Mark 8: 34 And He called the crowd to Him with His disciples and said to them, If anyone wants to follow after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Gal 2: 20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
[Part 1 of 3] Now we come to a crucial matter. We need to see that, in the sight of God, everything in the universe except Himself needs to be replaced. Christ with His death and resurrection is the unique replacement in the universe. Here the Lord seems to be saying, especially to Peter "Since you have seen Christ, you need to be replaced by Him. You must be put aside and allow Christ to become you. You need to deny yourself and be replaced by Christ." How is it possible for us to be replaced by Christ? We can be replaced by Him only through His death and resurrection. In the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20, it should be no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. Christ's death on the cross included us. This means that when He died, we died with Him. Now we need to realize this fact and apply it to our living. To see that we have been crucified with Christ and apply this fact to our living is to take the cross. Therefore, to take the cross means to admit that we have been terminated by Christ's death and to apply this termination to ourselves. When we make this application, resurrection life comes in. Have you seen what is revealed in 8:27--9:13? Here we have a revelation of Christ's Person and His death and resurrection. Oh, we all need to see this! I am concerned that some of us have not seen the crucial matters of Christ's all-inclusive Person, His wonderful death, and His marvelous resurrection. If we see them, we shall say, "Amen! Amen to Christ! Amen to the death of Christ! Amen to the resurrection of Christ! Amen to my termination! Because I have been terminated, it is no longer I who live, hut Christ lives in me. " [Continued tomorrow] (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Mark, pp. 232-233. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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