Law and Grace - Crucified with Christ

Good morning. We're going to be taking a look at this passage here this Sunday and next, and we'll have kind of a different emphasis each time. And we'll be looking particularly at verse 20 today, and then looking at 19 and 21 next week. And the reason for that is because 19 and 21 deal particularly with our relationship with the law.

So, in this passage, one of the things that we'll point out is Paul uses first person here, the eyes of Galatians 2.19 and 20.

And that is a critical thing. Other passages show that these truths are applicable to all of us in the body of Christ. But there's a reason why he's doing this first person all the way through here. And that reason is to put an emphasis upon this passage by making it very personal. I would say also one more thing, and that is, by doing that, you and I can read this and personalize it for ourselves.

Very important point. As it turns out, the book of Romans and Galatians have a lot in parallel. The book of Romans, not always. but often will have more detail on the same point and the same topic. Romans 6, 3-7 is one of those passages where similar truths are taught but with more detail. And so we have this here on the slide as well as your handout.

Paul in Romans 6, 3-7 says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? That is, I have been crucified with Christ, right? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin."

In 6, 8 through 11 and 14, we get the truth restated here. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. And so then, in verse 10, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead. Being crucified with Christ is the first of those five identification truths.

And Romans 6 here, of course, gives us more detail than the focal point that's brought forward in Galatians 2.20. And finally, Romans 7, 4 through 6, that we studied just some weeks ago. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ." And then verse 6, "...but now that we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound." This crucifixion with Christ is a central truth explained in multiple times and in greater detail in Romans 6 and 7. So why did Paul write with I in these verses here in Galatians 2, 19 through 21?

He did so putting I and even me in here, in order to bring emphasis on it, and also so that we too could personalize it. It's important that we not look at this as some sort of a general statement, but this impacts me. Each one of us can say, if you're a believer here today, these words, and it is true of you. It's very important that we personalize it.

So why would Paul write I? He was defending his commissioning as an apostle in the gospel that he had been given directly from Jesus Christ. So it was a very personally originating letter. I, Paul, an apostle, not sent from man, but through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ. These truths were also not just hypothetical. They weren't just theoretical and might apply to somebody. But they're very real and personal in Paul's life. They're not just theory.

In the New Testament times, one means of emphasizing a truth, they didn't have all the advantages of underlining and fonts and bolding and things of that sort like we tend to have. And so one way of emphasizing something was to put it in the first person. That's exactly what Paul did. Again, as we look at Romans, Romans 7, 7-25 is a passage all in the first person. Why? It was a way of emphasizing something. That's true of this passage here.

And finally, Paul's going to tell the believers in Galatia that they are included in these truths. He's going to talk to them about, here are these things, they're true of me, they're true of you as well. And he's going to spell that out. So these I's here in Galatians 2, 19 and 21 A big advantage of Paul having written in this way is when we put ourselves personally in that, we can take these truths personally.

And it's intended that we do so. It's intended that we do so. We take these truths personally. So here's how we're going to approach these verses. Those of you who are pilots have some idea what I'm talking about here. Here's how we're going to approach these verses. Today we'll look more closely at verse 20.

That'll be our focal point for this Sunday and then next Sunday at 19 and 21. Verse 20 talks about who died and who lives and who died and who lives. And I'm not repeating myself. Because the second who died and who lives is capital W in each case. We'll see the importance of that. Next Sunday we'll talk more about verses 19 and 20, which have to do with the believer's relationship to the law. And so that'll be our focal point next week. Verse 19 addresses our relationship to the law and to God, which is also very important.

Verse 21 speaks of the exclusivity of the principle of law and the principle of grace. People oftentimes will like to mix law and grace, like some mixture of law and grace makes God happy. And a part of what the Apostle Paul is saying is, it is not some mixture. Do you realize that the law of Moses is already a mixture of law and grace? So some new mixture isn't what God's looking for. The law says more than once that God is gracious. So God's not looking for a mixture of law and grace.

So here we are focusing on verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ, it's 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. So, we'll take a look at that particular verse.

One of the things that we have here is a pattern, we've called it in the past a chiasm, right in Galatians 2.20, it's sort of a mirror image in written form. And so in the beginning it's talking about Christ having been crucified, the one who loved me and gave himself up for me, also there at the end of the verse. And in the middle it talks about how we live. How do we live?

As we look at this, the first and the last parts, Galatians 2.20, speak of Christ's death on the cross, telling us that we're crucified with him and that he loved us and gave himself up for us. That's what the first and the last part talk about here. We'll be focusing here on the middle part. The middle of verse 20 tells about who does the living in Paul's life and how that takes place.

And this is critical. This is exceedingly important. Here is the picture of the five identification truths taught in Scripture. When we put it all together, Scripture says that those who believe were crucified, buried, raised, ascended, and seated with Christ.

Those five things, and in that sequence. By the way, scrambling the sequence doesn't work. in that sequence. So those five things in that sequence. So we were made in our identification with Christ to share his history in those five things. This verse focuses on our being crucified with Christ. That's how the verse begins. And it implies, and we'll talk about that, that we were also raised with him. The implication being we weren't crucified with Christ and that's the end, right? But that there's some living going on and how does that happen? So he starts off with, I have been crucified with Christ.

Now does that sound like good news or what? Believe it or not, it is good news. Here's this amazing truth. Here I come to believe that Christ died for my sins and was buried and rose again and what's the first thing God does to me? Crucifies me. That's the first thing that happens. I've been crucified with Christ and this verse states it. And it's good news. It's a part of the gospel. These words in English are all translated from one word in the Greek text.

That word is a perfect passive indicative verb. I'm not trying to get all grammarian on you, but let's think through why he wrote it that way. What does that mean? Does that mean you're perfectly passive, like this, like this picture? I think, well, anyway, okay.

This is a verb that means that it's an action. That's what a verb means, it's an action. The perfect tense means that it's a completed past action, ongoing results, on into the present and into the future, implying permanence, okay? I have been crucified with Christ is something that was completely done. It has results that continue now and results that continue into the future and its impact will be permanent. That's what he's talking about.

The passive part means that God has done the action to crucify us with Christ. It wasn't like I said, okay, I believe that Christ died for my sins and I'm going to really work hard at getting crucified with Christ. That doesn't convey what this verse just told us. We have been, we're the recipients of the action, we have been crucified with Christ. It's not our job to go and try to get crucified or work at it.

It is done entirely by God, and it's actually gracious. It's gracious. Indicative means it's a statement of fact. It's not just, I hope so, or it's in process. It's a statement of fact. God did it. It's completely done. It will have results on into the future. It's permanent. God is the one who accomplished it. I didn't, and it's completely gracious. It is a fact. For the one who's a believer, this isn't something we hope for. It isn't just a possibility. It isn't something we're encouraged or asked to work at. It's done completely. It's God's doing already and forever.

And you can say this too, I have been crucified with Christ. Matter of fact, let's all say that. I have been crucified with Christ. If you're a believer here this morning, you can say that and say that truthfully. Now, I have been crucified with Christ. When he was crucified, I mean, nobody else was thinking of this, but I imagine Christ himself was. Nobody was thinking about this, but as those nails were going in, I was crucified with him. I was crucified with him. Spiritually speaking, that's true.

Now, where do you get life? Where do you get life? You see, there are those, and there were those in Christ's time, there are people today. I've even read Christian authors who say the law is your life. The law is your life. This passage doesn't say that. This passage doesn't say that. Christ lives in me. I have been crucified with Christ, but it's no longer I who do the living. Christ lives in me. Christ lives in me.

One of the things that Nancy and I have come across in more recent times We will do marriage and pre-marriage counseling. And one of the things we've talked about is, OK, here's two Christians coming before us, and they want to have us work some things out. And so we have come to ask, well, let's see, is Christ in you going to have a problem with Christ in him? Actually, actually.

Christ in one person, in the husband, is not going to have a problem with Christ in the wife. And Christ in the wife is not going to have a problem with Christ in the husband. So we don't need any marriage counseling. No, I'm being somewhat facetious. But in fact, Christ will not have a problem with Christ. And the same thing with other relationships between us here in the body of Christ. Christ in one person will not have a problem with Christ in the other person.

Christ is the one who indwells us. So when he says Christ lives in me, he's not speaking of just the Apostle Paul. He's speaking of Christ in him, Christ in every single one of us. It's no longer I who do the living. Christ does the living in me. Colossians 3, 3, and 4 puts it this way, For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Christ, who is our life. Christ is the one that does the living. I have been crucified with Christ, and Christ does the living in me.

That assumes a resurrection, doesn't it? It assumes a resurrection. Because of our co-crucifixion with Christ, we were crucified with him, the one who was me has died. And that's on purpose. That's no accident. The one who was me has died. I am no longer the one doing the living. It's not my job. The living here is Christ's job, not mine.

And that's why we recommend here at Holly Hills, I don't recommend that you try to be a good Christian. I don't. Please don't do that. I don't recommend that you try to be a good Christian. That's not what God has in mind. As a matter of fact, God won't be pleased if you try to do that. God will not be pleased if you try to be a good Christian because He wants Christ to do the living in you and through you. Christ lives in me.

So, how can that be? Well, the life which I now live in the flesh, and I'm not talking about flesh as the evil thing, but just in this human body, okay? The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. His job. I put my confidence in Him, not in me. It's not my best efforts to live a Christian life. The life that shone forth from this body, the flesh, is no longer the life source that I once tried to live by. However, the life source is the very resurrected Christ, the Son of God. He's the one who does the living in me. It's not my job to do the living here. I'm done. Christ does the living in me.

So how does that happen? Only by faith. Only by faith. By faith in the Son of God, I'm going to put my confidence entirely in His living in and through me, and I'm going to have fellowship with Him And I'm going to put my trust and confidence entirely in Him. I'm going to rest in all of who He is and all of who He can live out in me. That's how it happens.

It doesn't come by trying to be a good Christian, trying ever harder, and getting even classes in how to be a good Christian. That's not how God wants it done. It's not a matter of imitating or emulating Christ's behavior. It's not even a matter of asking the question, what would Jesus do? You know what Jesus would do? Jesus would live through you. Jesus would not have you try to copy Him. Jesus would not ask, what would Jesus do in you? So, don't let them sell you any trinkets that say that.

Okay. Christ loved and gave himself up for us. That's the last part of the verse. He loved and he gave. His giving was not reluctant. He wasn't going to the cross saying, Oh no, you guys, I got the wrong guy! I didn't do anything wrong! No! You're making a terrible mistake! Didn't do that.

He went to the cross voluntarily. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, even with joy He went to the cross. Because He loved us. He loved and that motivated His giving. He loved and He gave. When he was going out to the cross, do you think he could have done something about it?

Absolutely! He could have vaporized all those guys that were carrying this thing out. Instead, he lays down on the cross, and it's like he says, let's do this. Let's do this. He says, this is a bargain. I'll pay full price. I will pay full price. Let's do this. for the joy set before him he endured the cross. He loved and that motivated his giving. He loved and gave himself up for me. And this is where this I and me is. We need to personalize it. We need to recognize it. He loved and gave himself up for me.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. There's God doing the giving.

Galatians 2.20, in this passage, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Ephesians 5.2 and 5.25, twice in that chapter.

Ephesians 5.2 and 5.25, have loved and gave. It's the same word for love and give every time. Love motivated the giving. Love motivated the giving of himself. So, I've been crucified with Christ isn't just something mechanical. This is love-motivated giving. When Christ was crucified, he did so voluntarily, motivated by love and with joy. He gave himself, motivated by love, for you and for me.

The Lord Jesus Christ, also in Galatians 1.4, said, The Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins, Some people like to go around and pick a group that's responsible for Jesus' death. It was the Jews that did it. Well, by the way, it was some Romans that put the nails in, right? But that's not the point. Why did Jesus die?

Not because he was a victim, but because he loved and gave, voluntarily gave himself for you and me. Christ conducted a spiritual financial transaction, a financial transaction in the spiritual realm in which he intended to pay full price. No bargains! He wanted to pay full price and that's exactly what he intended to do because he loved and he gave. He wasn't striking a deal.

He did so not just to give you eternal life insurance but to impart Rather, to impact your right now is for all of eternity. He loved and gave himself for you, not just so that you wouldn't go to hell forever. He loved and gave himself for you so that he could do the living through you right now. He said, I'll take the nails. I'll take the nails for Vern. I'll take the nails for Nancy. I'll take the nails for Tristan, and on down the list.

Why? certainly to keep us out of hell and that we'd spend forever with him, but also what this passage is telling us so that he does the living in us now. That's what it means to be a Christian, not one who tries to imitate Christ superficially. It's not an acting job, but Christ's very life lived in you. I live by faith in the Son of God, and it isn't someone that I just happen to have some confidence in. He's the one who loved me enough to die for me, to give Himself for me.

Your death with Him backed them, because you died with Him. And now, His life in you, His life in you until the day we see Him face to face. That's what God has in mind. His life in and through you until we see Him face to face. And He died on the cross not just to keep us out of hell, not just so we could see Him in heaven. He died on the cross so that He could live through you today. Today.

All and only by faith. It's not going to happen any other way. I live by faith in the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself up for me. Faith, faith, and only faith. That's all that's going to do it, not our best efforts. This is why Romans 8 says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you want to feel guilty, I just can't help you. I just can't help you. You'll have to go somewhere else if that's what you want. This is all entirely by grace. God does not want you to have your best efforts at living out the Christian life. He doesn't want you to put that out, and then if you fail at it, then you feel badly, right? That whole syndrome, that whole sequence is not what God has in mind.

I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who do the living. Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in this body, the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God and it's not just, he's way up there and I'm way down here, who loved me and gave himself up for me. He loved me enough to say, I will pay full price. I will pay full price. No bargains. I don't want a bargain. I don't want any special deal. I will pay full price.

So what does Paul mean by all these I's and me's here in this passage? The I who was crucified with Christ was the old man, this is Romans 6.6, who was all of who I was in Adam, I was.

That old person, that old man is what got crucified, a spiritual position. Christ lives in the new man, my new position, who is a new creation, not the old man who was crucified. See the distinction there? As I live now in this present body, Christ, who lives in me, does the living through me. As I depend upon who I am in Him, the new man, that is by faith in all of who Christ is and all of what He has done. It's his accomplishment, not mine. Not my best efforts. That's one reason why we do not recommend you try to be a good Christian. That's not your job. God will not be pleased by you trying to be a good Christian.

Paul and each believer here today, all of us gathered here, can speak of the me whom Christ loved because I'm no longer in Adam, no longer that old man, There is a continuity of personhood. In my own case, and I'm sure all of us have a different story, I became a believer at age four and a half.

We were coming home from church one day. I remember we had a blue Chevy station wagon, you know, mid-fifties. And I remember in those days, you know, no seat belts. I remember leaning over. How do you become a Christian? My parents told me, well, you know, maybe you better wait. Well, I waited until that night when I woke my mom up. I said, I waited long enough, right? I waited long enough. And so I became a believer then. I'm sure all of you have a different story of how that came about.

But what happened is the Vern before that time, the Vern before that time wasn't saved. But there was a person called Vern that was in fact saved. I was taken out of Adam and placed into Christ. The old man was crucified with Christ. The new man is who I am in Christ. That continuing personhood was saved by faith. I didn't know much, but that was enough. That was enough. So every believer can say this, every believer can say, when I believed that Christ died for my sins and that he was buried and was resurrected, then I was saved.

And that's what Paul's doing here, he's personalizing the truth. Paul said this back in the book of Acts, he was telling about before he was saved, but it happened that as I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, while you're persecuting me. So he could say, as a believer, having been a believer for many years, he could say, I, about that person that he was before he was saved. That's that continuing personhood.

It's what is saved. of the unbeliever into the time when he believes. So why the believer can say I, me, and my about times past and future? The old man is a position and fallen Adam. The position and condition of the old man are identical. What am I saying is that the unbeliever has no issues of position and condition They are going to act out of their being in Adam. They are going to act out of their old man absolutely all the time, very consistently. They have no conflict.

We as believers are the ones who have some issue of position and condition. We're in this in-between state until we go home to be with the Lord. And we have a position that is fixed and eternal. I have, in fact, been crucified with Christ. However, in my daily condition, am I walking and living consistent with that position? So there can be a question of position and condition for the believer now. In the future, a glorified man, we will have new bodies and there will be no potential conflict between our position and condition. So the position and condition issue that we talk about, sometimes called standing and state, are for believers now until we go home to be with the Lord. So there is a continuing personhood across all those times.

Here's Vern, the guy who was four years old, who didn't know the Lord. I was not saved. And then at four and a half, I believed and was saved. I have an issue of position and condition until the day I go home to be with the Lord. And I won't be wrestling with this temptation or that one or falling back into some older pattern once I go to be with the Lord.

Here is what we have expanded and explained for this verse here. By God's own doing, the old man, all of who I was in Adam, was crucified with Christ. That being a completed action with an ongoing and fixed outcome, and it is no longer I who does the living. But Christ continues to live in me in the life which I now live in this physical body.

I live by meritless faith. Got that? Meritless faith in and full dependence upon the person and works of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loved me. though I did not deserve any of his love, and voluntarily gave himself up most graciously for me, to whom he owed absolutely nothing." Absolutely nothing.

Christ does the living. We were crucified with Christ to make sure that that was possible. We're done. But he most certainly is not done here. It's His life that God intends to do the living. We don't need to try to be good Christians, because after all, who could live the Christian life better than Christ Himself? That's what God intends. That's what He has in mind. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You that, boy, as we look at this, we're done. We're done. It's beyond retired. It's beyond fired. We're done. You even went so far as to crucify us with Christ so that this truth would be lived out.

And our efforts here, our trying, our disappointment, our self-condemnation or condemnation by others, all those are in the past. And it is your life that is intended to do the living. What freedom, what joy, what a marvelous thing. And it's not about our trying to do anything, but about our relationship and fellowship and dependence upon and rest in you. We give you thanks for this marvelous, wonderful truth. In Jesus' name, amen.