SERMON: CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
2 July 2006

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Galatians 2

15. "We who are Jews by birth and not `Gentile sinners'
16. know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
17. "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
18. If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
19. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20. 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.
21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"


-- for the past several weeks we have been focusing our attention on the blood of man and the blood of Christ -- we talked about the great infection that we have in our blood as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden -- of the sin nature that has infected all of us and caused us to be born sinners -- estranged from God -- separated from Him, not because of what we have done but because of who we were
-- then we focused on the blood of Christ and its value -- its value to God as an atonement for our sins -- and its value to us as a means of forgiveness and a release from guilt
-- this morning, I want us to shift our focus from the blood and to the cross itself
-- as Steve Hollaway points out, when you read the letters of Paul -- when you invest time in studying Paul's words and understanding of the cross, you begin to realize that the cross is not just something that happened to Jesus -- it was something that happened to Paul -- and to us -- too

II. "In" Christ
-- in other words, when Jesus died on the cross, we were there with Him in a very real sense -- to use biblical terminology, we were "in" Him while He was on the cross -- and that's an important concept for us to grasp
-- in the Book of Hebrews, the writer is trying to make the point that Jesus is our high priest and that His priesthood is different and altogether better than the Jewish temple priesthood -- Jesus belongs to the priesthood of Melchizedek and not to the priesthood which came from the line of Levi -- the writer in Hebrews makes this point in a very dramatic fashion
-- he pointed out that tithes and offerings are given from the lesser to the greater -- in this case, Abraham, the father of the Jews, gave a tithe to the priest Melchizedek, demonstrating that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham -- and, the writer goes on to say, this shows that the whole Jewish priesthood is subservient to the priests of Melchizedek because Levi, a descendant of Abraham, was actually "in" Abraham when the tithe was paid -- as it says in Hebrews 7:10, Levi was with Abraham because he was still in the body of the ancestor
-- in the same way, we were with Christ and in Christ on the cross when Jesus suffered and died -- we were in His body when He bore our sins and died on the cross and we are made alive when we accept Him as Lord and Savior
-- Watchman Nee put it this way -- "When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross all of us died -- not individually, for we had not yet been born -- but, being in Him, we died in Him.
-- as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “One died for all, therefore all died” -- When Jesus was crucified all of us were crucified because we were "in" Him
-- knowing this and understanding this is the reason why Paul talks about the cross as something that happened, not only to Jesus, but to us as well

III. The Meaning of the Cross
-- so what happened to us when we were on the cross with Christ? -- What did the cross do for us? -- two things: first, the cross was the Means of Justification -- Freedom from the Law and its impossible demands
-- and, secondly, the cross was the Means of Sanctification -- Freedom from Myself and from my sin nature which originally separated me from God
-- In this passage in Galatians, Paul addresses both of these functions of the cross as he relates the story of the incident at Antioch when he confronted the Apostle Peter over Peter's hypocrisy

A. Context
-- let me give you the context of this passage -- in this letter to the Galatians, Paul has been rebuking them for falling away from the gospel message that they had first heard and believed -- some people had come into the church at Galatia and were teaching them that they had to do more than just accept Christ in order to be saved -- they had to also follow the Jewish law, including its requirements to be circumcized and to abstain from eating certain types of food
-- Paul addresses this false teaching throughout this epistle and relates the story about the time he rebuked Peter for hypocrisy in Antioch -- Antioch was the heart of Christianity for the Gentiles, just like Jerusalem was the heart of Christianity for the Jews
-- following his revelation in Acts 10 that God was offering salvation to the Gentiles through Christ, Peter has come to Antioch to witness to the work going on with Paul and Barnabus -- Peter associates with the Gentile Christians, eats what they put before him, and worships with them just as they are -- in other words, Peter had lived with Gentiles in the freedom of grace
-- but when some Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem to Antioch, Peter began to separate himself from the Gentiles and fall back into bondage to the law -- he stopped associating with the Gentiles because they were uncircumsized and he started abstaining from certain kinds of food -- rather than living on grace, Peter went back to trying to live life based on the law of God
-- this change in Peter's behavior confused the Gentile Christians by making them think they had to do something else -- to be something else -- in order to be saved -- it also confused the Jewish Christians, including Barnabus, who had been working with the Gentiles -- so Paul took it upon himself to confront Peter
-- this passage in Galatians is the end of his quoted conversation with Peter
-- let's look at it in a little more detail, keeping in mind the two aspects of the cross -- the means of justification -- freedom from the law -- and the means of sanctification -- freedom from ourselves

B. Means of Justification
-- look back at verse 15

15. "We who are Jews by birth and not `Gentile sinners'
16. know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

-- in these verses, Paul begins to confront Peter about his hypocrisy and what it is teaching about the meaning of the cross
-- Paul starts off by reminding Peter of the gospel message -- namely, that we are justified -- we are saved -- by trusting that Jesus paid for our sins through His own death -- we are saved through faith in Jesus' sacrificial death for us on the cross
-- Paul points out to Peter that because he was a Jewish believer -- because he grew up knowing and trying to follow the law -- that he should know, better than anyone else, that the law cannot justify you
-- Paul makes it perfectly clear here -- the law cannot save you -- no one, except Christ, has been able to fulfill the law and its perfect demands -- and the Bible tells us that if we fall at any point of the law -- if we fail to keep just one commandment -- then we are condemned to death and eternal separation from God
-- here is where the concept of being "in" Christ is so important to us -- for if we are "in" Christ, then that means that through Him, the law was fulfilled for us -- His death on the cross paid the penalty for our failure to keep the law because we were "in" Him and with Him on the cross when He died
-- verse 17

17. "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
18. If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.

-- Paul continues on with his confrontation with Peter -- Paul tells Peter that his actions in Antioch -- the way he turned away from the grace given to the Gentiles and turned back to following the letter of the law when the Jews showed up -- told the Gentiles -- "I sought justification through Christ by putting aside the law and living by faith but that was not enough -- I did not receive justification and I am still a sinner -- a lawbreaker -- because I lived outside the law -- Christ, then, is the minister of sin because following Him led me into breaking the law, which is required for justification"
-- Paul points out that if Peter starts trying to follow the law again -- after having previously destroyed it through faith in Christ -- that he proves that he is still a sinner because it means he does not consider the death of Christ sufficient to wash away our sins -- it means that you have to add works to grace in order to be saved
-- to sum these verses up, Paul is making the case here that we are justified -- we are saved -- simply by believing and trusting in Christ's death on the cross -- and that if we try to add anything else to it -- we are being legalistic and are corrupting the gospel message

-- this is something that we all still struggle with today in our churches and in our individual lives -- we want to have something concrete in our lives to follow -- we like rules -- we like to know what the rules are and what we have to do to follow them -- we don't like just trusting in faith on Christ's death on the cross
-- we may say we believe it and that we trust in it -- but our actions say otherwise -- for instance, when we put forth the idea that "real" Christians act in a certain way or dress in a certain way or have a certain type of friends -- then we are being legalistic -- adding something extra to the gospel
-- when we think that you have to pray in a certain way or worship in a certain way or do certain things, such as fasting or good works, in order to gain God's favor, then we are being legalistic and adding something extra to the gospel
-- what makes something legalism? -- it all comes down to motive -- if you are doing it to gain favor with God or get a blessing from Him, then it is legalism
-- the rules of legalism -- this way of life -- can keep us from enjoying the grace of God just like it kept Peter from enjoying the freedom he had with the Gentile Christians before the Jews showed up
-- let me give you an example -- we've got a friend who used to work at a local restaurant -- she told us that they were very strict there -- if she had to be out because she was sick or had a doctor's appointment, she had to bring a note from a doctor or she had her pay docked and was reprimanded -- some time later, she took another job -- and when she got sick, she brought her boss a doctor's note -- the boss said, "You don't have to do that here -- we trust you" -- but it didn't matter -- she was so bound up in the rules from her last job that she couldn't enjoy the freedom that the new job offered
-- that is exactly what happens to us when we try to add something to the grace of God -- when we try to add something else to the cross
-- Paul rebuked Peter for this and his rebuke remains a warning for us



C. Means of Sanctification
-- verse 19

19. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20. 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.

-- now that Paul has confronted the hypocrisy of legalism that Peter had slipped back into, he addresses the second function of the cross as the means of sanctification -- freedom from ourselves -- freedom from our sin nature that once had separated us from God
-- Paul says here that he died to the law through Christ -- that because he was crucified with Christ -- that the law no longer holds any power over him -- we are released from the law through death
-- in fact, Paul says, because he was crucified with Christ, his old man -- his sin nature -- that great infection that was passed down from Adam and Eve to us -- no longer exists -- it died on the cross with Christ -- it was nailed to the cross and we bear it no more
-- because we were "in" Christ and with Christ on the cross, we died with Christ and we no longer live -- all that we were died with Christ -- and when Christ rose from the dead, we rose too -- when Christ took on new life, we took on new life -- we became a new creation, freed of our sin nature -- freed of our sins and our guilt -- freed from bondage to the law of sin and death -- freed for life in Christ

-- these verses indicate that sanctification -- the process of becoming like Christ -- is a choice of faith just as salvation is a choice of faith -- we have to trust and believe that we have been crucified with Christ and that we no longer live so that we can begin to live a new life with Him
-- we may still live in the flesh -- in our mortal body -- but now we live for God -- previously, our life was directed by our sin nature -- but now, because our sin nature died on the cross, we are directed by Christ who is in us as we are in Him
-- when confronted with temptation and sin, we don't have to give into them like we used to -- we can look them square in the eye and say, "I am dead to you -- I don't have to give in to you any longer -- I am not that person any longer -- I am alive in Christ and He is alive in me"
-- verse 21

21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

-- Paul sums up his argument against Peter -- Paul has not given up the grace of God and exchanged it for bondage to the law like Peter -- Paul has chosen to live on grace -- through faith -- and not by adding anything else to the gospel message
-- he ends by telling Peter that if righteousness -- if salvation and justification -- could come by the law -- that Jesus died for nothing -- "that, Peter, is what you are teaching the Gentile Christians in Antioch -- and that is nothing more than thinly veiled legalism that leads to death."

IV. Closing
-- the cross is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith -- it holds for us a sacred place in our faith -- because it was on the cross that Christ died
-- it was on the cross that the blood of Christ was shed for the forgiveness of sins
-- it was on the cross that the law was satisfied and crucified
-- it was on the cross that we were "in" Christ and with Christ
-- and so, through faith in Christ's death and resurrection, we no longer live -- we are new creations -- created by grace through faith for eternal abundant life with Him
-- this morning as I close this message, I want to invite you to reflect on the cross with new eyes -- to see it through the eyes of faith -- on the cross our justification was made possible -- on the cross our sanctification was made possible
-- however, it is up to you whether you accept it or not -- some of you may never have accepted the saving grace of Christ -- you have never been justified and received forgiveness of your sins -- if that is the case, then I invite you to receive Him this morning -- to repent of your sins and to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior
-- some of you may be saved, but you haven't stepped into the sanctified life of grace -- you are still bound up in sin or bondage to self-imposed rules and regulations -- perhaps you feel like you have to do something or be something in order to be seen with favor by God -- the cross says otherwise -- the death of Christ on the cross says otherwise -- I would invite you today to start the process of sanctification in your life by recognizing that you died with Christ on the cross and that you no longer live -- ask Jesus to live in you -- to guide you and direct you and help you to become more like Him
-- whatever you need to do this morning, I would invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led
-- let us pray