Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Paul's epistle to the Galatians. Galatians chapter 2, and reading
from our text, verse 20, there's a specific clause in that verse
that is upon my spirit. Verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. As life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. Galatians 2 verse 20, and specifically
the words, the life which I now live in the flesh. The best witness of a work of
grace of the faith of God's elect is a life. a life that is lived. A person might be able to give
a verbal or written testimony, and it might be a wonderful testimony,
but if their life does not answer for that, it makes it to be an
empty testimony. There might be those who, if
you ask them, Can you give a testimony? Can you tell where the Lord began
with you? They might not be able to say
much at all. And yet if you look at their
lives, their whole life shows the reality of a change and that
which answers to God's work. The Apostle Paul was not just
a preacher. He was one that lived. He says, be ye followers of me
as I also am of Christ. In our reading there in Acts
where he welcomed the opportunity to give his testimony, to speak
of those things that were done that then shaped his whole life. And he was able to say, and no
doubt with great feeling, when the king said, almost, thou persuadest
me to be a Christian, that he would not be just almost, but
altogether. And he doesn't say altogether
a Christian or altogether a believer, but he wants him to be like him. to be possessed of the same blessings. What a test of our walk, our
conduct and our life. It's a searching word, isn't
it? Could we go to someone, someone in this village, someone that
we work with and say, I desire, I pray that you might have the
same life that I live. that you would be in my shoes. And the apostle, he added, accept
this chain. With all of the people of God,
there is something in their lives, some crook in the lot, some tribulation
that they wouldn't wish upon anyone else. Very often the Lord
is using those things. Because in me shall there be
peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. So in some
ways it's inseparable. Paul had the thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan, to buffet him. He would not wish that on
anyone else. But if it wasn't for that, he
wouldn't know the grace of God, which was given him to bear it,
of which he said, I will glory then in my infirmities. that the grace of God might rest
upon me. In this situation, before King
Agrippa, he did have a chain, he was imprisoned. But his desire was that those
that heard him would be followers. Could those that hear us be followers? Are there things that they see
that we want them to follow us, to emulate? to copy, that we
be an example. It's a big test of the reality,
isn't it? How would we answer if we each
would have to have a bit of paper and write down the life that
I now live in the flesh as the heading? What would you and I
put underneath it? And there's the implication that
there's a life that we now live, but there's a life that we once
did live, but that we don't live anymore. And that was certainly
true of the Apostle Paul. We'll want to look at three points,
and hopefully in these points we'll cover the rest of this
verse of which our text is a part. And the first is a life once
lived. And the second is a death already
passed through. And the last point is a life
now lived. Each point I know to divide really
into two. One is looking at our Lord Jesus
Christ and the other at Paul or at us. And so our first point,
a life once lived. I want to think of this first
in the Apostle Paul. We read in the portion where
he gives his testimony that he's able to say that the Jews that
knew him before, they would testify how he lived. They knew what
he was doing, hailing men and women to prison. They knew how
that he had the clothes of those that were stoning Stephen laid
at his feet, a young man's feet. He would have heard all what
Stephen testified. He would have heard also how
he testified of seeing the Lord in heaven, waiting to receive
him, standing. And of course Paul was to have
a vision very similar in his conversion. But he speaks of
what he wants. Now one point to make, and it
is applicable especially to those of us that have been brought
up under the truth, The Apostle Paul was not an irreligious person. He wasn't an atheist. He wasn't a God-hater. He was a person that did not
believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. He speaks of
how diligent he was and what zeal he had in the religion of
the Jews. And he thought that he was doing
God's service in persecuting those that called upon the name
of Jesus Christ. How easy it is to be in a religion,
in a denomination, having a name to live and yet be dead, think
that we are well, think that we are saved, think that being
amongst God's people is equal to being God's people, and think
that by our good works, our diligence, in attending, in reading the
Word, that these are good enough, that these make up for the failures
and faults that we have, that God will take and accept of our
righteousness. All often, refers to that which
he had learned at the feet of Gamaliel. Those things he learned,
no doubt, were greatly used when he was converted. But unconverted,
they were useless to him. They were even a hindrance to
him. Is it perhaps even the knowledge of some of you here of the Scriptures,
blessed as it is, something to thank God for it, that may be
a mask that is masking the fact that actually you are not called,
you are not saved, you do not have saving faith, you are still
the same as when you were born, you still continue in the same
way. Can we say, if we think, that
we have a life that answers to the life of God's people, that
is a life that we once lived that is different to what we
live now? Or can we say, well, I trusted
that the life I'm living now is a faith that you can't point
to any change and any difference at all. No new birth, no change. may be a concern if that is the
case, because the Apostle Paul, and I believe all of God's people,
they will know that they were born in sin, and shapen in iniquity,
and there was a time that they did not know the Lord. A life once lived, Paul would
say, in my sin, religious yes, but still in sin. Well the next under this same
first heading, a life once lived, is Christ's life on earth among
sinners. Really the foundation of the
hope of all the Church of God. A life once lived, never a life
like that. When there was one comes there,
Lord Jesus Christ, and said to him, good master, what things
shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said, why? Callest thou
me good. There is only one good, that
is God. That man wasn't acknowledging
his God. And Lord Jesus makes it very
clear. There is only one good, and that
is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel,
God with us. We beheld His glory, the glory
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. A life once lived. How vital that the eternal Son
of God should come to this earth. He lives eternally. He ever lived. He is the eternal God. The Apostle
Paul here is saying, the life that I lived in the flesh. Our dear son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ lived in the flesh. Here below, he was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He says, how long shall I suffer
you? How long shall I be with you?
He endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and
we have to consider that, lest we be wearied and faint in our
minds. But what a vital truth, the Son
of God did come, was made of a woman and made under the law,
and He dwelt on this earth, subject to His parents, as a babe growing
up. brought to ministry, brought
to be tested in the wilderness, in the temptations of Satan,
brought to be proved that he was to be a nail in a sure place,
that he couldn't, like Adam, be tempted to sin, that Satan
had no part in him and couldn't have a part in him. He was the
spotless Lamb of God. God manifests in the flesh. A life once lived. What an amazing thing that here
upon this earth that we live, the Son of God lived. And He
walked this earth. He knew its cold, He knew its
heat. He knew men and sinners to mingle
amongst them. He heard their blasphemies. He
heard all that they said. He saw what they did. He lived
here below, and here below is where He wrought that salvation
for His people. But under this point, I just
want to emphasize it, bring this, that we might really realize
when we are talking about a life that we are to live, remember
how Lord Jesus Christ lived here below. We might say, oh, I would
live a much better life if I didn't have all these influences around
me, if I didn't have this or that happen. Our Lord was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knew what it was to
be persecuted by his own people, to be deserted, to be falsely
accused, to have his name blasphemed, to have his truths twisted, to
have those come against him and try to trip him up and to lay
wait for him. He knew all of these things. Paul in Hebrews makes it clear
that he endured these things that he might be a sympathising
high priest over the Church of God. He knoweth our frame, he
remembereth that we are but dust, he has experienced this life,
he has lived here below. The once alive, once lived, our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ here below. Why did He come? He came to redeem His people
and He came to die a death that His people could not die. A redemptive death to save His
people. So I want to look at our second
point. A death already passed through. And this time I'm going to turn
it about and speak with the Lord Jesus first and then Paul. The
Lord Jesus Christ, a death already passed through. In this Gospel
day, we have the record of how our Lord not only lived, but
only came to do His Father's bidding, that that He was obedient
even unto death, the death of the cross. And it is for that
reason that He is highly exalted. but he walked through death.
He endured death. He endured the wrath of God for
his people's sin. There's a beautiful time in the
Old Testament with the children of Israel going from the wilderness
journey, the wilderness into the promised land. And it was
through the River Jordan. The River Jordan, it sets forth
death. that which is, like the hymn
writer says, death, like a narrow sea, divides the heavenly land
from ours. For when the children of Israel
came to Jordan, then they were commanded to put a distance,
a large distance, between them and the ark of God carried by
the Levites. Of course, the ark would have
had the veil draped over it. It always did when it was carried,
not open. in full side light off and picture. And that arc was to go before
them, and the distance was that everyone would see it. You know,
if you've got a crowd, and you've got someone very close to that
crowd, many people in the crowd wouldn't be able to see that
person. They would just, those ones in
the front row would see, but not those that were further back.
But if you had someone that then went a long way away, everyone
in that crowd would be able to look, and they'd be able to see
that person. And in that way, the Lord clearly
shows Himself going into death. As the feet of the Levites touched
the river, then it was stopped up, and the dry land, so the
children of Israel could go through to the Promised Land. And they
were to see that it was through the ark, through the type of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that there was a way through death, where
death is abolished, where it is that there is life instead
of death, but it is the Lord passing through. And what is
beautiful about that, the ark, it stayed in the midst of Jordan. And as the Israelites went by,
Every one of them would have seen it very close up as they
went through death. We might like to think that the
Lord would give us grace to face death before it comes. But the
Lord gives dying grace in a dying hour. And we see Him in that
valley of the shadow of death. And it is a shadow because the
Lord has abolished death. He's taken it away. for his people. We read of Stephen, he fell asleep. The Lord's dear people have the
Lord go before them. In fact, it's emphasised in another
way, John 14, where the Lord says that I go to prepare a place
for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. The Lord doesn't
say to his people, come to me. He says, I will come again and
receive you. In one sense, with Noah and the
ark, it was come thou into the ark. The Lord was in the ark
and he bade Noah to come into the ark. But in death, when the
Lord will bring his people home, he comes for them. He appears
for them and he brings them home. That is the picture in John 14.
And so with our Lord, a death already passed through. O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? For the first time, the only
time, that there is one that went down into that grave and
came out of it by his own power, and by the power of the Spirit,
and by the power of the Father. The Lord raised people from the
dead, but they died again later on. They didn't raise themselves. There was no benefit in their
rising to anyone else. But here is the Lord's spotless,
no sin in him, no reason that he should have died, no cause
in him. And so death had no power against
him. that was already passed through. May that be really a comfort,
a help, as we go on. We know that each of us must
come to death. We must see it, or perhaps if
it's taken instantly, we may not even see it. It may come
so suddenly. We must pass through it and to
view death already passed through. We've seen it with our parents
and grandparents and many we've seen pass away and go through
death. We've been at their bedside,
we've seen them breathe their last on a solemn occasion. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
done it for his people and he's done it to rise again. And the witness of it is in every
Gospel and in the Acts. Only many that witnessed the
Lord rising from the dead and appearing. Where is the strength
of death? Where is the victory? The Lord
has gained the victory for His people. It's so important to
realize He laid down His life for the sheep. It wasn't separate
from the people of God. It was united with them. And we'll see that a little bit
later. But now I want to think of Paul. The Apostle Paul. A death already passed through. Before this time here that he
is testifying how that he is crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. He is saying, I am crucified
with Christ. In other words, really, he is
still in death in one sense. But there is a death that he
passed through, and he describes this. in Romans, Romans chapter
7, that which changed all of his
self-righteousness and all of his previous life. This is really
a separate testimony to what we read in Acts 26. Because he says, I was alive,
this is Romans 7 verse 9, I was alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. I died. The commandment which
was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. The law of God was
given that all the world might be brought in guilty before God. And if we are guilty, then we
are under the sentence of death. The law was not given that men
might obey that law, Yes, it is given for men to obey, but
not to obtain salvation by that obedience. It is to show us that
we cannot obey. And that's why when we read the
Old Testament, and you read some of the laws, you think, how can
they ever live without being unclean? How can they ever live
without being guilty? In everything that they did,
there was sin. You couldn't wade away between
it. And he's meant to be like that. He's meant to cut off all
hope. Paul says the law is a schoolmaster
unto Christ. It's to teach us that we have
broken the law, we cannot fulfill the law, and we need to look
to Christ who has fulfilled the law and has made it honorable. In Romans 10, the first part,
Paul pictures those of his countrymen who did not know this, they were
like he was once. Ignorant of God's righteousness,
going about to establish their own righteousness with a distinct
aim to get better and to be approved of God and to live lives that
were praiseworthy and got them to heaven. Paul says they'll
never get to heaven that way. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. How perfect, how pure, how holy,
how spotless is the requirement of the righteousness of God to
enter into heaven. That is provided by our Lord
Jesus Christ. But Paul explains this of how
he was slain. And Lord, only use one commandment. Some people think, well, conviction
of sin needs to be a general thing, feeling all sin. Now we do feel sinned, but it
is when it comes, even even one point, who so is guilty of one
point, is guilty of all. And the apostle just had one,
one commandment, thou shalt not covet. And he brought in him
all manner of evil concupiscence, evil desires. And that one sin,
was made to be so much a sin as brought him to be condemned
to death. He was trusting in his righteousness,
he was trusting he'd get to heaven by his works, and the Lord shows
him one sin that he's confessed against that unravels his whole
plan of salvation. And he's brought him before God
as dead, as crucified. buried with him by baptism into
death, that we might be risen again in newness of life. How many of you know, how many
of us know something of a death experience like that? Know what
it is that the law of God condemns. Do you know when the Lord first
brought me into conviction I could read the Bible from cover to
cover, gospel as well as law, and every page condemned me. I could only see the law. It
just stood out as if everything was condemning me. When the Lord
turned and opened my eyes and showed me the gospel and showed
Himself, then it was the other way around. I could go through
the whole Bible, the law as well, and I could even see it side-eye.
There was the Lord. There was the unbroken tables
of stone. There was the fulfilled law.
Not my broken ones, but there it was in the ark. And it so
changed how the whole word of God was seen. Goes through in
the way to a mast in all the scriptures, the things concerning
himself. But our eyes behold him, we cannot
see that. And God ordained it at first,
that we brought in guilty, and we brought in as dead. has crucified
really with Christ. And Paul says this, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Bought in debt, buried with Him. I want to look then thirdly at
a life now lived. Again, I'm going to bring our
Lord Jesus Christ in first. Our Lord rose from the dead,
left that tomb. He rose as an assurance that
there is to be a judgment day. Paul uses that as a reason that
all men are to be commanded to repent, to turn, from their sin
and unto the Lord. That is a gift of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ is exalted to give repentance, but it's vital that
we do. It's vital if we're to be saved,
there is a change that Paul is speaking of here, a life that
once was lived, a life that now he'll live. That is repentance. And the assurance is that He
hath raised Him, raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And when we think of it, what
has been done at Calvary is a judgment. Because God the Father has laid
on His Son the iniquity of all of His people. He has then punished
Him and sent the wrath of God upon Him for His people. So his people are then to be
set free and to be delivered. The death is paid. The blood
is shed. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And because of that, there's
already been part of this judgment of Almighty God saying, here
are my people, they're sinners, they're guilty. I will be surety
for them. They're like Judah with Benjamin. I will be surety for him. I will
pay their debt. I will stand in, I will take
their punishment, I will die in their place. And the Lord
has done that, and He has risen again from the dead, showing
that that transgression is accepted, the sin is put away, and then
He has ascended up into heaven. And there in heaven, as alive
in heaven, He appears in the presence of God for us, for His
people, to make intercession for them. and advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. But what of the rest? What of those that are not God's
people? When are they going to be judged?
And those that on this life despised the people of God and rejected
them and cast them out, how's that going to be put right? But in the judgment day, Then
the Lord shall say, these people are my right hand, they're sinners,
but here's my beloved son, he bore their sin. He bore the wrath
of God to put away their sin. You're my left hand. You knew
there was a God because of the creation. Many of you, you've
had the gospel preached, you've seen the lies of the people of
God, and you mocked, you ridiculed, and you turned your back, you
resisted them. And upon you shall come the wrath
of God. You trusted in your own works,
you trusted in your righteousness, but that is not my standard.
And so in that judgment, they are sent through everlasting
torments. They are sent banished under the punishment, everlasting
punishment of God. And God's people, those who despise
upon earth, are lifted up. These are my people. The Lord
speaks of those that didn't minister to his people. When shall we
be afflicted? They did not help me. When shall we leave? Prison did
not visit them. And as much as ye have not done
it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have not done it
unto me. But his people are surprised,
whence all we thee afflicted? Whence all we thee in prison
visited thee? Inasmuch as ye have done it to
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. John
says we know that we have passed from death unto life because
we love the brethren. And so in that judgment day,
the true brethren of the Lord are manifest before all the world.
And the Lord owns them as his people and that he has died for
them. And all is made just and right
at that judgment. God's dear people, their sins
are put away. The judgment is not a place where
their sins are brought before them and they're brought guilty
or they're cast away from the Lord. That judgment is here below
in a day of grace. as much as Christ here below
on this earth died for his people's sins on this earth and put away
their sin. So on this earth, in the calling
of his people, in making them dead to the law and alive unto
God, he has executed that judgment already. He has given them life
and at first slain them through the law. brought them in as guilty. So the life now lived by our
Lord is a risen one, a risen in heaven, ascended saviour. Hymn writer says he lives to
carry on his people cause above. He makes intercession for them,
we have a little insight into that in John 17. I pray that
they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. For now we must come to Paul,
a life now lived by faith. Let us read what our text says. The life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for man. Alive not in heaven, but alive
still as a sinner. Alive still with the body of
death. That's why he says again in Romans
7, the good that I would I do not, the evil that I would not
that I do, a wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? He says, if I do that which I
would not, his name will either do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. And he thanks God through Jesus
Christ that he now serves the Lord with his mind, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. A warfare here below between
that renewed spirit, a quickened soul, and the body of death. In heaven, a resurrected body,
what it shall be, where body and soul are in complete harmony
and no conflict between them at all. I want to look at this
life that the apostle lived and maybe look at it as what the
life of the people of God should be. a life that we now live. I want to point out something.
Some of you may be tempted to go to different versions of the
Bible. One of those might be the ESV. Well, in our text, and in another
verse as well, we have a very difference between our Bible
and the ESV. In our text, he says I live by
the faith of the Son of God. The word that is spoken here,
it is not faith in the Son of God, but I live by the faith
of the Son of God. And then we have in verse 16,
and we have it twice in that verse, knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. And each time the of in the ESV,
it says in, by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law. Now, what's the difference
you say? Well, in the original Greek,
The word of is always translated either of, or out of, or from,
or by, and he's pointing that this faith is coming from the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a duty faith that we're
supposed to have been born with that we're exercising on Jesus
Christ. The apostle is making it very
clear. The Lord Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of
our faith. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It comes from God. And that's
how just changing one word, changing of to in, and yes it is, we do
have faith in Jesus Christ, but the message here is not that.
It's a living, on the faith of, that comes from the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is vital. Don't ever
think that you can just pick up any version and, yes, it's
going to be all right. You can change just even a column. You can be a Roman Catholic and
you can read what the Lord said to the dying thief. Our versions
will say verily, verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. Roman Catholics move the comma
one word. Verily, verily, I say unto thee
today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. And there's a gap
between today and being with the Lord in paradise. There's
paragraphy they say. But you put the comma in the
right place and you've got the right message. Comparing scripture
with scripture is very important. And so the apostle here, he is
living by that faith that the Lord had given him. And that's
why he imparts it here, and to the Ephesians as well, that this
is how we live. And one aspect of it, of course,
is faith in Jesus Christ. The first aspect of that faith
will be relying on the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God, and the word won't profit us
unless it be mixed with faith, and that faith then comes from
heaven. So a life that is now lived,
if you and I are living this life, the apostles, we're living
it governed by the word of God. Order my footsteps by thy word. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. That will be one aspect of living
a life now that is of the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The second will be a trusting
in Christ's Word, His sufferings, His death, the redemption on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope and trust is alone upon
that. He says here very clearly that
It is a life in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. There is his hope. There is what faith points to
Christ, our only hope. Another aspect of it is that
by using faith, by living by faith, day by day, that we are
delivered out in how we face the challenges, the trials of
the way, how we trust in God's guidance in the way, and each
day that we walk in that way to be strengthened in seeing
the Lord's hand going before. Oh may, the Lord said to Moses,
all my goodness pass before thee in the way. The Lord says, as
a good shepherd, he put forth his sheep, he goeth before them. We taste that the Lord is gracious,
and with that faith that he gives, is that trusting in, like we
had this afternoon, the Lord's plan, the Lord's management,
the Lord's guiding. We might not understand the way,
we might not understand what the Lord is doing, What I do
there knows not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. But it
is trusting, that is what faith is. And may that be an aspect
of our lives that is like an anchor, that is like that stops
us from completely falling or sinking. And sometimes the Lord
gives those things. When my mother died in Tasmania,
we had the funeral and I went back home. I lived on my own
then. Then the very next day, after
I got back home, 250 miles away from my father, my sister rings
up and says, Dad's had a heart attack. He's been taken into
hospital. And my heart absolutely sank. And then I remember the
night before, the Lord had drawn near and He blessed my soul.
And it was just that came flooding back in. I was like, I sunk and
rested on that blessing and the help the Lord had given. And
it was a blessed thing. The Lord knows what he's going
to come across in our lives. And he gives that grace the help
in time of need. And really it's trusting him
even with a cloud between. And experience often strengthens
this, where we have proved it before, again and again. And
it helps us to enter a fresh trial with thou. He that has
helped me hitherto will help me all my journey through." And
this is his faith, a living, a life that we now live, a life
that we didn't live before when we were ignorant of faith and
didn't know the Lord or His dealings with us. He's also a faith that
is expressed in works. It was said of Abraham, that
if Abraham just had faith, when God said to offer up his son,
he would have said, well, I believe that you're able to raise Isaac
from the dead, I'm just gonna stay where I am. But he didn't. He took Isaac, he went, went
to the place God's shown him, obeyed. If he had faith, and
James says this in his epistle, faith without works is dead.
If we have real faith, it actually shows it, and in practical things. Not saying to one, be warmed
and fed, but not give them the things that they need. Just simple
things. Remember our Lord says, a cup
of cold water in the name of a disciple shall not lose his
reward. True faith works in a practical
way. What was it said of William Gadsby? Those of the Roman Catholics,
they said, we're my own priests, just neglected us, he fed us,
he clothed us. He was known to, without distinction,
help those around him where he had in his power to do. And this
is the effect of the faith that God gives. It is expressed by
actual actions, enduring tribulation. The Lord has said to his people,
in me you shall have peace. in the world you shall have tribulation,
great tribulation. And yet it is in that way that
we live a life and those around us might think, how do you continue? How do you keep going? But there
is that secret. Funyun had it in his interpreter's
house. There is the fire that is flaming
and there's water being thrown on it. The fire doesn't go out.
Why doesn't it go out? Behind the wall one was pouring
on oil. There's a secret. life and source
of fuel for that fire. And the Lord secretly gives that. He gives that help for his people. And so Paul says he lives, yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. So living with that hope. unassured
to an expectation of heaven, living with a dependence upon
God, underneath of the everlasting arms, depending upon Him, leaning
hard upon Him, to whom else can we go? Says the Apostle. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. It's a blessed thing to be brought
to know the Lord, and to know He is our help, He is our guide
even unto death, and He is our shepherd, a good shepherd, and
that we live our lives looking unto Him, trusting Him, coming
up like in the Song of Solomon, out of the wilderness, leaning
upon our Beloved. This is the people living a life
like the Apostle says, I am crucified with Christ, to the world, dead
unto sin, though sin lives in me and will rise its head. Yet
it is a slow crucifixion, a slow and painful death. And those
people who struggle with the corruptions in their own heart
and their sins, they know it's a slow and painful death. But
death that puts an end to life will also put an end to sin. And there's a blessed prospect
in heaven for the people of God. Answer this, the life which I
now live in the flesh, is it this life? Is it that which the
Lord has given? And is it different to our former
life? And maybe those who couldn't
have given a testimony can perhaps humbly say, my life today does
resemble that which is set forth here and is different than what
it was maybe two, three, four years ago. Sometimes we can't
see it unless you look at over a length of time. The Apostle
could see it, maybe in a day there'd been a real change. Many
of God's people can't, and so over a longer period of time,
they see this gradual change, but now their life is very different
to what it was. The Lord has begun a good work.
and he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.