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Crucified with Christ

 Sunday, March 25, 2007

 Bob Bradley

 _________________________ 

 

Galatians 2:20

 

Gal 2:20  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.

 

When you think about the crucifixion, you cannot think about it without seeing and thinking about death.  You cannot think about some of these things without looking at how horrible the things were that Jesus Christ went through for you and me.  When we think about the crucifixion, we think about Jesus, Calvary, we think about where they took Him, and when they took Him outside the city of Jerusalem and they nailed Him to a cross.  You have to think about that when you think about the word crucifixion.  I thought about what He must have seen as the crowds came by.  They were gambling, drinking, some were murmuring, some were ridiculing Him, and there were maybe thousands of people looking at Him.  Not only were they looking at Him, but He also saw what was going on.  He was not blind.  He saw what was going on. 

 

When we think about crucifixion, we have to think about death, and we have to think about these things.  We think about Jesus Christ hanging on the cross with His hands outstretched, nails through His hands, a crown of thorns on His head, and blood running all over Him.  We have to think about those things if we are going to think about crucifixion simply meaning death. 

 

Paul made the statement, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;...”  Paul is saying here, he was not dead.  He was alive physically, but he says here, “I am crucified with Christ:” If crucifixion or being crucified means to die, then Paul is telling us that we should be crucified also. 

 

As we live a Christian life, there are battles, and situations that come in our life that is not always pleasant.  Even though there are battles, storms, and problems, Paul is telling us that we need to be crucified with Christ.  If it means to be dead, then there are things in our life that needs to be dead. 

 

We should render some things dead in our lives.  We should grow to the place in our lives where the old Adamic nature, the sinful lusts that we use to have, the evil thoughts that we use to have, these things are not running rampant in our lives.  They should be dead unto us.  I know we have problems, sicknesses and sorrows, but we need to be dead with Christ.  The old Adamic nature that we have wants to flare up from time to time; we need to kill that.  That needs to die. 

 

When we first get saved that there are many things that we do not know.  We do not understand many things.  I know that progressive sanctification comes over time.  I know the longer we live for the Lord Jesus Christ, the longer we submit ourselves unto Him and His divine Will, then I know He helps to separate us from these sinful things. 

 

There should come a time in my life that all the old things, the old lusts, the old habits, and the old things that I use to do, they should be dead unto you and me.  I know that it does not come  overnight, but I know when I submit my way unto Him, there will come a time in my life that all the old habits that I use to have will not bother me like they used to.  They were crucified, they have been killed because Christ is living in me and Christ is living in you.  Some things need to be crucified.

 

Feet

 

Since we are dead with Christ, Paul says, “...yet not I, but Christ liveth in me...”  Since we look at the crucifixion as meaning death, then some things should die.  If we are crucified with Christ, then our feet ought to be crucified also.  If I have died out to sin, if I have submitted my life unto the Lord Jesus Christ, then my feet ought to be dead in going to the places that I used to go. 

 

Our feet take us to all kinds of places.  If I am crucified with Christ, there are places that my feet should not take me.  The world is trying to get us to follow them; it is trying to get us to follow the glitter and glamour that is out there.  If we are crucified with Christ, there are places that I will not allow my feet to take me because I know what is there.  I have been down that road before.  I know that end-result leads to death.  I am glad that we can have our feet tonight, they can be crucified, and they can be dead in going to the places we used to go.

 

If you are still yet going to the same places you used to go before you made your commitment to the Lord, you should check and make sure that you are actually saved.  When you get saved, your feet, your direction, and your walk will change.  If it does not change then there is something wrong.  There is something wrong if we still go to the same places that we used to go.  If we are still walking that direction, then our feet are not crucified.  We have not declared them dead unto Christ. 

 

We need to be careful where we go because there are all kinds of things out there in the darkness of sin.  The enemy has laid out many traps and snares for us.  I do not know where they all are.  When my feet are cleansed, when my feet have been crucified, then I know that the Savior that is leading me.  He is leading me in the way of truth.  He is leading me in the way of righteousness.  He is not going to lead me down a road into a trap because He loves me.  He is going to lead me to a place called heaven. 

 

Do you remember the night that Jesus was betrayed? 

 

He took water and He washed His disciples’ feet.  He was showing them some things about their walk in life that they needed cleansing.  As they walked in this life, they were going to get dirty.  When our feet are crucified with Christ, then they are not going to lead me to the bars no more.  I am not going to go to the places where sin is running rampant.  I am not going to be there because my feet have been crucified.  Our lives change.  Our direction, in life, changes.  The places we go changes.  He wants us to be clean. 

 

Instead of going to the places of this world, we should be allowing our feet to carry us to the places where the lost are at.  Instead of running to the world and all the amusements of the world, we should be letting our feet take us to the places that we can see, tell people, and teach people.  Not only can we see needs, but also we can help people in their walk of life.  If my feet have been crucified, then I am allowing the Lord to take complete control of my life.  I will spend more time trying to get out there and reach the lost instead of going to these other places. 

 

We will run with our kids until our hair falls out.  We will run on Wednesdays, Tuesdays, and Fridays and Saturdays.  We will take them to every ballgame coming along.  There is nothing wrong with playing ball.  However, when it is time for church, your kids need to be in the House of God.  If they can play ball on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Wednesdays, they need to be in the House of God.  We say we are tired, but your kids are dying lost.  They are watching where their parents’ feet are carrying them.  It is time that we clean up our walk and our way. 

 

People are watching.  God is watching.  There is nothing wrong with playing ball but at church time, we need to be in church.  The greatest thing that we will ever teach our children is how important it is to come to the House of God.  If we do not teach them now, when they get fifteen years old, we are not going to teach them.  They are going to be gone.

 

Hands

 

We need not only to have our feet cleansed, but our hands also. 

 

When they nailed Jesus to the cross, not only did they nail His feet, but also His hands.  When they put His feet together on the upright and drove a spike through them the blood run.  When they took His hands and put them up on the cross beam and they drove the nails through His hands, blood came out.  That is what makes the atonement for you and me.  That is where the cleansing comes in at; it is in His blood.  Not only do our feet need to be crucified and declared dead, as far as the world is concerned, but also our hands. 

 

Our hands handle many things.  We eat with our hands.  We wash with our hands.  We work with our hands and we do all kinds of things, but you will never read in the scriptures where Jesus ever touched anything that He should not have touched.  You will not find in the Bible where Jesus did anything with His hands that would defile Him. 

 

We are seeing, in our churches of America, people doing all kinds of things with their hands.  We are reaching out and touching all those things that are unclean.  Our hands need to be dead as far as this old world is concerned.  We can lay our hands on many things, but we need to understand that our hands need to be clean and pure before Almighty God.  We do not need to be participating in all the sinful amusements that are going on out there. 

 

You can go to the grade school and you will see little kids sitting there playing cards.  There are children in Lawrence County tonight that do not have anything to eat because dad and mom blow everything they have got on gambling.  They are touching things that they should not be touching.  It is time that we clean up our hands.  Let us get rid of the things that are defiling us before Almighty God and when we do that then we can lift our hands toward heaven and praise the Lord.  That is what we should do anyway. 

 

When we turn on our TV sets and we walk in public places, all you hear today is playing cards; playing poker.  I cannot read in the book where Jesus done that.  He did not do that.  Jesus was not dishonest.

 

We can straighten up our lives if these things are in it.  It is about straitening up our lives and making these things dead, so that Christ can be alive in my life.  

 

If I have crucified my feet, if I have crucified my hands, these things are declared dead in our lives.  The more these things die out, the more real that Christ is in our lives. 

 

We do all kinds of things with our hands.  God gave us hands that we need to work with.  There is not anything wrong with working.  We are living in a day and time where people do not want to work anymore.  They want somebody else to take care of them.  God gave you two hands to work with.  When we work eight hours a day, then let us work eight hours a day.  Let us not work two hours then complain about the other six.  We need to work as God tells us to work.  He tells us that we will eat our bread by the sweat of our brow.  I work with my hands because God ordained that.  I can take the money that God gives me and give Him the part that belongs to Him.  Then I can take the rest of it and I can eat with it.  Not only that but also God will help me to be a blessing to other people.  Let us take our hands and do those things with them that God said we should do. 

 

When I worked a few years ago, of course, it has been between eight and nine years since I have worked; it did not matter whether it was in Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, or wherever I was at; there were a certain group of people that thought that you owed them a living.  It did not make a difference what state you were in, a certain group of people that thought that you owed them a living.  They wanted to come to work.  They wanted to hit the time clock and the first thing that they wanted to do was have a coffee break.  It saddens me when I see, supposedly Christian, people on the job take advantage of those for whom they work. 

 

It happened to me many times.  People have come to me who were working hard--unsaved boys--they would say, “Hey Bob, so and so claims to be a Christian.  He is sitting over here and won't hit a lick at a snake.”  I have had to get rid of many people like that before.  God has ordained that we should work.  The Bible says that if we do not work then we do not eat.  That is very plain.

 

Ears

 

Not only do we need to crucify our hands, and our feet, but also as we do those things, He becomes more real in our lives.  Not only our hands and our feet, but also our ears need crucified.  They need to be dead to the things of the world.

 

I was going somewhere the other day, not only that, but I can even sit up here on the porch sometimes or sit in my living room and somebody driving up and down the road, you can hear their music in their car a long time before they get there.  There is nothing wrong with loud music.  I play it loud sometimes myself.  However, when the songs are promoting satanism, promoting homosexuality, and all kinds of perversions; our ears do not need to be listening to that.  What I hear goes into my mind and what goes into my mind, after awhile if I do not take care of it; it gets into my heart.  What gets in my heart, if I do not deal with it then, is going to come out in the motions of my flesh.  You might say that does not happen.  It does happen.

 

I can sit a big red apple on this stand and I will guarantee that every one of you would think about an apple.  I could play a song about the cross, and everybody would start thinking about the song that I was playing.  Listening is a gateway into our minds.  It is time that we clean up that which we are listening.  It is time that we get rid of some of the junk that we have defiling us before Almighty God.  God wants us to listen to Him.  God wants us to clean our way up and we need to declare our ears dead so that we can listen to the voice of God. 

 

Do you know why we are not hearing much today, in our Christian life, from God? 

 

It is because we are listening to too much junk out here in the world.  Many voices are speaking unto us.  Some of them speak on Sunday.  Some of them speak on Sunday morning real plain.  They say to lie in the bed today because you had a hard week.  We need to get rid of that voice.  Those kinds of things we do not need to listen to because satan is real.  If he just whispers in my ear and gets me not to come to the house of God; he will continue to do that.  We need to declare our ears dead according to this world and all the sin that is here. 

 

satan is always speaking and trying to get us to do the things that are not honest.  We do not need to listen to the enemy when he speaks and tries to get us to do things that are not right.  he is there.  he will tell us that sin is okay; just go ahead and do that.  When we hear those voices, we have to know for sure that they are coming from hell.  We need to declare our ears dead unto the things of this world.  When I do that, Christ comes alive more in my life.  If you have been saved for any length of time, you know that.  The more we crucify this man, the more we declare him dead; the more real God's presence is in our lives. 

 

Eyes

 

Not only do we need to crucify those parts, but our eyes also.  Not only our ears are a gateway to our mind, but also our eyes are.  If our mind is functioning, as it should, what we see is what we think. 

 

I was thinking about the cross.  I was thinking about what Jesus Christ saw when He was hanging on the cross.  When he looked out over the crowd and as He heard all the murmuring, all the jesting, and the mocking; I thought about what He must have saw out there.  He saw all kinds of things out there, but He did not allow those things that He saw to change the direction of His life.

 

Many times in our life, we look out here and we see all the glamour.  We see all the things that are out here in this world.  However, just because it looks good does not mean that it is good.  There are many things out there that the enemy has.  he has it all painted up.  he has it all prettied up.  he brings things in our space and there are many times that he might bring things around and try to lead us astray by looks.  We need to look at the good things. 

 

When I used to work, there were Christian people that would come in with the porn magazines.  They would try to sit around looking at those magazines, making jokes, and saying all kinds of things.  Saved people need to get that junk out of your life.  If you are sitting around looking at that kind of junk, there is something bad wrong with your relationship with God.  I do not care who you are and I do not care what you might think about it. 

 

• My eyes will directly affect how I think. 
• My thinking will directly affect how I act. 
• My actions will directly affect my relationship with God. 

 

Let us get rid of the junk out of our lives.  Let us look at that which is good.  When we do that, God will be more real in our lives. 

 

Do you think that you can look at junk like that and God be active in your life? 

 

If you are guilty, shame on you.  Many times, mommies and daddies put their kids to bed then drag out their dirty movies and watch their dirty movies.  Shame on you!  I do not know what people are thinking when they do that.  I do not understand how that we think that we can view those things and it not effect our lives.  Viewing sin and the perversion in this world will change my relationship with God.  What we see and look at is dangerous.  Many times what we see and look at just makes flames burn up in our life.  It makes lust; it is just like pouring gasoline on a fire when we see things.  When we look at certain things that arouse the old Adamic nature in us, he becomes very ugly and he will get out of control if we let him. 

 

If I am driving down the road and an elephant runs out in front of me, I am going to see it.  It is one thing to see something, but it is another thing to look at something. 

 

We use to work around some fellows when Ashland Oil was big in Ashland.  The guys would get off of work, go downtown, and sit until the women came out of the Ashland Oil building.  Then they would drive around and look at the women that were there. 

 

It was a long time before I was saved.  I was not saved then.  I did not think that it was right then and it sure is not right today.  It is one thing to see something, but it is something else to make three trips around the block to look at something.

 

Our eyes get us into trouble.  Our eyes get us to thinking about things that we ought not.  It does not have to be something that is sexual.  It does not have to be something that is in that realm.  We look at many things that we should not even look at and that we do not need to be messing with because it causes problems. 

 

When I crucify my eyes, ears, hands, and feet, when they are crucified and dead, then my relationship with God is more alive than ever before. 

 

Tongue

 

Not only all those but also the tongue.  We need to declare our tongue dead.  In James 2, it talks about putting bits in horses mouths so that we can turn the whole body. 

 

When we used to be home, we would plow with horses and mules.  One mule would become contrary and dad would take barbwire and wrap around the bits then put it in the mule's mouth.  You could just pull a little bit to the left or to the right and you did not have any problems.  The mule would go anywhere you wanted it to. 

 

James made the statement that you could take a very small rutter and put it on huge ships that are out in the ocean.  The fierce winds tossed the huge ships, but the captain could take that very small rutter and guide that ship anywhere that he wants to go with it. 

 

He continues to say that all manner of beasts that are upon the earth and in the sea, man has tamed.  Even though we can tame all kinds of animals, there is one that we cannot tame and that is the tongue.  The tongue is a world of iniquity.  It is a fire.  It is full of deadly poison.  If there is ever a member of our body that we should crucify, it is our tongue. 

 

I think that we are doing better here in that aspect.  I think that we are gaining some ground here, as a church, on controlling our tongue.  I am not saying that we do not have some ways to go yet, but I am saying that we are gaining some ground.  We are understand what we say and how we use our tongue to judge people comes back home.  We are learning that.  As we learn those things, we will do less and less gossiping. 

 

Gossiping is a bad thing.  Someone that is listening to gossip is just as guilty as those that are doing the gossiping.  If someone calls you up and starts talking dirt about somebody, the best thing that you can do is say, “Just hold it a minute and we will get so and so on the phone and we will have a little meeting.”  That stops the gossip because most people just want to gossip.  They just want to spread rumors and tales.  I should never want to hear anything that is derogatory about my brothers and sisters.  I never should want to hear anything like that.  I never should want to participate in gossip.  Gossip comes from the tongue.  There is one little prayer here that we need to learn.  We need to pray everyday, “Lord, help me to keep my mouth shut.”  If we do that then God will be more real in our lives. 

 

Paul says here:

 

Gal 2:20  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.

 

When we crucify these things, in the process of Christianity, my hands, feet, ears, eyes, and tongue should be more crucified today than they were thirty years ago when I first was saved, because I have learned some things.  That is the process.  I do not use the words that I used just after I was saved--not that they were bad words--but they were words that just did not sound right.  I do not go places that I used to go.  I do not allow my feet to carry me many places that I used to go.  Not necessarily because that they may be bad places, but because what goes on there, I do not need to be associated with.  I do not go and watch many things today that I did thirty years ago. 

 

If you want God to be more real in your life then we need to crucify our feet, hands, ears, eyes and tongue.  We must declare them dead.  The deader they get, the more alive Christ becomes in our life.  It is all up to you.  I cannot make you do anything.  God will not make you do anything. 

 

If you enjoy the pleasures of sin, you are going to continue doing it.  However, those sinful pleasures are only for a season then judgment will come.  Let us crucify our hands, feet, ears, eyes, and mouth; let us clean this guy up.  I am not saying that we are not saved.  I am not saying that we are not on our way to heaven.  There are things in which we can do better.  As we get rid of these things on this side and we allow God to be more real in our lives, then we become happier and our life has some meaning. 

 

Someone made the statement about how bad life was.  I know that we have difficult times in life, but the Christian life is the greatest life that an individual could have.  My worst day as a Christian is a million times better than the best day I had when I was a sinner.  This is a great life and the more I crucify this man, the more real Christ becomes on the inside, the more I understand how much He loves me, how much He cares about me, how much He wants to take care of me, and how much He wants to bless me. 

 

If we will crucify these things, He will be more real in your life.

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