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Dying
With Christ
"Always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus." 2 Cor. 4:10. Do not think of Christ being
dead to the extent that He had no temptation. He was
tempted all through His life as any sanctified person is
tempted. Read Heb. 4:15. His death was that of an everyday
dying. He had temptation to resist and overcome. He had a
human will which He kept in subjection to the Divine will
just as Christians have to do. The same power that enabled
Him to do this will enable the Christian to do likewise.
This is holy living. Just as Jesus kept dead to every
suggestion of the flesh, so are we to keep dead. This is
bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus. One
brother inquires, "How can a man marry and raise a
family and not live to the flesh?" Just the same as
he can do any thing in the flesh and not live to the
flesh. Jesus did not refuse to marry because it was sinful
or fleshly. It was not His calling. Paul said, "Let
every man abide in the same calling wherein he is
called," and he was talking on this very subject.
Marrying belongs to pure humanity as much as eating,
drinking, sleeping, etc. though not as necessary to the
life of the person, but is to the life of the race.
Raising a family was not the sin of Eden. God told Adam
and his wife to be fruitful, to multiply and replenish the
earth before their transgression. When man and woman marry
simply for the gratification of the flesh, they transgress
a higher law of their being. They are living on the plane
of the flesh. This is true of every thing in life. To
build a house, or remodel one, to buy home furniture or an
automobile to the gratifying of the flesh is sowing to the
flesh. There are to be fasts, by mutual consent for the
soul's good in the married life, the same as abstaining
from food and drink. ( 1 Cor. 7 :5 ) . Dying with Jesus
means the refusing to do anything in life purely for
fleshly gratification. This is holy living. This is where
many a saint is coming short of the perfect life. They are
too careless. Their soul is not stirred up to realization
of the great importance of sowing to the Spirit. Listening
to the suggestion of the flesh has caused many a one to
fail to obey the Spirit. They sowed to the flesh instead
of to the Spirit, and they will have to pay the penalty.
They absent themselves from the prayer meeting, from the
closet, fail to give of their means at the suggestion of
the flesh. They are missing the joy of God.
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