Part 3 - The Funeral of the Flesh
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
The book of Galatians tackles the burning question of “Is the Christian under the law?” I think we can see the Bible is crystal clear with the answer given…The believer is not under the law, but under grace.
The sad thing is, mankind is so proud that many times, we just can’t accept God’s grace, but rather, we try to save ourselves by our own goodness and works. Unfortunately, that will not work.
But that’s exactly what Satan wants us to do; the enemy of our souls wants us to be religious and morally good. He urges us to strive to improve ourselves, to try and obey the law, to keep on working and toiling, to be earnest and sincere and religious in all our efforts to make ourselves worthy of God’s favor instead of accepting God’s grace.
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us this is another gospel, and a clever trick of Satan to keep us from coming to Christ.
The law was not given to save, but to show the awfulness of sin, and our need of salvation!
Back to our question, “Is the Christian under the law?”
The Bible declares, “Absolutely not!”
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
6 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.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
and...
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Notice the wording in the Bible - We are dead to the law...
When we die, we have a funeral…Tonight, I want to examine several characteristics of a funeral - The funeral of the flesh.
It’s a Personal Funeral
It’s a Personal Funeral
Look at the verse:
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.
Notice with me how many personal pronouns are in that verse.
As Paul wrote this passage under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he made it clear that dying to self is a personal decision.
There are eight personal pronouns in Galatians 2:20.
This is a very personal funeral, it's a decision that we must cling to.
Christ’s death for you is your salvation
Christ’s death for you is your salvation
What Christ did on the cross of Calvary is what allows us to be saved. Before we can be crucified with Christ we must believe in what he has done for us at his crucifixion and resurrection. We must trust him for salvation.
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Your death with Christ is your sanctification
Your death with Christ is your sanctification
So Christ dying on Calvary for me is my salvation, it was an act of grace alone through Christ alone that provided to me a relationship with Christ and a home in heaven.
My death with Christ is my sanctification; it is a continual process that provides victory in my Christian life.
Christ died on the cross to save us from sin. He lives in us to save us from self!
If I strive to be more like Christ, I must be crucified with Christ. What exactly did Paul mean though when he said he was crucified with Christ?
It means that being crucified with Christ as an act of being identified with him.
Paul had tried to find life through the keeping and works of the law but instead he only found death by the law. Paul found that life came to him through Christ death for the payment for sin; this is something the law could never do.
In Christ, we now have the ability to reckon ourselves dead to sin, self, and our fleshly tendencies and live in the power of the resurrection.
It’s a Painful Funeral
It’s a Painful Funeral
I want you to notice something in the text versus tonight, Paul doesn't simply say that he died with Christ. No under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he writes that he was crucified with Christ. To be crucified involves a lot of pain and agony, and this puts an entirely different perspective on the process of dying to self.
Many people are more afraid of how they will die rather than death itself.
For many death is not what is scary it's the process of dying.
When it comes to crucifixion, we know that it was never a peaceful death. So by identifying with Christ crucifixion, Paul was identifying with Christ pain and suffering.
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Guess what? Just as Christ suffered dying on the cross we will also suffer and dying to self.
Being crucified with Christ involves surrendering our fleshly desires, our sinful tendencies, and our old nature. And my friend let me tell you this is not an easy process.
Let me give you an example:
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 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.
Funerals are always painful, and our flesh’s funeral is no exception!
Here’s the thing though!
Through identifying with Christ’s sufferings, we will ultimately find joy that this world can never give!
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
It’s a Powerful Funeral
It’s a Powerful Funeral
Funerals can be very hard to attend, but the funeral for your flesh will be one of the most powerful and life changing funerals you’ll ever experience!
Why is it powerful? Because through it, you have life! Boy that sounds a little confusing by the world’s standards doesn’t it?
By dying to yourself and your old nature, you have new life in Christ! Now that is a truth that will transform you!
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hey, your identity is in your new life in Christ! You’re alive in Him!
You’re not just alive though, you’re also free!
Before salvation, you were a slave to sin! When you experienced salvation though, you were not only saved from hell, but also from the power of sin!
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
This is such a powerful truth!
It’s a Practical Funeral
It’s a Practical Funeral
Let me explain the application here…What does the concept of dying to self look like?
It’s very practical...
You die to your old lust!
You die to your old lust!
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Every wicked thought that holds us, every bitter thought that eats us, every worry that overwhelms us - we die to!
You die to your old logic!
You die to your old logic!
The old man has the wrong desires, but he also has the wrong way of thinking!
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
You die to your old labor!
You die to your old labor!
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
A Christian who is daily dying to self is a Christian who labors for God out of a heart of love, not fear or obligation!
It’s a Permanent Funeral
It’s a Permanent Funeral
Christ died once, and Christ rose once. Both actions were permanent!
The phrase “I am crucified” in Galatians 2:20 indicates a one-time event that occurred in the past and that is currently affecting the present.
The same is true of your life!
The moment you were saved, the flesh died and lost power over you. The past decision of salvation currently affects your present spiritual life.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 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.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Our Saviour loved us so much that He died the most grueling, agonizing possible way. He died to give us life, and we live His life by losing our own!