Good morning. Let us pray together. Our gracious
Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time to gather
together in thy name. And I pray that, I pray that
that's why we're here, to gather in your name, to worship you
in spirit and in truth, to hear you speak to our hearts. Father, I pray that you would
do that for us this day. Let me not stand here in my own
strength, but give me your words and bless the hearts of your
saints here and speak life into dead sinners. Lord, glorify your
name this day. Please do not let us gather here
in vain, but glorify thyself and comfort us. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. If you will open your Bibles
with me to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. Now sometimes I will come across
a passage in reading, and I will desire to preach from that passage
or verse of Scripture, and I'll just think, this is just too
glorious for me. It's too glorious for me to preach
from. And the verse that I want to
look at first this morning is one of those verses. Every time
I read it, it's just such a blessing, and I know I could never do it
justice, trying to preach to you from this verse. But you
know, I got to thinking and I thought, well, can I ever? Is not God's
Word in its entirety too glorious for us? The things of God are
too glorious for us to think that we could do justice in trying
to bring a message concerning our God. He's too glorious for
us, is He not? Galatians 2 verse 20, some of
you may be familiar with it, some of you may not. Let's read
this verse together, brethren. 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. I pray God would enable me to
speak some words concerning this verse of scripture that would
be a blessing to somebody here this morning. Now the hymn that
Craig mentioned that I wanted to sing together was Christ Liveth
in Me. It's my favorite hymn and it
comes from this verse of scripture and it's a glorious song. Very
glorious song. You know, what sounds more glorious
and wonderful to the child of God than to consider this very
fact that Christ lives in us. Is that not amazing? To think
that God, Christ the Son, dwells in us. And we know He does. We'll
see that here in this message, but so glorious, brethren. I
want to show you three things from this verse of Scripture.
And I pray that if Christ does not yet dwell in us, we know
how God saves His people, do we not? Through the foolishness
of preaching. God speaks to us through His Word, through His
faithful servant. If Christ does not yet dwell in us, I pray He
would. I pray He would. Now the first thing I want us
to see is the first part of this verse. It says, I am crucified
with Christ. Now what does that mean? What
does that mean? I immediately think of baptism
when I read this. You know, I've been baptized.
And in baptism, what am I saying? I'm saying I am crucified with
Christ. When Christ died, I died. He
was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. And as
He lives and is seated at the right hand of God, so do I. So
do I. In this matter of baptism, you
know, people in religion say, oh, you need to straighten up
and get baptized. The whole reason we confess Christ
in believer's baptism is because we've already been baptized in
the Spirit. Right? We're not being saved
when we get immersed in the water. God has done something for me,
and it's very personal. Baptism is a very personal thing.
To say, I am crucified with Christ. You may not be. The person beside
me may not be. I can't speak for them. I'm crucified
with Christ. I was buried with Him. I'm risen
with Him. It's a very personal thing. And
it also goes without saying that baptism symbolizes our oneness,
our unity with Him. To be crucified with Christ means
I've been eternally united to Him. I've been one with Him from
eternity. You know, in the Old Testament,
several verses where God said, I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, His people, His elect, the bride of Christ. He said,
I will be their God and they shall be My people. That's our
God. One with Him. And I rejoice to
know this, brethren. Nothing can separate us from
Him. We know it over in Romans chapter
8. What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
Nothing. It lists several things. Nothing,
not even death, can separate us from Him. And you know, being
eternally united to Him, I'm determined to show forth His
praise. Let me read you this verse, 1
Peter 2 verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. Being united to Christ,
it's not something we go around bragging about. It's glorious. We say, God did this for me.
He called me out of darkness. He revealed to me I'm one with
Him. And I'm going to show forth His praises. Over in Ephesians
5, it tells us that we are, how one are we with Christ? He's
the head, we're the body. We are the body of Christ, all
of His people. We're members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bones. You know, when God took one of
Adam's ribs and made Eve, He said, this is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh. That's how one we are with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Bone of His bones and flesh of
His flesh. So one with Him. Turn over with
me to Matthew chapter 3. I want to show you this. Matthew chapter 3, verse 13. Matthew chapter 3 verse 13 says,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John the Baptist
to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Now listen to this. Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us. Do you see that word? It becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he suffered Him. How one
are we with the Son of God? When Christ fulfilled all righteousness,
if we're in Him, we fulfilled all righteousness in Him. Thus
it becometh us. He did it for us. We did it in
Him. Now go on, look at verse 16.
It says, And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting
upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Christ fulfilled all righteousness.
We fulfilled all righteousness in Him. He who knew no sin was
made sin to make us the righteousness of God. We are the very righteousness
of God, brethren. And as a result of what Christ
has done, what God the Father spoke to His Son in verse 17,
He speaks to us, this is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Oh, how glorious is that, brethren.
How glorious is that. My acceptance with God, here's
where it is, in the Beloved. We just saw it. Christ the Son,
He is the Beloved. He is God's Beloved Son. And
we are accepted in Him, in the Beloved. I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live. I'm dead, but I live. Now I've got three things here
that we are dead to. The first is the law. First is
the law. I'm dead to the law. Now again,
people, most churches pointing us to the law. I don't want to
be pointed to the law. I delight in the law of God after
my inward man. But there's a difference in delighting
in the law and knowing that Christ fulfilled it and that we fulfilled
it in Him. There's a difference in that and looking to the law,
what must I do to be saved? Big difference. Galatians 4.21 says, Tell me
ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Galatians 3.10 says, For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is
written, Cursed is everyone that continueeth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." Look
into the law, trying to keep the law. If we continue not in
all things, you offend in one point, you're guilty of all.
You see, brethren, the law, and we know this. We know this. The
law tells us one thing. Guilty. Doug, you're guilty. That's all the law is ever going
to do for you. It tells you you're guilty. Offend in one point. Just one. As good a person as we think
we might be. As good a person as others might
tell us we are. Let us not be deceived, brethren.
We offend in just one point. One little white lie, as they
say. Guilty of all the law of God. Thank God Christ has made
it so that we are dead to the law. Dead to the law. Do not
look to the law for salvation. The law never saved one sinner.
Not one sinner. Christ put my sins away. I can't put my own sins away. Law's not going to save me. Psalm
103 verse 12, For as far as the east is from the west, so far
hath He removed our transgressions from us. Christ put them away.
Law's not going to. Christ did. In that day and in
that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for. I love this. There shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. Oh God, we're all going to stand
before God in the judgment. He's going to look for our sins
and He's going to say, not a single one. No sin to be
found. Not if Christ put our sins away.
Oh brethren, if we have risen with Christ, then we're dead
to the law. Not under the law, but under grace. The law has
nothing to say to a dead man. If I got a speeding ticket today,
and I hope I don't, but if I did and then I die tonight, am I
going to have to worry about paying that fine? No, I'm not. And Rachel might, but I'm not
gonna be... The law's not gonna have anything to say to me. I'm
dead. I'm crucified with Christ. I'm dead to the law. I've kept
the law in Christ. Fully satisfied. The law of God. And I tremble to say it because
that... Again, this is just too glorious for me. But I know it's
so. I know it's so. First thing we're
dead to, we're dead to the law. Second thing we're dead to, we're
dead to sin. Dead to sin. Turn over with me
to Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. Verse eight. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
crucified with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no
more. Death hath no more dominion over
Him, for in that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Now, I feel many people may be
confused by this passage, or people who have no regard for
the law of God will say, well, we're under grace. What does
verse 1 say? Shall we sin that grace may abound?
God forbid. Believers don't desire to sin.
Did you hear what the Word of God just said? Now this flesh,
read Romans 7, this flesh, all it does is sin. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? The will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good? If I'm not, I'm not
able, I'm not able, this flesh can't. Now Christ, this message,
Christ in you, Christ in you cannot sin. And this is so real,
Todd Nybert always says this, he'll say, It's as if I've never
sinned. No. I remember Todd would tell
us, he'd say, I used to say that. It's as if I've never sinned.
No, I've never sinned. God's going to look for my sin.
It's not going to be there because I never sinned. Christ put it
away so that it is no more. It's not there. If God looks
for it and it's not there, well, it's gone. Never sinned. And
now grace is not an excuse to sin. You know, Paul Mahan wrote
an article one time about, you know, you're sick and then you're
made healthy. Well, does being healthy make you want to get
sick again? Of course not. How foolish would that be? Well,
being saved by grace, made holy by the blood of Christ, sanctified,
justified in Him, does that make us want to go sin? That grace
may abound? God forbid. Absolutely not. I
desire to please God, but nothing seems more impossible. I can't
do it. Now God can do it. Christ in
me, if anything that I do pleases God, know this, it's Christ in
me. It's not this flesh. In this flesh dwelleth no good
thing. No good thing. I love what it says here in verse
14. You know, though all we are in and of ourselves is sin, Sin
shall not have dominion over you. Not if I died with Christ
and risen with Him. Sin is not going to have dominion
over us, brethren. Dead to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now third, the third thing we're
dead to, the law and sin and the world. Look over in Galatians
chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, verse 14. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world
was crucified unto Christ. The world crucified Christ. And
He is crucified unto the world, and so are we if we're in Him,
if we died with Him. And we're dead to the world also.
You know, last time when I was here, I spoke a lot about this
world is not my home. What's it going to profit us
to gain the whole world and lose our soul? You're not of the world,
I've chosen you out of the world. Okay? And I rejoice to know that. To be dead to the world. We're
here. We're here in this world. And we need things here. I have a job interview Tuesday
for a better job. You know, I would be happy to
get that. It would be helpful for me and my wife. But I'm not trusting in that.
I don't really need that. I need Christ. I need to be crucified
with Christ. A job might help me here, but
this world is not my home. Scriptures speak of being pilgrims
here. We're just journeying through. We're passing through. I'm crucified
unto the world. If we're crucified to Christ,
you can mark it down, we're crucified to this world. This world is
not our home. But we're alive unto Christ. We just read it.
Paul also said in Philippians, he said, for me to live is the
world? No, it's Christ. For me to live
is Christ and to die is gain. Crucified to the law, crucified
to sin, crucified to the world. We're dead to all these things,
but we're alive to Christ. Back to our text. It says, I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. You know, I love how it says,
yet not I. Those are three very good words
here, because we're prone to think that we had some part to
play in this matter of salvation, but we don't. I can't give myself
life. We know that Christ is in us.
That's our life. That's our hope. That's all our hope. Christ sends
you the hope of glory. But it's yet not I. I didn't
do it and God did it. If Christ is in me, I can tell
you this for sure, God did it. God came to me in sovereign mercy
and He put Christ in me. It's not a braggadocious thing. I'm not here to say Christ is
in me. Look at me. Christ is in me. I'm here to
say Christ is in me. If Christ is not in me, I am dead in my
sins. I have no hope. I'm without Christ.
I'm without God in this world. No hope. I'm doomed. Christ in
you is the only hope of glory. It's the only hope of everlasting
life. There's no hope apart from Christ. There's no hope aside
from Christ being in me. The Lord told Ezekiel, He said,
a new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within
you. Scriptures also speak of the
Spirit of Christ dwelling in us. That's Christ in us. Paul
tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he tells us that if any man
be in Christ, there it is again, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold
all things are become new. Now this new creature, this new
creature of Christ in me, desires Christ. It only makes sense,
does it not? Christ then is going to desire
Christ, desire the things of God. I'm having you flip over
a lot this morning, but look over in Colossians chapter 3.
Colossians chapter 3, just a few pages over. Read the first three verses. This new man, this new creature,
desires the things of God. Colossians 3 verse 1 says, "...if
ye then be risen with Christ..." Crucified with Christ, we're
risen with Christ. "...if ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God." Now I told you, we are one with Christ. He died,
I died in Him. He arose, I arose with Him. And we know, we read it, He's
seated at the right hand of God on high. Over in Ephesians it
tells us that we also, in Him, we're seated in heavenly places
in Christ, right now. And again, I can't explain that.
That is so glorious to me. It's just so, so above me. But I'm here to tell you today,
if we've been risen with Christ, oh brethren, seek those things
which are above. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. Seek Him. Seek Him. Christ is our life. Look at verse 2. It says, set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. We
get so troubled. Like Martha, we're cumbered about
much serving, cumbered about all these things that just The
sin which so easily besets us, it just weighs us down, beats
us up. Set your affection on Christ who loved you and gave
Himself for you. Oh, brethren, seek Him. And look
at verse 3, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God. Brethren, seek ye first the kingdom
of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things, whatever it
is, all these things shall be added unto you. Brethren, seek
Him. Verse 4 says, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." I love how the
words, who is, are in italics. Not that it matters, but it says,
when Christ our life. How real is this? Christ is our
life. When Christ our life shall appear.
This, this right here, what you're looking at, this is not my life.
Now to me, this is as good as life gets, being with our brethren
and worshiping our God together. Perhaps more so when I'm not
the one speaking. But this is as good as it gets. We're here worshiping our glorious
God, our Savior, together. But this world is not my home.
This is not my life. Well, I'm off tomorrow, but I'm
going to get up and go to work on Tuesday, and I'm so glad that's not my
life. I'm sure y'all can all agree
with me. If this was our life, that'd be pretty pitiful, wouldn't
it? And I'm not trying to be ungrateful. Let us be grateful
for what the Lord's given us. And whatsoever state we're in,
be content. And everything give thanks. This is God's will for
us. But I believe God has made it so that we will rejoice knowing
that Christ is our life. Thankful here, but Christ is
our life. I'm so glad it's so. Can you say with me, I am His
and He is mine? Since I know as now I know Christ
liveth in me, I am His and He is mine. Look at our text again. I'm 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." I live by the faith of Christ. Now the first thing it tells
us here is, this life which I'm now living in the flesh, You
and I are living a life in the flesh, okay? And we'll be living
this life in the flesh until our appointed time to die. It's
appointed unto men once to die. But until that time comes, here
we are in the flesh. And I quoted it earlier, but
Paul, he said, O wretched man that I am. That I am. Well, wasn't
that before he was saved? Oh no. All we know about Paul
before he was saved is that he was persecuting Christ. Why persecutest
thou me? Persecuting Christ and His people.
He said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? I
need to be delivered from the body of this death. Is anything
so hard as to live with yourself? You know, I just got married
and it's a challenge sometimes living with somebody else. I'm
not saying that in a bad way, it's just true. But the real
challenge is living with ourselves, living with myself. This flesh
is so sinful, it's so wicked, it's so deceitful. This flesh
is everything that God is not. Completely contrary to Him. Nothing
is so hard as living with this flesh. And I long for that day
when this flesh shall be no more. When God shall wipe away all
tears from these eyes. Every day we're grieved by our
sin. Believers, blessed are they that mourn over their sin. You
mourn over your sin, you're blessed. That's a blessing. That's a blessing.
You know, every day that I'm here in this world, I see more
and more that the wages of sin is death. Death. People say this world, this country
is falling apart. That's the wages of sin that
you're seeing. That's death. We see ISIS. We see all this
awfulness, this evil in the world. That's the wages of sin. That's
what we deserve. That's our wages. That's what
we've reaped. You reap what you sow. That's what we've reaped.
It's death. Nothing is so hard as to live
with that. And I say with Paul again, 2 Corinthians chapter
5, he said, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body, this flesh, and present with the Lord. Like Paul, I live by faith. It's written, the just shall
live by faith. Well, is it my faith? Is it my faith that I'm
living by? Is it something that I mustered
up on my own? No. No, this is where we have
it backwards by nature. We've all got it backwards. Look
at our text again. It says, this life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now you could say, I've heard
other pastors even read this saying, by the faith in Christ,
faith in the Son of God. Is it true? Yes. Absolutely we
live by faith in Christ. Yes sir, we do. But I think it's
wonderful that it says the faith of Christ. It's His faith. I'm not trusting in my faith. I have no faith that God has
not given me. Every time I come to this house
of worship to worship my God, I pray, Lord increase my faith.
Oh ye of little faith, that's me. God give me faith. Increase my faith. I'm living by His faith. You
know it's His faith, His faithfulness that took Him to the cross. It's
His faithfulness that was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. That's His faith. Am I going to trust in my faith?
I pray God will cause us to trust
in Him. Look to Him. Live by the faith of the Son
of God. This 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." What is faith motivated by? We know,
don't we? It's right here. live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Religion says, law, look to the
law. What can I do? Here's what you do. Repeat this
prayer. Say after me. Hold my hand. Let's do this thing.
No. That's so blasphemous. That's
a stench in God's nostrils. Our faith is not motivated by
a promise of reward in heaven, rewards in heaven, or threat
of punishment. Our faith is motivated by this.
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness, I have drawn you. That's the only thing that's
going to motivate faith, true faith. That's where true faith
comes from. It's motivated by God. Look,
God's been gracious to me. Oh, what motivation is that?
There's no motivation like that. To consider God's grace to me? To consider God's love for me
from eternity? Rachel, I'm sorry, honey, but
you can't motivate me like that. It's just not going to happen.
And to know that in this heart, that there's a desire for the
things of God, that there's a love for God. I know it's because
He first loved me. That's the only way. That's the
only way. He gave me faith, just like He
put a love in here. Put a new heart, a new spirit,
Christ in me. He's put a love in here for God.
He's put a love in here for Christ. He's put faith that looks to
Christ. Faith, true faith, is motivated by the love of Christ. The love of Christ constraineth
us, brethren, constraineth us. You know, I think about how Paul
would say, is Paul a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who chooses to be a servant?
You'd rather be the king, wouldn't you, Doug? Would you not rather
be the king? Well, when it comes to the things
of God, I want to be the servant. I want to be that doorkeeper. I want to be the servant. I delight
to be His servant. And not only His servant, Paul
also is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Again, It just doesn't make much
sense at all to the carnal mind. Now we know it's because the
carnal mind hates God. God's made foolish the wisdom
of this world. He chose the base things to to confuse the things which are
mighty, confound? We'll figure it out. Hey, God,
His ways are different than our ways. His ways are so much better. You know, we think, well, if
I can just, you promise me something, ah, that'll make me work hard.
If I get hired on Tuesday for this new job, that's gonna motivate
me to work really hard. But that's not gonna motivate
me as much as God's love for me. Most faith, as men call it, is
not faith at all. It's, well, if you just live
for Him, God will save you. How about this? God's loved you.
Does that make you want to live for Him? Big difference. Big difference. Faith that has
no works. Scriptures say that faith is
dead. Faith that, well, I believe God. Do you even worship God?
Do you ever even open your Bible? Do you care what God has to say?
Do you even know what God says? Do you need Him? Well, I made
my decision. Do you need Him? That's what
I'm asking you. Do you need Him? That's true
faith. True faith needs Christ every
moment of our lives. Now, the other thing here that
motivates the child of God, He loved me and He gave Himself
for me. You know, people love to quote
John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. I look at that verse and I see,
because of God's love for His people, He gave His Son. That's why He gave Himself. That's
why He came into this world, is because of His love for His
sheep. He came here to save us because
He loved us. He didn't come here, die, The
rest is up to you. No, He came here to save a people
and He saved a people. That's why it says we're crucified
with Christ, we've been risen with Him. There's nothing left
to be done. It's finished. He's finished
the work. Okay, this thing is finished. It's finished and I'm
here to declare that to you. If I'm faithful, that's exactly
what I'm going to tell you. Look what God's done. Look what
God's done. And as a result of Him giving
Himself to me, I long to give myself to Him. And I'm not going
to look to myself giving myself to Him. I pray He would cause
me to give myself to Him. I've received grace from the
hand of God. I desire to likewise be gracious
to others. I desire to be gracious to my
brethren. You all are so gracious to me. You were gracious to one
another. I pray God would cause that to
increase more and more every day of our lives. To remind us,
I've been gracious to you. Spirit of grace is going to consume
us. I desire to give myself to his people, my brethren. You've
done this unto the least of one of these, my brethren. You've
done it to me, he said. I desire to give myself to this work,
this ministry. It doesn't matter if you're the
one preaching or if you're sitting in the pew. If you're just here,
you know, I'm not a pastor, but I know that for Gabe, for my
pastor, just to look out and see people fill in the pews,
that's encouraging. That's so encouraging. Someone to fill
this glass of water for me. Thank you. Whatever we can do
in this work God's given us, let us do it with all our heart.
1 Corinthians 10 verse 31 says, Whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do it all to the glory of God. And
that's what we want to do, isn't it? Because God's given us this
desire. He's put Christ in us. Christ
lives in us. This is our new desire. It's
all His work. It's all of Him. I want to give
myself to His glory. And I pray He would make that
happen. I pray God would use every day of my life to bring
glory to His name. I pray He would. Now lastly,
this faith, this faith that God gives His people, this faith
has one object. This faith looks one place. This
faith has its eyes fixed on one thing, Christ. Christ. True faith. The faith that only
God can give. The faith that I'm here to say
that God has given me. That I pray you can say God has
given you. This faith looks to Christ. This faith looks to the
Lord Jesus Christ for all things. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. We're trusting in His faith. Our faith is His
gift. It's the faith of the Son of God. And this faith looks
to Him. This faith looks to Him for life.
This faith looks to Him day by day. This faith looks on... Give
us this day our daily bread. Give me Christ. I am that bread
come down from heaven. Give me Him. Give me Christ.
Look to Him for everything I've got. Everything that's anything.
Look to Christ. Christ is all. Is it so with you? Christ liveth in me. Can you
say that? And I don't mean, of course you can utter the words.
Can you say that in your heart? Christ liveth in me? I'll tell you how you can know.
Do you need Christ to be in you? Do you need Christ to be in you? Do you need to be in Christ and
you need Christ to be in you? Or are you fine without Him? Simple question. Do you need
Christ to be in you or are you fine without Him? Now perhaps
you'll say, well Cody, I just don't feel saved. Do we ever? If we're honest,
do we ever feel saved? There's no reason God should
ever look my way. I'm so vile. I believe we can know. Psalm
51 verse 17 says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. You know, a broken spirit. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. God, I... I'm vile, I'm evil,
I'm wicked. Oh God, why would you look my
way? You know that publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
I'm just a sinner, I'm the sinner. Like Paul said, I'm the chief
of sinners. Thank God Christ came to save sinners. Thank God
the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. I'm 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." That hymn. The chorus says, oh,
what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me. I pray God would
cause Christ to live in each soul here this day. Amen.