Crucified With Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, Church! It's good to see each and every one of you who could make it out this morning and I want to welcome everyone who may be joining us online as well — we're glad you're here with us today!
This morning, we will be continuing on in our journey here in the Book of Galatians and today, we will be looking at Chapter 2 Verses 11-21 at a message I have entitled...Crucified with Christ.
So far in this letter to the Galatians, we have seen how that we are rescued by God’s grace and how that Satan cannot create but rather the only thing he can do is corrupt what God’s already created and how that he takes even the smallest of things and twists them in such a way that if you aren’t careful, it’s very easy to fall victim in his traps.
Then last week, we looked at how the God of the Jews is the also the God of the Gentiles and how that the same God of Peter was the same God of Paul and even more importantly, how He’s the same God we worship today.
He’s not diminished in power or presence or prestige. He does not fade. He does not waiver. He changes not the Bible says and dear friends we learned that’s something we can take stock in and be thankful for this morning, Amen!
He is a righteous God. He is a Holy God. He is just. He is faithful. He is merciful. He is loving. The same yesterday, today and forever and He is unchanging, praise God, Amen!
He is the same God and today, we are going to move on here and look at the second half of Chapter 2 and what we are going to see in this morning’s scripture, is our salvation rests in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else.
There is nothing we can add to it and there is nothing that need be added to it. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that we obtain salvation this morning.
And when we come to that realization, that we are crucified with Christ as Paul says here, then and only then, can we truly start to live for the one who so willingly and selflessly gave Himself for us!
Crucified with Christ...Galatians Chapter 2 Verse 11...if you have it, would you say, Amen!
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 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.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Bow with me if you will in a word of prayer.
Set the Scene
Set the Scene
Now, before I get too far in to the scripture I want to set the scene for us this morning by asking you a very simple question...What does it take to be saved?
Now before you answer too quickly, let me tell you why I'm asking.
There are a lot of people in this world who would give you a very different answer than what this Bible teaches.
Some would say — you have to be baptized.
Some would say — you have to join the right church.
Some would say — you have to be good enough, do enough, give enough, live right enough.
Some will tell you there's a checklist of requirements and if you can get through that checklist, then maybe — maybe — you're good enough to stand before a holy God.
But listen friend, this passage before us here this morning dispels all of that noise!
It shows us a very dramatic confrontation between two of the greatest apostles in the New Testament — a confrontation so serious that Paul calls Peter out publicly here in front of everyone.
And then it shows us the most powerful personal testimony in all of Paul's writings here in Verse 20 and what it truly means to live the Christian life — Paul would say…“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.”
Look with me if you will at our first point here in Verses 11-14 at how this was....
A Confrontation That Couldn't Be Ignored — (Vs. 11–14)
A Confrontation That Couldn't Be Ignored — (Vs. 11–14)
Look with me again at verses 11 through 14.
But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
Now I want us to understand what’s going on here before we go any further.
Peter — the man Jesus called the Rock — the man who preached at Pentecost and saw three thousand people saved in a single day — had come to the church at Antioch. And when he first arrived, he did what was right and came naturally.
He ate with the Gentile believers.
He sat at their table and fellowshipped with them.
He was being cordial but then something happened!
A group of men arrived from Jerusalem — men of the circumcision, men connected to James and the Jewish believers back home. And the moment they walked through the door, Peter's behavior changed completely.
He separated himself here from the Gentile believers.
He put distance between himself and them because he was afraid of what the Jerusalem crowd would think.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Galatians, makes an important observation here that I want us to see. He points out that Peter wasn't changing his theology — he still believed that Gentiles were saved by grace through faith. But he was changing his behavior to match what others expected of him, rather than what he knew to be true. And that, Wiersbe says, is the deadly danger of hypocrisy — you don't have to deny the truth to destroy its impact. You just have to live inconsistently with it.
And here is what makes this even more disturbing — verse 13 says that other Jewish believers began to follow Peter's lead.
They all began to pull back and separate themselves. And then it says that even Barnabas — the son of encouragement, the man who had been Paul's faithful partner through everything — even Barnabas was carried away.
The KJV says here in Verse 14...
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
That word "dissimulation" in the KJV — it's the Greek word hupokrisis and I’m sure you all can you recognize what word we get from it, right?
It's where we get our English word "hypocrisy from."
Peter and the other Jewish believers were acting like hypocrites — the word literally means...playing a role, wearing a mask, living one way when certain people were watching and another way when they weren't.
Now let me give you an illustration here that I think will bring this to life.
There’s a story told about a soldier in the Civil War who couldn't make up his mind which side to fight for. He didn't want to commit to the North or the South. So he did what only seemed plausible and sensible and put on a Union jacket and Confederate trousers. The problem was when walked out onto the battlefield neither side knew who he was fighting for and the fella got shot at by both sides!
And that's exactly what Peter was doing here. He was trying to please two different audiences at the same time — and in so doing, he was betraying the very gospel that he had been saved by!
Now, I want you to notice something else here. Look at how Paul describes Peter's actions in verse 11.
The KJV says..."He was to be blamed."
The Greek word there means he stood condemned — not by Paul's opinion, but by his own actions.
The word literally means to be in the wrong.
Peter knew better.
He had seen the sheet come down from heaven in Acts 10.
He had eaten with Cornelius.
He knew that God had declared the Gentiles clean.
But when pressure came, he acted as though none of that had ever happened.
And Paul saw it and knew exactly what was happening and knew that if he let it go — if he stayed quiet to keep the peace — the damage to the gospel would be permanent.
So Paul stood up and Paul says..."I had to oppose him to his face."
That phrase in the Greek means to stand directly in front of someone and resist them to their face.
No backroom conversations.
No quiet whispers behind closed doors.
Paul walked straight up to Peter — in front of everybody — and said, “Peter, this is wrong!”
Now I want you to notice something here...Paul wasn't angry at Peter personally. He wasn't trying to humiliate him or tear him down but he understood something that every believer needs to understand...when the truth of the gospel is at stake — when people are watching a Christian leader live in a way that contradicts what the gospel says — it cannot be allowed to stand in silence.
Because the people who are watching will believe what they see more than what they hear. And if Peter was telling the Gentiles by his actions that they needed to behave like Jews to be fully accepted — he was preaching a false gospel without saying a word.
Someone once said that one of the greatest dangers to the church isn't the enemy outside the walls — it's the compromised Christian inside the walls whose life says one thing while his actions say something completely different. You can preach grace all day long, but if you live like acceptance with God is based on performance, people will believe your life before they believe your sermon. — Unknown
And so Paul confronts Peter publicly and urgently because the truth of the gospel demanded nothing less!
So we begin here by seeing A Confrontation That Couldn't Be Ignored. But this confrontation leads Paul to make a declaration that gets to the very heart of everything this letter is about...
A Declaration That Can't Be Disputed — (Vs. 15–19)
A Declaration That Can't Be Disputed — (Vs. 15–19)
Look with me at verses 15 through 19.
15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles.
16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” (KJV) — for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified
17 But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not!
18 Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.
19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.
Now, right here in verse 16 is one of the most important theological statements in the entire New Testament and I want you to notice something remarkable here.
Paul says it not once. Not twice. But three times in a single verse.
"A person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law."
"Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ."
"No one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” — (KJV) “For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Three times — in one verse!
Paul hammers this nail so hard that nobody in the room — Jew or Gentile, Peter or anyone else — could possibly misunderstand what he was saying.
Now let me stop here and make sure we understand what the word justified means. Because this is the word that the entire gospel hinges on.
The Greek word is dikaioo — pronounced dik-ah-YO-oh — and it's a legal term. It means to be declared righteous. To be pronounced not guilty. To have the Judge of all the earth look at you and say — this person is right with Me.
Now here's the question. How does a sinful human being get declared righteous before a holy God?
Paul says — not by the works of the law.
Not by keeping the commandments.
Not by religious performance.
Not by circumcision or dietary laws or feast days or any other human effort.
But by the faith of Jesus Christ.
Tony Evans, in his preaching on justification, describes it this way — God takes the righteousness of Christ, His perfection, and credits it to our account. So that when God sees the believer, He sees them not in their sin but clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our sin was charged to Christ's account on the cross. And His righteousness is credited to ours by faith. He calls it the greatest transaction in human history!
Now look at verse 17 because this is where Paul deals with an objection that the Judaizers were raising.
They were saying — if you tell people they're justified by faith alone and not by works, you're giving them a license to sin. If grace is free and salvation doesn't require law-keeping, then people will just live however they want. Is Christ then a minister of sin?
And Paul's answer is as emphatic as it gets in the Greek language — "God forbid!"
The Greek form of this word literally means ..."may it never be!"
It was the strongest possible negative in the Greek language...Never ever—Absolutely not—Not a chance.
Chuck Swindoll, in his Galatians study, addresses this directly. He says that the whole message of grace is not about sinning more because grace abounds all the more. It is a message that frees you from the domination of sin and the authority of men and brings you in league with the teaching of Christ — and frees you to obey Him and grow up in Christ. — The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll
And then look at verse 19 — one of the most profound statements in this entire passage.
19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Now what does that mean?
The law itself — by its very nature — proves that no one can keep it. The law sets a standard so high that every human being who has ever lived has fallen short of it. And in doing so, the law drives us to Christ.
It doesn't save us — it shows us we can't save ourselves. And when we stop trying to meet the law's demands and instead put our faith in the One who perfectly met those demands for us — we die to the law and we begin to live unto God.
Let me give you an illustration here that puts this truth into words all of us can understand.
The law is like a mirror. You look in a mirror to see your face, but you don't wash your face with the mirror. The mirror can show you the dirt — but it can't remove it. That's what the law does. It shows us our sin. But it can't remove it. Only the blood of Jesus can do that.
The law is the mirror. Christ is the water. You can stand in front of the mirror all day long pointing to your reflection — but until you apply the water, nothing changes.
So we've seen A Confrontation That Couldn't Be Ignored and A Declaration That Can't Be Disputed. But now we come to the most powerful moment in this entire passage — A Testimony That Will Stand the Test of Time...
A Testimony That Will Stand the Test of Time — (Vs. 20–21)
A Testimony That Will Stand the Test of Time — (Vs. 20–21)
Look with me at verses 20 and 21.
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.
Now I want to also read it in the KJV because the majority of us have probably heard it put this way more often and it may be more familiar.
20 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.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Listen Church, I want you to stop everything for just a moment and just let these words sink in because these may be the most important words the Apostle Paul ever wrote.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live."
Now, let me show you what Paul is saying here because this goes far deeper than just a beautiful verse to put on a plaque on the wall.
The word "crucified" in the Greek is in what is called the perfect passive tense. That means it describes something that happened in the past, was completed in the past, and the results of it continue right into the present.
Paul isn't saying "I am being crucified" — like it's still happening. He isn't saying "I was crucified" — like it's just a past memory. He's saying — “I was crucified, it was completed, and the result of that crucifixion is still in effect right now in my life.”
So, when did this transformation happen? The moment that Paul trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ!
In that moment, the old Paul — the self-righteous, law-keeping, church-persecuting, flesh-driven Paul — was crucified with Christ.
Dead.
Gone.
Done.
Warren Wiersbe puts it plainly in his commentary — to be crucified with Christ means that the old life is over. The person you were before Christ — your old ambitions, your old identity, your old way of trying to earn God's favor — all of that went to the cross with Him. And just as He rose from the dead, you rose to walk in newness of life.
Now here is an illustration that I want you to take home with you this morning.
A young man once approached an older and more seasoned believer with this question — "What does it really mean in everyday life to be crucified with Christ?"
The older believer thought about it for a moment and then said this — "To be crucified means three things. First, the crucified man has his face set in one direction — toward the cross. He can't turn back. Second, he has no more plans of his own — his agenda is finished. Third, he has no more claim on this world's goods or honors — he is dead to what the world offers and alive only to what God gives."
And then he looked at the young man and said — "Can you say that about yourself this morning?"
Church, those same questions need to be asked of every person in attendance here this morning.
Is your face set toward the cross this morning?
Is your agenda finished? Or are you still holding onto some of those old selfish ambitions?
Are you dead to the offers of the world and alive unto what God provides?
When D.L. Moody was in New York City — before the great outpouring of God's Spirit on his ministry — he came to a point where he consciously died to his own ambitions.
He laid down what he wanted, what he had planned, and what he thought he could accomplish in his own strength. And what happened next was not that his life ended — it was that his life truly began.
The ministry that followed became one of the most fruitful in the history of American evangelism. And Moody himself credited it to nothing other than the grace of God working through a man who had gotten out of God's way.
That's what it means to be crucified with Christ — to utterly and completely die to self and live for God and allow Him to use your life for His glory!
Then look at what the Bible says there in the second half of verse 20 — because this is where it gets really good! Paul says...
"Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
The old self is crucified — but there's a new self living!
And that new life isn't produced by Paul's effort or his discipline or his law-keeping — it's Christ...living in Paul...through Paul...as Paul!
Adrian Rogers, in his sermon on Galatians 2:20, described it this way — every demand of God that is upon you is not really upon you. It's upon Jesus who lives in you. And what liberty that is — what freedom that is — to understand that Christ lives in you.
And then look at this final phrase in verse 20 — "who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Now, don’t rush past that.
Not just "who loved us." Not just "who gave himself for the world."...but Paul makes it personal and says…“Who loved me & gave himself for me!”
FOR ME! WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO DESERVE THE ONE AND ONLY SON OF GOD TO DIE FOR ME...IN MY PLACE AT CALVARY...FOR MY SINS? HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR MY RAGS! HOW DID WE EVER GET SO FORTUNATE? BECAUSE HE LOVES US!
Someone once said — there is something deeply personal about the cross. Jesus didn't die for humanity in the abstract. He died for each person individually. If you had been the only person who ever lived — He still would have gone to Calvary. The cross was not an impersonal transaction — it was a sacrifice made for every individual soul who would ever trust in Him.
And I pray that you will take that personally this morning, dear friend.
Jesus loves you.
He gave Himself for you. Not just for the world in general — but for you, specifically, personally, and individually.
16 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.
Have you done that this morning dear friend? Have you ever believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, what’s holding you back? What’s keeping you from the greatest gift that has ever been given to mankind?
If God is dealing with you this morning salvation is a very simple process although we as humans do a great job of complicating it. Notice what Jesus says here in John 3:16...
16 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.
All you have to do this morning dear friend is believe upon Jesus! That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less...just believe upon and surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission — forgiveness — of your sins, and you shall be saved!
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you need to be saved this morning, just call upon the name of the Lord and He will save you!
Paul closes this passage in verse 21 with one final statement that brings everything together.
21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
That word "frustrate" in the Greek means to set aside, to nullify, to treat as though it has no value.
And Paul says — I refuse to do that to grace.
Because if you go back to law-keeping as the basis of your righteousness — if you add your works and your performance and your religious activity to the finished work of Christ — you are essentially saying that what Christ did wasn't enough...that the cross wasn't sufficient…that the blood of the Son of God was somehow inadequate.
And Paul says — if that were true, then Christ died for nothing...the cross meant nothing...the resurrection means nothing...the whole thing was pointless!
Vance Havner used to say that the greatest insult you can offer the cross is to try to add to it. That the word from the cross was not "It is started" — and it was not "It is improving." The word was "It is finished." And when God says finished — He means finished.
Finished — Tetelestai
Not finished and then add your part...not finished but you still need to supplement it...just simply and completely finished — done...paid in full...sealed by the resurrection...applied by faith alone.
That is grace.
And that my friend is the gospel.
And there is nothing this morning Church — nothing — that you can add to it!
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we come to a close this morning, I want to try to bring this all the way home.
We live in a world — and sadly, we sometimes live in a church world — where people are still trying to earn what God is offering for free.
They're counting their good deeds.
They're measuring their church attendance.
They're comparing their sins to other people's sins and telling themselves — well, at least I'm not as bad as them.
And all of it falls short of what God requires because what God requires is perfection!
The only Person who was ever perfect is the Lord, Jesus Christ and the only way to stand before God in perfection is to be found in Christ — crucified with Him in His death, raised with Him in His resurrection, and living in the power of His life.
That's not a religion — That's a relationship!
It's not a checklist — It’s a cross.
And every person in this room this morning has a choice to make — whether they're going to keep trying to earn what can't be earned, or whether they're going to surrender to the grace that's already been paid for.
Someone once said..."A man may do all that the law requires and still be lost forever — for the law requires perfection and no fallen man has ever achieved it.
But the man who comes to Christ in simple faith, confessing his sin and trusting in the finished work of the cross, is declared righteous by God Almighty — not because of what he has done but because of what Christ has done for him.
That is the gospel. That has always been the gospel. And it will always be the gospel." — Possibly Charles Spurgeon from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit
Man is saved by grace alone. In Christ alone. Through faith alone. And nothing else will ever do.
Paul said..."I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
Is that your testimony this morning, dear friend?
Invitation
Invitation
As we close this morning and they come and get us a song of invitation — I don't know your heart this morning. I don't know what you're carrying. But I do know this — whatever it is, the cross is big enough.
Maybe you're here this morning and you've been trying to earn your way to God. You've been good — at least most of the time. You've done your best to follow the rules and check the boxes and be the kind of person you think God would be pleased with. And yet deep down there's a restlessness in your soul that tells you it's still not quite enough.
Dear friend, it'll never be enough. Not because you're not trying hard enough. But because the standard is perfection — and only One Person has ever met that standard. His name is Jesus. And He's offering you His righteousness as a free gift this morning. Not because you deserve it. Because He loves you.
Won't you come and receive it this morning?
Maybe you're already a believer — but somewhere along the way you slipped back into the performance trap. You started measuring your standing with God by how well you've been doing lately. And when you haven't been doing well, you feel like God is disappointed with you.
Dear friend — your standing with God isn't based on your performance. It's based on Christ's performance. You're accepted in the Beloved — not in your best efforts. Come back to the cross this morning and remind yourself of what's already been done for you.
And maybe you've never been saved at all. You've sat in church — maybe for years — but you've never personally, genuinely come to the cross and said — Lord, I'm a sinner. I can't save myself. I'm trusting in You alone.
This morning is your moment.
He loved you. He gave Himself for you. And He's calling you to come.
The altar is open and there's a spot reserved just for you this morning. Won't you come?
