INTRODUCTION
Outline.
1. Died with Christ
2. Alive with Christ
3. Loved by Christ
Remarks.
1. In our lesson today we will be discussing the theme: “Alive with Christ.” In this phrase the Apostle Paul describes his life in Christ. Notice: “I am 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,” Galatians 2:20-21. We will confine most of this lesson to the Book of Galatians. It is in this book he advances his and our “justification through the faith in Jesus Christ,” Galatians 2:16.
2. First, Paul states, “I am crucified with Christ” – or he has died with Christ. Further: “Nevertheless I live.” How is it possible for one to be dead and yet be alive? Paul here affirms that his “old man” was crucified with Christ that this “new man” might be made alive. In that, all are “dead in trespasses and sins” it is not possible for us to be alive before God, until we have “died to our sins and transgressions with Christ,” Ephesians 2:1, 5.
3. Second, Paul further describes, “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.” He mentions although dead, he is alive by faith in Christ, and Christ that is NOW lives in Him. We should all understand that it is through Christ we are all made alive. To his apostles he states: “I am come that ye might have life; and that ye might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10.
4. Finally, Paul affirms “that he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” In other words, “I live as a result of the love of Christ – who gave himself” for the Apostle Paul and for us all. Paul states elsewhere: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” 1 Timothy 2:3-6. With this, let’s consider our first point.
BODY OF LESSON
I DIED WITH CHRIST
A. Let’s consider Paul’s statement regarding his death with Christ. Notice: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live,” Galatians 2:20. The Lord taught his disciples that they must be crucified – or- take up their cross to follow Him, Matthew 16:24. We all must die with Christ – so as to live unto God. Paul says: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God,” Colossians 3:2-3.
B. Paul’s life and will. Notice: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” Galatians 6:14. Paul affirms that:
1. First, “He would not glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul would glory only in the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
2. Further, “By whom the world was crucified unto him.” The cross of Christ has set the apostles free from the world – he has been “delivered from the evils of this present world, according to the will of God and our Father,” Galatians 1:4.
3. Finally, “And he unto the world.” I have died to the practices and pleasures of this world. Paul now belongs to Christ; and Christ to him.
C. Paul crucified the flesh. The apostle says: “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” Galatians 5:24.
1. First, he understood that each must crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof.
2. Further, none can be alive in Christ until they have crucified themselves; and have had their sins and transgressions put away through the blood of Christ.
3. Finally, we must “put off the old man; that ye might put on the new man.” Notice the beloved apostle Paul:
a. To the Ephesians he wrote: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” Ephesians 4:22-24.
b. To the Colossians he wrote: “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” Colossians 2:10-13.
c. To the Romans: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,” Romans 7:22. The law of God after the inward man is the law of the Spirit – the law of Christ. Notice this:
1) Law of God: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin,” Romans 7:25.
2) Law of the Spirit: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit…But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness,” Romans 8:1-4; Romans 8:8-10.
d. To the Corinthians: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day,” 2 Corinthians 4:16.
e. Conclusion: “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter….O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin,” Romans 7:6; Romans 7:24-25. Illustrate: Contrast the Law of the Letter to the Law of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:4-18.
D. We must be crucified. That we might die to sins. Remember Jesus who said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” Matthew 16:24. Notice Paul again:
1. First, speaking of us: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Illustrate: Living While Dead, 1 Timothy 5:6. Widow that liveth in pleasure – is dead while she liveth.
2. Further, he says: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
3. Finally, he notes: “For by grace are ye saved through the faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9; Ephesians 3:12.
4. Illustrate: By Grace Are Ye Saved. Recall our lesson regarding grace? We argued, that salvation was “by grace through the faith” of Him - Jesus Christ; as opposed to the law of works, Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:26-27.
5. Conclusion: That, as Paul was dead to the law, so he was made alive unto God through Jesus Christ: I am crucified with Christ, etc. And here in his own person he gives us an excellent description of the mysterious life of a believer. Notice:
a. He is crucified, and yet he lives; the old man is crucified, but the new man is living; he is dead to the world, and dead to the law, and yet alive to God and Christ; sin is mortified, and grace quickened.
b. He lives, and yet not he. This is strange: I live, and yet not I; he lives in the exercise of grace; he has the comforts and the triumphs of grace; and yet that grace is not from himself, but from another. Believers see themselves living in a state of grace in Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1-2.
c. He is crucified with Christ, and yet Christ lives in him; this results from his mystical union with Christ, by means of which he is interested in the death of Christ, so as by virtue of that to die unto sin; and yet interested in the life of Christ, so as by virtue of that to live unto God.
d. He lives in the flesh, and yet lives by faith; to outward appearance he lives as other people do, his natural life is supported as others are; yet he has a higher and nobler principle that supports and actuates him, that of faith in Christ, and especially as eyeing the wonders of his love in giving himself for him. Hence it is that, though he lives in the flesh, yet he does not live after the flesh.
1) Those that have true faith live by that faith; and the great thing which faith fastens upon is Christ's loving us and giving himself for us.
2) The great evidence of Christ's loving us is his giving himself for us; and this is that which we are chiefly concerned to mix faith with, in order to our living to him.
E. How crucified? Hear how Paul qualifies how he was crucified with Christ.
1. First, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life;”
2. Further, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;”
3. Finally, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin;”
4. Conclusion: “For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no move dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God,” Romans 6:3-10. Next, Paul states that he was alive with Christ.
II ALIVE WITH CHIRST
A. Paul states: “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,” Galatians 2:20. Paul now directs his attention to how he is alive. He is alive because Christ liveth in him. Before this, he was attempting to live by living within the “Jews’ religion and the traditions of the fathers.” Notice:
1. First, he mentions: “Ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.” The Jewish fathers not only persecuted the “messiah” but through Paul attempted to waste the church that belonged to Christ. This was sanctioned from the temple in Jerusalem unto the synagogues’ throughout the Jewish society worldwide.
2. Further, he states: “And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equal in mine own nation, being more exceeding zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” Paul claimed to have excelled to religious prominence above all his counterparts in the Law. This he did in knowing and keeping the “traditions of the fathers” within the Jews’ religion.
3. Next, he declares: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood,” Galatians 1:13-16. Finally, when God was ready – “he called me by His grace.” To reveal His Son in me; that I might first be obedient to the gospel; but finally, to preach it among all the nations, Romans 1:5; 2 Timothy 4:16-18.
4. Finally, he concludes: “Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me,” Galatians 1:21-24.
5. Conclusion: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God…I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain,” Galatians 2:19; Galatians 2:21.
B. Christ liveth in me. Paul affirms that Christ was alive in him. As a result of his acceptance of Christ, he became a servant of Christ; an apostle and minister of the gospel of Christ. Notice:
1. First, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh,” 2 Corinthians 4:10-11.
2. Further, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” See 2 Corinthians 13:5. Also: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Colossians 1:27.
3. Next, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again,” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.
4. Finally, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,” Ephesians 3:17.
C. The life I now live in the flesh. Notice: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you,” Philippians 1:21-24.
D. I live by the faith. Hear Paul’s discussion regarding him living by the faith of Christ Jesus. We must contend that true life is found in Christ. Paul affirms he not only lives; but his life is as a result of the faith; as appose to the Law. Notice:
1. First, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith,” Romans 1:17.
2. Further, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith,” Galatians 3:11.
3. Next, “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand,” 2 Corinthians 1:24.
4. Finally, “For we walk by faith and not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5:7.
E. Of the Son of God. “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour,” Ephesians 5:2.
III LOVED BY CHRIST
A. Christ who loved me. “Who loved me, and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20-21. Here Paul defines the reason for his devotion and commitment to Christ. “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” Really saying: “He gave himself up for me; because He loved me.” Notice:
1. First, Hear Jesus: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many,” Matthew 20:28. And Mark: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many,” Mark 10:45.
2. Further, Paul to the Ephesians: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour,” Ephesians 5:2.
3. Finally, Hear John: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren,” 1 John 3:16.
B. Christ gave Himself. Paul states: “He gave himself for me.” Notice:
1. First, Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen,” Galatians 1:3-5.
2. Further, Paul to Timothy: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” 1 Timothy 2:3-6.
3. Finally, Paul to Titus: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” Titus 2:14.
C. For me, for the entire world. Recall:
1. First, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
2. Further, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8.
3. Next, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4:10.
4. Finally, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren,” 1 John 3:16.
D. I through the law. “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God,” Galatians 2:19. Paul states he has died to the law; that he might be made alive unto God through Jesus Christ. Notice:
1. First, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, the man that doeth them shall live in them,” Galatians 3:11-12. No one could be justified through their works of righteousness or the “works of the law.”
2. Further, “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster,” Galatians 3:23-25. Christ came to put away the Law by the faith which is promised in the gospel.
3. Finally, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,” Galatians 3:26-27.
E. Christ died in vain. Paul declares: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain,” Galatians 2:21. The apostle concludes this discourse with acquainting us with the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ, without the works of the law (which he asserted, and others opposed); he avoided two great difficulties, which are these:
1. That he did not frustrate the grace of God, which the doctrine of the justification by the works of the law did; for, as he argues, Romans 11:6. If it be of works, it is no more of grace.
2. That he did not frustrate the death of Christ; whereas, if righteousness come by the law, then it must follow that Christ has died in vain; for, if we look for salvation by the law of Moses, then we render the death of Christ needless: for to what purpose should he be appointed to die, if we might have been saved without it?
3. Justification was not possible through the law; except that a man keep it perfectly. Hear Paul: “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,” Acts 13:38-39. Consider also:
a. For Israel: “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness,” Romans 9:31. And, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth,” Romans 10:4.
b. For the Gentiles: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen (Gentiles) through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed,” Galatians 3:8.
c. Salvation is by grace “through the faith in Christ,” Ephesians 2:8-9. Before we conclude, let me summarize what was presented today.
CONCLUSION
A. Outline.
1. Died with Christ
2. Alive with Christ
3. Loved by Christ
B. Remarks.
1. First, Paul stated, “I am crucified with Christ” – or he has died with Christ. Further: “Nevertheless I live.” How is it possible for one to be dead and yet be alive? Paul here affirms that his “old man” was crucified with Christ that this “new man” might be made alive. In that, all are “dead in trespasses and sins” it is not possible for us to be alive before God, until we have “died to our sins and transgressions with Christ,” Ephesians 2:1, 5.
2. Second, Paul further described, “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.” He mentions although dead, he is alive by faith in Christ, and Christ that NOW lives in him. We should all understand that it is through Christ we are all made alive. To his apostles he states: “I am come that ye might have life; and that ye might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10.
3. Finally, Paul affirmed “that he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” In other words, “I live as a result of the love of Christ – who gave himself” for the Apostle Paul and for us all. Paul states elsewhere: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” 1 Timothy 2:3-6.
C. Invitation.
D. Motivation.
E. Exhortation.
