Sermon 1612 - Difference Between Crucifixion and Mortification - 2nd Message.....(Thu pm 8/8/1991)

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRUCIFIXION AND MORTIFICATION — 2ND MESSAGE....(THU PM 8/8/1991)
(Youth Convention) God’s Word tells us to crucify our flesh and to mortify our flesh. Therefore, it is important for us to understand that crucifixion of the flesh is what happens while one is living, whereas the mortification of the flesh is something that happens after death occurs.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ began before He was nailed to the Cross. When He was in the Garden, sweating drops of Blood, He surrendered to die there in the Garden, short of His goal if that was His Father’s Will. After He was betrayed by Judas and taken by the Pharisees and delivered unto Pilate, His head was crowned with thorns. He was beaten forty times with a cat-o’-nine-tails. They hit Him forty times, but every time they hit Him, nine stripes were made. Then they gave Jesus a Cross—His Cross. History says His back was so lacerated and opened and chewed out that the lungs could be seen, breathing. Yet, they placed His Cross upon this lacerated back. Jesus went as far as He could go; then, when He fell under the load, they compelled a black man by the name of Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ Cross up to Calvary’s Hill. What a privilege!

They nailed Jesus to His Cross, and Jesus suffered crucifixion as He hung on His Cross while He was alive. In Matthew 10:38,39, Jesus said, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” And w

ile Jesus was hanging there on His Cross, dying in order to redeem fallen man from sin, there were two thieves and two malefactors hanging on their own crosses, crosses that they had created. But of these four men, only one malefactor embraced his cross and acknowledged that he was hanging there justly and said that Jesus had done nothing amiss. Then he said, “[J]esus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). This man seized his cross and then willingly clung to it; he willingly stuck with it, and he lost his life. But the malefactor did not spend very long in Death and Hell because he came up when Jesus was resurrected. When Jesus Christ brought the overcomers up, the malefactor came up with Him. Matthew 16:24 and Mark 10:21 were also discussed in this message.