《Central Messages》

CONTENTS：

CENTRAL MESSAGES

  1. Preface

THE OVERCOMING LIFE

  1. The Overcoming Life

A TWO-SIDED TRUTH

  1. A Two-Sided Truth

A PRAYER FOR REVELATION

  1. Preface
  2. A Prayer for Revelation

CHRIST IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

  1. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Chapter One)
  2. Christ is the Resurrection and the Life (Chapter Two)
  3. Christ is the Bread of Life and the Light of Life (Chapter Three)
  4. Christ is the "I Am" (Chapter Four)
  5. Christ is the Rock of the Church

CHRIST IS ALL SPIRITUAL MATTERS AND THINGS

  1. Introduction
  2. Christ is God's Matters and Things (Chapter Four)
  3. Christ Only—Not Matters or Things (Chapter Five)

CHRIST BECOMING OUR WISDOM

  1. Christ Becoming Our Wisdom

CHRIST IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

  1. The Righteousness of God (Chapter One)
  2. Christ Becoming Our Righteousness (Chapter Two)
  3. We Are the Righteousness of God (Chapter Three)

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND REALITY

  1. Introduction
  2. The Holy Spirit and Reality
  3. Appendix: Obsession and God's Light

PREFACE

"The Lord burdened and commissioned Watchman Nee with a specific testimony of Christ in His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, return, and kingdom. His ministry, therefore, was focused on Christ's death and resurrection for the producing of the church in life to experience the victory of Christ that His kingdom might by ushered in. For this reason, he considered messages on these matters as the central messages. His burden to hold the overcomer conferences and to publish The Present Testimony was to present such central messages. He also translated books in this same category into Chinese" (excerpt from Watchman Nee—A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age by Witness Lee, pp. 254-255, published by Living Stream Ministry).

In Volume 36 we have collected eight books by Watchman Nee that match the description given above. The first three chapters in the book Christ Is the Way, the Truth, and the Life are identical to the first three chapters in the book Christ Is All Spiritual Matters and Things. Therefore, only chapters four and five of the latter book have been printed.

THE OVERCOMING LIFE

Last Lord's Day, we saw that it is possible for every Christian to have a life that is perfect [see "The Extent of the Believer's Salvation," Collected Works, Volume 8]. It is possible for him to have a pure conscience, a clean heart, and to be anxious for nothing. It is possible for his mind to be single and undistracted. It is possible for him to obey God and love Him absolutely. It is possible for him to overcome whatever peculiar physical constitution he has, and to present his members as weapons of righteousness to God unto sanctification. Every Christian can reach the point where he can say that he is crucified with Christ and that it is no longer he who lives, but Christ who lives in him. This is possible and attainable. Today I will speak on another subject, which is the way to obtain the overcoming life.

I. THE LIFE CHRIST LIVED WHILE HE WAS ON EARTH

When Christ lived on the earth, He was absolutely obedient to God. He had absolutely no love for the world, and He did not speak or walk according to His own will. He never allowed any temptation to overcome Him, and He never sinned. He was obedient to God unto death. This was the life of Christ.

But how about us? Have we obeyed God absolutely? No. Have we denied our self-will completely? No. Are we sinless? No. Are we totally free from the love of the world? We may not love the world outwardly, but our heart loves it secretly. Has anyone here never been shaken by any temptation? No. This is terrible! According to the Bible, a Christian should obey God absolutely. He should not love the world or go along with his own will. He should not sin at all or be shaken by any temptation. But brothers and sisters, both you and I have to confess that this is impossible! We have been Christians for more than one or two years. Some of us may even have been Christians for three, four, or five years. Where have we been successful during these years? We often repent, feel remorseful, or even weep. But where is our victory?

We know the standard of a Christian set forth in the Bible. We must absolutely deny our self, we must be righteous as God is righteous, and we must pursue after the kingdom with singleness of heart. But what is our real condition? We often sin, our hearts are unclean, and we still lose our temper. We love the world secretly, and we are controlled by our lusts. We do not like to read the Bible or pray, and sometimes we almost think that it would be better if we were not Christians at all.

The Bible says that we "ought to," but we say that we "cannot." Truly, we always "ought to," but it is also true that we forever "cannot." Can we lower the standard of God's truth? Can we say that it is all right for us to sin just once? Can we say that some should love God, obey God, deny themselves, and be holy, but that this standard is not necessarily for everyone, but only for a few special ones?

Brothers and sisters, we have seen that although we cannot make it in ourselves, there is One who has made it. This One is Christ. We ought to be perfect, but we cannot be perfect. Yet Christ has made it; He is perfect. This shows us three things:

(1) The standard which God has set for our living is something which every Christian should be able to achieve.

(2) However, we cannot meet this standard.

(3) Throughout history, only one person made it—Christ.

Do we believe that we cannot make it? Yes. Do we believe that Christ has made it? Yes. All of us must admit that we ought to make it, but we cannot. However, we also must admit that Christ has made it all the way to perfection. What then does this mean? A standard of living that is according to God can only be lived out by God. This is true because God is higher than we are. But this would be true even if God were lower than us; there must be the same kind of life in order to have the same kind of living. Only a bird can live a bird's life, and only a beast can live a beast's life. Therefore, only God can live God's life. Since Christ is God, only He can live out God's life.

II. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE SPOKEN OF IN THE BIBLE

Philippians 1:21 says, "To me, to live is Christ." Does it say that to live is to be like Christ? No. Does it say that to live is to imitate Christ? No. Does it say that to live is to make Christ our pattern and example, and to follow Christ? No. It says, "To me, to live is Christ." It is absolutely useless to imitate or to do good. Even if we can read the Bible, pray, live a good life, and pursue diligently, as long as we have a wrong life, we will still end up with a wrong living. We may yearn, weep, repent, and pray to God, "God, I really want to obey You," but there is something basically wrong with us—we have a wrong life.

God has not merely put Christ on the cross to die for us; He has made Christ our life. Brothers and sisters, please be clear that God has no intention that we live the Christian life in such a difficult way. God wants us to be Christians, but He has no intention that we be like monkeys who are taught to put on clothes, to eat, and to move around. For a monkey to imitate a man is a great suffering. It would prefer to be a monkey rather than learn how to be a man. God has no intention of dealing with us in this way.

We have no taste for reading the Bible even for five minutes. Yet we have considerable interest in reading other books. We get nothing from our prayer. Yet if we do not pray, our conscience condemns us. We cannot give up the world. Yet we have no peace when we love the world. It is truly difficult to be a Christian, and it is impossible to live as God does. What a suffering this is! Yet it is good that we can still suffer, because this proves that we are still on the right path. If you do not feel any suffering at all, I feel sorry for you, because this means that you have left the proper path.

The world's temptations are often great, yet we have nothing to say about them because we are inwardly touched by them, and we can only sympathize with others for being the same. When we see a person giving himself to the Lord, turning his back on the world, and turning to God to obey Him, we think how wonderful it would be if we could do the same. So we make an effort to try again, only to realize the suffering related to the attempt. Brothers and sisters, it would indeed be a great suffering if God required that we be such a Christian. How can one succeed when the standard is so high? It is cruel to ask a five-year-old child to lift a three- hundred-pound burden. It would be inhuman to ask a child to bear a ten-thousand-pound weight. Yet asking a Christian to live a life that belongs only to God involves a greater suffering than asking a five-year-old child to bear a three- hundred or ten-thousand-pound weight.

Many times we make an effort to try. We try to suffer through it, or not exercise a craving for it. But we find ourselves committing one sin after another. We have not finished repenting before the things for which we repented come back. While our tears are still wet, the things for which we shed tears come back. Brothers and sisters, it would be wonderful if we believed that we cannot make it. God does not want us to try. The Bible says that the life God gives is not a life which falls and repents over and over again. It is a life in which "to me, to live is Christ." It is a life in which the Lord Jesus lives within us and out of us.

Mary gave the Lord a body, and through this body the Lord manifested the life of God. In the same way, we should give ourselves to the Lord and receive Him into us. When we do this, He will make us live a life that is the same as His.

Brothers and sisters, a Christian does not need to try or imitate in order to be holy, to deny the self, to love the Lord singleheartedly, and to obey Him absolutely, because God has prepared Christ for us. This is the full salvation. God has appointed Christ to do two things. On the one hand, Christ has kept the law for us. On the other hand, He inwardly empowers us to keep God's law. On the one hand, He died for us, and on the other hand, He lives for us. He accomplished salvation for us at Golgotha and applies this accomplishment at Golgotha in us. At Golgotha, He justified us. Now He lives within us to enable us to live righteously. Not only has He obeyed God, but He now lives in us to enable us also to obey God. Not only has He done things on our behalf, but He is now doing things within us.

Here we see the importance of resurrection. Paul said, "And if Christ has not been raised...you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17). He did not say that the record of our sins was still present; Christ has died, and the record of our sins has been removed. But if Christ had not resurrected, we would still be in our sins, and our salvation would only be a half salvation. In our preaching of the gospel, we often compare the act of sin to owing a debt; Christ is like a rich friend whose death repays our debt. This, of course, is right, and it is the gospel. But unfortunately, this is only a half salvation. It is true that the Lord Jesus has paid our debt, but we must ask if He has done more than just pay our debt. Will we not incur any more debt? Since He has cleared our old debt, will we incur new debts? If we continue to incur more debt that our Friend has to take care of, even though what we once owed has been paid by our Friend, is our salvation only a half salvation? Is God's salvation all about continuing to owe, even though our Friend has paid our debt, and continuing to sin, even though Christ has died for us?

Oh, God's salvation is the Lord Jesus dying for us at Golgotha and living within us. He has paid all our debts, and He lives in us so that we do not have to be in debt anymore. God has not saved us from hell merely to go to heaven. He has saved us to the extent that Christ becomes our life. If we only receive half of this salvation, we will surely suffer and not have the joy of salvation. Jesus Christ is our life. God does not say that a Christian should do this and do that. Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Paul was able to bear all the beatings and persecutions, pass through all kinds of danger, and be imprisoned in Jerusalem and sent to Rome because Christ lived in him. He was not trying to be like Christ, nor was he imitating Christ. He was what he was because Christ was living in him. Otherwise, he would not have been able to live the way he did. Just as a monkey cannot become a man, a Christian cannot learn to be "like Christ."

Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure." Verse 1:21 tells us about Paul's personal experience. These two verses tell us what every Christian can experience.

When some people read, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," they think that salvation is something to be worked out. Therefore, they make up their minds to rise up early to read the Bible and to be zealous to testify to others. But they fail because they have forgotten the words in verse 13 which say, "For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure." Since the word "for" denotes a cause, "Work out your own salvation" in verse 12 is only a result.

In our daily lives we mainly do two things: (1) will (decide)—this is an inward resolution, and (2) act (work)—this is outward behavior. All our living is composed of these two things. Inwardly we plan, and outwardly we speak and act. We are able to will and work because God operates in us. This verse does not say that we should will and work; it says that God is operating in our hearts until we are able to will and work. God's operation is God's working. God works in our hearts until we are able to will and work. Since God has already worked in, we are able to work out. If nothing is worked in, nothing can be worked out.

We often tell God, "O God, I am willing to obey You absolutely. But this is extremely difficult. I do not want to love the world. But this is extremely difficult. I do not want to go along with my self. But this is extremely difficult." There is a way of deliverance; God can work in us to the point that we are able to obey Him absolutely. He is able to work to the point that we do not have to love the world and do not have to go along with our selves. Although we are not able in ourselves, God is able to work until we are able.

Full salvation for a Christian is not getting rid of one sin today and another evil tomorrow. Complete salvation means to receive the complete Christ. If you have Christ, you have full salvation. It is most difficult to help a Christian whose eyes are not set on Christ! He looks at what is good and bad about himself. He pays attention to his particular sins, to certain persons who entangle him, and to certain things that attract him. He blames himself and tries to overcome all these. But this is a big mistake. God has no intention that he overcome these things one by one or make things right one by one. God only wants him to receive a complete Christ.

Suppose that a child loves to eat fruit. He may want pears one day and go buy them from an orchard. The next day he may want oranges or bananas and go buy some more. Suppose that he later learns that his father is the owner of the orchard and is giving him the orchard. After he realizes this, his way of eating will be different because all the fruit is his. As Christians, we want to do one thing today and another thing tomorrow. Today we want patience, and tomorrow we want love. This is like the child who buys a pear one day and an orange the next. God wants us to receive the complete Christ. All the things in the "orchard" are ours. If we buy them piece by piece, we will have to buy again and again when we run out.

I am not saying that we do not need to be patient or to have love. We should be patient, and we should love. But if we try to practice these things item by item, we will not succeed. If we do this, day after day we will find ourselves loving the world more and being prouder than before. We should realize that the whole "orchard" is ours. God wants us to have one common goal—the complete Christ. God operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.