Jesus was living in me

JESUS WAS LIVING IN ME
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 2:20 20I have been crucifiedwith Christ and
I no longer live, but Christlives in me. The life I now
live in the body, I liveby faith in the Son of God, who
lovedme and gave himself for me.
Christus Et Ego BY SPURGEON
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Sonof God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
IN great ranges ofmountains there are lofty peaks which pierce the clouds,
but, on the other hand, there are, here and there, lowerparts of the range
which are crossedby travelers. They become national highways and afford
passagesfor commerce from land to land. My text rises before my
contemplation like a lofty range of mountains, a very Andes for elevation! I
shall not attempt, this morning, to climb the summits of its sublimity–we have
not the time and we fear we have not the skill for such work–but I shall, to the
best of my ability, conduct you overone or two practicalTruths of God which
may be serviceable to us this morning, and introduce us to sunny fields of
contemplation.
1. At once to our work! I callupon you to observe very carefully, in the
first place, THE PERSONALITYOF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION as
it is exhibited in the text before us. How many personalpronouns of the
first personare there in this verse? Are there not as many as eight? It
swarms with “I” and “me.” The text deals not with the plural at all. It

does not mention someone else,nor a third party far away, but the
Apostle treats of himself–his own inner life, his own spiritual death–the
love of Christ to him, and the greatsacrifice whichChrist made for him.
“Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
This is instructive, for it is a distinguishing mark of the Christian religion that
it brings out a man’s individuality. It does not make us selfish. On the
contrary it cures us of that evil, but still it does manifest in us a selfhoodby
which we become consciousofour personalindividuality in an eminent
degree. In the nocturnal heavens there had long been observed bright masses
of light–the astronomers calledthem “nebulae”–theysupposedthem to be
stores of shapelesschaotic matteruntil the telescopeofHerschell resolved
them into distinct stars. What the telescope did for stars the religion of Christ,
when receivedinto the heart, does for men!
Men think of themselves as mixed up with the race, or swampedin the
community, or absorbedin universal manhood. They have a very indistinct
idea of their separate obligations to God and their personalrelations to His
government. But the Gospel, like a telescope,brings man out to himself. It
makes him see himself as a separate existence andcompels him to meditate
upon his own sin, his own salvation, and his own personaldoom unless saved
by Divine Grace. In the broad road there are so many travelers that as one
takes a bird’s eye view of it, it appears to be filled with a vast mob of men
moving without order–but in the straight and narrow waywhich leads to
eternal life every traveler is distinct–he attracts your notice and he is a
marked man.
Having to go againstthe generalcurrent of the times, the Believeris an
individual upon whom observant eyes are fixed. He is a distinct individual,
both to himself and the rest of his kind. You will very readily see how the
religion of Jesus Christ brings out a man’s individuality in its very dawn. It
reveals to him his own personalsin and consequentdanger. You know nothing
about conversionif you merely believe in human depravity and human ruin
but have never felt that you are depraved, and that you yourself are ruined!
Over and above all the generalwoes ofthe race there will be one particular
woe of your own. If you have been convictedof sin by the Holy Spirit, you will
cry like that shrill-voiced Prophet of Jerusalemin the days of the siege, “Woe
unto myself also!”
You will feelas if the arrows of God were mainly aimed at you and as if the
curses of the Law would surely fall upon you if upon none else. Certainly,
beloved Hearer, you know nothing about salvation unless you have personally
lookedwith your owneye to Jesus Christ! There must be a personalreception

of the Lord Jesus into the arms of your faith and into the bosom of your love.
And, if you have not trusted in the Crucified while standing alone in
contemplation at the
Then, in consequence ofa separate personalfaith, the Believerenjoys a
personalpeace. He feels that if the earth were all at arms he would still find
rest in Christ, that rest being peculiarly his own, independently of his fellows.
He may talk of that peace to others, but he cannotcommunicate it. Others
cannot give it to him, nor can they take it from him. Wherever the Christian
religion is truly in the Son, it soonleads to a personalconsecrationto God.
The man comes to the altar of Christ and he cries, “Here I am! O most
glorious Lord, I feelit to be my reasonable serviceto give spirit, soul, and
body unto You. Let others do as they will. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord.”
The renewedman feels that the work of others does not exonerate him from
service, and the general lukewarmness ofthe Christian Church cannot be an
excuse for his ownindifference. He stands out againsterror, if need be, as a
lone protestor, like Athanasius, crying, “I, Athanasius, againstthe whole
world.” Or he works for God in the building up of Jerusalem, like Nehemiah,
being content to work alone if others will not assisthim. He has discovered
himself to have been personally lost, and to have been personally savedand
now his prayer is, “Lord, show me what You would have me do. Here am I,
send me.”
I believe that in proportion as our piety is definitely in the first person
singular, it will be strong and vigorous. I believe, moreover, that in proportion
as we fully realize our personalresponsibility to God shall we be likely to
discharge it. But, if we have not really understood it, we are very likely to
dream of work for God by proxy–to pay the priest or the minister to be useful
for us–andact as if we could shift our responsibility from our own shoulders
to the back of a societyor a Church. From its dawn up to its noonday glory
the personalityof true godliness is most observable. All the teaching of our
holy faith bears in this direction. We preachpersonal election, personal
calling, personalregeneration, personalperseverance, personalholiness and
we know nothing of any work of Divine Grace whichis not personalto the
professorof it.
There is no doctrine in Scripture which teaches that one man can be saved by
the godliness ofanother. I cannotdiscoveranything like salvation by
sponsorship, exceptin the one case ofthe sponsorship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I find no human being placed in the place of another so as to be able to
take another’s burden of sin or perform another’s duty. I do find that we are

to bear one another’s burdens in respectof sympathy, but not in the sense of
substitution. Every man must bear his own burden and give an accountfor
himself before God.
Moreover, the ordinances of the Christian religion teachus the same. When a
man is typically buried with Christ by the public actof Baptism, he cannotbe
dead for anotheror buried for another–norcan he rise againinstead of
another. There is the personalactof immersion to show forth our personal
death to the world, personalburial with Christ, and personalresurrection
with Him. So also, in the Supper of the Lord, the distinct act of eachman
eating and drinking for himself most manifestly sets forth that we stand as
individuals before the Lord our God in our connectionwith the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now I feel earnestlythat nothing should ever spoil the effectof this Truth of
God upon our minds. It is such a simple Truth that when I make the
statement, you, perhaps, wonder that I should repeat it so often. But simple as
it is, it is constantly being forgotten. How many Church members shelter
themselves behind the vigorous action of the entire community? The Church
is being increased. The Church opens schools. The Church builds new Houses
of Prayer–andso the Church member flatters himself that he is doing
something–whereas thatvery man may not have, either by his contributions,
his prayers, or his personalteachings done anything at all!
O idle Church member, I beseechyou shake yourselffrom the dust! Be not so
mean as to appropriate other men’s labors! Before your own Masteryou shall
stand or fall upon your own individual service or neglect, and if you bring
forth no fruit yourself, all the fruit upon the other boughs shall not help you.
“Every tree which brings not forth goodfruit is hewn down, and castinto the
fire.” “Everybranch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away.” Common
enough is it, also, for persons to shelterthemselves behind a society. A small
annual contribution has often been a cloak for gross indifference to holy
effort.
Somebody else is paid to be a missionary and to do your mission-work–is this
the Lord’s way? Is this the path of obedience? Doesnot our Lord say to me,
“As my Father has sentMe, even so I send you”? Now the Fatherdid not send
Christ that He might procure a proxy and be a nominal Redeemer. Jesusgave
Himself for us in Personalservice and sacrifice–evenso does Jesus sendus
forth to suffer and to serve. It is well to support the minister. It is well to pay
the city missionary that he may have his time to give to necessarywork. It is
well to assistthe Bible-womanthat she may go from house to house. But
remember, when all the societies have done all that is possible they cannot

exonerate you from your own peculiar calling–andhoweverlarge your
contributions to assistothers to serve the Master–theycannotdischarge on
your behalf one single particle of what was due from you personally to your
Lord.
Let me pray you, Brothers and Sisters, if you have ever shelteredbehind the
work of others, stand forth in your own proper characterand remember that
before God you must be estimatedby what you have felt, what you have
known, what you have learned, and what you have DONE!The worstform of
the mischief is when persons imagine that family piety and national religion
can ever be available in lieu of individual repentance and faith. Absurd as it
may seem, yet a very common thing it is for people to say, “Oh, yes, we are all
Christians–ofcourse, we are all Christians–everyEnglishman is a Christian.
We do not belong to the Brahmins or Mahometans–we are allChristians.”
What grosserlie can a man invent than that? Is a man a Christian because he
lives in England? Is a rat a horse because it lives in a stable? That is just as
goodreasoning!A man must be born again, or he is no child of God. A man
must have living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or else he is no Christian and
he does but mock the name of Christian when he takes it upon himself without
having part or lot in the matter. Others say, “My mother and my father
always professedsucha religion, therefore I am bound to do the same.”
Glorious reasoning, fit most surely for idiots!
Have you never heard of that old Paganmonarch who professedconversion
and was about to step into the baptismal font, when, turning round to the
bishop, he said, “Where did my father go when he died, before your religion
came here, and where did his father go, and all the kings that were before me
who worshipped Woden and Thor? Where did they go when they died? Tell
me at once!” The bishop shook his head and lookedvery sorrowful, and said
he was afraid they were gone to a very dark place. “Ah, then,” said he, “I will
not be separatedfrom them.” Back he went and remained an unwashed
heathen.
You suppose that this folly expired in the dark ages? Itsurvives and flourishes
in the present. We have known persons impressedunder the Gospelwho have,
nevertheless, clung to the false hopes of superstition or human merit and have
excusedthemselves by saying, “You see, I have always beenbrought up to it.”
Does a man think because his mother was poor, or his father a pauper, that he
himself must necessarilyremain a beggar? If my parent was blind, am I
bound to put out my owneyes to be like he? No, but if I have beheld the light
of the Truth of Jesus Christ, let me follow it and not be drawn aside by the
idea that hereditary superstition is any the less dangerous or erroneous

because a dozen generations have been deluded by it. You must appear before
God, my dear Friend, on your own feet, and neither mother nor father can
stand in your place. Therefore judge for yourself! Seek foryourself eternal
life! Lift up your eyes to Christ’s Cross for yourself, and let it be your own
earnestendeavorthat you yourself may be able to say, “He loved me, and
gave Himself for me.”
We are all born alone–wecome as sorrowfulpilgrims into this world to
traverse a path which only our own feet cantread. To a greatextent we go
through the world alone, for all our companions are but vessels sailing with us
side by side–vessels distinctand eachone bearing its own flag. Into the depth
of our hearts no man candive. There are cabinets in the chamber of the soul
which no man canopen but the individual himself. We must die alone. Friends
may surround the bed, but the departing spirit must take its flight by itself.
We shall hear no tramp of thousands as we descendinto the dark river. We
shall be solitary travelers into the unknown land. We expect to stand before
the Judgment Seatin the midst of a great assembly–butstill to be judged as if
no other man were there. If all that multitude is condemned, and we are in
Christ, we shall be saved. And if they should all be saved, and we are found
wanting, we shall be castaway.
In the balances we shall eachbe placedalone. There is a crucible for every
ingot of gold, a furnace for every bar of silver. In the Resurrectionevery seed
shall receive his own body. There shall be an individuality about the frame
that shall be raised in that day of wonders, an individuality most marked and
manifest. If I am condemned at the last, no man can be damned for my spirit.
No soul can enter the chambers of fire on my behalf to endure for me the
unutterable anguish. And, blessedhope, if I am saved, it will be I who shall see
the King in His beauty! My eyes shall behold Him and not another in my
place. The joys of Heaven shall not be proxy joys, but the personalenjoyments
of those who have had personalunion with Christ.
You all know this, and therefore, I pray you, let the weighty Truth abide with
you. No man in his sensesthinks that another can eatfor him, or drink for
him, or be clothed for him, or sleepfor him, or wake forhim. No man is
content, nowadays, with a secondperson’s owning money for him, or
possessing anestate for him. Men long to have riches themselves!They wish to
be personally happy, to be personallyhonored! They do not care that the good
things of this life shall be nominally theirs while other men graspthe reality.
They wish to have a real graspand grip of all temporal goods. O let us not
play the fool with eternal things, but let us desire to have a personalinterest in

Christ, and then let us aspire to give to Him, who deserves it so well, our
personalservice, rendering spirit, soul, and body unto His cause.
II. Secondly, our text very plainly TEACHES US THE INTERWEAVING OF
OUR OWN PROPERPERSONALITYWITH THAT OF JESUS CHRIST.
Readthe text over again. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ lives 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.” Here is
the man, but here is the Son of God quite as conspicuously, and the two
personalities are singularly interwoven.
I think I see two trees before me. They are distinct plants growing side by side,
but as I follow them downward I observe that the roots are so interlaced and
intertwisted that no one can trace the separate trees and allot the members of
eachto its proper whole. Such are Christ and the Believer. I think I see before
me a vine. Yonder is a branch, distinct and perfect as a branch. It is not to be
mistakenfor any other–itis a branch, a whole and perfect branch–yet how
perfectly is it joined to the stem and how completely is its individuality
merged in the one vine of which it is a member!
Now so is it with the believer in Christ. There was one parent man who threw
his shadow acrossour path and from whose influence we never could escape.
From all other men we might have struggledawayand claimed to be separate,
but this one man was part of ourselves and we part of him–Adam the first. In
his fallen state we are fallen with him, and are broken in pieces in his ruin.
And now, glory be to God, as the shadow of the first man has been uplifted
from us, there appears a secondMan, the Lord from Heaven! And across our
path there falls the light of His glory and His excellence from which also,
blessedbe God, we who have believed in Him cannot escape.In the light of
that Man, the secondAdam, the heavenly federalHead of all His people–in
His light we rejoice. Interwovenwith our history and personality is the history
and Personalityof the man Christ Jesus, and we are foreverone with Him.
Observe the points of contact. First Paul says, I am “crucified with Christ.”
What does he mean? He means a greatmany more things than I can tell you
this morning. But briefly, he means this–he believed in the representationof
Christ on the Cross–he held that when Jesus Christhung upon the tree He did
not hang there as a private Person, but as the Representative ofall His chosen
people. As the burgess in the House of Commons votes not for himself, alone,
but in the name of the township which has sent him to Parliament, so the Lord
Jesus Christ actedin what He did as a greatpublic representative Person.
And the dying of Jesus Christ upon the tree was the virtual dying of all His
people.

Then all His saints enteredunto justice what was due and made an expiation
to Divine vengeance forall their sins. “I am crucified with Christ.” The
Apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ’s chosen
people, he died upon the tree in Christ. He did more than believe this
doctrinally, however–he acceptedit confidently–resting his hope upon it. He
believed that by virtue of Jesus Christ’s death, he had himself paid the Law its
due, satisfiedDivine justice, and found reconciliationwith God! Beloved, what
a blessedthing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the Cross
of Christ and feel, “I am dead. The Law has killed me, cursed me, slain me,
and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the
curse, and in the Personof my Substitute all that the Law could do, by way of
condemnation, has been executedupon me, for I am crucified with Christ.”
Oh, how blessedit is when the Cross ofChrist is laid upon us! How it quickens
us! Justas the agedProphet went up and stretchedhimself upon the dead
child–put his mouth upon the child’s mouth, and his hands upon the child’s
hands, and his feet upon the child’s feet and then the child was quickened–so
when the Cross is laid upon my soul it puts life, power, warmth, and comfort
into me! Union with the suffering, bleeding Savior, and faith in the merit of
the Redeemerare soul-cheering things! O for more enjoyment of them!
Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death and
trusted in it, but he actually felt its powerin himself in causing the crucifixion
of his old corrupt nature. If you conceive of yourself as a man executed, you at
once perceive that being executedby the Law, the Law has no further claim
upon you. You resolve, moreover, that having once proven the curse of sin by
the sentence passedupon you, you will not fall into that same offense again
but henceforth, being miraculously delivered from the death into which the
Law brought you, you will live in newness oflife. You must feel so if you feel
rightly.
Thus did Paul view himself as a criminal upon whom the sentence ofthe Law
had been fulfilled. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, “I cannot enjoy
these. I am dead to them. I once had a life in which these were very sweetto
me, but I have been crucified with Christ. Consequently, as a dead man can
have no delight in the joys which once were delights to him, so neither canI.”
When Paul lookedupon the carnalthings of the world, he said, “I once
allowedthese things to reign over me. What shall I eat? What shall I drink?
And with what shall I be clothed? These were a trinity of questions of the
utmost importance–theyare of no importance now because I am dead to these
things–I castmy care upon God with regard to them. They are not my life. I
am crucified to them.”

If any passion, if any motive, if any design should come into our mind short of
the Cross ofChrist, we should exclaim, “Godforbid that I should glory in any
of these things! I am a dead man. Come, world, with all your witchery. Come,
pleasure, with all your charms. Come, wealth, with all your temptations.
Come, all you tempters that have seducedso many! What can you do with a
crucified man? How canyou tempt one who is dead to you?” Now it is a
blessedstate of mind when a man can feel that through having received
Christ, he is, to this world, as one who is utterly dead! Neither does he yield
his strength to its purposes, nor his soul to its customs, nor his judgment to its
maxims, nor his heart to its affections, forhe is a crucified man through Jesus
Christ! The world is crucified unto him, and he unto the world. This is what
the Apostle meant.
Notice next another point of contact. He says, “NeverthelessI live.” But then
he corrects himself, “yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” You have seenthe dead
side of a Believer:he is deaf, and dumb, and blind, and without feeling to the
sinful world, yet he adds, “NeverthelessIlive.” He explains what his life is–his
life is produced in him by virtue of Christ’s being in him and his being in
Christ. Jesus is the source of the Christian’s life! The sap in the vine lives even
in the smallestof the tendrils. No matter how minute may be the nerve, the
anatomist will tell you that the brain-life lives in its most distant extremity.
So in every Christian. Though the Christian may be insignificant and
possessedof little Divine Grace, yet still, if he is truly a Believer, Jesus lives in
him! The life which keeps his faith, his hope, his love in existence comes from
Jesus Christ, and from Him alone. We should cease to be living saints if we
did not daily receive Divine Grace from our Covenant Head. As the strength
of our life comes from the Sonof God, so is He the ruler and moving power
within us. How canhe be a Christian who is ruled by any but Christ? If you
call Christ, “Masterand Lord,” you must be His servant. Nor can you yield
obedience to any rival power, for no man can serve two masters. There must
be a master spirit in the heart–and unless Jesus Christ is such a MasterSpirit
to us we are not savedat all. The life of the Christian is a life which springs
from Christ, and it is controlled by His will.
Beloved, do you know anything about this? I am afraid it is dry talking to you
about it unless you feelit. Has your life been such during the pastweek? Has
the life which you have lived been Christ’s living in you? Have you been like a
book printed in plain letters in which men might read a new edition of the life
of Jesus Christ? A Christian ought to be a living photograph of the Lord
Jesus, a striking likeness ofhis Lord! When men look at him they should see
not only what the Christian is, but what the Christian’s Masteris for he

should be like his Master. Do you ever see and know that within your soul
Christ looks outof your eyes regarding poor sinners and considering how you
may help them? That Christ throbs in your heart, feeling for the perishing,
trembling for those who will not tremble for themselves?
Do you ever feel Christ opening your hands in liberal charity to help those
who cannot help themselves? Have you ever felt that a something more than
yourself was in you–a Spirit which sometimes struggles with yourself–and
holds it by the throat and threatens to destroy its sinful selfishness–anoble
Spirit which puts its foot upon the neck of covetousness? A brave Spirit that
dashes to the ground your pride? An active fervent Spirit that burns up your
sloth? Have you ever felt this? Truly, we that live unto God feelthe life of God
within and desire to be more and more subdued under the dominant Spirit of
Christ, that our manhood may be a palace for the Well-Beloved!
That is another point of contact. Further on, the Apostle says–andI hope you
will keepyour Bibles open to follow the text–“The life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Every moment the life of the
Christian is to be a life of faith. We make a mistake when we try to walk by
feeling or by sight. I dreamed the other night, while musing upon the life of
the Believer, that I was passing along a road which a Divine call had
appointed for me. The ordained pathway which I was calledto traverse was
thick darkness, unmingled with a ray of light. As I stoodin the awful gloom,
unable to perceive a single inch before me, I heard a voice which said, “Let
your feet go right on. Fearnot, but advance in the name of God.”
So on I went, putting down footafter foot with trembling. After a little while
the path through the darkness became easyand smooth from use and
experience. Justthen I perceived that the path turned. It was of no use my
endeavoring to proceedas I had done before. The way was tortuous and the
road was rough and stony–but I remembered what was said, that I was to
advance as I could–and so on I went. Then there came another twist, and yet
another, and another, and another, and I wondered why till I understood that
if ever the path remained long the same I should grow accustomedto it–and
so would walk by feeling. And I learned that the whole of the way would
constantly be such as to compel me to depend upon the guiding voice and
exercise faith in the unseenOne who had calledme!
All of a sudden it appearedto me as though there was nothing beneath my
foot when I put it down, yet I thrust it out into the darkness in confident
daring, and lo, a firm step was reached, and another and anotheras I walked
down a staircase whichdescendeddeep, down, down, down. Onward I passed,
not seeing aninch before me but believing that all was well although I could

hear around me the dash of falling men and women who had walkedby the
light of their own lanterns and missed their foothold. I heard the cries and
shrieks of men as they fell from this dreadful staircase. ButI was commanded
to go right on, and I went straight on, resolved to be obedient even if the way
should descendinto the nethermost Hell.
By-and-by the dreadful ladder was ended and I found a solid rock beneath my
feet. And I walkedstraight on upon a paved causewaywith a railing on either
hand. I understood this to be the experience which I had gained, which now
could guide and help me, and I leaned on this rail and walkedon right
confidently till, in a moment, my causewayendedand my feetsank in the
mire! And as for my other comforts, I groped for them but they were gone!
Still I was to know that I must go in dependence upon my unseen Friend, and
the road would always be such that no experience could serve me instead of
dependence upon God. ForwardI plunged through mire and filth and
suffocating smoke, and a smell as of death, for it was the way, and I had been
commanded to walk there.
Again the pathway changed, though all was midnight still–up went the path,
and up, and up, and up, with nothing upon which I could lean! I ascended
wearily innumerable stairs, not one of which I could see, although the very
thought of their height might make my brain reel. All of a sudden my pathway
burst into light as I woke from my reverie, and when I lookeddown upon it, I
saw it all to be safe, but such a road that if I had seenit, I never could have
trod it. It was only in the darkness that I could have performed my mysterious
journey. It was only in child-like confidence upon the Lord. The Lord will
guide us if we are willing to do just as He bids us. Lean upon Him, then.
I have painted a poor picture, but still one, which, if you can understand it, it
will be grand to look upon. To walk straight on–believing in Christ every
moment, believing your sins to be forgiven even when you see their vileness–
believing that you are safe in Christ even when you seemin the utmost
danger–believing that you are glorified when you feelas if you were castout
from God’s Presence–this is the life of faith.
Furthermore, Paul notes other points of unity. “Who loved me.” Blessedbe
God, before the mountains uplifted their snow-crownedheads to the clouds,
Christ had set His heart upon us! His “delights were with the sons of men.” In
His “book allour members were written, which in continuance were
fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Believer, get a hold of the
precious Truth that Christ loved you eternally–the all-glorious Son of God
chose you and espousedyou unto Himself that you might be His bride
throughout eternity! Here is a blessedTruth, indeed!

Observe the next, “and gave Himself for me.” Not only gave all that He had,
but gave Himself! Notmerely laid aside His glory and His splendor, and His
life, but yielded up His very Self. O heir of Heaven, Jesus is yours at this
moment! Having given Himself once for you upon the tree to put your sin
away, at this moment He gives Himself to you to be your life, your crown,
your joy, your portion, your All in All!
You have found out yourself to be a separate personalityand individuality,
but that personality is linked with the PersonofChrist Jesus, so that you are
in Christ, and Christ is in you! By a blessedindissoluble union you are knit
togetherforever and ever!
III. Lastly, the text describes THE LIFE WHICH RESULTS FROM THIS
BLENDED PERSONALITY. If you will have patience with me, I will be as
brief as I can while I go over the text again, word by word. Brethren, when a
man finds and knows himself to be linked with Christ, his life is altogethera
new life. I gather that from the expression, “I am crucified, nevertheless I
live.” Crucified, then dead. Crucified, then the old life is put away–whatever
life a crucified man has must be new life.
So is it with you. Upon your old life, Believer, sentence ofdeath has been
pronounced. The carnalmind, which is enmity againstGod, is doomed to die.
You can say, “I die daily.” Would to God the old nature were completely
dead! But whateveryou have of life was not given you till you came into union
with Christ. It is a new thing, as new as though you had been actually dead
and rotted in the tomb and then had startedup at the sound of the trumpet to
live again. You have receiveda life from above, a life which the Holy Spirit
workedin you in regeneration. Thatwhich is born of the flesh is flesh, but
your Grace-life did not come from yourself–youhave been born again from
above.
Your life is a very strange one–“Iam crucified, nevertheless I live.” What a
contradiction! The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can
comprehend it! Even the Believerhimself cannot understand it. He knows it,
but as to solving all its enigmas he feels that to be an impossible task. Dead,
yet alive! Crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in
newness oflife! Do not expect the world to understand you, Christian. It did
not understand your Master. Whenyour actions are misrepresentedand your
motives are ridiculed, do not be surprised. “If you were of the world, the
world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have
chosenyou out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

If you belongedto the village the dogs would not bark at you. If men could
read you they would not wonder. It is because you are written in a celestial
language that men cannot comprehend you and think you worthless. Your life
is new. Your life is strange. This wonderful life, resulting in the blended
personality of the Believerand the Son of God, is a true life. This is expressed
in the text, “NeverthelessI live”–yes, live as I never lived before! When the
Apostle declares himself to be dead to the world he would not have us imagine
that he was dead in the highest and best sense. No, he lived with a new force
and vigor of life. It seemedto me, Brothers and Sisters, whenI woke up to
know Christ, that I was just like the fly newly burst from the chrysalis–Ithen
beganreally to live.
When a soul is startled by the thunderclaps of conviction and afterwards
receives pardon in Christ, it begins to live! The worldling says he wants to see
life and therefore plunges into sin! Foolthat he is, he peers into the sepulcher
to discoverimmortality! The man who truly lives is the Believer. Shall I
become less active because I am a Christian? God forbid! Become less
industrious? Find less opportunities for the manifestationof my natural and
spiritual energies? Godforbid! If ever a man should be as a sword too sharp
for the scabbardwith an edge which cannot be turned it should be the
Christian! He should be like flames of fire burning his way! Live while you
live but there is no driveling and frittering away of time. Live so as to
demonstrate that you possessthe noblest form of life!
Clearis it, also, that the new life which Christ brings to us is a life of self-
abnegation, for Paul adds, “I live, yet not I.” Lowliness of mind is part and
parcelof godliness. He who can take any credit to himself knows not the spirit
of our holy faith. The Believer, when he prays best, says, “Yet not I, but the
Spirit of Godinterceded in me.” If he has won any souls to Christ, he says,
“Yet not I. It was the Gospel–the Lord Jesus workedin me mightily.” “Not
unto us, not unto us, but unto Your name be all the praise.” Self-humiliation is
the native spirit of the true-born child of God.
Further, the life which Christ works in us is a life of one idea. Is the Believer’s
soul ruled by two things? No, he knows but one. Christ lives in me! Two
tenants in the chamber of my soul? No, one Lord and MasterI serve. “Christ
lives in me.” An old Divine desired that he might eatand drink and sleep
eternal life. Do you thus live! Alas, I mourn that I live too much in the old life,
and too little does Jesus live in me. But the Christian, if he should ever come
to perfection, and God grant we eachmay come as near to it as possible even
now, will find that the old, “I live,” is kept under, and the new Christ-life
reigns supreme.

Christ must be the one thought, the one idea, the one master-thought in the
Believer’s soul! When he wakes in the morning the healthy Believerenquires,
“What canI do for Christ?” When he goes abouthis business he asks, “How
shall I serve my Lord in all my actions?” Whenhe makes money he questions
himself, “How canI use my talents for Christ?” If he acquires education, the
enquiry is, “How can I spend my knowledge forChrist?” To sum up much in
little, the child of Godhas within him the Christ-life. But how shall I describe
that? Christ’s life on earth was the Divine mingled with the human–such is the
life of the Christian. There is something Divine about it–it is a living,
incorruptible seedwhich abides forever.
We are made partakers of the Divine nature, having escapedthe corruption
which is in the world through lust, yet our life is a thoroughly human life. The
Christian is a man among men. In all that is manly he labors to excel, yet he is
not as other men are but wears a hidden nature which no mere worldling
understands. Picture the life of Christ on earth, Beloved, and that is what the
life of God in us ought to be–and will be in proportion as we are subject to the
powerof the Holy Spirit.
Notice again, keeping close to the text, that the life which God works in us is
still the life of a man. “The life that I now live in the flesh,” says the Apostle.
Those monks and nuns who run awayfrom the world for fear its temptations
should overcome them, and seclude themselves for the sake ofgreater
holiness, are as excellentsoldiers as those who retire to the camp for fearof
being defeated! Of what service are such soldiers in the battle, or such persons
in the warfare of life? Christ did not come to make monks of us! He came to
make men of us! He meant that we should learn how to live in the flesh. We
are neither to give up business nor society, nor in any right sense to give up
life.
“The life I live in the flesh,” says the Apostle. Look at him busy at his tent-
making. What? An Apostle making tents? What do you say, Brothers and
Sisters, to the Archbishop of Canterbury stitching awayfor his living? It is too
low for a State bishop, certainly! But not too low for Paul. I do not think the
Apostle was evermore apostolic than when he picked up sticks. When Paul
and his companions were shipwreckedat Melita, the Apostle was of more
service than all the Pan-Anglicansynod with their silk aprons, for he set to
work like other people to gatherfuel for the fire. He wanted to warm himself
as other men, and therefore he took his share at the toil.
Even so you and I must take our turn at the wheel. We must not think of
keeping ourselves alooffrom our fellow men as though we should be degraded
by mingling with them. The salt of the earth should be well rubbed into the

meat, and so the Christian should mingle with his fellow men, seeking their
goodfor edification. We are men, and whatevermen may lawfully do, we do.
Wherever they may go, we may go. Our religionmakes us neither more nor
less than human, though it brings us into the family of God.
Yet the Christian life is a life of faith. “The life which I live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God.” Faith is not a piece of confectioneryto be put
upon drawing room tables, or a garment to be worn on Sundays. It is a
working principle to be used in the barn and in the field, in the shop and on
the exchange. It is a Grace for the housewife and the servant. It is for the
House of Commons and for the poorestworkshop. “The life which I live in the
flesh, I live by faith.” I would have the believing cobbler mend shoes
religiously, and the tailor make garments by faith! And I would have every
Christian buy and sell by faith. Whateveryour trades may be, faith is to be
takeninto your daily callings, and that is, alone, the truly living faith which
will bear the practicaltest. You are not to stop at the shop door and take off
your coatand say, “Farewellto Christianity till I put up the shutters again.”
That is hypocrisy! The genuine life of the Christian is the life which we live in
the flesh by the faith of the Son of God.
To conclude. The life which comes out of the blended personality of the
Believerand Christ is a life of perfect love. “He gave Himself for me.” My
question is, therefore, What can I do for Him? The new life is a life of holy
security, for, if Christ loved me, who candestroy me? It is a life of holy
wealth, for, if Christ gave His infinite Self to me, what canI need? It is a life of
holy joy, for, if Christ is mine, I have a well of holy joy within my soul! It is
the life of Heaven, for, if I have Christ, I have that which is the essenceand
soul of Heaven!
I have talkedmysteries of which some of you have not understood so much as
a sentence. Godgive you understanding that you may know the Truth. But if
you have not understood it, let this fact convince you–you know not the Truth
because you have not the Spirit of God–for the spiritual mind alone
understands spiritual things. When we talk about the inner life, we seemlike
those that dote and dream to those who understand us not. But if you have
understood me, Believer, go home and live out the Truth of God! Practice that
which is practicable. Feedupon that which is full of savor. Rejoice inChrist
Jesus that you are one with Him, and then, in your own proper person, go out
and serve your Masterwith might and main, and the Lord send you His
abundant blessing. Amen and Amen.

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Crucified With Christ
Galatians 2:20
W.F. Adeney
St. Paul's Christianity was identification of the Christian with Christ. It was
not merely believing a scheme ofdoctrine, nor following a certain course of
devotion, nor accepting anoffered grace. It was absolute union with Christ in
spiritual experience. Nothing is more characteristic ofthe apostle than the
way in which, in almost every Epistle, he describes the Christian life as going
step by step with the life of Christ from the earthly humiliation and death to
the heavenly triumph. Here the most essentialelements of that experience are
pointed out, and the secretof them declared.
I. THE ESSENTIALCHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.
1. Crucifixion with Christ. This is no figure of speech, meaning only that,
inasmuch as Christ died for us, we may be said to have been crucified
representativelyin him. The passionate earnestnessofSt. Paul in describing
his ownspiritual renewalgoes farbeyond any such shallow conception. He is
plainly describing what he really endured.
(1) This is death. The old life is killed out. The passions, lusts, habits, and
associationsofthe life in sin, self, and worldliness are mortified. Christianity
is not simply educational. It is first of all militant - purging, scourging, killing.
(2) This is crucifixion - a painful, violent death; for it is no light matter to
destroy the life in sin, so full of pleasant attractions, and so deeply rootedin
our inmost nature - and a judicial execution, wrought on us by the vindictive
powers of our own treacherous passions whenonce we turn from them to faith
in Christ.
(3) This is a crucifixion with Christ. Our union with Christ necessitatesthis
death of the old life and brings it about. The new wine bursts the old bottles.
Conscienceand Law fail to destroy the old life, though they reveal its hideous
deformity. But when we come to Calvary and reachout to the dying Christ,
entering into his experience by faith and vivid sympathy, the old selfreceives
its mortal wounds. Then we can live the former life no longer.

2. Christ living in us. St. Paul feels that he has so given himself up to Christ
that the ruling powerin him is no longerself but Christ. This is true
Christianity.
(1) It is life. We die that we may live. We begin with mortifying the old life,
but we do not continue to exist in a barren asceticism. New energiesspring up
from the grave of the old life.
(2) This life is Christ's. It derives its powerfrom Christ, it is swayedby the
will of Christ, it seeks the ends of Christ, it breathes the spirit of Christ, it is
lived in personalcommunion with Christ. Selfishaims and self-devised
resources are gone, andin their place the grace of Christ is the inspiration,
and the mind and will of Christ are the controlling influences of the new life.
This is not a future possibility, but a present attainment. The life is now lived
in the flesh.
II. THE SECRET OfTHIS EXPERIENCE.
1. It is realized through faith. St. Paul lives "in faith." The powerof Christ to
destroy the old life and live himself in us depends on our faith in him, and is
exercisedjust in proportion as we yield ourselves to him in trustful reliance
and loyal obedience. No fate will make it ours, no mechanicalinfluence will
secure it. Intelligently, voluntarily, we must exercise faith in him to be joined
to him in crucifixion and new life. Faith is always the greatestbond of union.
2. It is determined by the love and sacrifice of Christ. Here is the motive for
our faith. The love of Christ constrains us. The gift of himself for us reveals
and confirms his love and brings it home to our hearts. The explanation of the
revolution in St. Paul's life, of the death of the persecutor, and the creationof
the apostle, is his coming under the influence of these truths. To enjoy the
same experience we must
(1) fix our thoughts on the same great, wonderful love and sacrifice ofChrist;
and
(2) appropriate them personallyto ourselves. "He loved me," etc. - W.F.A.

Biblical Illustrator
I am crucified with Christ.
Galatians 2:20, 21
The believer's riddle
Anon.
This verse enunciates three striking paradoxes which are realizedin the
experience of every Christian.
I. THE JUDICIAL PARADOX, or the mystery of the believer's legal
standing. The believer, be it remembered, is a dead man to begin with, i.e.,
before he becomes a believer. In his natural condition he is an unpardoned
transgressor, and therefore in the law's eye as goodas dead. He is already
taken, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced, shut up to the just judgment of
wrath, and only waiting the hour of death to meet its execution. But now in
Christ, who before the law actedas his representative, and for his sake
became obedient unto death, he is executed too. So far as the claims of justice
are concerned, he is crucified with Christ, i.e., Christ's crucifixion stands for
his, and he personally is free. He has died, and yet he lives!
II. THE SPIRITUAL PARADOX, or the mystery of the believer's inner life.
The moment a man becomes a believer, he at the same time becomes the
subject of an inward change, by which his old corrupt nature of sin is
destroyed, and a new principle of holy life is implanted. Christ lives in him.
III. THE PRACTICAL PARADOX, or the mystery of the believer's outer
walk. While living in the body and in the world the believer is not under the
dominion of either, but regulates his conduct and conversationby principles
superior to both — by faith in the Son of God. Christ's law is his rule of life;
Christ's person the object of his love. CONCLUSION:
1. The text examines us about our standing in the eye of the law. Are we
crucified with Christ or not?
2. The characterof our inner life. Are we spiritual men, or sensuous?
3. Our walk and conversation. Are we walking by faith, or by sight?

(Anon.)
Christus et ego
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. THE PERSONALITYOF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. This verse
swarms with I and me. Christianity brings out a man's individuality, not
making him selfish, but making him realize his own separate existence,and
compelling him to meditate on his own sin, his own salvation, his own personal
doom unless savedby grace.
1. In proportion as our piety is definitely in the first person singular, it will be
strong and vigorous.
2. In proportion as we fully realize our personalresponsibility to God shall we
be likely to discharge it. —
II. THE INTER-WEAVING OF OUR OWN PROPERPERSONALITY
WITH THAT OF JESUS CHRIST. I think I see two trees before me. They are
distinct plants growing side by side, but as I follow them downward, I observe
that the roots are so interlaced and intertwisted that no one cantrace the
separate trees and allot the members of eachto its proper whole. Such are
Christ and the believer.
1. Deadto the world with Christ.
2. Alive to God in Christ.
3. The link betweenChrist and the believer — faith.
4. A union of love.
5. A union by sacrifice.
III. THE LIFE WHICH RESULTS FROM THIS BLENDED
PERSONALITY.
1. A new life.
2. A very strange life.
3. A true life.
4. A life of self-abnegation.
5. A life of one idea.
6. The life of a man.
7. The life of heaven.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Practicalfaith
C. H. Spurgeon.
Faith is not a piece of confectioneryto be put upon drawing-room tables, or a
garment to be worn on Sundays; it is a working principle, to be used in the
barn and in the field, in the shop and on the exchange;it is a grace forthe
housewife and the servant; it is for the House of Commons and for the poorest
workshop. I would have the believing cobbler mend shoes religiously, and the
tailor make garments by faith, and I would have every Christian buy and sell
by faith. Whatever your trade may be, faith is to be taken into your daily
calling, and that is alone the true living faith which will bear the practicaltest.
You are not to stop at the shop door and take off your coatand say, "Farewell
to Christianity till I put up the shutters again." That is hypocrisy; but the
genuine life of the Christian is the life which we live in the flesh by faith of the
Son of God.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Christian's life of faith
C. H. Spurgeon.
Every moment the life of the Christian is to be a life of faith. We make a
mistake when we try to walk by feeling or by sight. I dreamed the other night,
while musing upon the life of the believer, that I was passing along a road
which a Divine call had appointed for me. The ordained pathway which I was
calledto traverse was amid thick darkness, unmingled with a ray of light. As I
stoodin the awful gloom, unable to perceive a single inch before me, I heard a
voice which said, "Let thy feetgo right on. Fearnot, but advance in the name
of God." So on I went, putting down footafter foot with trembling. After a
little while the path through the darkness became easyand smooth, from use
and experience;just then I perceived that the path turned: it was of no use my
endeavouring to proceedas I had done before; the way was tortuous, and the
road was rough and stony; but I remembered what was said, that I was to
advance as I could, and so on I went. Then there came another twist, and yet
another, and another, and another, and I wondered why, till I understood that
if ever the path remained long the same, I should grow accustomedto it, and
so should walk by feeling; and I learned that the whole of the way would
constantly be such as to compel me to depend upon the guiding voice, and

exercise faith in the Unseen One who had calledme. On a sudden it appeared
to me as though there was nothing beneath my foot when I put it down, yet I
thrust it out into the darkness in confident daring, and lo, a firm stop was
reached, and another, and another, as I walkeddown a staircasewhich
descendeddeep, down, down, down. Onward I passed, not seeing an inch
before me, but believing that all was well, although I could heararound me
the dash of falling men and women who had walkedby the light of their own
lanterns, and missed their foothold. I heard the cries and shrieks of men as
they fell from this dreadful staircase;but I was commanded to go right on,
and I went straight on, resolvedto be obedient evenif the way should descend
into the nethermost hell. By and by the dreadful ladder was ended, and I
found a solid rock beneath my feet, and I walkedstraight on upon a paved
causeway, with a balustrade on either hand. I understood this to be the
experience which I had gained, which now could guide and help me, and I
leaned on this balustrade, and walkedon right confidently till, in a moment,
my causewayendedand my feetsank in the mire, and as for my other
comforts I groped for them, but they were gone, for still I was to know that I
must go in dependence upon my unseen Friend, and the road would always be
such that no experience could serve me instead of dependence upon God.
ForwardI plunged through mire and filth and suffocating smoke, anda smell
as of death-damp, for it was the way, and I had been commanded to walk
therein. Again the pathway changed, though all was midnight still: up went
the path, and up, and up, and up, with nothing upon which I could lean; I
ascendedwearilyinnumerable stairs, not one of which I could see, although
the very thought of their height might make the brain to reel. On a sudden my
pathway burst into light, as I woke from my reverie, and when I lookeddown
upon it, I saw it all to be safe, but such a road that, if I had seenit, I never
could have trodden it. My journey could only be accomplishedin childlike
confidence upon the Lord.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The life of faith
Emilius Bayley, B. D.
I. DEATH TO THE LAW IS THE CONDITION OF LIFE UNTO GOD.
1. The part which the law performs in bringing about this death. By its own
teaching the law proclaims its impotence, forbids our reliance on it, and
prepares the way for Christ who delivers from its bondage.

2. The connectionbetweendeath to the law and life unto God. Emancipation.
Abject slaveryexchangedfor filial freedom.
II. LIFE UNTO GOD IS A LIFE OF FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD. It
introduces the believer to(1) a new power — even the power of a Divine
life;(2) a new motive — love. The believer works no longer up to the point of
acceptancewith God, but from that of sin forgiven and acceptance secured.
(Emilius Bayley, B. D.)
Freedomfrom the law through death
John Eadie, D. D.
"I am crucified with Christ" — wondrous words!I am so identified with Him
that His death is my death. When He was crucified, I was crucified with Him.
I am so much one with Him under law and in suffering and death, that when
He died to the law I died to the law. Through this union with Him I satisfied
the law, yielded to it the obedience whichit claimed, suffered its curse, died to
it, and am therefore now releasedfrom it — from its accusationsand its
penalty, and from its claims on me to obey it as the means of winning eternal
life. By means of law He died; it took Him and wrought its will on Him. As our
Representative in whom we were chosenand in whom we suffered, He yielded
Himself to the law, which seized Him and nailed Him to the cross. Whenthat
law seizedHim, it seizedat the same time all His in Him, and through the law
they suffered and died to it. Thus it is that by the law taking actionupon them
as sinners they died to the law.
(John Eadie, D. D.)
Christ the source of sanctity
T. T. Carter, M. A.
What principle cantend to cherish tenderness, lowliness, modesty,
recollectedness, dignity, quietness in speechand manner, devotion and the
winning grace ofa pervading charity, so effectuallyas the abiding
consciousnessofour Lord dwelling and walking in one's self as a tabernacle of
His own gracious election, and in others as in oneselfaccording to the same
promise? What canso sustainthe soul above natural desires, in a higher
sphere of life, in an ever-upward advance towards the glory of the heavenly
Court, as the instinctive sense, rootedand grounded in the soul's life, that
there is a wedded union betweenthe soul and the Lord who bought it with His

own blood, and now Himself within it claims it for His own? What gives so
keena remorse at the hatefulness and horror of sin, as a convictionof its
desecrating the organs, the limbs, the faculties which God inhabits and uses as
the chosenvesselofHis own sanctity? It is not what he himself is that forms
the joy of the saint, nor the failing to be what God had willed him to be, that
constitutes the remorse of the true penitent; but it is to the one the
consciousnessthatGod is in him, and he in God; and to the other the loss of a
Presence inWhom alone is peace, and out of Whom is utter darkness. To
realize what we are, or what we fail to be, we must appreciate whatHis
abiding in us causes us to be. We can never truly look at ourselves separate
from Him. Our poweris His powerin us. Our efforts are the putting forth of
His strength. Our sin is, that after He had come to us, we resistedHim.
(T. T. Carter, M. A.)
Christ in man
Edward Irving, M. A.
Christ liveth in the flesh still, in the body of every believer; not merely Jesus
the humbled man, but Jesus the Christ of God; Jesus, who by the resurrection
was declaredto be the son of God with power, and proclaimed to angels and
men as both Lord and Christ! Who liveth in me? Yourself! Nay, I am dead; I
am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I — Not thee! Ah, who
then? "Christ liveth in me." Yes, the mighty God liveth in thee, believer. Not
thyself; not thy poor, weak, helpless self;but Christ by His power, the power
of His Spirit liveth in thee. Ah, why then dost thou talk about impossibilities?
Why say, "I cannotdo this; I cannotdo that; I cannotattain to this or to that;
I cannot overcome this or that enemy"? Thou speakestfoolishly, if thou
speakestthus: and if thou now persistestin saying so, thou wilt speak falsely,
aye, and blasphemously too: for not thou, but Christ liveth in thee. And who is
mighty as He? Is Satantoo many for Him who trampled on the powerof all
His enemies, who triumphed over them openly, and who led captivity captive?
Ah, and is the flesh too powerful for Him? Who is the man who says, "I must
sin — I must sin; while I continue in the flesh I must continue to sin"? And is
sin too great, too powerful for Jesus, for Him who, when in the flesh, a Man of
sorrows, encompassedwith infirmities, besetby perils, a weak man, overcame
it, and remained holy, harmless, undefiled? Did He, when thus weak through
the flesh, put sin far awayfrom before His face? And shall He not, now that
He sits on the right hand of the Majestyon high, prevail againstall your sins?
O speak not so lightly of Him and of His power!

(Edward Irving, M. A.)
The sinner's Substitute
Canon Liddon.
The Eternal Being gave Himself for the creature which His hands had made.
He gave Himself to poverty, to toil, to humiliation, to agony, to the Cross. He
gave Himself "for me," for my benefit; but also "for me," in my place. This
substitution of Christ for the guilty sinner is the ground of the satisfaction
which Christ has made upon the cross forhuman sin. But on what principle
did the Sinless One thus take the place of the guilty? Was it, so to speak, an
arbitrary arrangement, for which no other accountcan be given than the
manifested will of the Father? No; the substitution of the suffering Christ for
the perishing sinner arose directly out of the terms of the Incarnation. The
human nature which our Lord assumedwas none other than the very nature
of the sinner, only without its sin. The Son of God took on Him human nature,
not a human personality. He becomes the Redeemerof our severalpersons,
because He is alreadythe Redeemerof this our common nature, which He has
made for ever His own (1 Corinthians 15:20). As human nature was present in
Adam, when by his representative sin he ruined his posterity, So was human
nature presentin Christ our Lord, when by His voluntary offering of His
Sinless Self, He "bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Christ is thus the
secondHead of our race. Our nature is His own. He carriedit with Him
through life to death. He made it do and bear that which was utterly beyond
its native strength. His Eternal Persongave infinite merit to its acts and its
sufferings. In Him it died, rose, ascended, andwas perfectly well-pleasing to
the All-Holy. Thus by no forced or artificial transaction, but in virtue of His
existing representative relation to the human family, He gave Himself to be a
ransom for all.
(Canon Liddon.)
Christ's universal love
Canon Liddon.
"He loved me and gave Himself for me." Eachsinner, eachsaint around His
cross might have used these words of the apostle. ForHis blessedmother and
St. John; for the Roman judge and for the Roman soldiers;for the chief priest
and for the Pharisee;for the vilest and hardest of His executioners, and for
the thieves who hung dying beside Him, our Lord gave Himself to death. For

all who have been first and greatest, forall who have been leastand last in
human history, for all whom we have loved or seen, for our separate souls, He
gave Himself. True, His creatures indeed are still free to acceptand
appropriate or to refuse His gift. But no lost soul shall murmur hereafterthat
the tender loving-kindness of Godhas not willed to save it. No saint in glory
shall pretend that aught in him has been acceptedand crownedsave the
infinite merit, the priceless gifts of his Redeemer. The dying love of Jesus
embraces the race, and yet it concentratesitselfwith direct — as it seems to us
— with exclusive intensity upon eachseparate soul. He dies for all, and yet he
dies for each; as if eachsoul were the solitary object of His incarnation and of
His death.
(Canon Liddon.)
How Christian life is sustained
J. W. Boulding.
A Christian life is the living Christ manifesting Himself. It is the vital power
putting forth leaves and fruits — the vine sending out its strength into the
branches. It cannot be too deeply impressed upon us that Christianity is a
profound connectionof the soul with Christ — that it is not the imitation of a
splendid model, but the indwelling of a living Person — that the Christ form is
only the outward development of the Christ nature, the life manifesting itself
after its kind. You all know that the various forms of vegetable creationare
sustainedand perfected by a secret, silent, but resistless powerwhichwe call
life. It is this that lifts the oak in the forestam! spreads its mighty branches to
the storm; and this that carpets the earth with verdure and decks the fields
with teeming flowers. In the greatand in the small, in the tree and in the herb,
in the pine of the mountain and the grassesofthe field, this secretbut
resistless principle asserts its power. Now, thus is it with us as Christian men;
our Christianity is a principle of life; we are not imitations, we are alive; we
are not artificial flowers, we are flowers growing in the garden, branches
growing in the vine.
(J. W. Boulding.)
Derived life
Chas. Stanford, D. D.
Christ is our life. How His life is made to be, at the same time, our own, is a
mystery of grace, ofwhich you have seentypes in the garden, where just now

so many millions of God's thoughts are springing and growing into beautiful
expression. You once grafted something on to a fruit tree. The process, though
delicate, was mostsimple. You only had to be carefulthat there should be
clean, clear, close contactbetweenthe graft and the tree. The smallestshred
or filament of wrapping round the graft would have prevented the life of the
tree from flowing into it. The weak, bleeding graft was fastenedon to the
strong stem just as it was, then in due time it struck, then gradually the tiny
slip grew into the flourishing bough, and lately, as you stoodlooking at that
miracle of tender formation and soft bright flush, you almostfancied it was
conscious.It seemedto say, "I live; nevertheless notI, but the tree liveth in
me; and the life I now live in the foliage, I live by faith in the shaft of the tree.
I trust to the tree only; every moment I am clinging to it, and without it I can
do nothing."
(Chas. Stanford, D. D.)
How Christ is appropriated by the individual soul
H. W. Beecher.
My conceptionof Christ is that He is mine: not mine in any sense which
appropriates Him to me alone;but mine as really and truly as though I were
the only human being in the universe. My father was absolutelymine,
although my next younger brother could saythe same thing, and though every
brother and sistercould say the same thing. I had the whole of him, and each
of my brothers and sisters had the whole of him. And I have the whole of my
God. The God of all the heaven, and the God of the whole earth, and of time,
and of physical law and its sequence, and of all invisible laws and their
sequences — He is my God.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Man's double life
James Vaughan, M. A.
We all live in the midst of two worlds — a material world and a spiritual
world. The material world is visible to all. We see it, and deal with it, every
moment. The spiritual world is visible only to those whose eyes have been
supernaturally opened to see it. But the one is as realand as great a factas the
other. They both are close to us. And every. man is a centre round which they
both are circulating.

1. The material world is the world of our senses.The spiritual world is the
world of our faith. We come into the first at our natural birth; we enter the
secondat our regeneration. When we have entered it, it is far grander than
the other.
2. The material world is beautiful and pleasant, but it has its dark shadows. It
is not what it was once made to be. It brings its sorrows, disappointments, and
regrets. It is always passing away. And soon, very soon, it will be but as the
shadow of a dream! The spiritual world remains unfallen. It is hidden. But all
the elements of our immortality are there, and it can never pass away.
3. In the material world are our friendships, ambitions, businesses,
professions, earthlywork, bodily pleasures. In the spiritual world are the
ministrations of angels;the operations of the Holy Ghost, the presence of
Christ; the sweetsense ofpardon; the peace and love and service of God; an
eternity begun; heavenalways in sight; thoughts that satisfy; occupations that
will never tire; joys that cannotfade. To the man who lives in the spiritual
world, the material world is becoming small. He uses it, and enjoys it; but it is
not his life. It is his servant, whom he employs; not his master, whom he
obeys. And of that greatspiritual and eternal world, which is about us
everywhere, and in the midst of which, consciouslyorunconsciously, we are
all walking every step, the circumference is glory — the keywhich opens it is
faith — and its centre, from which all radiates and to which all converges, is
the Sonof God, His personand His work.
(James Vaughan, M. A.)
Life in Christ
Life — the higher and truer life of a man — resolves itselfinto one thing, viz.,
trust in Jesus. Expand that trust, and you will find it life — life indeed — life
for ever. Considerthis life. The question was, How cana sinner live at all, and
not die? seeing God has said, "The soul that sinneth it shall die;" and every
one of us has sinned? Can God falsify His own word?
1. When Jesus died we died. We died in Him. So we have died, and our death
is passed. We can live, and God be true.
2. But what makes life? Union with life. Christ is life. We are united to Christ,
as a member is united to the head. And as the member lives because the head
lives, we live by and in the life of Jesus Christ. That is life.

3. Now life thus possible, and thus made — what is it? Life is to live in every
part of our being — body, intellect, heart, soul. Now what can engage the
whole man but religion? And what is religion? The indwelling of Christ and
the service ofGod.
4. Then of that life what is the motive power? Love. The love of God. Who can
really love God but those who are forgiven, and who therefore can feel, "God
is my Father"? And who cansay that out of Jesus Christ?
5. And of that life what is the root? The Exemplar, the greatExemplar — the
pattern of Christ.
6. What is its aim and focus? To please and glorify Him to whom it owes itself.
7. What is its consummation and rest? The presence, and the image, and the
enjoyment, and the perfectservice of God throughout eternity.
The secretofthe spiritual life
The secretofthis life, which alone is life, is faith. And what is faith? Trust.
And what is trust? Taking Godsimply at His word. Now, let us see whatGod
has said concerning this life. God has said — He has repeatedit under many
forms and by many images — "Believe and live." "Whosoeverbelievethin
Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Now you must take that
without any deduction, or any qualification, or any condition whatsoever. It is
for all sinners — for sinners of every dye — without one single exception!The
promise is to every one who will acceptit. Accept what? Accept that the Son
of God (and no other but the Son of God could do it, for no other would be an
equivalent) the Son of God has, by His death, paid all the penalty and
cancelledall your debt to God; and so the mandate has gone forth from the
throne, "Live!" "Deliverhim from going down to the pit; I have found a
ransom." That done, your life from that moment — if you have faith enough
— may be a life without any fear. Your sins forgiven are sins buried. And
buried sins have no resurrection. They shall "neverbe mentioned." They are
"remembered no more."
Self-crucifixion the source oflife
E. L. Hull, B. A.

I. THAT SELF-CRUCIFIXION IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE. This is the
reason;there is an old life which must utterly perish, that by its death and out
of its death the new life may arise.
1. The death of the old life. The life that must be crucified before the Divine
life canrise is the self-life in all its forms. Why must man's self-life die? It is
the very ground and root of all sin. The assertionofthe "I" of the self is the
perpetual tendency of the flesh. "I live" is the watch-wordof carnalism—
there is no sin which is not an assertionofself as the principle of life. Man not
always consciousofthis, blinded to it. Thus the sensualistmay be conscious
only of the wild cravings of desire, but by yielding to them he is asserting his
passion, his pleasure, to be greaterthan the law of God. The old self-life must
die. Before the Cross, faith and love are self-crucifixion. Faith renounces self
and destroys the old life. Love goes out of self to Christ.
2. The awakening of the new life. "NeverthelessI live." This is more than
being constrainedby any new emotional motive of love; literally Christ was in
St. Paul by His Holy Spirit. This is best understood by experience. You know
that when you by faith died with Him to the flesh you felt the impulse of a life
not yours possessing you, and inbreathing a Divine energy and a heavenly
love. Christ living in you will consecrate all.
II. NATURE OF THE LIFE THAT SPRINGS FROM IT.
1. Purity. The inspiration of the indwelling Christ will free from sensualand
low temptation; it means perfect devotion to God.
2. Peace. Christin us calms the troubled spirit; becomes the fulness of
emotion.
3. Power. If the self-life is crucified with Christ, and Christ is dwelling in us,
we have His power to overcome sin. The Cross-life is power, kingship over
self.
(E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The presence ofChrist in the soul
E. L. Hull, B. A.
Some men have called this doctrine of the real presence ofChrist in the soul
mystical and untrue. I only know that if it be so, the Bible is mystical and
untrue, for the Saviour and His apostles assertit againand againin words
which cannot be explained away. They speak little of motives or influences;
they speak plainly of man being inspired by the actual contactof God,

through the EternalSpirit. It only seems mystical because we are so prone to
fancy that we canexplain spiritual processesby outer motives and influences.
But what are the motives, what are the influences, which change a man's
nature? They are only the words by which we feebly express the greatmystery
of the real touch of God. All creationseems to me to confirm this spiritual
truth. We are driven to believe in the present action of God in the world. We
speak of law, but law is only a phrase by which we hide our ignorance. What
we call law is the act of God. The seedbursts into life not by dead laws, but
the Eternalfinger touches it, and it lives. The stars burn, not by dead laws;
God's glory smites them, and they light the firmament. The earth moves, not
by dead laws; God's arm propels it, and it rolls on its destined path through
the untravelled infinity of space. And if the eternal powerof the present God
thus blooms in the flower, glows in the stars, and is seenin the majestic march
of worlds, shall we not much rather believe that the real Spirit of the living
Christ is in actualcontactwith the soulwhen, crucified with Him, it wakes to
a life of immortal beauty? This, then, is the life springing from self-crucifixion
— Christ in the soul, forming it into a new creature. Until the old life has
perished He cannotlive there, for only when the forces of the carnal nature
are destroyedcan His holy presence dwell within. I cannotdescribe it, but you
may know it.
(E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The Christian's communion with the death and life of Christ
M. Willis.
Peculiarlanguage. One clause seems to contradictanother. Yet no real
contradiction; but strikingly suitable language to express the mysteries of
faith respecting Christ's union with His people, and their consequent
participation of the benefits of His sufferings and death.
I. THE BELIEVER'S CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST, OR HIS
COMMUNION WITH HIM IN HIS DEATH. The meaning is: "The ends of
Christ's crucifixion are accomplishedin me."
1. Believers are crucified with Christ, in virtue of their legalunion to Him as
their Head of righteousness. Christand His people are as one body, one mass;
He the Sanctifier, and they the sanctified, are all one.
2. Reallyand spiritually crucified with Him, through union to Him as their
Head of living and quickening influence.

II. THE BELIEVER'S LIFE IN CHRIST, OR COMMUNION WITH HIM
IN HIS LIFE.
1. He is invested with a righteousness commensurate to all the demands of the
Divine law.
2. With respectto his sanctificationalso, it may be saidthat the believer lives
— yet not he, but Christ lives in Him.
3. With respectto the life of consolationand glory, it may be said that it is not
the believerwho lives, but Christ lives in him.
III. THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH IN MAINTAINING THIS LIFE.
1. Faith as the means of our union with Christ, is necessaryto our communion
with Him, both in His righteousness and His grace.
2. By faith our communion with Christ is carriedon, in our receiving of all
His benefits.
3. Faith is the means of the spiritual life, as it terminates on the promises, the
apprehension of which has so powerful an influence both on our peace and
our purity (2 Corinthians 7:1; Psalm 27:13, 14).
4. Faith is the means of the spiritual life, as by bringing eternal things near, it
counterbalances the temptations and terrors of the world (1 John 5:5;
Hebrews 11:1.).
5. Faith is the means of the spiritual life, as it supplies from its contemplation
of the love of Christ fresh motives to obedience and patience (2 Corinthians
5:14).
6. As it refers to the authority of Christ's law, and enables the Christian to
perceive the reasonablenessevenof the most difficult of His precepts, as well
as the awful responsibility under which he lies to Christ's judgment (2
Corinthians 5:9-11; Hebrews 11:6).
7. Faith, by making the Christian habitually conversantwith spiritual objects
and motives of conduct, gives a spiritual characterevento the common
actions and enjoyments of this natural life.
(M. Willis.)
Crucified with Christ
G. W. Conder.
This extremely bold, startling, and paradoxicalassertionofthe apostle, is a
metaphorical, pictorial statement of a greatspiritual truth, about all really

Christian life. Every genuine Christian, who is really united to Christ by
living faith, has been crucified with Christ; and since he still lives, his life
thereafteris the life of Christ in him.
I. THE CONTEXT WILL FURNISH US WITH THE FIRST RAY OF THE
LIGHT WE SEEK. St. Paul is combating an error subversive to Christianity
itself, viz., ritualism. He declares that if you go back to that — to the old
notion that by deeds you canbe justified — you are going back againto law,
and have left Christ behind,
II. WHAT IS THE UNIVERSAL SPIRITUAL TRUTH REPRESENTEDBY
THESE IMAGES — "DEAD WITH CHRIST," "CHRIST LIVING IN US"?
If you have really gone to God with the prayer and hope of faith, resting on
the propitiation of Christ, you have died to sin. It is as if you had been
crucified with Christ. It may be that your Christian history contains no
moment of mighty conscious change;that your change took place by slow and
imperceptible degrees,more like educationthan conversion. In that case, it
would not be likely that you should feel this greattruth about yourself as Paul
felt it. Your death to sin may have been less like a crucifixion, a sudden,
painful, yet blissful, inevitably conscious severancefrom it, than like a slow,
lingering, almost painless process;like a disease whose stagesofadvance
could never be marked by hours or days. But still it is true of you; if you be
hoping in God through Jesus Christ our Lord, you have been crucified with
Christ to that huge guilt of which law, just and holy law, convicted you; and
having thus died to it, you have no more to fear from it. God has severedit
and you. And it is now for you to recognize the grand truth, and rejoice in it.
III. THIS CRUCIFIXION HAS RESPECTTO SOMETHING ELSE THAN
THE PREVIOUS GUILT OR DEBT TO DIVINE LAW. Sin is not merely an
external thing; an ever-accumulating mass of wrong deeds and words, of
omissions and neglects. All these are the results of what we are. The seatof sin
is in the soul. The working of the evil element has produced evil habits and
tendencies. These must be eradicated. The old nature has to be mortified,
crucified; and in its place Christ is to reign.
(G. W. Conder.)
The old life and the new
G. W. Conder.
Think of a man who is living to himself, without any thought of God, or any
earnestendeavourto serve or please Him. Living to gratify only his own

tastes, passions, desires,and none else's. Self-interesthis law, self-love his
inspiration, self-satisfactionhis end and aim, self his god. This is the man. Not
the caricature ofhim — his faithful portrait. If he be not living unto God, he
must be that; there is no alternative. Look well at him as such. Scanhim
closelyfor an instant more, a man whose whole principle, law, motive, aim,
end, is self. And now, see him again, emerging, as it were, from Christ's
sepulchre with Christ, his hand in his Saviour's, yielding to the loving entreaty
of the Lord to come hopefully to God; to confess his sin, and be pardoned.
How completely alteredhis mien! How relaxed that stiff unbending erectness
which formerly markedhim! How softeneddown that stern unlovely
expressionwhich spoke from his every feature. Surely the proud, harsh,
unyielding spirit of self must have been outcastfrom him, left behind him in
the grave of Christ. It is not the same man. God! God's law! ,God's favour!
tits anger, His pardon, His help and guidance, that used to be nothing to him,
are everything to him now. If he could, he would so grave that law in him as
that its force could never depart from him. If he might, he would stay there
for evergazing on God, never to look at anything else, lesthe should sin again.
(G. W. Conder.)
Christ in the soul
G. W. Conder.
Hear the testimony of one who has experiencedthis. He says to you, "You
know my former life. It was I who lived then. It was my ideas, my wishes, my
passions, my tastes, which moved me then. But it is not so now. I have seen
Christ, I have heard Him, have begun to love Him, and He is to me, in
addition to being my glorious and living Friend outside-me, with whom I can
converse and to whom I canpray, also a living system of truths, a living
revelation of Divine ideas. Truth has laid hold of me by Him; has entered into
me; has won my approbation, my choice, aye, my intense desire. Eternity
touches me by Him. Law attracts, governs me through Him. God is very near
to me in Him. Man is more beautiful and greatto me in Him. He is the
portrait of what I may be, and desire to be. I see obstacles overcome in Him.
Hope fills me from Him. Holiness begins to suffuse me from Him. He is all in
all to me. And so my new life is no longer that self-prompted thing it once was.
It is, though still my life, because I choose andlove it, nevertheless all of it
derived, drawn, inspired from Christ. 'I live — nevertheless not I, but Christ
liveth in me.'"
(G. W. Conder.)

The part of faith in the new life
G. W. Conder.
And now you will see what part faith plays in the matter. Obviously it is the
connecting link betwixt that Incarnate Truth and my inner self. Here is a man
who once did not see, and therefore could not believe it. And he had no Divine
life in him — nothing but what was perishable;all of it, its joys, hopes,
attainments — perishable. But, he came at last to see, aye, to believe. The
record, the saying, the preaching, was factin his esteem. And immediately —
as the fluid flies along the galvanic wire when it has contact — immediately,
by the contactof a living faith, a faith of the heart, the influence, the vitalizing,
Divine force of that truth begins to flood his being, and he begins to live a life
that shall never rile.
(G. W. Conder.)
Faith and the spiritual life
George Brooks.
I. THE NATURE OF FAITH
1. As described in the Bible.
2. As defined by theologicalwriters.
3. As elucidated by familiar illustrations.
II. THE RELATION OF FAITH TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE.
1. It is a realizing grace.
2. It is a strengthening grace.
3. It is a receiving grace.
4. It is a uniting grace.
(George Brooks.)
The spiritual life
W. Bridges.
The apostle had said before, that "we are justified by faith alone, and not by
the works ofthe law;" and that a believer was crucified with Christ. Now,

says he, this doctrine that I have preached unto you, is no way opposite unto
our spiritual life, or unto our holiness;yet, now I live, or "nevertheless Ilive."
I. EVERY TRUE BELIEVER, EVERY GODLY, GRACIOUS MAN, IS A
LIVING MAN, lives a spiritual life, is in the state of life (John 6:40, 47, 48, 54,
55).
1. What is this spiritual life?(1) It is a supernatural perfection (Ephesians
4:18).(2) It rises from our union with Christ by the Spirit.(3) It is that
supernatural perfection whereby a man is able to act, and move, and work
towards God as his utmost and last end.
2. Whereby may it appear, that every godly, gracious man, is thus a living
man, made partakerof this spiritual life, so as to be able to act, and move, and
work towards God as his utmost end?(1)Take the life of plants and herbs, or
of flowers;and what is the essentialproperty of the vegetative life? It is to
grow. So with saints; they grow in grace (Psalm84:7; Romans 1:27; 2
Corinthians 3:18).(2) What is the essentialproperty of the sensitive life, of the
life of beasts and birds? To be sensible of good or evil suitable to it. This is
found also in saints (Romans 7:23, 24).(3)What is the essentialproperty of the
life of reason? To understand, to know, and to reflecton a man's own actions.
This distinguishes a man from a beast. Every godly, gracious man, especially,
has this power. So, then, take the argument in the whole, and it lies thus: If a
godly, gracious man have all the essentialproperties of those three lives, in a
spiritual way and manner, then certainly he is in the state of life, and doth
lead a spiritual life.
3. But how does it appear that others are not in this state of life?(1)He that
believeth not is spiritually dead (John 3:36; John 5:40).(a) If we be alive
indeed, and made partakers of this spiritual life, why then should we not live
at a higher rate than the world do, which have none of this life?(b) If we be
alive indeed, and made partakers of this spiritual life, why should our hearts
run after the things of the world, so as to feed on them as our meat, to be
satisfiedwith them?(c) If we be alive indeed, why is our communion and
fellowship togetherno more living? A living coalwarms.
II. OUR JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE IS NO ENEMY, BUT A
REAL FRIEND TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. How comes this to pass?
1. The more a man forsakesanygoodthing of his own for Christ, the more
Christ is engagedto give a man His goodthings. There is no losing in losing
for Jesus Christ.
2. God never causes anyman to pass under any relation, without giving him
the ability needed for its duties.

3. The more a man agreeswith God and the law, the more fit he is to walk
with God and observe the law.
4. Faith establishes a man in the covenant of grace.
(W. Bridges.)
Fellowshipwith the Redeemer's death
W. B. Pope, D. D.
This must be taken in connectionwith two other texts in this crucifixion
Epistle, viz., Galatians 5:24, and Galatians 6:14. The three togetherexhibit —
I. The ORDER.
II. The CHARACTERISTICS.
III. The PERFECTIONofpersonalreligion as fellowshipwith the Redeemer's
death.
I. The sinner, condemned by the law, makes the sacrifice ofthe great
Substitute his own, and is, therefore, legally releasedfrom its penalty.
II. The flesh, or the old man remaining in the pardoned believer, is hanged up,
and delivered to death in the same mystical fellowship.
III. The saint glorying in Christ crucified as the ground of his acceptance,and
the source ofhis sanctification, is crucified with Rim to the world and all
createdthings that belong not to the new creation. Let us readthese words,
where they were written, at the footof the Cross.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)
The Christian's crucifixion with Christ
Bishop Hall.
I. CHRIST CRUCIFIED.
1. A greatmystery.
2. The way to glory.
(1)ForChrist.
(2)Forus.
3. The ground of our highest glorying.
II. PAUL CRUCIFIED.

1. Sin has a body (Romans 7:24; Colossians 3:5.).
2. Sin and grace cannotco-existany more than life and death.
3. Kill your runs or they will kill you.
4. And this not only in the matter of notorious crimes, but in the whole
carriage ofyour lives.
5. Thus to be a Christian is a serious thing.
6. Afflict not so much your bodies as your souls.
III. PAUL CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST.
1. Many are crucified, but not with Christ.
(1)The covetous andambitious man with the world.
(2)The envious man by his own thoughts: Ahithophel's cross.
(3)The desperate man with his own distrust: Judas's cross.
(4)The superstitious man.
(5)The felon and justly: the cross ofthe two malefactors.
2. Paul was crucified with Christ.(1) In partnership. Christ s crucifixion is
re.actedin us.
(a)In His agony, when we are afflicted with God's displeasure againstsin.
(b)In His scourging, whenwe tame our flesh with holy severity.
(c)In His crowning with thorns, when we bear reproaches forHis name.
(d)In His affixion, when all our powers are fastenedto his royal
commandments.
(e)In His transfixion, when our hearts are branded with Divine love.(2)In
person.
(a)As in the first Adam all lived and then died, so in the secondAdam all die
and are made alive.
(b)Our realunion with Christ makes His Cross and Passionours.
(c)Every believer may comfort himself that having died with Christ he shall
not die again.
(Bishop Hall.)
Life in Christ
Principal Fairbairn.

I. Christ dwelling by faith in the heart becomes the principle of a new life.
II. From this life, as an inexhaustible fountain, the believer draws to the
supply of his wants and fruitfulness in well doing.
III. What properly distinguishes the believer's life in the flesh and makes it
what it is, is its being kept in perpetual fellowship with Christ.
IV. The recognitionof the truth that as dying and atoning Jesus becomesa
source of new life runs out into appropriating confidence.
(Principal Fairbairn.)
Deathand life
T. Adams.
I. DEATH BY SIN.
1. Its guilt makes us liable to condemnation.
2. Its filth, which makes us odious.
3. Its punishment, which is death eternal.
II. THE TREE OF LIFE AFFORDS THE ANTIDOTE TO SIN.
1. The life of justification. The righteousness ofChrist, cancelling the
obligations of the law, frees us from the first.
2. The life of sanctification, which is Christ in us.
3. The life of joy and cheerfulness, whichmakes us more than conquerors.
(T. Adams.)
Christian enthusiasm
C. Stanford, D. D.
I. Christian enthusiasm is POSSIBLE UNDER GREAT NATURAL
DISADVANTAGES.
II. This enthusiasm must BE MAINTAINED BY CONTINUED FAITH IN
CHRIST.
III. It is HEIGHTENED BY THE CONSCIOUSNESSOF THE PERSONAL
LOVE OF CHRIST.
IV. It is gloriously arousedby THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR HIS
UNSPEAKABLE GIFT.

V. THE CHRISTIAN FEELS FREE to serve Christ enthusiastically
BECAUSE CHRIST HAS BORNE THE PENALTY DUE TO SIN.
VI. Christian enthusiasm, so far from CRUSHING INDIVIDUALITY AND
INDEPENDENCE, EMPHASIZES THEM.
VII. IT OVERPOWERS UNHEALTHY SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
VIII. THE SOURCE OF IT ALL IS THE INDWELLING CHRIST.
(C. Stanford, D. D.)
Paradoxes
T. Hamilton, A. M.
I. CHRISTIAN EXISTENCE IS A DEATH AND YET A LIFE.
II. THE BELIEVER LIVES AND YET HE DOES NOT LIVE.
III. THE BELIEVER'S LIFE IS A LIFE IN THE FLESH, BUT NOR
ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF THE FLESH.
(T. Hamilton, A. M.)
The life of faith
T. Hamilton, A. M.
may be consideredwith respectto —
I. Its OBJECT,the promises of the new covenantas —
1. Our justification.
2. Sanctification.
3. The supplies of the present life.
4. Everlasting blessedness.
II. Its TRIALS, or the evils that seemto infringe the comfort of the promises.
1. Afflictions.
2. Temptations.
III. Its EFFECTS,as —
1. Holy duties and exercisesofgrace.
2. The ordinances by which it is fed and increased, as the Word, prayer, and
sacraments.

3. The duties of charity, of public and private relations, as honouring God, in
our generationand callings.
(T. Hamilton, A. M.)
The faith of the Sonof God
T. Adams.
So called because —
I. He is the REVEALER of it (John 1:17).
II. He is the AUTHOR of it (Hebrews 12:2).
III. He is the OBJECT ofit.
(T. Adams.)
An idyll of the Divine life
A. J. Muir, M. A.
I. Its PERSONALINTEREST.
II. The BURTHEN of it.
III. Its INSPIRING POWER.
(A. J. Muir, M. A.)
Paul's estimate of the religion of Christ
DeanStanley.
The living Personin whom we trust, not the systemof precepts which we
follow, or of dogmas which we receive, is the centre of the Christian society.
The name by which religion in all subsequent times has been known is not an
outward "ceremonial" (θρήσκεια)as with the Greeks,nor an outward
"restraint" (religio) as among the Romans, nor an outward "law" as among
the Jews;it is by that far higher and deeper title which it first receivedfrom
the mouth of St. Paul, "the faith."
(DeanStanley.)
Lent and Easter
Bishop Hall.

A Lent of mortification — "I am crucified with Christ." An Easterof
resurrection— "I live, etc."
(Bishop Hall.)
Sharing Christ's Cross
Bishop Hall.
We must have our part with Christ in every part of His Cross. In the
transverse, by the ready extensionof our hands to all goodworks of piety,
justice, and charity; in the arrectary, or beam, by uninterrupted perseverance
in good; in the head, by an elevatedhope and looking for of glory; in the foot,
by a lively and firm faith, fastening our souls upon the affiance of His free
grace and mercy. And thus shall we be crucified with Christ.
(Bishop Hall.)
Crucifixion with Christ
Phillips Brooks, D. D.
The phrase carries us back to the historical scene. There Christwas crucified
with two thieves. Jesus was crucifiedwith us, that we might be crucified with
Him. lie entered into our pain that we might enter into His peace. He shared
the shame of the thieves, that Paul might share His glory. This double truth
was manifest at the time of Christ's suffering. You remember the penitent
thief, as their crosseswere lifted side by side, he saw Christ entering into his
wretchedness. Before the feeble tortured breath had left the body, he had
entered into Christ's glory.
(Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
The powerof the Cross
C. Vince.
The other night a friend of mine witnesseda drunken brawl. There was a man
there who continued in the brawl, and his wife came out of the crowd and
said: "I will go and fetch baby to him; that will bring him out if anything
will." Ah! she was a philosopher, though she did not know it. She wanted to
get to the deepestpart of the man's nature. She did not talk of policemen and
prison; she wanted to bring the innocent one before him, as much as to say,
"Will you make a thorny couchfor this little one to lie upon? Will you forge a

daggerwith which to pierce this little one's heart?" And in a measure she
came in the spirit of the gospel;for the gospelcomes to make us hate sin by
showing that another suffered and died for it.
(C. Vince.)
Life in Christ
W. B. Pope, D. D., Surinnock.
This is a striking" point of. union,, betweenPaul and John; the Pauline form
of "He that hath the Son hath life."
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)As the mistletoe, having no root of its own, both grows and
lives in the stock ofthe oak, so the apostle, having no root of his own, did live
and grow in Christ. As if he had said, "I live, I keepa noble house, am given
to hospitality, but at another's cost, not at mine own. I am beholden to Christ.
I have not a farthing of mine own. He carrieth the pack for me, and gives out
to me according to my necessities."
(Surinnock.)
The immortality of life in Christ
Thomas Jones.
The sun might sayevery morning in the spring, I am come that the earth may
have life and have it more abundantly; I am come that the fields may grow,
that the gardens and vineyards be more fruitful, that the beauty of the
landscape may appear, that the dead may become alive, and the world be
filled with joy. And the sun might add, I am the resurrection and the life; I
raise the buried flowers and herbs from their graves, and cause them to live.
But they perish in the autumn. The Christian shall never perish; never by
annihilation, absorption, or eternalmisery.
(Thomas Jones.)
The progressivenessofthe life of Christ
Thomas Jones.
Man was made to grow. To stand still in the course of nature is to die. When
the force that raised the mountain to its height had ceased, that moment the
mountain began to sink again;when the tree stops growing it begins to decay;
when the human body has attained its perfection, when the tide of growthhas

reachedits highest mark, it begins to recede. But the life that Christ gives
means everlasting progress in knowledge,love, usefulness, and bliss.
(Thomas Jones.)
Paul's flesh
Thomas Jones.
It was hard for an enthusiast to live in flesh like Paul's. He suffered so much
from his eyes that the rough Galatians felt so much for him that they would
have been willing to give him their own. He suffered so much from his hands,
that when his greatheart was full, and he longed to dash off a missionary
letter, he was unable to hold a pen. He suffered so much from shattered
nerves, that his first appearance among strangers was "in weakness, fear, and
much trembling." Who can always be calm and wise and bold, have a
commanding presence, and secure a fascinatedsilence, whenhe always works
in weakness, whenpain is evercrashing through the sensibilities, when the
smallestfrictional touch cansting the life to agony.
(Thomas Jones.)
Strong in Christ
Thomas Jones.
Plant the tenderestsapling in the ground, and all the elements of nature shall
minister to its wants. It shall feed upon the fatness of the earth, its leaves shall
be wet with dew, it shall be refreshedwith the showers ofspring, and the
warmth of summer shall cause it to grow. In like manner the man who is
rooted in Christ, united to Him by faith and love, shall be energizedand made
strong for the work which he has to do.
(Thomas Jones.)
The personallove and gift of Christ
John Donne, D. D.
All that Christ did and suffered He did for thee as thee; not only as man, but
as that particular man, which bears such and such a name; and rather than
any of those whom He loves should appearnaked before His Father, and so
discoverthe scars and deformities of their sins, Christ would be content to do
and suffer as much as He hath done for any one particular man yet. But

beyond infinite there is no degree;and His merit was infinite because both an
infinite Majestyresidedin His person, and because an infinite Majesty
acceptedHis sacrifice forinfinite.
(John Donne, D. D.)
Life in the flesh
C. H. Spurgeon.
When Paul and his companions were shipwreckedatMelita, the apostle setto
work like other people to gatherfuel for the fire. Even so you and I must take
our turn at the wheel. We must not think of keeping ourselves alooffrom our
fellow-men as though we should be degraded by mingling with them. We are
men, and whatever men may lawfully do we may do; whereverthey may go
we may go. Our religion makes us neither more nor less than human, though
it brings us into the family of God.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Luther's motto
C. H. Spurgeon.
Luther's motto was, Vivit Christus, Christ liveth. How to use life: — Two
friends gatheredeacha rose;the one was continually smelling at it, touching
its leaves, and handling it as if he could not hold it too fast; you do not wonder
that it was soonwithered. The other took his rose, enjoyedits perfume
moderately, carriedit in his hand for a while, then put it on the table in water,
and hours after it was almost as fresh as when it was pluckedfrom the bough.
We may dote on our worldly gearuntil God becomes jealous ofit and sends a
blight upon it; and, on the other hand, we may, with holy moderateness, use
these things as not abusing them, and get from them the utmost goodthey are
capable of conveying to us.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Greatlove
R. B.
We read in English history of the rare affectionof Eleanor, wife of Edward

I. The king having receiveda wound by a poisoneddagger, she put her mouth
to the wound to suck out the poison, venturing her own life to preserve her
husband's. But the love of Christ was greaterthan this.
(R. B.)
Christ's love is an individual love
Moody.
The greattrouble is that people take everything in general, and do not take it
to themselves. Suppose a man should say to me: "Moody, there was a man in
Europe who died lastweek, and left five million dollars to a certain
individual." "Well," I say, "I don't doubt that; it's rather a common thing to
happen," and I don't think anything more about it. But suppose he says:"But
he left the money to you." Then I pay attention; I say: "To me?" "Yes, he left
it to you." I become suddenly interested. I want to know all about it. So we are
apt to think Christ died for sinners; He died for everybody, and for nobody in
particular. But when the truth comes to me that eternal life is mine, and all
the glories ofheaven are mine, I begin to be interested.
(Moody.)
The life of faith
T. Adams.
I. WHAT IS THIS FAITH? Faith is a grace, by which we believe God's Word
in general, and in a specialmanner do receive Christ, and rest upon Him for
grace here and glory hereafter.
1. There is assent.
2. Consent.
3. Affiance. Resting on Christ.
II. HOW, AND WHY, ARE WE SAID TO LIVE BY FAITH? Distinct graces
have their distinct offices. In Scripture language we are said to live by faith,
but to work by love. There must be life before operation. Now we are said to
live by faith —
1. Becauseit is the grace that unites us to Christ.
2. Becauseallother graces are marshalledand ranked under the conduct of
faith. It is the first stone in the spiritual building, to which all the rest are
added. Without faith, virtue would languish, our command over our passions

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