Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the profound truth that while believers are forgiven through Christ, they must also recognize their identity as crucified with Him. He highlights the struggles of the Corinthian church, which, despite their knowledge of grace, faced divisions due to a lack of understanding of the cross's full implications. Beach calls for a deeper revelation of being crucified with Christ, urging believers to let go of self and allow Christ to live through them. He stresses that true unity and spiritual maturity in the church can only be achieved when individuals embrace their crucified identity and live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, the message is about surrendering the self-life to experience the fullness of Christ in our lives.

Hello. Oh, it's nice and loud, good. Is it still just as loud if I walk over here? Yeah, so I'm having a little problem with... This afternoon... Praise the Lord. Thank God for His presence, thank God for His goodness, thank God for His loving kindness. If you have a need in your life this afternoon, Jesus Christ is the answer. Do you know that? Jesus Christ is the answer. You're lonely. You've been rejected by people. You've been hurt by people. You've been misunderstood by people. You've wrestled with bitterness and unforgiveness. And you get yourself in that place and you say, Oh my God, what am I going to do? Jesus Christ can deliver you from that. Jesus Christ can minister His love into your heart this afternoon. Do you believe that? How many have... You don't have to raise your hand, but how many have been in that position where you have felt misunderstood and rejected? Bitterness and unforgiveness raising up in your heart. And you have not had the resources within your own self to find the deliverance that you need. You have not been able to find it. You've even looked to other people and they have failed you, haven't they? For a while you thought for sure, now I've found the one that's going to help me. But they failed you. They failed you, didn't they? And they let you down. And your hopes that you had, and maybe perhaps finding a way out of this black hole, were dashed to pieces like a stone being dropped off the Empire State Building and they crumbled. And there you were again, caught in this black hole and you have nowhere to go and you're saying, Oh God, I've looked to so many things, I've looked to people, I've looked to my own self and I can't find any hope or any help. What am I going to do? Jesus Christ alone is the answer for you today. Jesus Christ is God's answer to man's dilemma. Do you know that we're in a dilemma today, a great dilemma? Not only individually, but corporately as the church, unquote. We're in a great dilemma today. And beloved, by the grace of God, I want to be able to share something of the Lord's heart tonight, Monday night and Tuesday night, so that we can gather around Him and learn something more of Him, something more of His heart. There's a lot of different ideas floating around about how to get out of the dilemma, the social dilemma that we're in, the physical dilemma that we're in, the emotional dilemma that we're in, the mental dilemma that we're in. We've got so many problems and I'm not speaking about the problems outside the church, I'm referring to the problems that are within the church. So many different problems. So many different difficulties. And we're looking to so many different places. Lots of books are being written. Lots of seminars are being held. Lots of different speakers are offering various different solutions to the problems and the dilemmas. But beloved, as the church of Jesus Christ, as the redeemed of the Lord, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, indwelt by the Spirit of God, it must be our chief focus that the Lord Jesus Christ must be the answer to all of the dilemmas that we find ourselves in today. Jesus Christ, the Person of Christ, and God through the power of the Holy Spirit making Him the life of our very being. That's your answer today. That's my answer today. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to invite you to turn, if you would please, to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, beginning in chapter 1, starting in verse number 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sophonies, our brother, under the name of Jesus Christ. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that are in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Now, as we proceed to read this, we want to take special notice in Paul's thoughts at the very beginning of this book to the Corinthians, because these thoughts are very important if we are to understand something of the Lord's heart, something of the Lord's burden for you and I today. Notice that as Paul greets the Corinthian church, he begins in verse number 4 by saying, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. So these believers were those who were familiar with and partakers of the grace of God. They were not people who were ignorant of the grace of God. They understood the grace of God. They were sharers of the grace of God. It says that the grace of God was given to them by Jesus Christ. So they were not grace ignorant. They were aware of the grace of God. And we know that it's by the grace of God that we enter into all the things that Jesus did for us. So remember this. Verse number 5, that in some things, is that what it says? No, it doesn't. Notice the second point. The opening thoughts that Paul had for the Corinthian church. Firstly, they were well acquainted with the grace of God. Secondly, that in everything, ye are enriched by Him. So here we find a people who were not only partakers of the grace of God, but they were enriched by Jesus Christ. They were enriched. Now what were they enriched in? Verse number 5, in all utterance. That means that these Corinthians were very well taught. And could anyone deny that they were very well taught, having Paul himself as one of the men that God raised up in order to teach them? I don't think they lacked in good teaching, did they? So automatically, the Corinthian church seems to be even to a degree at an advantage over us. Because none of us were ever personally taught by Paul, were we? Now we've been taught by his epistles, but I assure you, beloved, that the epistles that Paul penned, and many of them he did, half the New Testament, is the result of the epistles that Paul penned by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Yet these epistles only reflect a very small reflection of the man Paul himself. You know, when you read a book, you get a picture or a thought of the author. You get a piece of the author. But by golly, if you sit down and talk with the author, the author himself far supersedes the book he wrote. So these Corinthians were taught by the apostle Paul. Partakers of grace taught by apostle Paul in all utterance and all knowledge. Verse number six, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. That means that they evidenced in their lives the saving grace of God working in them. They evidenced that they were Christians, that the Holy Spirit had dwelt in them, that they had become new creations in Christ Jesus. Okay? So, so far it looks like the cards are really stacked in their favor, doesn't it? They're really in pretty good shape. And here Paul was introducing to them the thought that he had in his heart. Verse number seven, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, let's go to verse number ten and look very closely. Because here we're going to see something very near and dear to the Lord's heart that apparently the Corinthians were having great difficulties in. Listen. In spite of the fact that they were partakers of the grace of God, they were enriched in utterance, they were enriched in knowledge, they were taught by Paul and many other great apostles, and that they evidenced saving grace in their life. In spite of all these things, there was something essentially lacking in their midst. And that is what we want to look at this afternoon. Now, I beseech you, brethren, verse number ten, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's read this real slow. I'm reading from King James, so it may be a little bit differently read in your Bibles, but nevertheless, let's read this slow, because this is a big call. This is a big order. I don't want you to just... I don't want you to sit and get a sermon. I'm not preaching a sermon. I don't preach sermons. We want to bring something of the Lord's heart, something of the Lord's heart. Now, notice the big order here. I beseech, I beg, I implore you. It's not just a casual asking. It's a very, very intense word. I beg you. I beg you, Paul says, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, Paul is saying, I'm begging you in thee and by the authority of Christ Himself. That is, as if Christ Himself was speaking to you now and begging you. Beloved, verse number ten reflects something of the Lord's heart for you and I today, something from the Lord's heart for all Christians everywhere. Now, you know, you would possibly say, that you all speak the same thing. Number one, that there be no division, schism. That word means to tear or split apart. But that you be perfectly joined or perfectly adjusted together to fit firmly in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, think about this. Let's read it again. Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing. That there be no divisions and schisms and tears and splits among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. It's a big order, isn't it? Verse number eleven shows that the order that was just expressed by Paul was not being fulfilled. For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas, besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. Verse seventeen, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. That to be made of no effect literally means to be emptied of its power. To be emptied of its power. Now, beloved, let's look at this for a few moments and let's pray that God will help us to be able to grasp and partake a little more fully something of His heart this afternoon. I want you to look at verse number twelve. Besides Paul using the word I to refer to himself, the word I in that one verse is used how many times? Four times. Okay? Besides Paul referring to himself and saying now this I say, other than that, four times the word I is used. I would like to say that the problem in the Corinthian church and the problem that has continued throughout the age and is with us to this present hour is the same problem and it can be seen with and by verse number twelve. I, I, I, I. The big I. Now, beloved, remember we are looking at a group of Christians who knew the grace of God, were enriched by the gifts of God, were partakers of the knowledge and utterance of God, had a testimony of Christ working in them which confirmed the fact that they were genuinely saved, were taught by Paul the Apostle and Apollos and several other great men and women of God and yet when they were measured in the balance of God's measuring rod they were found grossly lacking. Their lack was not based on not being accepted by the Lord. They were accepted. They were Christians. Their lack was not based on not having forgiveness. No, they were fully forgiven. Their sins were washed away. Their lack was not based on anything like that. But their lack was based on verse number seventeen. For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be emptied of its power. Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The lack, beloved, that was present in the Corinthian church which has continued to be a lack from generation to generation up to this present time is an insufficient apprehension, an insufficient understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ and the totality of what it really means to you and I as believers. Turn your Bibles to the book of Galatians. As you're turning your Bibles to the book of Galatians I'd like to ask a rhetorical question. One that is not to be answered out loud but you can certainly answer it within your heart. As you're turning to Galatians. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of the Lord that you all speak the same thing, there be no division among you, that you be perfectly joined in the same mind and in the same judgment. How many here have seen that Scripture really demonstrate itself in a corporate way in the church recently? No division. No schism. No tearing and splitting up of one another. The same mind, the same judgment, the same purpose, the same goal, the same desires, the same aspirations, the same love, all working toward the same thing. Now somebody might say, well now that's impossible, Phil. Well if it's impossible, beloved, then why does Paul command and beseech the Corinthians that it would be present with them? This same command is applicable to you and I. John the Baptist was not a political puppet. Now I tell you, beloved, this tall order will not be fulfilled through the efforts of men, through the efforts of organizations, through the efforts of Christian leaders, through the efforts of trying to bring everyone under one ecumenical covering will not be done this way. You and I are absolutely powerless to produce what God is asking to be present right now. In ourself we are absolutely powerless to do it. And until God brings us all to the place where we recognize that all of our ideas and all of our schemes and all of our efforts and all of our labor to try and bring about unity and oneness and the absence of schism and brokenness in our church and in our fellowshiping one with another, before we can have God do that, we have to be brought to the place where we realize we can not from ourself generate or birth anything into being that is going to accomplish what the Lord is after. Only God, by a sovereign work of the Spirit in our hearts and lives can accomplish that. Now as I mentioned, turning your Bible to Galatians chapter 2. As we mentioned, it is an inappropriate and insufficient apprehension and insufficient understanding of the cross of Christ that is the cause of division and schism and brokenness and the dividing that is occurring within the body today. An insufficient apprehension. Okay. Galatians chapter 2. Very familiar portion of scripture but hopefully by the grace of God it will take on new meaning this afternoon. Galatians chapter 2 verse number 20. Now, listen carefully, okay. Do you remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number, what was it, 12? How many times was the pronoun I used? Four times? Okay. Now Galatians chapter 2 verse number 20. I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that liveth. Or in King James it says, 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 life of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now beloved, listen carefully. Paul not only understood the cross of Jesus Christ as the place where the sinner is forgiven. Because the cross of Christ indeed is the place where the sinner is forgiven, is he not? Isn't the cross of Jesus Christ the place where by the grace of God we receive forgiveness of sin? Yes. Praise God. But it's an insufficient apprehension, a limited apprehension, one that doesn't go far enough that results in the division. And may I say, beloved, that it is not only the cross of Christ as the place where you and I are forgiven that we need to get by a revelation of the Spirit of God and the Word of God, but it is the fact that not only am I a forgiven sinner, but I am a crucified sinner. A crucified sinner is one who becomes dead. Doesn't that sound like Paul's teaching in Romans chapter 6? You have died, you are dead, and now you are alive unto God? The Corinthians understood they were forgiven. But in order for God to secure in their midst a unity and a oneness and the absence of schism and division, there had to be a going on with the Lord. There had to be a following on with the Lord. And this following on brings us into the revelation that we are crucified with Christ and that big I, which is the cause of division, the pride, the ego, the self-will, the greed, the covetousness, the self-like. You see, as sinners saved, we very easily can simply continue to do our own things, live our own life, and glory in the fact that we're forgiven. That's what the Corinthians were doing. Such a state, such a state, listen, beloved, such a state, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, such a state results in Paul's addressing them as, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, fleshly, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you are not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able, for ye are yet carnal. Now look at what the characteristics are that Paul described here that made him carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? Here we go, verse 4, for while one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Can you see that the problem with the Corinthian believers was not that they lacked the understanding that they were forgiven sinners. That wasn't the problem. The problem was not that they lacked the fact that they understood the grace of God. They were partakers of the grace of God. The problem was not that they lacked utterance, that they were not enriched with good doctrine and good teachings. They had plenty of good doctrine. They had plenty of good teachings. Did they not? Paul himself said it. The problem with the Corinthians was that they failed to recognize that being a Christian meant that they were not only forgiven, but in Christ, they through the power of the Holy Spirit had to believe God that their old life, their own I, that old I, that I, that self-will, all the things of our own self-life was crucified with Christ, listen, and rejected by God, set aside by God. Listen, God does not save us so that we by our own strength and our own wisdom can serve Him and then expect Him to bless us. That's not what Christianity is. Christianity is becoming a new creation where we receive the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to put off and disown and die to the old life, the old will, the old ways, and live our life by the energizing power and life of Christ Himself. Christianity is not us doing something for God. Christianity is God doing His work through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only Christ can do the work of God. Did you know that? Did you know so many Christians think they can do something for God? How can you do anything for God? There was only one man that could do anything for God and he did it, and he said, it is finished, and now there's no other man that needs to do anything for God. You see, we've gotten off the basis of Christ as being the all and all of what Christianity is, and our Christianity has become man-centered. It has become, it revolves around man. We look at God and we see how God can benefit us. What we can get from God. When God wants Christianity to be something altogether different, not what we can get from God, but rather, what can God get? We know the Lord's only looking for one thing, more of His Son, more of the expression of His Son, Jesus Christ. You know you have no loveliness in yourself? Do you know that? Do you know that you have no loveliness in yourself? Cursed is everything that hangeth upon a tree. You say, praise God, Jesus became my curse. He did. But did you know that Paul said that I am crucified with Christ? So not only did Christ become a curse, but we ourselves, in our flesh, are cursed. We hung with Him. Have you seen that? Has God opened up your eyes to see this? Oh, when God begins to show you this, you realize that there is, what did Paul say in Romans chapter 7? There is no good thing that dwelleth in your flesh. No good thing. Your goodness and your kindness, if it's coming out of your own self, beloved, it's just as rejected as God, as is alcoholism and drugs. It's all coming from the same tree. And the whole tree is corrupt. The tree of self. You know, self doesn't only have, quote unquote, the ugly sins. Self has a lot of nice looking sins. But if it's coming out of self, and it's not the product of Christ manifesting His beauty in our life, God sees right through the religion of it. God sees right through your religion. And He says, it's rejected of me. Do you remember what happened when Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River and He came up out of the river? God in heaven spoke and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Dear beloved, may we forever understand and recognize that God is pleased with only one, and that is His Son, Jesus Christ. The totality of God's pleasure toward us is based wholly and entirely upon His Son and His Son's righteousness and His Son's life in us. And only to the measure that we are able to express that by the power of the Holy Spirit can we please God. You see, Jesus, Jesus alone is the beloved Son whom God is well pleased with. And the Corinthians understood the work of Christ as it related to their forgiveness. They understood the work of Christ as it related to, ah, praise God, He became the sacrifice for me. But they failed to understand that Christ was not only the sacrifice for them, but He became the representative man where they died in Him. They died in Him. Galatians chapter 6. Verse number 11. You see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. Now there were some people there who were trying to make a fair show in the flesh. They were trying to get Christians to become circumcised so that they looked good in the eyes of the Jew. But now look what Paul says. See, what they were trying to do was they were trying to gain acceptance. They were trying to gain something apart from Christ and Christ alone. Now watch what Paul says here. They constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves are circumcised, keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory. That is, God forbid that I should boast. God forbid that I should brag about anything. Beloved, do you know that we have absolutely nothing to brag about, nothing to boast in, absolutely nothing at all except Jesus Christ? If I see any goodness in you, I must give all the credit to Jesus. And if I see anything crooked, then I must take the credit myself. I can glory in nothing but Christ. And when this revelation begins to touch the practical aspects of our life, something begins to happen. Listen closely. The deeper, more fuller meaning of the cross begins to knock on our door. Yes, you've accepted the fact that you're a forgiven sinner. But now, as God is knocking in our hearts, will we accept the fact that we're a crucified sinner? Which means now that I'm forgiven, I, I, that I must come to an end. That self-determination, that self-will, and all of those proclivities and the inclinations of the self-life must come to an end so that it is Christ and all of His beauty and all of His character being seen in me and through me. I'm a forgiven sinner, but that gossip has got to come to an end. That lying tongue has got to come to an end. That slanderous speech, that jealousy, that contention, that anger, that rage, all of that, all of that is part of the I that has been crucified. Now, beloved, this is all part of the gift and grace of God. You can't of your own self come to an end and stop. But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And as we are enlightened by the Word of God to the fact that we are not only forgiven but crucified, God can put the faith in our heart and enable us by His power to accept these things, and then God's Spirit can work them in us practically. This is the great crisis that we're at today. This is the great mountain that must be crossed if we are to realize spiritual maturity in our midst, which is God's heart. You don't have children with the intention of keeping the pacifier in their mouth, do you? No. The intention of children is adulthood. Ultimately, children express vitally the characteristics of their parents. And sometimes that's not too good, is it? But see, the natural first, then the spiritual. God's intention is to birth us spiritually into the kingdom so that we, through His discipline and His scourging, can reflect His very character and nature. Spiritual maturity is not me dressing up in religion, looking good and sounding good. Spiritual maturity is just the opposite. Spiritual maturity is that old I getting out of the way so Christ can become all and all in my life. Beloved, Beloved, we don't have to have the yoke of bondage on us. We don't have to have that mentality of trying to serve God and trying to do something for God. God doesn't need us to do anything for Him. I'm telling you, beloved, Jesus has done it all. All to Him I owe. Jesus has done it all. And He's still doing it. He's still in the heavens interceding. He's still the author. He's still the perfecter. He's the substance of our Christianity. He's our new life. It is His character and nature being formed in us that constitutes spiritual maturity. It's so marvelous. It's all Jesus. But we're going to have to get our pride dealt with. We're going to have to get our self-will dealt with. You say, well, how? Well, the same way that we came to the cross for forgiveness, we must come to the Lord and recognize, oh, my God. Open up my heart. Open up my eyes and let me see. Let me see, Lord, the truth that I am crucified with Christ. Let me see it, Lord. Not only let me see it, but begin to work the practical experience of that in my life. See, He does it. He does it. Now, this is where we come in to some of the teachings of Jesus that I don't think we've really understood. Turn your Bible to Matthew. As you're turning to Matthew, listen to Paul. God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Paul saw such an identity with his Savior that he saw that when Jesus died, guess who died? Paul died. Died to what? Died to sin. Died to self. Died to the world. He died to everything in this world and became alive to one person. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in Him alone. That's what Romans chapter 5, 6, 7, and 8 is all about. It's the glorious miracle of how we have been literally transplanted out of the kingdom of darkness and out of Adam into the kingdom of light, the last Adam. And now He is all of our life. He is our life. He is our boast. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory except in the cross. Do you know why the cross is an offense to people? Do you know why people get offended at the cross? Because the full meaning of the cross is not limited to forgiveness. Indeed, that is a vital part without which we would have no access to God. But the full meaning of the cross is not limited to forgiveness. The full meaning of the cross is not only forgiveness, but it is crucified with Christ. The big I must die. When Paul saw the cross, he saw an end to the apostle Paul in his flesh. He saw an end to all of his glorying in his goodness and all of his glorying in his self-righteousness and all of his attempts to serve God and be holy. He saw an end to all that. He saw that he was crucified. God didn't need nor want any of Paul's efforts to make himself holy. They stunk in God's nostrils. They stunk. They were as filthy rags in the sight of Almighty God. When Paul saw the cross of Jesus Christ, he saw the whole creation completely set aside by God, rejected by God, completely God turned its face on it. He doesn't want anything to do with it anymore. Now the only thing that God's eyes are upon is His Son and those in whom His Son dwells. That's it. It's just one new man. Christ is the head and we are the body. And the head and the body have the same life. They have the same nature. And God, through His working, wants us to have the same character. You see, children have the same nature as their parents. But oftentimes not the same character. Character is the product of maturity. We received a brand new nature. We became partakers of the divine nature. Did we not? Sure. And as partakers of the divine nature, all the potential within that nature is there in order for us to share in the character of Jesus Christ. The beautiful character of Jesus. But do you know what's necessary for us to share in His character? We must see in a very real way the things that are not like His character and be given opportunity by God to disown and to set aside. Matthew chapter 10. Now remember what we're dealing with. Our initial reading was what? Paul's desire for the Corinthians to have no division, to be of the same mind, to be of the same judgment. No schism. It will not come about by rallying together, putting us in the same church building, giving us the same denominational name, having the same leaders, coming up with a doctrinal statement. That's not going to do it. The only way we're going to become one is if God, individually in all of us, gives us a more fuller understanding of the cross of Christ and the fact that we are not only forgiven but crucified and that Christ is our life now and that Christ alone must have the preeminence in all of our lives. Christ alone. We must pour contempt on our putrid religion. We must pour contempt on it and say anathema to it. Do you know what anathema means? Cursed. It's cursed by virtue of being crucified with Christ and God says cursed is everything that hangeth on a tree and when Christ became a curse, he became a curse not because he bore his own sins. He bore our sins. He bore our self-life. That was God's verdict on us. Cursed. But I won't leave you in that state. I'll give you salvation. I'll put my spirit within you but once I put my spirit within you, you'll realize that it's only Christ in you and him coming forth in your life that's blessed and as far as what you are in the flesh, stay away from it. Disown it. Matthew chapter 10. This is what Jesus said. Verse number 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. Matthew 10, 34. I came not to send peace but a sword. Now beloved, listen carefully. We're not reading from some commentary here. We're not reading from some author's book. We're reading from the Bible. God's word. God's word. For I'm come to set at man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and the man's foe shall be they of his own asshole. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Listen. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Verse 39. He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it. What does it mean to lose your life? For Jesus' sake so that you can find it. What are you losing and what are you finding here? Well, you're losing the big I. So what we should be learning through all the difficulties and storms that we go through is that we can look to Him and be victorious in the storm. You're losing all of that which is in you that's not from Jesus Christ. And what are you gaining? Colossians chapter 3. You're gaining reality. Colossians chapter 3, beloved. Nothing excites me more than Jesus Christ. He is the sum total of the Christian message. Did you know that? Jesus is the sum total of the Christian message. What are you losing? That I. What are you gaining? Chapter 3, verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Uh-oh, what are those four words? For ye are what? Dead. There it is. You are dead by virtue of being in Christ and alive unto God. Listen, that doesn't mean that sin doesn't dwell in you. That doesn't mean that sin doesn't dwell in your flesh. What that means is you are no longer related to it anymore in an intimate way. You are now related to the living Christ. You are now joined to him in spirit, set down with him in the heavenlies by the power of the Spirit of God. You do not become, quote, unquote, sinless in the flesh. No, but you are in Christ and now what you are in the flesh you are to disown. You are to say, I don't know that man anymore. I'm a new man. I'm a new creation. I'm going to live my life by Jesus Christ. See, it's not a matter of struggling to fight sin in the flesh. No, it's a matter of seeing our identity in Christ and affirming it and confirming it and believing it and by the power of the Spirit of God seeing I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. I am not only forgiven. I have been crucified with Christ, praise God. The Spirit of God is in me. Christ is now my life. Why do we claim as our life the old life? It's not our life anymore unless you believe something other than the Bible. What does it say in Colossians chapter 3, verse 3? You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory. What does the Bible say? Christ, who is our life, believer in Jesus Christ born again, blood washed, child of God. The Bible says that Christ is your life. That you have been liberated and emancipated from the tyranny of sin. You have been liberated and emancipated from the tyranny of self. You have been liberated and emancipated from the power of sin. Not by trying to work it up in your flesh. Not by trying to fight in your own power. The Bible says in Zechariah, Not by power, not by might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. The Spirit of God has been given unto us for the very purpose of revealing to us the fullness of Christ. Not only the fullness of Christ objectively as he is in glory, but the fullness of Christ experientially in our lives so that indeed he is our everything. He is our everything. This is the message that will heal the breach in the body of Christ. This is the message that will heal the division in our church. This is the message that will give the devil no ground to come in and destroy us. He has nothing in Christ. And if our life is Christ and we all live by Christ, he loses his power, does he not? He loses his power, beloved. I am crucified with Christ. Philippians chapter 3. We won't be going much longer. Philippians chapter 3. A lot of believers want the Spirit-filled life, don't they? A lot of believers want the power of the Holy Spirit. We hear a lot about the power of the Spirit of today. But I tell you, beloved, the power of the Holy Spirit and the victorious Christian life has nothing to do with us getting power for ourselves, us getting victory for ourselves and doing what we want. The power of the Spirit of God and the victory that God provides in Christ for the believer is power to be liberated from all that is contrary to Christ in our life so that as love slaves we can selflessly live unto God and to others even to the point of giving our life for our brothers. That is what power from God means. But today we equate power from God to do great miracles or to be a great speaker or to be some great Christian hero who has a great ministry seen by Christians. That is vanity. That's vanity, beloved. That's not God's thought for power. The church is endued with power in order to become selfless, dead and alive only to God so that they're able to give themselves wholly to Him and live unto Him, by Him and through Him. Now, do you want the power of God in your life for this purpose? Has God shown you the need to make a complete end to your old life? This is what the elders were doing. This is what this tradition enabled the elders to do. Children who did not want to support parents used this tradition as an excuse to evade the law. Here's what Paul said when he saw this revelation. Not only forgiven, but crucified. Here's what came out of Paul's mouth. And, beloved, it will come out of our mouth too when we see it. It will. Though I might have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinks that he has wherewith he might trust in the flesh, I the more. Now, see, Paul now is getting off of what Christ is and he's talking about himself as an example, saying, hey, if we want our Christianity to be based upon the perfections in our flesh and the beauty in our flesh and our self-effort and all of our religion, Paul says, hey, if we're going to have it on that basis, I come up ahead because I got more than y'all. I got more than y'all. What is he saying? Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuted the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Now, watch this. This can only come by revelation. But the things which were gained to me, that is all those things that I counted to be lovely, all of those things that were a part of my fleshly makeup, that were a part of all my efforts to be holy before God, all of my efforts to impress people and make them think that I'm religious, all of my efforts to serve God, all of my self-sweating efforts, the efforts that come out of my own strength, all of those things, I gather them together, inclusively, all-inclusive, comprehensively. I put them all together, put them in a big bag and say this, the things that were gained to me, I count lost for Christ. That is, I gather together everything that I am in my flesh and I count it lost. I disown it. Yea, doubtless, verse number eight is simply an emphasis, an accelerated statement of verse number seven. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but lost. Beloved, Jesus said, he that seeketh to save his life shall lose it. Unless God, by the Spirit of God, brings back to Christianity the fuller understanding of the cross of Christ, we will never have this confession as a reality in our life. Oh, we might confess it as a doctrine. We might say, oh, I believe this, but praise God, the Lord has to get it to where it's real. Listen to Paul. I count all things but lost. Do you count all things but lost? How about your reputation? Do you love your reputation? Do you love it when people think you to be so good and holy? I count all things but lost. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Paul suffered the loss of all things. Now listen, beloved. The all things... It's an all-inclusive statement. It's comprehensive. It has gathered up into itself everything that the eye is apart from Christ. He considered that dumb. Rubbish. You say, well, where does it say that? Read on. And do count them but dumb. Rubbish. Waste. Filth. That I may win Christ. That I may gain Christ. What does it profit a man to gain all the world and the riches thereof and forfeit his soul in hell? Beloved, is your one holy passion right now today that you might have the testimony that you consider all things but dumb and rubbish that you might gain Christ and know Christ? Now listen, beloved. He's not asking for salvation. He's been saved for 30 years. Did you know that when Paul wrote this, he was saved for 30 years? So he's not praying, oh, that I might get saved. No, he was saved. He understood he was forgiven. He was wanting the full implications of being crucified with Christ to be made effectual in him. He was wanting Christ in His fullness to be expressed in His earthen vessel so that it wasn't Paul, but it was Christ. And all the perfections of His life. That is what Paul was after. And beloved, in closing, verse number 14 and 15 of Philippians chapter 3, I press toward the mark. That word mark means goal at the end of the race. The goal. I press toward the mark for the prize. Now he's not looking to win his salvation. He's got it. It's free. He's not looking to win forgiveness. He's got it. It's free. He's looking for God to work in him the full experience of being crucified with Christ so men would no longer see Paul, but would see the living Christ living His life through him. I press toward the mark, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, that is, adults, full grown, be thus minded. Beloved, if we are going to aspire after spiritual maturity and be prepared as a bride, this must become that which governs everything that we do. That's just what Paul said. As many as are perfect, let them be thus minded. So may the Lord work in us by His Holy Spirit a hunger and a passion to know Him and to be a partaker of these things and to see the greater apprehension of the cross of Jesus Christ in our life. Let's just bow our hearts for a moment. I just want to sit in the presence of the Lord for a few moments. Let's sing a song, something that reflects the Lord's goodness, His mercy. How about that wonderful song, Oh, the Blood of Jesus. Oh, the Blood of Jesus. Do we know that song? We can begin singing it. Someone can start, then Colette can pick up on the piano if she likes. Can wash us white as snow. Everyone together. Oh, the Blood of Jesus. Oh, hallelujah, yes. Can wash us white as snow. He is all my righteousness. I stand complete in Him and worship Him. He is all my righteousness. I stand complete in Him and worship Him. He is all my righteousness. I stand complete in Him and worship Christ alone. Worship Jesus Christ the Lord. Let us lift up holy hands to magnify His name and worship Him. Magnify His name. Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus. Let us lift up holy hands to magnify His name and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him. Jesus Christ the Lord. Hallelujah. Father, we pray in the name of Jesus that the power of the Spirit of God would unveil to us the matchless glory of Christ. We pray, Lord, the Holy Spirit would flood beams of light from Heaven into our hearts, Lord, enabling us to see the glory of Christ, the significance of His death upon that old rugged cross where not only was our forgiveness wrought and our forgiveness freely given unto us, but there, O God, we came to an end. We indeed were crucified with Christ. You pronounced a complete, unclean, undone, rejected upon the totality of what we are in our flesh and deposited the spotless, sinless life of Your blessed Son in the shrine of our spirit as the only life that can now please You. We acknowledge this, Lord, and give You the praise and glory. We ask, O God, that by the power of the Spirit, the preaching of the cross of Christ might find a place in our hearts and the power of that cross and the power of that preaching might produce the fruits of Christ and the measure of His glory to increase in our midst, O God. We pray that You will disarm the powers of darkness that have sought, O God, to hinder and blind the message of the cross of Christ from reaching our minds and our hearts. We stand upon the authority of the resurrected Christ. We pray that You will bring healing, O God, to the broken in spirit, that You will bring healing, O God, by the preaching of the cross to the soul that is in need today, Lord, that You would loose people from the chains of bitterness and the chains of loneliness, Lord, and sin, and that You would cause Jesus to manifest His life in our midst. We pray, O God, that You would do this for Your own glory, for Your own sake, Lord. Let's sing this song and let's pray one for another. You know, that's what Christianity is. Let's pray one for another. I want to pray for the one next to you. You want special prayer? You want a few brothers to pray for you? Come on up. God has spoken to your heart and you're saying now, my God, this is it. This is it, Lord. You're calling me to accept the fact that I've been crucified. I know that will mean, Lord, there's some things in my life that You're going to have to deal with, but I commit it to You. Let's sing this. I worship You. I worship You. The reason I live is to worship You. I worship You. I worship You. When I look into Your face, Lord Jesus, this is the message of Your heart, Lord. Amen.