DYING TO LIVE
(mr 02/03/18)
OLUBI JOHNSON
PREACHED SUNDAY 25/02/2018
Luke 9:23 KJV: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me.
1Corinthians 15:31 KJV: I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Romans 8:10-13 KJV: And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (12) So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. (13) For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
These scriptures tell us that we are to, as a DAILY habit crucify the sin-nature and its lusts in our souls and bodies, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is ONLY by doing this that we will experience and ultimately permanently inherit the transfiguration life that is available to us in Christ as revealed through Paul in
Philippians 3:11 AMP: That if possible I may attain to the N1 spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
This victorious, transcendent, transfigured life is what we will lose IF WE DO NOT ‘DIE DAILY’.
Luke 9:24 KJV: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
The complete knowledge, understanding, wisdom and instruction of crucifying the sin-nature in the soul and body DAILY has only just been revealed to the church in its completeness and clarity in this 3rd day (knowledge prior to this time was incomplete (Lk.13.32)) and so we are about to see a first of the first-fruits company of Christians MANIFEST this victorious, transfigured life of Christ in the earth for ALL MEN to see, hence, this prophetic message to fulfill
John 2:11 KJV: This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
John 17:22-23 KJV: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Isaiah 40:5 KJV: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
John 14:12 KJV: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Ephesians 4:15 KJV: But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
By ‘dying’ in this way daily, we partake of Christ’s sufferings of self-denial and the consequent satanic attacks of persecutions and afflictions:
Philippians 3:10-11 AMP: [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] (11) That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
Mark 4:17 KJV: And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
The bodily and circumstantial satanic attacks and afflictions that we suffer accomplishes 3 things:
- They bring sorrow, which breaks our pride causing us to repent and humbly seek God’s mercy and grace to OVERCOME the afflictions as shown by
2Corinthians 7:10 NIV: Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Leviticus 26:19 NIV: I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.
Proverbs 20:30 KJV: The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.
- They give God a legal basis to eternally punish satan and his angelic and human rebels that attack us and inflict the afflictions as shown in
2Thessalonians 1:5-9 KJV: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (8) In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
- Increase our compassion for others who suffer afflictions as shown in
Hebrews 4:15 AMP: For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
So, we, just like the Lord Jesus, can have a shared feeling with others when they are being attacked with temptations and afflictions.
2Corinthians 1:3-7 NIV: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (5) For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. (6) If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. (7) And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
So then how do we ‘die daily’ practically?
We draw (Is. 12.3, Jn. 4.14) the life and power of God from the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, by cleaning with the blood (1 Jn.1.7-10, Heb. 13.20-21) through the Word (2 Pet. 1.4) and then release it daily by prayer in the Spirit with travail (Jn.7.38-39, Rom.8.26 & Eph.6.18, 1 Cor.14.2) and confession of the Word.
As we do this, God DIVERTS A SIGNIFICANT MEASURE OF THE LIFE AND POWER released for the benefit of others:
2Corinthians 4:12 KJV: So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
The measure of the life left preserves you from destruction BUT does not insulate you from SUFFERING afflictions and persecutions as shown in
2Corinthians 4:8-11 KJV: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; (9) Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; (10) Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus (by self-denial of food and sleep to give more time to prayer), that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (11) For we which live are always delivered unto death (so allowing Satanic afflictions and attacks) for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
However, it is encouraging to note that this suffering is TEMPORARY: it lasts only during the ‘two days’ of the period of your ‘preparations’ and ‘revelation’.
Once the work of humility and compassion in your soul has been completed to a sufficient degree to God’s satisfaction, God will SUDDENLY and INSTANTLY (Mal. 3.1) FILL your MORTAL body with life (2 Cor.4.10-11) on your ‘third day’ of manifestation, TRANSFORMING OR TRANSFIGURING YOU IN THIS LIFE TIME (1 Jn.4.17, Mk.10.30) so that your physical body will be like the sinless physical body of the Lord Jesus Christ through which the power of the Spirit without measure (Jn.3.34, Lk.6.19, Mt. 14.36, Lk. 8.44) can flow CONSTANTLY like it did through the physical body of the Lord Jesus (Eph. 4.12-15; Jn.17.22-23) fulfilling
1Peter 5:10 KJV: But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
So by ‘dying’ by the Spirit in the 1st ‘2 days’ of your Christian life, you will then live in your ‘3rd day’ fulfilling,
Hosea 6:1-2 KJV: Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (2) After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him.
Selah!
