| Crucified with Christ Galatians 2:17-21 9-07-08 The story is told about a good Baptist man who met another Baptist one day and said, “Good morning Sam. Have you seen my friend Tom? I have been looking high and low for him.” “Well,” said Sam, “Those are the right places to look. He died two months ago.” The Bible tells us that all men have died to something. For example; before you or I became a Christian, we were dead to the things of God. We were dead in trespasses and sin. But once we became a Child of God, we were dead in Christ. In thinking about Communion it is most appropriate that we consider the scripture which we read this morning. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ.” Not many of us can make such a statement as that. Paul went on to say, “Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Paul was saying in so many words, “The man that I used to be is dead; the man who became angry easily, the man who thought that he KNEW it all, the murderer. This man is no longer. NOW, a new man lives within this body. Outwardly, Paul no doubt looked the same, but INWARDLY he was indeed a new person. His spirit was now in communion with God. His soul, which was once dead to spiritual things, is now alive. His eyes which were closed to spiritual things are now opened. Since, however, he is still living in the flesh, Satan will immediately set out to drag him back out into the World. This is true for every born again believer. You can be sure that once you attempt to live for the Lord that temptations will be far greater. This is why it is so essential for the Christian to keep his body (the flesh) under control. It is our duty to crucify the flesh day by day because we will be tempted day by day. There are certain things that the body loves to do, things in which it is eager to indulge in, which are harmful to us, and to our spiritual lives. Too many might think they are living the crucified life, when in reality the flesh is in control. Crucifying the flesh is a very painful experience. And most of us don’t care for pain, and in addition, we don’t like to deny ourselves. Listen, if we are to live a new life, it is necessary for us to deny ourselves. Most of us can identify with the words of our Lord, when He said to His disciples, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. In Galatians 6:14 we read, “But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the World. Oh, we must die to the World also. Not only must we crucify “self,” but the world also must be crucified. Before we were born again, there were certain people, whose company we enjoyed, whose opinions we valued, whose approval meant a great deal to us. And because this was true, there were things we did that perhaps we really did not want to do. Many people have taken up smoking, drinking, drugs and other things, not because they enjoyed these things but because they wanted to be accepted by someone else. Once a person is born again he MUST take a stand for Christ, and what he knows is right. He must therefore crucify the World and the opinions of the World. To belong to Jesus is to be more concerned with pleasing HIM than pleasing others. If we don’t learn to crucify the World, we will find ourselves going back to the world. And one day this old world, as we know it and everything else that is worldly is going to be destroyed. The Bible says there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Until we reach the point where we are determined to crucify the flesh, and the world, we will never, never be able to do the will of God. Unless we who are Christians learn to take a firm stand for what we know is right, our lives will continue to be torn; for the spirit will be pulling one way and the flesh will be pulling the other way. There is also the danger if we do not strive to do right, of being drawn back into the old life-style. Until we reach the point where we truly strive to crucify the flesh, we cannot grow spiritually because we will be giving in again, and again to the things of the flesh. Oh, how we need to be striving each and every day to please God and to place His Kingdom above all else. Many Christians are still babes in the Lord in that they will place anything, and everything above the cause of Christ. When a person stays home from church because of company, they are saying for everyone to hear, that the company is more important than God. And for some it doesn’t even have to be company. I was tired. So what? You can sleep in Church as well as at home. When we attempt to please the World, we can be sure that we are not pleasing our Lord for the things of this world are always in contrast to the things of God. This is why our Lord said that we are to walk after the spirit and not after the flesh. If we don’t crucify the flesh when the Holy Spirit is telling us to do the will of God, the flesh will come out the winner. The Bible says in Romans 8:7 that those who are in the flesh are enemies of God. God forbid that you or I should be His enemies. In the flesh man can never truly have any peace or contentment. The man in the flesh is always attempting to gain the praises of men and is always struggling to get ahead in the world. But friends, getting ahead in the world won’t give us peace. Our peace is found, not in the world, or in the things of the world, but in a person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our desire as Christians ought to be to please God. To be the very best that we can be for HIM. When we realize that being one of God’s children is the greatest thing that can ever happen to anyone and when we come to realize that having our name written down in the Book of Life is the greatest blessing and recognition that can be given, we come to realize that we have the best, simply because we have Jesus. Peace, peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above. But, and this is important friends, the peace will only last as long as one is walking with the Lord and thus denying self and the World. God is not going to share you with the World. The Bible says that God is a jealous God, and friends, He has every right to be. He made us to begin with and He purchased life for us the second time with the precious blood of His Son. We either belong to God completely, or we don’t belong to Him at all. You cannot be on the fence. The Bible says, For ye are dead to sin, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory. Mortify kill, if you will; therefore your members which are upon the earth; and it goes on to name the things the sinful things that we are to kill. To die to the world is a continuous process. There will be temptations every day, so there must be a daily refusal to yield to them. There will always be something tempting us to sin, as long as we are living upon this earth. The message can be summed up in that the more we die to “self,” the more capable we will become in living for the Lord. The more you refuse to say “Yes” to Satan, the stronger you will become. The more the flesh dies, the greater will be the control of the Holy Spirit. There is GREAT JOY in being able to say “NO” to the devil. We have no trouble saying no to the Holy Spirit. But there is JOY in saying “no” to Satan. Listen, when we reach the point in our lives where the things of God are truly the most important things in our lives, when would rather read the Word of God than anything else, when talking with Him is more important than eating or sleeping, when we would rather go to church than any other place, then we are on our way of crucifying the flesh, but not until. Thus, we will all agree that there is still work for each of us to do with ourselves. Someone said that people who are crucified with Christ have three distinct characteristics. They are facing only one direction. They can never turn back and they no longer have plans of their own. As we prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Supper and we think of our Lord being crucified, let’s consider crucifying ourselves in order that we might truly live for Him. This is the least that we can do for the ONE who gave His all for us. |
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