Issue of Life - What Is Life? — Stephen Kaung

The Law of the Spirit of Life

Romans chapter 8 verse 2. Romans chapter 8 verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death. 1 John chapter 2 verse 27. 1 John chapter 2 verse 27.

And yourselves, the anointing which ye have received from him abides in you. And ye have not need that anyone should teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Christ as Life and Light

Go back to the gospel according to John chapter 1 verse 4. John chapter 1 verse 4. In him that is in Christ was life, and the life was the light of man. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1.

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God's fear. Galatians chapter 6 verse 17. Galatians chapter 6 verse 17.

For the rest, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus. Finally, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 17 and 18. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 17 and 18. Now the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unfailed faith, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, we are in thy presence, and we do desire that thou wilt quicken thy word to our hearts.

We pray that thy words will truly be life and spirit to us. Deliver us from just hearing the letter of thy word, and not entering into the Spirit. So Lord, we do trust thy Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, and to thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen. Yesterday morning we shared together on this matter of the issue of life. God is a living God. His very nature is life. Therefore you will find that the issue between God and man is none other than the issue of life.

If it is not of life, it is not of God. If it is not of life, then it is not acceptable to God. So you find that from the very beginning to the end of the word of God, it is always this matter of life that is the issue.

God's issue with us and our issue with God is none other than that of life. It is not in teaching, it is not even in doctrine, it is not in organization, it is not in method, it is not in anything else but in life.

That is the issue. Therefore it is of extreme importance that we know what life is. We know that life, because that life is different from any other lives. It is different from the human, natural life.

It is the eternal life, the very life of God, the very nature of God. And it not only has all the attributes that God has, but it is actually God himself, the Son himself. He that has the Son has life.

He that does not have the Son has not life. Now this morning we would like to go a step further to consider together before the Lord on this matter of the law of life. You know, every kind of life carries with it a nature.

And that nature of life actually is its law. We think of natural law as the physical law around us. For instance, we live upon this planet and we find ourselves under the force of the law of gravitation.

We are being pulled to the center of the earth all the time. There is a physical law and we call these physical laws natural laws. Now that is true because God the Creator, he has put these laws in the physical universe.

We must remember that there is not only the external as it were, physical laws around us, but we find that there is an inward law that is within us. There is a model or metaphysical law, if we want to use that word, that God has put within us.

So the natural law is not just referred to the physical laws. Natural law also refers to that inward law, the law that we are born with. It is the law of nature, whether it is the nature around us or whether it is the nature within us.

So our consideration before the Lord this morning is not regarding the external law that surrounds us, but it is the law of life, the law of nature, the natural law that we have inherited. And this is the law that we would like to share together this morning.

Natural Law in Creation

Now every life has its nature or its law. For instance a bird. A bird is born with the nature of flying. And flying actually is its law. For a bird to fly is natural, is right. For a bird not to fly is unnatural and is not right.

You know, life grows according to its natural law. If you are against that natural law, you suffer for it. But if you follow that natural law, you grow according to it. And the same thing is true with a fish.

A fish is born with the nature of swimming. And swimming is the law of the life of a fish. If you take a fish out of the water, it dies. And the same thing is true with us human beings. Now we have to go back a little bit to understand this natural law that is within us.

Adam, Sin, and the Law of Death

For when God created man, he created man with a soul. Man is a living soul. Man has a personality, soul life, or we may say soulical life. But that soul life that God has given to man when he was created is neither holy nor sinful.

In other words, it is neutral. Think of Adam. When he was first created and put in the garden of Eden, before he fell into temptation, so far as his life is concerned, that is his natural life is concerned, it is neutral.

He is not holy, but neither is he sinful, because he hasn't committed sin yet. But then you find the unfortunate thing happened in the garden. Adam fell into sin. And because Adam fell into sin, sin entered into his life and reigns over him.

You find that life, natural life, is a sinful life. That natural life of Adam under the law of sin and of death. The natural law of sin and of death. In other words, in Adam, in that life, there is that natural law.

It is natural to that life. And that natural law is the law of sin and of death. And this is not only true to Adam, but this is true to all who are in Adam. That is to say, we who inherit from Adam his life, we also receive from him that natural law that governs that life.

And that natural law is the law of sin and of death. That is the reason why you find in 1 Corinthians 15, it says, in Adam all died. We who are in Adam, we who live by that Adamic life, we need to remember that that life is governed by a natural law.

Just like our physical body is governed by the law of gravitation. But there is an inward law within us that governs, that rules over that natural life of Adam. And it is the law of sin and of death. They ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And we always judge people according to that knowledge. Some sons, we are all Adam's sons. And Adam's sons you'll find, with some people they are more evil than good. With other people they are more good than evil.

And with some people there seems to be an equal amount of good and evil. And we always judge people that this man is good, that man is evil, or the other man is so-so, you know, we always judge in that way.

In other words, we judge people by good and evil. And this good and evil actually is according to the knowledge of good and evil. Some people we consider them as good. Why? Because according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he seems to be good.

And to other people we think he is evil because according to the same tree we feel he is evil. But the good that we consider acceptable by God. In other words, you'll find even the good in Adam is bad in the eyes of God.

That is the reason why we cannot be justified by our good works. Because our righteousness is all before God as filthy rags. They cannot cover our nakedness. They cannot satisfy God's righteousness. To God it is no good at all.

But to man we say it is good because we judge by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now so long as we are in the realm of good and evil, we find we are under the law of death and of sin. The good that we want to do, we cannot do.

Why? Because we are under the law of death. The evil that we know we shouldn't do, we do it. Why? Because we are under the law of sin. Remember that we who are in our natural state is hopeless and helpless.

Now what is the law? Something that definite way. Given it the same condition. Regardless of time. For instance the law of gravitation. It is a law. Why? Because that law always acts in the same way. Whether it was in the first century or whether it is now in the twentieth century.

Whether it is in London or it is in Santa Barbara. Whoever drops a thing, you may be a white, you may be black, you may be a yellow. But if you drop something it goes down. Now that is a law. The law of gravitation.

It disregards any person. There is no partiality there. It is universal. And so long as you are on this planet earth, that is the way it will act. Now that's a law. Now brothers and sisters, do you know that you are under that law?

Romans 7 and Bondage to the Flesh

After he has believed in the Lord Jesus, he experienced such thing. But dear brothers and sisters, actually it is not essential. Whether you think of Romans 7 as applied to Paul's experience as a Pharisee in the past, or whether you apply it to Paul as one who has met the Lord, it makes no difference.

Why? Because as long as you live in the flesh, that law of sin of death operates. Before your conversion or after your conversion, it is exactly the same. The law. And by the law here is the commandments.

You know we have the commandments. And here is a man who knows the commandments. And of all the commandments, there is one commandment. You know ten commandments? There is one among the ten that really governs our inward desire.

All the other commandments may be applied externally. But there is one commandment of the ten that deals with the inward, and that is thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not be greedy. And sure enough you'll find this man is bothered by this one commandment.

But the law in Romans 7 does not refer to the commandments. Romans 7 refers to the inward law. The law of nature and of death. Now the commandments, they give the occasion for the inward natural law to work.

The commandments are holy, righteous, spiritual. But unfortunately that man is fleshly, is carnal. And therefore you'll find the inward natural law of Adam takes the advantage of the holy, righteous, spiritual commandment and attack that man.

To make sin more sinful and death more deadly. In Romans 7 you'll find it is a battle between the will and the law. There is a good will. I want to be good. I want to please God. I do not want to be greedy.

Any man is of a strong will. Certainly Paul is one of them. He has an iron will. So here you'll find he is exercising his will to fight against a law. The law of sin and of death. I will not do, I should not do.

But I will do everything that I must do. And he starts out to do it. He may be able to succeed for a little while. You know if you hold this Bible, this Bible is a very small one. It doesn't weigh too much.

I carried it because it's light. Certainly I can hold up this Bible for an hour. My arm, my will, I would tell my arm, hold it. Do not let it be dropped. And I can do it for an hour. But after an hour my arm began to ache.

And I began to shake. And maybe after an hour and a half my arm dropped and the Bible go down to the floor. The law of gravitation. Your will cannot conquer a law. No matter how strong your will is, you cannot conquer a law.

Because a law never changes. It is permanent. Perpetual. It is always there. Asserting its force. Never ceasing. And that's the reason why you cannot fight against a law. That law operates because in Romans 7 you find that man is living in the flesh.

Not in the bad flesh, but in the good flesh. That man has enough sense to reject that which is bad of the flesh. But that man doesn't have the sense of seeing that the good of the flesh is still flesh.

It is still of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And it is still under the law of sin and of death. And because he does not see it, therefore he fights against that law as if he does not belong to that law.

And the result is failure. Defeat. Until one day he discovered, O wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death. Until one day he confessed that in me, that is in my flesh, there is no good.

And when that day comes, the deliverance comes. Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So brothers and sisters, here we discover one thing. And that is, we who are in Adam, we who live according to the flesh, or after you are saved, as long as you live in the flesh.

As long as you consider that there is still some good in your flesh. As long as you try to use the good of your flesh to please God. You will find eventually, not only the good is bound by death, but the evil will also come forth.

In other words, you will fall into sin. There is no hope to Adam. In Adam all died. But in Christ, all have received life. So here you find the salvation is in Christ Jesus. We thank God that our Lord Jesus came into this world.

And when he came, he brought another life into this world. In him was life. And as we mentioned yesterday, through the cross, through death and resurrection, he has released that life to us. And as we believe and receive him, we receive that life.

New Life in Christ

Today, dear brothers and sisters, we are in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 it says, By God ye are in Christ Jesus. Do you know that as you believe in the Lord Jesus, not only his life has entered into you and become your life, but at the same time God has put you into Christ.

So today we are in Christ Jesus. In Adam we all died. But in Christ Jesus we all live. We live by a new life now. And thank God, just as the old life carries an old nature and is under an old law, so this new life that we have received today, carries with it a new nature.

And it is given by a new law. Now what is this new law? This new law is called in the scripture the law of the spirit of life. In Christ, the law of the spirit of life that operates. In Adam, it is the law of sin and death that operates.

When we are on this planet earth, the law of gravitation operates. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you are under the law of gravitation. Because you are on this planet earth. But suppose you go into outer space, and people are going into outer space.

You escape the law of gravitation. Because in outer space, the law of gravitation does not exist. You float. You are under a higher law that operates in the outer space. But suppose you return to earth, then what happens?

You find that the law of gravitation again exerts its force upon you. You cannot escape that. The only way to escape is permanently stay in outer space. Then you escape that law altogether. But unfortunately, men always come back to earth.

Now spiritually, it is the same thing. Brothers and sisters, there are two realms. One realm is in Adam. And the other realm is in Christ. You are under the law of sin and of death. And there is no escape.

Sometimes you wonder why. We are saved. We know we are saved. We are sure we are saved. We know that we have the life of Christ in us. But sometimes we wonder why is it, why is it that we find ourselves still under the law of sin and of death.

We cannot do what we should do. We do what we should not do. Old wretched man, we cry out, why? Sometimes we even wonder whether we are saved. We think if we are saved, it shouldn't be that way. Brothers and sisters, it is very simple.

Abiding in Christ

You need to abide in Christ. It is true that God has put you in Christ. This is your position. But if you do not remain in that position, abide simply means make your home there. If you do not stay in your new home, if you return to your old residence, then you will find the old law.

It is upon you. And there is no escape. So the secret is to abide in Christ. Abiding is a daily thing. Abiding is a daily experience. Important therefore for us believers, knowing that we are in Christ Jesus, thank God for that, that we should live permanently in that position.

Abiding. Now how do we abide in Christ? I remember many years ago we had a young people's conference. And during that conference I asked the young people a question. I said how do we abide in Christ? And these young people gave me different answers.

Some said you abide in Christ by praying. If you pray then you abide in Christ. Others say you abide in Christ by reading the scripture. And all kinds of different answers. Now brothers and sisters, how do we abide in Christ?

We want to live under the law of the spirit of life. We must abide in Christ. But how do we abide in him? There is one verse that gave us the secret. It is the key of abiding. And that's 1 John 1 verse 27.

And yourselves the anointing or the unction which ye have received from him abides in you. And ye have not need that anyone should teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you as to all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him.

The Indwelling Holy Spirit and the Anointing

Now thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, you know God does this so much for us. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, he has not only given us a new life, his own life, uncreated life, a life that is released through Christ Jesus, available, receivable.

And this life of Christ is now in us as our life. But at the same time you'll find when we are saved, God has quickened our dead spirit. You know because of sin our spirit as an organ was dead so far as God is concerned.

But when we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God will quicken our dead spirit and make it living, becoming a new spirit. And then the Holy Spirit will come and dwell in our spirit. Now brothers and sisters, this is what happens to you.

Lots of things happen at the same time. You receive a new life, receive a new spirit, and you receive the indwelling Holy Spirit. Not only a new spirit, your spirit is renewed, that is, it is made alive unto God.

You can commune with God now, but then you'll find the Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in your new spirit. And the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Life. In other words, He is there in charge of that life.

We do not know how to handle that life, you know. So God gives us the Holy Spirit to abide in us. In other words, to make His home in us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is always here. He abides in you, in your spirit, in your new spirit.

He makes His home there. And He is to manage this new life for you because you do not know how to manage this new life. He is called the Spirit of Life. And when the Spirit operates, the law is life. Whenever the Spirit operates, it brings in life.

You know, in John 14 -16, our Lord Jesus tells His disciples about the coming of the Comforter, another Comforter. And when the Spirit of Truth shall come, He will reveal Christ to you. He will guide you into all truth.

He will take what is of Christ and He will make it known and make it real to you. Now that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in charge of this new life. He is to bring to your knowledge and experience of this new life.

He is to exert this new law upon you. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Just like the law of sin and death is a law, so the Spirit of Life is also a law. It never changes. If you are in Adam, the law operates.

The Spirit of Life operates. Just as natural, naturally natural. Sometimes we think of our Christian life very unnatural. Before we believe in the Lord Jesus, we live a natural life. That is, we live naturally, we commit sin is a natural thing, to do good is unnatural, we find it very difficult, and we always go the easy way, and we live a natural life.

But after we got saved, brothers and sisters, do you discover you begin to live an unnatural life? Why? Because you try to live a Christian life by your Adamic life. And that is very unnatural. And it is so unnatural that after you become a Christian for a year, you begin to be very tense.

And two years you got nervous. And maybe three years you broke down. It is so unnatural, you know. And some people even think that everything you have to pray, therefore, when you eat, you know, you have to pray, Lord, should I eat one serving or two servings.

If you try to live in that way, my, the strain upon you is great. But remember, spiritual life is natural. It is supernaturally natural. It is spontaneous, effortless. It is something that you have exerted.

There is an effort, self-made effort. But the law does not make any effort. It is just there. It is spontaneous. It is always so. It never changes. Brothers and sisters, do we see this? Do we see that as naturally we live in Adam, so now as supernaturally natural we shall live in Christ?

This is what Christian life is all about. If we live in the flesh, we are under the law of sin. But if we live according to the Spirit, then you will find the law of the Spirit of life. Thank God the Holy Spirit is so faithful.

As one brother said, He is your resident boss. He is so faithful. And He teaches you in all things. He is always there, big things and small things. And whatever He teaches is true and is not a lie. Brothers and sisters, how do we abide in Christ?

Obey the teaching of the anointing and you abide in Christ. Follow the Holy Spirit and you abide in Christ. The mind of the flesh is death. If you mind the flesh, it is death. If you mind the Spirit, it is life and peace.

Do according to the teaching of the anointing. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is within us as the anointing. In other words, He is always there anointing us. And when He applies that anointing, there is a soothing feeling, peaceful feeling.

He is always telling us what is of God, what is of life. It is not a matter of good and evil. You know, Christians should not be governed just by good and evil. Christians should be governed by a higher law, life or death.

Many things are good, but they are dead. That is the criteria. And the Spirit of life is always there working, bringing life into us. And as you obey the Holy Spirit, life comes. And more life, more obeying the Holy Spirit.

It is a cycle. And that is the way you grow. You grow naturally, supernaturally natural in the Holy Spirit. I want to quote to you something written by beloved Austin Sparks. When he tries to explain something, he always uses big words, but if you understand it, you always go to the very heart of it.

The Law of Life as an Established Principle

Now here is what he says about that law. A law is a fixed and established principle. It has potentialities. It means that if you are adjusted to it and governed by it, certain results are inevitable. That the potentialities which it contains will most surely find expression when that law is established.

So that what we have here is that the mark of things being of God, the Holy Spirit, is life. If anything is of God, the Holy Spirit, it will live. It itself characterizes, key characteristic will be life.

That is a law, an established principle. But there is another thing we must notice at the outset. This is that in a matter of life as a fixed principle, the life is in Christ Jesus. We come to see that life is in all its manifold expressions in Christ Jesus.

To know life, we must know Him. We must understand Him. The law of the spirit of life is so important. We need to know it. How do we come to know this law? We come to know this law by its expressions, by its manifestations.

In other words, wherever this law of the spirit of life works, you will find certain expressions. And by these expressions, you know that law is operating. So brothers and sisters, this is where you need to watch.

Light and Revelation

First of all, when the law of the spirit of life is working, it always brings in light, revelation, enlightenment. The spirit of God is the spirit of wisdom and revelation, who reveals that which He has taken from the Son.

He reveals the Son in us. This is the very nature of the Holy Spirit, revealing. He is the spirit of wisdom and revelation. In 1 John chapter 1 verse 5 it says, God is light and there is no darkness in Him.

In James chapter 1 verse 17 it says, He is the father of light. There is no variation nor shadow of turning. In other words, our God is perfect light. There is no darkness, there is no variation, there is no shade, there is no shadow with Him.

That is our God. That is His life. Then you find when the Lord Jesus came into this world, He said in Him was life and the life was the light of man. There is light there. He lives a life full of light.

In other words, you will find He always knows the Father's will. He always does the Father's will. Whenever somebody comes to His presence, what is inside that person is revealed. He is transparent. He does not hide anything from Him.

He is deep, but no hiding. He is very open, but there is no foolishness there. He does not have two faces. He never pretends. He is always true. He is light. He is light. When you find that God is light, our Lord Jesus, during His days on earth, lived a life of light.

And the Holy Spirit today, who dwells in us, is to bring us into that very light. So whenever the law of the Spirit of light works, you find it always brings in revelation. Light and light. You know we live in darkness.

The whole world is darkness. Consider as light rational knowledge. We are darkness, not light. There is a verse in Isaiah that I like very much. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 11. Because it does tell of our situation.

Isaiah 50 verse 11. In other words, we surround ourselves with the fire that we ourselves kindle. We think we are walking in the light. Whether it is tradition, whether it is reasoning, we walk in the light.

But remember, this is the fire that we kindle ourselves. And the result is, we lie down in sorrow. There is only one place where we can get light. In Psalm 36, it says, in thy light shall we see light.

Brothers and sisters, it is only when we come to the Lord, to His life, and His life will shine upon us and expose everything. You know in Ephesians it is said, things, it is light that exposes everything and reveals the true character of all things.

When the Spirit of life is operating, invariably you will find there will be light and revelation and enlightenment. It will expose everything of its true character. It will judge everything. It will slay everything.

But at the same time, it will heal. It will heal. You know in our Christian life, if anything is not from revelation, if anything does not come by revelation, by the Holy Spirit revealing to us, nothing lives.

You may have the best in understanding mentally. You may memorize the verses and know them by heart as it were, but not by heart, by your brain. You will find nothing living. Instead, the word is true, but if there is no revelation, if the Spirit of life does not work and brings in light and enlightenment, it is dead.

It has no power. But when the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and reveals it to you, opens it to you, immediately you will find there is life, there is power. How do you know that the Spirit of life is working?

When there is light within you. By revelation I do not mean something very deep or something very mysterious. By revelation I simply mean the Holy Spirit takes the things of God and opens it to us. That we really see it in our heart and we know it is life.

It is living. It is reality. It works. That is the way we know the law of the Spirit of life is working. Now number two, I have to hurry. I have four more minutes. Number two, you will find when the law of the Spirit of life is working, there is always separation.

Separation from the World and the Flesh

Our brother has mentioned that a lot. God is holy. Now what is holy? It simply means it is separated from everything that is common. God being separated from everything common. Separated unto he who is uncommon.

So whenever the Spirit of life is working, you will find it always separates. The Spirit of life is working in your life, you know, in your lifetime. It does not mean that it operates only once. You know, one point in time, when the Spirit of life is working, you are separated from sin until righteousness.

Thank God for that. But it does not end there. If the Spirit of life is operating in your life, you will find the separation goes on continuously. As our brother mentioned last night, stage after stage.

You will be separated from the world. And even separating from the world gets deeper and deeper. First separated from the things of the world. Then separated from the fashion, the mold of the world. And then you need to be separated from the Spirit of the world.

You need to be separated from the flesh. Not only from the bad flesh, but from the good flesh. We need to be separated from the self-life in us. If we are separated, then we are consecrated unto God.

That is the way the law of the Spirit of life operates. And is that law operates in us today? You know it. And thirdly, you will find, whenever the law of the Spirit of life operates, there is the mark, the stigmata of the cross.

The Cross and the Marks of Christ

Just like Paul said, do not bother me. I have upon my body the brains, the mark, the stigmata of Jesus Christ, the cross. If there is no wounds, no scars, you know the Spirit of life is not operating.

Do not think that Christian life, you can live a Christian life without any wounds, any marks, it is impossible. Because when the Spirit of life operates, he always leads us to the cross. Look at our Lord Jesus, by the eternal Spirit, he offered himself.

The cross leads us to the Spirit, and the Spirit leads us back to the cross. And finally, wherever the law of the Spirit of life operates, there is glory. Glory as God is satisfied. Whenever God is satisfied, glory appears.

Glory and Transformation into Christ's Image

And you know brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, in John chapter 1 verse 14 said, the word became flesh, tabernacle among men, full of grace and truth. And then he said, in parenthesis, we have seen his glory, even as the glory of the only begotten with the Father.

When our Lord Jesus was on earth, you know, his glory as the Son of God is veiled. It is his moral glory of the Son of Man. You see a man, full of glory, but it is the moral glory of the Son of Man. That eternal glory of the Son of God is always veiled.