THE RESTORATION
OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF LIFE
1) By the confession of sins—“If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Thank God that although our fellowship of life with Him can be broken, it can also be restored. If we are willing to confess our sins to God according to His shining, He will forgive us and cleanse us from our sins. This is according to His faithfulness based on His word and according to His righteousness because of the Lord’s blood in order that our fellowship of life with Him may be restored.
IX. THE FELLOWSHIP OF LIFE NEEDING TO BE MAINTAINED BY THE SENSE OF LIFE
1) The Lord’s life in us not only has its fellowship but also has its sense. This sense of life is for the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life is maintained in the sense of life. Whenever we neglect the sense of life, the fellowship of life is broken and lost, and the sense of life thus becomes dull.
2) If we will once again care for and obey this dull sense of life, the fellowship of life will be restored, even deepened, and the sense of life will also be keener. These two—the sense of life and the fellowship of life—reciprocally affect each other in a continuous cycle, causing the believers to grow in life.
X. THE DANGER TO A BELIEVER NOT LIVING
IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF LIFE
1) Losing the supply and function of life and suffering loss—“Every branch in Me [the Lord] that does not bear fruit, He [God] takes it away” (John 15:2); “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6).
If a saved person, who is a branch of the Lord, the vine, does not bear fruit, he will be taken away. The reason for his fruitlessness is that he does not abide in the Lord, in the fellowship of His life. Hence, he is taken away, cast out, dried up, gathered, and cast into the fire to be burned. If we do not abide in the Lord and live in the fellowship of life, we will run a great risk of being cut off from the Lord and of losing our supply and function, thus suffering loss. However, this is not to perish but to suffer loss, to be punished (1 Cor. 3:15), because here the Lord is not speaking about the conditions of salvation but about the conditions of fruitbearing.
2) Being fearful and put to shame—“Abide in Him [the Lord], that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
If we abide in the Lord and have fellowship with Him, we spontaneously walk before the Lord and live in His will. This will cause us to have boldness and not be put to shame at the Lord’s coming. Otherwise, when we see Him, we will be in fear and will be put to shame, being separated from His presence. Such danger should warn us to live in the fellowship of the Lord’s life.
OBEYING THE SENSE OF LIFE
When we believe into Christ and are joined to Him in life, His life in us produces a sense of life, which we who are joined to Him, who are one spirit with Him, and who experience Him must pay attention to and obey in our spiritual life.
I. WHAT THE BELIEVERS HAVE ONCE THEY ARE SAVED
In order to obey the sense of life, we must know the six items which we have once we are saved.
A. The Light of Life
1) “He who has the Son has the life” (1 John 5:12); “The life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
The moment we receive the Son of God as our Savior, we have the Son of God and we have the life, because the life is in Him (1 John 5:11). This life is the light of men. Therefore, since we have this life, we also have the light of life illuminating us within.
B. God’s Laws Inscribed on the Heart
1) “I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them” (Heb. 8:10).
In the Old Testament God’s laws were written on tablets of stone outside of man. In the New Testament, God imparts, or puts, His laws into our mind within us and inscribes them on our hearts. This is accomplished through God imparting His life to us and putting it inside of us, that the law within His life may become the law of our heart and of our mind. A law is not necessarily a life, but a life surely is a law with an innate ability and function. Furthermore, the higher the life, the higher the law of this life. Since the life of God within us is the highest life, this life in us is not merely a law, but the highest law with the highest innate ability and function. Once we are saved and have the life of God, we have this law of life inscribed on our hearts.
C. The Law of the Spirit of Life
1) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2).
The Spirit of life is the Spirit of God in our spirit. Since the Spirit of God is of life, His law must also be of life. This is the law of the Spirit of life. Hence, the law of the Spirit of life and the aforementioned laws written on our hearts are related and are one. That the laws are written on our hearts indicates that these laws are in life, the emphasis being on the function of life. The law of the Spirit of life indicates that the law of life within us is of the Holy Spirit, who is in our spirit, the emphasis being on the function of the Holy Spirit. As soon as we are saved, we have both.
D. God Operating Within
1) “...God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
Once we are saved, God comes to live in us and to operate in us that we may will within and work without to fulfill His good pleasure.
E. Christ Living Within
1) “Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
Once we are saved, we also have Christ living in us as life. His living in us is both effectual and active.
F. The Anointing Within
1) “The anointing which you received from Him [the Son with the Father] abides in you” (1 John 2:27).
In the Bible the anointing oil refers to the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18). As soon as we are saved God anoints us with His Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21-22). The anointing is the inward moving of the Holy Spirit, with whom we are anointed. The moving of the Holy Spirit is like an ointment anointing us within, causing us to sense God’s mind and teaching us in all things.
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