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Text Sermons : Classic Christian Writings : The Crucified Life-“Dying Daily” By B. McCall Barbour

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"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).

There can be no true experience of "dying daily" where there is no intelligent sense of having previously, by faith, died definitely. By this we mean that there must have taken place a decided transaction of identification with Christ in His crucifixion on the cross, in His burial in the grave, and in His resurrection.

It is the plan and it also is the provision of God that every blood-bought child of His may "walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4) as He has purposed they should. Let it be emphasized that there can be no true, practical experience of walking in "the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10), and in "newness of life," where there has been no previous personal experience of identification with Christ in His crucifixion -- in "dying with Jesus."

When by faith, our "dying with Jesus" and our burial with Him have been decided--when these steps are accomplished in our experience, then our rising with Him (Col. 2:12) may also be reckoned upon, and its blessedness may be realized in our life.

By appropriating "the power of His resurrection," and thereby experiencing His presence with us and being "alive unto God" (Rom. 6:11) and yielding our whole being to Him, it is possible for us personally and practically to "die daily" unto self.

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4).

True walking with Christ is true Christian conduct, which results only from true Christian character. That character is "Christ, who is our life" (Col. 3:4). "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20).

Dying Daily

"More and more," says Dr. A. C. Gaebelein, "it has come to my heart and mind that in these solemn days so pregnant with meaning for the true church, we must enter deeper into this great confession of the Apostle Paul and live that life which is dead to sin and dead to the world.

"It does not mean a sinless or a perfect life. Far from that! Daily we must do it afresh, yielding ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God. The glorious fact that He died for our sins, and that our sins can no longer rise up against us, brings joy and peace. And it brings a still greater joy and peace as well as the assurance that we please God, to realize in faith the death to sin and the world through the death of Christ."

"What is there left for me to do?" The answer is -- "to ‘die daily.’" "How?" you ask. By reckoning yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:11).

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:12-13).

Let it be emphasized: "Yield yourselves unto God." "Yourselves!" "Yourselves!"

"What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Appropriate The Power

Let there be appropriation, by faith, of "the power of His resurrection." This is the only power that can perform the obligations, and produce the desired results. This is the only power that can enable us to "live divinely" unto God, and so "die daily" unto self.

The Apostle Paul, passionately interested in the spiritual growth of the saints at Ephesus, and by implication, in all saints everywhere, prays:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:17-23).

Such is "the power of His resurrection." This power is alone in Christ. "Christ is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). Amazing fact--this overcoming Power is also in us believers who appropriate Him as our life.

"With life in Christ," writes the Editor of The Christian, "the Christian is meant to have power. By union with Him, the power is guaranteed no less than the life. When He said that He came that we might have life, He meant life in its fullness--life that is characterized by this power--by His power.

"The resurrection life of Christ our Lord is available for those who are ‘risen with Christ’ and that life is a life of power, of liberty, of victory, of joy, of fruitfulness, of soul-saving and soul-blessing relationship with others--not through anything in the human instrument, but through the power of Christ working in the instrument.

"Power was the subject of one of His great post-resurrection promises. ‘Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’ But it is possible to have life without power: and paralysis is only less terrible than death itself. Are we paralyzed? He can heal this paralysis of spiritual life and usefulness. He--and He alone--can say, ‘Arise, take up thy bed and walk.’"

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Arranged from How to "Die Daily"





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