“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trou­ble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, inso­much that we despaired even of life:
   But we had the sentence of death in our­selves, that we shou­ld not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:” 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Many churches and preachers preach the message of the cross. They preach that Christ left His glo­ry in heaven, shed His blood for us, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again to sit at the Father’s right hand, so we, sinful man­kind, could be saved. And we, as Paul did, praise God for anyone and everyone who preaches the Good News. But that is only the begin­ning of the truth about death and life, only the first half of the message of the cross.

Oh! Don’t get the wrong impres­sion! Christ did it all on Calvary. There are no other and will be no other sacri­fices needed to redeem man out of the deadly grip of sin. Jesus is the once and for all Lamb of God. He is the begin­ning and the end; the Alpha and Ome­ga; our fa­ther, brother, sister, mother. We must pick up our own cross and fol­low after Him.

Like Paul, we must succumb to the Spirit. We must live in the Spirit and “kill” our flesh. That mystical, but very real, “sentence of death” should be active and working in the life of any true disciple of Christ. Desires and ambitions anchored in this present world should give way to hope in the Gospel and the life that is to come. Hope for a continuing bet­ter world built on the sandy delu­sions of human­ism should be shat­tered to pieces by faith in God’s pro­phetic word. Disci­ples who are bur­ied with Christ will also be resurrect­ed into new life, a life of love and power that the world cannot know.

The Bible frankly advises the Church “to not be ignorant” concern­ing the wonderful power of the resur­rected life. By dying to self Paul could honestly say, “For when I am weak then am I strong.”,  2 Cor 12:10 and also, “I can do all things through Christ who strength­ene­th me.” Phil 4:13 The way to this kind of super­natural strength, un­known entire­ly to the ways of man, is to pick up our own cross and follow Jesus to our very own, personal death.

Everybody wants to go To Heaven but nobody wants to die
This, however, is not a popular stand to take. Getting people excited about healing and mira­cles is much easier and more acceptable by far. Insisting on spiri­tual death is a hard thing, as a gospel song says, “Everybody wants to go to heav­en, but nobody wants to die.” Everybody wants the power of Jesus Christ to be active in their life, but very few are willing to give up ev­erything in order to have it be a reality and the prominent force during their entire day. Chris­tians often prefer to wallow in their own excuses for sin while searching for some hidden door that will lead them on some easy, self-gratifying way to spiri­tual perfection. The fulfilling of sac­ra­ments, giving of tithes, going to church, making confes­sion, doing penance, good works, memori­zation of Scripture, and witnessing can all be neat little ways to think we are appeasing God’s will; when in reality we are avoiding the nitty-gritty of the cross.

The flesh cannot obtain to the power of Jesus Christ. Paul told the Galatians (a church fallen into the snare of think­ing they could live righ­teous lives by fol­lowing rules and laws), “I am cruci­fied with Christ: nev­erthe­less I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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.”  Gal 2:20 Paul had crucified his flesh so that the righteous one, Jesus Christ, could live through him.

But what does it mean? How does one die to self? How is one cru­cified?

It is done through prayer and belief. Dying to self means yielding to the Holy Spirit. It means being obedient not just in word but in action. It means seeking the truth rather than our own selves, even to our own hurt. The prophet Micah asked this ques­tion over two millennia ago, “Where­with shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thou­sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah  6:6-7

And God gives Micah the an­swer…

“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”  vs 8

If that were the case under the law, how much more does it apply under grace? Infinitely more! But the believer cannot hope to have the fruits of love and justice brought about through a humble walk unless he has died in the spirit. Why else would Jesus have taught things like:

“And he that taketh not his cross, and followe­th after me, is not worthy of me.
   He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”… Matt 10:38-39

And this parable:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ex­cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
   If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” John 12:24-26

Jesus taught about our part of the cross because it is a spiritual necessity for the Christian walk and to ignore it is to walk a fruitless walk. We are told fruitless branches are thrown on the fire because they have no other use. What seems to be a myste­rious and frightening path – because no one wants to die – is actually the true garden path. If we believe by faith that the power of the Holy Spirit can bring about our spir­itual death whereby the deeds of the flesh can be mortified and we can be resurrected into a life of victory; then it will happen for us.

Many Christians through this Age of Grace have lived the follow­ing scrip­ture in such a way that they could testify in truth to its reality. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Col 3:1-3 

Only by believing in the power of dying to self does this great passage of the Bible have any substan­tive meaning:

“There is therefore now no con­demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
   For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
   For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son ­in the like­ness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con­demned sin in the flesh:
   That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spir­it.
   For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
   For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
   Because the carnal mind is enmi­ty against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
   So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
   But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
   And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteous­ness.
   But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwel­leth in you.
   Therefore, brethren, we are debt­ors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
   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.
   For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:1-14

There is no other way to attain the righteousness of God than through the crucifixion of our own flesh by the spirit. There is no short cut. If you can hear this message, then by faith pray to God that He gives you the grace to die to your plans and your will, so you can live to His. I assure you God will smile on your prayer and will begin engi­neer­ing your glorious demise in His own time, in His own merciful and compas­sionate way.