Mt. 10:38 π Jn. 10:17 π Rom. 1:9 π 2 Cor. 4:7 π Gal. 5:24 π Phlp. 3:10 π 1 Pet. 4:1
The self-life in all of us must die. “We are to serve God with our spirit” ( Rom. 1:9; top ); our self-life must die so the spirit can serve. We are only to be alive only to Jesus’ point of view. Self-rules the Church world today and self can only do one thing: minister death.
Desires of the flesh are against the spirit.
Have no confidence in the flesh.
In my flesh dwells no good thing.
Those in the flesh cannot please God.
This is very heavy, because the scripture says, “Those that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh…” ( Gal. 5:24; top ) It’s plain that if you haven’t you aren’t really (totally) Christ’s. Then what comes out of us is a mixture. We’ve missed God in the world’s gravest hour.
The self-life in us produces an inner conflict with the spirit. The flesh (self) fights the spirit and self must die so the spirit can reign. We must be delivered from the inner conflict in order to engage in the outer conflict with the enemy. When the flesh is destroyed, we have eliminated satan’s landing field. If we are dead to self, we will offer no hindrance to the Holy Spirit working through us. In much of contemporary Christianity we are told after conversion to go out to witness and serve God, and these newly-redeemed souls aren’t nearly ready, as self still rules. In this hour, God is rejecting works that have been built on the foundation of Jesus and part of our program or ideas. We are not true saints until we deliberately sign away any rights we may have to ourselves, to become a bond slave of Jesus. We see so little happening in comparison to what needs to be happening. This is a result of a secret trust we have in our self, tucked away in case of emergency. No really true love of God can flow through a vessel not choosing to be totally dead to self.
If we are after our own ends, Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. “Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down my life.” ( Jn. 10:17; top ) We will not be judged by our success, but by our sacrifice.
God showed His selflessness through Jesus. The person of Lucifer came into existence but refused to contain God’s selfless self, but chose to live for self-love, which is sin – and all the sins known to man proceed from that self-centeredness. The blood of Jesus solves the sin problem, but the cross solves the “self” problem. “Self” cannot be forgiven; it must be crucified. No amount of teaching about having a pure heart will make it pure.
If we are candidates for death to self, are we willing to let God bring pressures to bear upon us ( “he that takes not his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” – Mt. 10:38; top ) that will bring us to perfection through sufferings? He that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin ( 1 Pet. 4:1; top ); Jesus suffered according to the will of God and to be a partaker of His sufferings destroys every element of self-life. Salvation is free, but it is costly – it will cost you your life.
That we may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death ( Phlp. 3:10; top )…then we become a dead thing, a vessel that can do nothing but contain. Then we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us ( 2 Cor. 4:7; top ), until Christ is all in all. All of creation was created for one purpose: that it would totally contain the Creator.
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