Let us commit this time to the Lord.
Lord, we do thank You that You, a holy and righteous God, have called us into Your presence. You even command us to draw near in light of what You have done for us. And, Lord, we do come now and bow in Your presence.
Lord, we are very mindful that apart from You, we can do nothing of spiritual value. So, Lord, we ask Thee to grace us now both to speak and to hear. We just pray in Your precious name. Amen.
I do not know if I have ever spoken to such a small group of people before. I do not know if that makes me feel better or worse. But anyway.
Some of you may remember we began last time by asking a question. That question was: Can you think of one verse in the Bible that best states how the Christian life is really to be lived?
We answered that with Galatians 2:20. Marvelous letter. Maybe after Ephesians, we can go into that—putting in a little plug. I do not know. We will see, Lord willing.
But Galatians 2:20 says—and this is Paul speaking:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
As a very short review, you may recall that we began approaching this verse in the context in which it is found in the book of Galatians. We find it in Galatians 2:11–21. That is the context in which Paul spoke, or wrote, this verse.
In this interesting little section, we find that the apostle Paul confronted Peter. You may recall that Peter went to Antioch, and he was at liberty there to fellowship with the Gentiles. He ate with them; he supped with them.
We mentioned how probably he was first in line when they had those pork barbecues, or when they were eating shrimp on the grill—something a good Jew would have never done.
We mentioned how Peter, through revelation, was shown a sheet that came out of heaven, in which God had all these creatures—creatures that a good Jew could not eat. A voice said to him, “Arise, Peter; kill and eat.”
We remember this happened three times, and then the sheet was taken up out of sight. Peter was a little perplexed at what had happened. He did not quite understand at first, but it began to dawn on him that what God was trying to say was that God receives Gentile and Jew on the same basis: by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we also found in this discourse that Paul wrote that Peter, through fear of some who came to Antioch, withdrew. They were Judaizers. They were those who held to the law. They were those who went about trying to teach that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and abide under the law of Moses.
They came down to check out this liberty in Antioch. And when Peter saw them, he backed off in fear.
It also says that these ones who came down came down from James. Now, I do not believe they came directly from James. I believe they came somewhat in his name because they were trying to push forth their propaganda, if you will.
And Peter, who was considered a pillar in Jerusalem, backed off in fear—probably because he was afraid he would lose his reputation among the Jews. Paul saw that he was not being straightforward regarding the truth of the gospel, so he confronted Peter.
He said, “Peter, you who are born a Jew and who have lived like a Gentile, why are you now going about compelling others to live like Jews?”
So we find in this discourse that Paul wants to stand up for the truth of the gospel. Paul points out to Peter that his action implied that he was putting himself back under the law and, in effect, declaring that Christ is not sufficient for righteousness.
Furthermore, he was putting himself back into a position of a transgressor, for there are none who can keep the law perfectly. We talked about that last time. We talked about why God gave the law.
We find in Galatians 2:19 that Paul stated the believer’s true relationship to the law: they have died to it. The law, having been fully fulfilled in Christ through His perfectly lived life and His death on the cross, removed us from its penalty and its demands.
Thus, it was in this context that Paul spoke Galatians 2:20. Paul himself had come to a place where he saw the real reason for the giving of the law. What was it? To expose sin.
He saw there was no hope for him to live for God through law works. He saw that he needed deliverance from the law’s penalty and demands. Just as importantly, he saw that he needed another life altogether to be able to truly live for God.
This he found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who alone could satisfy every requirement of a holy God.
The living of a true Christian life is not found in conformance to an outward law principle, but in the setting aside of the old self and in allowing Him who alone can please God to live through us.
Living under the principle of law in our own strength avails to nothing. In fact, the law’s main purpose was to reveal to man that he is a sinner in need of a complete Savior.
By a complete Savior, we mean that man is equally needy in the matter of justification—that is, being right before God—as well as in sanctification—that is, living for God.
Paul, in experience, had learned that he himself must be set aside and Christ be given the reins if he was to live for God.
We finished last time by saying that there are three things we need to know regarding Galatians 2:20 if we are to live the true Christian life:
What we want to do this morning—and we are not going to take a lot of time—is basically try to encourage the saints, an exhortation, if you will. This is not really a teaching on this verse, because we said last time that to Paul this verse was not a teaching. It was something he entered into by experience. It was real to him.
That might be the youngest listener we have ever had. Jesus said, “Let the children come unto Me.”
Number one: know that you have died. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ.”
Now, I know this is not a popular topic in the church. In fact, if you travel about, you will find many disregard or ignore this aspect of the truth of the cross altogether.
Sure, the truth of the cross regarding the purging of our sins is gladly embraced. But without this other aspect of the cross, living out the Christian life cannot be realized.
Paul begins in Galatians 2:20 by saying, “I have been crucified with Christ.” Paul did not state this in some kind of morbid or heavy way. Paul stated this with joy.
Paul was tired of his old self. He had come to the end of his old self, and he knew that within him he could not live for God. He yearned for liberation from the old self.
What a day of freedom and liberty it was when he saw by revelation that he was crucified with Christ. He found the deliverance he needed from the law of Moses, in addition to the deliverance needed from the source of why he could not keep the law, which was the old “I.”
Paul gladly embraced the truth that he had been crucified with Christ. And we have to ask the question: Have we come to that place where we are willing to gladly embrace this truth?
Are we tired of living out of that resource we inherited from Adam, which is the old man? The old man will never be able to live for God. There is only one way that we can deal with him, and that is to render him powerless by the work of the cross.
Paul was very much happy to do so. Are we?
If we have come to the place where we are through with the old man, to the place where we yearn for deliverance from what hinders us from living for God, it is to such ones that God proclaims: “We have been crucified with Christ.”
Now, it is true that all believers have been crucified with Christ positionally. But many, for various reasons, have not entered experientially into this truth. But to the ones who, like Paul, cry out for deliverance, God earnestly desires to reveal this truth regarding His Son to them.
You know, our minds cannot fully comprehend this truth of being crucified with Christ. But it is the place where God dealt with that old man, rendering him powerless. The question is: Do we believe it?
Now, in this matter of being crucified with Christ, we find that there are some pitfalls. Maybe we can touch on a few of these—some that are real obvious—and clarify some misunderstandings.
We will forego the reality of this truth if we do not see the need for it. This probably goes without saying, but if we have not seen the corruption of the old man and the inability within him ever to live for God, we will not consent to our having been crucified with Christ.
If we believe that through some kind of alteration or change we can modify this old nature we inherited from Adam, we will continue down that avenue. This, of course, puts us back under a law-works principle, which will result in defeat.
Such ones will find themselves struggling until they see there is no hope and, like Paul, look for a Deliverer who can deliver them from themselves.
You know, God uses the law to bring us into grace. The law is to bring us into grace. When we see that it is not in us to live the Christian life, we are driven to Him who alone can set us free from our inability, which begins by our having been crucified with Christ.
We will forego the reality of this truth by looking within ourselves. Often, one hears that they are crucified with Christ and looks within to see if it is true, to see if it is a reality.
They are doing that old saying: getting the cart ahead of the horse. To look within, to look for experience, to rely on our feelings, is the sure way to miss it.
This is because we will not find the truth of our having been crucified with Christ within ourselves. This is placing our eyes in the wrong place—that is, attempting to look within ourselves for deliverance when it is only found in Christ.
Peter was only able to walk on water, to overcome what was impossible, when he had his eyes on Christ. Victory is not found in us; it is found in Christ alone.
We will never enter into this truth through attempting to drum up faith. You know what I mean by drum up faith?
Our having been crucified with Christ is a fact, and facts do not need any fabrication in order to make them true. We have quoted our brother Ed Miller on this matter of truth before, and he said:
Truth is true because it is true, not because you believe it to be true.
Let me say that again:
Truth is true because it is true, not because you believe it to be true.
We do not have to try and muster up some kind of level of faith to enter into this truth. Since our being crucified with Christ is a fact, what is needed is that we see this truth in our spirit, or, to put it in words that are very common to us, we have to have revelation from God on this matter.
If we have not seen, then we need to ask God to open our eyes to this truth in Christ. Faith comes by hearing the Word, and in this matter, hearing the Word specifically that we have been crucified with Christ.
We saw in Ephesians how Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened. He knew that apart from the revelation of God, we could not see and understand the mysteries of God. Likewise, in this matter of our having been crucified with Christ, we need to have revelation of it.
Practically speaking, the Holy Spirit uses the preparation ground of need to bring us into this spiritual truth. We may have attempted to overcome a particular sin and found that we have fallen in it over and over again and have not found victory.
It is in this desperate situation often that God opens our eyes to show us what is ours in Christ. Even as Paul came to the point where he cried out:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Paul had come to the place of giving up all hope in himself. This was a place of preparation for God to show him His Son as his only deliverance.
The bottom line is this: if we are a believer, then listen to Galatians 5:24 and what it says about us.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.
Notice the tense. It is past tense. This has been done. It was done two thousand years ago. It is a spiritual reality. Do we belong to Christ? If so, then we have been crucified with Him. This is a fact that is true of us in Christ.
The question is: Do we see it? If we do, then we can believe it.
We will never enter into this truth through some form of self-crucifixion. I have heard some who say, “I need to die with Christ,” and they try to go about it in some form of self-crucifixion. They go about the day looking for ways to die to self.
The problem with this is that they are trying to deal with the self-life by the power of the self-life, which is like trying to put out fire with fire.
The real problem is that self is still in control. Though it may go to great lengths in self-torture, even as Martin Luther did, it cannot and will not ever give up the reins of being in charge.
The Holy Spirit is the only One who can bring about the co-crucifixion with Christ. He is the master engineer who knows how to apply the cross of Christ in the life of the believer.
Our part, after seeing by revelation that we are crucified with Christ, is to reckon, or count, it true—to agree with the fact that our old man has been dealt with. Through our acknowledging and consenting to this fact, the Holy Spirit is able to apply and make real in our lives our having been crucified with Christ.
Realize that the enemy will attack us regarding this truth. The enemy of our souls does not want us to enter into this walk, to enter into this truth.
He will come to you, especially when you fall in sin, and say that this truth is not real, that your old man is still very much alive and in charge.
Now, it is true that if we have not seen by revelation, or are not walking by faith in our having been crucified with Christ, we will fail in our experience. But in either case, the answer for victory is found in our looking unto Jesus with the eyes of faith.
When temptation comes, what are we to do? Let me say that if we have only a mental comprehension of the truth of our having been crucified with Christ, we will not be able to withstand temptation.
But if we have seen by revelation that we have that substance of fact—or may we say, that substance of Christ—that faith can lay hold of, then we will be able to endure through temptation.
Let me end this first point with some quotes from a few saints on this truth of our being crucified with Christ. I think many of these individuals you will be familiar with. Most of them are speaking out of the context of Romans 6, but it is very applicable to what we are talking about here in Galatians 2:20.
Evan Hopkins, I think the leader of the Keswick conventions that, I believe, are even now still going on—I do not know how much reality is there now—but God used them mightily to speak forth these truths.
Evan Hopkins said:
To know God’s way of deliverance from sin as a master, he must apprehend the truth contained in the sixth chapter of Romans. There we see what God has done—not with our sins; that question the apostle dealt with in the preceding chapters—but with ourselves, the agents and slaves of sin. He has put our old man, our original self, where He put our sins, namely, on the cross with Christ. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him—that is Romans 6:6—the believer there sees not only that Christ died for him, substitution, but that he died with Christ, identification.
William R. Newell, who wrote the song “At Calvary,” one of my favorite songs—most of you probably know that. He wrote a wonderful book. We have it out there: Romans Verse by Verse.
When I first came here some thirty years ago, a brother came up to me and said, “There are three books you need to read.” This was one of them. I will not tell you the other two. You have to come to me if you are that curious about those.
William R. Newell said:
To those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands, we press the question: How are you able to believe that Christ really bore the guilt of your sins and that you will not meet them at the judgment day? It is only God’s Word that tells you Christ bore your sins in His own body on the tree. And it is the same Word that tells you that, as connected with Adam, you died with Christ; that your old man was crucified; that since you are in Christ, you shared His death unto sin, and are thus to reckon your present relation to sin in Christ as one who is dead to it and alive unto God.
Jessie Penn-Lewis said:
If the difference between Christ dying for us and our dying with Him has not been recognized, acknowledged, and applied, it may safely be affirmed that the self is still the dominating factor in the life.
Reginald Wallis said:
God says, in effect, “My child, as you reckoned on the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, now go a step further and reckon on His representative work for your victory day by day. You believe the Lord Jesus died for your sins because God said so. Now take the next step. Accept by faith the further fact that you died with Him—that is, that your old man was crucified with Him.”
Alexander R. Hay said:
The believer has been united with Christ in His death. In this union with Christ, the flesh, the body of sin, the entire fallen, sin-ruined being with its intelligence, will, and desires, is judged and crucified.
I thought that was wonderful when I read that. By faith, the believer reckons, or counts, himself dead unto sin.
And one more: L. E. Maxwell said:
Believers in Christ were joined to Him at the cross, united to Him in death and resurrection. We died with Christ. He died for us, and we died with Him. This is the great fact true of all believers.
Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ.”
Now let us move on to the next point. Number two: know that Christ lives in us. Paul said, “Christ lives in me.”
The latter part of 2 Corinthians 13:5 says this:
Do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?
Jesus Christ is in you. We may understand doctrinally how it is that Jesus Christ is in us, but has this truth really gripped our hearts?
Think of it: Jesus Christ lives in us.
I think often we walk about in a spiritual stupor, if I may put it that way, even finding ourselves in a humdrum fashion quoting, “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” Do we really understand that Christ lives in us? And do we understand what the nature of that life is?
Let us point out a few characteristics of this life.
His is a life totally given unto God. In Hebrews 10:7, speaking of the Lord Jesus, He said:
Then I said, “Behold, I have come
(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Your will, O God.”
He also said in John 17:19:
For their sakes I sanctify Myself.
He set Himself apart, totally given unto God. He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” Nothing was ever able to disrupt or distract Him from this purpose.
He went through this world like He had blinders on, which blocked out everything but the Father. There was no struggle with Him regarding devotion. Even in His darkest and most difficult time, He could say, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
Christ, who is totally given to God, is in you. You know that?
His is a life in perfect fellowship with God. Who but our Lord Jesus could say, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”?
He also said, “The things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” His was a life uninterrupted as far as fellowship with the Father. Whether by Himself or in a crowd, He remained in perfect fellowship with the Father.
Christ, who has perfect fellowship with the Father, is in us.
His life was victorious over sin and death. The Word says He was tempted in all things as we are, yet He was without sin.
He could say that the enemy had no hold or ground in Him because He had no sin in Him, and He never succumbed to sin. He dealt with the whole sin issue when He died on the cross.
There sin—the nature, the thing—and sins—the acts—were judged and dealt with. He then was raised and overcame death in newness of life. Christ, who is victorious over sin and death, is in us.
His life overcame in all circumstances. Our Lord was more than a conqueror in all His circumstances.
Whether in tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, He was an overcomer. Christ, who overcame in all circumstances, is in us.
His life is one of humility. Our Lord said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.” He who was equal with God considered it not something He had to hold on to or grasp, but He humbled Himself.
He could do so because this is part of His character. Christ, who is the humble One, is in you.
Paul had come to the place where he knew that in his own life he could not live for God. He knew he needed an altogether different life to do so, and he found it in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, Christ lives in us—lives in us. This One who alone was able to please the Father in all things; this One who was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin; this One who was victorious over the enemy; this One who conquered sin and death—yes, He lives within every believer.
No longer need we live by the old life, which is unable to please God. No longer need we be incapacitated when it comes to doing the will of our Father. We have within ourselves One who is more than a conqueror, One who reigns King over all.
Yes, He does live in us. But He also wants to live His life through us. Will we allow Him to do so?
He will, if we submit to Him and choose to live by His life and not by our old nature. God has dealt with the old nature through our having been crucified with Christ, and we now have Christ within. So, we are free to live for God if we choose to.
Listen to what T. Austin-Sparks says on this matter of Christ living within us and through us:
It is important for us to recognize that this is not just the fact that Christ lives within—not merely that Christ is within us, living in us—but this carries with it something more than that: that Christ is the believer’s life. Christ within is the very life of the believer. He must be central and supreme as our life, and He is our life just in the measure in which He is central and supreme—no more, no less.
That leads us to our last point in Galatians 2:20, which is number three: allow Him to live through us. Paul said, “No longer I who live; the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”
First, let us address the principle of how we are to allow Him to live through us. It is through the same principle that our Lord Jesus lived by when He was on earth. It was by the principle of faith.
Faith is to have dependence, reliance, or trust in some particular person or object. We see how the Lord entrusted Himself to the Father all His life while on earth. He was directed by the Word of God, which cannot lie.
True faith is based on facts. When, by faith, we rest on the fact that we have been crucified with Christ and that Christ lives in us, we find the conduit to allow His life to live through us.
The Christian life can and will be hindered according to the degree that we do not have faith or trust in Him. This hindrance will come about to the degree that we have not seen Him as our sufficiency in the Christian life.
Thank God, the Holy Spirit has come to reveal Christ to us and to lead us into all the truth regarding the Lord Jesus. May I say that the Holy Spirit engineers all our circumstances so that we can come into a greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Are we struggling in this thing called the Christian life? The Holy Spirit will arrange and use situations to prepare us so that our eyes will be opened and we will see what is ours in Christ.
Then we will find the faith. When we see the Son of God as He is, we will find the faith and be able to grab hold of the grace of God.
Remember this principle: even as we have received the Lord Jesus initially, in the same manner we are to walk in Him, which is by faith.
But, of course, there is another way that hinders Him from living through us: if we do not allow Him to. If we do not allow Him to, that will hinder His living through us.
There can be a thousand and one reasons why we resist allowing the Lord to live through us, but they all come down to the self-life not willing to die.
If we continue in such a condition, we will find that inwardly we are going to be miserable and that we will have no spiritual fruit in our lives. We must be willing to substitute our life for His, or we will live a defeated Christian life.
You know, in the sport of basketball, they have this thing called substitution. It is where you have one player replace another player in the game. This usually occurs when a player is weary or tired, or when a player is performing poorly in the game.
Have we spiritually come to that place where we are weary and tired—tired of performing poorly in this Christian game, as it were? Have we come to realize we need a substitute to come in and replace us?
I have never seen a player refuse to come out of a game when a substitute has been sent in for him. But we are capable of leaving the Lord on the bench and refusing to let Him substitute for us in this Christian life.
Will we allow Him to have that place in our life that only He should have, which is complete control?
We believe many hide behind this law-works principle of living the Christian life because they do not want to allow the Lord to replace them. But the truth of the matter is that He does not want to extinguish us as an individual, but simply to live through us, through our unique personality.
Where we have resisted allowing Him to live, may He grant us grace to allow Him to have that place He alone deserves in our lives. He is the only One who can live the Christian life.
You know, Sherlock Holmes would say to Watson, “It is elementary.” It is elementary. Nothing really hard about this to comprehend. What makes it difficult is if we do not allow Him—if we resist allowing Him to live through us.
Paul gladly conceded and could say, “No longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Why? Why could Paul say that?
Because Paul saw that the Son of God loved him. He knew it by proof, because the Son of God had given Himself up for him. This was Paul’s motivation to pursue Christ, even at the expense of his own life.
Let me ask this question: Is there really any loss or cost to our laying down our lives for the Lord if we are gaining His life in exchange?
Is there really any loss or cost to our laying down our lives for the Lord if we are gaining His life in exchange? This is something for us to deeply consider.
May the Lord have mercy. May we be those who are willing to allow Him to have that place He alone deserves.
Lord, we do commit these feeble words back into Your hands.
Lord, our prayer is that we would see Thee more. Open our eyes, Lord, to see the truth of us in Yourself and what You have done for us, that we could be like Paul.
May we be those who desire to have that old self put aside, who desire to have Your life not only in us, but to live through us. We just pray and ask this in Your name. Amen.