SUMMARY:

Christ died on the cross and it was a provision for all mankind to walk in His footsteps and to die out to the Adamic nature. How do we respond to that? What do we do in order to see the cross experience fulfilled in our lives?

SHOW NOTES:

• A believer will be brought to the point where he knows he is falling short and is living too much in the flesh.

• A devastation can come where you can't even do the things that are in your heart.

• It's important to remember that the Lord is the One who is doing the work.

• We may think we know what He is doing and try to accomplish the experience our own way, but it won't work.

• The Apostle Paul was really expressing the submission and obedience that he lived by, when he summarized it: “I die daily.”

• An example of how difficult this cross experience can be was exemplified by Abraham when he was given a word to take his son, Isaac, up the mountain and sacrifice him. Even though God stopped Abraham from completing that act, that truly was a cross experience for Abraham.

QUOTATIONS:

• Religion always wants to take the cross and say, okay, I've got to identify with this cross and let it crucify me.

• We have to remember that He's the One doing the work, not us.

• We don't go forward at all until we continue to die out, because it's all about Him moving through us.

• I don't really think that we have the ability to do the work God is asking to be done, because I think He has to finish the work.

• What is the cross, you know, that God brings? It's often a thing that you don't want to hear.

• In other words, you submit to His will, to His Lordship, and allow Him to complete the work.

• I submit my spirit to the death process of the cross daily, but I don't do the work, because that's God's business, not mine.

REFERENCES:

Romans 6:6

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we no longer be slaves to sin.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galatians 5:24

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 6:14

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:8

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Philippians 3:10

that I may know Him and he power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

II Corinthians 4:11

For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

TAKE AWAY:

Today we are reaching into the submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You cannot force yourself into this. You cannot perfect what God wants you to bring to the cross by your own efforts. You have to submit yourself to the cross experience and allow Him to complete the work.

Ken:

When Christ died on the cross, he died for us. And we, when we're baptized, we're baptized into that death, burial, and resurrection. When we commit our hearts, I think that's probably what a lot of devastation is all about. What are you going to choose when you're devastated? Are you going to choose to complain and be fearful?

Or are you going to submit your heart? I think God's looking for us to submit our hearts. But we have to remember that He's the one doing the work, not us. The minute you think that you have to do something in order to die on the cross, you're missing the point. Because the point is that we submit our hearts to him.

He's the one working in us to complete us. Religion always wants to take the cross and say, okay, I've got to identify with this cross and let it crucify me. And I think sometimes. We forget it's Him doing the work.

Ron:

That's a good, that's a great point, because not your cross, it's His cross. You're only going to experience it as He leads you into it.

You can't manufacture it. You can't, okay, I'm going to dedicate myself to the cross. How can you do that? You don't even know what it is. I think that we don't go forward at all until we continue to die out, because it's all about Him moving through us.

Ken:

I think there's a lot that has to do with our submission to the Lord's work in our lives, because many things come. In those events that come, and yet God allows that to come. Now, how do we respond to that? Do we say, God, you don't know what you're doing? Or let me work this out myself? Or do you say, Lord, finish the work. I submit my heart to you. I really don't think that we have the ability to do the work God asking that that be done because I think he has to finish the work.

He has to finish the work. We can't do that. And see, that's where religion comes and that's why we have so many denominations. It's about the issue of water Baptist. There's so many different angles that people have come up with trying to interpret. What God is saying here in the dying of our flesh. It really is our submission.

And I think that's what Paul was, Paul was talking about. I day daily. It's a choice. I choose. That means I submit to the work that God's doing in my life. What is the cross? What is the cross? And you know that God brings, it's often a thing that you don't want to hear. It's an idea that you say, Oh no, I could never do that.

Instead of saying, Lord, I submit my spirit and my heart to you in the way of completion because you have to complete it. I can't do it. I know I can't do it. That's not in my flesh to accomplish the will of God. The only thing I can do is submit my spirit to you so that you can complete the work.

Ron:

Christ died on the cross and it was a provision for all mankind to walk in his footsteps and to die out. And the way I relate to it is like salvation. Salvation is the potential. It doesn't happen to you unless you open up and receive it.

Ken:

I think that initiative is laying yourself down and saying, Lord, do whatever it is you need to do to me. In other words, you submit to his will, to his lordship, and allow him to complete the work. You cannot complete that work in your flesh.

Dale:

In the church age, you could be saved again and again every fall and every spring. Salvation is a one time experience. The cross is a one time experience. And the catch here is, how long is it going to take you to enter in and fulfill the work of the cross in your life?

It took Christ three hours, but once cross experience is completed, just as it was Christ completed it. You take that experience and you apply it to what God is doing in your life. You don't crucify Christ fresh every year at Passover. You don't crucify him fresh every morning when you get up the same way you don't get saved day after day.

The thing that we have got to learn is we are his workmanship. See, when Christ went into the grave, the words over him, that his body will not see decomposition, whatever they, the word was, but he, his body wouldn't be destroyed. What happened? The right hand of the father reached into Hades or hell or whatever. And the right hand of the father. Raised him, that's the life we're living, the application of the cross.

Ken:

I have two examples from the Old Testament which are so telling. Number one, it was Abraham and Isaac. God told him to go, take him to the mountain, and put him on the altar, and put an eye through his heart.

And so, Abraham, because he believed God, not his works. He did exactly what God told him to do and was ready to plunge that knife into his heart. And then God said, no, and then he provided the sacrifice because it was never the intention of God to have him kill Isaac. Just that submission to the will of God was what God was looking for.

Is it any different today? Can we do anything to work the works of God in the flesh? Absolutely not. We cannot, but with our spirit, we can submit our spirits to the death process and go along. And I think that's what Paul was talking about. I die daily. It's not something that I have to do in the flesh, but I submit my spirit is what Paul was saying. I die. In other words, I submit my spirit to the death process of the cross daily, but I don't do the work. Because that's God's business, not mine.

Dale:

Once that cross experience has worked in your heart, you know it. Because when something is brought up to you, either by an assault by Satan, or God speaks to you, you have got the provision. You've got it. It's a possession that you have. And you take that cross experience, and you apply it. You take

Ken:

I think in this Dale we can even go back to the first two commandments. What is the first two commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your might, with all your mind, with all your soul.

And the second one is like it, in that you love your neighbor as yourself. This is the fulfillment of the law. That's righteousness. What we're reaching into today is our submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The more I read, you cannot force yourself into this. You have to love yourself into this.

This is where we love each other and stand and believe for the anointing that comes to the family, to speak the Word of God and see the change of God. Because honestly, you can't do it in your flesh, and we have to realize that. You cannot perfect what God wants you to bring to the cross by your own efforts. You have to submit yourself to the cross and allow Him to complete the work.