tYlyBDvdHXs

Well, howdy. We're here tonight to remember. We're here tonight to celebrate the Lord's table and to remember forgiveness as we do. To remember what all God had to do to bring about the forgiveness of our sins. We're here tonight to celebrate. We're here to celebrate the day we died.

Yes, I know this is the day that our Lord died. We're going to certainly not miss that detail. But it's also the night that we died. Time anchored in history. Indeed, what wondrous love is this that brought these things about. Galatians 2.20 will be the verse that I want to use to prepare our minds and hearts for the elements that we'll be celebrating tonight.

Galatians 2.20 says this, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

You know, no other time in human history was the sting of death felt more acutely than the day that Jesus died. It was a dark, dark time. But much more happened that day than what first meets the eye. The wondrous cross, the mystery of the cross, a transaction that took place.

Pardon won, justice satisfied, and death on a massive scale took place. At first glance, we might look and see the death of a solitary person, Son of God, son of man. But really, as you study the word carefully, you understand that what the Bible is teaching us is that the entire redeemed human race died that day.

And Paul makes this very clear in our text. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. Something that took place. I was crucified with him. Even though Paul speaks of himself in this passage, he speaks of all of the followers of Christ. In fact, he'll even explicitly say that in other places, such as Romans 7:4, he says, Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

So we can think of the day that Christ died as also the day that we died. Time in history. Even though we weren't there, just like we died in Adam, even though we were not there physically, yet there was a spiritual presence that was real, really connected us to that.

It's part of the mystery of the cross, but it's the Scripture is emphatic on this. And so we can think of the way. The day that we died, this good Friday, we can think of this day on a corporate level, and then we can think of this day on a personal level.

Galatians 2:20, let me read it again. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

See the conjunction, and I have been crucified with Christ, and, then point two, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and then point three, the division: the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.

Three truths that are revealed about us in Galatians 2:20. First of all, you can see it there: we have died with Christ. Not we're going to die, not we're reckoned dead, we died. Something very, there's a corporate nature, king and kingdom subjects died. I have been crucified with Christ.

Paul is saying that in some spiritual and transcendent way, He was there with Christ at his crucifixion, as were all Christ's people, the king and his subjects, unified in death. You see, crucifixion met the penalty demanded by the law. And so, when Christ agreed to take to be our king, he took upon himself our liabilities.

We took upon ourselves his assets. He took upon himself our liabilities. And so, this king and kingdom was tainted with sin, filled with sin, because of who he joined himself to, and therefore the law demanded crucifixion. His crucifixion was not for himself, but for his people. Second truth revealed in Galatians 2:20 is that Christ now lives in us.

Notice Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Christ is. Now dwelling, lives in, abides in his people. Spiritually speaking, the very spirit of Christ now resides in his people. And the spirit of Christ is very different than the spirit of the world.

And that is why those who belong to Christ inevitably exhibit the spirit of Christ and inevitably produce the fruits of Christ in some measure and in growing measure. Because the very spirit of the one who always lives to please God is resident in his people. That's the king.

He is with his people. We don't think of our king as just someplace out there on a throne, someplace, but resident, resident in that very secret place, that very core of our being, and enthroned as the one to be pleased. That's what it means to have Christ as your king.

A new spiritual entity emerges after one has faith in Christ. There's a disposition. To love and obey. And when that is disrupted by sin, there is not peace. And so there is a desire to reconcile. Paul says, I no longer live. Christ's person is now spiritually part of who I am.

That's what it means to come alive to God, is to have the very spirit of his Son in you. That's what Paul is saying. I no longer live. Christ's person is spiritually now a part of who I am. There's a third truth that's revealed in Galatians 2:20. And that is, we have a new life.

Look back. Not only have we died with Christ, not only does Christ now live in us, but we have a new life. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

We died on a corporate level. We have a new life. I am, look at what Paul says: the life which I now live, the life which I now am living. And Paul is talking about the life in his mortal body, which we're all here in our mortal bodies.

Corporately, we are identified together as the people of God. Christ is our king. And the life that we are now living in this mortal body, I live by faith. Look at it. I live by faith in the Son of God. I live by faith in the certainty and in the trust and in loyalty to the Son of God.

I believe who he is. I know his name. His name is Jesus, the Son of God. King, Shepherd, Judge, priest, Lord of heaven and earth. And so Paul is saying his spirit is joined to God, even though his flesh is still joined to this fallen, earthly realm. So the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me.

And believe in God's love for you rather than believing that you have to earn God's love is a very Different way of living. And Paul knew both. He knew what it was like to earn God's love and to pour himself out as a Hebrew among Hebrews to please God and to excel.

He says, All that was nothing. It's all on the cross. Crucified there with him. An expression of love of unparalleled proportions. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, who gave himself up for me. Remember when the Israelites came out of Egypt? God said, We're going to start the calendar all over for you.

The day you come out is the new day, the beginning of your year. The same is true here. Life begins with faith in this truth. The Son of God who gave himself up for me. You see, Christ's death was for his people. He made a decision long before we came into being.

You think about this. There's this vast universe all around us. And I mean, wow, you look into spirit. Face. You look into the, I mean, it's vast. You look in the microscope. It's vast. And we find ourselves in this vast universe. And the question is, where do I fit in this whole thing?

Where am I? Where do I find my place? And think I'm nothing in this grand universe. But then we read: The Son of God, King, Judge, Creator, who gave Himself up for us. You see, we find our place in this universe in the wake of this epic decision and in the wake of this colossal battle in which He laid His life down for His people.

And there, that decision has affected all of us. And that epic battle, that colossal war that raged even within His own soul is what has shaped us and given us our place. The Son of God gave Himself up for us. There are things in motion in this universe that are so massive.

Decision on the Creator's part to bring us into being. The battle, this colossal battle between good and evil, and Christ laying down his life for his people. We're just in the middle of all this. Recipients of monumental benevolence. That's what the cross is communicating to us. Something as infinitely wonderful as it is profound.

The mystery of the cross. What wondrous love is this? Something we cannot fathom, but we are expected to believe, or we make God out to be a liar. That's where the gospel takes us. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, who gave himself up for me.

I cannot fathom it, but if I don't believe it, I make God out to be a liar. That's where the good news leaves us. And it was this truth that moved Paul from being a persecutor to being a worshiper. And it's the same thing that will move you from whatever quagmire you're in into a state of worship.

It's the truth that. Brings forth a new humanity out of the realm of dead sinners. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. You see, in the great expanse of this vast universe, the Creator envisioned a people, a people that he would love as he loves himself and who would love him in like manner.

That's what he envisioned from the very beginning. A people whom he would love as himself and who would in return love him likewise. But what's shocking about all this is from where? Where is this group of people going to emerge? Where are they going to come from? These people who God loves as himself and who are going to love them, love him in return.

Where is this people going to come from? They come from the realm of dead sinners. That is what is shocking. From those completely undeserving, from those completely unable. It's from that realm that he says, come forth. You see, the cross was necessary to manifest such love. As Christ died on the cross that day, so did his people.

Just as the whole human race spiritually died to God when Adam sinned, likewise, those who take in the body and blood of Christ spiritually die to this sinful world. When Adam took of the fruit that he was not to take of, he died, and the human race spiritually died to God.

But when you take in by faith what Christ did on the cross, life comes forth. Spiritual life. We died nearly 2,000 years ago. And even though we are physically healthy now, we spiritually died a long time ago with Christ, with Paul, and with every child of God of all the ages.

You see, the moment we believe in Jesus Christ, we are forever identified with him. We were crucified with him. The law demanded that our death Was necessary. Law demanded, in order for it to be fully satisfied, had to bring about our death. And so, our sin and ourselves were condemned along with Christ.

We were with him. We were crucified with him that day. And we, as the redeemed and as those who will inherit the earth, we have died to this world, and now we live for him. That's the church. That's us here. We died on a corporate level, but we also died on a very personal level, individually.

I want to tell you a little bit about the day I died. I'm just going to talk about the day of my death from multiple perspectives and no particular order. Just as I reflect upon the day I met Christ, it was a day that I died. One perspective.

The day I came to understand that Christ's death was. What I deserved. The day I died was the day that I came to understand that Christ's death was what I deserved. It's interesting that it's by his grace and through the ministry of his bride, the church, that the Spirit of God brought me near to Christ.

And it was there that I had to consider Christ. He set Christ before my eyes to consider him. And as the Spirit of God was drawing me to himself, I came to see that Christ was the perfect bread of heaven. He was spotless, he was holy, and he was thoroughly good.

The more I got to know Christ, the more I studied him and heard about him, his kindness just seemed to show up everywhere. His kindness showed up in the words that he spoke. His kindness showed up in the deeds which he did. His kindness showed up in those who belonged to him.

I could see it on their faces. I could see it by the way they related. And the very thought of Christ nourished my soul. A gift from heaven. And as I considered and continued considering him, I was brought. Near to his cross. You see, the world rejected this one who was thoroughly good.

And I knew enough about myself that if this world was good, it would have rejected me, not him. I knew there was something wrong with this world for rejecting Christ. It wasn't good. And it was there I really began to understand my sin and the world that I was part of.

One that wanted to crucify Christ. When push came to shove, I wanted his voice silenced. Well, we could do pretty good with a Savior. We could do pretty good with somebody who wants to get us out of hell, but we don't do well with somebody who wants to take away our sin.

Let us keep sinning. And so we. But I understood when I came to the cross that there was something wrong with this world. There was something wrong with me. And I wanted out of it. I understood what Paul was saying in the verse right before Galatians 2.19. He said, for through the law I died to the law.

You see, God's righteous standards that were articulated in the law killed me. God's law was the instrument that God used to slay me. But he used it to slay me so that his son could save me. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

So the day of my death can be described from the one perspective, that it was the day that I came to understand that Christ's death is what I deserved. That's a day of my death. I understood that's what I deserve. But second, the day of my death was the day my affections for the world died.

You see, I had to come out of the world that crucifies that which is good, or him who is good. And that could only happen if I was crucified with Christ. I had to spiritually die to the world. And the more I learned about Jesus, the more I came to realize that this world really is not my home.

I want no part of a world that rejects and condemns a person like Jesus Christ. He was good. And what did he ever do? He was good. He was dutiful. He was helpful. He was compassionate. He was everything that was right with humanity. The power that he had, he used for good purpose.

He didn't use it to exalt himself. He used it to serve, glorify God. That's what's right. He certainly did nothing deserving of death. He was even good to those who hated him. He opposed injustice on a national level. He opposed phony religion on the personal level. This was a good guy.

As good as they get. He should have been praised. I knew enough. He should have been praised and esteemed, not despised and rejected. You see, there's something really wrong with the world that hates Jesus. He is everything noble and desirable in a person. And I came to realize a world that crucifies Jesus is really not my home.

I don't belong here. Something had taken hold. Something in my affections had changed. I knew that I belong to a world that praises him. And even though that world is yet to come, and I can only really see that world by faith, It is no less real. And one day it will be visibly seen from shore to shore.

But I know I belong to that world, a world that esteems and admires and praises Jesus, as do many of you in this room. You wouldn't be here, probably, if you weren't part of that. We are no longer part of this fallen system. You know, at one time I just wanted God to lead me alone.

I wanted to do my own thing. And just like that crucifixion generation, the generation that crucified Christ, they didn't want to be healed. They didn't want to be taught by him. And that was me. I was among those who didn't want God in their lives. And when push came to shove, I would prefer to crucify his voice in my life rather than listening, hearing, and enjoying it.

You see, I realize this world is not my home. A world that crucifies Christ is not our home. And that came about because I died that day. And I took into who he was. So I can think about the day of my death as the day I came to understand that Christ's death was what I deserved, number one.

The day of my death. Was the day my affections for the world died. And number three, the day of my death was the day I was cleansed of my sins. You see, the only way sins can be removed is through death. Death is the cleanser. Hebrews 9:22 makes it very clear: without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Our sin has to be taken into the realm of death and left there for it to be removed. But we must go with it. But if we face God's judgment alone, there's no one that's going to bring us out. However, when we put our faith in Christ, we are forever identified with Him in His death, but also in His resurrection.

And this is why we who are in Christ can say with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Well, tonight we want to celebrate the day we died along with our Lord. Not to take away anything from what he did, but to add, to complement it. He died for us, we there with him. So, will the men come forward? We're going to distribute the elements. We practice an open communion here.

If you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are welcome to partake with us. You know, God's people have been party to two deaths. The first death was in Adam, and the second was in Christ. And those of you who are in Christ, we're never going to die again.

Sure, these bodies may fall off, will fall off one day, but we will never die again because Christ will never die. And so we are so identified with Him. This is the gift that our King gave us, and that's what we want to remember tonight. Let's pray.