February 6, 2009 A Spiritual Crucifixion Kathleen Maples

In Hebrews 5 we have an example laid out for us of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His
suffering in the garden of Gethsemane. There came a time when He walked this
earth in flesh, that He had to face death. There was a very strong struggle in that
garden that night. He prayed and God strengthened Him to face what was coming.
This book is being written to Hebrews who have an understanding of the law, and
the prophets. They were born Jews and born again Christians. They have been
well taught for the writer of Hebrews makes the statement in Heb_5:12 that they
have been taught so much and so well by now they should themselves be teachers.

This is not a popular message and it often offends people. But these things need to
be addressed because eternity and souls are at stake. That is much more important
than people's feelings. There are those who sit in the church, they praise the Lord,
listen to the preacher, say amen, sing the songs and hymns, and feel like they are
saved. They talk about a God they don't spend time with alone, they read their
Bibles sometimes, and because they pray when the preacher says pray, and
sometimes at home, they feel assured of their salvation. They feel they love the
Lord and tell others about Him, and that is their way of serving Him. They know
some Scripture, such My God shall supply all your needs, and Believe on the Lord
Jesus and Be saved. Perhaps they know Joh_3:16, or those promises of answered
prayers, and salvation for believing. They know He says He's an ever present help
in trouble. They are content with that. Their faith is rooted in God's love for them,
and His goodness, but they don't really know Him. Some might hang on for a
while, afraid of going to hell if they leave the church, but when things get hard,
when persecution comes, most will either fall away, in discouragement, or get
mad at God. They are not built on the Rock-and have not dug in the Word and fed
on Him.

Then there are those in the church who get born again and fall radically in love
with Jesus and begin to pursue an ever increasing personal revelation of Him.
They diligently study their Bibles because there is a hunger in their heart to know
this awesome Christ. They are not satisfied with the way things are. They are not
content to just go to church, and sing the songs, and read their Bibles. They know
there is more to this Christian life than what they see and hear. They know
because what they read in the Word is becoming more real to them than the world
around them. These are a people that truly love Him, and are learning Him. They
want more than milk.

There are the rules of the teaching of Christ, which is called doctrine, such as
prayer, baptism, the resurrection of the dead and the judgment. These we know.
We know He's coming back because He said He would. We know we are not to
debate His Word with others because this is not profitable it only leads to strife
and contention-two things believers are to avoid. We know we need to be ready
but there is something we need to consider carefully. Are we ready? Have we spent
enough time with Him that He can truthfully say in that day, "I know you, you are
Mine."??
We can know what is right and struggle with our flesh which never wants to do
what is right, and in continuing to struggle with ourselves, we get nowhere. We
are like dogs chasing our tails. We make excuses, or put it off, and convince
ourselves one day things will be different, one day we will overcome. Oh, that is a
dangerous game-that is Russian roulette that you are playing with your soul. We
can bring that self to the cross and say Lord, I'm tired of this, I give this battle to
you, I can't fight myself and win, but You said You would give me power when the
Holy Ghost come upon me to be a real witness for You, so here I am. I don't want
me, I want You. They know they have to keep moving with Him, because God is
always on the move and so is the darkness. If you don't walk in the Light
(understanding of spiritual truth) He gives you, and you stop and say this far and
no farther, I can't do that, I can't go there, He will deal with you, and try to
encourage you, but He will not stop moving forward. Neither will the darkness, so
if you stand still and refuse to go on with God, you will be swallowed up with
darkness. Now these are some hard truths, and some hard Scriptures, but I'd much
rather deal with them and face them now, here, in time, than there, at His
judgment seat.

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

There are those who have had divine revelation from God. They once walked with
God and were getting to know Him. At one time they understood the truth of God,
and experienced the gift and sharing of the Holy Ghost in their life.

Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

This applies to those who have turned from the right path. They have wandered
into error and fallen from the true faith. The frightening thing is they still might be
very religious, even active in the church and not realize what they have done. The
word for fall away is parapipto G3895 and it means to apostasize. To fall into
apostasy. Apostasy is a denial of the faith-and it doesn't have to be vocal. You can
deny the true faith, the life of Jesus Christ by yielding to something other than the
Holy Spirit. The life of Christ in us makes demands on us. To see and experience
this life requires a decision on our part. Will we yield to Him or will we deny Him?
Those who have had their understanding opened to divine truth, spiritual truth,
and have experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit working in their lives, teaching
them, empowering them, and they have experienced the miraculous power of the
Spirit of God working and ministering and they fall away from that, they settle
where they are and won't go any further. They get comfortable or shy away from
the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately He will lead us to the cross
where everything we are apart from Christ will be put to death, denied. This is a
daily thing, not a one time thing. He leads us to the place and the question put
before us is will you save yourself or will you hold onto the life I've given you? You
cannot save both. If you save your carnal life, you will lose the spiritual life-and
that is eternal life. For those who do not choose His life, they expose Him to the
ridicule once again of the world, and put His Name, His character, His life, to
shame before the people of the earth. It's a denial of all He is, and represents. The
world looks at the church, and when it's consumed with self, and not the lost, not
this great Christ she claims to represent, the world laughs and mocks and He is
held up for ridicule and scoffed at. It's a spiritual crucifixion.

Joh_17:3 tells us that to possess eternal life we must be in communion with the
Lord. KNOWING HIM is eternal life. He is eternal life. If we are connected to HIM,
we are plugged in to life. That word for 'know' in this Scripture is one that implies
intimacy and familiarity as with a husband and wife. There is a point we reach in
our life with God, and everyone who will be saved has to reach this point-at the
leading of the Holy Spirit-will it be your life or Mine? Which one do you want? I've
led you, I've taught you, I've shown you great and mighty things you couldn't have
known otherwise, and it's time for you to make a decision. Are you going to the
cross, and let self die or are you going to continue to hold tight to self? There is
more I want to show you, there's greater places I want to take you, but I can't take
you any further until self is dead.

If we choose self, we must remember there is a precious and divine life in a born
again person-that is the life of Jesus Christ.

Go back with me to Jerusalem, when Christ was ministering. He moved among His
own, healing the sick, opening blinded eyes so they could see. Some blinded eyes
had never seen before, but He was able to give sight where none had ever been. He
was able to make him who had never walked before walk. He was able to loose the
tongue in the mouth that could not speak and unstop the ears that could not hear.
He was able to restore life where it had gone. He was able to cure the most horrible
of diseases-leprosy. He ministered truth, and He ministered love and He
ministered life. He was a walking Miracle in their presence. He taught truth, and
showed no respect of persons. His life was a rebuke to the religious who wanted
His power but were unwilling to sacrifice self to have it. They must hold on to their
position and perceived authority, they must hold on to their ambitions and power.
He was a threat to all that and so they crucified Him. He did not operate in secret.
He openly taught in their synagogues and in the temple. He said anyone who is
thirsty, who has had their fill of empty religion, come to Me! He offered them
eternal life and they rejected Him, in favor of their religion and earthly life. They
would not give up their right to operate independently in the present time so they
could have HIM in eternity. They killed Him, and the life He offered them they
rejected.

Now, this isn't a situation where many are damned forever. There were those who
helped crucify Him, that afterward, they repented. Jesus prayed from the cross
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." When the Holy Ghost came at
Pentecost, many were saved who helped crucify Him, according to Peter (Act_2:36,
Act_4:10). But the religious crowd weren't among them. Those who refused to hear
the truth and shut their hearts and ears to it were lost. The praise of men, position
and personal comfort were more important. Their god was their belly-self.

Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter
 and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Peter has just finished preaching to these people. He's told them what they did was
wicked. He showed them through the Scriptures under the anointing of the Holy
Ghost, who Jesus Christ was and how they killed Him with wicked hands. Under
the conviction of the Spirit, they recognized and accepted the truth. What must we
do? they asked. Repentance is changing your mind about what you previously
thought, to turn from your ways and thoughts to His. True repentance is hating
what you were, hating your sins, because now you see them in the light of truth in
all their ugliness, and turning from sin, and accepting His forgiveness. Moving in
the opposite direction, away from darkness to light. (Joh_14:6, Joh_8:12 )

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Repent-turn from what you are to what He is. Do it because He, by His Name-His
character, His authority, has granted you this opportunity. Do it in His Name, by
His character and authority, for the freedom and pardon and deliverance of sin.
You will be given liberty, freedom so that sin shall no longer rule your life. Your
sins will be pardoned, and you will be delivered-rescued from them. Then receive,
take, get a hold of the gift of God He is offering you, the gift of the Holy Ghost. He
will come into your life and give you power to turn from what is wrong to what is
right. He will teach you and guide you into all truth. He will make Christ real to
you and in you. This promise, the divine assurance of this Gift, is for you and for
your children, and to all those He calls, or invites to take part or share in His life.

He is the Bride groom-searching for a Bride. Come share My life. Give Me your life
and I'll give you Mine. Give Me your rags and I'll give you My righteousness. Give
Me your weakness and I'll give you My strength. Give Me your sins and failures
and I'll forgive them and make you My Beloved. Just as a husband wants to share
His time, His life, and His Body with His wife, He wants to make children with her,
confide His heart to her, so does Jesus Christ with His Bride. So many don't realize
when they come under conviction what they are being invited in to. They don't
realize they are being invited by the Lord of glory to share His life. To forsake the
natural and partake of the Supernatural. Let Him be their life. What an invitation.
This is what some have said no to. They see where the Holy Spirit is leading them
and they understand, but somehow they buy into the lie of the devil that they can
stay right where they are, and not go on with the Lord any further and remain
okay. In staying put, they get deceived into thinking they can just make up for it
by doing more for God, but from the point they stop moving with the Spirit, they
start operating in the flesh and that will lead to destruction.

Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live.

We do not owe self anything, we are no longer in bondage to it, we have been freed
from the dominion of sin and self. But if we continue to live to please self, we will
die. That new life He birthed in us will be crucified yet again, by someone
unwilling to part with self and self rule. But if we turn ourselves over to the Holy
Spirit, and allow Him to crucify that part of us that doesn't want to yield, that
wants to run things, we will live. How does this work? We daily choose to deny
what we are, we reject what we are and turn from looking at ourselves constantly
and turn to HIM and embrace everything He is and focus on HIM not ourselves.
It's a daily thing-a daily turning away from weak and carnal self, to the glorious
Lord Jesus Christ who sits King of Kings and Lord of Lords and has all power. It's
HIS life, His power, His Word, His government of our lives to which there shall be
an increase.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne
of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Once we surrender to Him, the leadership of our lives is His responsibility. What a
load off our shoulders. Our problems become His. Our weakness, our failures, our
flaws, He is the answer to each one. There is nothing too hard in our little lives for
this great God to fix. He's everlasting. He is our peace, our wisdom, our ever
present Help, regardless of what the trouble is. Of the increase of His government
of our lives there shall be no end. He will take over every part of our lives. He will
govern and rule us with righteousness and we will be happy. He is fair and just
and His commands are not grievous. He will build us up on the Rock, and we will
not fall. There is no safer place to be. Regardless of suffering or hardship, heaven
is where He is. If we abide in Him, we will not be shaken or moved, regardless of
what calamity comes. When fear hits us, we have a refuge. We have HIM. He
wants to share His love and life with us. We are fools if we do not drop everything
and run to Him.