Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
09/27/2020 A.M.
Crucified With Christ
Galatians 2.20-21
Our Sunday Morning study is from the Book of Galatians…
I gotta tell you that...
• A genuine faith in Jesus...
• Accepting Him as our... Savior...Lord... and King...
• Living the Christian life... Our becoming like Jesus...
Demands we be... Born again... Born from Above... Becoming... Different people... Changed men and women.
Listen...If the Book of Galatians teaches us anything... It teaches us that... In Christ... We become new creatures... Chapter 6... Verse 14 specifically says... God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision... but that we become a new creature... The NIV says... A NEW CREATION.
Indeed... One of the marvels of Christianity is that God dwelling in us through the Spirit He gave us... Allows us... Empowers us... To become changed people.
This power is most evident in the life of Saul who would become The Apostle Paul.
Ask me this morning if he didn’t become a different man after his conversion... And so must we... And so must we.
Listen church... Any person who thinks he can be converted to Christ without Being bornagain... Becoming a changed person... Does not understand what Christianity is all about.
In Galatians… Paul demands we answer the question... When it comes to Jesus...
• Are we a fan or a follower...
• Are we casually interested or are we totally committed
Is our Christianity bound up in a bumper sticker or a chrome fish on the back of our car... Or like Paul… Have we been crucified with Christ to the extent that... It is no longer I who lives... But Christ living in me.
Can we really say when others look at us... It’s not me they see... But Jesus living in me.
Read our text with me... Galatians two... Beginning with the verse numbered twenty... I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
This is not the only place where genuine New Testament Conversion... Making Jesus our Personal Savior... Demands we become a changed individual.
Listen to this same Paul in Romans chapter six... What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning... Shall we go on living like we’ve always lived... So that grace may increase?... By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too were raised to live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
In Romans 8.12 & 13 Paul makes it plain that we are to be changed people... Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful flesh nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
To the Corinthian church… Paul said we are called to be Holy.
Paul ends this discussion of the New Life in Romans twelve where he writes... I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We are to become...
• a living SACRIFICE...
• transforming our minds... Thinking Jesus thoughts rather than our hearts and minds being focused on self and the things of this world.
Scripture speaks of conversion as our dying to sin...
Colossians3.2-7 reads... Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore... Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
Isn’t it time we took the challenge to define our relationship with God?
• Is it a bumper sticker relationship?...
• Or are we becoming changed people... conforming to the image of Jesus.
OK...What can we learn from Galatians about being crucified with Christ?
What are some things that change in this crucifixion behavior?
First... We’re saved by Jesus becoming the sinner's substitute... Our SUBSTITUTE
Under the Law of Moses... Each person was judged righteous or unrighteous before God by his or her keeping the Law... Keeping the Ten Commandments and all the other rules and regulations given by Moses.
Of course... No man could be judged righteous because the Hebrews’ Writer says breaking one law made a man guilty of the whole law.
But...The keeping of law never forgives one sin... Only the blood of Christ could do that. However... At His crucifixion... The penalty for our sin was fully paid.
So... Jesus becomes our sacrifice for sin... The blood of bulls and goats was inadequate for our forgiveness... But Jesus died once for all.
His blood flowed back to toward Adam... And flows to us... And to all who will step into its sin forgiving flow.
You see... Where we should have died for our sins... Jesus died for us. This is what Paul says in our text... Jesus loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Kenneth Wuest... In his word studies refers to this Gave Himself up FOR me... As the preposition of substitution...
• Meaning Jesus died in my stead...
• Where I should have died for my sins... He died for me...
Jesus became our sacrifice for sin.
Now in return... He is asking us to become a living sacrifice by our own crucifixion... Our own death to self and sin.
This caused Paul to quiz... If we have died to sin... How can we live any longer therein?
Indeed...We are to become changed people!!... Amen?
Secondly... We are changed by faith... justified by faith... we Live by faith.
The word faith is a must in Christianity... It appears 336 times in our King James... 458 in the NIV... The King James uses our word 20 times in the Book of Galatians.
• Galatians 2.16 & 3.24... Tell us we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ...
• 2.20 & 3.11... We live by faith...
• 3.14 & 5.5... We receive the Holy Spirit by faith...
• In 3.26... We are children of God by faith... For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Been clothed with Christ.
• In 5.6... We find that faith must express itself in a behavior.
Listen church... Faith must change us through obedience... Or it is not true faith.
The dictionary defines faith as... The trust in doctrines and ethics or a supreme being... Usually not based on proof.
Faith also means the observance of an obligation or fidelity… Faithfulness… to one’s beliefs.
The Hebrews’ Writer tells us that Faith is the assurance of things hoped for... The convictions of things not seen... And that without this faith it is impossible to please God.
But reading further... We find that this Genuine God-pleasing faith is found in our becoming... changed people... fulfilling... our obligation... Our fidelity... to what we believe... For instance...
• Able offered a more excellent sacrifice than did Cain... Obedience!
• Enoch walked with God... Obedience!...Faithfulness…
• Noah built an Ark... Obedience!
• Abraham went when and where God called... Obedience!... Faithfulness.
Hebrews chapter eleven lists...
• Those who fulfilled their obligation to what they believed...
• Those faithful to the God of their faith…
• Those who became changed people!!
You see... If faith doesn’t Compel us to obedience... To become changed people... If faith doesn’t move us to faithfulness, it’s not...Biblical... God-Pleasing... Faith.
James affirms this when he wrote... Faith without... Deeds... Works... Obedience... Is dead... Even the devils believe...But their faith doesn’t compel them to obedience... It’s dead!... Useless to their salvation.
Indeed... Our Faith must compel us to become changed men & women... Amen?
Being crucified with Christ means we must change our ethics.
in Christ... We are to have a new love... The lust of the flesh... The love of this world and the things of this world... haVE been crucified... Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh nature with its passions and desires... That’s Galatians 5.24.
It means we no longer live according to Our Own Sinful Lust... Our Own Evil Desires... Prompted by our Flesh Nature.
John affirms this when he wrote... Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James says... Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
In rhetoric... Peter asks... Since everything in this world will be destroyed... What kind of people ought we be?... We ought to live holy and godly lives.
Indeed...Crucifixion with Christ means we take on a new lifestyle... Raised to walk in a new life...
Nowhere is this made any more evident than in the fifth chapter of our study...Beginning with verse 19... The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Church…That’s the old man we are to crucify.
Here is the person we are to become... The fruit of the Spirit… The result of Jesus living in us… Is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Indeed...Who can deny that being crucified with Christ means we become changed... Amen?
Finally... Our crucifixion with Christ means we are to conform to His Image.
Listen as we hear Jesus say... If anyone desires to come after Me... Follow Me... Be crucified with Me... Let him... Deny himself... Take up his cross... Daily... And follow Me.
Let’s break down Jesus’ statement of Discipleship here...
one... we must deny self.
There is no crucifixion with Christ unless and until we’re willing to deny self... Place Jesus and the interest of others... before self.
Listen church… Narcissism is out... Crucifixion of self is in.
take up our cross.
Church... Crosses are not for carrying... But for dying.
Jesus is asking us to die to self... Die to the world... And the things of the world.
next he says this is to be done daily.
Crucifixion of the old self is not a onetime event...
• Faith...
• Confession of Jesus...
• Walking in the Light...
• Living above the world...
• Becoming a Living Sacrifice...
• Loving our Neighbor and Enemies...
• Doing Good Deeds...
• Changing our ethics…
• Sharing Jesus with others...
• Acknowledgement and Repentance of Sins...
• And a host of other Christ-Like characteristics are daily activities.
It was Paul who said... I die daily.
then jesus says... follow me... conform to my image.
There’s no way that I can preach this better than Paul... from Philippians... Listen as I read...
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit...But in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look NOT only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
Indeed... Crucifixion with Christ means we strive daily to have His... Heart... ATTITUDE... Disposition... And behavior.
So the question becomes...
• Have we been crucified with Christ in Genuine New Testament Conversion?
• Have we been raised from our being born again to walk in a new life?
• Are we striving daily to be and become more and more and more like Jesus?
This is our invitation and challenge as we stand and sing together.