The Even As of Christianity Part 5.
Dead to Self, Alive Unto God.

"And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.' "
Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14v23-27.

On the commencement of this study, the main emphasis of the Holy Spirit was to highlight the accepted walk of the believer in Christ.Through this walk there is the essential need of the believer to resign themselves of self effort, self ideas and to conform their lives to the walk prescribed by Jesus Christ.

The thought of the Holy Spirit during the course of this study is for the individual believer to take stock, to re-evaluate their life, and to understand the call of God and what it truly means to be a follower of Christ.

There are a few aspects that the Holy Spirit has laid on my heart from the portion of scripture in Luke 14 that I want to bring to your attention at the start of this teaching.

Compel All to Come .

Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. Luke 14v23.

The call of Almighty God is a universal call, it covers all of mankind, there is not one single person left out or overlooked by Almighty God, when Jesus Christ shed His life blood on Calvary it was for the entire race of mankind, every person has been effected by the fall of Adam, and it is the will of God for all to be effected by the redemption wrought by Christ.

If Anyone Comes.

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Luke 14v25-26.

The second aspect that the Holy Spirit has put on my heart is to understand that there is the need of the individual to lay hold of the call of God and make it of great significance to themselves, this is the call of personal accountability, there is not much preaching heard on this subject but in reality this is the core message of discipleship, everyone is called by the gospel, but it is the responsibility or the emphasis of the individual to lay hold of God for themselves, the Holy Spirit laid particular emphasis on this thought that when the believer stands before the Bema seat of Christ, each believer will be held to give an account of their own life, and not the life of another.

Each Person is Responsible For His Own Cross.

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14v27.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16v24-25.

Here is a most profound statement, which unfortunately many believers have never taken the time to examine its implications to the life of the church. Many refer to the cross as trials, sickness or burdens that they feel they have to carry in their Christian life, but in true perspective the cross that Jesus Christ lays emphasis on is a life that is given up or surrendered unto Him.

By examination of the discourse between Jesus and those who were in His company, the strength of Jesus’ words centred on the abandonment of the human will to the desired will of God.

By examining the word Deny in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek the most common interpretation is the aspect of disowning, to lose sight of one’s own priorities, goals and ambitions, in its strongest sense it is to consider that one’s own will and desire has been taken over by another.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is bringing to us the key to the strength and power of the Christian life, it is the full surrender of one’s own life to be given over and taken up by Christ.

A word of Exhortation.

There is a walk in Christ that many have desired but only few have attained to, this walk is a walk of self denial, an action of self dying, it is the heart searching of the disciple giving his all, to have his life taken up and controlled by his master, it is to achieve the position where one’s own identity has been replaced by being totally identified by the life and influence of another, many have longed for this transformation, many have sought it, few have tasted of it, but the will of God is for all of His church to attain to this new life, where it is no longer man being seen and heard, but Christ is manifested in and through His redeemed.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. Galatians 2v20.

The Cross of Jesus Christ has always been a subject that the Holy Spirit has drawn my attention to, and I earnestly look to Him to bring to my heart the fullness of the revelation of it’s importance in the life of the believer, during the course of this time of study, I have perceived the Holy Spirit laying on my heart the importance of the individual’s re-evaluation of the cross.

The cross of Christ, must become the chief mark of the believer in Christ, the cross must become a place of personal identification of the believer with Christ, the crucified Christ and the crucified believer in Christ must become a living truth.

The believer in Christ must come to the position of identification with Christ, those who desire to be used of Him in the kingdom of God must lay aside all efforts and methods of man and lean to, and rely on the strength and power of Christ in the believer.

In the mind of the believer there must become the realization of substitution and identification, Christ on the cross became our sin sacrifice and bore our judgement, the believer in Christ must take up the call to live out their life on this earth as one who lives by the power of being in Christ .

The challenge of the Christ life in the heart of the believer is to fully understand the personal fellowship of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross of Calvary.

By the promptings of the Holy Spirit, through the living words and revelations given to the church by the Apostle Paul I want to bring particular emphasis on the importance of a life personally identified and changed and challenged by Christ.

There are a number of vital truths that the Holy Spirit desires the believer to grasp hold off, retain and live out in their Christian walk.

Crucified with Christ.
Baptised into Christ’s Death.
Hidden in Christ.
Dead to the World.
Dead to the Law.
Dead to Self.

These are vital truths that the church must hear and receive, these are essential to the life of the believer who desires to walk in the fullness of a life given up to Christ.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. Galatians 2v20.

[ to be continued …………………………..]

__________________