Transcription
In Romans 6:6, a passage we continually return to, Paul states that God has provided a solution. We know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. So that is God's provision: execution. But God has made the provision; we must apply it. Do you understand? Christ has done His part; we must add ours.
And... there is a passage in 1 Peter that has spoken powerfully to me. 1 Peter 4:1-2: "Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought: In other words, be prepared for the same. Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God." That is quite a surprising statement. He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
For a long time, I wondered about this because I thought to myself that Jesus suffered for us. So why must we suffer? I believe God has made it clear to me. Jesus has made the provision; we must apply it. Our old self was crucified; that has happened. But Galatians 5:24 says: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Who does that? Not God, but we do. And crucifixion, however you look at it, is painful.
So what must we do? We must crucify our fleshly nature; we must take those evil, rebellious desires and attitudes and nail them to the cross. A nail through my right hand, a nail through my left hand, a nail through my feet. I must do that. That is not easy for me. It is painful, but it is the way out of sin. He who has suffered in the flesh has died to sin.
Let me give you an example, because otherwise, it might be hard for you to understand. The example I usually take is of this fine, young Christian lady, about 20 years old, who is a devoted Christian. She is a member of a good church and has a godly pastor who truly cares for her soul. But she becomes emotionally involved with a man who is not a devoted Christian. He goes to church to win her over, but he has really never truly committed his life.
And her godly pastor says: "You should not get involved with him; he is not really a devoted Christian; it will not work." Now she has two options. Each of them is painful. She can accept her pastor's advice and nail her feelings and desires to the cross. "I love him; that is not the most important thing. I want to get married; that is not the most important thing. I am afraid of being lonely; that is not the most important thing." All those attitudes must be nailed to the cross. That is painful. But it does not last long. After a while, there is a wonderful freedom.
And if we want a happy ending to the story, after some time, the right man comes along, and she truly marries and is happy. That is the happy side. Now suppose she does not do what she should do. Suppose she does not crucify her attitude and her desires and emotions. She goes ahead and marries him. Okay. Fifteen years later, after she has had three children, he leaves her for another woman. She has to pick up the pieces of her life and continue with a family without a head. That is much more painful. And it takes much longer.
Hopefully, she learns her lesson by the end of all this. She says, "I was stubborn, I pleased myself, I gave in to my flesh, I did not accept the cross." I gave this example some time ago to a group, and a lady who was sitting right in front of me in the first row said when I was done: "You have completely told my story." She had just divorced, and her husband left her with six children.
I am not saying that all divorces are the result of this, but many unhappy Christian marriages are the result of not crucifying the flesh. So what are you going to do? Are you going to accept God's solution, which is painful? Let’s not be sentimental about it. It is painful to ignore your strongest desires and wishes and feelings. Or are you going to refuse the cross and undergo what the consequences will be, which in the long run are much more painful? That is the decision we must make.
I must move on to the fifth and final liberation. Galatians 6:14. Galatians 6:14: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Come on, you theologians, what is the liberation here? The what? You did not say it very confidently. From what? The world. Are you happy with that? Or does it evoke mixed feelings in you?
Let’s first define the world. Worldly is one of those terms that Christians use to criticize other Christians. That is not God's purpose. I mean, I have been through all that; I do not want to go through it again. You know, all seventeen rules of what you should not do to not be worldly. I would actually say that the people who make those rules are very worldly people, but that is just by the way.
What do we mean by the world? I will give you my definition. The world is a social order or a system of life that refuses the righteous government of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the God-appointed governor, He is qualified; He meets the requirements; He is the only one God will appoint as Ruler over the human race. But the world is a system, an attitude that rejects the righteous government of Jesus.
Worldly people can be religious; they can be nice; they can be respectable, but when you challenge them with unconditional submission to the lordship of Jesus, then their attitude shows. That is the world.
Let’s look at a few things the New Testament tells us about the world. John 15:18-19, two remarkable verses because in these two verses, Jesus uses the expression "the world" no less than six times in two short verses. He says to His disciples: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
What has Jesus done to us? He chose us out of the world. You see, the word for church in New Testament Greek, ekklesia, from which we get the word ecclesiastical, means literally a company of people called out. Called out from what? From the world. So you can either be in the world or you can be in the church, but you cannot be in both. They exclude each other.
Let’s see what John says about the attractiveness of the world, the glamour of the world. 1 John 2:15-17: "Do not love the world or the things in the world." I think this is somewhat an age issue. If you are younger than 25, the temptation to love the world is great. It seems so glamorous; it seems so exciting; it seems to have so much to offer. But all its glamour is gilded; it is not real.
If you are older than 25 or 40, your problem is not so much that you love the world as it is loving something of the world, like a special kind of car, or a special kind of house, or special clothing. Do you understand? There is just something that attracts you. Older people are probably disillusioned with the world, but there is still something in the world that holds them. It could be something intellectual; it could be reading all kinds of books that you should not be reading. You should not fill your mind with a lot of junk, but because of your intellectual background, there is still something that holds you.
I have a principle: I try never to fill my head with junk. If I think something is unhealthy for my thinking, the moment I feel it is unhealthy, I shut my thinking off and keep it out. I do not want to carry waste in my thoughts. But many Christians who would not give in to immorality or sensuality give in to collecting a lot of intellectual waste. And so the world still holds on to their lives.
Let’s see what John says next. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." You cannot love the world and love God the Father at the same time. You must choose. "For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world." Everything in the world is not from God the Father. That is this worldly system.
And John mentions three specific types of temptation: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. In the original temptation in the Garden of Eden, all three were already there. The fruit of the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and it was to be desired to make one wise. That is the pride of life. The pride of life is that I am quite smart; I can handle life on my own. I do not need God. That is the whole world; it is not of the Father.
You see, if I may say so, the essence of sin was not originally: the desire to do evil because the temptation was good, to be like God, to know the difference between good and evil. There is nothing wrong with that. The essence of sin is the desire to be independent of God. And that is the pride of life. And as long as there is something in us that resists being dependent on God, the pride of life in us has not been addressed.
Then John says: "And the world is passing away along with its desires." It is all temporary. It is not lasting. Can you say amen to that? That is hard to believe, right? But it is true. "But whoever does the will of God abides forever." That is an exciting statement. If I let go of the things of the world and align my will completely with the will of God, then I am as unshakeable, invincible, and unsinkable as the will of God. There is nothing that can defeat me because there is nothing that can defeat the will of God.
So, there are options. Stay entangled in the world and undergo its misery, or turn your back on the world, align yourself with the will of God, and become unsinkable, invincible.
As for the world, it is amazing how much the Apostle John tells us about the world. He is the main writer. In 1 John 5:19, John makes a poignant statement: "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Who is the evil one? Satan. The Greek is even simpler. It says that the whole world lies in the evil one. The whole world is under the dominion of Satan.
And then in Revelation 12:9, we have this image of the many facets of Satan, and it calls him the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil who is the accuser, and Satan the adversary who deceives the whole world. The whole world is deceived by Satan; do you understand?
In James 4:4, James says: "Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." We cannot love God and the world at the same time.
In John 14:30, Jesus said that the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no power over Me. You see, the question is, do we have a fifth column? Does Satan have a fifth column in us? Do you know the origin of the term "fifth column"? Well, there was a war in Spain in 1936. A civil war, Spaniards fighting against Spaniards. There was a certain Spanish general who was besieging a Spanish city, and another general asked him: "What is your plan to take this city?" And he said: "I have four columns advancing on the city; from the north, the south, the east, and the west." Then he paused and said: "But it is my fifth column that will take the city for me."
The other general asked: "Where is that fifth column then?" He replied: "Already inside the city." Look, the church is never defeated from the outside. Jesus was never defeated from the outside; you and I will never be defeated from the outside. But if there is a fifth column within us, then we will be defeated.
Let me conclude with a little parable about the ship and the sea. Some of you have heard this before. A ship in the sea is fine. The sea in a ship is completely wrong. What is the application? The world in the church. I’m sorry... The church in the world is fine. The world in the church is completely wrong. What happens when the sea gets into a ship? It sinks. What happens when the world enters the church? It sinks. The only remedy is the cross.
Let me quickly summarize the five liberations here in Galatians. From this present evil age, from the law, from self, from the flesh, and from the world. I would like to conclude with the words of Paul: "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."