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THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIED

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Joh 19:17

Theme: What the Cross meant to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

INTRODUCTION

I once saw a painting depicting our Lord as the carpenter of Nazareth. The artist portrayed our Lord as a rugged man toiling at the wood with His crude tools of trade. What arrested the viewer’s attention were the long shadows cast by the setting sun. As the sun filtered under the eaves of the rough shelter, the shadow of a Cross was cast over the whole scene. I generally don’t like paintings of our Lord, but the artist made a powerful point. The Lord Jesus Christ lived his earthly life under the long shadow of the Cross. The Cross was the mode of His death chosen by God the Father before the world was. As the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8) we see the Cross foreshadowed in Old Testament prophecy and type. As the Passover Lamb, we see the outline of the Cross in blood applied to two side posts and on the upper door post. (Ex 12:7) As the serpent on the pole (Numb 21:6-9) we see Satan unmasked and defeated in his Cross and hear his own appropriation of the type in Jn 3:14,15.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

In Psalm 22:1-20 we see a graphic description of Messiah’s death by Crucifixion. The prophetic words, they pierced my hands and my feet, (Ps 22:16) speak particularly of the nail-wounds of His Cross. The Cross as the mode of our Lord’s death exerts a powerful influence on people. The Cross exerts a drawing power on all men, causing people to consider the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

The Cross as the mode of our Lord’s death is also a powerful aid in teaching lessons on true discipleship.

Lu 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The babe in Christ is naturally ego-centric about his salvation. He heartily sings:

It was for me He cried, for me He died,

For me He shed His blood upon a tree,

It was for me He came, for me His shame

For me, oh praise His name, it was for me.

Dave Bolling

The growing Christian needs to ask: What did the cross mean for the Lord Himself?

To put these studies in perspective, we need to understand that the Cross was first of all His Cross.

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Joh 19:17

The Cross was more than a historical event by which our Lord was killed. The Cross was a daily principle by which He lived for thirty three years. Without His life lived as a Cross bearer, His death would have had no value. His physical death on the Cross at Golgotha was the culmination of a voluntary Crucified life. Much of our Lord’s instruction to his disciples centered round the imagery of the Cross. The Master did not instruct his disciples to do anything or be anything that He was not the supreme exemplar. The Cross as a working, daily principle affected every area of our Lord’s life.

I. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO SELF

Luke 9:22 … The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Our Lord’s life was one of constant self-denial. He never once exhibited the hyphenated sins of the self-life: Self-pity, self-assertion, self-vindication, self-preservation, etc.

Are we heeding the world’s voice, save thyself! Or the Holy Spirit’s voice, take up your cross, die daily!

II. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO SIN

Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Rather than deviate one hair-breadth from the Father’s will, our Lord died to sin as a ruling power. Are we dead indeed unto sin, or does its subtle attractiveness constantly lead us to the edge of open shame?

Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

III. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO SATAN

Matt 16:21 ¶ From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

A. Satan works on the principle of self-preservation.

Mk 15:30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

B. The Cross works on the principle of self- abnegation.

Matt 16:24 If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

C. Satan cannot get a beachhead into a crucified life.

Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

IV. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO THE WORLD

Jn 21:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

People that participated in the death of our Lord were a representative sample of the world. What a variety of people were represented around His Cross; Roman rulers, soldiers, religious Pharisees, skeptical Sadducees, common people and criminals. When confronted with the meek and lowly Lamb, they speak with one, united, voice: “Save thyself!” Matt 27:41,42, Mk 15:29,30, Luke 23:36,37 The Cross perfectly photographs the world. The self-centered, un-crucified, carnal believer will never be able to resist the force and attraction of the world.

V. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO SPIRITUAL MATURITY

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Heb 5:8,9

Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Although our Lord was sinless, we read that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man. Luke 5:52 Again in Heb 5:8, Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. The words, “and being made perfect” carry the idea of being finished or completed. Phil 2:8 The Cross was the culmination of our Lord’s life of obedience to the Father – a life of self-emptying. (kenosis) Phil 2:8 The Cross was in this sense His final exam.

The First Adam came into a perfect world, failed his probation, yielded to temptation and brought the curse upon us. The second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, was born into a sin-cursed world, passed His probation and thereby qualified as the only worthy candidate to bear our sins, reverse the curse and become the Author of our salvation. The measure of our spiritual maturity is not how much we know of the Bible, how much service we have done, how well we can preach, but how much have we been practically identified in our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection.

VI. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO FAMILY

Matt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mr 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself….

Mk 3:31 ¶ There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Our Lord’s obedience to the Father caused suffering to His mother and His earthly family. They could not understand His driving zeal and concluded that He was mentally deranged. They came to lay hold of him and no doubt bring Him into a measure of forced care. The moment we say “I will not allow my obedience to Christ to cause suffering to those I love” we have left the Calvary road. Our Lord did not lose His mother or his brethren because of the suffering His obedience caused them. We find them on the day of Pentecost among the 120 disciples who were suddenly indwelt with the Spirit of Christ.

VII. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO FRUIT-BEARING

Jn 12:24 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.

These words were uttered late in our Lord’s passion week. They are linked inseparably to His own coming death by crucifixion. He is the Great Corn of Wheat about to fall into the ground and die. His death will bring about a mighty harvest of souls. Pentecost was the beginning of that great harvest of souls that sprang out of His Death, Burial, and Resurrection.

Heb 2:10 ¶ For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

There is a cost in bringing men and women, boys and girls to a saving knowledge of Christ. We will only bring forth fruit that remains as we enter into fellowship with His Death, Burial and Resurrection.

VIII. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO JOY

Matt 28:8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

All hail, means to rejoice, be glad, to rejoice exceedingly. Our Lord for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:2 Don’t get the idea that the crucified life is a morbid, depressive, life. The crucified life is the very opposite to self pity. The most joyful people in this life and the next are those who embrace these principles of the Cross. There is resurrection power and joy on the other side of the Cross, both in this life and in the next. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

IX. THE CROSS IN RELATION TO THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY GHOST

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Jn 14:16

Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

Our Lord’s Cross was the gateway to the Spirit’s outpouring. The Holy Ghost could not be poured out until after our Lord’s Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. With what joy He approached the Father and prayed, Father, grant me now Thy promise – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! Down on earth, in an upper room, were 120 disciples – fearful, baffled, discouraged, humbled, broken, obedient. Suddenly there came from heaven the sound of a rushing mighty wind and they were all filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Do you seek for the Spirit’s infilling and empowerment? The Holy Ghost will be poured out on the crucified life. He will not be poured out in any abiding measure on a proud carnal believer.

REVIEW TIME

List three hyphenated sins of the self-life that were never exhibited in our Lord’s life? (I)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What is united voice of the world to the true disciple of Christ? (I)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

In contrast to #2 what the voice of the Spirit to the true disciple? (I)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Satan works on the principle of self- …………………………………………. (III)

The Cross works on the principle of self- …………………………………….. (III)

Satan cannot get a …………………………………….. into a crucified life. (III)

The measure of our spiritual maturity is “how much we have been practically

………………………………… in our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection.” (V)

T/F

__ The Carnal believer will never be able to resist the force and attraction of the world

__ Our Lord’s obedience to the Father caused suffering to his earthly family.

__ Our Lord lost his family because of the suffering His obedience caused them.

__ We will bring forth fruit that remains as we enter into fellowship with our Lord’s Death, Burial and Resurrection.

__ The crucified life is a morbid, depressive life.

__ The Holy Spirit will be poured out in abiding measure on the carnal believer.

THE CROSS AND INDWELLING SIN

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Romans 6:6,7

INTRODUCTION

In our first lesson we learned that our Lord not only died for sin but he died to sin.

Ro 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Our Lord had no sin in Him (1Jo 3:5b), yet at times He was assailed by real temptation (Matt 4:1). He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15b). That the battle was real, we can have no doubt. In the garden He prayed saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Lu 22:42). He resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Luke 22:44). Rather than disobey His heavenly Father, he offered Himself up with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save him from death. (Heb 5:7) In his cross He died to sin, rather than yield to it. The resurrection was the proof that He won this battle. … Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. Ro 6:9

In the dawn of the believer’s new birth, the child of God often experiences a brief time of love incomprehensible and joy unspeakable (I Jn 3:1). However, with the passing of time, symptoms of a strange paradox begin to emerge. Although the new believer has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit and made partaker of the divine nature through faith (II Pet 1:4), the power of indwelling sin begins to reassert itself with devastating consequences. I have watched new Christians time and again enter into this perplexing experience. Often there seems to be no overt act of sin, or rebellion in the life, that would account for the onset of this fierce struggle. I have personally come to the conclusion, that the Lord sometimes allows the joy of the new birth to recede in order to reveal indwelling sin at a deeper level. The apostle Paul refers to this revival of Sin in his life in these words:

Ro 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

In this lesson we shall look at Paul’s personal struggle with indwelling sin and gain practical insights concerning The Cross and Indwelling Sin.

I. A DEVASTATING DISCOVERY – Paul’s personal testimony

I find (Gk discover) then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom 7:21-24

A. Paul’s spiritual history falls into three distinct divisions

His conversion near Damascus Acts 9: 1-25

Who art thou Lord? Lord what wilt thou have me to do? Acts 9:5,6

Paul was converted from a life of disobedience to a life of obedience. Tit 3:3,

Acts 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Do you remember your own salvation?

O happy day that fixed my choice On Thee my Saviour and my God!

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, and tell its raptures all abroad.

Happy day, Happy day, When Jesus washed my sins away.

He taught me how to watch and pray, And live rejoicing ev’ry day,

Happy day, Happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.

Philip Doddrige

The Three Hidden Years – Arabia Gal 1:15-18

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter,

a. Paul received direct revelation from God – He did not get his doctrine from Peter.

This three-year period is essential to Paul’s rebuttal to the Judaisers’ allegation that he was schooled by the Apostles at Jerusalem and therefore inferior to them. Substantial time was needed to receive and think through the teaching that is unique to this apostle. These three years of relative obscurity seem to be a likely period for Paul to have his Romans seven experience and to receive direct revelation from God concerning N.T. doctrine and in particular, the doctrine of sanctification.

b. Paul was a regenerate man when he had his Romans 7 experience:

Ro 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious:

His brief visit to Jerusalem – followed by an extended period in Syria and Cilicia

Gal 1:21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

B. Paul’s personal testimony of defeat.

Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

II. A DIVINE DIAGNOSIS – Paul’s self-analysis in the Holy Ghost

Paul in his defeated, confused and wretched state exclaims:

Ro 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul immediately follows this up with the victorious acclamation:

Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

We are left to ask BUT HOW? How did Paul get from Rom 7:24 to Rom 7:25? Between these two verses, we have the Holy Ghost’s diagnosis of Paul’s state. Paul, under the Spirit’s inspiration wrote down the findings of his own case. These case notes are written down in the Bible, for the benefit of all future generations of Christians. Here are Paul’s findings:

A. I am a regenerate man. Rom 7: 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

This is not the cry of an unregenerate man. No unregenerate person delights in the law of God or hates sin, but Paul states:

Ro 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

B. Sin, as a ruling power is resident in my members.

Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

C. Every time my new nature wants to obey God, indwelling sin rises in opposition.

Rom 7: 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

D. There is a civil war going on between indwelling sin and my new nature. Vs23

This is not a war with an external power such as Satan. It is a civil war within the citadel of Mansoul.

E. My will invariably capitulates to the solicitations of indwelling Sin. vs18

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

F. Indwelling Sin is foreign to my new nature.

Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

G. In summary I am carnal

Rom 7:14 ¶ For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

I am not two people like Dr Jekkle and Mr Hyde. I am one responsible individual in a carnal state.

Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Rom 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Where are you today? Are you a new Christian in the fresh flush of new life? Are you in the jaws of Paul’s Roman’s 7 experience? How do you think you will lift out of this wretched condition? Have you given up the hope of ever living a life pleasing to the Lord? Are you trying to cohabit with sin by moderately indulging it? – by not attempting much for God? For a full understanding of what Paul discovered and what the Holy Spirit revealed to him go to Romans 6

III. A POWERFUL DELIVERANCE – Paul’s teaching in Rom 6:1-14

Only the Cross is powerful enough to defeat indwelling sin – alternative methods tried and found wanting.

Some try willpower. The will is a switch but has no power in and of itself. Example: A light switch.
Some try rededication but un-crucified self will not stay on the altar. They jump from Rom 5:1 to Rom 12:1 and miss the vital identification truths.
Some try temperament modification – but this only leaves strong traits unbroken.
Some try regular confession – but this only deals with the fruit of Sin and not the root of Sin.
Some try the get-involved method – but indwelling sin will short-circuit spiritual power in service.
Some seek for highly charged spiritual experiences, such as tongues and slaying in the spirit. – but the life remains carnal, sold under sin.
Some practice exorcism on born-again Christians – some “expert” discerns that the defeated Christian has a demon of lust or anger or fear, and seeks to cast the “resident” demon out. This assumes the erroneous idea that a demon spirit and the Holy Spirit can cohabit together in the temple of the believer’s body. Attributing the works of the flesh to a demon ( Gal 5:19-21), takes the responsibility off the believer for his carnal behaviour. Again the teaching on the Cross in the Believer’s life is generally missing.
Some try to perfect themselves in the flesh by adding selective “law-works” into their sanctification formula (Gal 3:3) – but this method turns the believer into a first-rate Pharisee.
Some have tried to instill the fear of God into believers by faulty interpretation and application of the kingdom parables (Matt 25:30) – but end up in false doctrines like “Baptist purgatory”.
Some have tried to get rid of standards of separation in order to find “liberty” – but end up in licentiousness and open sin.

All of these “alternative” methods are doomed to fail. They all have one thing in common. They displace the Cross from its central position in the believer’s life and leave the self-life un-crucified. God only has one method of deliverance from indwelling sin and that is co-crucifixion with Christ. Paul’s Teaching on the subject of victory over indwelling sin falls under four headings:

A. KNOWING – I died in Christ, Sin has no power over a dead man.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Romans 6:6,7

Baptism is a figure of my death, burial and resurrection in Christ.

Rom 6:1 ¶ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Charles Solomon’s line diagram has been helpful to many. ¹

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¹ Charles Solomon, Handbook to Happiness (Wheaton:Tyndale House Publishers, 1978) p. 71 adapted

As in Adam all Die I Cor 15:22a

We were all in the first Adam when he fell into sin.

As Adam’s offspring, we are under the reigning power of sin. Rom 5:12

So in Christ shall all be made alive. I Cor 15:22b

Our Lord became the Second Adam through His incarnation.
He is that eternal life which was with the Father (I Jn 1:2)
When we were placed into Christ, at the point of our salvation, we were placed into eternal life.
Being “in Christ” we were in Him at the cross. (The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8)
The most merciful thing God could do was to take our old Adamic nature and crucify it with Christ (Gal 2:20)
The Adamic nature cannot be reformed “I know that in me,( that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. Rom7:18
Being raised with Christ, we are to live by His resurrection life. (Rom 5:10)

B. RECKONING Rom 6:11

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reckoning is not fantasy

If I reckon that my bank account has $40,000 in it when it does not, this is fantasy. All the reckoning I can summon will not put money in my Bank Account. So our reckoning to be dead, buried and risen with Christ does not make it happen. However, we can safely reckon on our co-crucifixion with Christ, because it is already a reality underwritten in the Word of God. In the face of searing temptation, I can aggressively count on the fact that I am dead, buried and risen again with Christ. I do not have to serve sin. The vital connecting link with my old master has been broken forever. As I doggedly reckon on this, God begins to pour His power into my life for that situation until I gain the victory. The Holy Spirit honours the Cross of Christ and my union in Him.

Please note by what mechanism the power of indwelling Sin seeks to rule my life. Rom 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it (the body) in the lusts thereof.

According to Kenneth Wuest, the pronoun “ít” refers to the body and not to sin. In the Greek the word sin is feminine, while the words it and body are both neuter. From this we can see that indwelling sin somehow stirs up the motions of the body. The body is not sinful, but indwelling sin seeks to somehow excite the passions to white heat. Through these exited passions, the will is urged to yield to sin. Think of the many different passions that sin seeks to excite, passions of anger, bitterness, revenge, impulsiveness, lust, covetousness, and addictions. The answer to all this is to aggressively reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. As we do this, the Power of Indwelling sin will be broken and slowly, sometimes painfully slowly, the motions of the flesh will subside. Indwelling sin will never be eradicated in this life. John says:

“ when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” I Jn 3:2

C. YIELDING Rom 6:13

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Wuest comments:

” ‘Stop allowing the sinful nature to reign as king in our mortal body.’ The sinful nature is a dethroned monarch. The believer has the responsibility of keeping it from mounting into the throne of his heart, the place which the Lord Jesus Christ should occupy.”

“The word “yield” is … in the aorist imperative, which commands a once for all action to be done at once. Paul says, ‘Put yourselves at once and once for all, at the disposal of God, as those who are actively alive out from among those who are dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness, at the disposal of God’ This is a once for all act of the saint dedicating himself to God and His service..”²

D. TRUSTING – “through the Spirit”

Ro 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

The verbs here are in the present tense implying continual action. The believer is to continually trust the Holy Spirit to hold his flesh to the Cross. The Holy Spirit loves to glorify Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He loves to honour reckoning faith. As I continually reckon on my crucifixion in Christ, the Spirit of God will be poured into my life, releasing the power of our Lord’s resurrection and shedding the love of God abroad in my heart. The Holy Spirit answers to this glorious truth. We commend the following quote from Charles Finney in which he deplores legal sanctification and extols God’s method of releasing the Spirit’s purifying and quickening influence into the heart by faith.

Alas! for the blindness that “leads to bewilder” the soul that is longing after deliverance from the power of sin. I have sometimes listened to legal teaching upon this subject until I felt as if I should scream. It is astonishing sometimes to hear Christian men object to the teaching which I have here inculcated that it leaves us in a passive state, to be saved without our own activity. What darkness is involved in this objection! The Bible teaches that by trusting in Christ we receive an inward influence that stimulates and directs our activity; that by faith we receive His purifying influence into the very centre of our being; that

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²Kenneth Wuest, Romans in the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm Eerdmans Pub co, 1974) pp 106,107

through and by His truth revealed directly to the soul He quickens our whole inward being into the attitude of a loving obedience; and this is the way, and the only practicable way, to overcome sin. All our battling with sin in the outward life, by the force of resolution, only ends in making us whited sepulchres. All our battling with desire by the force of resolution is of no avail; for in all this, however successful the effort to suppress sin may be, in the outward life or in the inward desire, it will only end in delusion, for by force of resolution we cannot love. C.G. Finney

Note: We do not endorse all of Finney’s theology. However, I believe that the above quote is true to the Scriptures and can stand in its own right.

REVIEW TIME

Give one reason to support that fact that Paul was a saved man in Rom 7:22?

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Explain why the war referred to in Rom 7:23 is a “civil war”?

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We listed 9 “alternative methods” of dealing with indwelling sin. What do all these have in common?

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Label the line diagram

Write out from memory Rom 6:6

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THE CROSS AND THE LAW

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Rom 7:1-4

INTRODUCTION

The Story of George Wyatt

During the civil War a man by the name of George Wyatt was drawn by lot to go to the front. He had a wife and six children. A young man named Richard Pratt offered to go in his stead. He was accepted and joined the ranks, bearing the name and number of George Wyatt. Before long Pratt was killed in action. The authorities later sought again to draft George Wyatt into service. He protested, entering the plea that he had died in the person of Pratt. He insisted that the authorities consult their own records as to the fact of his having died in identification with Pratt, his substitute. Wyatt was thereby exempted as beyond the claims of law and further service. He had died in the person of his representative. There we have the truth of identification in a nutshell. God’s way of deliverance is through death – through identification with our Substitute in His death and resurrection…

George Wyatt did not find deliverance by fighting the law or endeavoring to please the authorities. He took his death-position according to the Government record. He acted on the basis of ‘It is written.’ He had died in the person of his representative. ³

Being emancipated from the ruling power of Sin, we would expect Paul to move right into a life of victory in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are amazed, therefore, to hear the Apostle in Romans seven confess: For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Rom 7:9 Only a saved man can say I was alive without the law once. These words surely refer to justification by faith (Rom 3:2,22). The cause of the apostle’s wretchedness must therefore be attributed to the words but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. The problem therefore is in some way connected with The Law. After a brief enjoyment of new life in Christ, The Law began to reassert itself in Paul’s life with perplexing consequences. We affirm that Paul was at this stage in his testimony is a truly regenerate believer. Only a born-again believer can say: I delight in the law of God after the inward man Ro 7:22. William Newell in his excellent commentary on Romans concurs:

If you claim that the ‘wretched man’ of Romans Seven is an unregenerate man under conviction of sin, the complete reply is, that this man of Romans Seven is crying for deliverance, – not from sin’s guilt and penalty, but from its power. Not for forgiveness of sins, but help against indwelling sin. This man is exercised, not about the day of judgment, but about a condition of bondage to that which he hates…

.. this man in Romans Seven cries, ‘Who shall deliver me’ (not from guilt) but, ‘from this body of death?’ No one but a quickened soul ever knows about a ‘body of death’!⁴

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³L.E. Maxwell Born Crucified (Chicago:Moody Press, 1945) p. 13, 16

⁴William Newell, Romans Verse by Verse (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981) p. 276-278

Romans seven assumes an underlying desire on the part of a born-again Christian to love, serve and to please God. It is in this condition, as a regenerate man, that Paul made further discoveries concerning his self-life and the Law.

I. BACKGROUND TEACHING ON “THE LAW”

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? Rom 7:1

The words “The Law” occur twenty times in Romans Seven. This averages to almost one reference to “the Law” per verse, for the entire chapter. Romans Seven is the most concentrated teaching concerning the Law in all the New Testament. When you ask the average Christian of what the Law consist, he will usually say “The Ten Commandments”. However, The Law encompasses far more than the Decalogue as we shall prove.

A. THE EXTENT OF “THE LAW”

“The Law” embraces the whole Mosaic Law, moral, civil and ceremonial. Former Seventh-Day Adventist minister, Rev D. M Canright explains:

The term ‘the law,’ when used with the definite article and without qualifying words, refers ‘in nine cases out of ten, to the Mosaic law, or to the Pentateuch.’ Smith’s Bible Dictionary, article Law. Invariably the Adventists use the term, ‘the law, ‘ for the ten commandments only. … This is their fundamental error on the law. I affirm that ‘the law’ included the whole system of law given to the Jews at Sinai, embracing all those requirements, whether moral, civil or ceremonial, decalogue and all. ⁵

New Testament examples on “The Law” include the whole Pentateuch. Canright again:

Take a few examples of the use of the term ‘the law.’ I Cor. 14:34 Women ‘are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.‘ Where does the law say this? Gen. 3:16. So Genesis is in the law. Again: ‘The law had said, Thou shalt not covet.’ Rom. 7:7. Where? Ex. 20:17. So Exodus is in the law. Once more: ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law?’ first, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart.’ This is taken form Deut. 6:5. So Deuteronomy is in the law. Second, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ This is from Lev. 19:18. So Leviticus is a part of the law. And this: ‘Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?’ Matt 12:5 It is from Num. 28:9. These then embrace all the five books of Moses as ‘the law’.⁶

“The law” embraces all parts of the law, moral, civil and ceremonial. Canright continues:

Again, ‘the law’ embraces all parts of the law, moral, civil or ceremonial. Thus the ceremonial precepts:

‘The parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law.” Luke 2:27. That is, to offer a sacrifice. Vs 24. Moral precepts: ‘The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless

and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers.’ I Tim 1:9 This is the decalogue. Civil precepts: ‘Commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?’ Acts 23:3⁷

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⁵ Rev D.M. Canright, Seventh-Day Adventism Renounced (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1893) pp 306-308

⁶Canright pp 307,308

⁷ Canright p. 308 (underlining mine)

B. THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF “THE LAW”

For the first 2500 yrs of human history “The Law” including the Decalogue did not exist.
Two primal Laws of love existed before Moses –the lawyer’s question.

Matt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

About 1500 BC God gave The Law to Moses on Mount Sinai Jn 1:17

The Law included not only the Ten Commandments in stone, but also the Book of the Law. By simple study it can be shown that the Book of the Law contained the whole Pentateuch, including the decalogue. The Book of the Law was put into the side of the ark. Deut 31:26

The Mosaic Law was a detailed exposition of the twin primal laws of love.

Ro 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The Mosaic Law constituted a special covenant between God and Israel.

Ex 20:1 ¶ And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Ex 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

The Law was added because of transgression

Ga 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should

come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

The Law was a disciplinary tool to prepare people for the coming of Christ.

Ga 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

When Christ came, there was no further need of a schoolmaster.

Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

II. PAUL’S TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE LAW

Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

To what stage in Paul’s life do these words relate? I do not believe that these words relate to Paul in his unregenerate state. Wm Newell states:

“Paul would not affirm that a man dead in trespasses and sins was ‘alive’.” Life without the law only comes in one way, namely, by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The law had nothing to do with Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus. “Surely if absolute grace ever met a man, it met Saul of Tarsus that day!” When Ananias came to him, he said nothing to Saul of law:

“Then Saul immediately begins his joyful, triumphant testimony in the synagogues in Damascus that ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’ That was no time for the Commandment to come. God is not speaking to him yet of indwelling sin, but of full and free pardon and justification, through the shed blood of a Redeemer. This fills his soul during the first state of his Christian life.

Then he goes away into Arabia, and God begins to exercise him, evidently – as we have shown – no longer concerning sins, for they are pardoned; but concerning indwelling sin.

It is to that happy, first state of his Christian life, we believe, that Paul refers when he says ‘I was alive apart from the law once.’ Paul would not affirm that a man dead in trespasses and sins was ‘alive.’ ⁸

A. Young Christians tend to slip from faith back under law for two reasons:

Young believers who want to please God naturally turn to law works.

Paul seemed well able to get himself into this wretched state without the help of the Judaizers. For three years he was isolated from the Judaizing influence at Jerusalem. When a child of God wants to please the Lord, who has saved him, it just seems logical to turn to law works. It was probably during his time in Arabia that Paul lapsed into legalism as a means of Christian perfection. Being justified by faith, he now attempts to be sanctified by Law.

Young Christians are very vulnerable to those who promote the idea of legal sanctification.

Legalism come in two forms: Legalistic Justification and Legalistic Sanctification

Justification = Grace + Law-works

The Church at Antioch in Syria was the target of this heresy. This error was summarily dealt with at the Jerusalem Council (so called) in Acts 15. Copies of letters were sent out to the Gentile churches from the Apostles at Jerusalem stating that the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and keep the law to be saved (Acts 16:4)

Sanctification = Salvation by Grace + Selected Law Works

The Churches of Galatia were the target of this heresy. The persistent Judaizers from Jerusalem brought the same error back in a different form. In effect they said to these Gentile Christians,

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⁸ William Newell, Romans Verse by Verse, Chicago: Moody Press, 1981, p 266,267

“It is great that you Galatians have been saved, but wouldn’t you like to really please God by standing in the tradition of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? The Judaizers “suggested” that the Galatian Gentiles simply add a few selected law-works to promote Christian maturity. Their new sanctification equation reads something like this:

Christian maturity = Salvation by Grace + Selected Law Works.

Paul responded swiftly and decisively in these key words in the book of Galatians:

Ga 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Paul knew that if the Galatians accepted the erroneous idea of sanctification by the Law, they would soon end up in the same wretched state that he experience in Romans Seven. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul not only corrects their errors in the doctrine of sanctification, but also reinforces the foundational doctrine of justification by faith. The tree diagram illustrates the two branches of the flesh-life. The left branch represents the respectable, religious side of the flesh. The right branch represents the grosser forms of the flesh. Both branches excite the same root stock. Sometimes we find a Christian worker with “high” standards and years of experience falling into gross sin. This raises the serious question as to whether such a person was perfecting in the flesh? Pruning the right-hand branch will only cause the root stock to drive harder. Only the Cross is strong enough to deal with indwelling sin. (See Roman 6:6, Galatians 2:20)

B. Tree Diagram

Galatians 2:20

C. The Marks of the Galatian spirit:

Fakeness
dissimulation Gal 2:13 Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation..
Powerlessness Gal 3:5 he that worketh miracles..
Exclusiveness Gal 4:17 they would exclude you..
Selectiveness Gal 5:3 See also Lev 19. Debtor to do the whole law.
Cross-less Gal 2:20a I am crucified with Christ
Christ-less Gal 2:20b Christ liveth in me
Faith-less Gal 2:20c I live by the faith of the son of God
Fruit-less Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, …
Spirit-less Gal 5:25 let us walk in the Spirit.

D. How Churches are destroyed.

Answer: Get off the wrecking ball and back to the Cross in the life of the believer, back to the Holy Spirit, and to the walk of faith. Get back to Christ as your life.

E. When Paul reverted to the Law in order to please God, the following reactions took place.

Paul’s indwelling Sin was antagonized

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (lusting). For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Ro 7:8,9

When a carnal Christian is confronted with the absolute holiness of God, a holy standard as translated into Church life, there is the propensity for the flesh to read this as a restriction of its happiness and to come out fighting. The immoveable, non-negotiable standard is like a red rag to the bull and concupiscence boils up in the life.

Paul lost his rest – a civil war erupted in his heart.

Ro 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Gal 5: 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Paul’s will continually caved in to the demands of the flesh.

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Paul’s legal sanctification bore a bitter crop of sin.

Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Paul ended up enslaved to sin.

Ro 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Ro 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

In Romans 7:1-4 we have God’s answer to this wretched state of affairs.

III. THE WOMAN WITH TWO HUSBANDS

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

In Romans 6 we saw sin portrayed as a master with his slave. In Romans 7:1-4 the relationship between the Law and the believer is portrayed as a woman with two husbands.

The story-line might go something like this:

Narrator: “Tell me why you want to be free of your first husband?”

Woman: “I am married to a good, but very exacting husband. Although I try hard to please him, he is constantly finding fault with me. He points out the things that I should have done and didn’t do, and the things I should not have done and did do. He is a good man but I am constantly failing him, and he doesn’t lift a finger to help me. I have seen another man to whom I would like to be married, but I have a seemingly insurmountable problem – only death can legally dissolve a marriage. The Bible states:

Narrator: “Well perhaps your husband will die and then you can remarry?”

Woman: “My husband is old, but he is hanging tenaciously onto life. I am stuck with my first husband!”

Narrator: “Does this other Man have lower standards?”

Woman: “The other Man has even higher expectations than my first husband. For example, He said:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matt 5:27″

Narrator: “Why would you want to be married to another man who has even higher expectations when you are failing your present husband who has lower expectations?”

Woman: ” The other Man promises to shed abroad the Love of God in my heart ( Rom 5:5) and, by His Spirit, live His life through me. Everything He commands, He enables me to do by indwelling power . But I still have a problem. How can I legally get free of my first husband?”⁹

Bible Solution:

My co-crucifixion renders me dead to the Law and frees me to marry Christ.
My union with Christ, as in marriage, enables me to bring forth fruit unto God. Eph 5:32

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⁹ Adapted from Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Pennsylvania Christian Literature Crusade, 1977) pp 160-164

IV. SAVED BY HIS LIFE Rom 5:10

Rom 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

A. The Law in total was nailed to His cross.

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances (Gk dogma) that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; See Eph 2:15

Ro 10:4 For Christ is the end (Gk termination) of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. See also II Cor 3:7,11

The SDA’s make a distinction between ceremonial law and moral law. They propound the idea that the moral law was written on tablets of stone while the ceremonial law was written in the Book of the Law. Their artists promote this serious error in their literature. They portray the Book of the Law as a scroll nailed to the Cross, while the Decalogue remains central. The Bible makes no such distinction and nor should we. Read Leviticus 19 and you will see that the Decalogue is also embodied in the Book of the Law. In nailing the handwriting of ordinances (Gk dogma) to the cross, our Lord removed the whole Mosaic Law including the ten commandments.

Objection: If you remove the law, what will you put in its place? Answer?

B. The Christian is under another law – The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:2a

Rom 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Rom 8:2

This life-principle, works in counteraction to the law of sin and death.

Sin is counteracted, not annihilated. When we see Christ, we shall be like him. I Jn 3:2

God did something that the law could not do – could not produce inner holiness. (Rom 8:3)

God did something apart from The Law (Rom 3:21)

The Law has no part in producing holiness. Erase from your minds any thought that the Holy Spirit helps you to keep the Law of Moses. This method is doomed to fail!

God produced, by another principle, a holiness which far exceeded what The Law aim at, but could never achieve. (Rom 8:4)

Only by the faith of His Son living in me can true holiness be produced. (Gal 2:20) The Holy Spirit will honour the faith that reckons on his identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. The Holy Spirit will not “help” you to keep the commandments. Asking God to help you keep the Law will frustrate the grace of God. Paul said, I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal 2:21) Only by allowing Christ to live through you, will you bring forth fruit that far exceeds the righteous demands of the Law. The fruit of the Spirit is love… against such there is no law. Gal 5:22,23

Illustration of Aircraft:

The law of gravity keeps me bound to the runway. But a higher law kicks in, the law of aerodynamics, and counteracts the law of gravity. I do the impossible and fly. Until I see the Lord, there will always be the downward drag of the flesh and of indwelling sin in my life. But as I trust Christ and my identification with Him, God releases the power of the Holy Spirit in my life and sets me free from the law of sin and death. If His power is hindered for a moment, I begin to come under the downward drag of Sin. Let us learn to trust in His risen life moment by moment every day. One day, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. I Jn 3:2

REVIEW TIME

Give one reason why Paul was a saved man in Romans seven? (Rom 7:22)

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What is the extent of The Law (I.A.)

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What laws of God were operating for the first 2500 years of human history? (I.B.2)

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What made the Sabbath especially significant to Israel? (I.B.5)

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Write out the two equations for legal justification and legal sanctification? (II. A. 2)

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List five marks of the Galatian spirit? (II.C)

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List two reactions in Paul when he reverted to The Law to please God? (II.E)

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In the allegory of the woman with two husbands who/what is represented in each actor? (III)

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What frees the believer from the Law and allows a union with the Lord Jesus Christ? (III)

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Label the Tree diagram (II.B)

GALATIANS 2:20

When our Lord nailed the handwriting of ordinances to his cross, He removed (circle one)

Only those laws that pertained to Jewish ceremonies and farming practices.

Only the Ten commandments

The whole Law including the Ten Commandments (IV.A)

What is the name of the law (principle) by which a Christian now lives? (IV.B)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The power of Sin in the believer is C ………………………. not A …………………………. (IV.B.1)

The correct approach to victory in the Christian life is: (circle one) (IV.B)

Ask the Holy Spirit to help “you” keep the commandments?

Reckon on your identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and trust Christ to live His life through you?

Label the Wrecking Ball (II.D)

What should the Church do? T/F

___ Remove standards of separation so people will feel liberated?

___ Enforce higher standards of separation so that people will become more holy.

___ Get off the wrecking Ball and go back to the cross in the believers life; back to the Holy Spirit and the walk of faith. Get back to the positional truths of Romans 6-8.

THE CROSS AND THE FULNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Our prayer for the mighty working of the Holy Spirit through us and around us can only be powerfully answered as His indwelling in every believer is more clearly acknowledged and lived out. We have the Holy Spirit within us; only he who is faithful in the lesser will receive the greater. As we first yield ourselves to be led by the Spirit, to confess His presence in us, as believers rise to realize and accept His guidance in all their daily life, will our God be willing to entrust to us larger measures of His mighty workings. If we give ourselves entirely into His power, as our life, ruling within us, He will give Himself to us in taking a more complete possession, to work through us. ” ¹ Andrew Murray

INTRODUCTION

Every serious-minded Christian will recognize the amazing change that took place in the disciples at Pentecost. Timid, defeated, and discouraged believers were instantly transformed into bold witnesses, by the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were, moreover, melted together in love, as one harmonious body. They were empowered to live the Christian life on a higher plane than they had ever done before. Acts 4:33 states: And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

The Bible reveals One God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person of the trinity has a different role in our Salvation: The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. (I Jn 4:14 ) The Son offered up His life on the Cross to redeem us from our sins. (Eph 1:7) After the Son returned to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers to regenerate them and to empower them for godly life and service. (Acts 1:8) This series of studies on the Cross is designed particularly for those who have been born again (Jn 3:3), and who want to experience the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit in their Christian lives. This lesson is devoted to the study of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Cross. In order to do this we will need to start at the creation of Man.

I. MAN – AS GOD CREATED HIM

Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

A. Man is a tri-partite being

I Thes 5:23 ¶ And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

His spirit made him God-Conscious

Through the human spirit man could have fellowship with God. The spirit is the center of

Man’s intuition, worship and conscience.

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¹ Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ (London: Oliphants Ltd, 1963) p.9

His soul made him man-conscious

The soul is the center of man’s mind, will and emotions.

His body made him world-conscious.

Through the body man relates to the world of sense. Three physical drives ensure the continuity of the human race, namely, nutrition ,reproduction, and preservation.

B. The order is important.

The human spirit was designed to commune with God and to govern man’s soul and body. God fellowshipped directly with man in the Eden paradise He had made.

II. MAN AS SINNED MARRED HIM

A. God’s restriction

Ge 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

B. Satan’s contradiction

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

C. Man’s capitulation

Gen 3:6 ¶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

D. Man’s separation

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Gen 3:8

Death is separation, not annihilation. God said Adam would die the very day he disobeyed, but Adam lived 930 years after The Fall. For nearly a thousand years Adam lived physically, making choices, thinking out problems and experiencing the various emotions of human nature. In what way then did Adam die when he took the forbidden fruit? Adam’s spirit was cut off from God. He no longer enjoyed the fellowship of God and the power of God.

E. Results of the Fall

Man was alienated from God – spiritual problems. Gen 3:8
Man was alienated from man – social problems. Gen 3:12
Man was alienated from his environment – ecological problems. Gen 3:18
Man was alienated from himself – psychological problems. Job 7:20b

“From man’s standpoint the most tragic loss suffered in the Fall was the vacating of this inner sanctum by the Spirit of God. At the far-in hidden centre of man’s being is a bush fitted to be the dwelling place of the Triune God. There God planned to rest and glow with moral and spiritual fire. Man by his sin forfeited this indescribably wonderful privilege and must now dwell there alone. ” A.W.Tozer

F. Man became soul-dominant

1Co 2:14 But the natural (psuchikos – soul) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The spirit lost its destined place of rule and became subject to the intrusion of the Satanic spirit of this world. (Eph 2:1,2) The soul, with its thinking, choosing and feeling, usurped the place of the spirit with its intuition, conscience and worship. The natural man is a psuchikos man – a soul-dominated man. The propensity of the soul to rule will remain a problem for the genuine child of God even after he is saved.

III. MAN – AS GRACE RESTORES HIM

A. God redeems man through His Son’s sacrifice at Calvary.

Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

B. God regenerates man’s spirit by His Holy Spirit

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

a new spirit will I put within you:

Ez 36:26.. a new spirit will I put within you: Jn 14:17.. for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

C. God puts His Holy Spirit into man’s renewed human spirit.

Ez 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you,

The greatest need of man is to have his human spirit reconnected to God’s Spirit.

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (I Cor 6:17)

This is the mark of a genuine Christian; the spiritual man. (I Cor 2:15)

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Rom 8:9b

D. The Child of God becomes a temple for God’s Spirit to dwell in.

I Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

IV. MAN – AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD TRANSFORMS HIM

A Christian is absolutely dependent on the indwelling Holy Spirit for his comfort, power and spiritual understanding. Our Lord taught about the Holy Spirit under the figure of a well.

A. Wells of living water

A well of water springing up unto eternal life.

Jn 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

An artesian spring gushing out into the desert.

Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Question: Why do we not enjoying more of the Holy Spirit’s life than we do?

B. Wells stopped up

Because of the rubbish clogging the well

Gen 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

Because of a hard natural plug in the well.

The soul dominance of which we speak, is very assertive and often usurps the place of the human spirit. The impulsive voice of the soul drowns out the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. The soul-life intrudes into our most sacred times of worship. Paul denounced this as “will worship” (Col 2:23). The soul tries to become the worship leader and generate religious feelings and impulses . Jude denounced this as sensual (psuchikos) having not the Spirit (Jude 1:19) The soul tries to become very spiritual and wise. James says, This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual (soulish), devilish. (Jas 3:15)

C. Our Lord’s answer to the psuchikos problem.

Matt 16:24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life (psuche = soul) shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Andrew Murray explains:

“The call of the Master to hate our own life, not to seek it but to lose it (the word used is psyche – soul), is the call to give the soul, with its power of willing and acting unto death, that it may find its true life again in the quickening and leading of the Spirit. As long as this is not understood, there will not be that fear of self and its wisdom, that absolute dependence and waiting on the Spirit, which is the first condition of the spiritual life. “²

Here again the Cross in the believer’s life is the answer to the well that is plugged with the hard crust of the soul life. By taking my position in identification with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and by learning to trust the Holy Spirit to make this a living reality in my life, there is an answer to the problem of soul dominance.

Murray admits this is not always easy.

To those who would be saved from these dangers, who would fain return to the normal state in which, and for which, God created man, the way is open, though not always easy. ³Spirit of Christ p. 229

D. Further light from the book of Hebrews

Heb 4:11 ¶ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Here, in this passage of scripture, the background is the failure of the children of Israel to enter into the Promised Land. They had been saved by the blood of the Passover Lamb (I Cor 5:7), and left Egypt, which is a type of the world. They had crossed the Red Sea, which is a picture of death, burial and resurrection( I Cor 10:2), and had commenced their walk with God. Soon after their Rom 7 experience at the foot of Sinai, God led them to the borders of Canaan. Now Canaan is not a type of heaven. Canaan was a land filled with enemies that had to be subdued. It was a good land, but a land of faith, fight and fruit. The writer to Hebrews draws the clear application for the Christian today. God wants us to get out of the wilderness of defeated carnality and enter into His rest. From Psalm 95, we understand that REST is not a geographical location, but A SPIRITUAL CONDITION that was current in David’s day. Rest is a spiritual condition where we cease from our own works and walk by faith. Then in Heb 4:11 &12 comes an exhortation and an explanation.

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²Murray p. 229

³ibid

The exhortation:

Heb 4:11 ¶ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, (where we cease from our own works and walk by faith) lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

The explanation

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The clear inference is that the inordinate domination of the soul-life in the Christian is the cause of much unrest and a hindrance to entering into a life of abundant fruitfulness. The surgical separation of soul and spirit is so delicate that only God can do this operation. Yes it is not always easy, because the soul-life is not so much what we do, it is what we are. It is the quivering stuff of which our life consists. To touch it is to inflict pain. Just as no one can commit suicide on a cross, so no one can do heart surgery on himself. We can, however, place ourselves into the loving hands of the Great Physician, confess that we have a problem with soul-ish-ness and cooperate with what He is doing in our lives. The great artesian supply is there within our wells. Let us trust God to do a more thorough work of the cross in breaking up that plug and allowing the rivers of living water to flow out to a parched world.

REVIEW TIME

State two reasons why our wells become clogged? (IV.B)

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How does the soul-life seek to usurp the place of the spirit in our worship. (IV.B.2)

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What scriptural authority do we have for applying the cross to the soul? Matt 16:24,25

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THE CROSS AND MISSIONS

Jn12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24 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.

25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

INTRODUCTION

The sequence of teaching in the book of Romans is significant: It marks the various stages in the growth of a soul from his first days as a child of God, through to a life of fruitful service in the great missionary harvest fields of the world.

A. Justification by faith – the point where he became a born-again believer. Rom 5:1

B. Sanctification by faith –

The Cross and Indwelling Sin Rom 6
The Cross and the Law Rom 7
The Cross and the Holy Spirit Rom 8

C. Missions, at home and abroad. Rom 9,10 & 11.

Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

I. PASSION FOR MISSIONS SPRINGS OUT OF SANCTIFICATION

In 1912 a world-wide missionary conference was called with the aim of inquiring what the Church needed to do to meet the challenge of untold millions. Different delegates brought messages that detailed the waning Church influence of the church in a growing world population. . Some emphasized prayer while other called for revival. Andrew Murray read the transcripts of the various speakers and then wrote a book called The State of the Church. Here are some of his thoughts concerning the missionary problem:

A. The failure of evangelistic revival meetings to meet the need of the hour.

Yes, all will answer, nothing less than a mighty revival is needed to rouse and fit the Church for the work to which God calls her. And yet there may be a great difference in what we understand by revival. Many will think of the power of God as it has been manifested in the work of evangelists like Moody and Torry, and they feel sure that what God has done in the past He can do again. They will

perhaps hardly be able to understand us when we say that we need a different and a mightier revival than those were. In them the chief object was the conversion of sinners and, in connection with that, incidentally the quickening of believers. But the revival we need calls for a deeper and more entire upheaval of the Church. The great defect of those revivals was that the converts were received into a Church that was not living on a high level of consecration and holiness, and speedily they sank down to the average standard of ordinary religious life. Even the believers who had taken part in the work and had been roused by it, also gradually returned to their former life of clouded fellowship and lack of power to testify for Christ. ¹

B. Great missionary endeavours in the past sprang out of a revival of genuine Holiness.

The Moravian Missionary Movement

At Herrnhut there were gathered together a number of Bohemian refugees, and along with them a number of Christians of different sects, who hope there to find the Christian life as they sought for it. It was not long before disputes arose, and Herrnhut became the scene of contention and division. Zinzendorf felt this so deeply that he went down to live among them., in the power of God’s Spirit he succeeded not only in restoring order, but in binding them together in the power of devotion to Christ Jesus and of love to each other. More than once they had remarkable manifestations of the presence of the Spirit, and their whole life became one of worship and praise…

It was in a Holiness revival that the Moravian missionary idea was born and realised. ²

John Wesley visited them and bore this testimony of their lives in the community.

Here I continually met with what I sought for – living proofs of the power of faith, persons saved from inward as well as outward sin, by the love of God shed abroad in their hearts.

This small community spread across the world in small ships going as far as Greenland and Australia with the Gospel. Some of them actually sold themselves into slavery in the West Indies, in order to get a hearing for the Gospel. As they farewelled them from their shores, they would call out across the water, “May the Lord Jesus receive the due reward of His sufferings!”

The great Evangelical Revival of England through Whitefield and Wesley

What was the great Evangelical Revival in England through Whitefield and Wesley, but this? They had together at Oxford been members of ‘The Holy Club.’ With their whole heart they had sought to live for God, to keep themselves separate from the world, to devote their life to the welfare of their fellow men. They had not only sought deliverance from the guilt, but also from the power, of sin. When their eyes were opened to see how faith can claim the whole Christ in all His fulness, they found the key to that preaching which was so mightily effectual for the salvation of men. ³

Murray mentions others such as Booth, Spurgeon and Mc Cheyne.

Mc Cheyne prayed: ‘Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be.’

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¹ A. Murray The State of The Church (London: James Nisbet & Co, 1912) p 66,67

² Murray p. 69,70

³ Murray p 70

C. Summary Comments:

It is clear that there were some diverse doctrinal positions in the movements Murray cites, but we accept the basic premise, that a revival of genuine holiness issues in a revival of missions. In time, some of these movements wandered off track. Movements which were once evangelistic became Galatian in character. Others became libertine. Both swings of the wrecking ball will kill missionary endeavour. One final statement from Murray:

As the preaching of God in His holiness, of Christ as our Sanctification, of the work of the Spirit as the Spirit of holiness, takes the place that it has in God’s word, God’s people will have the power to do the work to which God has called them in making Christ known to every living creature. The promise will then be fulfilled: ‘The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.’ (Ez 36:23b) ⁴

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⁴ Murray pp. 72,73

When believers embrace the teaching of Rom 6,7 & 8. The Holy Spirit will be released in their lives personally and corporately.

When the Holy Spirit rests on the Church we are likely to hear the missionary call.

Ac 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

If we hurry our people from Rom 5:1 to Rom 10:14, if they make it to the mission field at all, and if they last one term, you will most likely export home-made carnal Christianity to the foreign field.

II. THE CROSS APPLIES TO ALL CHRISTIAN SERVICE

A. Lesson from the Corn of Wheat.

Joh 12:24 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.

Spoken by our Lord between Palm Sunday and Passover – refers to Cross.

The great harvest of souls is attributed to our Saviour’s death, burial and resurrection.

Applicable to all who would win souls for Christ.

There is a hidden cost to seeing people saved and established in the faith.

Spurgeon’s Testimony

“Before any great achievement, some measure of the same depression is very usual. Surveying the difficulties before us, our hearts sink within us. The sons of Anak stalk before us, and we are as grasshoppers in our own sight in their presence. The cities of Canaan are walled up to heaven, and who are we that we should hope to capture them? We are ready to cast down our weapons and take to our hills…”

“This depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; The cloud is black before it breaks, and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing, a John the Baptist, heralding the nearer coming of my Lord’s richer benison. So have far better men found it.” ⁵

B. Lesson from the priests in Jordan

Josh 3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Egypt to Canaan a Scriptural type of the Christian Life. (See Heb 3:7 – 12)

There are two bodies of impassable water – Red Sea and Jordan River in flood.

Both these bodies of water typify our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection. The first crossing typifies our baptism soon after salvation. (See I Cor 10:2.) The second crossing has to do with our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection and our entering into a life of faith, fight and fruit. (Corresponds to Rom 6:1-6)

The priests stood in Jordan, by faith in the place of death, while others went into their possession.

Jos 3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

C. Christian Workers need to understand this Principle

II cor 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

II Cor 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

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⁵ C. H. Spurgeon Lectures to my Students, (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1967) p. 159,160

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back. ‘You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages,’ he cried. Calvert only replied, ‘We died before we came here.’ By David Augsburger.⁶

There is no gain but by a loss;

You cannot save but by a cross.

The corn of wheat, to multiply,

Must fall into the ground and die.

Wherever you ripe fields behold,

Waving to God their sheaves of gold,

Be sure some corn of what has died,

Some soul has there been crucified;

Someone has wrestled, wept and prayed,

And fought hell’s legions undismayed.

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⁶ Charles Colson, Life Sentence (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1981) p. 154

⁷ L. E. Maxwell, Born Crucified (Chicago:Moody Press ) pp 138,139

REVIEW TIME

According to Murray, what sort of revival produces effective Missionary endeavour? (I.B)

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How does the doctrinal sequence of the Book of Romans support A1? (Introduction)

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If we hurry our people from Rom 5:1 to Romans 10:14, what bad effect on Missions?

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How would you counsel Spurgeon if he came to you with the depression as described?

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What New Testament Book gives scriptural support to use Egypt – Canaan as a type?

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Name the pioneer Missionary to Fiji who said: “We died before we came here”?

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THE CROSS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

INTRODUCTION:

Natural affection is a strong bond

A. God given Bond by creation:

vs 26 …. father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,…

B. Used as illustration of His own feelings for his people:

Ps 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

C. Lack of natural affection a symptom of reprobation

In the last days men (and women) shall be without natural affection II Tim 3:3

Theme: What is the meaning of the cross in relationships

I. THE SURRENDER OF EARTH’S DEAREST UPON THE ALTAR

A. That Natural affection never surpass supreme love to God

Matt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

B. To cherish a loved one more than God is idolatory.

C. Every growing affection must therefore be placed upon the altar.

D. Illustrated in Abraham and Isaac

Gen 22:1 ¶ And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

II. MEANS TREADING THE PATH OF THE CROSS EVEN WHEN MY OBEDIENCE CAUSES MY LOVED ONES TO SUFFER

Matt 10: 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

A. To take up the Cross of suffering, rejection, death… is to inflict pain on those who are attached to you by the tenderest threads of love.

Lu 2:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

Lu 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

B. Illustrated Isobel Kuhn.

Isobel Kuhn When a young woman called to China, her mother warned her: ‘If you ever go to China, you will go over my dead body.’ And she did. On her deathbed the mother confessed: ‘Daughter is right; I have been wrong.‘ How sad to be forced to take the divine order in death! The mother died; her daughter went to China. The great refiner and Purifier of silver sat over against the crucible of her death-bed and skimmed off ‘the grey scum of selfishness’ until mother ceased to be a hindrance – albeit through the doorway of death. Maxwell pp 97,98

III. MEANS NOT RESCUING A LOVED ONE WHO IS GOING THROUGH A CRUFIXION EXPERIENCE.

A. Perhaps the hardest

One thing to go to the cross myself, but far harder to stand by and allow a loved one to suffer, without interfering in the plan and purpose of God to bring this one to a merciful death.

“Blood runs thick. Christian parents who have gone to great lengths in consecration and who seem otherwise to be sacrificial and devoted followers of Christ, break down at this point. Their fleshly sentiments make them, perhaps unconsciously, ‘the enemies of the cross of Christ.’ The Cross begins to lay hold of son or daughter and forthwith mother cries out: Be it far from thee, this shall never be unto thee – Pity thyself, spare thyself, come down from the cross and save thyself and us. Happy the young person who so senses the serpent’s subtle and feigned love in that dreadful hour that he can say: ‘Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God but the things of men’ (Matt 16:23,.) Maxwell p. 97

Oswald Chambers says: ‘Whenever we step back from identification with God’s interest in others into sympathy with them, the vital connection with God has gone; we have put our sympathy, our consideration for them in the way; and this is a deliberate rebuke of God.’

B. Illustrated in Jane Welch

Jane Welsh, the noble daughter of John Knox, was approached by the prison officials with the assurance that her husband, John Welsh, would be freed if only he would renounce the Protestant faith. Gathering up her apron she replied, ‘Please your majesties, I would rather catch his head there.’ Maxwell pp 99,100

IV. MEANS ADOPTING THIS PRINCIPLE OF THE CROSS AS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP/SAVE LASTING RELATIONSHIP

Matt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

A. Paul in relation to Corinthians:

II Cor 7:1 ¶ Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.

4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

B. Illustration Mother and wayward son.

“A prodigal son was determine to ‘have a fling.’ .. he comforted himself beneath her prayers that he could not get far away. At length the mother detected a fatal flaw in her own praying. Her sentiment would save her son from the way of transgressors, which is hard. She was not in full identification with the spirit of the Cross… She warned him: ‘Son, I’m no longer asking God to protect you or save you from trouble. I am asking Him to get you, dead or alive… That son is a missionary in Africa today.” L.E. Maxwell p. 99

V. THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL AND ISAAC

A. Ishmael – Abraham had to wait a long time for the son God promised him.

Sarah was barren and after a long time, Sarah suggested the Abraham take Hagar, the servant girl as a second wife, and that she might bare him the son he longed for. Ishmael was born and for about 13 years he was the darling of Abraham’s life When Abraham was 100 years old God announce that Sarah would bear him a son. By this time Abraham was past fathering a child too. In due time God did a miracle and the child of faith was born. Then there was trouble. At Isaac’s weaning feast teenage Ishmael began to mock Isaac. Sarah saw red and said to Abraham:

Gen 21: 10b Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

The New testament says that Ishmael was born after the flesh, whereas Isaac was born after the Spirit. Gal 4:29 From this we understand that a work of the flesh is not only doing gross sins, but it can be simply trying to fulfill the promise of God in the energy of the natural man.

Abraham lost Ishmael – He became the father of the Ishmaelites.

B. Isaac – being the son of promise was conceived by faith. See Heb 11.

When Isaac was grown God tested Abraham Gen 22:1

“At God’s command, Abraham took Isaac, bound him, laid him on the altar he had built, and took his knife to slay him, and with actions far more eloquent than words, said to God by what he did, ‘You promised me Isaac! I did not see how You could do it, and in my unbelief and in my folly I produced my Ishmael; I committed myself to Your will, and thought I was more competent than God. Now You tell me to slay him, my only son Isaac in whom You have promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed! O God, if I slay him, I do not see how You can do it – but now I am committed to You – exclusively, and to all that for which You are committed to me! If slay him I must, then slay him I will – even if You have to raise him from the dead! (Hebrews 11:17-19), and in so many words God said to Abraham, ‘Thank you, Abraham! That is all I wanted to know – now you can throw your knife away!”

Maj Ian Thomas Mystery of Godliness p. 19,20

Abraham saved Isaac – What a blessed time Abraham, Sarah and Isaac had on their return

CONCLUSION: The Cross is the only way to preserve lasting relationships.

APPENDIX

How Do You Know When You’ve Died To Self?

When you are forgotten or neglected.

When you are purposefully set at nought, and you do not sting and hurt with insult or oversight, but, in your heart, count yourself worthy to suffer for Christ.