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Companionship with Him, that is Christ Jesus, is not always a mountain top experience. The Word makes one’s association with Him very practical. To have Him accomplish in us, one aspect of His life is not enough. We are called upon to follow Him in every facet of His being. He died for us, He was crucified for us. If then, we want Him with us, is it unreasonable that we should be called upon to die with Him. Only through death can we be totally freed from the besetting sins of the flesh. In the process of reaching the goal which has been set before us, we take our instructions from the Word of the Lord. The spiritual person knows that they have been crucified with Christ, and so, are no longer the servants of sin. The answer, the key to a strong spiritual life is found in the desires of the flesh being crucified with Christ. Rom. 5:6
Those, who through the Spirit, have died to the world, the flesh and the devil are the Lord’s freemen. To be dead with Christ is to be freed from sin. Therefore that new life in Christ is the order of life now lived. This is not supernatural Christianity but down to earth, and very practical. Rom. 6:7-8 The only way that mankind can possibly live victoriously, without sin, is to be identified with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. Rom. 6:9-11
The cross of Christ was not a relic or a symbol to be hung on a wall or be displayed in a museum. The physical cross or any facsimile thereof is absolutely powerless. The power of redemption is in the blood of the Lord Jesus which was shed on Calvary. Rom. 5:3 His blood is the blood of sanctification. 1 John 1:7 His blood is the blood sealing the everlasting covenant. The only covenant recognized by the Lord. Heb. 13:20 Jesus urged His disciples to carry their cross daily and thus to follow Him.
Luke 9:23 He well knew the value of this action and made it to be standard procedure for those who would be His disciples. Luke 14:27 If that was the calling before His crucifixion, how much more so, is it His requirement for today.
It is the accomplishment, the work, the commitment of the Lord Jesus on the cross which makes it viable to emulate. The only means of reconciliation between the Lord and mankind is through the blood of the Lord Jesus. Col. 1:20 Jesus said that any who attempt to enter in any other way was a thief and a robber. John 10:1 There is but one way to achieve all that has been purchased of us through the Lord Jesus and that is completing the pattern of His Word as it is directed toward us. Take it to be very personal.