Returning again to Galatians
2, it takes a lifetime to learn
how to preach. I've been in two Bible conferences
this week, down in Powell, Tennessee, and in Franklin, Tennessee, and
had the privilege of hearing other men preach as well as the
privilege of standing in the pulpit again and presenting what
I believe the Word of God teaches. I'm not totally happy with our...
I'm happy with our message. I'm happy with our gospel. I'm
not totally happy with the way it's being presented in many
quarters, and we're constantly examining this question about
how to preach. Somebody said most great preachers
preach too loud and too long, and there's a good possibility
we do. Somebody said we try to give the people too much, too
much material. too much doctrine, too much theology. We try to cram too much into
too short a time. That may be true too. But tonight I want very much
to present one thing. I want to get across one thing
from Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. That's something suggested
to me by a book that I've been reading this week by Ebenezer
Erskine. And the point I wish to make,
and continue to come back to it, is that true faith, true
faith, lives on and in and through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. True saving faith lives on Christ. It survives on Christ. It's nourished
through Christ. Now look at Galatians 2.20. Paul
opens this verse here, this statement with, I am crucified with Christ. Now when we view the crucifixion
of Christ, now let's establish this point, let's see if we can
make this point. When we view the crucifixion
of Christ, And that's all that's involved in his death on the
cross. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's cross and all that was involved in that
death of the Savior. We view it in several ways. Now,
first of all, the crucifixion of Christ is a display and a
revelation and a manifestation of the divine character of God.
That's the first thing. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. For the sake of God's justice,
for the sake of God's holiness, for the sake of God's purpose
to save, to enable God to be just and justifier, to enable
God to continue to be God and reveal his love, Christ had to
die. Now turn to Romans with me, chapter
3. There was no choice. Christ had
to die. If God is going to redeem sinners,
he's got to do it in such a way that his attributes, his character,
will be revealed and manifested and displayed and satisfied. Now in Romans, chapter 3, it
talks this way. It says, verse 25, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation. through faith in his blood to
declare God's righteousness, to declare God's righteousness.
Now look at verse 26, to declare I say, I said the cross is a
display, a declaration, a manifestation of God's character, of God's
divine character, verse 26, to declare, I say, at this time,
God's holiness, God's essential righteousness, that God may be
just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Christ. God
Almighty purposed to redeem a people. Now, in order for God to show
love, God's truth has to be satisfied. In order for God to show mercy,
God's justice has to be satisfied. In other words, a judge, Brother
Bill Sasser, made the statement here in our pulpit that God does
not forgive sin. And somebody says, well, it says
a lot of times in the Bible, if we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Forgive as your heavenly Father
forgives. But this is what he's saying.
God does not forgive sin unless that sin is paid for. You see
what he's saying? In other words, every transgression
and every disobedience shall receive a just recompense of
reward. God will, must punish sin. God has, He will, and He must
if He's going to be God. He can't let sin go unpunished.
So if we plead the blood of Christ, if we plead the righteousness
of Christ, if we plead the death of Christ in our stand and room,
then God can, through Christ, forgive sin on the basis of His
blood and His death. You see what I'm saying? You
see, a just judge, God is a just God. He's a holy God. He's a
righteous God. He's a just God. His throne is
a throne of holiness and justice. And you cannot expect that throne. God is no respecter of persons.
You can't expect to come from that throne any favors at the
expense of justice. The only favor and mercy and
grace that can come from that throne is on the basis of sin
paid for and justice satisfied. That's what we're saying. So
when we say God does not forgive sin, we're saying that he does
not forgive sin unless that sin has been paid for. and that in
Christ on the basis of what Christ... So when we look at the cross
and the sufferings of... That's the reason anybody without
Christ cannot expect forgiveness. Anybody who does not love Christ
and receive Christ and know Christ cannot expect the favor, mercy,
and forgiveness of God. Not at all. Because God must
deal with their sins. My sins have been punished. Every
sin for which God has forgiven me has been paid for. Every transgression
for which God has pardoned me has been paid for in Christ. And on the basis of his blood
and his righteousness, then God can forgive sin. So the cross
of Christ is a display of God's divine holiness, God's divine
attributes. It's saying God will punish sin. It's saying God Almighty will
be just if he's justified. All right? The death of Christ
is a manifestation of the love of God and the love of Christ. Turn to 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verse
16. Now I'm building up to something
here that we're going to work on for a few moments. In 1 John
3, 16, Hereby perceive we the love of God. You want to perceive,
that is, see the love of God? You want to picture the love
of God? Hereby we perceive we the love of God because he laid
down his life for us. That's how much he loved us.
So when I stand and look at the cross of Christ and the suffering
and agony of my Redeemer, I'm saying, well, he loved me. Greater
love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
friend. And Christ not only laid down
his life, but our Lord Jesus Christ became acquainted with
something that he never knew, and that's sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin, but he took our
sin in his body. He became acquainted with sin
when he died under the wrath of God for our sins. And thirdly,
I view the cross of Christ, thirdly, as a putting away, an effectual
putting away of sin by atonement and sacrifice. Turn to Hebrews
9. That's what I see in the cross. I see a manifestation of God's
character. I see a manifestation of God's
love. And thirdly, I see sin actually
put away by sacrifice and atonement. Now Hebrews 9, 26. Now here in
Hebrews 9, you have three appearances of Christ. In the first one here
in verse 26, for then must he often have suffered since the
foundation of the world. But here's what I want you to
see. Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared, hath
he appeared, Christ appeared on this earth to put away sin.
To put it away. Alright, when we talk about the
putting away of sin, the Bible describes it this way, as blotted
out. He blotted out our transgression.
Putting it away is casting it into the depths of the sea. Casting
it into the depths of the sea. I quoted one time God has cast
our sins in the depths of the sea of his forgetfulness. And
somebody came up and said, where is that in the Bible? I said,
I don't know. It's not in there. Incidentally,
it's not in there. But he has cast our sins in the
depths of the sea. Then he has cast them behind
his back. God uses that term. And then
he separated us, them from us as far as the east is from the
west. And then it says he remembers them no more. I guess that's
where they got it. They combined the C and not remember them.
This made the C of forgetfulness. Let's be careful what we attribute
to the Bible. So he puts away sin. How did
he do it? Look at it. By the sacrifice. Sin is put away by a sacrifice. And that by the sacrifice of
himself. You see that? He put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. All right, quickly. We view the
cross, let's go back over that now, as a display of God's character,
divine character. We view the cross as a manifestation
of God's love. I'll tell you, if you ever doubt
the love of God, go to Calvary. He spared not his own son. I
tell you, that's love. For God so loved the world, he
gave his only begotten son. He gave the treasure of heaven.
He gave the treasure of heaven. He gave the very glory of heaven.
And not just to die, but to die on a cross under the judgment
and wrath of God and men. All right, we view it as the
putting away of sin by atonement and sacrifice. But here in our
text, let's go back to our text, and let's look at these words
that Paul uses here in Galatians 2. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. I am crucified with God. Paul
views it not only as a manifestation of God's divine character and
God's love and a putting away of sin, but Paul views it as
a work of substitution. I'm crucified with Christ. Paul
is saying when he died, when Christ died under the wrath of
God, I died. That's identification. I was
in Christ. I was in Christ, and I died.
When the judgment of God fell on Christ, it fell on me. He
bore my sins in his body on the tree, and he fully paid the debt. And when Christ discharged that
somebody's debt, it was mine he discharged. Mine. Turn to Romans 8. See, Paul's
not saying the same thing over here in Romans chapter 8, when
he challenges heaven, earth, and hell. He said in verse 33
of Romans 8, who? Who? Now that's a big word, who. It's a wide word. It covers a
large spectrum. Who? Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who? Answer me, heaven, earth, or
hell. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that dies. It's Christ
that died. And over here in Galatians 2
in our text, he said, I'm dead. I am dead. Just as much when
Christ was crucified on that cross, I was crucified with him. I am dead to the condemnation
of the law. I am dead to the curse of the
law. The law has no claim on me. The law has no claim on me. I am dead to the penalty of the
law. I am dead to the judgment of God just as much as a man
who's been hung for a crime. Suppose a man is guilty. He's
really guilty. He's guilty of stealing horses.
And back when the horse was a man's means of support and transportation
and plowing and everything else, steal his horse, that's a hanging
offense. So a man's stolen some horses. And the mob gets together
and finds him guilty and walks out there to a tree, throws a
rope over the tree, picks a hangman's noose, puts it around his neck.
He's guilty. He's broken the law. He's been
tried and found guilty, sentenced to be hanged. And they horse
the rope up, him up in the air and hang him. And he dangles
there until his feet quiver the last time and his hands jerk
the last time. And he dies. And they cut the
rope and he drops down dead on the ground. and they turn and
walk away. They can't do any more harm to
it. He's dead. He died under condemnation. He
died under guilt. He died under judgment. The law
is satisfied. The people are satisfied. Everybody
is satisfied. He's dead. They don't have any
claim on him. They can't touch him. There's
nothing that can be done to him. Nothing further. Nothing more
that they can do. The law and justice has no more
claim. That's me in Christ. I'm dead. The law strung me up. The law
hung me. The law executed me, righteously
so, justly so. God's law said guilty. God's
law said worthy of condemnation. God's law said kill him. And
they took him out on Golgotha's Hill, took me out on Golgotha's
Hill in the person of my Redeemer and substitute, and there they
nailed me to a cross, and I died, and they walked away. And I say
this, what Paul said, who can lay anything to my charge? Who
can condemn me? And that goes for God, and God's
law, and God's justice, and that goes for men, that goes for devils
and demons, and that goes for my own conscience. I'm dead.
I'm dead. I'm dead. Now that's it. But,
verse 20, go on, I'm crucified with Christ, I'm dead. Nevertheless,
I live. I live. Now this is not a natural
life we're talking about because this natural life too shall one
day pass away. This natural life shall pass
away. Nothing connected with it, nothing associated with it
is going to live. Nothing. Not even its relationships. I hear people saying, shake hands
with mother again. You will not recognize your mother
as your mother in glory, as your mother, as your mother, as your
sister in Christ, as a part of the family of God. But there's
nothing in this natural realm that God's going to take to glory.
He said, I make all things new. Isn't that what he said? I make
all things new. All things. And when we say,
I live, I'm dead, but I live, dead to the world. But nevertheless,
I live, it's not my natural life, for that too shall one day pass
away, and everything, the fashion of this world, fadeth away. It's
fading. And one day it'll be gone. But
I live, a new person, a new man, a spiritual man, who lives on,
listen, yet not I, it's not I at all, it's Christ that liveth
in me, a new man created in Christ in the life which I now live.
I live on and through and by and because of one person, Jesus
Christ. That's my life. He is my life.
And this scale, Mike, has eight notes. A scale ought to have
eight notes. I'm not going to be with you long. But I have
eight notes, and I want you to see these eight notes quickly.
This is the life I now live. I'm dead. I'm crucified with
Christ. I'm dead to the world, and the
world is dead to me. I'm dead to the law, dead to its curse
and covenant and condemnation and penalty. I'm dead. The law
is satisfied, justice is satisfied, but I'm living. But it's a new
life, it's a new man, it's a new creature, it's a new creation,
and it's Christ that lives in me. This old flesh, you're going
to bury it someday. And that new man, that new life
created by God in the image of Him who created him, is going
to live on. And I live right now, that life
which shall live in glory is the life which lives right now,
and it lives on Christ. First of all, it lives on the
name of Christ. That's what Mike was singing
about, the name of Christ. First of all, we're saved by
calling on that name. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Son of God shall be saved. We're saved by calling on that
name and all that that name encompasses. Secondly, we pray in that name.
The Father said, whatsoever you ask the Father, Christ said,
whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he'll give it to
you. We serve God in that name. He said, do what you do in word
or deed in the name of Jesus Christ. We preach in that name. He said that in his name, repentance
and remission of sin might be preached to every creature. The
disciples healed in that name. They came by and they said, silver
and gold, we have none. But such as we have, give we
unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ,
rise up and walk. And then God has ordained that
every knee and every should bow and every tongue confess that
that name is Lord. Jesus, oh, how sweet the name. Jesus, every day the same. The name of our Lord is a mighty
tower, the wise man said. So we live on the name of Christ.
Precious name. Oh, how sweet. None other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I could
go on and on and on, but precious to the believer is the name of
Christ. To you that believe, he's precious.
All right. Secondly, we live on the flesh
of Christ. Now I'm going to handle a difficult
passage of scripture now in John 6. You know, being a preacher,
if you're trying to be an honest preacher and trying to teach
people, ain't easy. Not at all. Nothing easy about
it. But I'm going to try to deal
with John 6, 51. And I'm scared of misinterpreting the scripture.
He said, if a man breaks a commandment and teaches men so, it better
be millstone hanged about his neck and cast into the depths
of the sea. But now, John 6, the scripture I'm talking about
is, we eat his flesh and drink his blood. Now, when Israel was
traveling from Egypt to Canaan, they traveled across the wilderness.
Now, the reason I'm giving that illustration is Christ did. Look
at verse 49. Let's go back. He said, your
fathers, verse 48, I'm the bread of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness, and they're dead. They lived on that
manna. Right? And they died. They lived
on that manna. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven a man may eat thereof and never die. I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. You see he's illustrating
with Israel and you. If any man eat of this bread
he'll live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh. I'm talking about the divine
nature in a human body. That's what we're talking about,
my flesh, which shall give for the life of the world. And then
the Jews began to strive among themselves and said, how can
this man give us his flesh to eat? And Jesus said, verily I
say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life. Whosoever eateth my flesh
And my drink is my blood, hath everlasting life, and I'll raise
him up. For my flesh is meat indeed, and he that eateth my
flesh dwelleth in me, and I in him." Now, Israel, see if I can
help you. See if I can help myself. Israel
traveled from the wilderness to Canaan, which is a type of
our journey through this world. I'm redeemed, and I'm headed
for glory. Somebody said one time, for a
bunch of pilgrims, we sure carry a lot of baggage. work on that
a little while. But we're traveling through this
world. Now, Israel lived on manna, bread
from heaven. And Christ said that bread is
a type, a picture, a shadow of the true bread who is Christ,
right? Whatever you may think of it.
This flesh he's talking about here, this bread, is the flesh
of Christ. It's his human nature united
with his divine nature in which we find our confidence and our
hope in which our souls are nourished as we feed on the fact and on
the person that God Almighty came down here in human flesh
and actually as a man obeyed the law. And as a man walked
this earth, and as a man went to the cross and died, as a man
was buried, and as a man ascended to glory and sat down on the
right hand of God, that, my friend, through this journey, is my comfort,
it's my solace, it's my nourishment, and it's my life, the flesh of
Christ, the fact that he became a man. Does that help? I live
on that. I actually live, just like Israel,
they would have died without food, They would have died, and
so they ate the bread from heaven, the manna, and they lived. It
gave them strength, it gave them hope, it gave them nourishment,
it gave them movement, it gave them all these things. Well,
I live on the fact that my Lord became a man, and as a man, in
the flesh. You see, He opened for us into
the Holy of Holies by a new and living way, through His flesh.
The veils, split the veils. We're talking about a man did
that. and let us go into the presence of God. So faith lives
on that. Thirdly, faith lives on the blood
of Christ. Actually survives and lives on
the blood of Christ. Here's the scripture in Leviticus
17. Turn over there a minute. Leviticus
17. Now you know Hebrews 9.22 says
without the shedding of blood there's no remission, no forgiveness.
But here in Leviticus 17.11, and you know what someone told
me this week? that a song leader at a church, and I'm trying to
remember who told me this, but actually I think it was a preacher
from Georgia, Fort Oglethorpe. He said a song leader of a church
was told not to use the blood ever in the children's meetings.
It upset the children. He said, don't sing songs about
the blood because it'll upset the children. Well, listen to
Leviticus 17, 11. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. In other words, I've got, they
say, 10 or 11 pints of blood in this body. That's my life.
That's the life of my flesh. I tell you, if I split my wrist
open tonight and that blood started flowing out, I'd get alarmed.
I tell you, the first thing I'd better stop is the blood flow.
Because no matter how good my eyes are, ears, or lungs, or
anything else without blood, I'm going to die. I'm going to
literally lie down and die. And that's what they're saying
here, the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I've given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.
The life of the spiritual man is also the blood. Not his blood
like this, but his blood. That's why. The life of this
flesh is in the blood of the flesh. And the life of the spirit
is in the blood of Christ. That's just it. That's what he's
saying. It's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. It's
the blood of Christ that atones. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses. It's the blood of Christ that redeems. It's the blood
of Christ that gives us entrance into the holiest. It's the blood
of Christ that enables us to overcome. These are they that
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And it's the blood
of Christ that enables God to say, when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. So true faith lives on the blood
of Christ. Just like my body lives on blood,
then my spiritual man lives on the blood of Christ. That's what
our Lord is saying when he says, eat my flesh and drink my blood. It's the children's bread. It
really is. All right, the fourth thing.
Faith lives on the life of Christ. Our Lord said this, now, he said,
because I live, you shall live. They came to the tomb of Christ
and the angels gave them this message, why do you seek the
living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen,
and he is risen to die no more. He who was dead is alive and
will die no more. That same thing can be said of
this spiritual man. I'll never die. He who was dead
is alive. Now let me tell you something. I brought this message at Brother
Jeff Thornberry's funeral. Our Lord never referred, and
it's kind of hard to say this, you don't know how to say it,
but He never referred to the death of a believer as death.
He said he sleeps. He sleep. Now the believer, here's
the thing about it. Our Lord Jesus Christ died and
was buried and rose again, and we died with him, we were buried
and we arose with him, and we'll die no more. Now this body may
sleep and go back to the dust, but this body's not me. This
is a tent or tabernacle in which I live. I'll never die. I'll
never die. Believers never die. There is
no death. Death hath no more dominion over
you. Any kind of death. We don't need
to fear death. The sting of death is sin. And
when sin is gone, there's no sting. There is no death. Because
I live, you shall live. And we feed on that. We're alive
forevermore. I'll never die. My body will
sleep in the grave, but I'll never die. Never die. That's what Scripture declares.
All right? In the fifth place. Turn to 1 John 2.1. True faith
lives on the intercession of Christ. It lives on this. This is a life of faith. In 1
John 2.1 it says, My little children, these things write I unto you
that you sin not. Don't sin. Don't sin. Avoid sin. And if any man sin,
we have an advocate. We have an intercessor. We have
one who pleads for us with the Father. Who is it? It's Jesus
Christ. I live on the faith of Christ.
Christ has the Father's ear. He has the Father's ear. And
He has my interest at heart. And He has the necessary sacrifice. And he said over here in John
17, look at this, John 17, he says, I pray for them. Verse
9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
I pray for them which thou hast given me. And verse 24, he says,
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. That's my prayer. And I live
on that. That's my comfort. That's my
strength. That's my hope. There is one
God and one mediator between God and me and the man Christ
Jesus. That encourages me. I have an advocate. I have an
intercessor. I have one who has the Father's
ear, and he has my interest at heart, and he has a suitable
sacrifice, and he prays for me. Then in the sixth place, turn
over to Isaiah 45. I hate to have you turn to so
much Scripture, but I want you to see this. Isaiah 45, verse
24. Faith lives on the righteousness
of Christ. Now I know, I know that the believer,
the scripture says, Be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord.
And I know the scripture says, Be ye perfect, for I am perfect,
saith the Lord. I know that every believer wants
to be like Christ. He wants his conversation and
conduct and behavior and life to be like Christ. To show forth
the praises of him who loved us and gave himself for us. But
brethren, man at his best state is vanity. I don't care. The
most holy person in this building, the most moral person or righteous
person, holy as men use that word, his righteousness is filthy
rag. But we live not on our deeds
and not on our righteousness, we live on his righteousness.
Listen to Isaiah 45 verse 24. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness. In the Lord have I righteousness. True faith will cast away all
our works as dumb. Paul said that. He said, I'm
a Hebrew of Hebrews. I consider the law blameless,
all these things, but I count these things but dumb that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness of faith. True
faith casts away our righteousness as filthy rags and looks to Christ's
divine obedience as our righteousness. That's what it looks to. I live
on that. I live on that. Whether I'm high
or low, whether I feel a sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction,
I still look to Christ for my holiness. He is my holiness. He is my righteousness. The scripture
said, the Lord our righteousness. And that's what I live on. That's
what I live on. I wouldn't neglect every one
of us striving to be more like Christ, growing in grace and
the knowledge of Christ, growing in faith and love and holiness
and all these things. But when it comes right down
to it, before God, my righteousness is Christ. First and last Alpha
Omega beginning to end. And all in between is Christ,
all right, in the seventh place. Faith lives on the word of Christ.
Now, if I could turn to Romans chapter 10. You know this verse
by heart, but let's look at it again. I tell you, my friends, if you
neglect the book, it's just like I said a week or two ago when
I preached on public worship is to be preferred before private
worship. And the first step towards shipwreck
is to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, is to
turn away from the public worship of the Lord. And I say this,
to neglect the word of God, to desert the book, is to invite
all manner of heartache and trouble into your life. What nourishment,
listen to Romans 10 verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. I guess everybody says, I wish
I had more faith. Okay? It comes by the Word of
God. That's it. You say, but I know,
isn't it something, why don't we just take God at His Word?
He said, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Turn to, listen to David over in Psalm 119, and almost the
whole 119th Psalm is having to do with the Word and the precepts
and the commandments and so forth of God. But look at Psalm 119,
verse 49 and 50. Listen to this. Psalm 119, 49
and 50. Remember the word unto thy servant,
upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in
my affliction For thy word hath quickened me. You'll find that,
look at verse 9 back here, Psalm 119. Wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Verse 11. Thy word have I hid
in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Verse 16. I
will delight myself in thy statutes, I will not forget thy word. I
wish you'd read that whole 119th Psalm. Look at verse 81. My soul fainteth for thy salvation,
I hope in thy word. Look at verse 98. Thou, through
thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for
they are ever with me. My enemies and thy word. See
what he's saying? Thy word. Oh, my dear friends,
I love the other books and all, but but what nourishment, what
strength, what help I receive from this book. When we can lie
down in the green pastures of His Word, when we can be led
by His Spirit beside the still waters of His Word, what comfort
when faith can appropriate the Word of God for every need. Get
acquainted with the Word. I was down in Lexington with
the college students preaching recently and And they talked
to some of their classmates and roommates and so forth about
what I was preaching. Some of them came to hear me. And one
young lady said this, well, she said, I don't know much about
the Bible, but I know what I think. Boy, that's prelude to misery.
That's prelude to misery. You better know something about
the Bible. Let's get in it. Let's get in the word. He said,
my word will judge you. But my word will comfort you.
And my word will encourage you, and my word will strengthen you.
You know, Paul, when he's talking about our dead friends, he said,
comfort one another with these words. All right, in the last
place. Let me go to Hebrews 13, I mean,
on this point. I want to show you this. This
is, I remember back years ago, we had a preacher, D.B. Estep,
from over in Covington, Kentucky, way back 20 some odd years, 28,
29 years ago, and he showed me this, Hebrews 13, 5. Let your conversation be without
covetousness. Be content with such things as
you have. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. So we can boldly say, the Lord
is my helper. What do you say? The Lord is
my helper. How can you say that? Because he said it. He said it,
therefore I can say it. And if he said it, I can say
it. If he says, thy sins be forgiven thee, That's what you preached
the other night, Charles. Then I can say it too. But I
can't say it until he says it. He says it. All right, last of
all. True faith lives on the offices of Christ. Now let me
point this out. Go back to my text. Let me go
back to my text before I make this point. Galatians 2. Galatians 2. He says, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I. Christ liveth in me,
and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith,
the faithfulness of the Son of God. True faith lives on the
offices of Christ. What are the offices of Christ?
Prophet, priest, and king. Back in the Old Testament, there
were prophets like Moses. There were priests like Aaron.
There were kings like David. Occasionally, a man was both
a prophet and a king, but no man ever served those three offices. No man, no man ever had those
three offices. They were always divided until
Christ came. And our Lord Jesus Christ took
upon himself from all eternity as our surety and representative,
prophet to reveal God, he that has seen me has seen the Father,
priest to atone for our sins, intercede for us and rectify
in glory and king to reign over us. All authority is his. He
is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is the high priest
like Melchizedek, and he's a prophet like Moses, but he's everything.
You say, are you sure? Okay, let me give you this illustration.
If you were given an office with certain duties to perform, and
you either refused to perform them or else you neglected those
duties, The world would look upon you as what? Unfaithful. That's what they'd say. He was
given an office, and he refused to assume the duties, or he neglected
those duties. He's an unfaithful servant. My
Lord will never be accused of being unfaithful. And my Heavenly
Father gave him, Tom, these offices. He anointed him and appointed
him as prophet, priest, and king, and you can rest assuredly he's
going to fulfill them. You can live on that. And that's
the reason Paul said, I live by the faithfulness of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He fulfilled
those offices. So true faith lives, is nourished,
comforted, survives. It's meat and drink. It's life. He's everything. He's mother,
father, husband, sister, brother, friend, whatever. It's all Christ. It's all Christ. In and by and
on and through it. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, we thank Thee for
Christ our Lord. We're overcome and overwhelmed
by the greatness of the gift. He is to us everything. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him we're
complete. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He is our salvation, the author
and finisher of our faith, and Alpha to Omega. In Christ we
live. We thank Thee and praise Thee.
Move upon the heart of others to look to Christ, to believe
on Him, to receive Him, to rest in Him, to find in Him their
refuge, and their hope. In his name we pray, amen.