The Sepulchers of David

We do not make much progress in the restoring of worship and obedience to God apart from our acceptance of the death of the cross.

There is no greater need in the churches of our time than the acceptance of the death of the cross. We are willing to believe Jesus' death on the cross was necessary for our salvation, but we also must accept the fact that our death on the same cross is necessary if the work of restoration is to proceed at our hand.

Nothing is accomplished in the Kingdom of God apart from the cross. Apart from the cross, self-will and self-seeking predominate in the churches. Men have a thousand programs, ten thousand ideas—all with the intention of accomplishing something of value in the Kingdom of God.

But all is in vain!

Each person who would be a conquering saint, who would participate in the work of restoration, must die. He or she must die to the self-life: self-will, self-glory, self-seeking, self-centeredness, self-ambitions, self-scheming, self-profiting. God is not seeking our accomplishments, He is seeking to bring us to the cross so He may fill us with Himself.

As we accept the cross into our daily life, the Spirit of God performs the work of the Kingdom of God. When Samson bowed in death he slew more Philistines than he did throughout his entire life.

Notable saints of history have accepted crucifixion with Christ, and the result has been the establishing of the true testimony of Christ. But much of the history of the Christian churches has been characterized by the self-seeking and self-will of fleshly believers.

The power of the Kingdom of God comes only from the cross. In order to be a disciple of Christ, a person is required to forsake all, hate his own life, and take up his cross and follow Jesus.

Since "Christian" is the name applied to the disciples in Antioch, we can state that the only true Christians are those persons who have forsaken all, who have taken up their cross and are following Christ. A "Christian" is, by definition, a disciple.

The disciples are living but they are dead. A true disciple of Christ is a living dead man.

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. (Galatians 2:20)

The disciple has died to sin, died to self, died to his own hopes, fears, plans, ambitions, successes, failures, friends, imaginations. He has died to this world. The world is crucified to him and he is crucified to the world. The seasoned disciple rejects fear, rejects the bondage of attempting to please people, because of years of the discipline of the Spirit of God.

When we suffer long enough we become free from all men. The disciple is free from fear because in his heart he is dead already. But he is indestructibly alive because of the eternal resurrection glory of the Holy Spirit of God in him—the same Power that lifted Christ from the dead and set Him at the right hand of the Father.

To be continued.