Dying To Self And Living For Christ

Temple Baptist Church - 4-22-2009

Galatians 2:20

Introduction:

A. The child of God is saved for more than one reason. This list will not be all inclusive because of the magnitude of our deliverance but here are a few things that we have been delivered from and to:

1. He is certainly saved from Hell - Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

2. He is saved from the Jacob’s Trouble - 1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

3. He is saved from the bondage of the Law - Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

4. He is saved from the penalty of sin - Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

5. He is saved from the power of sin - Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

6. He is saved to walk in newness of live - Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

7. He is saved to be an epistle of Christ seen and read of men - 2 Corinthians 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

B. All some folks can think of is “Praise the Lord I am going to Heaven!” I thank God for that also but Heaven is later and there is the importance of living for Christ here. I believe that all of us understand that we are saved to serve. Our Lord left us here for a reason and that reason is to be both light and salt in the present evil world.

C. In Galatians 2:20, we find several “keys” to living both a victorious and useful life for Christ.

1. Dead with Christ – crucifixion “with Christ”

2. Alive in Christ – sanctification “Nevertheless I live”

3. Alive for Christ – obligation “yet not I”

4. Alive by Christ – empowered and driven “by the faith of the Son of God”

D. The Bible speaks much on the subject of dying while we live. We are to:

1. Die to Sin - Romans 6:11-12 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

2. Die to Self - Colossians 3:1-4 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Luke 9:23 And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

a) Obligation – “all”

b) Prerogative – “If”

c) Qualification – “deny”

d) Identification – “cross”

e) Duration – “daily”

f) Direction – “follow me”

3. Die to Shame

a) Not ashamed of my Salvation - Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

b) Not ashamed of Christ - 2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

c) Not ashamed of identifying with Christ - Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

d) Not ashamed of God’s People - 2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

e) Not ashamed to witness for Christ - Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

E. “Dying to self” is the theme of Galatians 2:20. It is all important because two things hinge heavily upon it:

1. The work of Christ depends upon dying to self. It is simply a matter of spiritual priority!

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.

2. The unity of the body of Christ depends upon dying to self.

Philippians 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

F. Since dying to self is of such importance, how do you know that you are dead to self?

1. When you are overlooked, forgotten, set at naught or disregarded:

a. You are not hurt or offended

b. You keep a happy attitude

c. You endure it for Christ’s sake

(Then you are dead to self)

2. When your good is evil spoken of:

a. You pray for those who despitefully use you - ROBBY

b. You continue to do right and not quit

c. You take it with loving silence

(Then you are dead to self)

3. When you do not get your way:

a. You do it other people’s way

b. You never complain or gripe

(Then you are dead to self)

4. When others stand you up or let you wait for them when they are late:

a. You patiently and loving wait for them

b. You forgive them

c. You do not bring the subject up

(Then you are dead to self)

5. When you seemingly have needs that are not being met

a. You remain content in the state that you are in

b. You fail to indict God for forgetting you

c. You keep silence and let God meet the need in His time

(Then you are dead to self)

6. When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation

(Then you are dead to self)

7. When you never brag on your good works or itch for commendation

(Then you are dead to self)

8. When you see a brother prospers and have am abundance when you do without and you can happy for him while feeling no envy.

(Then you are dead to self)

9. When receiving correction or reproof:

a. You can humbly submit

b. You find no rebellion or animosity inside as well as outside

(Then you are dead to self)

10. When you choose to do right instead of that which is convenient.

(Then you are dead to self)

11. When you put yourself out in order to help someone else.

(Then you are dead to self)

G. Let’s look at verse 20 for a few minutes tonight. What a wonderful verse that will change the life of the believer.

1. “I am crucified with Christ” – notice with me that it does not say “crucified for Christ.”

a. He was crucified for me by choice. Now I am crucified with Him be choice!

b. Hebrews 13:12-13 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

c. Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. (Crucifixion with Christ brings about reproach for Christ. “Bearing his reproach.”)

2. “Nevertheless I live” – notice that willing crucifixion brings about life, not death.

a. John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

b. In the sense of salvation, we live because of the resurrection but in the sense of service—we live because of willingness to crucify ourselves with Christ.

c. You and I will never truly live until we truly die!

3. “Yet not I but Christ liveth in me” – Now it is not I that lives but Christ living in and through me!

a. John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (As we are in Christ, He is in us.)

b. Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

c. Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

4. “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” – the crucified life is a life of faith.

a. Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

b. Faith that God will lead us, protect us, keep us, feed us, vindicate us, and bless us!

Conclusion: I fear that most of us are normally more alive than dead! How do we know? Because the dead have no feelings or personal desires!