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graciousheaven · 1 year

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To Live is to Die to Self

By nature, we live to satisfy the desires of the flesh, desires that are sinful and opposed to the will of God. We have no inclination for the things of God; for our minds are futile and our hearts darkened. The natural man is characterized by self-love, self-indulgence, self-exaltation, self-sufficiency, self-will and pride. He neither glorifies God nor thanks Him, but glorifies himself. For he is blind to the truth, disobedient, rebellious against God, deceitful and wicked; he is held captive by sin and death. As long as we are in bondage to our sinful desires and lusts, we are spiritually dead, alienated from God. For no man who walks according to the flesh can please God; for the desires of the flesh cannot be reconciled with the will of God. There is no fellowship between light and darkness; there is no accord between truth and falsehood.

He who lives to satisfy the desires of the flesh is of the devil. He walks in darkness and is ruled by the spirit of falsehood; he hates God, despises his truth, and indulges in deeds of wickedness such as “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before (says the Apostle Paul), that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). But he who seeks after the things of the Spirit is born of God and is controlled by the Spirit of God – he loves God and his truth and bears the fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (V. 22-23). There is therefore no harmony between the Spirit and the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other”, as Paul writes in Gal. 5:17.

Life and death are set before every human being here on earth, and the eternal destination of each person is determined by where they set their heart. “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Gal. 6:8). Paul also writes in Rom. 8:13-14, “If you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Rom. 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The natural man is spiritually dead, separated from God. To pass from death to life, he must crucify the flesh with its passions.

Now the question is, why does the flesh have to be crucified? Our body of sin must be destroyed so that we no longer serve sin, but become slaves of righteousness, and thus escape death. And so Paul writes in Rom. 6:6. “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Being bought by the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we have become his slaves. Thus we are to live in perfect submission to Him and in obedience to his Spirit. “For (as Paul writes in Rom. 7:5) while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” Our Saviour freed us from lawlessness “in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7:4).

1 John 3:6 reads, “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him.” John is not saying that those who are in Christ no longer sin; for we cannot reach perfection here on earth. For although we are born of the Spirit, the dead body of sin is still attached to us (cf. Rom. 7:24). Thus while waiting for the redemption of our bodies, we fall from time to time. What John is pointing out here is the habitual practice of sin – this is the evidence that a person is not of God. For the Christian life, though not marked by perfection, is characterised by a wholehearted commitment to Christ, and an earnest desire to be like Him. A true disciple of Christ is marked by an earnest pursuit of holiness rather than the practice of sin. As V.7b-9 says, “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

We die to sin in order to set our minds only on the things above. For we cannot serve two masters. The natural man yields his members unto sin as instruments for unrighteousness (cf. Col. 3:7), because he is in bondage to sin. He does not love God nor keep his commandments. The Lord declares in John 14:21, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Paul writes in Gal.5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” He who is not of Christ is in bondage to the flesh. Anyone who is controlled by the flesh abides in death, no life abides in them; for there is no life in the Spirit without the death of the old self, without the destruction of the body of sin. Sin has dominion over those who present the members of their bodies to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, and death is their reward. In other words, anyone who lives to satisfy the desires of the flesh condemns his soul to eternal torment. But he who renounces to the flesh and walks according to the will of God escapes condemnation. As the Lord says in John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Any heart that indulges in a life of sin will be sent to the fire of hell. But anyone who despises his life of sin, anyone who rejects the flesh with its desires and throws himself on the mercies of Christ is granted everlasting life in the Kingdom of God, where sin is completely powerless and death is conquered. Therefore, until a man has, by the power of the Holy Spirit, crucified the flesh, he cannot have life. There is no hope for those who love their body of sin. Unless someone dies to sin, he will remain its slave, he will be held captive forever by the sting of death, man’s last enemy. This is the wages of sin. But he who is dead to sin has died with Christ: he has shared in Christ’s death, he has been baptised into his death. And since Christ lives, he also lives in Christ, being born again, regenerated by the Spirit of grace. As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

So we cannot have life, unless we crucify the flesh with its sinful passions and lusts. However, we are not capable to put to death the desires of the flesh by human design; for in and of ourselves we have no power over sin and the flesh. Furthermore, as natural men we do not even will to let go the desires of the flesh. Therefore, it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, through his supernatural work of regeneration and sanctification, that we can crucify the flesh. The Lord recognizes our inability to conform to his will by our own efforts, He recognizes our inability to overcome the flesh by our own doing. Therefore, during the Upper Room Discourse, He promised his disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13, saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”

By the power of the Spirit of Christ, we can put to death the flesh with its passions and lusts, if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. But this cannot happen without saving faith, which is a gift from God. Saving faith is evidenced by self-denial, by a humble and genuine acknowledgement of one’s sins, of one’s sinfulness, unworthiness and unrighteousness. Saving faith also produces godly sorrow and hatred for one’s sins, the recognition of one’s need of Christ, and a sincere affirmation of one’s desire to turn away from sin. Additionally, a person who has saving faith confesses Christ as Saviour and Lord, as the only Mediator who reconciles sinners to God.

Unless we embrace the righteousness of God, which is graciously imputed to every repentant sinner, through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, we cannot be delivered from the flesh. For no one can be freed from the bondage of corruption without the help of the Spirit of Christ. For in and of ourselves we have no power over the flesh. However, the Spirit of God, who alone is able to defeat the flesh, lives only in those who have turned away from their sins and put their trust in Christ the Saviour. The Spirit seals us in God’s love and sets us apart for Christ. And so Paul writes in Rom. 8:9b, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” And anyone who does not belong to Christ therefore cannot crucify the flesh. But being born of the Spirit and adopted as sons into the family of God, the Spirit gradually sanctifies us to conform us to the image of Christ; He restrains our sinful desires so that we no longer live according to the flesh but according to the will of God.

The Spirit alone is able, through his supernatural work of regeneration and sanctification, to set sinners free from the bondage of corruption and bring them captive to Christ. No man can crucify the flesh by human effort or craftiness. Therefore those who are not in Christ cannot please God because they cannot walk according to his will. Only those who are born of the Spirit can please God, for they are prepared for all good works by the Spirit at the moment of their new birth. And so Paul writes to the Galatians in Gal. 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” The unregenerate man does not walk in the Spirit, because he is unwilling and unable to do so. Thus his habitual lifestyle cannot be in conformity to the will of God. But someone who is born of the Spirit does the things of the Spirit. As the Lord Himself says in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Thus, through the command for Christians to walk in the Spirit, Paul, like the Lord, draws a dividing line between the lifestyle of a carnal man and that of a man born of the Spirit – he commands the Galatian believers to live in such a way that their walk, actions and conduct testify to their new life in the Spirit. For he who is born of the Spirit obeys the Spirit and not the flesh. When we are in Christ we are a new creation. Therefore, our conduct and desires must match the will of God. For everyone who is born of the Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit. Those whose lives are not marked by the fruit of the Spirit, that is, love, joy, peace, self-control, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness and gentleness, prove by their conduct that they are not born of the Spirit but of the flesh. Such cannot inherit everlasting life. Thus declares the Lord in John 3:5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”

There cannot be life without the death of the flesh. When a seed falls into the ground, it dies and a new life sprouts out of the dead shell. Likewise we die to the flesh and are begotten as living souls in Jesus Christ our Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through his supernatural work of regeneration. Our new birth of the Spirit marks the death of the old person we used to be. As Paul writes in Rom. 6:4, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” As a new creation, we walk in newness of life – Christ abides in us and we abide in Him. And so with boldness, we affirm with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me” (Gal. 2:20).

There is no life for those who cherish their sins; there is no life for those who live to satisfy the flesh. To live, one must die to self, one must forsake the flesh with its corruption. But this is not possible unless we embrace Christ the Redeemer and share in his death. For those who died with Christ also share in his life. In Christ we are recreated, born of the Spirit, for a new life, a life of righteousness and holiness. As Paul writes in Gal. 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” They no longer live to satisfy their lusts, but for the glory of God; for their heart is no longer set on the things of this world, but on God and the things of God.

Those who refuse to let go the desires of the flesh, those who love their sins hate the Living God; for their god is their natural desires. They despise God’s commandments, they reject Christ the Saviour, and suppress the truth with their unrighteousness. Such cannot find favour in the sight of the Lord. “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed”, writes the Apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 1:9-10. Anyone who rejects Christ the Light, anyone who suppresses the truth is held captive by death, and the eternal destination of his soul is hell. Unless a person turns to Christ the Saviour in repentance and faith, death abides in him. The body of sin must be crucified by the power of the Holy Spirit for the soul to be preserved.

Christ came to destroy sin and to give life to those who love Him. Whoever rejects Him cannot be delivered from sin, he cannot find peace with God. 1 John 2:23 reads, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Those who deny the Son remain under divine curse and are assigned a portion with the wicked. But anyone who turns to Christ finds peace with God; he receives life through his faith in Christ and is baptized into the family of God by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes residence in him and gradually sanctifies him, that he may be conformed to the image of the Son. Those who deny the Son have neither seen the Spirit nor known Him. For this is how the Son reveals Himself to those who love Him, this is how He gives life to those who put their trust in Him, by taking residence in them. John 14:23 reads, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.” By taking residence in those who believe in Him, Christ imparts life to their dead souls and preserves them by his Spirit for the day of the redemption of their bodies.

There is no life apart from Christ. For it is He who raises the spiritually dead, it is also He who gives sinners victory over the second death. If you have not yet submitted yourself as a slave to Christ, I urge you to do so right now, lest you remain forever under the dominion of sin and harvest death as your eternal reward. There is no freedom for those who are not in Christ – every unrepentant sinner is a slave of sin, held captive by death. The Lord Himself says in John 8:34 that “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” That is to say, anyone who practices sin and rebels against God, anyone who refuses to forsake their evil ways is under the dominion of sin, he is a slave of sin. “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever”, says the Lord in v.35. In other words, slaves of sin are cast out of the Kingdom of God, unless they turn to God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek forgiveness in his name. “He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). There is salvation in God’s Son for all those who put their trust in Him. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”, says the Lord in John 8:36. So repent of your sins today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and He will set you free from the bondage of sin and death.

https://www.faithintheoneaboveall.com/post/to-live-one-must-die

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