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The Amish Voice 7
2. THE BELIEVER IS TO WALK BEARING A
CRUCIFIED FLESH OR SINFUL NATURE (v.24).
This is a striking verse. Note several points.
1. Note the words, “they that are Christ’s.” A person becomes
the property and the possession of Christ when he first
trusts Christ as his Savior. When a person comes to Jesus
Christ to save him, he is coming because he wants to be
delivered from the enslavement and bondage of sin, death,
and judgment. He wants to live forever with God. He does
not want to continue being the slave of the flesh, subjected
to its lusts, death and sure judgment. He wants to be saved
from the flesh of a corruptible world. Therefore, when a
person comes to Christ, he is turning away from the flesh
to God; he is turning his back upon the mastery of the flesh
and all that it stands for. He is turning to Jesus Christ as his
new master. Consequently...
the believer no longer belongs to the flesh; he
belongs to Jesus Christ
the flesh no longer possesses the believer; Jesus
Christ possesses him
the believer no longer serves the flesh; he serves
the Lord Jesus Christ
2. Note that the believer has crucified the flesh with the
affections (passions) and lusts. How? By dying with Jesus
Christ. How can a person die with Jesus Christ? By an act
of God. Only God can count a person to have died with
Jesus Christ and it be true, an actual occurrence. This is
exactly what God does. When a person genuinely believes
in Jesus Christ, God takes that person’s belief and counts it
as his death with Jesus Christ. God honors his faith by
identifying him with Christ. God counts and considers the
person...
to have died in Christ’s death
to be placed into Christ’s death
to be identified with Christ’s death
to be a partaker of Christ’s death
to be in union with Christ’s death
to be bound in Christ’s death
Now, note the point: if the believer is counted by God as
having been crucified with Christ, then the believer...
has died to the flesh
has died to the passions of the flesh
has died to the lusts of the flesh
is freed from the flesh
is freed from the passions of the flesh
is freed from the lusts of the flesh
Once a person has died, he is dead. The rule and reign and the
habits and desires of the flesh no longer have control over him.
The flesh ceases to have a place or a position in his life. He is
free from the flesh, free from…
To be crucified with Christ means that we no longer live in the
flesh, in the place and position of the flesh. We cannot live
apart from the flesh, for we are in this body upon this earth. But
we are free from living after the flesh. We no longer follow the
passions and lusts of the flesh. We desire and follow
righteousness, seeking to please God in all that we do.
“God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein?” (Ro. 6:2).
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga. 2:20).
ILLUSTRATION:
The Christian believer belongs to Jesus. When your flesh
rises up and wants to rebel against Him, remember this
soldier’s example:
At a dinner given by a Grand Army Post, a veteran
soldier was introduced as one of the speakers. In making
the introduction, the presiding officer referred to the fact
that the man who was to speak had lost a leg in the war,
and the veteran was greeted with loud cheering as he
arose to make the address.
He began by disavowing the introduction. “No,” he
said, “that is a mistake. I lost nothing in the war, for,
when we went into the war, we gave our country all that
displayed in a grocery store, where would it be
located:
—In the fresh produce section.
—In the dated, soon to spoil section.
—In the frozen food section.
—In the garbage can—the fruit is spoiled.
6. Are you making any effort to improve the quality and
production of fruit in your life?
fleshly habits
fleshly control
fleshly bondage
fleshly judgment
fleshly enslavement
fleshly condemnation
fleshly death