If you turn back to Galatians
chapter 2, that passage of scripture I just read, I've entitled this
message, What is a Christian? Now, every time we preach, that
ought to be addressed, shouldn't it? What is a Christian? And I believe this scripture
answers that question as comprehensively as any place in the Bible. You
can leave here tonight knowing whether or not you are a Christian. And I want to know. I want to
know, and I don't want to presume it. I want to know from the scriptures.
I want to know if the Bible would tell me that I am in fact a Christian. What is a Christian? Well, I want to begin with this
word in verse 16, knowing. Knowing. A Christian is one who
knows something that all non-Christians do not know. Let me repeat that. A Christian
is someone who knows something that all non-Christians do not
know. Every Christian has this knowledge
and not one non-Christian has this knowledge. So a Christian
is someone who knows something. Well, what is it they know? Let's
go on reading. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. Every Christian knows as sure
as he's a foot and a half high that if salvation is in any way
depended upon some work he needs to perform, he will not be saved. Every Christian knows that. They
know that if salvation is by works in any way, if any aspect
of salvation is dependent upon me doing something in order for
it to work, I won't be saved. Every Christian knows that. Go on reading. Knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. A Christian is one who has been
justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. Not simply faith in Christ,
as if our faith in Christ is the cause of our justification,
but by the faith, the faithfulness, the obedience, the doing and
the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 20. He said, 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." Now,
the Christian really believes that he's justified by the obedience,
by the righteousness, by the doing, by the dying, by the complete
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He justified me. He was delivered
for my offenses. He was raised again for my justification.
And I love the way he says that we believe that we're justified
by the faith of the Son of God. Every Christian has this high,
glorious view of Jesus Christ. We really believe He's God the
Son. We really believe that He's the
Creator. We really believe that all things
were made by Him and for Him, and He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. We really believe that He is
the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His
person who upholds all things by the word of His mighty power. We believe He's the Lord. He's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's Lord of creation. He's Lord
of providence. Everything that happens, everything
that is, He's in control of. Any germ, any chemical reaction,
any mathematical equation, whatever you're talking about, He's in
control of because He's the Lord. We really believe He's God the
Son, the mighty creator of the universe. He's Lord of salvation. Hebrews 1, 3, I love that verse
of scripture. When he had by himself, no help
from me or you, no contribution from me or you, when he had by
himself purged our sins, he sat down. Why did he sit down? Because the work was finished. He's the son of God. And we believe
that we're justified by His faithfulness. We believe that He is Lord of
salvation to this extent. He is salvation. I love saying that. You know there's things I love
saying. I love saying Jesus is God. I just like the way that
sounds, don't you? I just love the truth of it. Jesus is God.
He is salvation. And we believe that we're not
justified by our works, that we believe that we're justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Look what he says back in 16
once again. A Christian is one who believes he's justified by
the faith of Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. We do believe in Him. We believe
all of our salvations in Him 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. Now, a
Christian is someone who really does believe in Christ. I really believe, every Christian
really believes he's completely relying on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my justification before
God. I say this all the time, I know it, but I'm gonna say
it again. All my eggs are in this one basket. Got no plan
B, got no safety net. When he said it is finished,
this is all my hope. When he said it is finished,
my salvation was accomplished. All my sins were put away. You know, this is a comforting
thought to think about. You know, before I was born,
my sins were put away by what he did. They were all future
at that time and he put them away. We believe we're justified
by the faith of Christ. What is a Christian? Let's go
on reading verse 17. But if While we seek to be justified by Christ,
we ourselves also are found sinners. It's therefore Christ, the minister
of sin, God forbid. Now to understand that verse,
you need to look at it in its context. And every time we looked
at a passage of scripture, we need to look at it in its context.
Because some people say, well, if we're seeking to be justified
by Christ and we end up being found sinners, if you're justified
by Christ, you won't be found a sinner. Isn't that so? The
key there is being found. You won't be found a sinner.
But what's he mean? Well, look up in verse 15. He said, we who
are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles. Now, you know
as well as I do that he wasn't saying Jews by nature are not
sinners and Gentiles are. You know he wasn't saying that.
He said that so many times before. But what he's saying is, when
he's talking about the Gentiles, they had no respect for the law
of God. They had no respect for the scripture. I mean, it was
irrelevant to them. It wasn't important to them.
And the Jews looked upon them as sinners. The sinners are the
Gentiles. And we have the oracles of God. We have the scriptures.
The scriptures to the Gentiles, the law to the Gentiles was irrelevant.
And Paul said, they're sinners. They have no respect for God's
law. They have no, just, do you have any, do you care anything
about the laws in China? No, it's not even an issue with
you. You don't even think about it. It's irrelevant to you. Well,
to the Gentile, the law was irrelevant. He didn't care anything about
it. Now what Paul is saying, if we seek to be justified by
Christ and we ourselves are found sinners like the Gentiles without
any belief that salvation comes by the law, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? If we're justified by Christ,
we're like the Gentiles. We reject salvation by law. The
law or law keeping does not save us. Does that make Christ a promoter
of sin? God forbid. Far from promoting
sin, Christ is promoting righteousness since the only way it can be
obtained is abandoning the law and embracing faith in Christ
as your only righteousness before God. That's what that verse means. You examine it in its context.
Now, later on in Galatians chapter 5, he's going to be talking about
people who seem to use grace as an excuse for sin, and he
deals with that then, but that's not what he deals with here.
He's talking about our rejection of the law, verse 18. For if
I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. Now, if I try to build up what
I destroyed, salvation by works, by law, all I do is make myself
a transgressor. Again, the strength of sin is
the law. And here's what he's trying to get to, here's what
he's getting to in verse 19, and here's what a Christian is.
For I, through the law, am dead to the law. A Christian is someone
who's dead to the law through the law. Through the law being
honored, through Christ obeying the law, through Christ answering
the demands of the law against sin, I, through the law, oh,
we love God's holy law. When we speak of God's holy law,
it's never disrespectfully. We love God's holy law. But I
love not being saved by my own personal obedience to that law.
I love being saved by Christ. And that's what he's referring
to. He said, I'm dead to the law. Now, if I'm dead to the
law, you know what that means? It means I'm dead to the law. It
has nothing to say to me. What's the law have to say to a dead
man? Absolutely nothing. I'm dead to the law. It has nothing to say to me.
Christ died. I died when Christ died. The
law has nothing to say to me. I'm not under the law. Scripture
says in Romans 6 14, sin shall not have dominion over you. And
here's how come you're not under the law. You're under grace. What a blessed place to be. Now a Christian is someone who
understands. He's dead to the law. Dead. Has nothing to say to me. I don't
try to keep the law. I kept it. I kept it. Are you
saying it's okay to break it? You can just go ahead and break
it? I'm not saying that, but I'm saying I'm dead to it. I'm
dead to it. That's what Paul said. A Christian
is someone who's dead to the law. If law has rule over you,
you're under sin's dominion. You're under sin's control. The
strength of sin is the law. And every Christian is dead to
the law. But look what he says. I'm dead
to the law that I might live unto God. A Christian is one who lives
unto God. Romans 6 11 says, Reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. I have life before God. When
God looks at me, he sees someone who lives. Now, how is that? How is that? Well, let's go on
reading. Here's what a Christian is. Verse 20. He said, I am crucified
with Christ. A Christian is one who is crucified
with Christ. And this is what baptism depicts.
This speaks of the believer's union with Christ. And notice
the language. This is very important. It does not say that Christ was
crucified for me. It doesn't say that at all. It says, I was crucified with
Christ. When Christ was crucified, I
was too. Now what this is a reference
to is the believer's eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you really can't understand any doctrine in the scripture
apart from some understanding, not that you understand it, you
believe it. I don't understand union with Christ. I don't understand
how I'm eternally united to him and I've always been in him.
I don't claim to understand that, but I believe it. I believe it. Take for instance, imputation. The Bible teaches that. Our sin
being imputed to Christ. His righteousness being imputed
to us. You know, if you don't understand union, that's not
even fair. I mean, what if my sin was just tacked on you and
you were punished for it? What if your sin was just tacked
on me and I was punished for it? Well, where's the fairness
in that? Is that the righteousness of God? But this is the mystery
of union with Christ because I'm united to Him. My sin. became His sin, just as much
as it is mine. And His righteousness, because
I'm united to Him, becomes my righteousness, my personal righteousness. Now that, isn't that glorious? I'm crucified with Christ. When
Christ was crucified, I was too. When Christ lived, I lived. He was me. He wasn't somebody
else. He wasn't just some kind of He
said to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness. Everything Christ did, He did
it in us. When He did it, I personally
did it. When He kept the law, I did.
When He died under the wrath of God, I died under the wrath
of God. When He was raised from the dead, I was raised with Him.
When He ascended to the Father, I went with Him. I'm in heaven
right now, united to my Redeemer. I am crucified with Christ. Isn't that glorious? I am crucified
with Christ. That's what we say in baptism.
That's why I love baptism. When he lived, I lived. When
he went under in death, I did. When he was raised up, I was
raised up. That's all my salvation. And every doctrine in the scripture
can only be understood in light of union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, here's
what a Christian is, I live, remember he said, I live unto
God, nevertheless, I live, even though I was dead and buried,
I live, it's me living, I live before God, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. Now, Even though I live before
God, right now I have spiritual life. I've been born of the Spirit.
I have a new nature. It's me. I live. The Lord doesn't repent for me,
I repent. The Lord doesn't believe for me, I believe. I live. But
I love what He says next. Because even when I say that,
I don't feel real comfortable with it. It's true. I live. I have
life before God. Yet, it's not I. I know that. It's Christ that
liveth in me. I don't give my works. I don't
give my free will. I don't give anything about me
the credit for what I do. I live. I believe. I love. I repent. I have hope. I love that message Donnie Bell
preached a couple of weeks ago on faith, hope, charity, these
three. I've got faith. I believe the
gospel. I have a hope in Christ. I love Christ. I love His people.
I have these things, but these things are exotics. They don't
come from the natural man. I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. I believe in Christ in me. I feel so much more comfortable
with that. Turn with me to John chapter 3 for a moment. Hold
your finger there and turn to John chapter 3. Verse 20, for everyone that doeth
evil hates the light. Neither comes to the light lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they're
wrought in God. Any deed I have is wrought in
God. He did it. Christ liveth in me. My faith is not the product of
me. My love is not the product of me. Every Christian knows
that. You know that, you know it so,
you don't have to be convinced of it because you know nothing
like that could ever come from you. You know that, don't you?
Christ liveth in me. Notice too, Paul says, 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, note that,
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. You know, the Christian's a human
being. He's a human being. He's in this thing called the
flesh and all that that means. Paul said, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. A Christian is someone who's
in the flesh. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels and all the weakness, all the sinfulness, all the insecurity,
All the bad things that you can say about the flesh, all the
character flaws, all the sinful propensities, all the afflictions,
all the emotional problems, all the doubts, all the fears, all
the unbelief, it's all there, isn't it? I'm in the flesh. A Christian
is a human being with all the hindrances, that being a human
being is, of Christians in the flesh. But there's still a life that
we have in this flesh. He said, the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
There he repeats that again, but the life that I now live
in the flesh, now in the flesh, I've got a life, the life of
God in my soul. And this is what causes me and
every other believer. And remember, I'm asking what
a Christian is. I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about
every Christian. Every Christian has a life in the flesh, the
life of God in their soul that causes them to be poor in spirit. At all times, they have nothing
before God. All they have is Christ. They'd
never make any other plea. The Christian is one who mourns
over his sin all the time. He's meek before God. A Christian has this life that
causes him to hunger and thirst after righteousness. He knows
he can't produce it, and he hungers and thirsts after the righteousness
of Christ. A Christian is merciful. A man
that's not merciful is not a Christian. A Christian is pure in heart.
He's been given a new heart, a pure heart, the work of God's
grace, the clean heart that David prayed for. The Christian is
a peacemaker, and the Christian is someone who's persecuted for
righteousness. This is his life in the flesh.
A Christian has love, joy, and peace, the fruit of the Spirit
toward God. He's got long-suffering gentleness
and goodness towards men. This is the fruit of the Spirit.
He's got faith, meekness, and temperance in his own self. This
is the Christian. He has a life before God. He's in the flesh. but he has
the life of God in his soul. And this life we live, we live
only by the faith of the Son of God. This life we now live
is wholly a result of his faithfulness. And the scripture I thought of
when I was thinking about this concept of living by the faith
of the Son of God, I love that scripture in 1 John 1, 9, where
it says, if we confess our sins, and you remember that scripture,
if we confess our sins, what's it say next? It says He is merciful
and gracious to forgive us of our sins? No. He is merciful
and gracious, but that's not what it says. It says He is faithful. You see, He determined to forgive
that sin before you ever committed it. And He gave you the confession
in the first place. And He's only acting in His faithfulness. He is faithful. And He's just
to forgive us of our sins. His justice is honored because
of what Christ accomplished. Oh, truly, we live off the faith
of the Son of God, don't we? Actually, we live off His faith. Don't you have to believe? Yeah.
You sure do. You've got to believe that. We live off His faithfulness.
We live off His faith. The faith of the Son of God. How we delight in living off
Him. So, a Christian is one who lives
by the faith of the Son of God. What is a Christian? Let's go
on reading. I love this. What is a Christian? He says, the life I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. What is a Christian? He's someone
who Jesus Christ has loved. Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. He is someone that Jesus Christ
has died for. A Christian knows all of his
hope for salvation is here only. Christ loved me and he gave himself
for me. That's the only hope I have,
that Christ loved me and that he gave himself for me. Now,
you know as well as I do that universal love, which is what
most preaching is, God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody,
God wants to save everybody, that's preached, I believe, by
probably 90, 95 percent. Who knows? I mean, it's the great,
it's what's preached. God loves you and Christ died
for you. Do you know you won't find one place in all the New
Testament where the apostles or the prophets or anybody else
said to an unbeliever, God loves you and Christ died for you.
You won't find that one single time. You see, universal love
and universal redemption makes this verse meaningless. How can
he love you and give himself for you and you wind up in hell
anyway? Well, that's dishonoring to Christ
and that's a denial of the gospel message. This is the assurance
of the believer. Christ loved me. Christ died
for me. Well, does this discourage people
to say he didn't die for everybody, that he just died for believers,
that he just died for the elect? Does that hinder us in preaching
the gospel? Not at all. Not at all. I can say to everybody
and anybody, if you call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.
I can say to everybody and anybody, He promised him that cometh to
me, I will let no wise cast out. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's God's promise. A Christian
is somebody that Christ has loved and Christ died for. I love what
John, the Apostle John said, called himself. He called himself
that disciple that Jesus loved. I wish I could talk about my
great love for him, and I do love him. The Lord knows I love
him, but all I feel is shame for it. I love him a whole lot
more than I do. I love him to the point where
I'd never see him again. That's how much I love him. But
oh, his love to me. That's the most amazing thing.
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder
how He could love me. A sinner, condemned, unclean. What is a Christian? A Christian
is someone who Jesus Christ loved. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. A Christian is someone Christ
died for. A Christian, verse 21, a Christian is someone who doesn't
frustrate the grace of God. He says, I do not frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Now, he doesn't mean God to be
frustrated. He wants to give you grace, and
you won't let him, and that frustrates him. He's not able to do his
will. He doesn't get to do what he wants to do. You know it doesn't
mean that. The word frustrate is nullify, make void, make meaningless. And this is something a Christian
doesn't do. He said, I don't make meaningless. I don't nullify the grace of
God, for if righteousness, and this is what I need, righteousness. This is what I
need more than anything. Righteousness. A righteousness
that God is pleased with. A righteousness that God accepts.
A righteousness that's nothing short than the righteousness
of God himself. I don't have confidence in anything
else, do you? Righteousness. If righteousness came by the
law, if God gave it to me, because of something I did. And that's
what righteousness means, coming by the law. God gave me righteousness
because of something I did. I achieved it. I earned it. I
did something to make it mine. If righteousness came by the
law, then what Jesus Christ did was a waste of time. He died
to no purpose. He died in vain. If there's any
way that I can obtain righteousness by something I do, the death
of Christ was meaningless. Now listen to this. A Christian
is one who knows that Christ did not die in vain and that
righteousness comes wholly by his death. That's what a Christian
is. He knows that righteousness comes
to him wholly, 100%, because of the death of Christ and no
other reason. Now that's what a Christian is. Are you a Christian? Well, do you know what the world
doesn't know? That a man can't be saved by
works? Do you know that you can only
be justified by the faith of Christ? That's what you believe. You believe in Christ that you
might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works
of the law. Are you dead to the law? Are
you dead to the law? You see because of what Christ
did that all the law has been answered. You died with him and
the law has nothing to say to you. You don't attempt to come
into God's presence by law. You're dead to it. You're dead
to the law that you might live under God. Do you understand
that your salvation is being crucified with Christ? Not just
that he died for you, but you died with him. Union with Christ. That's all your hope is being
this great, glorious, mysterious truth of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, do you understand this? I live, but it's not me,
it's Christ living in me. I don't give my works, the faith
I have, the love I have, the repentance I have, the zeal I
have, whatever I have, the fruit of the Spirit, the state, the
beatitudes, the blessings, whatever I have, and every believer has
it. Whatever I have, it didn't come from me. It's Christ living. in me. I can't get, I wouldn't
dare give my flesh the credit for any of that. It's the work
of God and it's the work of God alone. And here's my only hope
and my Christian was my only hope that Christ loved me and
gave himself for me. That's all my salvation and it's all my
desire. That's everything that Christ
loved me and that he gave himself. Oh, think of that. He gave himself. What greater gift could there
be? He gave himself. Do I know that the only way that
I have righteousness is not by the law, but by the death of
Christ? Oh, the cross of Christ is everything. Now, can you say yes to that? My beloved friend, you are a
Christian. You're someone God has saved. You are somebody that God is
for. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
Redeemer. How we thank you for. Him who
loved us. And washed us from our sins in
his own blood and made us kings and priests unto thyself. How we thank you for him who?
Lives in us. How we thank you that we're justified
not by our works, but by his faith. And Lord, how we thank
you that he didn't die in vain, that righteousness comes to all
for whom he died. How we thank you that we're dead
to the law. Lord, let us believe that. Let us rest in that, that
we're dead to the law by the body of Christ that we might
live unto thee. Oh Lord that we might be Christians indeed. Bless this word for your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.