SELF - GOD OF THE FLESH - Part 2

MT 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

In these immortal words of Christ lie a central truth about the Believer. He CANNOT follow Christ UNTIL he has denied his SELF. That is to say; he has rejected ALL that his SELF wants, desires and loves, and even then it is just the first step, for he must also  TAKE UP HIS CROSS and ONLY then will he be able and qualified to follow Christ.

A follower of Christ according to Christ's definition therefore, is one who has satisfied the three steps outlined by Christ himself in the above scripture. This is so because Christ's words start with the conditional word IF.

In other words, IF this is what you want, THEN you have to do THIS FIRST! It is important to note that Christ was talking to HIS DISCIPLES (His followers). 

Even though they were not born again then, even though they were simply following him 'in the flesh' then; Christ knew there was coming a time when the Spirit would be given and there would be a New Birth...it was to that time that Christ was referring.

It was not just for Sin alone that Christ came to die, he came to crucify the Old Man better known as Self; for without the crucifixion of the Old Man, Sin itself could not be dealt with and reduced to zero level.

RO 6:6  Knowing this, that our OLD MAN is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

This is the reason why Christ says no one can follow him EXCEPT follow those three steps...it is because DENIAL OF SELF will lead to the reality of the experience of the CRUCIFIXION OF SELF by taking up our cross.

 The question in step 3 now is: Where are we following him to? Why, to the place of Crucifixion of course! OUTSIDE THE CITY!

Heb 13:13-14

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

FOR HERE HAVE WE NO CONTINUING CITY, but we seek one to come.  

So by interpretation of scripture itself, we see that without (or outside) the camp has to do with being outside the city by virtue of the contrasting nature of the next part of the verse NO CONTINUING CITY...that was where Christ was crucified...outside the city.

The reason we should go out of the camp is simple...because HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING or enduring or lasting city.

In following Christ, we are not following him to a physical destination obviously...we are following him INTO a spiritual state...referred to elsewhere as IN CHRIST JESUS.

This process of the crucifixion of Self has already been accomplished for us by Christ himself on the cross, however it has to be worked out in our daily lives in various ways...

GA 5:24  And they that are Christ's have (ALREADY) crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

You see, being IN CHRIST JESUS refers to the group of people described in the scripture just quoted (Gal 5:24).

Again Paul describes it in another way elsewhere...

RO 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

There are many who are IN CHRIST JESUS who obviously walk AFTER THE FLESH and not AFTER THE SPIRIT.

Just as there are many who are called and few who are chosen...both ARE AMONG THE CALLED...just as we have the foolish virgins and the wise virgins...ALL ARE VIRGINS...just as we have the tares growing among the wheat...THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE!

This process of denying Self, Paul describes in great detail...

RO 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

The mortification of the deeds of the flesh is the practice in our daily lives of DENYING SELF AND TAKING UP OUR CROSS.

COL 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

COL 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 

These scriptures outline God's Word on how to become part of the privileged FEW who  already belong to Christ...who are in truth IN CHRIST JESUS!

 

SELF... god of the Flesh

The Natural Man lives a natural life, obeying the desires of its mind and body. Since he has a will of his own, he simply does whatever he FEELS like, or whatever he WANTS to... within the context of the laws governing society.

In other words the Natural Man follows or obeys the natural inclinations of his heart.

The centre that controls all his inclinations is referred to as the heart.

Of this heart, Christ had a lot to say. He taught that the mouth is a channel through which the abundance or overflow of the heart is released.

Matt 15:18-19

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

I once used to think that for this scripture to make any sense, it must mean that the mouth has to speak out murders, adulteries, fornications...I could identify with speaking out evil thoughts, but the other things on the list seemed to be a little farfetched...why would I go around speaking adulteries, fornications and murders?

So I began to do some research on what it means for "those things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart".

Pro 16:23 The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.

This was a scripture written in an era when the Natural Man held full sway over the lives of men...as yet the only alternative to the natural or outward man (ie the Inward Man - born again spirit); had not yet been provided.

In the above scripture, this same natural heart may be a wise one as the scripture indicates...if so, it teaches the mouth and adds learning to the lips.

This probably refers to the heart teaching the mouth what to say and what not to say...in other words there is an exercise in self restraint that the heart teaches the mouth.

In addition to this, the scripture says that the heart adds learning to the lips...meaning that it is from the heart that the mouth gains knowledge.

Thus when we compare both scriptures, we may infer that the adulteries, fornications, murders, etc that proceed out of the mouth are taught by the heart...proving that the heart is indeed a spring from which flows all manner of iniquity...

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The heart can be described as a bottomless well that keeps spawning an inexhaustible supply of resources such as lusts, adulteries, murders and so forth.

That was when I discovered that the mouth does not merely speak words...it speaks UNSEEN THINGS!


Ps 8:2 Out of the MOUTH of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained STRENGTH because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

In the above scripture, we find STRENGTH coming out of the mouth of babes...in an earlier scripture we saw that the THINGS...(not words); that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.

Some of those things were listed as adulteries and murders...they are not mere words or even fantasies uttered by the mouth...they are THINGS... unseen spiritual thing or forces that have been dredged out of the heart and released into the life of that person...

Pro 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

How do the issues of life come out of the heart? Through the mouth...so we now know from Christ's teaching about the contents of the heart that in a Natural Man it consists of adulteries, fornications, murders, etc...these are the matters of the heart...they are released through the mouth through the instrumentality of words...words that carry UNSEEN THINGS...

Man doesn't know that words are not mere audible sounds, hence the scriptures say that we shall give account of every IDLE WORD we speak...that is because we have inadvertently released UNSEEN THINGS that must be accounted for...

TO BE CONTINUED...