KEY SCRIPTURE: John 6:70 KJV “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

We learnt in our previous study that Judas did not repent from his path of greed. The Lord described him as a devil. Why did Judas go that way?

 Judas although he followed Jesus, had his flesh as his Lord and master.

Judas played a lip service to the Lord Jesus, yet his heart held its allegiance to his flesh. There are many today who claim to follow Jesus, but have not been free from this age long master, the flesh. Phil 3 :18

 Let’s consider the work of Christ that brought us salvation. Our Lord Jesus died to free us from Satan and his tool the flesh. During our birth into the family of God, we confessed that Jesus is our Lord. By this declaration we break away from the rule of that tool of Satan, that is the flesh.

 If the individual makes the confession that Jesus is his Lord yet did not mean what he said, and so lives continually after the flesh then he was not converted at the first instant.

The conversion process begins with believing in our heart that Jesus died and resurrected, and then confess that Jesus is our Lord. Rom 10:9,10

When a person confesses that Jesus is the Lord over his life, it is implied that he has denounced every other lord including the flesh. This point must always be made clear to all prospective converts.

 Salvation among other blessings means death to self.

Gal 5:24 KJV ” And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  ” The fall of man in the garden of Eden, was a takeover by the senses of man, the flesh.

 The flesh or self is fundamentally not the body but a consciousness within him that has longings or appetites that functions outside the influence of Christ and his word.

A man who is truly free has subjected those longings and appetites totally to the influence of Christ and the Word of God (Col 3:5). Judas did not subject his appetites to the influence of the word of God, and so became an instrument of the devil.

THOUGHT:  A CRUCIFIED MAN, IS REALLY A FREE MAN.  EVERY CHRISTIAN IS ALREADY CRUCIFIED, JUST ACKNOWLEDGE IT

FURTHER STUDIES

Rom 6:11 KJV “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Rom 6:6 KJV” Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”