Will you please turn to the letter to the Galatians? Galatians 1:16.
God was pleased to reveal His Son in me.
Galatians 2:20.
I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live I, but Christ lives in me. But in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith—the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given Himself for me.
Galatians 4:19.
My children, of whom I again travail in birth, until Christ shall have been formed in you.
Let us pray.
O heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for this privilege of gathering together unto the name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How we praise and thank Thee that He is in us, and we are in Him, and there is nothing that can separate us from His love.
We praise and thank Thee for giving us this opportunity of reading Thy Word together. We ask Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt breathe upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in our lives.
We pray that Thou wilt give the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may truly know Thee; and to know Thee is life eternal. We thank Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Of all the writings of the Apostle Paul, there is nothing more violent than this letter to the Galatians. It almost seems as if Paul has lost his temper. He uses very strong terms, even stronger than you will find in the first letter to the Corinthians.
It is almost like the time when our Lord Jesus entered into the temple, made a scourge, drove the cattle away, and overturned the tables of the money changers. That is, in a sense, the nature of this letter.
Why is it? It is because the very nature, the truth, of the gospel is in danger. In order to maintain the truth of the gospel, Paul had to fight fearfully.
And yet, dear brothers and sisters, this morning we are not going to enter into all the strong arguments that Paul presented to the Galatian believers. Rather, we will concentrate on the essence, on the substance, of the gospel that Paul himself had experienced.
In other words, in this letter to the Galatians, we find that behind what may seem negative is that which is very positive. Paul is really sharing with the Galatian believers what the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ really is, and what he personally had experienced.
So this morning we would like to use these three passages to illustrate the gospel of grace—the truth of the gospel of Christ that Paul himself had experienced.
First of all, Paul said, “God was pleased to reveal His Son in me.” Christ revealed in me.
It is grace that God gave His only begotten Son to the world. This is history. This is a fact. By grace, God has provided for the world a Saviour. Christ had come. He had died on the cross. The work of redemption was finished. That is the fact.
But after God has given His Son to this world by grace, there is something more that is needed for each one of us. And that is: by grace, He has to reveal His Son in us. That is personal experience.
So far as the grace of God in providing salvation for us is concerned, it is already given. But so far as anyone entering into that which God has provided in His grace is concerned, something is waiting to be done and unveiled. God reveals His Son in us.
Even though salvation is accomplished, we will not be able to enjoy it unless God reveals His Son in us.
Paul, before he received a revelation of the Father concerning the Son, was a Pharisee. And we know a Pharisee was one who kept the law very strictly. Pharisees were not only those who studied the law, but they actually tried to keep the law to its very letter.
Paul was a true Pharisee. In other words, there were many hypocritical Pharisees, but Paul was a true one. He tried his very best to keep every letter of the law. He even boasted and said that, according to the righteousness of the law, he was blameless.
He was deeply taught in Judaism. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the great rabbi of his day. He kept all the teachings of the fathers.
In other words, Saul was a person deeply involved in Judaism. He kept all the teachings of the fathers according to the Jewish tradition. And we know that at that time the Jewish tradition was the best of all traditions.
Furthermore, he was so zealous in what he believed that he persecuted the church, thinking that it was a service unto God.
Now, we must remember that Paul lived not very long after the time of Christ. Christ had already come. The grace of God had already been given to the world. But he was a person who had not received the revelation from above.
He lived in tradition. He did not have revelation. He lived outside of the grace of God, even though the grace of God was already on earth. And yet he lived outside of God’s grace. Why? Because he did not have revelation.
It was not until he was on the road to Damascus, and there it pleased the heavenly Father to reveal the Son in him, that he really entered into the grace of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, we must remember that in order to really enter into the grace of God, we need revelation. Tradition will not help us. We may have the best of traditions, and yet, if the heavenly Father does not reveal His Son in us, nothing is of any use.
We may live in a country supposed to be Christian. We may be brought up in a Christian family. We may have all our education received in Christian schools. We may even attend Christian churches. We may live in the best of traditions.
And yet, if there is no revelation from above, we are living outside of the grace of God.
Paul said, “But when God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb…” How did the grace of God come to Paul? First of all, he said, “God has set me apart from my mother’s womb.”
Even when Paul was being conceived in his mother’s womb, God had already set him apart. Of course, he did not know it, but God knew it.
And you may even go back further. Even before time was, in eternity, God had already chosen him in Christ Jesus, as we find in the letter to the Ephesians. The election of God—by grace.
Now, this is a mystery. We do not understand it; we cannot explain it. But somehow, according to His sovereign grace, He has chosen us even before time began. In eternity past, He has chosen us in Christ Jesus.
Now, if this is not grace, what is it? Because you were not there yet. You had not done anything yet. Certainly, you did not deserve it. Before you were born, before you were conceived, even in eternity, God had chosen you in Christ Jesus. Now, that is sovereign grace.
Again, I say we do not understand, but we thank God for it. And then, when we were in our mother’s womb, God had set us apart. Now, that is grace.
Because when we were being conceived, we had not done anything yet. We had not lived a day yet. And yet, God had already set us apart. Of course, we do not know it.
And then, thirdly, God called us by His grace. He chose us before time. He set us apart when we were in our mother’s womb. And He has called us by His grace.
He calls, but He calls us by grace. He does not call us by law. He does not call us by justice. If He should call us by justice, then we would all be condemned. But He has called us by grace.
He uses His grace to draw us to Himself.
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.
He does not require anything from us. He calls us just to come to Him, just as we are. He has called us by grace.
And as we respond to His calling, the heavenly Father reveals the Son in us. In His marvelous grace, He opens our eyes, opens our hearts, and lets us see His Son with our spirit.
It pleases God to reveal His Son in me. And when that happens, you know grace has come to you. You are now in the grace of God, under the grace of God.
It makes such a difference. Before the Son is revealed in you, even if you know everything about the gospel, it is foreign to you. You are a stranger to it. But when God begins to reveal His Son in you, immediately you find everything becomes real and living. A transformation begins in your life.
So, brothers and sisters, grace begins with revelation. Unless there is revelation, we are outside of the grace of God. We may be very near to it, just like Nicodemus. He was not far from the kingdom of God, but he had not entered it yet.
It takes revelation from above to show us the Lord Jesus. And when that revelation comes, immediately we are quickened; we are brought to life. And I believe that is what happened to all of us.
Now, so far as this matter of revelation is concerned, by revelation I do not mean some new revelation outside of the Scripture. I do not mean that. By revelation, I simply mean that what Christ has done for us, and what He is, is being revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, so that what is historical becomes personal. That is what revelation really means.
Concerning this matter of revelation, it seems as if it is beyond human ability. In other words, we can do nothing about revelation. If God is pleased to reveal, then He will reveal; and if He is not pleased to reveal, then no matter what you do, you cannot receive revelation.
In other words, when you come to this matter of revelation, we are helpless. It is pure grace. There is nothing you can do.
But is it because of this that we shall faint and be disappointed? Not at all. Because the Scripture says, “God was pleased to reveal His Son in us.” In other words, it is the good pleasure of the Father to reveal His Son in us.
Oftentimes in my travels, I stay in different homes or visit different homes. And when you come to a home that has a new baby, when you enter into the house, you do not need to ask to see the baby.
The moment you step into the house, the parents will come forth and show the baby to you. Why? Because it is the good pleasure of the parents to reveal that baby to you.
And if this is true with human beings, how much more is it true with our heavenly Father?
Oftentimes, when we come to this matter of revelation, we are stuck because we feel there is nothing we can do. If God does not reveal, if He is not merciful, then what can we do? There is nothing we can do, and that is true. There is nothing you can do, and you feel frustrated.
But, dear brothers and sisters, you do not know God. If you know the heavenly Father, you know that it is the good pleasure of the Father to reveal His Son in you. I mean, this is something He wants to do.
And if this is something He wants to do, if only you will turn your heart to Him, no doubt He will do it.
Paul says:
God, who spoke that light should shine out of darkness, has shone into our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Whenever our hearts turn to Him, then the veil is taken away. And we shall see the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and we shall be transformed from glory to glory according to His image, by the Lord, the Spirit.
So how we do praise and thank God that His grace is ever here, and His grace is calling us. Whenever we turn our hearts to Him, immediately you find that He reveals His Son. This is the beginning of grace.
But this is just a beginning. You know, it is very sad that among many of God’s people, when they come into the grace of God, when God reveals the Son in them, when they are saved, Christ is in them, the hope of glory.
To many of God’s people, it seems as if that is the end. In other words, that is all that God can do. All you are waiting for is to die, because after you die, then you go to heaven.
But we know this is not true. To have the Son revealed in us is the beginning of grace. And after the Son is revealed, He is in us: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we are told:
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.
Thank God for the fact that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Because Christ is in us, He has been revealed in us. And because He is in us, all the potential of living is there.
But unfortunately, after Christ has been revealed in us, instead of living by Him, we still try to live by ourselves.
Before we were saved, we tried to live righteously and please God, but we failed. And in our desperation, we came to the Lord and said, “Lord, I am helpless. I am hopeless. There is nothing I can do. I cannot please You. I can only rely on Your grace.”
So by faith, you accept His grace, and He is so gracious to you that He saves you.
But after we are saved, then we begin to think, “Now I am a Christian. I have to live up to the standard.” Probably you set up a standard yourself as to how a Christian should be. Or probably somebody else sets up the standard for you.
And especially when you are reading the Scripture, somehow you find here and there a precept and another precept—precept upon precept—and you begin to take these in and feel, “Well, this is the way that I must live, so that God may be glorified.”
Now you have forgotten that before you believed in the Lord Jesus, you could not do anything to please God. But now you begin to think that after you are saved, you can do everything to please God. So you start out to do it.
Christ is in you, but Christ does not live in you. Christ is in you; that is a fact. But you do not allow Him to live in you and for you. Instead, He is in you, but it is you who are living.
Now, the only difference is this: formerly, you lived for sin. You lived for the pleasures of sin. You lived to serve the world. But now, you live to serve God. That is the difference.
But whether you serve sin or serve God, it is still you. In other words, the “I” is still there. Formerly, I lived for the pleasures of sin. Now I am saved, so I live to serve God. I live to please God. But it is still I.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Not because you are saved has your flesh become spirit. Not because you are saved has self become Christ. Self is self, and Christ is Christ.
Now, after you believe in the Lord and receive grace, Christ is in you, but you are still there. So, in other words, you find there are two persons in you. There is Christ there, and there is you there.
And because you have been converted, the sinful you is being hidden, and the good you begins to raise its head. But remember, it is still you who live. And that is Romans 7.
In Romans 7, you find a man who knows what is the mind of God. He knows what is the will of God, and he has every intention to please God by doing God’s will. He is not a man who wants to commit sin. No.
But here you find a man who has a mind that knows God’s will, who has a will that wants to do God’s will, and who is trying his very best to please God. I wonder if that is your description. And you try very hard.
But throughout this chapter, you find one word repeated: “I, I, I.” It is not Christ; it is I. Christ in me, but I live. And he tried to live up to the standard.
You would say it is not a very high standard, because what he says is, “Do not be greedy.” No, that is easy. You have never been greedy before, and now you are saved; certainly, you will not be greedy at all.
But strange to say, you may not have been greedy before, but after you are saved, you become greedy.
You know, you try. There is grace there. Grace is in you. Christ is in you. But you set aside the grace of God. You do not use His grace.
You are using your own strength to try to live a life that will be pleasing to God. Not until you are defeated and defeated and defeated, until you cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death?”
You know, we are told that in the old days there was a kind of Roman punishment for a murderer. If you murdered a person, they would tie the corpse of the one you murdered to you—eye to eye, mouth to mouth, hand to hand, feet to feet. They would tie the corpse to your body.
Until gradually it would corrupt you and decompose you. It is a terrible punishment. And some commentators say that is what Paul is talking about: “O wretched man that I am.” I am bound to the corpse. There is no way for me to get away from it, and it is destroying me.
Who can deliver me from this body of death? And you know, the one who is tied to him is himself. Sometimes do you feel that is what it really is? You find that you are tied to someone, and that someone is yourself, and there is no way to get away from him.
Who can deliver you from this body of death? It is dead. Who can deliver?
Well, if Christ in you is based on the principle of revelation, then Christ lives in you is based on the principle of the cross.
So here you find Paul saying:
I am crucified with Christ; and no longer live I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Christ in you—that is revelation. But Christ lives in you—that is the cross. There is a great difference here. Christ in you is a fact that never changes, but Christ living in you is an experience that you must enter into.
How do you enter into grace, which is Christ living in you? It is by way of the cross.
When Christ was crucified on the cross, He not only took our sins away; He also took you and me away.
In Romans 6, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him. Christ is the last Adam.
You know, in some hymns it says, “The second Adam came to fight.” Now, that is scripturally wrong. Christ is not the second Adam; He is the last Adam. If He is the second Adam, then there are more Adams, you know, and we are all these more Adams. He is the last Adam.
In other words, when Christ was crucified on the cross, He, as the last Adam, took the whole Adamic race to Himself. He could include all the Adamic race in Himself. And when the last Adam was crucified, the Adamic race was terminated.
God did a wonderful work on the cross. On the cross of our Lord Jesus, not only were our sins taken away. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. And because He paid the penalty of it, we who believe in Him receive the remission of our sins. Our sins are gone. Thank God for that.
But He did something more than that. When He was crucified there, He not only took our sins away; He took us away—the old man, you and I. He took us away and crucified us on the cross.
Why? Because He knows this old “I” is absolutely corrupted, and there is no way to remedy it. The only way to get rid of it is to crucify it on the cross.
I think there is one person in the whole world who understood this more than anybody else, and that was that murderer whom Pilate released. He was supposed to be crucified, but Christ was crucified in his stead.
And I think this is what we need to see. We need to see that we are on the cross. We were crucified with Him because we were in Him.
It is not something that you and I are going to do today. We cannot crucify ourselves. We love ourselves too much.
It is something that God has done in Christ two thousand years ago. When Christ was crucified, I was crucified, because He took me with Him. It is done. It is an accomplished fact.
And because of this, faith would look up and say, “Lord, I thank You because I have been crucified with Christ. I am crucified with Christ.”
You know, the problem with us is the problem of “I.” I think that is the biggest problem. It is a greater problem than any other problem around you. Satan is no problem, because he is a defeated enemy. The world is no problem. Your brothers and sisters are no problem. Your greatest problem is yourself.
Now, how can you get yourself out? The only way to get yourself out is by the cross.
Can we put it this way? Two men were crucified on the cross and were buried. But one came out, and one did not.
Christ was crucified. You were crucified with Him, and you were buried together with Him. Then Christ was raised from the dead, but you did not come out.
Because only that which can go through death and come out of death—that is resurrection; that is life.
So, in one sense, when Christ was crucified, you were crucified. When Christ was buried, you were buried. But when Christ was raised from the dead, your old “I” did not rise up. Thank God for that.
And because of this, Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ. No longer live I.” No longer am I, because I was not raised from the dead. God did not raise the old Adam out from death.
But God did raise Christ from the dead. And that is the reason why Paul said, “No longer live I, but it is Christ who lives in me,” because Christ comes out of death into life, and He lives.
Now, that is the way to get rid of yourself, and the only way to get rid of yourself.
As by faith you believe that Christ has borne your sins on the cross, and your sins are remitted, so by faith you believe that He took you to the cross and buried you. And in resurrection, it is Christ who lives.
If you believe it, you will find it is true.
No longer live I; it is Christ who lives in me. Now, of course, you have the “me” there, but you must remember that the “me” there is the person; it is not the life.
In other words, so far as the person is concerned, we are still here. Therefore, he said, “I now live in the flesh.” We are still continuing to live. So far as this body is concerned, so far as the person and identity are concerned, it is still there. You did not lose your identity. You are still you.
But the life is different. The old life is dead. Now you live by the new life, by Christ who lives in you. It is a new life now, and it is a life of faith.
If you want to feel it, you do not feel it. You know, the problem with many believers is that they still want to feel this. “I do believe that I was crucified with Christ, but I still feel I am living.”
Remember, it is not a life of feeling anymore. It is a life of faith.
But, thank God, it is not your faith; it is His faith. We live by faith. Now, whose faith? By the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Now, if He loved us and gave Himself for us, do you think He will fail to live in you and for you? Certainly not. If you believe in Him, if you accept the working of the cross, then certainly He will live.
He will live in you, and He will live through you. He will not fail to do that because He is faithful. Not your faith—it is His faith. Brothers and sisters, can you now believe?
Oh, every morning when you wake up, you lift up your eyes and say, “O Lord, how I thank You that I do not need to live through this day, because You live in me.”
And you find He does. He does it. You have faith. And only when He lives in you are you able to please God. You are able to do what you should do, and you are able not to do what you should not do.
You will discover that the law of the Spirit of life now overcomes the law of sin and death. That is the only way to live.
And remember, it is grace. Do not think now you have changed. Do not think now you have overcome, now you have become strong. No, you are not. It is grace. It is Christ who lives in you.
But that is not the end. There is something more. Why? Because Paul said, “I travail in birth for you, that Christ shall be formed in you.”
In other words, not only Christ revealed in you, not only Christ lives in you, but Christ shall be formed in you.
Now, there is a great difference between life and form. You know, form—what does it mean? Whenever something takes form, it becomes visible. Whenever something takes form, it becomes a testimony.
And the word “formed” there, of course, is a verb, but it is the same word. It means not the outward form or appearance, but the inward character.
In other words, grace will continue to work in such a way that Christ will be formed in you. To put it another way, you will be conformed to His image.
Now, this is the eternal purpose of God. In Romans 8, we are told:
Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Whom He predestinated, them He also called;
and whom He called, them He also justified;
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
Now, that is glorification. In other words, the character of Christ is going to be formed in you. You begin to express Christ. People begin to see Christ in you. People begin to feel Christ in you, to touch Christ, to hear Christ. Christ is being formed in you.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this is God’s purpose concerning you. It is not just to save you from hell to heaven. Thank God for that, but that is the beginning. It is to save you to such an extent that Christ may be formed in you.
You will be characterized by the character of Christ. Think of Christ. Read the Gospels, and you will find the character that Christ expressed while He was on earth: how loving He is, how patient He is, how righteous He is, how transparent He is, how just He is, how merciful He is, how compassionate He is. He is everything that you would desire.
But this Christ—His image shall be formed in you. You will be conformed to Him.
Not only do you not live, but it is Christ who lives. He lives in such a habitual way that His character is manifested, and no longer your own character. Now, that is God’s purpose.
Nothing short of that. This is something that we have to put before us. This is something that we have to press on toward, until Christ is formed in us and we are conformed to His image.
But how? Christ in you is by revelation. Christ lives in you is by the cross. Christ formed in you is by the principle of travail.
Now, here Paul said, “I travail for you again, that Christ shall be formed in you.” Paul travailed that Christ might be formed in the Galatian believers. But the principle applies to everyone.
In other words, if you travail that Christ may be formed in other people, or if you want Christ formed in you, you have to travail too. It is the principle of travail.
The principle of travail is a tremendous principle. After the fall of man, this is the first principle in the world.
You remember, after man sinned, God told Adam that he must toil and sweat in order to make a living, and Eve must have travail in birth in order to bring forth life. Without travail, there will be no birth. Without birth, there will be no life.
So, for the formation of Christ in us, we have to learn the principle of travail. In other words, we have to travail in order to be formed.
In Romans 8, you find the whole creation groaning together. The whole creation is groaning. You know, when a woman is in travail, she groans. She suffers. It is almost like death, but out of death comes life.
The whole creation groans. Why? Because the whole creation is under bondage of corruption, and the whole creation is subject to vanity—not because it wants to be, but because someone has made it so, and that someone is man.
Because of the sin of man, the whole creation entered into the bondage of corruption and entered into vanity. But the creation is not happy about it. It wants to get out of it. It wants to get into the liberty of the sons of God.
So they are groaning and groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Because when the sons of God are manifested, then they will be free. The whole creation will be freed.
And not only is the whole creation groaning. Paul said, “We, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit”—in other words, we who are redeemed of the Lord—we also are groaning. We groan too. Why? Waiting for adoption, sonship—that is, the redemption of the body.
So you find that travail is everywhere. The whole world is in travail. The church is in travail, and you are in travail. Now, why is it so?
There is one verse in Matthew 24 that probably you find difficult to understand. The Lord said there will be wars and rumours of wars, and famines and pestilences, and all these terrible things happening in the world.
And yet the Lord said, “This is not the end. This is the beginning of travail. This is the beginning of birth pains.”
Brothers and sisters, the whole world is in travail. Wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences, and all these things are just birth pains. When a woman is getting ready to give birth, she goes through stages and stages of birth pains, and that is what it is.
Now, that gives us a positive meaning to all these terrible things. Remember, these terrible things do not come from God. In other words, God has not ordered it that way. It is the result of sin.
But in spite of all these things—all these adversities, all these terrible things—God will make use of them to bring forth what He wants. That is formation.
Maybe in your life you find there are many forces that are tearing you apart. You find you are being pressed beyond measure. You find they are trying to destroy you—and they are.
But thank God, instead of destroying you, they actually help to form Christ. What is destroyed is what is not of Christ in you, but what is being formed is what is Christ.
That is the law of travail. It is not a useless, wasteful experience. It is actually a very positive process of formation.
In 2 Corinthians 4, that is what Paul is talking about:
Pressed on every side, yet not straitened;
perplexed, yet not unto despair;
persecuted, yet not forsaken;
smitten down, yet not destroyed;
always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
Now, that is formation. To see that we were dead in Christ on the cross, that is the foundation. But to bear the dying of Jesus in our life, that is the building, the formation.
Daily, Paul said, “I die.” Die to everything that is not of God.
And you know, sometimes it is very difficult to take these things away because we cling to them. So God has to raise up adverse environments around us in order to break through, that His life may be given a chance to be formed in us.
Until we are brought to our end again and again, that Christ may begin in our lives. That is how character is being formed.
It is not you; it is the character of Christ. You will be brought again and again to death and slain, so that Christ may be built step by step within you, until Christ is formed in you.
And that is the ultimate end of grace. So, from the beginning to the end, it is grace.
It is all of grace. Now, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
O heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee because Thou art the God of grace. And the grace that Thou hast given us is not a thing; it is Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
O what grace can do is beyond our imagination. But we do praise and thank Thee that Thy grace will so work in us until praise shall be rendered unto Thee. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.