“To you it was granted, for the sake of Christ, not only to have faith in Him but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29).
The judicial working of God involves death to the self; the old man must die if the new is to live. All born again believers share in the death of Christ and can have new life in Him, and only in Him. That is redemption.
But the Cross also is meant to apply in sanctification, only it is our cross upon which our sanctification must be worked out, slaying the evil nature and freeing us from its power.
We must assume our cross voluntarily, as did Christ His. “If anyone wishes to come after Me he must deny himself and take up his cross each day and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The verb “deny” is in the imperative, it is not an option if the intention of following Him is to be achieved; it is however, something that each one must choose to do himself. No-one can force you to take up your cross; no-one forced Jesus. He took it up willingly in obedience to the plan for man’s redemption and salvation worked out with the Father before the foundation of the world.
If redemption is to lead to salvation we too, must willingly embrace our cross and on it deal with our fallen nature, crucifying the old man every day so as to allow the new man to live in Christ Jesus. This is the privilege offered to all those born again under the new covenant; to have the means to deal with the old man and his fallen nature, which the Law did not provide, and to follow after the Lord of Glory by walking in faithful obedience to the will of God.
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