Well, let us turn to the portion
of Scripture we were reading in Galatians and here in the
second chapter I want to draw your attention tonight to the
words that we find at the end of the chapter in verse 20, Galatians
2.20. I'm sure a well-known portion,
great text. I am crucified with Christ, says
the Apostle. Nevertheless I live, 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." There is certainly much in the
words that we've just read, and I expect that we will do little
more than scratch the surface of such profound truths. as Paul
is declaring here to the Galatian Church. The Church, of course,
besets by legalism. Those who wanted to bring this
Gentile Church, those associated with them, under the yoke of
the Lord of Gods, even demanding that they should be circumcised,
they must become Jews in order to be saved. And the theme that
really runs right through the epistle, of course, is Paul's
defense of the gospel of the grace of God. But here, in this
20th verse in the second chapter, the theme that I want to address
is that of the faith that unites to the Lamb. You might say the
theme is union with Christ. All our salvation is there. All
our righteousness is there. Everything that is necessary
for peace with God and acceptance is there in that union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there is of course in Scripture
the teaching of an eternal union. In Revelation we read of those
written in the Book of Life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation
of the world. And in Hebrews chapter 2, the
Apostle makes reference to the words of Isaiah 8. Isaiah there
can concerning his own children, sees them as part and parcel
of that message that he was to take to the nations. But in Hebrews 2, Paul applies
them to the Lord Jesus. Behold I and the children which
God hath given me. They are those, of course, chosen
in him. as we read in Ephesians chapter
1, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. There is an eternal union in
the doctrine of eternal election. Once in him, in him forever thus
the eternal covenant stands, says John Kent. But that union
must also be experienced in the soul of those who are the elect
so there is an experimental union and it's that that's being spoken
of really in the words that I've announced for our text this evening
and with regards to this experimental union I want us to observe two
areas there is here life and there is love and to begin with
the latter the love of Christ. Now Paul speaks of that at the
end of the verse. He speaks of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. And that really is the foundation
of all that he is declaring in the former part of the verse. The whole of what he is declaring
and asserting here stands on Christ's love and the gift that
he has made of himself. And of course the apostles speak
with one voice, John says much the same when he declares in
that first general epistle, we love him because he first loved
us. It is that love of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ that is the basis of everything the love
of the father in giving his son here in his love not that we
love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins what a remarkable love is that that he should make
his only begotten son the propitiation for the sins of his people and
all that that word propitiation involves because it reminds us
of the wrath of God and the justice of God and all of that must be
satisfied without the shedding of blood there could be no remission
of sins and whose blood is to be shed in order to the salvation
of sinners that one who is the son of the Father in truth and
in love all the love of God the Father and remember how Paul
speaks of it there in Romans 5, God commendeth his love toward
us, he said, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us. Now God's love is so remarkable
that he should not withhold his Son even his only begotten Son. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. But as we have the love of the
Father in that gift, so we also see the love of Christ. And we're
told, aren't we, as we come to those closing chapters of John's
Gospel, the beginning of chapter 13, how He loved, having loved
His own, which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. For greater loveth no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for all those that were given to him. He loved them
so great that he willingly gave himself and made the great sin
atoning sacrifice. And Paul reminds us how that
really this love is something incomprehensible. It's altogether
above and beyond our understanding or our telling. In that prayer
that we have at the end of Ephesians chapter 3, he prays that Christ
may dwell in your heart by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." What a remarkable prayer. He's asking that they
might comprehend that that is incomprehensible. that that love
of Christ might be so shed abroad in their hearts and here he speaks
in very personal terms in the text he speaks of his own experience
of the Lord Jesus Christ and how the Lord so loved him he
speaks of the Son of God who loved Mary who loved Mary and
gave himself for Mary it's a language of appropriation how personal it is it's all in
the singular, isn't it? he's not afraid, you see to declare
the intimacy of this love that he feels that the Lord Jesus
Christ bore towards him doesn't speak in just general terms but
he speaks in terms of the individual speaks of himself personally. Real religion is personal. One of the aphorisms of William
Tiptoft. He was famous for those little
sharp sayings. And that's one of them. Real
religion, he says, is personal. And so, how personal the apostle
is. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me. and gave himself for me." Here
then is the very basis of spiritual saving union with Christ. And so, having said something
of the love of Christ, the love of God, as the basis, I want,
in the second place, to look in somewhat more detail of the
life of the Christian. because that's what he's speaking
of in the text and to observe four things with regards to the
manner of the Christian's life I'm sure we could find many other
things to say but I'll just mention four things that strike me here
first of all it is evidently a spiritual life the life which
I now live in the flesh It's not his natural life that he
is speaking of, it's something distinct, something separate
from that fleshly, physical and natural life. It is new life.
It's new life. It's that that's come as the
consequence of the new birth. As the Lord Jesus makes so plain
to Nicodemus there in the third chapter of John, ye must be born
again. And what is the consequence when
there is that new birth? That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, says the Lord Jesus. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. This is what Paul is speaking
of, that spiritual life that he had received from the Lord
Jesus. And if any man be in Christ, we are told, is a new creature,
is a new creation. All things have passed away,
all things have become new. What does he say here concerning
this life? In the middle of the verse he
says, Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. All this new spiritual
life, it is the life of Christ. that is coming to the soul of
this man who has won such a proud self-righteous Harrison. He is
what Peter declares, he's a partaker of the divine nature. That's
the wondrous thing, isn't it? That life that we come into the
possession of when we are blessed in regeneration, when we know
the reality of the new birth, it's the divine life. it's a
life of God coming into the soul of a man and of course where
there is that grace of regeneration it's evidenced in faith it's a consequence of the new
birth the life of faith and by faith The child of God is nearly,
really entirely united to Christ, made one person as it were. One
person with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, where there is the
communication of that spiritual life, there's a conflict that
is inevitable really, subsequent to that new birth. The flesh
lost it against the spirit. and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these two are contrary one to the other, and ye cannot do
what ye would." What is Paul saying here in chapter 5 and
verse 17 where he writes those words? He's simply bringing out
the implication of what Christ had said back in the third chapter
of John. Christ said that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. But here under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit Paul spells out the implication how the flesh
is therefore lusting against the spirit and the spirit is
lusting against the flesh. These are contrary the one to
the other. There's a conflict going on.
And how Paul knew it so keenly so acutely as he makes clear
in the seventh chapter of Romans the good that I would I do not
he says the evil that I would not that I do and he cries out
all wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body
of this death the old nature it's like carrying a great dead
body with him wherever he goes it's not the real Paul now the
real Paul is that new man of grace Oh, he cries out that he
might be delivered. And how can he be delivered?
He thanks God through Jesus Christ. I myself, he says, serve God in the mind,
all but in the flesh. I'm serving sin. The real self
is the new self. That's what he says, he has had
spiritual life. Well that's the first thing we
can observe with regards to the life that he is speaking of.
It's spiritual life. It's the life of God in his soul.
Secondly, he speaks of it as a crucified life. He says, I
am crucified with Christ. Now that is true, representatively
of course, because of that eternal union. Christ has come as that
one who would stand as the surety of his people and answer before
God's holy law with regards to all that that law requires of
them. He will live as their surety, he will fulfill all righteousness
for them, He will honor and magnify the law of God in His obedience
to every commandment and then as their representative He will
die as their substitute. He will bear the punishment of
that law that they were the transgressors of. He is obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. I am crucified with Christ, it's
substitutionary atonement that is being spoken of. It's Christ
himself in the room and in the stead of the sinner. And he says,
doesn't he, in Romans chapter 5, concerning Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. Oh, in him we've received the
atonement, we're at one with God, reconciliation with God
has been obtained by this union. The crucified life, I am crucified
with Christ, representatively. But also, he's speaking of his experience as
an experimental crucifixion as well. Doesn't he go on to say
that much in chapter 5 and there at verse 24? They that are Christ, he says,
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. He's not just talking about something
objective, he's talking about something subjective with regards
to this crucified life. Again, look at the language that
he uses in Romans chapter 6 and there at verse 6, 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." He speaks time and again of these
things, doesn't he? The mortification of sin, the
putting to death of sin. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
11, putting off the body, the sins of the flesh, he says. and
he says it even more fully later there in that epistle to the
Colossians in chapter 3 at verse 8. He says, Now ye also put off
all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge. after the image
of him that's created here. He's speaking then quite clearly
of the necessity of crucifixion, mortification, dying to the things of the flesh.
What does he say? He's crucified with Christ. Oh, it's a mortification completely
and utterly dependent upon Christ, and His union with Christ, His
need of the Spirit of Christ. He says back in Romans 8.13,
If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the bodily, ye shall
live. It's through the Spirit. It's
not something that the child of God can do of himself in his
own strength. It's with Christ. It's in the Spirit. It's through
the Spirit. And as there is that crucifying, mortifying the deeds
of the body, so there is also the crucifixion of the world. And again, does he not go on
to speak of that in chapter 6 and verse 14? God forbid that I should
gloriously save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." His life
is a different life. It's not according to the ways and the fashions of
the world. John says, Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. All that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof. And Paul again, the familiar
words of Romans 12, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly
acceptable unto God. which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your minds, understanding what the will of
the Lord is. That's the life that they are called to then.
This is that crucified life. There's that union with Christ.
There's that that is objective about it. It's Christ who has
lived and died. For this man, all his salvation
is in Christ, his precious blood, his righteousness. But there's
also that experimental youth, evidenced in the mortification
of sin. It's a spiritual life, it's a
crucified life, and I say again, it's a paradoxical life. Isn't that what he is saying
here at the beginning? I am crucified with Christ when
Christ was crucified he died he died with Christ I am crucified
with Christ nevertheless I live he says and isn't that the life
of the Christian it's death and life it's so strange a life we're
all born dead in trespasses and sins but we know nothing of our
true condition until there is a communication of new life.
It's when the sinner is born again of the Spirit of God that
he feels what he is. He feels the deadness of his
sins. He feels all the impossibility of the life of faith because of what his natural state
is. Oh, it's a strange life, this
Christian life. as dying and behold we live he
says to those Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and
again he says I was alive without the law once or when he was a
pharisee and he thought he knew everything about the law he was
alive but then the commandment came and sin revived and I died
once the law was applied by the spirit it was not the ministration
of life it was the ministration of death and he says it time
and again right in there to the Corinthians 2nd Corinthians 4
and verse 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our flesh we have the sentence of death in ourselves he says
that we should not trust in ourselves but in God that raises the dead
all this life of God when he comes into the soul of the sinner
he feels himself to be such a riddle and a mystery it's a paradoxical
life but ultimately it says it's the life of faith I live, he
says by the faith of the Son of God. I live by the faith of
the Son of God." Well, that's the union. It's not so much the eternal union. It's
so much something that he feels in his own soul. He knows that
By dying, Christ has brought life into his soul. Because Christ
did not remain in the tomb, Christ rose again from the dead. What
is the promise of God in the Gospel? Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise. The Lord says himself,
because I live, ye shall live also. Well, this is the life of faith
then. And again, the language that
we have there in Romans 7, in the fourth verse, he says, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married
to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye
should bring forth fruit unto God all this life of faith it's
a fruitful life by their fruits ye shall know them says the Lord
and yet they're not under law the godly man is dead to the
law it's not made for a righteous man not made for the justified
sinner but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners. Those are the ones it's made
for. As he says here at verse 19, I through the Lord am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. This is the life that he's living
then. It's faith of the Son of God. I live by the faith of the
Son of God. What does that mean? Well, it
means that this faith by which he lives is of Christ. Christ is the author of it and
Christ is the object of it. He's both of those things. Where
does the faith come from? It comes from the Lord. It's
that looking onto Jesus, as he says in Hebrews 12, the author
and finisher of our faith. It's faith of the operation of
God. It's faith that's a gift of God.
By grace, i.e. say through faith and that of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. But as Christ is the one
who originates the faith, So he is also the object, he is
the object of that faith. This man, Paul, is looking to
Christ for pardon, for reconciliation, for peace, for righteousness,
for all things. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead Everything that the sinner needs is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer is complete in Christ. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
he says, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Oh, what is his life? His life
is Christ. For me to live is Christ, he
says. That's how the justified sinner
lives. And he says it, doesn't he, here
in chapter 3 and verse 11? No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. Those words of Habakkuk 2 verse
4, and words that are repeated by this apostle three times here
in the New Testament. Not only in the third chapter,
they are repeated again in Romans 1.17, and then we have it also
at the end of Hebrews 10. The just shall live by faith. The justified sinner. His life is one of complete and
utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a life
is this! It's a spiritual life. It's a
crucified life. It's a paradoxical life. It's
a life of faith, and it's rooted and grounded in the love of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, 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 may the Lord bless his
word to us let us worship God as we sing the hymn 233 I'll
read the first two verses we'll sing from verse
3. The tune is Russell 4, 763. The sinner that truly believes
and trusts in his crucified God, his justification receives, redemption
in full through his blood. Though thousands and thousands
of foes against him in malice unite, their rage he through
Christ can oppose, led forth by the Spirit to fight. Not all
the delusions of sin shall ever seduce him to death. He now has
the witness within, rejoicing in Jesus by faith. His faith
shall eternally fail when Jesus shall fall from his throne, for
hell against both must prevail, since Jesus and he are but one. From verse 3, 233, Tune 763.