Ger-09 Dead and Crucified With Christ — Art Katz

Lazarus and the Glory of Resurrection

It's too holy a thing for man to contrive. This point of death and resurrection, beyond doctrine, as event, is something that God has to perform. I had one thought. It was about Lazarus himself. We don't give him sufficient consideration.

What did it mean for him to be the instrument through which God's glory was revealed? This was the consummating event of Jesus' ministry on earth. Once Lazarus came forth from death, it was finished. The things were set in motion which resulted in the death of Jesus himself.

It was necessary then for the nation that one man die. It was necessary then for the nation that one man die. This kind of precedent could not be allowed to continue. This example could not be allowed to continue.

Resurrection as an Offense to Religion

Resurrection is the ultimate offense against all that is religious. When you demonstrate that, you bring the fury of hell on your head. Far better to only consent to the doctrine than to demonstrate it.

That demonstration is intolerable in the world, and especially not to religions. We stand tonight at a dangerous threshold, a Jordan of crossing over. I will not blame you if you choose not to cross. You're not required.

But I want you to know that it's a real cross. Here's the thought that I had. Can anyone really call Jesus Lord who is not totally dependent upon God for his very life, who is actually bound up in the rock, like Lazarus, in grave clothes, with your face covered?

You can't see. You can't speak. Your hands bound. You can't do. Your feet bound. You can't move till he speaks. We have come to that. He is the Lord over all. Lazarus was willing without explanation. That's suffering.

And if it's a death without suffering, it's not a death. It's a mock. It's a game. And no explanation of why his friend did not come without any assurance of anything. Even his sister said, he will rise again on the last day.

They had the correct doctrine, but they did not have the correct understanding of Jesus himself. Who is the resurrection and the life. And can call us forth out of our tomb at any time. Isn't that what Paul says?

Union With Christ and Resurrection Life

We are dead and hid with Christ in God until his life is revealed. Then our life is revealed also. Of course, that is our life. The resurrection life of God is. This is a devotional daily reading by Andrew Murray.

And on April 21st, which I believe is the date of Israel's anniversary as a nation. There is this reading. Christ our righteousness. Let's sink into your hearing. Because what is our life but the deepest necessity to buy it to establish our own righteousness.

Christ Our Righteousness and the End of Self-Reliance

To make Christ your righteousness is sheerest death. This is why he was crucified. This was his threat to the Jewish nation. A nation determined to establish its own righteousness. By its own merit. By its own ability.

To take that privilege away from a man. We can suffer anything else from God but don't let him take that. The establishing of our own justification of our own being is for the Jews. And he quotes the verse from Romans 3 .24.

Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This deserves days of consideration together. His grace. What is the phrase that Paul most frequently uses? In Christ. In Christ.

In him I live and move and have my being. And yet we continue to congratulate Paul. For his courage. His ability. His faithfulness. And have missed the entire point. The glory of Paul is Christ. All that Jesus would have done had he continued to live on the earth and serve on the earth.

The Apostolic Life as Christ Living in His People

Was equally performed by Paul. For it was Jesus continuing to live. No longer in his own body. But in Paul. For Paul was in him. And the life of Paul was the life of Christ. His wisdom. His speaking. His understanding.

It's the apostolic glory. Because it's the apostolic life. The resurrection life of Christ. Totally in possession of the man. Who can say with complete literalness. For me to live is Christ. What hinders us.

Also to say that. And also so to live. One thing only. We are not as totally yielded to Christ as Paul. We don't want to be dead and hid in Christ. Until his life is revealed. We don't want to be justified freely by his grace.

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Through the redemption that is in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 24. To those who call themselves Jews like the Greeks. Christ. God's power and God's wisdom.

Christ as the Power, Wisdom, and Fullness of God

The fullness of the Godhead is in him bodily. All that pertains to life and godliness. Is in him. He is the power of God. He is the wisdom of God. And we'll not have either of these. Except to the degree that we have him.

Or more correctly to the degree that he has us. Listen to the way I'm speaking. Don't miss the point of this. God is not just proclaiming, he's demonstrating. Do you think I prepared this message while you were out eating?

It was hopeless. Too complicated. Too deep. Too significant. Logic of what is unfolding. I myself am astonished. This is the Lord it says. But Arthur it sounds so much like you. But what do you want, an echo chamber?

Thus sayeth the Lord. Of course it's going to sound like me. But the life of it. The vitality. The content. Is him. And why does God do it that way? Verse 29 of the same chapter. That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Divine Glory and the Death of Human Ambition

You are wise not to congratulate me. For anything of the ministry of these days. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God has made unto us wisdom. Righteousness.

Sanctification. Redemption. All. That according as it is written. He that glories let him glory in God. But it means the end of your ambition. When you think you should be married. And to whom you think you'll be married.

It's no wonder you're privileged. You're dead. You have no rights. No future. No hope. Trust him. And will it be all the same to you? Whether there is a husband or not. You're to save for me to live is Christ.

He is so totally your life. So totally your satisfaction. So totally your purpose. That if he insists that you have a husband. Then you will reluctantly agree. Because the Lord said so. But you have no desire for yourself.

This is not a Christianity for the multitudes. But the end thereof is glorious. If God gives the husband. That is blessed. And heavenly. What is it to be priestly? To come to the place where it's all the same.

To have or not to have. To serve or not to serve. To be in the rock or to be out of it. To be in the rock or out of it. In sickness or in health. In life or in death. If it glorifies God. Most Christians have a faith in justification.

Justification and the God Who Raises the Dead

But they fail sadly. Because they do not know. Do not in full faith yield themselves to Christ. To maintain his life in them. They know the God who justifies the ungodly. But they do not yet know the God who quickens the dead.

In whose life alone there is strength and fullness of blessing. To live in him and to grow up in him. That in all things he might be the head. Count all things but lost for Christ. Was the key of Paul's life.

And it must be ours. If we are to share fully in the power of his resurrection. How little the church understands this. Christ claims the whole heart and the whole life. This is the law of the kingdom.

It is unchangeable. All things lost. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. To live as those who are not their own. But holy is. On the first night the Lord spoke to us about entering the veil.

Entering the Veil Through the Cross

He bid us enter. He had rent the veil over the holiest place. And we were invited to enter by the blood of the lamb. A new and living way. And by faith we came. And yet for some of us it was a disappointment.

But we came by faith. We did not seem to experience the sense of God's presence. What failed? Had he mocked us? Did he bid us to come and we came by faith? And yet did not sense the joy of his presence?

What's the problem? That though his veil is rent. Our veil is not. There's a veil in many. A very tender tissue. Because it's pain. It's pleasant. But it's not yet glorious. Not yet intimate. Not yet open.

Spirit to spirit. There's a veil of the self life. Tozer calls it the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on. Veil. Uncrucified and unrepudiated. Undismissed. It has never been brought to the cross.

The Self-Life as a Barrier to Spiritual Life

And it is an effective block to our spiritual life. It is a tissue that is made up of the self life. Self righteousness. Self pity. Self confidence. Self sufficiency. Self love. Self self self self self.

You know what the remarkable thing is? This is not just for the carnal and the materialistic. This is not just for the materialistic. There's no place where self has greater opportunity to be established and to be strengthened than in the religious life.

And purports to be for Christ. And to do for him. He says it can live on unrebuked at the very altar of God. It can fight for the faith of the reformers. And preach eloquently. Even the desire to be crucified with Christ.

By our own effort. Ironically strengthens self. The same God that renteth the veil from the temple needs to rent. From top to bottom. It's a work of God. A work of destruction. But will we invite him to do it?

Will we allow the cross to do its deadly work? If we don't experience this as suffering. We mock God. And we make this the worst of all deceptions. By playing with the theme of crucifixion. And still keeping our self-life at the same time.

The Cross as an Actual Work of Death

It's painful for God to touch this. And to deny that is to deny the cross. And to make it no death design to perform. And to fully have our life in him. We must not be satisfied with the doctrine about it.

But invite the experience of it. That this work might be done. From it comes the resurrection and the glory. For Jesus. For Paul. For Israel. For us. We have come to a moment in the divine history. When something is being required of us that is ultimate.

The work of the cross in fact. And no mere satisfaction with the doctrine alone. Something must be rent and torn. If we are to move Israel to jealousy. If they are to see the glory and the power. The shekinah glory and the radiance of God.

Through those who are. Where there is no veil that separates them. The deepest relation. And that's the point where we are now. Jesus gave himself up freely as an offer. Without spot to God. This cannot be required of you.

It must be freely given. To invite the work of the cross in your life. And this is what I am seeing in these days. By the preaching of this message on Ezekiel 37. In the finest churches in America. In Nashville, Tennessee.

The Cross in Impressive but Self-Reliant Churches

Or in New Zealand. Impressive churches. There the work of the cross was most powerful. Because they had the most to give up. Their success. Based on their own abilities. Which was impressive. Like dead men.

They didn't just fall on the floor. They dug into the floor. To give up them. And what will you be after. An automaton. A mechanical robot. Under the dictate of God. Or more truly yourself than you have ever been.

In the full life and power of God. For this people God has reserved his holiest work. For they alone can be trusted with it. Even to speak his word. As very God himself. And this alone will bring Israel from its grave.

One Body and One Word for Israel

God didn't need us. The God who brooded over the chaos and spoke. Let there be light. Let there be this. Let there be that. And there was. Could he not have done the same over Israel? Yes. But he chose to speak it through us.

As one body. In a true corpus. That is more than some ecumenical work. That itself is the work of the cross. Are you such a people tonight? One people. One body. Of one mind. Of one heart. Of one soul.

One agreement. One speaking. No. There are pockets of individualism. Self will. Opinion. We're not yet that people. And nor can we be it. Except by that work. The cross. To everything that is selfish, vain.

Self will. Rebellious. Opinionated. God has got to deal. That we might be that one people. And speak that one word. In that one agreement. That makes it the word of life. To a nation that is completely dead.

And cannot help itself. And waits for that word alone. Through such a people. The Lord is inviting you. How far are you willing to go. With him. What is the extent of your. To be an impressive fellowship.

Or a glorious. And now the Lord waits for you. Your word. Your willingness. To invite his work. For the rending of your veil. It's a pity that you have to die. I myself am impressed with you. I would not have asked more.

Surrendering Every Future and Intention to God

And find you impressive and delightful. But we are called to more. So settle it with the Lord. How far are you willing to go. The giving up of your own life. Your own future. Your own hope. Your own design.

Your own intention. Even for God. And bring everything into that. And trust that because he lives you will live also. And out of that life to call Israel to life. Is our calling. For his glory. Nothing withheld.

That last thing that we clutch. And will not give up. Take it now. Let your cross do its work. Have for yourself sons and daughters. Who are wholly yours. Whose lives are not their own. Fill them with your glory.

Crucified With Christ and Raised to Newness of Life

Let your radiant light shine. Let Israel be saved. By this demonstration. Of the life of its God. Through these vessels. Bless them. In this holy transaction. That is not to be taken back. Once and for all.

Possess us to the uttermost. Crucified with Christ. That we might be raised with him. When we come up off of this floor. And from this place of death. To a newness of life. That is no longer self-conscious.

Spiritual. In the self-conscious way. Totally free. Flowing. By the love of God. Through his life. To each other. The true koinonia. And the true witness. Hallelujah. Thank you for the cross. That it works.

That it avails. It's not just a symbol. A metaphor. It works. Unto death. For all who will yield unto it. That they might be crucified with Christ. And thereby raised with him. Hallelujah. Work your work, Lord.

Even now. Break up in the deeps. Loose these children. From powers that have victimized them. Exploited them. Intimidated them. Out of fear. Out of the necessity to establish themselves. To be found acceptable by men.

Destroy it. That they might be free. Call them forth out of their tomb. Into life fully. For God. Hallelujah. Shabbat shalom.