This Day Could Change Everything

“This Day Could Change Everything”

Text: Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:1

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Introduction – The Significance of August 17

Today is August 17. And throughout history, this date has been significant.

• On August 17, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote—a day of freedom and equality for millions.

• On August 17, 1807, Robert Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, made its first successful trip up the Hudson River, launching a whole new era of travel and commerce.

• On August 17, 1945, Indonesia declared its independence, breaking free from colonial rule and becoming a nation of its own.

• On August 17, 1862, the U.S.–Dakota War began—a reminder that not every day in history is filled with peace, but even through hardship, history is written.

Big things have happened on this date—freedom won, new eras begun, new nations born.

But here’s what I want you to hear: August 17, 2025, could be the most important day of your life.

Not because of politics, inventions, or wars. Not because of what’s written in a history book. But because today could be the day you experience the freedom and new life that only Jesus Christ gives.

That’s exactly what Paul is talking about in Galatians when he says:

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, CSB)

“…I live by trust in the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me…” (my translation)

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1. The Day of the Cross – A Historic Event

Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.”

The cross was not just something that happened 2,000 years ago—it was the decisive moment of history. It was not an afterthought for God… not a reaction to humanity’s fall or angelic rebellion… Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Pontus Pilate, the Jewish leaders, and Herod had no power over Jesus. They did what God had foreordained (Acts 4:28). The cross changed everything. It points in the four cardinal directions indicating that its effects are universal. The inscription on the cross declaring that Jesus is “the King of the Jews” was written in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic… the language of government, culture and philosophy, and true religion indicating that the cross is for every aspect of human life… When Jesus cried out “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, and the graves of long-dead saints came out of the heart of the earth… The cross affected heaven and earth and those things under the earth! Our calendar is divided by the cross… “Before Christ” (B.C.) and A.D. (annno domini) “The Year of Our Lord…” The cross is God’s way of the second Adam undoing what the first Adam did… Art, plays, painting, sculpture… is saturated by images of the cross! The Lord took the ultimate evil of the first century Greco-Roman world and turned it for the ultimate good! When I survey the wondrous cross… It fascinates… It scandalizes… It separates the flow of human history…

And Paul makes it personal: I have been crucified with Christ.

That means when Jesus died, He wasn’t dying for His own sins—He was dying for mine, for yours. In a way, our old selves, with all their guilt and shame, were nailed there with Him. Jesus didn’t just die for the sins of the world… He died for your sins…

There is something powerful that happens when its no longer words on a page…

Not just a historical event…

But, the reason for everything…

Paul had a revelation of the cross…

Jesus died for me! Jesus died for you! God is head-over-heals in love with you! He did everything that he could to save you and to save me!

History books mark August 17 as a day of events. But the cross is the day that marks the dividing line of all human history—before Christ and after Christ.

Application: Have you tied your story to His story? Can you say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ”?

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2. The Day of New Life – A Present Reality

Paul goes on: “…and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

Think about Robert Fulton’s steamboat. When the Clermont made its first trip up the Hudson in 1807, it launched a new way of living. People could travel faster, trade more easily, and connect in ways they couldn’t before. It was the start of a new era.

In the same way, when Christ lives in you, it launches a new way of living. The old life is gone. You’re not just improved—you’re transformed. You’re not just turning over a new leaf—you’re receiving a new life. Far too often we spend all of our time wresting with what has been… old patterns of thinking… old wounds we nurse… old habits we fall back into… But, the after effects of the cross is something that is beyond what I’ve been… It is beyond the effects of Adam’s sin… it is beyond the effects of our grandparents and parents sin… it is beyond our own sin…