“CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST” Gal. 2:11-21
CWBC – 7/14/19
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Florence Chadwick – 1952 – attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California mainland. Swam for 15 hours in thick fog. Begged to be taken out of water. Her mother urged her to keep going b/c she was so close. Finally, physical & emotional exhaustion set in & she was pulled out of water. Realized she was only about half a mile from shore. Later said, “All I could see was the fog.…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
Do you sometimes feel like you’re swimming in a thick fog?
- Fog of worry
- Fog of fear
- Fog of uncertainty
- Fog of depression
- Fog of confusion
The more we study the Scriptures, the more the fog will lift. Studying Galatians with its strong emphasis on the Gospel helps us see the “shore” – that destination we are living for as Christ-followers! We find ourselves more focused on that destination & the Gospel than on the fog we are in right now.
- We focus on the glorious truth of our salvation!
- We focus on the great privilege of living for the Lord!
- We focus on the grand promise of our eternal life & our eternal home what awaits us!
EXPLANATION – Open your Bibles to Gal. 2:11-21 (pg. 566 in pew Bible).
This section of Scripture opens w/ Paul addressing a problem he had w/ Peter. Paul had made it clear in Gal. 1:10 that he was not going to be a people-pleaser. Pretty obvious in v. 11 that he was standing by that statement. Wasn’t concerned w/ pleasing Peter, but was concerned w/ how Peter had been hypocritical & shown favoritism when it came to eating meals Jews & Gentiles. It was wrong for Peter to do this. It made the Gentile Christians feel like second-class citizens, & it also led others astray as we see in v. 13. This is serious business!
If Peter, who was a Jew by birth like Paul, ate w/ Gentiles, he would be breaking Jewish dietary laws, which were no longer necessary for Christians. Remember that it was the Judaizers who were causing problems in the church by saying that the Gospel was faith PLUS the keeping of the Jewish laws. Paul said that their distorted, perverted gospel was no gospel at all. He challenged Peter with his conduct that was “not in step w/ the truth of the Gospel” (v. 14).
His willingness to take his friend & fellow apostle to task for this hypocritical activity shows us just how serious Paul was about the Gospel. I wonder if we are that serious about the Gospel, too? Are we willing to lovingly stand up to a friend or family member whose conduct or lifestyle is “not in step” w/ the truth of the Gospel? Are we that serious about the Gospel?
Paul goes on in v. 15-19 to remind Peter & the Galatians about the foundational truth that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, not by keeping the Law (v. 15-16). The Law serves a purpose, & that is to show us just how sinful we really are, how helpless we really are, & how wonderful God’s offer of salvation really is. But salvation is by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone!
Verse 20 is Paul’s testimony of the saving work of Christ in his life. And what a testimony it is!
- Correction to my sermon from last week – I read a tweet from Steve Gaines, pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church: “Don’t see how folks can say Paul was saved on the Damascus Road in light of this verse: ‘Now why do you wait? Rise & be baptized & wash away your sins, calling on His name.’ (Acts 22:16) He hadn’t yet called on the Lord; his sins hadn’t yet been washed away.”
- Got me to thinking. Came to realization that Paul was not saved at the moment that he encountered Jesus on the Road to Damascus as I have thought & preached all along. His salvation came a few days later when Ananias came to him & spoke these words to him. Then Paul did what he later wrote about in Rom. 10:13 – “Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
- Jesus came to me in the backseat of my family station wagon as we were on our way to the Bill Glass crusade. But I wasn’t saved until I called on His name later on that night.
- You have to believe in Christ alone & call on His name to be saved.
o DO YOU NEED TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW? PRAY WITH ME!
APPLICATION – Look at v. 20. In this powerful verse, we see 3 strong points of salvation that Paul emphasizes:
Death & Life – “I have been crucified w/ Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Paul emphasized these 2 points a lot in his writings:
- Romans 6:11 – “…consider yourself dead to the power of sin & alive to God through Christ Jesus.” (NLT)
- Eph. 2:4-5 – “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (NIV)
- Romans 5:10 – “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” (NLT)
The life of a Christ-follower is one of dying & living. We die to ourselves so that we might live for Christ. Robert Morgan called this the “relinquished life” (https://www.preceptaustin.org/sermons_on_galatians_-_robert_morgan) If you relinquish something, you renounce it or you surrender it. You give it up; you release it; you let it go. Judson VanDeVenter published that great old hymn in 1896,
“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give. I will ever love & trust Him, In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all. All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”
To truly know Christ & to truly live the Christian life, you must recognize that you have been crucified w/ Christ. What does that mean? “It means that we have come to the old rugged cross and have gazed upon the dying form of one who suffered there for us. We see his hands nailed fast to the wood. We see the spike in his ankles. We see the blood flowing in streaks down his body, and, deeply moved, we turn aside from the kind of life we once lived and take our stand beneath the cross of Jesus. We die to our old selves, we die to our sin, we die to the world, the flesh, and the devil, and we identify with the cross of Christ.” (Robert Morgan)
And when we do that, Christ truly lives in us. “It is no longer I who live” doesn’t mean that we don’t have any personality of our own, but that our own personal interests & goals are no longer the driving force in our lives. Jesus Christ is the driving force in our lives! We are living for Him! Glorifying Him! Honoring Him! Exalting Him! Serving Him! He is our life! The great missionary, Hudson Taylor called this the “Exchanged Life.” “None of us can ever live the Christian life in our own strength and power. None of us can resist temptation by our own willpower and determination. None of us can live as we should just by our own efforts. Only Jesus Christ can successfully live the genuine victorious Christian life--it is, after all, His life--but when we come to Him in full surrender, He invades us by His Holy Spirit and He begins living His life through us.” (Robert Morgan)
- It means that, in a very real sense, I’m not preaching today, but Jesus Christ is preaching through me.
- It means that you aren’t parenting your children but Jesus Christ is parenting them through you.
- It means that we don’t withstand temptation through our gut-wrenching, white-knuckled willpower, but Jesus Christ resists the temptation through us.
- It means that you aren’t running your business in your own know-how, but Jesus is running your business through you.
Our life is exchanged for His life. We die to ourselves, & He lives through us.
Faith & Love – “And the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me…”
Paul emphasized these 2 points a lot in his writings:
- 1 Cor. 13:13 – “Now these 3 remain: faith, hope, & love. But the greatest of these is love.”
- 2 Cor. 5:7 – “…we walk by faith & not by sight.”
- Gal. 5:6 – “For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.” (NLT)
We receive our salvation by faith. And we live out our salvation by faith. The word “live” carries w/ it the meaning of a past action that has been completed & has ongoing, continuing results.
To live in faith means that we live in the full confidence of the finished work of Christ on the cross. It means that we believe that our salvation is guaranteed based solely on the death, burial, & resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- We didn’t do anything to deserve Jesus saving us. We don’t do anything to deserve Jesus keeping us saved.
- We trusted Jesus Christ alone to save us, & we trust Him alone to keep us saved.
Listen closely: JESUS LOVES YOU! Say, “Jesus loves me.” Sing it… See what Paul said – “I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me…” Jesus did what? Say it again. Don’t miss it. Don’t flippantly say it. He’s not peeking around the corner of your life to try to catch you doing something wrong so He can jerk His gift of eternal life away from you. He loves you so much that even when you mess up, His love keeps going on & on, & your eternal life keeps going on & on.
- 1 Tim. 1:15 – “This is a trustworthy saying, & everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ - & I am the worst of them all.” (NLT)
- Do you know how & why Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners? B/c of the unconditional, magnanimous love of God!
o His magnificent love
o His amazing love
o His perfect love
o His limitless love
- Aren’t you thankful for that truth!!!
Gift & Sacrifice – “…& gave Himself for me.”
These last 5 words of this verse are pregnant w/ truth & life & meaning. They encompass the foundational truth of God’s amazing gift of His only-begotten Son as the sacrifice for our sins. Paul wrote about this gift & sacrifice in some other places, too:
- Eph. 5:2 – “…Christ loved us & gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering & sacrifice to God.”
- 1 Tim. 2:6 – “Christ Jesus…gave Himself as a ransom for all people…”
- 1 Cor. 5:7b – “…Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”
HE GAVE HIMSELF! What a gift!
- He HIMSELF was sacrificed.
- He HIMSELF bled.
- He HIMSELF suffered.
Following the success of the communist revolution in China in 1948, two young men were given the job of destroying Christian chapels. One evening at dusk, after they had devastated a small chapel, they decided to sleep in it that night. As they were lying on the floor there, one of them saw a crucifix so high on the wall they had not been able to reach it. He looked at it steadily for a while, then said to his companion, “Do you see the picture of God nailed to that stick of wood?” “Yes,” the other responded, “but what of it?” The first answered, “You know, I never saw a God who suffered before.” (Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. The Preacher's Commentary Series, New Testament)
That’s our Savior! He’s the God who suffered, & He suffered for us. He died for us. He gave Himself for us. And our response is to trust Him, receive Him, & live for Him for the rest of our lives.
