John Bevere - Life Infused by Christ
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Jesus didn't say it's a good idea to deny yourself; he said you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. What does it mean to take up our cross? You can find that in Galatians 2:20. Paul said, "I've been crucified with Christ." Now, he's not talking about being physically crucified, because he was still alive to write it. So what's he talking about? Here's the answer: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
The secret here is that he is living in Christ. Just as Adam and Eve were supposed to live from the tree of life, trusting in God completely and not independently of him, that's what Paul is saying: "I'm driving my life from Jesus." See, a lot of times when people hear "deny yourself, take up your cross," they think denying yourself is self-denial, and taking up your cross means to deny yourself. No, it isn't. Taking up your cross means I'm going to live a life infused by him.
If you look at Romans 6:4, it says, "As Christ was raised from the dead, even so we should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:6 and 7 says, "We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power." You see, you have to understand there were things I couldn't get free from before I became a believer, but once I became a believer and learned how to yield to Christ in me, I walked away from what I couldn't walk away from before.
You know what the problem is? So many Christians wrestle with so much sin, and yet they're free; the reason they wrestle with it is because we haven't taught them how to live in Christ, empowered by him, under his lordship. I'm fully convinced people are frustrated with Christianity because they're sold a gospel void of lordship, and so now it's a powerless gospel.