Chapter XII

THE CROSS AND THE FLESH

COULD THE FLESH SPEAK as it faces the Cross, it C would be forced to use the language of one, Amiel, (as recorded by Amy Carmichael).  After he had received at the hands of his doctors the verdict which was to him the arrest of death he said, "On waking, it seemed to me that I was staring into the future with wide-startled eyes.  Is it indeed to me that these things apply?  Incessant and growing humiliation, my slavery becoming heavier, my circle of action steadily narrower?  What is hateful is that deliverance can never be hoped for, and that one misery will succeed another in such a way as to leave me no breathing space, not even in the future, not even in hope.  All possibilities are closed to me, one by one."

To the flesh the Cross is God's verdict, God's "arrest of death." Paul traveled a long road to learn "that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.' "Is it indeed to me," cries the awakened believer, "that these very things apply?" It does seem to take a long time to learn that the mind of the flesh "is enmity against God." It is therefore "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The verdict has gone forth, the sentence executed.  The only cure is condemnation, crucifixion, death with Christ.  The flesh with all its foul brood has been put to the hanged man's doom.  To the accursed tree, Christ nailed the flesh with "the affections and lusts." There, Christ reversed all the processes of nature; the old life was terminated to make room for the new, for death can never inherit life.  And "the mind of the flesh is death."' The flesh has about it "the smell of infernal associations.  It stinks." Since its mind is already death, God sent it to its own place--the Cross.

In speaking of "the flesh" as contrary to "the Spirit," Scripture refers to the whole of human nature in its fallen condition.  We read of the wills of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the mind of the flesh, the wisdom of the flesh, the purposes of the flesh, the confidence Of the flesh, the filthiness of the flesh, the workings of the flesh, the warring of the flesh, the glorying of the flesh.  Scripture mentions those who walk according to the flesh, after the flesh, make a fair show in the flesh.  Man's emotions, his reasonings, his powers--all his thinking and willing and energy--are under the lordship of the flesh.  The flesh must 90 to the Cross.  It must be made to face the fact and made to say that "deliverance can never be hoped for, all possibilities are closed to me in such a way as to leave me no breathing space, not even in the future, not even in hope.  It is to me these very things apply." The Cross seizes hold of man's fleshly self-life, and carries it to judgment, a judgment so final that it spells death.

Amiel indeed felt it "difficult for the natural man to escape from a dumb rage against" such an inexorable arrest.  It is worse than difficult; it is impossible.  But with God, the impossible becomes possible.  Those who have been born again have gone through this judgment in the person of Christ.  To the unbeliever, God says, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." But to us He says, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." We are assured of this that "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." And as we yield ourselves continually unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, we experience that liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.  The word of assurance is that, "if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, [and he seems about to say to the Holy Spirit; but he turns to say] not to the flesh, to live after the flesh" (Rom. 8:11, 12).  The flesh has been judged and our position is "in the Spirit."

Even though the believer has emerged from the muddle and mixedness of Romans 7 through Paul's command "reckon ye also yourselves to he dead indeed unto sin," the fact remains that he will discover many ways in which self seeks satisfaction through the as-yet-unredeemed spheres of his being.  The flesh, the body, all "our mortal coil" is evidently still present in Romans 8. That chapter presents many ways in which mortification must set in.  The victorious believer will become aware of many forms of self which must yet be dealt with.  We shall discover: In our service for Christ, self-confidence and self-esteem; in the slightest suffering, self-saving and self-pity; in the least misunderstanding, self-defense and self-vindication; in our station in life, self-seeking and self-centeredness; in the smallest trials, self-inspection and self-accusation; in the daily routine, self-pleasing and self-choosing; in our relationships, 

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