The Cross: An Instrument of Death
/Romans 8:1
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The flesh—the real enemy of every believer is his flesh. The power of Satan and his sin was defeated at the cross. The old man born of Adam died with Jesus 2,000 years ago when he accepted by faith the sacrifice of Jesus for his sin. The lingering problem is the flesh. The carnal nature. All that I want that stands in the way of what God wants for me.
Let’s try to understand this better—the Spirit
Can these bones live? 37:3 O’ Lord God you knowest. 37:3
Thus says the Lord to these bones, “I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live? 37:4
Ezekiel 36:27
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Jeremiah 31:33-34
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,
I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
A believer that is led by the Spirit allows the Lord to search the heart and try the reins. The word of God, the Law of God, becomes more than ink on a page, more than do’s and don’ts, more than rights and wrongs, it breaks through selfishness and self centeredness, it drills through the mantle and reaches the core.
Spirit communicates to spirit and the word of God divides asunder between joint and marrow and soul and spirit and reveals—it discerns the motives and intents of the heart.
But in order for it to work, the believer must not be led by his flesh. An elementary school level understanding of the message of the cross produces a person that is puffed up with pride about their own knowledge of the cross especially in comparison to others and would say to be led by the Spirit means to put faith in the cross, but they never allow their own flesh to be nailed to the cross.
Sin was defeated on Jesus’ cross 2,000 years ago, but your flesh/ my must be crucified daily.
But flesh doesn’t want to die, the self wants to live. The soulish man (1 Corinthians 2:14-3:1), I’m not talking about the pneumatikos that would be the man dominated by the Spirit of God. I’m talking about when the sarkikos and the psuchikos have a Rendezvous. I’m talking about when the soulish man and all his learning and all his beautiful self has a get together with his fleshly man and convinces himself that he’s okay. After all, I don’t drink, smoke, cook meth, or sleep with people.
But what about how you look at the shortcomings of others and view yourself superior to a brother or sister because you don’t smoke or drink, but your mind is filled with lust, your heart is filled with anger that can be hidden most of the time but at the right moment, with the right button—bam! We got a flesh festival now baby!
We talk about the victory of the cross and most of us can quote this:
With His last breath He cried, “It is finished. The earth quaked, the veil was torn from top to bottom signifying that access to the holiest of holies was made available and some of us knowing that are like well, let me go in there, and we enter in and bask in His glory. His presence becomes like a warm wave of love that just wraps me up and man I just love His presence, but do we let Him in here? Do we let Him speak and have His way? When He reveals what He wants, do we yield and submit and be led by His Spirit? Or do we allow the fleshly man to speak to the soulish man and allow the mind to suppress His Spirit?
If we do, then we’re being led by the flesh in that area. And that’s why people that love God can still be full of pride and think more highly of themselves than what they ought.
And that is one aspect of the lust of the flesh. Not fornication, not a desire for drugs or alcohol or internet pornography, a lust for self to live, pride— a refusal to die!
The flesh not only wants mastery over the body for lust it also mastery over the body for law. Just like the flesh lusts to be seen and recognized, it also lusts to perform. It wants to read more Bible than everybody, sing more than everybody, do more works than everybody, heal more than everybody, give more prophetic utterances than everybody. Preach more than everybody. The flesh wants to perform and it wants recognition for its performance.
In a sense, the doing of Law demanded holiness without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Do this and live the Law demands
But gives me neither feet nor hands
A better word the gospel brings
It bids me fly and gives me wings
God never intended that the working of the Law would atone for sin and result in righteousness— righteousness was always the work of the sacrifice.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
9am, 3pm, every time an unknowing sin came aware, trimming wicks, filling oil, burning incense, changing shewbread, entering holy of holies
and then this word:
Deuteronomy 4:1
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
Deuteronomy 4:5-8
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
With all this taking place, all the works and self performance, God’s favor shining down on His people, if not careful, the heart of self magnifies itself and instead of staying humbled and reminded that it’s God that does it, it exalts itself and pride has friends.
Pride surrounds itself with the other lusts of the flesh. If love is where the fruit of the Spirit flows, then pride is where the lusts of the flesh. Let me explain what I mean. God is love. His Spirit produces love and from His love flows: love joy, peace, longsuffering, patience, gentleness and kindness. Satan said I will exalt myself Leviathan is the king over all the children of pride (Job 41:34).
Pride says that I don’t have to live according to the word in this area of my life.
Conclusion:
If you’re a believer, you don’t have a sin problem. You have a flesh problem. You have a refusal to lower yourself under the hand of God. What we all need to do is find an altar somewhere. This one works well, but nowadays people avoid the altar. Make an altar in your closet. A place where you can get alone with God and let Him speak to your heart and there when He reveals what He wants gone, let Him have it, let Him put it on the cross in Jesus’ name!