Even Demons Believe, Chapter Fourteen

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14. Having This Attitude

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The new life begins, but God desires for us to go onto maturity. Indeed, only those who produce a good crop in maturity will be found worthy of eternal life. Just as every good parent desires for their child to grow up and display good qualities, so too God desires the same in our lives. For this reason, we need to carry our cross daily to grow. The question begs itself, are you willing to carry your cross daily and suer against sin in order to overcome? For God’s Word tells us only those who “overcome” reside in heaven with Jesus. Listen to the preaching of Peter again about the cross in a disciple’s life.

  • Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1–2)

When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He felt the pain of nails in His hands and feet. He agonized as death came by inches and slowly over hours. Indeed, He suffered humiliation as they whipped, beat, and terrorized Him before making Him carry the cross outside Jerusalem. Dying on the cross became a very real physical matter for Jesus. It was no intellectual religious mind exercise, but rather suffering death combined with spiritual turmoil and battle. Peter encourages us to obtain this “same attitude,” because only those who have “suffered” in their bodies are “done with sin.” Only those who “suffer,” feeling in their bodies in a very physical way the power of the cross, can walk the new life in Jesus.

The resurrected life happens only as a “result” of suffering by the power of the cross with sin. Very few churches have experienced this cleansing power from blood shed on a cross. Fellowship in the Light in a church that understands the power of suffering with Jesus causes the “blood of Jesus” to purify “us from all sin.”

  • But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

A person can only do God’s will by suffering against sin because the flesh must be dealt with first. Most just do not want that kind of saving grace and turn to the multitude of self-help books, deliverance ministries, support groups, and revival meetings that dot the land. It is much easier to talk about sin than to suffer in one’s body. It is simpler to pray with everyone about problems than to suffer and die on the cross over them. As a result, the church embraces many other ways to deal with sin other than the cross. Few want to suffer enough on the cross against sin to be dead to it. Most remain selfishly content and lazy to just let Jesus do all the suffering for them. They do not love Him enough to suffer with Him.

To preach or live anything less than this message is to live a lie. If we desire to experience the life-changing power of God every day, we must also share equally in the suffering of the cross. As Paul joyously declares, “we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus” may be in us. If you are willing to “always” have the death of Jesus working in you then you can expect His powerful life to also reside in you.

  • We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10)

The true Holy Spirit-inspired Christian walk shares in the sufferings of Jesus. In other words, no one really enjoys the comforts of Jesus if we do not have His sufferings owing into our lives. The vast majority of church goers experience the false salvation, one without the sufferings of Christ. They have a comfort, but it will only last in this world. A disciple’s “comfort overows” in his life because the “sufferings of Christ” also fill his life.

  • For just as the sufferings of Christ ow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overows. (2 Corinthians 1:5)

Any preaching or life lived differently than this supports false Christianity. Only those who “share in the sufferings” of Christ on an hourly basis can claim the title of true “children” of God. No one is an “heir” of the good things to come unless they “indeed” suffer in their bodies with and against sin.

  • Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)

If you desire the “glory” of God that overcomes sin, then you must share in the sufferings of Christ. If you are willing to pay the price, then begin today by being crucified to yourself and God will give you the beginnings of a new life.

Quick fixes for our sin do not exist. No wide gate or roadleads to salvation. Instead, we must enter through a narrow gate and walk a narrow road to heaven. Jesus said only a “few find it” while “many” enter through the wide gate of just asking Jesus in their heart, to their destruction.

  • Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13–14)

Again, are you willing to pay the cost for such a life of discipleship? Do you really hate sin and wickedness enough to give it all up so that God’s righteousness may remain in you? If so, plant this attitude in your heart and mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. Many do not really want the power to overcome sin. They love the flesh and sinfulness too much. They have no real desire to be made well and would rather spend their time making excuses as to why they have not changed. God will give you the power to live all of this, it is simply a matter of whether you really want to be a disciple.

Truths To Ponder, Beliefs To Examine

  1. What opinion do you have about the way of salvation?
  1. What opinion do you have about the way of salvation?
  1. What opinion do you have about the way of salvation?

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