Okay, open your Bibles, if you
would, to Galatians chapter 2. We'll be continuing our study
in this wonderful, wonderful book. Galatians chapter 2. We're going to look at the verse
that says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in the life that I now
live. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. But we are only going to look
at, I am crucified with Christ today. There's so much in just
that statement right there. So much just in that statement.
So, verse 20, we may spend a couple weeks on unpacking, if the Lord
wills for us. So, in verse 19 last week, we
marveled that the believer in Christ is now dead to the law.
Dead to the law. And we marvel at how now we're
set free. We're set free. We're free from
the law. We're free from our sin. And
now in verse 19 it says, that I might live unto God. See, that's the opposite of what
people say when they say, if I taught what you taught, or
believe what you believe, I could do whatever I wanted. Right there
is our proof that we can't. We're redeemed and saved that
we might live unto God, beloved. That we might glorify God. Glorify
Him. And now we are willing servants
of the Most High. Who were we servants of before?
Well, I was a servant of my flesh, were you? I was a servant of
sin. I was a servant of the devil
and I didn't even know it. Had no clue. Thought I was free. Thought I could do whatever I
wanted to, right? Oh, religion just won't, it'll
not let me do anything. Little did I know I so wrapped
up in bondage." You ever hear people say that? If I become
a Christian, I can't do nothing. Wow. Just live, yeah. And they do not understand the
freedom that the believer in Christ has. The freedom that
we have. So let's read here Galatians
chapter 2 verses 15 to 21. Let's read this knowing that
by nature and by birth we're rebels. We're rebels against
God. Not desiring to serve God but
desiring to serve self. So let's read the scripture here
with that in mind. We who are Jews by nature and
not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of 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. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if,
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God
forbid. That's in the Greek, that's let
it never be. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through
the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. And here's
our verse, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In 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. Wonderful verse. And then he closes with, I do
not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead and vain. What a verse there, too, when
we hit that one. But verse 20 will be our text this morning.
And it speaks of our death with Christ on Calvary's cross. Now
we didn't physically die with Christ on Calvary's cross, did
we? But spiritually we did. We were in Him. We spiritually
died with Him on Calvary's cross. All that the Father gave to Christ,
spiritually died with Christ at Calvary. We were crucified
with Christ at Calvary's cross. Because he died as what? Our
substitute, didn't he? Two things that I hope you get
out of every gospel message is substitution and satisfaction. Those two things, those are the
two most important things that I hope that people come away
from after I preach a message. That Christ is the perfect substitute,
and he's the substitute of his people, and God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. So let's look at this verse again.
And let us remember that this speaks of our death with Christ
on Calvary's cross. Just as we were all in Adam when
he fell, right? So all God's people are in Christ
when he's crucified at Calvary's cross. Let's look again. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In 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. You see those words there, I
am crucified with? Those are all one word in the
Greek. They're just one word in the Greek. And listen to what
Wiest brings forth about this. He says it's a verb, the verb,
the Greek verb that's used there is in the perfect tense. In the
perfect tense, which speaks of a past completed action. It's an action already done,
but he goes on to say, having present finished results. It's a past action, but for the
believer, it has present results. I'm crucified with Christ. I'm
in Christ presently. I'm in him. When he died, I died. When he lived the perfect life,
I lived the perfect life in him. He did that for us as our substitute.
You see, just as we were in Adam, so the believers are in Christ.
How do we know that? Well, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Paul is bringing forth here the
federal headship of Christ with his people. Adam was the federal
head, right? When Adam fell, we all fell.
Therefore Christ is what? He's the head of the body, right?
So all who are in Christ are part of the body of Christ. In
him, just as we were in Adam spiritually. Or actually, we
were spiritually in Christ. We were in Christ. And when Adam fell in the garden,
all of us fell with him. Somebody says, well, I didn't
fall in the garden. Yes, you did. We all did. In Adam. Because we're all sons and daughters
of Adam. We all fell. So Christ, though,
is called the second Adam. And all we who are in Him have
been crucified with Him at Calvary's cross. And He obtained eternal
redemption for who? For us, right? For us. He obtained
eternal redemption for us. So look at this in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. And He obtained eternal redemption
by the giving of His life and by the shedding of His blood.
And when did He do that? When He was crucified. See, that's
why we're redeemed by Christ's precious blood. We were crucified
with Him, so we're redeemed by His precious blood. All that
the Father gave Him, like we're seeing in John 17 so clearly,
all that the Father gave Him, right, shall come to Him. And
herein no wise cast any of them out, none of them. Look at this,
1 Corinthians 15, verses 35, we'll go all the way to verses
45. But some men will say, how are the dead raised up, and with
what body do they come? Now, he's speaking about the
resurrection here. Thou fool, that which sowest is not quickened,
except it die. And that which sowest thou sowest
not, that the body shall be but bare grain, it may chance of
wheat, or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body, as
it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh
is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of man,
another flesh of beasts, another flesh of fishes, and another
of birds. There are also celestial bodies
and bodies terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial
is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. So he's
showing us the difference, the difference between different
species here. Going all the way to the planets
as well. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star different
from another star in glory. How did Paul know that? Who's the true author of this
book? The Holy Spirit of God, right? Look at what he just told
us there. One star differeth from another
star in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is so in incorruption, that's our life, being dead in
trespasses and sins, but when we're born again, it's raised
in incorruption, right? It is sown in dishonor, it's
raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, it's raised
in power. It is sown in a natural body,
it's raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there's
a spiritual body. Now look at verse 45 here. And
so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made to live in Saul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. So the last Adam, being
Christ, is set up here in contrast with the first Adam. Look at
this again. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a
living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. And they're separated like this
because of their peculiar relation in how they both stand to the
human race. Adam is a physical head of all
mankind, right? He's the federal head. Well,
Christ is the spiritual head. of all the all the father gave
him all those for whom he would redeem Adam is the head of the
human race in sin right as well fell in him Christ as the head
of his people in redemption he's the last Adam now let's continue
to read the 46 to 49 how about that was not first which is spiritual
but that which is natural, speaking of Adam, and afterward that which
is spiritual. You see, he's told us right there
that Adam is of the flesh and Christ is spiritual. He came
to save his people from their sins. He's God incarnate in the
flesh. He's a sinless, spotless sacrifice. Look at this. The
first man is of the earth, earthly. We're made from the dust, aren't
we? Look at this though. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. Sent. Sent from heaven. Sent. As is
the earthly, such are they also that are earthly. And as is the
heavenly, such as they also that are heavenly. Born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
So what I wanted to bring out there is verse 45. So it's written,
the first man was made to live in soul, the last Adam made a
quickening spirit. So let's go back to our text
now with that in our minds, and let's read now verse 20. I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. In 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. Now remember the setting of the
statement here. Paul introduces his declaration
of our oneness with Christ here in this statement when he says,
I'm crucified with Christ. We have a oneness with Christ.
Every believer has a oneness with Christ. He's the head and
what? We're the body, right? He's the
head and we're the body. And Paul is declaring this oneness
with Christ when he says, I'm crucified with Christ. I'm crucified
with Christ. Here is the great apostle of
the Gentiles. They're at a love feast, which
is what they used to call them when they got together and they'd
eat after service. They're at a love feast and he's
addressing the audience, which consisted of both Jewish and
Gentile believers. Remember they separated? Barnabas and Peter separated. So now you got the Gentiles eaten
in one spot. You got the Jews eaten in another
spot. And Paul says, this is wrong.
This is wrong. Peter and Barnabas were in the
congregation and so were those false brethren who caused so
much dissension over the law of Moses. They were there as
well. And Peter and Barnabas separated
themselves from the Gentile brethren. because they saw some prominent
men come up from Jerusalem. Oh, we can't be seen eating with
Dave and Wayne. Oh my, those guys are eating
bacon. Oh my. See, it's just like somebody
doing that. Just like somebody doing that.
It's awful, isn't it? It'd be awful. My, oh my. And so there's so much dissension
that Peter and Barnabas separate themselves from the Gentiles
and they end up sitting with the Jews and the Jews are eaten
exclusively and the Gentiles are eaten exclusively. And Paul
sees this again and he says, this is wrong. This is wrong. This is a violation of the, think
of this too, it's a violation of the principle of oneness with
Christ, isn't it? It's a violation of that. And
they don't even know they're doing it, but they're violating
the oneness with Christ, because in Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Gentile, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither
Scythian or barbarian, we're all one in Christ, aren't we?
No matter what our backgrounds were, no matter what we did,
We're all one in Christ. All of us are sinners saved by
the grace of God in Christ. And Paul saw this and he said,
this is wrong. This is wrong because, again, the oneness of believers
in Christ had been violated by Peter and Barnabas' dissimulation. They were behaving as though
the cross of Christ had no avail, that the middle wall of partition
wasn't taken down. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
2. We're gonna see right here how now we're all one in Christ,
beloved. We who were strangers to the covenant, you know what?
We're bought nigh by the blood of Christ now. And Paul's the
one who wrote that in Ephesians 2 by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God. So basically what he's doing is he's just speaking
here what he's gonna pin in Ephesians 2. The middle wall of partition
between the Jews and the Gentiles is gone, beloved. It's gone. Access into the Holy of Holies
now is for all who are in Christ. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we might obtain grace to help
in time of need. Look at this in Ephesians. And
he's writing, remember, who's the true author of these words?
It's God, the Holy Spirit. He's writing to the Gentile church
at Ephesus, right? comprised of Gentile believers.
And look what he writes here in Ephesians chapter two, verses
11 to 22. A lot of times we pay attention
to verses eight and nine, which are wonderful verses. And then
people forget to read the rest of this chapter. This chapter
is amazing. This chapter's amazing, look
at this. He's already told us we're dead in trespasses and
sins. He's already told us but God who's rich in mercy. Then
he tells us we're saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves
as a gift of God. Then he tells us we're created
in Christ Jesus as Christ's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
works that he's ordained. And now look what he says here
in Ephesians chapter 11, or chapter two, verses 11 to 22. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the uncircumcision,
that's what we are called, the uncircumcision. by that which
is called the circumcision. So the uncircumcision there is
the Gentiles, and the circumcision is the Jews, and the flesh made
by hands. That at that time, look at this,
you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world. That's our natural state,
beloved. That's our natural state. Now look at this whole, look
at this. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace,
who hath made both one. Look at that! Both one! This
is why Paul, this is why Paul rebuked Peter, beloved. Do you
see? It's so clear, isn't it? We're
one in Christ, whether we be Jew or Gentile. The Holy Spirit
had Paul author these words. And it's just wonderful. For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, Jew and Gentile, and
hath broken down the middle of wall of partition between us.
In the temple, there was a wall that the Gentiles, there was
a Gentile court. They could go no further in the
temple. Only the Jews could go in further. Paul's telling us
here, and Paul was a Jew, right? He's saying, that wall's gone,
beloved. It's gone. You can come into the temple
of God with me. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh, right, when he
died, the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in
the ordinances, for to make in himself twain one new man, so
making peace, Jew and Gentile, bought together in Christ. In
peace with God, beloved, peace with God. and that he might reconcile
both unto God, look at that, in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. And he came and preached peace
to you. When we heard the shepherd's
voice for the first time, he spoke peace to us, beloved. Peace. Peace with God. Fear not, beloved. I've died for you. Trembling
sinner, I died for you. Oh my, it's wonderful. And came
and preached peace to you, which were what? A far off. You see,
we saw that earlier in the verse. We were strangers and aliens
from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant and
promises. But now, you know what? All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ, beloved. They're ours. They're ours. My. were brought nigh, it says,
and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and
to them that were nigh, being Gentile and Jew. For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." We both
have access. Paul's saying, my Gentile brethren,
we have both. Let's go. We both have access
to the throne of grace in Christ. In Christ. And look at that, one spirit,
right? Only one. And one Father. Capitalized,
one Father. Now therefore, ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but look at this, all rejoice, beloved,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of
God. What a statement. and are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye are also builded together for inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. Oh my, isn't that wonderful,
beloved? That's absolutely wonderful,
isn't it? Oh, So again, we see that Paul, by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is writing to the Galatian
churches here of their identification with Christ. In this verse, he's
bringing forth their identification with Christ, their oneness with
Christ, right? That they're one in him, just
as he did in that portion we just read in Ephesians. There's
no more Jew or Gentile now. You're one in Christ. And notice
how Paul says, he puts himself with everybody. I'm crucified
with Christ. Every believer can say that, right? I'm crucified
with Christ. I was listening to a preacher.
Oh, I loved it. I was listening to Henry Mahan this week. And
he said something that I just absolutely loved. I just absolutely
loved. He said, when we're preaching
to everybody, it's not you, it's us. That's the difference between
grace and religion. Religions say, you got to do
this. You, you, you, you. God's preachers say, we are a
bunch of sinners in need of Christ. We are. And you know, I've seen
that more and more going through these epistles, that Paul just
puts himself right in there with everybody else. It's so wonderful.
He's an incredible preacher. Just puts himself just on the
same level. It goes back to the, I know I
say it, Vicki says, you say that almost every sermon. I said,
I know, honey, because I love it. The ground of the foot of
the cross is level, right? It's totally level. I hope you
don't get ever tired of hearing me say that, because I might
say it just every sermon. I don't know. I just love it.
It's just such a wonderful statement that Scott Richardson made there. So he's bringing forth their
identification with Christ at the cross. And again, he's bringing
forth that it's a past action, past thing that already occurred
with present results. So if Christ died for us at Calvary's
cross, if we died in Christ, then all spiritual blessings
are ours right now, aren't they? Right now. You know, right now
while we're here on the earth, we have everything that the saints
in glory have except for sinlessness. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
incredible to think? Scripture says we're already
seated in heavenly places with Christ. That's what it says. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
It's wonderful. So all spiritual blessings come
from Christ. This is true of every born-again blood-washed
believer. So why are we dead to the law? Why are we now dead
to the law? Why does the law no longer have
a claim upon us? Well, let's read verses 19, verse
19 of chapter two, along with these first few words, and I
think we see the answer right here. We'll see the reason why
we are, first of all, we'll see the reason why we're not to go
out and sin like crazy. And second of all, we'll see
why we're not under the law anymore. Just with these little words,
we'll see right here. Verse 19, for I through the law, I'm dead
through the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ. That's why we're not under the
law anymore. Right there, there's the answer. Because I'm crucified
with Christ. What did he do at Calvary's cross?
He extinguished the wrath of God against his people, didn't
he? And in his life, he fulfilled
the law of God in our place, didn't he? So if he fulfilled
the law for us while he lived, and then when he died, he died
in our room and place, Right? As our substitute, he was sinless,
he was spotless, but we're sinners. And the scripture says, the soul
that sinneth, it must die. That's speaking of us. He's the
sinless, spotless sacrifice. So he dies in our room and place,
beloved. And the law has no claim on him before. See, he's sinless
from conception, isn't he? See, we're conceived in iniquity.
He wasn't. He was the seed of the Holy Spirit,
right? He's sinless. My, oh, my. So the reason we're dead to the
law is because we're crucified with Christ. That's good news,
isn't it? I like that. And by this statement,
when he says, I'm crucified with Christ, he shows us how he died
to the law in our room and place. Christ died to the law in our
room and place. And Paul's saying, I died with
Christ. When he died to the law, for
me, right, because he's sinless, he was dying for me, and I was
crucified with Christ. Isn't that amazing? What a Savior. Good news, isn't it? Such good
news. Christ died under the penalty of the law as a substitute of
his people. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God, the unblemished one, dying in the place of his people. And the law demands,
when Christ died, the law's demands were perfectly satisfied. There
was nothing left to be done. The law of God is perfectly satisfied
and fulfilled with the sacrifice of Christ, because he dies in
our place. The last thing that the scriptures,
the law demands is the soul that sins that shall die, and there's
the great substitute dying in the very place of his people.
satisfying the law from his birth all the way to his death. For
us, as a subject, he's sinless, he's spotless. It's amazing. Just truly, truly amazing. And
then we see at the end of verse 19, and I like this because it
doesn't mean that we can go out and go crazy. And anybody says
we can, it's just not true because it says
here, that we might live unto God, being crucified with Christ.
You know what that means? That means Paul is bringing forth
death to self. Remember I said earlier I served
self before? Now I serve Christ. Now does my flesh rear its ugly
head? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But I just have to keep focused
on Christ. I'm here for the furtherance of the gospel. So are you. We're
all here for the furtherance of the gospel, beloved. And then
one day we get the joy of seeing our Savior face to face. When
it's our time to leave this earth, we're gonna be just like that
in His presence, beloved. Sinless! All because of what
He's done, because I'm crucified with Christ. My, oh my. So when Paul died
with Christ, it was the Pharisee Saul who died. It was the Pharisee
Saul who died and what he was and what he did up to that time,
passed away. So far as he was concerned, Saul
was buried and dead with Christ. He's Paul now. See, we're new
creatures in Christ, right? That which, that our sinful life,
which we lived before the Lord saved us, in which we still struggle
with sin, but that sinful life that dominated us is dead and
buried with Christ, beloved. It's dead and buried with Christ.
Paul was now a new creature in Christ, born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Now he's still carried around
this tent of flesh, right? Which gave him a lot of trouble,
right? Just read Romans 7. Our dear brother Paul struggled
just like you and I do, beloved. It's so clear. But the dominating
control of the Adamic nature, which had its power over him,
has been broken by Christ. Broken by Christ. When he died
upon the cross, and Paul now being born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, again he's a new creature. Let's read that verse
20 with all that in our minds. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In 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 what Paul is here declaring
is true of all the elect, all of God's elect, it's true of
all of them, that we have such a union with Christ that when
Christ died, we died with him. Everything our Savior was, is,
and everything He did and experienced as a man, as our meat-eater,
we've done it. It's as if we'd done it ourselves. But we didn't. He did it all.
That's all accounted to our account, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? It's all accounted to our account.
I'm crucified with Christ. Now again, Paul's obviously describing
something altogether spiritual here, because he was not literally
and physically crucified with Christ. But our Lord Jesus, again,
was crucified for him in his room and place. And that can
be true of every believer, right? Every one of God's elect. He
was crucified with him, in him as his mediator, surety, substitute,
and representative. And Paul's not describing a present
experience, he's describing a finished work, beloved. Remember that. It's not something that happened
now. It's finished. It's a past work that's done.
Perfectly complete. It's wonderful. That was done
at Calvary's Cross. He's not talking about self-crucifixion.
He's not talking about self-mortification. He's not talking about something
he experienced. But he's talking about something
that Christ did for him in his room and place. He did it all. He died and suffered in our room
and place. He obeyed the law of God for
us, and we obeyed the law of God in him. When he satisfied the law of
God as our substitute, it was satisfied for us. When he suffered the absolute
wrath of God for my sins and for yours, He did it as our representative,
as our surety, as our substitute, as our redeemer. He's the representative of all
of God's people, all that the Father gave him. He's dying on
the cross for them. So marvel at this wondrous fact,
beloved of God. When Christ Jesus, our Lord,
died on Calvary's cross, He put away our sins. He put them away. He put them away, beloved, by
the sacrifice of Himself. He made an end of our sins, beloved. They are bought and paid for,
and He's bought in everlasting righteousness now, hasn't He?
It's wonderful. And all our sins are blotted
out by the precious, precious blood of Christ. And now we're
washed clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's
removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. They've been cast into the divine
sea of forgetfulness, beloved. Gone. Never to be remembered
again. And glory be to God, the Father.
Glory be to Him. All this was done All this was
done for God's elect when Christ died at Calvary's cross as a
substitute of his people. It's no wonder Paul said, I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. The life which I now live, I
live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. And we can all say that as believers,
can't we? I'm crucified with Christ, and he loved me, for
how long? For eternity, and showed that
love by giving his life for me. Glory be to God. And in Christ
we are delivered from the dominion of sin, and by the grace and
power of God, the Holy Spirit, we are born again by God's almighty
power. And all we can say then is what
a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, my Lord. Praise
His mighty name. Praise His mighty name.