjoy Christ is as the Builder. "Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). What is the Lord building? He is building the temple. The temple that the Lord is speaking of in this verse is not the physical temple in Jerusalem, but the temple of His body. He said clearly, "If you destroy this temple, I will raise it up in three days." Christ was resurrected with a physical body. Then in resurrection, the Lord as the Spirit was dispensed into us. Now all of us are His Body, the mystical Body of Christ. We are now the building materials for the Lord to build us up together. This means that we should not have an individualistic Christian life. The more we enjoy the Lord, the more we will be built up in the Body of Christ. The building of the Body should not be by our human effort. It is not a matter of saying to each other, "I want to be built up with you." Although it is good to say this, if we really want to be built up together we should enjoy the person of Christ. He is the Builder of His Body. The more we enjoy Christ as a living person in our spirit, the more we are built into the Body of Christ. The more we labor on Christ, enjoy the person of Christ, and spend time in the Lord's presence, the more we will be one with all the other members of the Body. The building of the Body of Christ takes place through our enjoyment of the Builder Himself. We don't have to make up our minds and struggle to be built up. We can be built up with others simply by enjoying the living person of Christ, the Builder of the Body. 6. Enjoying Christ as the Bridegroom Finally, we should enjoy Christ as the Bridegroom. John 3:29 quotes John the Baptist, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full." As we are being built up as the Body, we are also being prepared as His Bride. We are going to marry Him. The more we enjoy the living person of Christ, the more we should have the sense that we are being betrothed to Him. Suppose we are spending time in the Lord's presence. We may begin to pray, "O Lord Jesus, I love You. O Lord, I love You so much. I just want to give You my whole being. O Lord Jesus, I belong to You. You are so satisfying. You are so nourishing. You are so strengthening. You are so wonderful, so fresh, and so sweet." When we pray in such a way, we surely feel, "I'm going to marry this One! I'm going to marry this wonderful Bridegroom, Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!" By enjoying the Lord Jesus as a living person in our spirit, we are being prepared to marry Him. Conclusion We need to remember that God is Spirit. If we want to worship Him, we must worship Him in spirit. The Spirit we enjoy is also the Spirit of reality, who is bringing us into all the reality. He is unveiling all the riches of Christ to us. All the riches of Christ are in our spirit. In our spirit there is no ritual, or form, or religious practice. In our spirit we enjoy a living person. We enjoy Him as the Lamb. All our sins are taken care of. We enjoy Him as our Friend. We can tell Him all our problems. We enjoy Him as our older Brother. We are going to be the same as He is. We enjoy Him as the good Shepherd. He is the sovereign One who arranges every step of our lives, and we can trust Him. We enjoy Him as the Builder, who is building us into His Body and into the practical church life. And finally, we enjoy Him as the Bridegroom. We are going to marry Him. The more we fellowship over these points, the more our spirits will be stirred up. Oh, we really have a wonderful Christ! Our Christ is so lovely, so enjoyable, and so real! He is the Lamb, He is our Friend, He is our older Brother, He is our Shepherd, He is the Builder, and He is the Bridegroom! When we enjoy Him this way, we realize we have no more problems and we have no more difficulties. We don't have to make an effort to do anything. We were not born again so that we would have to struggle so hard. We were born again into a living of enjoyment. We can enjoy Christ as everything to us. We must surely worship the Lord. May we all tell the Lord how much we love Him and enjoy Him! "We love You, Lord! In the whole universe we don't want to care for anyone or anything else. We only want to care for You. Lord, may You gain us completely for Yourself. Thank You for all that You are to us! Thank You that we can know You and enjoy You as such a wonderful living person!" To purchase the book Born Again