Crucified With Christ
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
“And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” John 12:23
Jesus counseled His disciples in view of His sufferings and self-sacrifice for our redemption on Calvary’s cross. Many times we don’t think about a certain situation until we are forced to go through with it, and then we devote our thoughts to see what is best.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24
Life is comparable to many things. In His spiritual teaching, Christ compared it to seed. If you buy a pound of seed corn and never plant it, all you will have is a pound of seed corn. But if you plant it, the harvest will produce bushels of luscious corn!
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12:25
Thus the application. Many things are naturally desirable. Theyare more of a gratification to the flesh than a hardship. Such are the things of this world: pleasure, making money, and having and enjoying material possessions are gratifying and self fulfilling.
But when it comes to a real service to God, this is not gratifying to the flesh. Christ’s life is described as: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3
Before His arrest, He was under great travail in Gethsemane: “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:38-39
“And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:44
Christ overrode His personal travail, by keeping His heart and mind set on accomplishing God’s will and purpose: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27
ARE WE WILLING to invest our life as seed into the service of God, overriding all the difficulty by keeping our heart and mind set on why God has left us on this earth?
SHARING
Secret Sin
“He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.” Psalm 10:11
“Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” Psalm 94:7
Our reference to secret sin is as the verses state: the idea that one can do contrary to the will and way of God and get away with it as long as someone else doesn’t expose it. Secret sin is not due to ignorance, but rather the arrogance of man’s sinful nature, in thinking one is smart enough to do as one pleases, thus, “wise in one’s own conceits.”
The rebellious pride that commits secret sin has an elevated opinion of one’s self, as if they “…are as gods, knowing good and evil” Genesis 3:5. This lofty mentality thinks one to be capable of negotiating their own ways and judging for themselves what is best for them, rather than obeying God’s will and way. Thus are they not only willing to transgress God’s laws to do as they please, but they also boldly resist the Holy Spirit. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:18
But just as sure as God openly rewards that which is done faithfully in secret (Matthew 6:6), He shall also judge secret sin, “For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” Luke 8:17
It is necessary for us to acknowledge and confess all our sins, secret and otherwise, unto God in order to be forgiven: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
“Confess your faults one to another…” James 5:16a. This does not mean telling all the details of specific sin to and before others (this is to be done between the individual and God), but rather this is owning up to and taking responsibility for our faults (our imperfections) and the problems our faults cause. (Faults are what we are; sins are what we do.) This is what true humility and charity is all about. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10
SHARINGLiving Right In A Wrong World
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith…” Jude 20
Up until verse twenty in the book of Jude, we have been walking through the darkness. We have witnessed the beliefs and behaviors of apostates. But in verse twenty, we turn the spiritual corner and the Lord says, “But ye.” He speaks to His children.
When we read the expression, “But ye,” we realize that God is trying to get our attention! He turns from these apostates and speaks to genuine Christians.
We are called upon to live right in a wrong world. There is a difference between the way a Christian lives and the way an unbeliever lives. Unbelievers think differently than believers think. The world should be able to look at someone who is a Christian and know from the way that person lives and speaks that he is a Christian.
THE CALL TO LIVE RIGHT
In a wrong world, God’s children must live right. Notice Isaiah 5:20-21. God said that His people were living in darkness and calling it light. Christ instructed His disciples in Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?” The chemical makeup of salt cannot be destroyed, but salt becomes ineffective when it is contaminated with other things. If we are contaminated with the world, we have no power or influence for Christ. Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. We must love the lost, and we should win the lost; but this cannot be done by living like the lost. God says we should be separated. This is two-fold — separated to the Lord and from the world.
THE COST OF LIVING RIGHT
It costs something to live right. It costs the loss of personal freedom. If we belong to the Lord, we are to yield our personal freedom and say, “Lord, I am not seeking my own will; I want Thy will to be done.” Living right will also cost us our social standing. When we identify strongly with the Lord on the job or in public places, the world does not respond kindly. Do you know why? It is because we are living in a world that calls darkness light and light darkness.
THE COURSE FOR LIVING RIGHT
The Lord tells us how to live right. He has a course for us to follow. Put these things from Jude 20-21 to work in your life.
• Build Yourself Up – Acts 20:32 says that “the word of his grace” is able to build us up. In order to live right in a wrong world, we must build ourselves up with God’s Word.
• Pray in the Holy Ghost – When we are walking with the Lord, walking in the Holy Spirit, praying in the Spirit in the name of the Lord, we are doing what God has called us to do. Read John 14:13.
• Keep Yourself in the Love of God – This does not mean to try to get God to love you. God already loves you. This means to obey the Lord and stay in the place of blessing. Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus.
• Look for the Lord’s Return – Jude 21 also says, “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” If we truly believe that Christ could come today, we will choose to live right in a wrong world.
–Clarence Sexton
SHARINGThe Malignant Growth Of Undenied, Unconfessed, Uncleansed Sin
“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” 1 Corinthians 5:6
Sin has only one direction–to go from bad to worse: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:15-16
No one can have the mastery over sin, to just use it for one’s own advantage: “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34
All who have tried to use sin to serve themselves always end up serving sin.
The problem is, sin is the power of Satan, a power greater than man.
As Adam and Eve enjoyed serving themselves with sin, they soon discovered they had brought the bondage of sin’s consequences upon themselves and their whole world.
Leaven is very small in and of itself, but it permeates the whole of the substance it comes in communion with. At that point, it overpowers and takes on the size and strengths of the whole substance.
Sin starts out as just a thought, a desire, a lust. At that point and time, it is just something to kick around and toy with. But allowed to remain and be entertained for personal gratification, it grows unto infusing itself into one’s choices and actions.
As one becomes more committed to the allowance of sin in one’s person, one’s person begins to take on the effects of that sin. As sin continues to grow, it will eventually come to power in one’s pride, thus gaining command over one’s strengths in defending one’s pride.
At this point, rather than it be just a fight with the sin, one finds that it now has become a fight with their whole self.
SHARINGBlind and Bound
“And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.” Judges 16:20,21,23
America has hatred and opposition against her for being a Christian nation. But within, her unchristian conditions are depriving her of the help and power of God, to continue to make her victorious.
So, America is quickly falling into the self-made demise as did Samson–under attack because of the great things God’s power has wrought within her, but lately lacking the power of God to exalt her.
The enemies of America are determined to mar her pride and overthrow her power. They want to put out America’s eyes and make her blindly enslaved to grinding in the prison house before their god.
Sadly, America’s lack of Divine given victories will be interpreted by her enemies as being, “their god delivering America, their enemy, into their hands.”
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17
America’s quest to become a humanist state, where all Divine influence is forbidden, shall leave her destitute of God’s power for to keep her strong. As America seeks to exalt moral perversion to have judicial dominion over her social order, she shall reap the harvest of corruption and violence in her streets.
As it was in the Garden of Eden, so it shall be wherever people do not have the will to abide in the Lord–Satan overthrows!
SHARING
