倪弟兄曾经说过一个故事,有一年他到山上休养,住在一位机匠的家里。那位机匠没有读过书,不识几个字,并且很喜欢喝酒。他习惯餐前喝酒,他的妻子也懂得他的脾气。倪弟兄传福音给他,带他得救,并且天天读圣经给他听,也向他讲解明白。有一回,当他要吃饭时,他妻子照例在饭桌上摆酒,他低头谢饭时,却什么话也说不出来,里面总觉得很不自然。于是他们查考神的话,想要知道神对喝酒到底怎么说;然而,翻来翻去总是找不到。他的妻子便说,‘你就先喝吧,等我们见到倪弟兄后,再问他。’他一想也对,反正神应该不会管这样的小事,就打算先喝。希奇的是,他竟然不能喝,他无法把酒喝进去。最后他说:‘把酒拿走吧。’这才欢欢喜喜的一起祝谢并用餐。
主耶稣没有告诉他不要喝酒,他自己也没有从圣经读出来,那么他为什么不喝酒?当倪弟兄这样问他时,他说了一句很简单的话:‘我里面有一位当家的,祂不许我喝酒。’倪弟兄就说,‘很好,弟兄,你要一直听从你里面那位当家的。’那一个‘当家’的,就是在我们里面管理我们的那位。
你一得救,接受主作救主,立刻就觉得在你里面多了一位当家的。从前是外面有人管你,只要外面的人管不着,你就可以随意而行。然而从你得救起,你里面多了一位管你的;虽然有时外面的人不管你,但里面的人管。请记得,这一个管就是王权,这一个管就是属天的权柄,这一个管就是天在你里面掌权,也就是国度临到你身上。结果,你不仅是被救到国度里,你还成为国度的一部分。
若是我们这些得救的人,都服在国度的管治之下,我们就是国度,神的这个国度就是我们;神使我们成为祂的国度。我们不仅是被神救到祂国度里的人,更是成为神的国度。在这里就有一种光景给人看见,天在我们身上掌权;我们不是在属人律法的管治下,而是在一个比属人律法更高,一个属天的权柄的管治之下。
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The Kingdom Is God’s Reigning Within Believers — Heb. 8:10
Brother Nee once told us a story. One year he went to the mountains to recuperate and stayed at the home of a mechanic. The mechanic was illiterate (just recognized a few characters only) and loved to drink. He was accustomed to drinking before meals, and his wife understood his temper. Brother Nee preached the gospel to the mechanic and led him to salvation. Brother Nee also read the Bible to him daily and explained it to him clearly. One day, when he was about to eat, his wife put wine on the table as usual. When he bowed his head to pray before the meal, he could not say anything and felt very uncomfortable. So they looked up God’s word to find out what God said about drinking alcohol. However, they searched over and over again, and could not find anything. His wife said, “Go ahead and drink it first, and then we may ask Brother Nee when we see him later”. He agreed with his wife and thought God probably would not care about such a trivial matter anyway, so he planned to drink it first. Strangely, the mechanic could not drink the wine at all. Eventually he said, “Take the wine away!” Then they joyfully thanked God and had the meal together.
Lord Jesus did not tell the mechanic not to drink, and he himself did not find any verse from the Bible regarding this matter, so why didn’t he drink the wine? When Brother Nee asked him this, he simply answered, “There is a master within me, and he did not allow me to drink alcohol”. Brother Nee said, “Very good, brother! You must always obey the one who is in charge”. The one who is “in charge” is the one who governs us within us.
As soon as you are saved and receive the Lord as your Savior, you will immediately feel that there is an additional master within you. In the past, there were people who ruled over you outwardly. As long as people could not control you outwardly, you might do whatever you wanted. However, ever since you are saved, there has been a master to take care of you inwardly. Although sometimes people may not care about you outwardly, yet the person inside of you does. Please remember this kind of ruling is kingship, a heavenly kingship. This control is a heavenly ruling within you, and it is the kingdom coming to you. As a result, you are not only saved into the kingdom, you become part of the kingdom.
If we the saved ones submit ourselves to the ruling of the kingdom, then we are the kingdom and God’s kingdom is us; God makes us his kingdom. We are not only saved by God into his kingdom, but we become God’s kingdom. Thus, the world may see that heaven rules over us; we are not under the rule of human’s law, but under the rule of heavenly authority which is much higher than human’s law.