THE CHRIST LIFE

Galatians 2:20 “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.”

INTRODUCTION

Illustration: “Pity Party” Lord, it looks like it’s just you and me!  Son, who else do you need?

Galatians 1:I “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”

Galatians 3:1-3 “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  Are ye so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

II Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

MAIN BODY

I.                   The Crucified Life

A.    Galatians 2:20 a “I am crucified with Christ:”

B.     Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

C.    Romans 8:10 “Now if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

D.    Note: God sees us now positionally through the blood of Christ.  We must now experientially allow Christ to live out His Life in and through us.

II.                The Resurrected Life

A.    Galatians 2:20b “Christ liveth in me:”

B.     Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

C.    Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

D.    Ephesians 2:6 “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

III.             The Victorious Life

A.    Galatians 2:20c“I live by the faith of the Son of God.”

B.     Galatians 5:16 “Walk in the Spirit(“fruit” 5:22-25), and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh(“works” 5:5:19-21).”

C.    Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

D.    Ephesians 2:10 “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

E.     Hebrews 13:21 “God make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

In the early 1960’s, I had just returned to the United States from a ministry mission to Europe, Middle East and Africa, when I had an experience that changed my Christian life.  Even though God blessed on this mission, I felt that so much of it was self-effort on my part.  In other words, I seemed to have made it happen and then asked God to bless it.

I went before the Lord in prayer and confessed that it was so difficult to live the Christian life and to minister.  In fact, I acknowledged in all honesty before the Lord that I found it impossible to live.

The Lord’s response was, “Son, I’m glad you finally figured that out.  You can’t live the Christian life!  Only I can live the Christ life through you.  Let me live in and through your body as your eyes, ears, hands and feet to reach out to the world around you for my glory.”

From that moment on I knew experientially that “Christ in me was my hope of glory,”(Colossians 1:27)my confident expectation of being with Him and experiencing His glory throughout all eternity!