Watchman Nee Quotes
The Christian life is not about trying to keep the Law, but about receiving God's power through Jesus Christ, who fulfills the Law in us.
Watchman Nee emphasizes the distinction between grace and law, asserting that while the law demands much from us, it offers no assistance in fulfilling those demands. He argues that God did not give the law for us to keep but to reveal our inability to do so, thus leading us to rely on Christ, who fulfills the law within us. Nee highlights that the Christian life is not about striving to please God through our efforts but about embracing the exchanged life where Christ lives through us. He encourages believers to recognize their weaknesses and trust in Jesus as the sufficient answer to every need, rather than relying on will-power. Ultimately, he stresses that it is God who accomplishes everything in our lives, transforming our approach to faith and service.
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From the normal Christian Life:
1. "Grace means that God does something for me; law means that I do something for God. God has certain holy and righteous demands which he places upon me: that is law. Now if law means that God requires something of me for their fulfillment, then deliverance from law means he no longer requires that from me, but himself provides it." (pp.155-6)
2. "So we can say, reverently, that God never gave us the Law to keep: he gave us the Law to break! He well knew that we could not keep it." (p.158)
3. "The Law requires much, but offers no help in the carrying out of its requirements. The Lord Jesus requires just as much, yea even more (Matt. 5:21-48), but what he requires from us he himself carries out in us. The law makes demands and leaves us helpless to fulfill them; Christ makes demands, but he himself fulfills in us the very demands he makes." (p.161)
4. "What does it mean in everyday life to be delivered from the Law? At risk of a little overstatement I reply: It means that henceforth I am going to do nothing whatever for God; I am never again going to try to please Him. 'What a doctrine!' you exclaim. 'What awful heresy! You cannot possibly mean that!' But remember, if I try to please God 'in the flesh,' then immediately I place myself under the Law." (p.164)
5. "God's requirements have not altered, but we are not the ones to meet them. Praise God, he is the Lawgiver on the Throne, and he is the Lawkeeper in my heart. He who gave the Law, himself keeps it." (p.166)
6. "Though the Law in itself is all right, it will be all wrong if it is applied to the wrong person. The 'wretched man' of Romans 7 tried to meet the claims of God's law himself, and that was the cause of his trouble. The repeated use of the word 'I' in this chapter gives the clue to the failure." (p.169)
7. "We think of the Christian life as a 'changed life' but it is not that. What God offers us is an 'exchanged life,' a 'substituted life,' and Christ is our Substitute within." (p.180)
8. "From start to finish, he is the One who does it all." (p.172)
9. "It does not matter what your personal deficiency, or whether it be a hundred and one different things, God has always one sufficient answer, His Son Jesus Christ, and he is the answer to every need." (p.182-3)
10. "Many Christians endeavor to drive themselves by will-power, and then think the Christian life a most exhausting and bitter one." (p.189)
11. "God must bring us to a point - I cannot tell you how it will be, but he will do it - where, through a deep and dark experience, our natural power is touched and fundamentally weakened, so that we no longer dare trust ourselves... At length there comes a time when we no longer 'like' to do Christian work - indeed we almost dread to do things in the Lord's Name. But then at last it is that he can begin to use us." (p.261)
12. "We have spoken of trying and trusting, and the difference between the two. Believe me, it is the difference between heaven and hell." (p.183)
Sermon Outline
- The Nature of Law and Grace
- The Failure of Trying to Keep the Law
- The Substitute for Trying
- The Christian Life as an Exchanged Life
- We exchange our power for God's power
- Christ is our Substitute and answer to every need
Key Quotes
“God never gave us the Law to keep: he gave us the Law to break!” — Watchman Nee
“The Law requires much, but offers no help in the carrying out of its requirements.” — Watchman Nee
“We think of the Christian life as a 'changed life' but it is not that. What God offers us is an 'exchanged life', a 'substituted life', and Christ is our Substitute within.” — Watchman Nee
Application Points
- We must stop trying to keep the Law and instead receive God's power through Jesus Christ.
- The Christian life is not about our efforts, but about God's work in us.
- We must trust in Jesus Christ as our Substitute and answer to every need.