To the Flesh we must declare “Shut up and die!” [podcast]

There can be no mercy on the flesh.

As opposed to making excuse for the fallen nature in us, we must declare war on it – by the cross (Romans 6:1-23; 8:12-13, etc.).

Jesus never said to try. Jesus says you must die to follow Him (Luke 9:23-24; John 12:23-25, etc.).

The flesh cannot be cast out, like a devil. It must be daily crucified, put to death (Luke 9:23-24; Romans 6, etc.).

The Holy Spirit alone can crucify the deeds of the body and this only happens as we are dead and buried with Christ. Read Romans 6 each morning for the next week.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 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. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:11-14 

The self-life must die and be buried daily by the cross and therefore be raised up, which is divinely done by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).

Give the flesh an inch and it will take a mile.

Jesus wants you to walk in full victory, no matter what you face, what He allows, and this can only happen when you do things His way (James 1:2-4). His way is the cross, the crucified life (Luke 9:23-24; Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3, etc.). 

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 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.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

A fabulous commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

“THE DYING OF THE LORD JESUS
PAUL here is very bold in speaking of the intimate union that there was between Christ living in him and the life he lived in the flesh, with all its suffering, He had spoken (Gal. 2:20) of his being crucified with Christ, and Christ living in him. Here he tells how he was always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus; it was through that that the life also of Jesus was manifested in his body. And he says that it was because the death of Christ was thus working in and through him that Christ’s life could work in them.

We often speak of our abiding in Christ. But we forget that that means abiding in a crucified Christ. Many believers appear to think that when once they have claimed Christ’s death in the fellowship of the cross, and have counted themselves as crucified with Him, that they may now consider it as past and done with. They do not understand that it is in the crucified Christ, and in the fellowship of His death, that they are to abide daily and unceasingly. The fellowship of the cross is to be the life of a daily experience. The self-emptying of our Lord, His taking the form of a servant, His humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross – this mind that was in Christ is to be the disposition that marks our daily life.

‘Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.’ This is what we are called to as much as was Paul. If we are indeed to live for the welfare of men around us, if we are to sacrifice our ease and pleasure to win souls for our Lord, it must be true of us, as of Paul, that we are able to say: Death works in us, but life in those for whom we pray and labor. For it is in our fellowship in the sufferings of Christ that the crucified Lord can live out and work out His life in us and through us.

Let us learn the lesson that the abiding in Christ Jesus for which we have so often prayed and striven is nothing less than the abiding of the Crucified One in us and we in Him.”

The Cross

The Flesh will Never be Reformed it Must be Crucified [podcast]

The Truth about Holiness [podcast]

The Daily Cross in Prayer