I am Crucified With Christ
Let’s begin with reading Galatians 5, verses 22 thru 25..
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: Against such there is no law.” Listen to that last part again.. “Against that, there is no law.” The word “against” really means.. “compared to that, or set along side that.” Actually, it literally means.. “down from that”, because there really is nothing that’s on the same plane (or on the same level) as that. The fruits, of the Spirit of God, are on a level all to themselves.
“Down from that, there is no law.” There are lots of “laws of God”, but none of God’s laws, are on the same level, as the fruits of God’s Spirit. And if we would be faithful Christians, then we’l be living in such a way, that all those fruits, all those godly qualities, will be the only thing people see when they look at us. And that’s why the next two verses say this; “And they that are Christ’s, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Are you familiar with the words of Romans 8, verses 6 thru 19? Let me read them to you; Romans 8:6 thru 19..
“For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit, is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God; For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” The mind of the flesh, is really the desires of the flesh. And the desires of the flesh aren’t able to subject themselves to the law of God. The two are simply opposites, they’re opposed to one another.
“So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God.” “In the flesh”, is really the opposite of being “in Christ”. Verse 9 says; “However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (The spirit, that exhibits those fruits, that were spoken of) “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
“If Christ is in you, (and you in Christ, I might add) though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” (because of you exhibiting those fruits, that’s righteousness) You see, the body is not what’s “in Christ”. It’s our spirit that’s in that covenant relationship with Christ. It’s our spirit that’s “in Christ”.
Do you remember what the Lord has said in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 & 14? “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, (or uninformed) concerning those who have fallen asleep, (those spirits of our loved ones that are now sleeping) lest you sorrow, as others who have no hope.” There’s certainly no reason for us to sorrow about those who have fallen asleep in Jesus!
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him, those who sleep in Jesus.” Amen!
Back to Romans 8, verse 11; “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, then He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit, who dwells in you.” Just as long as we keep that spirit of Christ alive in us, then we too, have the blessed resurrection to look forward to. Revelation 14:13 says; “..Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on! Yes, says the Spirit; So that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
You know, physical fruit gets old, and goes bad. It doesn’t last all that long. But the fruit of the Spirit of God, well, that fruit is eternal. That fruit follows us right along to heaven, and never goes bad!
Romans 8, verses 12 & 13; “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; But, if BY the Spirit, (by exhibiting those eternal fruits of the Spirit) you are putting to death, the deeds of the body, then you will live!” You can’t be doing the deed of the flesh at the same time that you’re exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. It’s got to be one or the other.
And the way that we “put to death, the deeds of the body”, is to produce the “fruits” of the Spirit of God. They say an idle mind is the devils’s workshop. And I suppose that an idle life, void of any of the fruits of the Spirit, is probably the devil’s favorite place to hang out.
It makes me think of that parable that Jesus told about, in Luke 11:24 thru 26. Jesus said; “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; And finding none, he says; I will return to my house from which I came.” Just for the sake of this example, Think of that as maybe breaking a bad habit, that you know was against the will of God. It was a sinful habit! and you break the habit, and you stop doing whatever it was that was sinful. Then what do you do?
Well, listen to the rest of the parable; The unclean spirit goes back to the house where it came from. And the scripture says; “And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.” In other words, there’s nothing living there, it’s empty, and kind of inviting.
“Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; And the last state of that man, is worse than the first.” He started with only one demon, now he’s got eight!
It’s great to stop a sinful habit. But what are you going to do with the time, that you used to spend sinning? You need to fill that time, by producing the eternal fruits of the Spirit of God. Jesus said in John 9, verse 4; “We must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: The night cometh, when no man can work.”
We’ve got to do the work of God, and we’ve got to produce the fruits, of the Spirit of God. That’s how you put to death the deeds of the flesh, and that’s how you stop walking after the flesh. By filling your life, with the work of God! An empty life, is the perfect place for the devil to take up residence. The spirit of evil, will fill the place, where the spirit of God belongs.
How many of you simply don’t have the time, to do the work of God? I hope you don’t raise your hand and say; I don’t have time! Because that’s exactly the kind of person that those demons are looking for. There’s plenty of bad habits to fill our lives with; If we let it happen. If we don’t FIRST, fill our lives with the fruits of the Spirit of God. I guess the key is; Don’t let there be any time for sin! Fill your time, with God!
Now, Romans 8, verses 14 thru 18; “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons (and daughters) of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again; But you have received a spirit of adoption as children, by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
“The Spirit Himself, testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God..” (that is, as our spirit produces the fruits of God’s own Spirit, then His Spirit says; Yep, this is a child of God!
“And if children, then heirs; Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; If so be, that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” We better ask ourselves; Is it too much trouble and suffering, to sacrifice our own precious time, to doing the will of God, and to producing the fruits of God’s own Spirit? We need to ask ourselves these things.
Verse 18; “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” It’s all going to be worth it. And that’s basically God’s guarantee! “The the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared, with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Our suffering isn’t even on the same level, as the glory to come!
There’s a Christian lady (a member of the church) who posts a lot of very good bible material on a website, and I want to share something with you that she posted just recently. And it began with what we read from Galatians 5, verses 24 & 25. I’ll read it once again; “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
And here’s what she said about that thought..
“To show His love, our Lord Jesus was crucified, and died for me. To show MY love and gratitude for Him, I must die to self, be crucified with Him, and live for Him daily. May our Lord give us the courage, to die to ourselves, so that we may live a rich and abundant life to His glory.”
And then she said.. “The following poem expresses well the courageous voyage of dying to self, and being crucified with Christ in our daily walk.”
Lucinda Partain, is the woman’s name. And she posts some really wonderful things, and so I thought that was worth sharing with you. I did ask her some time back if I could share some of her writings, and of course she graciously said yes.
