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[0:00] The End The End The End

[1:30] The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End CHOIR SINGS

[2:38] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[3:42] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CER procurement CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS In the epistle to the Galatians, the second chapter and the twentieth verse, the epistle to the Galatians, chapter 2 and verse 20.

[4:53] 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.

[5:23] Surely this is one of the most glorious statements that a Christian can make in this life concerning his union and relationship unto God.

[5:45] And I wonder if we are indeed exercised within our own souls as to whether we can indeed give end unto such a testimony as this.

[6:04] For if we can, we can be sure of this, that we shall indeed spend the never-ending eternity in the glory with him.

[6:19] Why the very fact of the language of the text implies that blessed assurance that wherein he has given unto him a reality, yea, that he may know the secret which God is pleased to reveal unto his own.

[6:49] One's mind is oft-times directed unto that scripture in the Psalms, wherein it is declared the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.

[7:04] He will show them his covenant a secret which is made known unto the individual, a secret which is hidden unto all others save the one to whom it is communicated.

[7:26] What a mercy if we know anything of it, that we possess within our own souls that which has been directly communicated unto us by God.

[7:42] How careful Paul was so to clear, as it were, the things that he would speak concerning Christ when he said that his testimony, his preaching, was not that which he had received of man, he had not been taught it, but that it had been through the revelation of God unto his soul.

[8:17] I fear that much of the religion today is simply a matter of an intellectual, what we might call, faith. we give an asset in our minds unto those things which are contained in God's word, while we may be destitute of the power of them and therein working and there out working within our lives before God.

[8:49] O let us beware that that wherein our profession doth so consist that it doth not lie in anything that relates unto the intellect or the natural understanding or the powers of the mind so to apprehend certain things in the word, but it is that which is directly communicated unto our souls by the spirit of the living God who alone as the spirit of Christ can indeed hook us into life and so work within us that which is in accordance with the will of the purpose of God in his grace concerning us.

[9:50] Oh, I thought as though when I got home this morning I could very well suck into my very soul the wonder of that which so astonished Paul that he had to trace everything back unto the will of God concerning him.

[10:14] that he would never have known anything. He would never have known that which is relative to the glory of the gospel save as God in his infinite and eternal will has so purposed that in Christ Jesus he should have that position and that place wherein in him to all eternity he should stand accepted and perfect in the beloved.

[10:52] Let me say a word here of encouragement. if God has indeed begun his work within your soul if he's taken away from you all your fleshly and your natural religion and has brought you unto himself as a poor sinner so to seek in him and to receive from him out of his fullness that which alone satisfies your soul remember that that wherein he has given that glimmer of light in your soul that wherein in his light you see light it is but that which is going to shine more and more unto the perfect day yes that light can never be extinguished it can never be put out if he has commenced the work in your soul he will be the power he will be the strength he will be the sufficiency of his own work in you and here carry it through to the glory of his great name and to that wherein you shall indeed stand before the throne and sing of his worthiness as the lamb of god who was slain for you yes you will come you will realize in measure down here as you may contemplate the glories that await them who are the subjects of his work you will declare

[12:49] I am crucified with Christ pondering over these words it came to me are have we not here the clue unto Paul's ministry to the various churches he didn't enter into controversy he didn't dispute about things he was a man of one message and a man of one message because that message so indirout his soul that it brought every fiber of his being into action to preach and to preach what i am determined to know nothing among you say jesus christ and him crucified we preach he says christ crucified he saw the very essence and the substance of all godliness so to lie in that wherein there was the identification of himself in the person and the work of jesus christ and not only so but even as he so often mentioned that which was relative unto the frost and he spake of how that it was so utter nonsense and foolishness unto them to whom this truth had not been revealed how that he was a debtor unto that glorious grace whereby and by it alone he had been brought into it well if there was one thing he would exhaust in the frost of his lord and savior jesus christ it was the grace of god ah when we come to the ephesians and we begin to read down the chapters we find it coming out you'll find it in the corinthians you'll find it in the philippians yes it's always there what is he declaring unto us that if his glory is going to be in anything it is in his lord and savior jesus christ why for why for because by grace ye are saved yes salvation in all its positiveness its certainty by grace ye are saved through faith and that faith is not your own it is that instrument the god uses unto the bring home unto your heart the glory of that grace by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god lest any man should boast so can you enter into these things you may be listening to me but does the word of god enter into your heart and does it bring to light unto you that wherein the glory of christ doth so consist in these things that

[16:50] he should so take you in accordance with the will and the purpose of his father and that he should so undertake for you that you might indeed in all things be found perfectly blameless holy and without spot in the sight of his holy and righteous father he says I am crucified with christ he is talking of a personal crucifixion he is not speaking in general terms we often to our folly enter into the generality of language where there is nothing personal in it we're so fond of using the word we instead of the word I is it because you dare not use the I you may speak of that which collectively doth belong unto the whole church of the redeemed but as for yourself can you dare to use the word

[18:08] I can you as you're sitting in the pew this afternoon enter into the personal nature of that wherein Paul is emphasizing his union with Christ and say I in other words he's completely as it were taken away from every other source from every other person there is only one that is presented unto the eye of faith and that is his Lord and his Savior his Redeemer the one who loved him and gave himself for him you know that's rather a good test as to whether you can use the word I shall we apply it unto ourselves I said it is a test do I really love him do I know what it is for my heart to burn with love toward him do I know what it is for my soul so to be on the stretch that it breaks through everything in net wherein you would have nearness unto himself because he is the altogether lovely one he is precious unto your soul test yourself by it is not enough to say these things have we that within our own souls wherein we have the witness of our interest in these things in that wherein our love embraces him in the love wherewith he hath loved us who loved me and gave him soul for me surely the hymn writer two lines of one of his hymns should indeed find its echo would in our hearts yes love so amazing so divine demands my life my soul my all there is no withholding when we are crucified with

[20:44] Christ everything has got to go there is only one thing that matters and that is my identity of union with my Lord and my Saviour Jesus Christ it is essentially personal but what more it is a reality I am crucified with Christ it was very real unto him it wasn't as I have just mentioned it wasn't something that he had learned from man it wasn't simply something that might be learned for doubtless he had the whole of the Old Testament before God ever called him by his grace it isn't simply in that wherein I may apprehend in a measure all that is spoken in the word of

[21:45] God the reality is when God by his divine word lightens your soul in the understanding and the knowledge of himself then everything becomes a reality you were to unseed the foolishness the emptiness of everything else in comparison with the saving knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I believe there are many that are exercised about that fact they asked themselves have I a saving knowledge have I a saving faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ well my dear here it isn't in that wherein you have a grip of him in these things things it is that wherein he has a grip of you in these things and he grips you in that wherein he so opens up unto you the reality of those things which are set before you in the gospel let me put it in this light the gospel is made unto you meat and drink because it is good tidings unto your soul yes he has gripped you and in consequence there is a setting forth of your grasp him yes you would attain unto those things wherein you are instructed and led by him saving faith a reality crucified with

[23:49] Jesus there he hangs upon the cross and Paul looks upon him and Paul sees him in all his suffering he hears him in that wherein the fried dereliction go forth from his lips my God my God why hast thou forsaken me he looks upon those wolves he looks upon that pierced side he sees all that has been endured in the cross and as he looks he says and there am I I am in Christ I am there and all that he is enduring all that he is suffering it is for me did

[24:52] I hear that cry of dereliction then I can never be forsaken of God oh if he was forsaken in that wherein he bore my sin and my guilt upon that tree and put it away in that blessed body on the tree then God can never forsake me as I am found in him yes he sees all that the dear son of God that blessed person did for him on the frost his eye is fixed upon him and as he gazes he says that's where I am I am crucified with Christ it is not for himself that he doeth these things but for me he loved me and he gave himself for me and not only doth he therefore speak of the reality of these things he speak of that wherein he hath a fellowship with his

[25:59] Lord in these things he had a fellowship with his sufferings as you have gazed upon the one whom you have pierced have you mourned for him as you have gazed upon him have you not known what it is the sorrow to fill your heart you know the disciples were warned that they were going to have sorrow and you never know the joy of it without the sorrow preceding it he told them that that joy which they should have should follow on that which related to the sorrow that they were to experience do you sorrow over your sin do you mourn over it does it bring you so to look to him and to look upon him as the one whom you have pierced that it is your sin that put that nail through his hands and through his feet that it is your sin that has pierced his side with that sword you see the dreadfulness of it because this is the sinless one the holy one oh here is that which is so inconceivable unto you that he in the greatness of his love should so suffer should so be humiliated should so be brought down for your sake and that you are the guilty person who have been the means whereby you have crucified him you see it all there and you have a fellowship with him and his sufferings it is with a broken heart and a contract spirit that you have to go to him and you say

[28:30] I am crucified with Christ we'll see this in a moment in various particulars let me name one or two of them when he gazed upon his Lord he said I'm crucified I'm dead I've been killed killed Paul what do you mean he said because I'm dead unto sin our sin shall no longer have the dominion over me for I am not under the law but under grace and here is the supreme sacrifice for my sin he's taken it away shall I then allow that which is relative unto my sin so to reign in my mortal body

[29:35] God forbid by that wherein I see that I am crucified with him I say death unto my sin oh that I should not obey it in the lust and the affections of the flesh yes not only sin but that whereby the knowledge of sin has come I am dead to the law some people seem to speak in these days as though that law has been done away with my friend that law is going to be the judge of that which is relative to the right and the wrong in the day of judgment for that law is the facsimile of God himself in which he is revealing his own holy and perfect nature and yet says

[30:47] Paul there was a time when I what a fool I was I tried to fulfill that law and I never knew the spirituality of that law until he met with me on that road to Damascus then I saw it the folly yea that wherein I was but as a madman seeking to fulfill that which in itself was spiritual you read Matthew 5 you have the exposition there of the spirituality of the law by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by the law is the knowledge of sin the law is good it is holy it is just but when

[31:49] I am confronted by it it is only one voice death death condemnation but oh when I look unto him and I see him suffering on the cross I behold that wherein he has in his perfect life in that wherein he has consistently done the will of his father and rendered unto the holiness of God that which is perfect and complete relative unto the perfection of the law yes he says when I look there I am dead to the law are you Paul yes because I find that law fulfilled and set forth in all its glory in that very person who in his righteousness and his holiness went to that tree of

[32:59] Calvary and suffered for my sake ah he says this kills me too to the world when I am crucified with Christ God forbid he said that I should glory saving the frost of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world he that is a friend of the world is an enemy of God the severance has come that which is relative to the world with all its ambitions its aspirations and so forth no longer holds the horizon of your life you have something far greater far more glorious than that which is appertaining unto all the pump of this world and you indeed behold its vanity and its emptiness and why because you have tasted of that love you have tasted of the grace of the

[34:22] Lord Jesus Christ oh yes you can let the world go now you haven't any taste for it you don't want it ah you can say let the world go by yes you are in the world and you know what it is still be in the flesh what it is to walk up and down amongst men but mighty here are the influences of the world no more beset you as once they did how easily at one time you were overcome by their besetments how you would have gone headlong into all those pursuits and pleasures that men call such but oh one sight of your suffering redeemer put death to the world so far as you were concerned you saw that the world lieth in the wicked one and you could find no more any rest or any comfort in those things in which you once have found your enjoyment know you're crucified unto the world why because you are crucified with

[35:59] Christ but you know it brings us to this you are dead to self and you are dead to all confidence in the flesh read Philippians free hear him there speaking of the past hear him as it were so setting forth that wherein if any man had any right to speak of any honorable position he had it a Pharisee of the Pharisee and Hebrew of the Hebrews oh yes he can go right through the catalog he can say how where is there another man in effect that is so highly honored as me in these things see how I observe them see how I do indeed treasure them yea see how I have them even to my very breast but but the time came when

[37:13] Jesus revealed himself to him and all his confidence in his own works and his own righteousness and all his religious habits they've all got to go if he's going to find his religion he's going to find it in Christ crucified if he's going to find the substance and the essence of this godliness it is in Christ crucified for him no he says I am crucified with Christ you want to test your own case are you crucified with Christ what did crucifixion mean it meant endurance yes yes who for the praise for the joy that was set before him endured the frost do you know what it is to have men deride you do you know what it is for them to hold you as it were is conned because of your profession do you know what it is to be persecuted for the names of

[38:44] Christ do you know what it is for people to turn their back upon you because of that wherein they know and feel that you are indeed different to them you are speaking a foreign language to them and so on there is a separation there is the cutting off but isn't it painful to the flesh all the sores that you oftentimes had to endure by reason of the treatment of others if you are crucified with Christ you are going to have no exemption from it you are going to be scorned and you are going to be despised and you are going to be ridiculed yes you have got to expect it but there is one glorious sanctifying realization that will indeed fill your soul amidst it all as you have to endure these things it is that love the love of him who gave himself for you ah we cannot speak of the sufferings that he had to endure but what a blessing if you can come to the very end of this same epistle and then join in with Paul when he said from henceforth let no man trouble me

[40:21] I bear about in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus yes I am crucified with Christ and so we see here is Christ crucified for Paul did I say it was a personal matter did I say it was a reality oh sinner if thou art left destitute of this truth thou shalt never see him thou shalt never come to him it is only as by that precious faith you are brought to know that interest that you have in that perfect work of redemption on Calvary's tree that atonement whereby alone you could be made at one with

[41:27] God yes Paul says what is the effect I am crucified for life in other words no longer would he live unto himself but unto God who had redeemed him atoned him atoned for him and purchased him with his own blood oh yes Paul I begin to understand some of your utterances to everything for him.

[42:39] There is nothing now that can keep him from Christ or the past that's gone. He's left it all. He's forsaken it all.

[42:53] He's nailed it all unto his wrath. Ah, Jesus, I am crucified with Christ.

[43:04] Well, we haven't got far with our text, have we? Maybe if the Lord still keeps it upon my mind, I may be enabled to take it up further on the coming Sabbath.

[43:23] But I hope you're not bored by it. I hope you're not, as it were, going away. Oh, yes, I've heard that text, as it were, time and time again.

[43:38] But I hope that you're going away with the realization of your own crucifixion with Christ. Because it is in that union, in that wherein you have your interest in him, with Paul, you will find your life in him.

[44:03] Yes, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

[44:13] so I will close with those words, for I feel that I can use them as my own. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.

[44:33] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[44:58] Amen. Son in . Thank you.

[45:32] Thank you.

[46:02] Thank you. Thank you.

[47:02] Thank you. Thank you.

[48:02] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[48:14] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[48:26] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[48:38] Thank you. Thank you. CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[49:46] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[50:48] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[51:53] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS THE END

[53:12] May the grace, the love, and the communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with us each, now and evermore. Amen.