Message Four

The Divine Transfer and the Grafted Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:12, 17, 19; 6:4-5, 14; 11:17, 24

Rom. 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned.

Rom. 5:17 For if, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous.

Rom. 6:4-5 We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Rom. 6:14 For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.

Rom. 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree,

Rom. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree!

I. As those who have obeyed the gospel of God concerning His Son and have believed into Him to have the obedience of faith, we have experienced the divine transfer—Rom. 10:16; 1:5; 5:12, 17, 19:

Rom. 10:16 But not all have obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Rom. 1:5 Through whom we have received grace and apostleship unto the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of His name,

Rom. 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned.

Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous.

A. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ—1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12, 17, 19:

1 Cor. 15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Rom. 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned—

Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous.

1. In the sight of God there are only two men in the universe Adam and Christ—1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:14:

1 Cor. 15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Rom. 5:14 But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of Him who was to come.

a. In Adam we inherited sin, we were constituted sinners, we were under the reign of death, and we were under God’s condemnation—vv. 12, 14, 19; 1:18.

Rom. 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned.

Rom. 5:14 But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous.

Rom. 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness,

b. As the result of being in Christ, we have grace with righteousness, we have been justified, and we have eternal life—v. 17; 3:24, 26; 5:17.

Rom. 1:17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.”

Rom. 3:24 Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Rom. 3:26 With a view to the demonstrating of His righteousness in the present time, so that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus.

2. We were transferred out of Adam into Christ by believing into Christ and by being baptized into Christ—John 3:15; Rom. 6:4:

John 3:15 That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.

Rom. 6:4 We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.

a. When we believed in Christ, we actually believed ourselves into Him, and when we were baptized, we were baptized into Him.

b. Because God has put us into Christ, we should boldly testify that we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ—1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17.

1 Cor. 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

2 Cor. 5:17 So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

B. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of death into life—John 5:24; 1 John 3:14:

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death.

1. The source of death is the tree of knowledge, and the source of life is the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 17); hence, to pass out of death into life is to change the source of our living.

Gen. 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen. 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

2. By repenting and believing into the Lord Jesus, we received the divine life into us and were transferred out of death into life—John 3:15; 5:24.

John 3:15 That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.

3. Faith in the Lord Jesus is the way for us to pass out of death into life; love toward the brothers is the evidence that we have passed out of death into life—1 John 3:14.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death.

C. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of darkness into light—Acts 26:18:

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

1. Darkness is the expression and sphere of Satan in death; light is the expression and sphere of God in life—1 Pet. 2:9.

1 Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2. God has transferred us out of Satan’s death—realm of darkness into His life—realm of light—1 John 1:5-7.

1 John 1:5-7 And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.

3. Formerly, we were in darkness under the authority of Satan, but we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and God—Acts 26:18.

D. As believers in Christ, we have been delivered out of the authority of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love—Col. 1:13:

Col. 1:13 Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

1. To be delivered out of the authority of darkness is to be delivered from the devil, who has the might of death; we have been delivered from the devil, Satan, by the death of Christ and by the life of Christ in resurrection—Heb. 2:14; John 17:15; Col. 2:15; John 5:24.

Heb. 2:14 Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil,

John 17:15 I do not ask that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them out of the hands of the evil one.

Col. 2:15 Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.

2. To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is to be transferred into the Son who is life to us and who rules us in His resurrection life with love and in light—Col. 1:12-13.

Col. 1:12-13 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

E. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred from law to grace—Rom. 6:14:

Rom. 6:14 For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.

1. This grace is the Triune God processed and consummated through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to be everything to us for our enjoyment—2 Cor. 8:9; 1 Pet. 5:10; Heb. 2:9.

2 Cor. 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor in order that you, because of His poverty, might become rich.

1 Pet. 5:10 But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.

Heb. 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything.

2. The grace into which we have been transferred is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us—God Himself in Christ as the Spirit with all that He is for our enjoyment—John 1:14, 16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

John 1:16-17 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.

2 Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

F.The practical and experiential transfer is the transfer out of the flesh (the practical and experiential Adam) through our being crucified with Christ and into the Spirit (the practical and experiential Christ) through our union with the Spirit—Rom. 7:1-6; 8:16.

Rom. 7:1-6 Or are you ignorant, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law lords it over the man as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living; but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law regarding the husband. So then if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions for sins, which acted through the law, operated in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

II. As believers in Christ who have experienced the divine transfer, we should now live a grafted life—a life in the union of the divine life with the human life and in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the regenerated human spirit—6:5; 11:17, 24; 1 Cor. 6:17:

Rom. 6:5 For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Rom. 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree,

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

A. The Bible reveals that the relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man become one—v. 17:

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

1. God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life—John 15:1, 4-5.

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

2. This oneness is a union in life—a grafted life—Rom. 11:17, 24.

Rom. 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree,

B. In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 1:14; 3:14; 12:24; 20:22:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

1. Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the Shoot of David, so that we may be grafted together with Him—1:14; Matt. 1:1; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

Matt. 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Zech. 3:8 Hear then, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you—for they are men of symbol—for I am about to bring forth My servant, the shoot.

Jer. 23:5 Indeed, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot; / And He will reign as King and act prudently / And will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Jer. 33:15 In those days and at that time I will cause a Shoot of righteousness to shoot forth unto David, and He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

2. Christ was “cut” on the cross so that we could be grafted into Him, and He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit to enter into us and make us one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a; Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 6:17.

1 Cor. 15:45b the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

2 Cor. 3:17a And the Lord is the Spirit;

Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

C. Grafting produces an organic union—Rom. 6:5; Gal. 2:16:

Rom. 6:5 For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Gal. 2:16 And knowing that a man is not justified out of works of law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we also have believed into Christ Jesus that we might be justified out of faith in Christ and not out of the works of law, because out of the works of law no flesh will be justified.

1. This is not the exchanging of a poor life for a better life; rather, it is the uniting of two lives as one so that they may share one mingled life and living—v. 20; 1 Cor. 6:17:

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

a. Such a mingling takes place when two similar yet different lives pass through death (cutting) and resurrection (growth).

b. This depicts our union with Christ—Rom. 12:4-5.

Rom. 12:4-5 For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

2. Faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) refers to an organic union with Him through believing; in such an organic union we and Christ are one.

D. Grown together with Him (Rom. 6:5) denotes an organic union in which growth takes place, so that one partakes of the life and characteristics of the other; in the organic union with Christ, whatever Christ passed through has become our history—v. 6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6.

Rom. 6:5 For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Rom. 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves;

Eph. 2:5-6 Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,

E. Grafting discharges all our negative elements, resurrects our God-created faculties, uplifts and enriches our faculties, and saturates our entire being to transform us and conform us to the image of Christ—John 11:25; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 8:29.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live;

Eph. 4:23 And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind

Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.

Rom. 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;

F.Since we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves but allow Christ to live in us—John 15:1, 4-5; Gal. 2:20.

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

G. Through grafting we are united with Christ, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him to become the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5.

Rom. 12:4-5 For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.