✝ The Cross In My Life, Part 1 - Derek Prince

so we're going to speak tonight about the cross in my life first of all I have been pointing out in previous sessions two very important facts about the cross first of all it's the basis of God's total provision for every believer everything we ever need in time or eternity in every department of our lives spiritual mental emotional physical financial temporal or eternal has been provided for us through the cross there is no other basis either we receive on the basis of the cross or we do not receive Paul said he who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things just trying to absorb those closing words God will also with Jesus freely give us all things but without him nothing on the basis of the cross we can receive everything but without that basis we are not entitled to anything secondly and this is also very important the cross is the basis of Christ's total defeat of Satan through his death his substitutionary sacrifice his victorious resurrection and his triumphant ascension Jesus has administered to Satan and his kingdom one total permanent irrevocable defeat there is nothing Satan can ever do to change that fact and it's on that basis that we have victory over Satan if we come in contact with Satan if we have it conflict with Satan on any other basis but the cross we will be defeated but on the basis of the cross we can be totally victorious now because of these two important facts about the cross Satan has a strategy against the church he cannot change what has been accomplished by the cross that's eternal it's settled by God but the what he can do and what he seeks to do is to hide from the church what was accomplished by the cross so that when the church loses sight of what was accomplished by the cross then the church no longer enjoys the benefits provided the church no longer lives in the full provision which was made by the cross and the church is no longer capable of administering Christ's defeat to Satan now this is brought out very clearly in one particular verse in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 1 and I have meditated on this verse now for at least 10 years probably longer when I first read the verse like so many verses in the Bible I just read it and I didn't think much about it but gradually it impacted me more and more and I see in it myself today a key to understanding the problems of the church this is what Paul says now there are two versions according to different original texts I'm going to follow the shorter verse version which is followed in the NIV and the NASB and probably others oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified now that's an amazing statement probably you've never been sufficiently amazed by it but Paul says to these spirit-filled Christians and you'll see in a few moments they'd been saved they've been baptized in the spirit they had witnessed and were witnessing miracles but he says to them who has bewitched you witchcraft is this is the primary word for the spiritual forces released from Satan's Kingdom into the earth so these quote spirit-filled Christians and you know when I hear the word spirit-filled and I see the lives of some people called spirit-filled I say yes but just a thimbleful you can fill a thimble you can fill a cup or you can fill a bar all of them are filled but they're not they don't contain the same amount but when I see the lives of spirit-filled Christians I say to myself they don't realize that Satan has a strategy against them of which they're not aware actually I found myself in a situation in 1963 I don't want to go back into the details I had just immigrated to the United States I'm one of the few people who immigrated to the United States by accident because I came for a visit the immigration authorities that the border told me that six months was too long for a visit when I said maybe you can help me because I don't want a lot of immigration authorities in different countries and I know you never argue with them you just put yourself at their mercy so they said come on in and we'll arrange it and so that way I with my first wife and half five year old adopted black African daughter made it into the States now if we had ever made application outside with that particular combination we'd never have been accepted you understand so that was God's Way of sneaking us into the United States anyhow I found myself a little while later pastoring a Pentecostal Church in Seattle Washington and I cannot go into the problems of that church but let me just briefly state what had happened just to give you some kind of idea of what can happen to spiritual people the wife of the pasta fell in love with one of the board members and as a result the pastor's wife divorced the pastor the board member divorced his wife and the pastor's wife and the board remember married and carried on pastoring the church all this was publicly known there was no secret about him well you'd say that couldn't happen in a Pentecostal Church it could and it did and when I talked with the people they said to me there's something about that woman when she looks at you your blood runs cold and you just don't know what to say and she had actually gained total control over that congregation and my first wife and I Lydia and I really we'd never been in a situation like that and I began to seek God I didn't know what to do about it because by that time she had moved out but the congregation was still under her domination and I read this verse foolish Galatians who has bewitched you and I said that's it they're bewitched I couldn't believe at first that you know Pentecostal Christians could be bewitched but when I grasped the truth and Lydia and I took our stand agreeing together in prayer we broke that power the congregation was released the situation was restored but that was where I was first introduced to the reality of Galatians three one who has bewitched you now how did Paul know that they were bewitched the second part of the verse tells us they had lost the vision of Jesus Christ crucified what had witchcraft done it had moved in and obscured the reality of the cross and all that was obtained for them through the cross what was the result of losing the vision of Jesus Christ crucified I believe this will always be the result and I believe it's the result in many many congregations today they went into carnality and legalism and basically wherever you find legalism it's the product of carnality even though it may sound extremely spiritual and legalistic people often think they're more spiritual than others nevertheless it's an expression of the flesh of carnality and not a spirituality and it goes together with the works of the flesh let's read these next verses verses 2 through 5 and I think you'll see the truth of what I've been saying this only I want to learn from you did you receive the spirit by the works of the law by the hearing of faith notice they had received the spirit are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh they have begun in the spirit have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith notice God was working miracles among them they were saved baptized in the spirit and they had miracles taking place and yet they were bewitched and Paul says two results expressed in this the works of the law and the works of the flesh legalism carnality now legalism is one of those words that Christians tend to use to criticize other Christians so I'm going to offer you a definition so that it's not vague as I understand legalism it's the attempt to achieve righteousness with God by observing any set of rules whatever whether it's the law of Moses or Pentecostal law or Baptist law or Catholic law makes no difference anyone who is seeking to achieve righteousness with God by observing a law or a set of rules is in legalism an alternative definition is this legalism is adding anything whatever to the requirements which God has laid down for achieving righteousness within and God has said all that is needed is to believe in Him who delivered Jesus to death for our offences and raised him again for our justification no person no church no organisation and no Bible teacher has any authority ever to add any requirement to achieving righteousness with God except that believing in the one who delivered Jesus for our sins and raised him for our justification and any addition to that in my understanding is legalism so here were people who had begun in the spirit who had seen miracles but who had been tricked by Satan because Satan had obscured the reality of what took place on the cross and they've gone back into fleshly attempts to please God by keeping rules does that sound like anybody you've ever met does that sound like any churches you've ever been in in America and I'm not talking about other countries necessarily but a lot of churches call themselves Grace Church my observation is the ones that took most about grace generally know least about it there are centers of legalism now the result of this is even more shocking stated in the tenth verse Galatians 3:10 for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which written in the book of the law to do them understand if you're going to be justified by the law of Moses you've got to keep the whole law all the time and if you fail to do that and you've put yourself under the law you bring a curse upon yourself for that's the law itself itself says curse it is everyone who does not keep all the law all the time so the results of this cross being obscured by safeties activities where legal is carnality and a curse that's a solemn statement I'll give you just one other scripture which says in one verse what took place to the Galatians with the Galatians in Jena is 17 Jeremiah 17 and verse 5 thus says the Lord cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength or his arm whose heart departs from the Lord the curse is pronounced on somebody of whom it says his heart departs from the Lord so this is a person who has known the supernatural grace of God and experienced it in his life but then he turns back to making flesh his strength in other words he turns back to the best he can do by his own efforts and in doing that if I may use the phrase he's snubbed the spirit of grace he has an effect sent to the Holy Spirit you're not good enough I think I can do it better my way and on that behavior God pronounces a curse if you want to look at the next verse you see as vivid a description of somebody under a curse in one verse as you could ever wish for Jeremiah 17 verse 6 for he the man under the curse shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land which is not inhabited what a vivid picture of somebody under curse blessings are all around him rain falls the earth is fruitful but it never reaches him he lives in a dry barren cursed land oh how many hundreds of people I don't with in that category since God has given me this understand of how a curse operates and how people can be delivered but I want to challenge you tonight to consider as I've described the problem of the Galatians could it be your problem could it be the problem of your church could it be perhaps the primary problem of the profession Church today because almost every major movement in the church began with a supernatural sovereign visitation of God otherwise they would never have impacted history no matter which denomination you go to and I don't want to name any specific denomination they began because God visited them sovereignly with supernatural power how many of them today are relying on the same sovereign supernatural power as gave them birth I would say very few if any III introduced this message this way because I want you to see we're dealing with something that's real and current and extremely important it's not some remote little group somewhere that's gone astray it's Satan's main weapon against the Church of Jesus Christ is to obscure the reality of the cross and what results as I understand it is that what I call the soulish is substituted for the spiritual now man is spirit soul and body the soul has it legitimate functions but it cannot take the place of the Spirit but when people move away from the supernatural and begin to rely on their own ability and efforts they move out of the spiritual and into the soulish and I'll give you just a list of different ways that this manifests itself in a church or D Church and these are just examples I'm not making a law of them just giving you some examples but what I'm saying is a religious substitute takes the place of the spiritual reality and here's a list of seven substitutions as I go through them just check and see first of all theology takes the place of revelation theology is man's reasoning it's making what would I say rules inferences but it's not direct revelation education takes the place of character building I think you should notice that Jesus never just taught people they had to follow him in other words it wasn't just intellectual knowledge but it was a lifestyle that was imparted it's very very dangerous to train people intellectually and not deal with their character because the scripture says the carnal mind is enmity against God so when you educate the carnal mind you're educating an enemy of God and what you get at the end is an educated enemy of God and I would suggest to you the majority of seminaries today are producing educated enemies of God I don't that I'm not trying to be dramatic I just believe that's the way it is you know what is certain sense the main enemies of the gospel of the products of the seminaries thirdly psychology is substituted for discernment which is supernatural forth program is substituted for Supernatural direction the leading of the Holy Spirit fifth eloquence is substituted for supernatural power sixth reasoning is substituted for the walk of faith and seventh cause take the place of love I'll say that very quickly again and as I do it I just wanted to think how much of it is relevant to your situation theology in place of Revelation education in place of character building psychology in place of discernment program in place of supernatural leading of the Holy Spirit eloquence in place of supernatural power reasoning in place of the walk of faith and laws in place of love let me ask you a question you don't if you happen to know any Christians you would categorize as legalistic if you happen to know them would you say they're very loving somebody came up with the right answer say laws and love in the Christian life tend to compete with one another the people who are busy keeping and enforcing laws are often remarkably unloving people if you want the standard biblical illustration it's the Pharisees have you noticed how many miracles there of Jesus they objected to blind eyes were open blame people walked they never once expressed satisfaction at that all they objected to was he was breaking their rules of the Sabbath you'd thought even a Pharisee with a hardest stone would be glad when somebody who was born blind had his eyes open not so they don't keep the Sabbath oh he doesn't keep the seventh all right now the important thing about Galatians is that not only does it reveal the problem it reveals God's solution to me this is a wonderful example of the inspiration of scripture because Paul didn't write a theological treatise he sat down probably in some very difficult situation and dashed off a letter because he was deeply concerned about the Galatians it's a comical thing about the Galatians their problem as I'm saying was legalism and the Paul wrote led us to other churches and almost invariably he begins by thanking God for the churches he was running to he wrote to the Corinthians there was incest adultery drunkenness at the Lord's table and he still thank God for the grace of God given to them well when he comes through the Galatians he is so upset that he doesn't thank God for them he simply says I'm marble that you're so soon moved away from the grace of God legalism disturbed him much more than open sin and so much subtler and more dangerous problem all right now let's look at the remedies and this is why I've entitled this message the cross in me and I want to make this very personal to everybody here you see it's one thing to get excited about what God has done for you on the cross it's quite different to embrace what the cross is intended to do in you I have to say in my present in the circumcircle Xin which I move at present there's very little mention of made of what the cross is intended to do in us and I would say in my opinion 90% of the church's problems are due to that one fact you see in the long run you will not enjoy the benefits of what the cross has done for you unless you accept what the cross is intend to do in you the cross nu is the safeguard of all the blessings and provisions of the cross for you Galatians States 5 deliverances that are provided for us through the cross and I want to go through them in the order in which they occur the first one is stated in Galatians 1 verses 3 and 4 and I think it's one my guess would be 90% of you have never even thought about it I may be wrong if I am forgive me one of the reason I say that is I went a long while as a Christian and a preacher without thinking about it myself see alright Galatians 1 3 & 4 grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins on the cross that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God so through the cross God has provided deliverance from this present evil age now there are two Greek words that are used in Galatians and it's necessary to separate them the King James and even the New King James doesn't observe the distinction all the time the word used here in Greek as I own from which we get the english word eon and it means an age a period of time the other word which is also used in Galatians 6:14 and we'll come to it at the end of this series of studies is cosmos which is translated world I'll talk about world linked up but let's look for a moment at the concept of age we are living in a certain age there were other ages before us and there will be ages after this and this present age is called an evil age I'll show you very specifically why it's an evil age but let's first of all take note of the fact the present age is going to end if you live as though it we're never going to end you're living under a delusion personally when I say the present age is going to end you know what I say next thank God I wouldn't want this age to continue the way it is forever look at the parables of Jesus in Matthew chapter 13 you know this is the chapter with the seven parables and I don't intend to go into the parables I just want to take some quotations interpreting the parable of the wheat and the tares in verse 39 Jesus says the enemy who sowed the tares is the devil the harvest is the end of the and in the next verse he says therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so it will be at the end of this age and in verse 48 in another parable he says again so it will be at the end of the age and you could find many other scriptures but it's extremely important for us always to remember the present age is going to end it is not permanent if we live and think as if it were permanent we're living under a delusion and the power behind that delusion is witchcraft now let's explain why it's an evil age second Corinthians chapter four and verse four we you need to read verse three to get the context Paul says but even if our gospel is veiled or hidden it is veiled to those who are perishing whose minds the god of this age has blinded who do not believe at cetera who is the god of the age who's blinded the minds of these people Satan that's right so you understand Satan doesn't want the age to in it you know why because as long as this age continues he's a god when this age comes to an end he ceases to be a God so he is doing everything in his power to delay the clothes of the age and the church should be doing everything and its power to precipitate the close of the age but if Satan can blind the minds of the church then the church will not do what God expects the church to do to bring about the close of the age and then in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6 the writer of Hebrews speaks about people who've received a series of experiences which I think most of us here have received Hebrews six beginning about somewhere in verse four people who and you'll notice there are five experiences who were once enlightened have tasted the heaven gift have become partakers of the Holy Spirit have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come notice that when we taste the Holy Spirit we taste the powers of the next age we are as it were by that experience lifted out of the present age into the next age and we begin to experience in a little way what it will be like to be in the next age I'll give you one illustration which is a little difficult to explain but Paul says the body we have in this age that's in first Corinthians 15 is a soulish body in other words it's a body which only operates as the soul directs it so if my spirit wants my body to do something my spirit has to work through my soul like David wanted to praise the Lord with his mouth so he spirit spoke to his soul and said bless the Lord O my soul but the spirit couldn't start blessing the Lord without the cooperation of the soul you see what I'm saying that's called a soulish body but the next age paul says i will have a spiritual body what does that mean as I understand it and I could be wrong time will show it will mean that our spirit directly controls our body we don't have to persuade our soul if I want to fly to the next planet I just take off I don't have to argue with my soul about the rights and wrongs of the journey well let you see what I'm leading up to is when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit you taste the powers of the age to come because when you speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives you other words for the first time probably your spirit is directly controlling your tongue it doesn't have to go through the bottleneck of your silly little mind you see that that's why this is one reason why this is such a tremendously significant experience because for most of us it's the only way at present in which we can experience what it'll be like to live in the next age I don't have to think when I speak in tongues you understand now my soul has to consent if my soul says no and a lot of people's carnal mind says no I don't want to speak in tongues I don't understand what I'm saying so if your soul holds out you can't do it but my soul has capitulated so when I want to speak in tongues I can handle a body a lavash and I see koreander oliveria Serie C I don't know what I'm saying but I know it's good because the Holy Spirit gave it see when you speak in that spirit your tongue does what it's always supposed to do it verifies the law you'll never say one wrong word as long as the Holy Spirit is controlling your tongue so anyhow what I'm trying to put convince you on is there's going to be a different kind of way of living in the next age our spirit is going to be in direct control of our body we won't be limited by our silly little minds our souls okay and then going back to Matthew 13 we find another problem connected with this present age Matthew 13 and verse 22 interpreting the parable of the sower Jesus speaks about the kind of seed that fell on rocky soil and he says Matthew 13 22 now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful so this age has cares I think both the NIV and the NASB used the word worries I think another good word is cares when you are too preoccupied with the things of the present age that preoccupation makes the Word of God unfruitful in you it chokes out the word of God thank God we can be delivered from this present evil age you see how necessary it is and then in Romans chapter 12 in verse 2 Paul has another statement Romans 12 verse 2 do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind don't think the way the people of this age thinks you've got to learn to think differently I'll tell you the main difference the people of this age are essentially self-centered that's one almost universal description the attitude about anything is what would I get out of this but the person whose mind has been renewed thinks differently what will God get out of this his own life is no longer the center his life is God centered and then finally and really this is tragic terribly solemn a faithful servant of Christ cannot love this present age second Timothy chapter four one of the most sad statements in the writings of Paul here he is at the end of his life in prison awaiting trial and probable execution he has just a few faithful co-workers that are stuck with him and one of the months he was counting on his name Dimas and then he says and he says it all in one sentence 2nd Timothy 4 verse 10 demas has forsaken me having loved this present age see in the long run if you love this present age you cannot be faithful to God as they say when the chips are down you will take the wrong direction very very searching thought let me ask you this question are you in any way in love with this present age are you living as if it was going to go on forever have you got all your eggs in the basket at this present age because one day the whole baskets going to drop and all the eggs will be smashed alright one second deliverance we move on now in Galatians 2 chapter 2 and verse 19 and this is probably the hardest one for Christians to understand according to my observation I have spent many many hours trying to persuade Christians of the reality of this and I just don't know how far I've been successful Paul says in Galatians 2:19 this is the second deliverance I call it deliverance from the law for I through the law died to the law that I might live to God why does he say I through the law died to the law because the law inflicted on me the death penalty it was the law that caused me to be put to death and when I was put to death that was the end of the law see the last thing the law can do to anybody has put them to death once that's happened they're clear of the law doesn't matter whether you've committed one murder or 60 murders if you're executed that's all the law can do to you see there is no other way out from under the law death is the only escape the marvelous mercy and grace of God is the execution took place 19 centuries ago when Jesus died I died in him he paid on my behalf the final penalty of the law that I might be clear from the demands of the law in a session yesterday I pointed out them says in Colossians chapter 2 that the law is nailed to the cross it doesn't go beyond the cross it can follow you up to the cross it can pursue you it can hound you it can accuse you it can then condemn you but once you get beyond the cross you're free from the law there's no more condemnation it's all over now Paul says I through the law died to the law that I might live to God if you analyze that the meaning is clear if you're living to the law you're not living to God if you're living to God you're not living to the law you cannot have it both ways you can't combine the two this is one of the clearest and most repeated statements of the New Testament and yet I find that basically Christians are completely unfamiliar with it and it shocks them as I said to a group of people sometime recently and I was quite casual I mean I wasn't trying to shock them but I said Christianity is not a set of rules and their faces registered dismay I think I've had said there is no God there would have been less shocked see I have dealt with this I think because of my background as a philosopher immediately I was saved I began to see in the New Testament this is probably the most decisive single issue is the relationship between the law and grace and it's not altogether simple I think the difficulty is because we're not used to thinking God's way I don't think it's very complicated it just means a total adjustment of our thinking I can see some of your faces now if you could see your own faces you'd be shocked all right look in Galatians 3 verses 11 and 12 and you understand this is the end of this passage about being under a curse because they've been bewitched and it says but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith now I happen to be able to read the New Testament in Greek I started learning Greek when I was 10 years old and I learned it for 16 years and what I want to say you can check if you have access to the original text in most of the places in the New Testament where it says the law the original says law and it makes a difference this is one of them let me read it the other way but that no one is justified by law in the sight of God is evident now Paul means primarily you will not be justified by keeping the law of Moses but he doesn't stop there he says you cannot achieve righteousness with God by keeping any law it's ruled out it's impossible don't waste time trying then Paul goes on in verse 12 yet the law is not a faith but the one who does them shall live by them if you can keep the whole law all the time that's fine you're righteous but nobody ever has you see and if you can only keep a little of the law some of the time it does you no good whatever from the point of view of achieving righteousness so there are two alternatives you're justified by the law or you're justified by faith but you cannot mix them is that clear a little later on Paul uses a little parable from the family of Abraham and he gives the example of Ishmael who was the child of the slave woman who's a type of the product of the law because Hagar he says corresponds to Mount Sinai where the law was given and then Sarah is a time of the spirit a supernatural birth which gave which brought forth Isaac who's the child of grace but Paul points out when ish men Isaac came Ishmael had to go they could not coexist in the same family and he quotes the statement constant and the statements by God himself cast out the bondwoman and her son not only do you get rid of Ishmael you get rid of Hagar see so you have to choose whom are you going to have in your house are you going to keep Ishmael or you're going to make room for Isaac the child of grace the supernatural see Ishmael was the best that Abraham could do by his own efforts but it wasn't good enough and the best you can do by your efforts is not good enough you can keep on trying and sweating and working and even praying but it's not good enough so if you want grace you've got to say no to law you understand this is a this is so vivid that most of us would like to hold on to both see a little bit of grace a little bit of law God says it won't work I don't accept that if you can't trust grace wholly then you aren't trusting grace at all if you have to help grace with law you're not really experiencing grace now let's turn to Romans chapter 6 and verses 6 and 7 here is the deliverance knowing this do you know it or do you not know it knowing this then our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin where was our old man crucified and when when Jesus died on the cross that's a historical fact you can't change that but knowing it and believing it will change you you see we're dealing with facts you have to know the whole gospel is based on facts historical facts unlike almost any other world religion I don't know of any other world religion that's based on facts their systems their theories their revelations Untied to any particular period of history but the gospel is based on historical facts it's either true or its false personally I believe it's true now Paul says until this old nature thus Adamic nature this rebel that's called the old man has been put to death will be the slaves of sin the only way out is to deal with the old man he's a rebel as I've said many times God's solution is execution he doesn't improve him he doesn't send him to church he doesn't teach him the golden rule executing but the mercy of God is the execution took place when Jesus died on the cross that's God's mercy all right so Paul goes on to say and this is the next verse for he who has died has been freed from sin now that's the translation that's followed in almost every version but the word if you look in the margin if you have a margin it means has been justified from sin because once you've paid the last penalty you're justified the law has nothing more to say to you it can do nothing more against you death is the way out from the Dominion of the law it's also the way out from the Dominion of sin going on in Romans chapter 6 verse 14 for sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace which are you under you can't be under both if you're under law you're not under grace you're under grace you're not under law and poor very clearly implies if you are under law sin will have dominion over that's Donna she's people but that's the way it is because while you're under law you're doing the best you can with your own efforts and they're not good enough they're like Ishmael they never earn God's family and then in Romans 7 verses 5 and 6 for when we were in the flesh the passions of sins which were aroused by the law what at work in our members to bear fruit today did you hear that phrase the passion of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members Paul explains a little further on I can't go into detail I didn't know what covetousness wants until I encountered the commandment thou shalt not covet but when the commandment came cavitus niece rose up in me have you ever experienced that it's when you're told not to do something that it really gains dominion efficiency so the sin is actually stirred up by the law as long as we're relying on our own efforts you have to read the whole of Romans chapter 7 ready to get there but Paul sends the next verse but now we have been delivered from the law delivered from what from the law I must explain we're not talking about secular law that doesn't mean you can break the law of the government by any means we're talking about law as a means of achieving righteousness with God I believe Christians should be law-abiding persons now we have been delivered from the law having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldest of the letter Paul uses a picture in the previous verses which is a little complicated so I'll try to simplify it he gives it the example of a woman who's married to a husband as long as her husband remains alive if she marries another she's an adulteress but if her husband dies she's free to marry another man the application is through the law we were married to our fleshly nature we were absolutely we committed to do what we could in our flesh as long as our fleshly nature remained alive we were not free to be married to anybody else but on the cross our fleshly nature was put to death can you say praise God so that we are now free to be married to another who's the other the resurrected Christ and you see when we were married to the flesh what we brought forth was the product of the flesh now we're married to the resurrected Christ what we bring forth is the product of the Spirit you see the picture alright let's go on faithfully plowing ahead 2nd Corinthians 3 3 Paul says to the Corinthians I love this statement because Paul says in effect if you want to know my theology go to Corinth you'll find it written there in the lives of the people I've ministered to I like that kind of theology well says you want to know I believe go to Corinth you'll meet people who were fornicators adulterers pimps homosexuals drunkards extortionists living godly lives that's my theology there my letter if the ancient world wanted to know what Paul believed he said go to Part Corinne I don't want to put it down in a theological treatise and then he says this you are manifestly an epistle or letter of Christ ministered by US written not with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh that is of the heart here is the difference between law and grace law is tablets of stone outside you that says do this and don't do that and you say that's right I'll do this and I won't do that and you fail because there's a rebel inside you that doesn't cooperate but grace doesn't hold something up outside you and say do that grace by the Holy Spirit writes the laws of God on your heart and when it's in your heart that's the way you live you see Solomon said keep your heart with all diligence for everything in life comes out so isn't that a marvelous thought you see I can't write what I'm trying to communicate on your hearts but if the Holy Spirit is here he'll write on your hearts none of us by our own efforts and theology and ministry can change a single person but if the Holy Spirit works he can write on the hearts of those to whom we minister and they become changed that's the difference law is external grace is internal going on with these scriptures Romans 8:14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God mature sons what do you have to do to become a mature son of God once you've been born again you have to be led by the Holy Spirit there is no other path to maturity and you see it's like this it's God says you've got a journey to take you've got two options here's a map it's perfect or you can have a personal guide the map is the law the personal guide is who the Holy Spirit that's right so you're young strong healthy you've got two degrees from University and you say give me the map I can read maps I'll make it about 48 hours later it's the middle of the night it's raining hard pitch dark and you're on the edge of a precipice and you don't know whether you're facing north south east or west and then the gentle voice says can I help you the Holy Spirit Oh Holy Spirit I need you help me well you get out of that mess you get onto the road and the Sun begins to shine and you think well I was pretty dumb I didn't have to get so panicky I think I'll have another look at the man and you do and when you look up your guide isn't there anymore see and so you carry on with a map and about two days later you're in the middle of a bog and every step you take you're sinking deeper and you think what do I do now I can't ask the like guy back but he comes back he says let me help you that really is the story of the Christian life how many times do we have to go back to the map when we've got the guide you say but I'm afraid I'll do the wrong thing without law let me tell you one thing for sure the Holy Spirit will never lead you to do the wrong thing okay if you are truly led by the Holy Spirit you'll always do the right thing you cannot rely on your own efforts but God has made a way for you to escape from the obligations of the law through the death of Christ on the cross our old man was crucified that's a general statement Paul makes it specific I through the Lord died to the law that I might live to God we have to take the general and by our confession make it specific would you like to do that to close this session say those words after me if you really mean them and if you don't mean them don't say them I through the law died to the law that I might live to God do it once more I through the law died to the law that I might live to God now sahiba deep science they thank God

Channel: Derek Prince

Views: 148,919

Rating: 4.8305683 out of 5

Keywords: message of the cross bible study, the mystery of the cross sermon, the purpose of the cross sermon, benefits of the cross sermon, the power of the cross sermon, message of the cross sermon, the preaching of the cross sermon, near the cross sermon, the purpose of the cross bible study, the mistery of the cross bible study, benefits of the cross bible study, the power of the cross bible study, carrying the cross bible study, The preaching of the cross bible study

Id: XNS134pKXsg

Length: 54min 42sec (3282 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 21 2015