THE SECRET OF THE CROSS

Andrew Murray

INTRODUCTION

     The question often arises how it

is, with so much church-going,

Bible-reading, and prayer, that the

Christian fails to live the life of

complete victory over sin and lacks the

love and joy of the Lord. One of the

most important answers, undoubtedly, is

that he does not know what it is to die

to himself and to the world. Yet without

this, God's love and holiness cannot

have their dwelling-place in his heart.

He has repented of some sins, but knows

not what it is to turn, not only from

sin, but from his old nature and

self-will.

     Yet this is what the Lord Jesus

taught. He said to the disciples that if

any man would come after Him, he must

hate and lose his own life. He taught

them to take up the cross. That meant

they were to consider their life as

sinful and under sentence of death. They

must give up themselves, their own will

and power, and any goodness of their

own. When their Lord had died on the

cross, they would learn what it was to

die to themselves and the world, and to

live their life in the fullness of God.

     Our Lord used the Apostle Paul to

put this still more clearly. Paul did

not know Christ after the flesh, but

through the Holy Spirit Christ was

revealed in his heart, and he could

testify: "I am crucified with Christ; I

live no longer; Christ liveth in me." In

more than one of his Epistles the truth

is made clear that we  <6>  are dead to

sin, with Christ, and receive and

experience the power of the new  life

through the continual working of God's

Spirit in us each day.

     As the season of Lent approaches

each year, our thoughts will be occupied

with the sufferings and death of our

Lord. Emphasis will be laid, in the

preaching, on Christ for us on the cross

as the foundation of our salvation. Less

is said about our death with Christ. The

subject is a deep and difficult one, yet

every Christian needs to consider it. It

is my earnest desire to help those

Christians who are considering this

great truth, that death to self and to

the world is necessary for a life in the

love and joy of Christ.

     I have sought to explain the chief

words of our Lord and of His disciples

on this subject. May I point out two

things to my reader. First, take time to

read over what you do not understand at

once. Spiritual truth is not easy to

grasp. But experience has taught me that

God's words taken into the heart and

meditated on with prayer help the soul

by degrees to understand the truth. And

secondly, be assured that only through

the continual teaching of the Holy

Spirit in your heart will you be able to

appropriate spiritual truths. The great

work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal

Christ in our hearts and lives as the

Crucified One who dwells  <7>  within

us. Let this be the chief aim of all

your devotion: complete dependence on

God, and an expectation of continually

receiving all goodness and salvation

from Him alone. Thus will you learn to

die to yourself and to the world, and

will receive Christ, the Crucified and

Glorified One, into your heart, and be

kept through the continual working of

the Holy Spirit.

     Let us pray fervently for each

other that God may teach us what it is

to die with Christ -- a death to

ourselves and to the world; a life in

Christ Jesus.

     Your Servant in the Lord,

     Andrew Murray

                 PRAYER

Heavenly Father, how shall I thank Thee

for the unspeakable gift of Thy Son on

the cross! How shall I thank Thee for

our eternal salvation, wrought out by

that death on the cross! He died for me

that I might live eternally. Through His

death on the cross I am dead to sin, and

live in the power of His life.

     Father in heaven, teach me, I

humbly entreat Thee, what it means that

I am dead with Christ and can live my

life in Him. Teach me to realize that my

sinful flesh is wholly corrupt and

nailed to the cross to be destroyed,

that the life of Christ may be manifest

in me.

     Teach me, above all, to believe

that I cannot either understand or

experience this except through the

continual working of the Holy Spirit

dwelling within me. Father, for Christ's

sake I ask it. Amen.

"Jesus hath now many lovers of His

heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His

cross. He hath many desirous of

consolation, but few of tribulation. He

findeth many companions of His table,

but few of His abstinence. All desire to

rejoice with Him, few are willing to

endure anything for Him, or with Him.

Many follow Jesus unto the breaking of

bread, but few to the drinking of the

cup of His passion. Many reverence His

miracles, few follow the ignominy of His

cross."  --Thomas A Kempis

FIRST DAY

     THE REDEMPTION OF THE CROSS

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of

the law, having become a curse for us."

--Galatians 3:13.

     Scripture teaches us that there are

two points of view from which we may

regard Christ's death upon the cross.

The one is the REDEMPTION OF THE CROSS:

Christ dying for us as our complete

deliverance from the curse of sin. The

other, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CROSS:

Christ taking us up to die with Him, and

making us partakers of the fellowship of

His death in our own experience.

     In our text we have three great

unsearchable thoughts. The law of God

has pronounced a curse on all sin and on

all that is sinful. Christ took our

curse upon Him -- yea, became a curse --

and so destroyed its power, and in that

cross we now have the everlasting

redemption from sin and all its power.

The cross reveals to us man's sin as

under the curse, Christ becoming a curse

and so overcoming it, and our full and

everlasting deliverance from the curse.

     In these thoughts the lost and most

hopeless sinner finds a sure ground of

confidence and of hope. God had indeed

in Paradise pronounced a curse upon this

earth and all that belongs to it. On

Mount Ebal, in connection with giving

the law, half of the people of Israel

were twelve  <11>  times over to

pronounce a curse on all sin. And there

was to be in their midst a continual

reminder of it: "Cursed is every one

that hangeth on a tree" (Deuteronomy

21:23, 27:15-20). And yet who could ever

have thought that the Son of God Himself

would die upon the accursed tree, and

become a curse for us? But such is in

very deed the gospel of God's love, and

the penitent sinner can now rejoice in

the confident assurance that the curse

is forever put away from all who believe

in Christ Jesus.

     The preaching of the redemption of

the cross is the foundation and center

of the salvation the gospel brings us.

To those who believe its full truth it

is a cause of unceasing thanksgiving. It

gives us boldness to rejoice in God.

There is nothing which will keep the

heart more tender towards God, enabling

us to live in His love and to make Him

known to those who  have never yet found

Him. God be praised for the redemption

of the cross!

SECOND DAY

     THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CROSS

"Have this mind in you which was also in

Christ Jesus." --Philippians 2:5.

     Paul here tells us what that mind

was in Christ: He emptied Himself; He

took the form of a servant; He humbled

Himself, even to the death of the cross.

It is this mind that was in Christ, the

deep humility that gave up His life to

the very death, that is to be the spirit

that animates us. It is thus that we

shall prove and enjoy the blessed

fellowship of His cross.

     Paul had said (ver.1): "If there is

any comfort in Christ," -- the Comforter

was come to reveal His real presence in

them -- "if any fellowship of the

Spirit," -- it was in this power of the

Spirit that they were to breathe the

Spirit of the crucified Christ and

manifest His disposition in the

fellowship of the cross in their lives.

     As they strove to do this, they

would feel the need of a deeper insight

into their real oneness with Christ.

They would learn to appreciate the truth

that they had been crucified with

Christ, that their "old man" had been

crucified, and that they had died to sin

in Christ's death and were living to God

in His life. They would learn to know

what it meant that the crucified Christ

lived in them, and that they had

crucified the  <13>  flesh with its

affections and lusts. It was because the

crucified Jesus lived in them that they

could live crucified to the world.

     And so they would gradually enter

more deeply into the meaning and the

power of their high calling to live as

those who were dead to sin and the world

and self. Each in his own measure would

bear about in his life the marks of the

cross, with its sentence of death on the

flesh, with its hating of the self life

and its entire denial of self, with its

growing conformity to the crucified

Redeemer in His deep humility and entire

surrender of His will to the life of

God.

     It is no easy school and no hurried

learning -- this school of the cross.

But it will lead to a deeper

apprehension and a higher appreciation

of the redemption of the cross, through

the personal experience of the

fellowship of the cross.

@03  <14>

THIRD DAY

     CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

"I have been crucified with Christ; yet

I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ

liveth in me." -- Galatians 2:20.

     The thought of fellowship with

Christ in His bearing the cross has

often led to the vain attempt in our own

power to follow Him and bear His image.

But this is impossible to man until he

first learns to know something of what

it means to say, "I have been crucified

with Christ."

     Let us try to understand this. When

Adam died, all his descendants died with

him and in him. In his sin in Paradise,

and in the spiritual death into which he

fell, I had a share: I died in him. And

the power of that sin and death, in

which all his descendants share, works

in every child of Adam every day.

     Christ came as the second Adam. In

His death on the cross all who believe

in Him had a share. Each one may say in

truth, "I have been crucified with

Christ." As the representative of His

people, He took them up with Him on the

cross, and me too. The life that He

gives is the crucified life, in which He

entered heaven and was exalted to the

throne, standing as a Lamb as it had

been slain. The power of His death and

life work in me, and as I hold fast the

truth that  <15>  I have been crucified

with Him, and that now I myself live no

more but Christ liveth in me, I receive

power to conquer sin; the life that I

have received from Him is a life that

has been crucified and made free from

the power of sin.

     We have here a deep and very

precious truth. Most Christians have but

little knowledge of it. That knowledge

is not gained easily or speedily. It

needs a great longing in very deed to be

dead to all sin. It needs a strong

faith, wrought by the Holy Spirit, that

the union with Christ crucified -- the

fellowship of His cross -- can day by

day become our life. The life that He

lives in heaven has its strength and its

glory in the fact that it is a crucified

life. And the life that He imparts to

the believing disciple is even so a

crucified life with its victory over sin

and its power of access into God's

presence.

     It is in very deed true that I no

longer live, but Christ liveth in me as

a Crucified One. As faith realizes and

holds fast the fact that the crucified

Christ lives in me, life in the

fellowship of the cross becomes a

possibility and a blessed experience.

@04  <16>

FOURTH DAY

     CRUCIFIED TO THE WORLD

"Far be it from me to glory, save in the

cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through

which the world hath been crucified unto

me, and I unto the world." --Galatians

6:14.

     What Paul had written in

Galatians_2 is here in the end of the

epistle confirmed, and expressed still

more strongly. He speaks of his only

glory being that in Christ he has in

very deed been crucified to the world

and entirely delivered from its power.

When he said "I have been crucified with

Christ," it was not only an inner

spiritual truth, but an actual,

practical experience in relation to the

world and its temptations. Christ had

spoken about the world hating Him, and

His having overcome the world. Paul

knows that the world, which nailed

Christ to the cross, had in that deed

done the same to him. He boasts that he

lives as one crucified to the world, and

that now the world as an impotent enemy

was crucified to him. It was this that

made him glory in the cross of Christ.

It had wrought out a complete

deliverance from the world.

     How very different the relation of

Christians to the world in our day! They

agree that they may not commit the sins

that the world allows. But except for

that they are good friends with  <17>

the world, and have liberty to enjoy as

much of it as they can, if they only

keep from open sin. They do not know

that the most dangerous source of sin is

the love of the world with its lusts and

pleasures.

     O Christian, when the world

crucified Christ, it crucified you with

Him, When Christ overcame the world on

the cross, He made you an overcomer too.

He calls you now, at whatever cost of

self-denial, to regard the world, in its

hostility to God and His kingdom, as a

crucified enemy over whom the cross can

ever keep you conqueror.

     What a different relationship to

the pleasures and attractions of the

world the Christian has who by the Holy

Spirit has learned to say: "I have been

crucified with Christ; the crucified

Christ liveth in me"! Let us pray God

fervently that the Holy Spirit, through

whom Christ offered Himself on the

cross, may reveal to us in power what it

means to "glory in the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ, through which the world

had been crucified unto me."

@08  <18>

FIFTH DAY

     THE FLESH CRUCIFIED

"They that are in Christ Jesus have

crucified the flesh with the passions

and the lusts thereof."

--Galatians_5:24.

     Of the flesh Paul teaches us

(Romans 7:18), "In me, that is, IN MY

FLESH, DWELLETH NO GOOD THING." And

again (Romans 8:7), "The mind of the

flesh is ENMITY AGAINST GOD; for it is

not subject to the law of God, NEITHER

INDEED CAN IT BE." When Adam lost the

spirit of God, he became flesh. Flesh is

the expression for the evil, corrupt

nature that we inherit from Adam. Of

this flesh it is written, "Our old man

was crucified with Him" (Romans 6:6).

And Paul puts it here even more

strongly, "They that are in Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh."

     When the disciples heard and obeyed

the call of Jesus to follow Him, they

honestly meant to do so, but as He later

on taught them what that would imply,

they were far from being ready to yield

immediate obedience. And even so those

who are Christ's and have accepted Him

as the Crucified One little understand

what that includes. By that act of

surrender they actually have crucified

the flesh and consented to regard it as

an accursed thing, nailed to the cross

of Christ.

     Alas, how many there are who have

never for  <19>  a moment thought of

such a thing! It may be that the

preaching of Christ crucified has been

defective. It may be that the truth of

our being crucified with Christ has not

been taught. They shrink back from the

self-denial that it implies, and as a

result, where the flesh is allowed in

any measure to have its way, the Spirit

of Christ cannot exert His power.

     Paul taught the Galatians: "Walk in

the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the

lusts of the flesh."  "As many as are

led by the Spirit of God, they are the

children of God." And only as the flesh

is kept in the place of crucifixion can

the Spirit guide us in living faith and

fellowship with Christ Jesus.

     Blessed Lord, how little I

understood when I accepted Thee in faith

that I crucified once for all the flesh

with its passions and lusts! I beseech

Thee humbly, teach me so to believe and

so to live in Thee, the Crucified One,

that with Paul I may ever glory in the

cross on which the world and the flesh

are crucified.

@06  <20>

SIXTH DAY

     BEARING THE CROSS

"He that doth not take his cross and

follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He

that loseth his life for My sake shall

find it." --Matthew 10:38-39.

     We have had some of Paul's great

words to the Galatians about the cross

and our being crucified with Christ. Let

us now turn to the Master Himself to

hear what He has to teach us. We shall

find that what Paul could teach openly

and fully after the crucifixion, was

given by the Master in words that could

at first hardly be understood, and yet

contained the seed of the full truth.

     It was in the ordination charge,

when Christ sent forth His disciples,

that He first used the expression that

the disciple must take up his cross and

follow Him.

     The only meaning the disciples

could attach to these words was from

what they had often seen, when an

evil-doer who had been sentenced to

death by the cross was led out bearing

his cross to the place of execution. In

bearing the cross, he acknowledged the

sentence of death that was on him. And

Christ would have His disciples

understand that their nature was so evil

and corrupt that it was only in losing

their natural life that they could find

the true life. Of Himself it was true

that all His  <21>  life He bore His

cross -- the sentence of death that He

knew to rest upon Himself on account of

our sins. And so He would have each

disciple bear his cross -- the sentence

of death upon himself and his evil,

carnal nature.

     The disciples could not at once

understand all this. But Christ gave

them seed words, which would germinate

in their hearts and later on begin to

reveal their full meaning. The disciple

was not only to carry the sentence of

death in himself, but to learn that in

following the Master to His cross he

would find the power to lose his life

and to receive instead of it the life

that would come through the cross of

Christ.

     Christ asks of His disciples that

they should forsake all and take up

their cross, give up their whole will

and life, and follow Him. The call comes

to us too to give up the self life with

its self-pleasing and self-exaltation,

and bear the cross in fellowship with

Him -- and so shall we be made partakers

of His victory.

@07  <22>

SEVENTH DAY

     SELF-DENIAL

"Then said Jesus unto His disciples, 'If

any man will come after Me, let him deny

himself, and take up his cross, and

follow Me.'" --Matthew 16:24.

     Christ had for the first time

definitely announced that He would have

to suffer much and be killed and be

raised again. "Peter rebuked Him,

saying, 'Be it far from Thee, Lord; this

shall never be unto Thee.'" Christ's

answer was, "Get thee behind Me, Satan."

The spirit of Peter, seeking to turn Him

away from the cross and its suffering,

was nothing but Satan tempting Him to

turn aside from the path which God had

appointed as our way of salvation.

     Christ then adds the words of our

text, in which He uses for the second

time the words "take up the cross." But

with that He uses a most significant

expression revealing what is implied in

the cross: "If any man come after Me,

LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, and take up his

cross." When Adam sinned, he fell out of

the life of heaven and of God into the

life of the world and of self. Self-

pleasing, self-sufficiency, self-

exaltation, become the law of his life.

When Jesus Christ came to restore man to

his original place, "being in the form

of God,  <23>  HE EMPTIED HIMSELF,

taking the form of a servant, and

HUMBLED HIMSELF even to the death of the

cross." What He has done Himself He asks

of all who desire to follow Him: "If any

man will come after Me, let him deny

himself."

     Instead of denying himself, Peter

denied his Lord: "I know not the man."

When a man learns to obey Christ's

commands, he says of HIMSELF: "I know

not the man." The secret of true

discipleship is to bear the cross, to

acknowledge the death sentence that has

been passed on self, and to deny any

right that self has to rule over us.

     Death to self is to be the

Christian's watchword. The surrender to

Christ is to be so entire, the surrender

for Christ's sake to live for those

around us so complete, that self is

never allowed to come down from the

cross to which it has been crucified,

but is ever kept in the place of death.

     Let us listen to the voice of

Jesus: "Deny self"; and ask that by the

grace of the Holy Spirit, as the

disciples of a Christ who denied Himself

for us, we may ever live as those in

whom self has been crucified with

Christ, and in whom the crucified Christ

now lives as Lord and Master.

@08  <24>

EIGHTH DAY

     HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE

"If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth

not his own life, HE CANNOT BE MY

DISCIPLE. Whosoever doth not bear his

own cross, and come after Me, CANNOT BE

MY DISCIPLE. Whosoever he be of you that

renounceth not all that he hath, HE

CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE." Luke 14:26-33.

     For the third time Christ speaks

about bearing the cross. He gives new

meaning to it when He says that a man

must hate his own life and renounce all

that he has. Thrice over He solemnly

repeats the words that without this a

man cannot be His disciple.

     "If a man hate not his own life."

And why does Christ make such an

exacting demand the condition of

discipleship? Because the sinful nature

we have inherited from Adam is indeed so

vile and full of sin that, if our eyes

were only opened to see it in its true

nature, we would flee from it as

loathsome and incurably evil. 'The flesh

is enmity against God"; the soul that

seeks to love God cannot but hate the

"old man" which is corrupt through its

whole being. Nothing less than this, the

hating of our own life, will make us

willing to bear the cross and carry

within us the sentence of death on our

evil nature. It is not till we hate this

life with a  <25>  deadly hatred that we

will be ready to give up the old nature

to die the death that is its due.

     Christ has one word more: "He that

renounceth not all that he hath,"

whether in property or character,

"cannot be My disciple." Christ claims

all. Christ undertakes to satisfy every

need and to give a hundredfold more than

we give up. It is when by faith we

become conscious what it means to know

Christ, and to love Him and to receive

from Him what can in very deed enrich

and satisfy our immortal spirits, that

we shall count the surrender of what at

first appeared so difficult, our highest

privilege. As we learn what it means

that Christ is our life, we shall count

all things but loss for the excellency

of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our

Lord. In the path of following Him, and

ever learning to know and to love Him

better, we shall willingly sacrifice

all, self with its life, to make room

for Him who is more than all.

@09  <26>

NINTH DAY

     FOLLOW ME

"Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him,

and said: 'One thing thou lackest: go

thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and

come, take up the cross, and follow

Me.'" --Mark 10:21.

     When Christ spoke these words to

the young ruler, he went away grieved.

Jesus said: "How hardly shall they that

have riches enter into the kingdom of

God!" The disciples were astonished at

His words. When Christ repeated once

again what He had said, they were

astonished out of measure, "Who then can

be saved?"  "Jesus looking upon them

said, 'With men it is impossible, but

not with God; for with God all things

are possible.'"

     Christ had spoken about bearing the

cross from the human side, as the one

condition of discipleship. Here with the

rich young ruler He reveals from the

side of God what is needed to give men

the will and the power thus to sacrifice

all, if they are to enter the kingdom.

He said to Peter, when he had confessed

Him as Christ, the Son of God, that

flesh and blood had not revealed it unto

him, but His Father in heaven, to remind

him and the other disciples that it was

only by divine teaching that he could

make the confession. So here with the

ruler He unveils the great mystery that

it is only by  <27>  divine power that a

man can take up his cross, can lose his

life, can deny himself and hate the life

to which he is by nature so attached.

     What multitudes have sought to

follow Christ and obey His injunction --

and have found that they have utterly

failed! What multitudes have felt that

Christ's claims were beyond their reach

and have sought to be Christians without

any attempt at the whole-hearted

devotion and the entire self-denial

which Christ asks for!

     Let us in our study of what the

fellowship of the cross means take

today's lesson to heart and believe that

it is only by putting our trust in the

living God, and in the mighty power with

which He is willing to work in the

heart, that we can attempt to be

disciples who forsake all and follow

Christ in the fellowship of His cross.

@10  <28>

TENTH DAY

     A GRAIN OF WHEAT

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except

a grain of wheat fall into the earth and

die, it abideth by itself alone; but if

it die, it beareth much fruit. He that

loveth his life loseth it; and he that

hateth his life in this world shall keep

it unto life eternal." --John 12:24-25.

     All nature is a parable of how the

losing of a life can be the way of

securing a truer and higher life. Every

grain of wheat, every seed throughout

the world, teaches the lesson that

through death lies the path to beautiful

and fruitful life.

     It was so with the Son of God. He

had to pass through death in all its

bitterness and suffering before He could

rise to heaven and impart His life to

His redeemed people. And here under the

shadow of the approaching cross He calls

His disciples: "If any man will serve

Me, let him follow Me." He repeats the

words: "He that hateth his life in this

world shall keep it unto life eternal."

     One might have thought that Christ

did not need to lose His holy life ere

He could find it again. But so it was:

God had laid upon Him the iniquity of us

all, and He yielded to the inexorable

law: Through death to life and to fruit.

<29>

     How much more ought we, in the

consciousness of that evil nature and

that death which we inherited in Adam,

be most grateful that there is a way

open to us by which, in the fellowship

of Christ and His cross, we can die to

this accursed self! With what

willingness and gratitude ought we to

listen to the call to bear our cross, to

yield our "old man" as crucified with

Christ daily to that death which he

deserves! Surely the thought that the

power of the eternal Life is working in

us, ought to make us willing and glad to

die the death that brings us into the

fellowship and the power of life in a

risen Christ.

     Alas, how little this is

understood! Let us believe that what is

impossible to man is possible to God.

Let us believe that the law of the

Spirit of Christ Jesus, the risen Lord,

can in very deed make His death and His

life the daily experience of our souls.

@11  <30>

ELEVENTH DAY

     THY WILL BE DONE

"O My Father, if it be possible, let

this cup pass away from Me;

nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou

will." --Matthew 26:39.

     The death of Christ on the cross is

the highest and the holiest that can be

known of Him even in the glory of

heaven. And the highest and the holiest

that the Holy Spirit can work in us is

to take us up and to keep us in the

fellowship of the cross of Christ. We

need to enter deeply into the truth that

Christ the beloved Son of the Father

could not return to the glory of heaven

until He had first given Himself over

unto death. As this great truth opens up

to us it will help us to understand how

in our life, and in our fellowship with

Christ, it is impossible for us to share

His life until we have first in very

deed surrendered ourselves every day to

die to sin and the world, and so to

abide in the unbroken fellowship with

our crucified Lord.

     And it is from Christ alone that we

can learn what it means to have

fellowship with His sufferings, and to

be made conformable unto His death. When

in the agony of Gethsemane He looked

forward to what a death on the cross

would be, He got  such a vision of what

it meant to die the accursed death under

the power of  <31>  sin -- with God's

countenance so turned from Him that not

a single ray of its light could

penetrate the darkness -- that He

prayed the cup might pass from Him. But

when no answer came, and He understood

that the Father could not allow the cup

to pass by, He yielded up His whole will

and life in the word: "Thy will be

done." O Christian, in this word of your

Lord in His agony, you can enter into

fellowship with Him, and in His strength

your heart will be made strong to

believe most confidently that God in His

omnipotence will enable you in very deed

with Christ to yield up everything,

because you have in very deed been

crucified with Him.

     "Thy will be done" -- let this be

the deepest and the highest word in your

life. In the power of Christ with whom

you have been crucified, and in the

power of His Spirit, the definite daily

surrender to the ever-blessed will of

God will become the joy and the strength

of your life.

@12  <32>

TWELFTH DAY

     THE LOVE OF THE CROSS

"Then said Jesus: 'Father, forgive them;

for they know not what they do.'"

--Luke_23:34.

     The seven words on the cross reveal

what the mind of Christ is, and show the

dispositions that become His disciples.

Take the three first words, all the

expression of His wonderful love.

     "Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they do." He prays for His

enemies. In the hour of their triumph

over Him, and of the shame and suffering

which they delight in showering on Him,

He pours out His love in prayer for

them. It is the call to everyone who

believes in a crucified Christ to go and

do likewise, even as He has said, "Love

your enemies, bless them that curse you,

do good to them that hate you, and pray

for them which persecute you." The law

of the Master is the law for the

disciple; the love of the crucified

Jesus, the only rule for those who

believe in Him.

     "Woman, behold thy son!"  "Behold

thy mother!" The love that cared for His

enemies cared too for His friends. Jesus

felt what the anguish must be in the

heart of His widowed mother, and commits

her to the care of the beloved disciple.

He knew that for John there could be no

higher privilege, and no more blessed

service, than that of taking His place

in  <33>  the care of Mary. Even so, we

who are the disciples of Christ must not

only pray for His enemies, but prove our

love to Him and to all who belong to Him

by seeing to it that every solitary one

is comforted, and that every loving

heart has some work to do in caring for

those who belong to the blessed Master.

     "Verily I say unto thee, today

shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." The

penitent thief had appealed to Christ's

mercy to remember him. With what

readiness of joy and love Christ gives

the immediate answer to his prayer!

Whether it was the love that prays for

His enemies, or the love that cares for

His friends, or the love that rejoices

over the penitent sinner who was being

cast out by man -- in all Christ proves

that the cross is a cross of love, that

the Crucified One is the embodiment of a

love that passes knowledge.

     With every thought of what we owe

to that love, with every act of faith in

which we rejoice in its redemption, let

us prove that the mind of the crucified

Christ is our mind, and that His love is

not only what we trust in for ourselves,

but what guides us in our loving

intercourse with the world around us.

@13  <34>

THIRTEENTH DAY

     THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken

Me?" -- "I thirst." -- "It is finished."

--Matthew 27:46, John 19:28,30.

     The first three words on the cross

reveal love in its outflow to men. The

next three reveal love in the tremendous

sacrifice that it brought, necessary to

deliver us from our sins and give the

victory over every foe. They still

reveal the very mind that was in Christ,

and that is to be in us as the

disposition of our whole life.

     "My God, My God, why hast Thou

forsaken Me?" How deep must have been

the darkness that overshadowed Him, for

not one ray of light could pierce, and

He could not say "My Father"! It was

this awful desertion breaking in upon

that life of childlike fellowship with

the Father, in which He had always

walked, that caused Him the agony and

the bloody sweat in Gethsemane. "O My

Father, let this cup pass from Me" --

but it might not be, and He bowed His

head in submission: "Thy will be done."

It was His love to God and love to man

-- this yielding Himself to the very

uttermost. It is as we learn to believe

and to worship that love that we too

shall learn to say: "Abba, Father, Thy

will be done."

     "I thirst." The body now gives

expression to  <35>  the terrible

experience of what it passed through

when the fire of God's wrath against sin

came upon Christ in the hour of His

desertion. He had spoken of Dives crying

"I am tormented in this flame." Christ

utters His complaint of what He now

suffered. Physicians tell us that in

crucifixion the whole body is in agony

with a terrible fever and pain. Our Lord

endured it all and cried: "I thirst";

soul and body was the sacrifice He

brought the Father.

     And then comes the great word: "It

is finished." All that there was to

suffer and endure had been brought as a

willing sacrifice; He had finished the

work the Father gave Him to do. His love

held nothing back. He gave Himself an

offering and a sacrifice. Such was the

mind of Christ, and such must be the

disposition of everyone who owes himself

and his life to that sacrifice. The mind

that was in Christ must be in us, ready

to say: "I am come to do the will of Him

who sent Me, and to finish His work."

And every day that our confidence grows

fuller in Christ's finished work must

see our heart more entirely yielding

itself like Him, a whole burnt offering

in the service of God and His love.

@14  <36>

FOURTEENTH DAY

     THE DEATH OF THE CROSS

"'Father, into Thy hands I commit My

spirit.' And having said this, He gave

up the ghost." --Luke 23:46.

     Like David (Psalm 31:5), Christ had

often committed His spirit into the

hands of His Father for His daily life

and need. But here is something new and

very special. He gives up His spirit

into the power of death, gives up all

control over it, to sink down into the

darkness and death of the grave, where

He can neither think, nor pray, nor

will. He surrenders Himself to the

utmost into the Father's hands, trusting

Him to care for Him in the dark, and in

due time to raise Him up again.

     If we have indeed died in Christ,

and are now in faith every day to carry

about with us the death of our Lord

Jesus, this word is the very one that we

need. Just think once again what Christ

meant when He said that we must hate and

lose our life.

     We died in Adam; the life we

receive from him is death; there is

nothing good or heavenly in us by

nature. It is to this inward evil

nature, to all the life that we have

from this world, that we must die. There

cannot be any thought of any real

holiness without totally dying to this

self or "old man." Many deceive

themselves  <37>  because they seek to

be alive in God before they are dead to

their own nature -- a thing as

impossible as it is for a grain of wheat

to be alive before it dies. This total

dying to self lies at the root of all

true piety. The spiritual life must grow

out of death.

     And if we ask how we can do this,

we find the answer in the mind in which

Christ died. Like Him we cast ourselves

upon God, without knowing how the new

life is to be attained; but as we in

fellowship with Jesus say, "Father, into

Thy hands I commit my spirit," and

depend simply and absolutely upon God to

raise us up into the new life, there

will be fulfilled in us the wonderful

promise of God's Word concerning the

exceeding greatness of His power in us

who believe, according to the mighty

power which He wrought in Christ when He

raised Him from the dead.

     This indeed is the true test of

faith -- a faith that lives every day

and every hour in absolute dependence

upon the continual and immediate

quickening of the divine life in us by

God Himself through the Holy Spirit.

@15  <38>

FIFTEENTH DAY

     IT IS FINISHED

"When Jesus had received the vinegar, He

said: 'It is finished.'" -- John 19:30.

     The seven words of our Lord on the

cross reveal to us His mind and

disposition. At the beginning of His

ministry He said (John 4:34): "My meat

is to do the will of Him who sent Me,

and TO FINISH HIS WORK." In all things,

the small as well as the great, He

should accomplish God's work. In the

High Priestly Prayer at the end of the

three years' ministry He could say (John

17:4): "I have glorified Thee on the

earth, I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK which

Thou gavest Me to do." He sacrificed

all, and in dying on the cross could in

truth say: "It is finished."

     With that word to the Father He

laid down His life. With that word He

was strengthened, after the terrible

agony on the cross, in the knowledge

that all was now fulfilled. And with

that word He uttered the truth of the

gospel of our redemption, that all that

was needed for man's salvation had been

accomplished on the cross.

     This disposition should

characterize every follower of Christ.

The mind that was in Him must be in us

-- it must be our meat, the strength of

our life, TO DO THE WILL OF GOD IN ALL

THINGS, AND TO FINISH HIS WORK. There

may be small <39>  things about which we

are not conscientious, and so we bring

harm to ourselves and to God's work. Or

we draw back before some great thing

which demands too much sacrifice. In

every case we may find strength to

perform our duty in Christ's word "It is

finished." His finished work secured the

victory over every foe. By faith we may

appropriate that dying word of Christ on

the cross, and find the power for daily

living and dying in the fellowship of

the crucified Christ.

     Child of God, study the

inexhaustible treasure contained in this

word: "It is finished." Faith in what

Christ accomplished on the cross will

enable you to manifest in daily life the

spirit of the cross.

@16  <40>

SIXTEENTH DAY

     DEAD TO SIN

"We who died to sin, how shall we any

longer live therein?" --Romans 6:2.

     After having, in the first section

of the Epistle to the Romans (1:16 to

5:11), expounded the great doctrine of

justification by faith, Paul proceeds,

in the second section (5:12 to 8:39), to

unfold the related doctrine of the new

life by faith in Christ. Taking Adam as

a figure of Christ, he teaches that just

as we all really and actually died in

Adam, so that his death reigns in our

nature, even so, in Christ, those who

believe in Him actually and effectually

died to sin, were set free from it, and

became partakers of the new holy life of

Christ.

     He asks the question: "We who died

to sin, how shall we any longer live

therein?" In these words we have the

deep spiritual truth that our death to

sin in Christ delivers us from its

power, so that we no longer may or need

to live in it. The secret of true and

full holiness is by faith, and in the

power of the Holy Spirit, to live in the

consciousness: I am dead to sin.

     In expounding this truth he reminds

them that they were baptized INTO THE

DEATH OF CHRIST. We were buried with Him

through baptism into death. We became

UNITED WITH HIM by the likeness of His

death. Our "old man" was  <41>

crucified with Him, that the body of sin

might be done away -- rendered void and

powerless. Take time and quietly, asking

for the teaching of the Holy Spirit,

ponder these words until the truth

masters you: I am indeed dead to sin in

Christ Jesus. As we grow in the

consciousness of our union with the

crucified Christ, we shall experience

that the power of His life in us has

made us free from the power of sin.

     Romans 6 is one of the most blessed

portions of the New Testament of our

Lord Jesus, teaching us that our "old

man," the old nature that is in us, was

actually crucified with Him, so that now

we need no longer be in bondage to sin.

But remember it is only as the Holy

Spirit makes Christ's death a reality

within us that we shall know, not by

force of argument or conviction, but in

the reality of the power of a divine

life, that we are in very deed dead to

sin. It only needs a continual living in

Christ Jesus.

@17  <42>

SEVENTEENTH DAY

     THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

"Abraham believed God, and it was

counted unto him for righteousness."

"He believed God, who quickeneth the

dead." --Romans 4:3,7.

     Let us now, after listening to the

words of our Lord Jesus about our

fellowship with Him in the cross, turn

to St. Paul, and see how through the

Holy Spirit he gives the deeper insight

into what our death in Christ means.

     You know how the first section of

Romans is devoted to the doctrine of

justification by faith in Christ. After

speaking (1:18-32) of the awful sin of

the heathen, and then (2:1-29) of the

sin of the Jew, he points out how Jew

and Gentile are "guilty before God,"

"All have sinned and come short." And

then he sets forth that free grace which

gave the redemption that is in Christ

Jesus (3:21-31). In chapter 4 he points

to Abraham as having, when he believed,

understood that God justified him freely

by His grace, and not for anything that

he had done.

     Abraham had not only believed this,

but something more. "He believed in God,

who quickeneth the dead, and calleth the

things that are not as though they

were." The two expressions are most

significant, as indicating the two

essential needs there are in the

redemption of man in Christ Jesus. There

is the  <43>  need of justification by

faith, to restore man to the favor of

God. But there is more needed. He must

also be quickened to a new life. Just as

justification is by faith alone, so is

regeneration also. Christ died on

account of our sins; He was raised again

on account of our justification.

     In the first section (down to chap.

5:11) Paul deals exclusively with the

great thought of our justification. But

in the second section (5:12 to 8:39) he

expounds that wonderful union with

Christ, through faith, by which we died

with Him, by which we live in Him, and

by which, through the Holy Spirit, we

are made free, not only from the

punishment, but also from the power of

sin, and are enabled to live the life of

righteousness, of obedience, and of

sanctification.

@18  <44>

EIGHTEENTH DAY.

     DEAD WITH CHRIST

"If we died with Christ, we believe that

we shall also live with Him." --Romans

6:8.

     The reason that God's children live

so little in the power of the

resurrection life of Christ is because

they have so little understanding of or

faith in their death with Christ. How

clearly this appears from what Paul

says: "If we died with Christ, we

believe that we shall also live with

Him"; it is the knowledge and experience

that gives us the assurance of the power

of His resurrection in us. "Christ died

unto sin once; but the life that He

liveth, He liveth unto God" (ver. 10).

It is only because and as we know that

we are dead with Him, that we can live

with Him.

     On the strength of this, Paul now

appeals to his readers. "Even so reckon

ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin,

but alive unto God in Christ Jesus"

(ver. 11). The words "even so reckon

yourselves" are a call to an act of bold

and confident faith. Reckon yourselves

to be indeed dead unto sin, as much as

Christ is, and alive to God in Christ

Jesus. The word gives us a divine

assurance of what we actually are and

have in Christ. And this not as a truth

that our minds can master and

appropriate, but a reality which the

Holy Spirit will reveal within us. In

<45>  His power we accept our death with

Christ on the cross as the power of our

daily life.

     Then we are able to accept and obey

the command: "Let not sin reign in your

mortal body; but present yourselves unto

God, as alive from the dead; for sin

shall not have dominion over you" (vers.

12,13,14). "Being made free from sin, ye

became servants of righteousness;

present your members as servants to

righteousness unto sanctification. Being

now made free from sin, ye have your

fruit unto sanctification" (vers.

18,19,33).

     The whole chapter is a wonderful

revelation of the deep meaning of its

opening words: "How shall we, WHO DIED

TO SIN, live any more therein?"

Everything depends upon our acceptance

of the divine assurance: If we died with

Christ, as He died, and now lives to

God, we too have the assurance that in

Him we have the power to live unto God.

@19  <46>

NINETEENTH DAY

     DEAD TO THE LAW

"Ye were made dead to the law, through

the body of Christ."  "Having died to

that wherein we were holden, so that we

serve in newness of the spirit." Romans

7:4,6.

     The believer is not only dead to

sin, but dead to the law. This is a

deeper truth, giving us deliverance from

the thought of a life of effort and

failure, and opening the way to the life

in the power of the Holy Spirit. "Thou

shalt" is done away with; the power of

the Spirit takes its place. In the

remainder of this chapter (7:7-24) we

have a description of the Christian as

he still tries to obey the law, but

utterly fails. He experiences that "in

him, that in his flesh, dwelleth no good

thing."  He finds that the law of sin,

notwithstanding his utmost efforts,

continually brings him into captivity,

and compels the cry: "O wretched man

that I am, who shall deliver me from the

body of this death?" In the whole

passage, it is everywhere "I," without

any thought of the Spirit's help. It is

only when he has given utterance to his

cry of despair that he is brought to see

that he is no longer under the law, but

under the rule of the Holy Spirit

(8:1,2). "There is therefore now no

condemnation," such as he had

experienced in his attempt to obey the

law, "to them that are in  <47>  Christ

Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life

in Christ Jesus has made me free from

the law of sin and death." As chapter_7

gives us the experience that leads to

being a captive under the power of sin,

chapter_8 reveals the experience of the

life of a man in Christ Jesus, who has

now been made free from the law of sin

and death. In the former we have the

life of the ordinary Christian doing his

utmost to keep the commandments of the

law, and to walk in His ways, but ever

finding how much there is of failure and

shortcoming. In the latter we have the

man who knows that he is in Christ

Jesus, dead to sin and alive to God, and

by the Spirit has been made free and is

kept free from the bondage of sin and of

death.

     Oh that men understood what the

deep meaning is of Romans 7, where a man

learns that in him, that is in his

flesh, there is no good thing, and that

there is no deliverance from this state

but by yielding to the power of the

Spirit making free from the power and

bondage of the flesh, and so fulfilling

the righteousness of the law in the

power of the life of Christ!

@20  <48>

TWENTIETH DAY

     THE FLESH CONDEMNED ON THE CROSS

"What the law could not do, in that it

was weak through the flesh, God, sending

His own Son in the likeness of sinful

flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the

flesh." --Romans 8:3.

     In Romans 8:7 Paul writes: "The

mind of the flesh is enmity against God;

for it is not subject to the law of God,

neither indeed can it be." Here Paul

opens up the depth of sin that there is

in the flesh. In chapter 7 he had said

that in the flesh there is no good

thing. Here he goes deeper, and tells us

that it is enmity against God: it hates

God and His law. It was on this account

that God condemned sin in the flesh on

the cross; all the curse that there is

upon sin is upon the flesh in which sin

dwells. It is as the believer

understands this that he will cease from

any attempt at seeking to perfect in the

flesh what is begun in the Spirit. The

two are at deadly, irreconcilable

enmity.

     See how this lies at the very root

of the true Christian life (vers.3,4):

"God condemned sin in the flesh, that

the righteousness of the law might be

fulfilled in us who walk, not after the

flesh, but after the Spirit." All the

requirements of God's law will be

fulfilled, not in those who strive to

keep and fulfill that law -- a thing

that is utterly impossible -- but in

those who walk by  <49>  the Spirit, and

in His power live out the life that

Christ won for us on the cross and

imparted to us in the resurrection.

     Would God that His children might

learn the double lesson. In me, that is

in my flesh, in the old nature which I

have from Adam, there dwells literally

no good thing that can satisfy the eye

of a holy God! And that flesh can never

by any process of discipline, or

struggling, or prayer, be made better

than it is! But the Son of God in the

likeness of sinful flesh -- in the form

of a man -- condemned sin on the cross.

"There is, therefore, now no

condemnation to them who are in Christ

Jesus, who walk, not after the flesh,

but after the Spirit."

@21  <50>

TWENTY-FIRST DAY

     JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED

"I determined not to know anything among

you, except Jesus Christ and Him

crucified. And my preaching was in

demonstration of the Spirit and of

power."  --1_Corinthians 2:2,4.

     This text is very often understood

of Paul's purpose in his preaching: to

know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him

crucified. But it contains a far deeper

thought. He speaks of his purpose, not

only in the matter of his preaching, but

in his whole spirit and life to prove

how he in everything seeks to act in

conformity to the crucified Christ. Thus

he writes (2_Corinthians 13:4,5):

"Christ was crucified through weakness,

yet He liveth through the power of God.

For we also are weak in Him, but we

shall live with Him through the power of

God toward you." His whole ministry and

manner of life bore the mark of Christ's

likeness -- crucified through weakness,

yet living by the power of God.

     Just before the words of our text

paul had written (1:17-24): "The word of

the cross is to them that are perishing

foolishness; but unto us who are being

saved it is the power of God." It was

not only in his preaching, but in his

whole disposition and deportment that he

sought to act in harmony with that

weakness in which Christ was crucified.

He had so identified  <50>  himself with

the weakness of the cross, and its

shame, that in his whole life and

conduct he would prove that in

everything he sought to show forth the

likeness and the spirit of the crucified

Jesus. Hence he says (2:3): "I was with

you in weakness, and in fear, and in

much trembling."

     It is on this account that he spoke

so strongly: "Christ sent me to preach

the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest

the cross of Christ should be made void"

(1:17); "My preaching was not with

enticing words of man's wisdom, but in

demonstration of the Spirit and of

power" (2:4). Have we not here the great

reason why the power of God is so little

manifested in the preaching of the

gospel? Christ the crucified may be the

subject of the preaching and yet there

may be such confidence in human learning

and eloquence that there is nothing to

be seen of that likeness of the

crucified Jesus which alone gives

preaching its supernatural, its divine

power.

     God help us to understand how the

life of every minister and of every

believer must bear the hallmark, the

stamp of the sanctuary: Nothing but

Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

@22  <52>

TWENTY-SECOND DAY

     TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS

"Every man that striveth in the games is

temperate in all things."  "I buffet my

body, and bring it into bondage."

--1_Corinthians 9:25, 27.

     Paul here reminds us of the

well-known principle that anyone

competing for a prize in the public

games is "temperate in all things."

Everything, however attractive, that

might be a hindrance in the race is

given up or set aside. And this in order

to obtain an earthly prize. And shall

we, who strive for an incorruptible

crown, and that Christ may be Lord of

all -- shall we not be temperate in all

things that could in the very least

prevent our following the Lord Jesus

with an undivided heart?

     Paul says: "I buffet my body, and

bring it into bondage." He would allow

nothing to hinder him. He tells us:

"This one thing I do: I press towards

the mark for the prize." No

self-pleasing in eating and drinking, no

comfort or ease, should for a moment

keep him from showing the spirit of the

cross in his daily life, or from

sacrificing all, like his Master. Read

the following four passages which

comprise his life-history: 1_Corinthians

4:11-13; 2_Corinthians 4:8-12, 6:4-10,

11:23-27. The cross was not only the

theme of his preaching, but the rule of

his life in all its details.  <53>

     We need to pray God that this

disposition may be found in all

Christians and preachers of the gospel,

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

When the death of Christ works with

power in the preacher, then Christ's

life will be known among the people. Let

us pray that the fellowship of the cross

may regain its old place, and that God's

children may obey the injunction: "Let

this mind be in you that was in Christ

Jesus." He humbled Himself and became

obedient unto the death of the cross.

For, "if we have been planted together

in the likeness of His death, we shall

be also in the likeness of His

resurrection" (Romans 6:5).

@23  <54>

TWENTY-THIRD DAY

     THE DYING OF THE LORD JESUS

"Always bearing about in the body the

dying of Jesus, that the life also of

Jesus may be manifested in our body."

"So then death worketh in us, but life

in you." --2_Corinthians 4:10,12.

     Paul here is very bold in speaking

of the intimate union that there was

between Christ living in him and the

life he lived in the flesh, with all its

suffering. He had spoken (Galatians

2:20) of his being crucified with

Christ, and Christ living in him. Here

he tells how he was always bearing about

in the body the dying of Jesus; it was

through that that the life also of Jesus

was manifested in his body. And he says

that it was because of the death of

Christ was thus working in and through

him that Christ's life could work in

them.

     We often speak of our abiding in

Christ. But we forget that that means

the abiding in a crucified Christ. Many

believers appear to think that when once

they have claimed Christ's death in the

fellowship of the cross, and have

counted themselves as crucified with

Him, that they may now consider it as

past and done with. They do not

understand that it is in the crucified

Christ, and in the fellowship of His

death, that they are to abide daily and

unceasingly. The fellowship of the cross

is to be  <55> the life of a daily

experience, the self-emptying of our

Lord, His taking the form of a servant,

His humbling Himself and becoming

obedient unto death, even the death of

the cross -- this mind that was in

Christ is to be the disposition that

marks our daily life.

     "Always bearing about in the body

the dying of Jesus." This is what we are

called to as much as Paul. If we are

indeed to live for the welfare of men

around us, if we are to sacrifice our

ease and pleasure to win souls for our

Lord, it must be true of us, as of Paul,

that we are able to say: Death worketh

in us, but life in those for whom we

pray and labor. For it is in the

fellowship of the sufferings of Christ

that the crucified Lord can live out and

work out His life in us and through us.

     Let us learn the lesson that the

abiding in Christ Jesus, for which we

have so often prayed and striven, is

nothing less than the abiding of the

Crucified in us, and we in Him.

@24  <56>

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY

     THE CROSS AND THE SPIRIT

"How much more shall the blood of

Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit

offered Himself without blemish unto

God, cleanse your conscience?" --Hebrews

9:14.

     The cross is Christ's highest

glory. The glory which He received from

the Father was entirely owing to His

having humbled Himself to the death of

the cross. "Wherefore also God highly

exalted Him." The greatest work which

the Holy Spirit could ever do in the Son

of God was when He enabled Him to yield

Himself a sacrifice and an offering for

a sweet-smelling savour. And the Holy

Spirit can now do nothing greater or

more glorious for us than to lead us

into the fellowship and likeness of that

crucified life of our Lord.

     Have we not here the reason that

our prayers for the mighty working of

the Holy Spirit are not more abundantly

answered? We have prayed too little that

the Holy Spirit might glorify Christ in

us in the fellowship and the conformity

to His sufferings. The Spirit, who led

Christ to the cross, is longing and is

able to maintain in us the life of

abiding in the crucified Jesus.

     The Spirit and the cross are

inseparable. The Spirit led Christ to

the cross; the cross brought <57> Christ

to the throne to receive the fullness of

the Spirit to impart to His people. The

Spirit taught Peter at once to preach

Christ crucified; it was through that

preaching that the three thousand

received the Spirit. In the preaching of

the gospel, in the Christian life, as in

Christ, so in us, the Spirit and the

cross are inseparable. It is the sad

lack of the mind and disposition of the

crucified Christ, sacrificing self and

the word to win life for the dying, that

is one great cause of the feebleness of

the Church. Let us beseech God fervently

to teach us to say: We have been

crucified with Christ; in Him we have

died to sin; "always bearing about in

the body the dying of Jesus." So shall

we be prepared for that fullness of the

Spirit which the Father longs to bestow.

@25  <58>

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY

     THE VEIL OF THE FLESH

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to

enter into the Holy Place by the blood

of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated

for us, a new and living way, through

the veil, that is to say, His flesh."

--Hebrews 10:19,20.

     In the temple there was a veil

between the Holy Place and the Most

Holy. At the altar in the court the

blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled for

forgiveness of sins. That gave the

priest entrance into the Holy Place to

offer God the incense as part of a holy

worship. But into the Most Holy, behind

the veil, the high priest alone might

enter once a year. That veil was the

type of sinful human nature; even though

it had received the forgiveness of sin,

full access and fellowship with God was

impossible.

     When Christ died, the veil was

rent. Christ dedicated a new and living

way to God through the rent veil of His

flesh. This new way, by which we now can

enter into the Holiest of all, ever

passes through the rent veil of the

flesh. Every believer "has crucified the

flesh with the passions and the lusts

thereof" (Galatians 5:24). Every step on

the new and living way for entering into

God's holy presence maintains the

fellowship with the cross of Christ. The

rent veil of the flesh has reference,

not only to Christ and  <59>  His

sufferings, but to our experience in the

likeness of His sufferings.

     Have we not here the reason why

many Christians can never attain to

close fellowship with God? They have

never yielded the flesh as an accursed

thing to the condemnation of the cross.

They desire to enter into the Holiest of

All, and yet allow the flesh with its

desires and pleasures to rule over them.

God grant that we may rightly

understand, in the power of the Holy

Spirit, that Christ has called us to

hate our life, to lose our life, to be

dead with Him to sin that we may live to

God with Him. There is no way to a full

abiding fellowship with God but through

the rent veil of the flesh, through a

life with the flesh crucified in Christ

Jesus. God be praised that the Holy

Spirit ever dwells in us to keep the

flesh in its place of crucifixion and

condemnation, and to give us the abiding

victory over all temptations.

@26  <58>

TWENTY-SIXTH DAY

     LOOKING UNTO JESUS

"Let us run with patience the race that

is set before us, looking unto Jesus,

the Author and Perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before Him

endured the cross, despising the shame."

--Hebrews 12:1,2.

     In running a race the eye and heart

are ever set upon the goal and the

prize. The Christian is here called to

keep his eye fixed on Jesus enduring the

cross, as the one object of imitation

and desire. In our whole life we are

ever to be animated by His Spirit as He

bore the cross. This was the way that

led to the throne and the glory of God.

This is the new and living way which He

opened for us through the veil of the

flesh. It is as we study and realize

that it was for His bearing the cross

that God so highly exalted Him, that we

shall walk in His footsteps bearing our

cross after Him with the flesh condemned

and crucified.

     The impotence of the Church is

greatly owing to the fact that this

cross-bearing mind of Jesus is so little

preached and practiced. Most Christians

think that as long as they do not commit

actual sin they are at liberty to

possess and enjoy as much of the world

as they please. There is so little

insight into the deep truth that the

world, and the flesh that loves the <61>

world, is enmity against God. Hence it

comes that many Christians seek and pray

for years for conformity to the image of

Jesus, and yet fail so entirely. They do

not know, they do not seek with the

whole heart to know, what it is to die

to self and the world.

     It was for the joy set before Him

that Chris endured the cross -- the joy

of pleasing and glorifying the Father,

the joy of loving and winning souls for

Himself. We have indeed need of a new

crusade with the proclamation: This is

the will of God, that as Christ found

His highest happiness THROUGH HIS

ENDURANCE OF THE CROSS, and received

thereby from the Father the fullness of

the Spirit to pour down on His people,

so it is only IN OUR FELLOWSHIP OF THE

CROSS that we can really become

conformed to the image of God's Son. As

believers awake to this blessed truth,

and run the race ever looking to the

crucified Jesus, they will receive power

to win for Christ the souls He has

purchased on the cross.

@27  <62>

TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY

     OUTSIDE THE GATE

"The bodies of those beasts, whose blood

is brought into the Holy Place, are

burned outside the camp. Wherefore Jesus

also, that He might sanctify the people

through His own blood, suffered outside

the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto

Him outside the camp, bearing His

reproach." --Hebrews 13:11-13.

     The blood of the sin offering was

brought into the Holy Place; the body of

the sacrifice was burned outside the

camp. Even so with Christ. His blood was

presented to the Father; but His body

was cast out as an accursed thing,

outside the camp.

     And so we read in Hebrews 10: "Let

us enter into the Holy Place by the

blood of Jesus." And in our text: "Let

us go forth unto Him outside the camp,

bearing His reproach." The deeper my

insight is into the boldness which His

blood gives me in God's presence, so

much greater will be the joy with which

I enter the Holy Place. And the deeper

my insight is into the shame of the

cross which He on my behalf bore outside

the camp, the more willing shall I be,

in the fellowship of His cross, to

follow Him outside the camp, bearing His

reproach.

     There are many Christians who love

to hear of the boldness with which we

can enter into the  <63>  Holy Place

through His blood who yet have little

desire for the fellowship of His

reproach, and are unwilling to separate

themselves from the world with the same

boldness with which they think to enter

the Sanctuary. The Christian suffers

inconceivable loss when he thinks of

entering into the Holy Place in faith

and prayer, and then feels himself free

to enjoy the friendship of the world, so

long as he does nothing actually sinful.

But the Word of God has said: "Know ye

not that the friendship of the world is

enmity against God?"  "Love not the

world, neither the things that are in

the world; if any man love the world,

the love of the Father is not in him."

"Be not conformed to this world."

     To be a follower of Christ implies

a heart given up to testify for Christ

in the midst of the world, if by any

means some may be won. To be a follower

of Christ means to be like Him in His

love of the cross and His willingness to

sacrifice self that the Father may be

glorified, and that men may be saved.

     Blessed Savior, teach me what it

means that I am called to follow Thee

outside the camp, bearing Thy reproach,

and so to bear witness to Thy holy

redeeming love, as it embraces the men

who are in the world to win them back to

the Father. Blessed Lord, let the spirit

and the love that was in Thee be in me

too, that I may at any cost seek to win

the souls for whom Thou hast died.

@28  <64>

TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY

     ALIVE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS

"Who His own self bare our sins in His

own body on the tree, that we, having

died unto sins, might live unto

righteousness. --1_Peter 2:24.

     Here we have in the Epistle of

Peter the same lessons that Paul has

taught us. First, THE ATONEMENT OF THE

CROSS: "Who His own self bare our sins

in His body upon the tree." And then THE

FELLOWSHIP OF THE CROSS; "That we,

having died unto sins, might live unto

righteousness."

     In this last expression we have the

great thought that a Christian cannot

live unto righteousness except as he

knows that he has died unto sin. We need

the Holy Spirit to make our death to sin

in Christ such a reality that we know

ourselves to be forever free from its

power, and so yield our members to God

as instruments of righteousness. The

words give us a short summary of the

blessed teaching of Romans 6.

     Dear Christian, it cost Christ much

to bear the cross, and then to yield

Himself for it to bear Him. It cost Him

much when He cried: "Now is My soul

troubled, and what shall I say? Father,

save Me from this hour. But for this

cause came I unto this hour."

     Let us not imagine that the

fellowship of the cross, of which Peter

speaks here, "that we,  <65>  having

died to sins, might live unto

righteousness," is easily understood or

experienced. It means that the Holy

Spirit will teach us what it is to be

identified with Christ in His cross. It

means that we realize by faith how

actually we shared with Christ in His

death, and now, as He lives in us, abide

in unceasing fellowship with Him, the

Crucified One. This costs self-

sacrifice; it costs earnest prayer; it

costs a whole-hearted surrender to God

and His will and the cross of Jesus; it

costs abiding in Christ, and unceasing

fellowship with Him.

     Blessed Lord, make known to us day

by day through the Holy Spirit the

secret of our life in Thee: "We in Thee,

and Thou in us." Let Thy Spirit reveal

to us that as truly as we died in Thee,

Thou now livest in us the life that was

crucified and now is glorified in

heaven. Let Thy Spirit burn the words

deep into our hearts. Having died unto

sin, and being forever set free from its

dominion, let us know that sin can no

more reign over us, or have dominion.

Let us in the power of Thy redemption

yield ourselves unto God as those who

are alive from the dead, ready and

prepared for all His will.

@29  <66>

TWENTY-NINTH DAY

     FOLLOWERS OF THE CROSS

"Hereby know we love, because He laid

down His life for us: and we ought to

lay down our lives for the brethren."

--1_John 3:16.

     "Greater love hath no man than

this, that a man lay down his life for

his friend."  Here our Lord reveals to

us the inconceivable love that moved Him

to die for us. And now under the

influence and in the power of that love

dwelling in us, comes the message: "WE

OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE

BRETHREN." Nothing less is expected of

us than a Christ-like life and a

Christ-like love, proving itself in all

our dealings with our brethren.

     The cross of Christ is the measure

by which we know how much Christ loves

us. That cross is the measure too of the

love which we owe to the brethren around

us. It is only as the love of Christ on

the cross possesses our hearts, and

daily animates our whole being, that we

shall be able to love the brethren. Our

fellowship in the cross of Christ is to

manifest itself in our sacrifice of

love, not only to Christ Himself, but to

all who belong to Him.

     The life to which John calls us

here is something entirely supernatural

and divine. It is only the faith of

Christ Himself living in us that can

enable us to accept this great  <67>

command in the assurance that Christ

Himself will work it out in us. It is He

Himself who calls us: "If any man will

come after Me, let him deny himself, and

take up his cross, and follow Me."

Nothing less than this, a dying to our

own nature, a faith that our "old man,"

our flesh has been crucified with Christ,

so that we no longer need to sin --

nothing less than this can enable us to

say: We love His commandments; this

commandment too is not grievous.

     But for such fellowship and

conformity to the death of Christ,

nothing will avail but the daily,

unbroken abiding in Christ Jesus which

He has promised us. By the Holy Spirit

revealing and glorifying Christ in us,

we may trust Christ Himself to live out

His life in us. He who proved His love

on the cross of Calvary, He Himself, He

alone can enable us to say in truth: He

laid down His life for us; we ought to

lay down our lives for the brethren. It

is only as the great truth of the

indwelling Christ obtains a place in the

faith of the Church which it has not

now, that the Christ-like love to the

brethren will become the mark of true

Christianity, by which all men shall

know that we are Christ's disciples.

This is what will bring the world to

believe that God has loved us even as He

loved Christ.

@30  <68>

THIRTIETH DAY

     FOLLOWING THE LAMB

"These are they which follow the

Lamb whithersoever He goeth."

--Revelation 14:4.

     It may not be easy to say exactly

what is implied in this following of the

Lamb in the heavenly vision. But of this

we may be sure, that it will be the

counterpart in glory of what it is to

follow in the footsteps of the Lamb here

upon earth. As the Lamb on earth reveals

what the Lamb in heaven would be, so His

followers on earth can show forth

something of the glory of what it is to

follow Him in heaven.

     And how may the footsteps of the

Lamb be known? "He humbled Himself."

"As a Lamb that is led to the slaughter,

He opened not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

It is the meekness and gentleness and

humility that marked Him which calls for

His followers to walk in His footsteps.

     Our Lord Himself said: "Learn of

Me, that I am meek and lowly of heart,

and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Paul writes: "Have this mind in you

which was also in Christ Jesus"

(Philippians 2:5). And then he teaches

us in what that mind consisted: Being in

the form of God, He emptied Himself; He

was made in the likeness of men; He took

the form of a servant; He humbled

Himself; He became obedient unto  <69>

death, even the death of the cross. The

Lamb is our Lord and Lawgiver. He opened

the only path that leads to the throne

of God. It is as we learn from Him what

it means to be meek and lowly, what it

means to empty ourselves, to choose the

place of the servant, to humble

ourselves and become obedient, even unto

death, the death of the cross, that we

shall find the new and living way that

leads us through the rent veil into the

Holiest of All.

     "Wherefore also God highly exalted

Him, and gave unto Him the name which is

above every name" (ver.9). It is because

Christians so little bear the mark of

this self-emptying and humiliation even

unto death that the world refuses to

believe in the possibility of a

Christ-filled life.

     Children of God, oh come and study

the Lamb who is to be your model and

your Savior. Let Paul's words be the

keynote of your life: "I have been

crucified with Christ; yet I live; and

yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in

me." Here you have the way to follow the

Lamb even to the glory of the throne of

God in heaven.

@31  <70>

THIRTY-FIRST DAY

     TO HIM BE THE GLORY

"Unto Him who loved us, and washed us

from our sins in His own blood, and hath

made us kings and priests unto God and

His Father; to Him be glory and dominion

for ever and ever. Amen." --Revelation

1:5,6.

     Some of my readers may feel that it

is not easy to understand the lesson of

the cross, or to carry it out in their

lives. Do not think of it as a heavy

burden or yoke that you have to bear.

Christ says: "My yoke is easy, and My

burden is light." LOVE MAKES EVERYTHING

EASY. Do not think of your love to Him,

but of His great love to you, given

through the Holy Spirit. Meditate on

this day and night, until you have the

assurance: He loves me unspeakably. It

is through the love of Christ on the

cross that souls are drawn to Him.

     We have here the answer as to what

will enable us to love the fellowship of

the crucified Jesus. Nothing less than

His love poured out through the

continual breathing of the Holy Spirit

into the heart of every child of God.

     "UNTO HIM WHO LOVED US" -- Be

still, O my soul, and think what this

everlasting love is that seeks to take

possession of you and fill you with joy

unspeakable.

     "AND WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS

OWN  <71>  BLOOD" -- Is that not proof

enough that He will never reject me;

that I am precious in His sight, and

through the power of His blood am

well-pleasing to God?

     "AND HATH MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS  UNTO GOD AND HIS FATHER" -- and now preserves us by His power, and will

strengthen us through His Spirit to

reign as kings over sin and the world,

and to appear as priests before God in

intercession for others. O Christian,

learn this wonderful song, and repeat it

until your heart is filled with love and

joy and courage, and turns to Him in

glad surrender day by day: "To Him be

glory and dominion for ever and ever.

Amen."

     Yes, to Him, who has loved me, and

washed me from my sins in His blood, and

made me a king and a priest --TO HIM BE

THE GLORY IN ALL AGES. Amen.

@32  <72>

THE BLESSING OF THE CROSS

"But God forbid that I should glory,

save in the cross of our Lord Jesus

Christ, by whom the world is crucified

unto me, and I unto the world."

--Galatians 6:14.

     One of the blessings of the cross

consists in this, that it teaches us to

know the worthlessness of our efforts

and the utter corruption of our own

nature. The cross does not offer to

improve human nature, or to supply what

man is unable to do. Many people,

indeed, use it in this way, like

patching a new cloth on an old garment.

But this rends the garment, and such

persons walk about in torn clothes, and

go from one minister to another without

finding what they seek. No, the old

garment, our old man, must be laid

aside, and given over to the death of

the cross. And the cross causes all that

is of the lost nature of man to die the

accursed death, and the "I" takes the

place of a malefactor; it breaks the

staff over all that is of the old

nature.

     Whosoever has been brought to the

cross through the Spirit has learned to

pronounce the death sentence on his old

nature, has broken the staff over

himself, for whatever does not bear the

mark of the cross lies under the curse.

He who would save his life remains under

the curse. If we have learned through

the Spirit to understand the cross, then

we have lost our life  <73>  and will no

longer expect any good from our old

nature, and will not judge others, but

ourselves only.

     But as long as we have not been

taught this lesson through the Spirit,

we shall try to find good in ourselves,

something of worth in God's sight, and

upon which the sentence of death need

not be passed. And if we find nothing at

all, we fall into a false grief which

the Evil One eagerly uses to make us

despair, by saying: "You may as well

give up. God will not trouble about you.

There is nothing for you but failure."

     But this is not what God desires.

What we possess by nature must be nailed

to the cross and we must put on the new

man. The cross brings man to utter

bankruptcy of himself, and then God can

come to our aid. The cross brought the

disciples of Jesus once to such an end

of themselves, which even the words of

the Master had failed to do. It took

from them the aureole of holiness which

they thought they had won in the three

years that they followed Jesus, and it

taught them to know themselves. And so

they were prepared to receive the Holy

Spirit, who would impart a new nature

and a new life. For we cannot separate

the cross from the Spirit. We can have

no Easter and no Pentecost until we have

first had a Good Friday.  <74>

     Through the cross alone are we

prepared for life in the fullness of

God; only he who is crucified with

Christ can be a vessel unto honor.

     Our "old man" must be crucified

with Christ (Romans 6:6), and in the

resurrection of Christ we find the roots

of our new life (1_Peter 1:3). Whosoever

loses his life shall find it. We must

learn the lesson of the cross as

condemned and rejected ones, who have

been crucified with Christ. Then the

door will be open for a life of power

and blessing. All that belongs to death

must be given over to death, even as the

body is laid away in the earth because

it belongs to the earth.

     The Holy Spirit, the Eternal

Spirit, is unchangeable. He brought

Christ our Head to the cross, and us His

children with Him. For this work in us

is twofold. On the one hand it leads us

to death, and all that belongs to death;

and on the other hand, to that life

which God has placed within us, and

which leads from glory to glory.

(--Translated from G. Steinberger.)

PRAYER

How I praise Thee, O my God, for the

gift of the Holy Spirit, who will reveal

to me the secret of the cross of Christ!

The Spirit strengthened Christ to offer

Himself to God on the cross. The cross

gave Christ the right to receive the

fullness of the Spirit from the Father

to pour out on all flesh. The cross

gives us the right to receive the

Spirit. And the Spirit teaches us to

love the cross, and to partake of the

life crucified with Christ.

     O my Father, I thank Thee that Thou

dost give the immediate, continual

working of the Spirit in my heart, that

the crucified Christ may be formed

within me, and His life maintained

within me.

     Father, I beseech Thee humbly,

teach me and Thy people so to know this

work of the Spirit and to yield

ourselves to Him to take full possession

of us, that the crucified Lord Jesus may

be glorified in us. Amen.