and read through the end of the chapter. Up to this point in the book of Galatians, Paul has been defending the fact that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And the fact that the gospel that Paul preached was not a gospel that came from any man. It didn't come from Paul's own imagination, but it didn't come by the instruction of any other man either. but it came directly from Jesus Christ. And Paul was making that point at some length because the enemies of the gospel in the Galatian churches were accusing Paul of having a false ministry and being a false apostle. And so Paul takes the time to demonstrate that he truly is an apostle with a message from Christ. Where we pick up our reading, he is continuing to demonstrate that by showing that even the great Peter stumbled in how he received the Gentiles in Antioch, so that Paul had to rebuke the great Peter. And Paul is not meaning to put Peter down by that. but to demonstrate that Paul knew the gospel and held to that gospel better even than Peter in this specific instance. And then Paul is working towards the theme of his epistle in verse 16, which is justification, not by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. So we'll pick up our reading in Galatians 2, verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid! For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word. May He bless it to our hearts this morning. Our text is verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Beloved congregation, in our Lord Jesus Christ, before us this morning is a table. And on that table are the bread and the wine, symbolizing the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted this table. He instituted this sacrament. He commanded it and founded it for the Church of Jesus Christ to use and commemorate all the way until He returns, which means that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the one who set this table before us this morning. And the Lord Jesus Christ did that because He would testify to us this morning a very important truth. And the very important truth is that He has shed His blood and broken His body for our salvation. That's the testimony of this table, of this sacrament, of this Lord's Supper to us this morning. And there's more in that testimony. The Lord has broken His body and shed His blood that we might partake of Him, that we might be united to Him, that we might live with His own life as we go about our activities in this earth and that we may have the assurance that being united to Him and His body being broken for us all our sins are forgiven for His sake. The Lord Jesus Christ in His love for this congregation has set a table for us to eat and to drink and be assured of these great truths. And that was the great truth that Paul taught to the Galatians in this epistle. The Galatians were being troubled by wicked men who taught they had to add something of their own to their salvation. They must do something. They must obey some law in order to be saved. And over against that wicked false doctrine, Paul taught the truth that our Lord had taught and that had been revealed throughout the Old Testament, that salvation is not by the work of man, but salvation is by the work of God in Jesus Christ alone. Then in verse 20, Paul teaches, And by declaring that, Paul is declaring the same message that the Lord's Supper testifies to us this morning. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His crucifixion, by His death, has covered all our sins, that we may be righteous before God. and has united us to Himself so that we are really and truly united to Him. That's comfort for the sinner. That's comfort for the child of God as we come to the table this morning. We make that our confession in the theme of the sermon, which is, I am crucified with Christ. In the first place, we consider what that means. In the second place, we consider why We can say this, and in the third place, we consider how we live this life in our flesh, which is by faith. Crucified with Christ, what, why, and how. In Galatians 2, verse 20, Paul uses mysterious language. This is the mysterious language he uses. I, I am crucified with Christ. And that's so mysterious because, as a matter of fact, Paul himself was not crucified. Paul was not hung on a cross. He wasn't hung on a cross when Jesus died, and as far as we know, he was never hung on a cross. Historically, Jesus Christ is the one who was crucified. and there were two other thieves with him, but Paul was not there on that hill Golgotha being crucified with Christ. In fact, when Christ was crucified, Paul was an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And after Christ died and rose again, Paul made it his business to persecute the Church of Jesus Christ, making accusations against Christians, receiving written records from the authorities that he might go here and there and waste the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul was not crucified. with Jesus Christ as a matter of historical fact on that good Friday when Jesus died. And yet, Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. And he uses a word there for am crucified. That means that happened. I was crucified with Christ in that past event which has implications for the present time. Paul, in the strongest language possible, which is very mysterious, says, I am crucified with Christ. He's saying, what Christ did, I did too. I was there. That happened to me. That mysterious language continues. Paul says, nevertheless, I live. I am crucified, nevertheless I live, so that what Paul is declaring here is that he rose from the dead. As he was crucified with Christ, so he is risen with Christ. And then goes on to say, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. There again, he's saying, this resurrection life that I live is the life of Jesus Christ. What He does, I do. Now as a matter of historical fact, it was Paul who lived his own life in the flesh. That's what he says a little later in the verse, the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. When Paul says, I live this life in the flesh, He's not talking there about sinful flesh, the way the Bible sometimes uses that word. He's simply talking about His earthly, daily life. His going to work in the morning and His lying down to sleep at night. His taking of meals at set times. His interactions with all of the people that He interacted with. It's His life in the flesh. That's the life that we live in the flesh. Our daily, earthly existence. The Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven. Paul is the one who's on the earth. Paul is the one who lives this life in the flesh. And yet he says, it's not I who live this life in the flesh, but Jesus Christ liveth in me. That's mysterious language. That's hard to understand. Paul says, what Christ did, I did. I was crucified, I am crucified with Him. And what I do, He does. The life I live and the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God. What's the solution to this mysterious language? What is Paul teaching here? The solution is that Paul is teaching a real connection between Jesus Christ and Himself. A real union between the Lord and Himself. And so close and tight is that connection that when Jesus Christ was crucified, even though Paul wasn't there, even though Paul was his enemy at that moment, when Christ was crucified, Paul was crucified. And so tight and close is that connection and union that as Paul now lives his life in the flesh, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in him and gives him that life. A real tight connection, a real union between Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul. And that's the union that God gives to us too by his grace. So that what Paul says, we say, I am crucified with Christ. Though I wasn't even born yet, though I wasn't there at Calvary, I am crucified with Christ. And I was risen with Him. And the life which I now live in the flesh is Jesus Christ Himself living in me. So that it's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. a real spiritual connection and union between Jesus Christ and His people. We call this doctrine, or this truth, or this concept that Paul is teaching here, the doctrine of union with Christ. Union with Christ. And union with Christ means that there is a real spiritual connection between Jesus Christ and His people so that Jesus lives in us. And we are united to Him. We're engrafted into Him. And He abides and dwells in our hearts. Union with Jesus Christ. Now we can distinguish in what Paul says two different ways to look at that union or two different aspects to that union. In the first place, there is a representative union between Jesus Christ and us. That is, Jesus represents us. He acts on our behalf. That's what Paul means when he says at the beginning of the verse, I am crucified with Christ. The meaning is not that somehow Paul, in his flesh, existed at the cross and was nailed in his own flesh to the cross somehow, just as that is not the way we understand that for us. But the idea is this, when the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross, he hung there as the head of his people. He hung there as the mediator and head of the covenant who represents his people. so that what he does there counts for us. That's the same truth we understand with regard to Adam. There's a certain union or connection that the whole human race has to Adam. So that when Adam in the Garden of Eden ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and disobeyed God, he did that on behalf of every human being who would come after him. And the effect then of Adam's disobedience, spiritual death, passes to all of us. He represented us so that you and I, in ourselves, are guilty for what Adam did, even though we were not there. Well, so it is with Jesus Christ. He represents His people, is the representative head of His people, so that when He was crucified, He did that on behalf of us. He took the curse that we deserved and He bore it before the face of God and bore it away. That explains the immediate context then where Paul says, I through the law am dead to the law. that I might live unto God." Well, Paul, how is it that you're dead to the law? How is it that the law may not speak to you this way anymore, Paul? Do this and live! Obey perfectly for your continued life. And if you disobey even in the smallest, then you must die. How is it that the law, though it speaks to us in other ways, cannot speak to us that way anymore? How can you be dead to the law that way? Well, I'm dead to the law that way because I'm crucified with Christ. The law said all of those things to Jesus Christ. For disobedience, you must be cursed, you must die. God speaking that curse against Christ for all our sins. Christ by that removed all our guilt. That's the first way to look at this connection between Christ and us. There's a representative or a legal connection. But then in the second place there is a spiritual connection. A real spiritual tie that we cannot see with our eyes but is nevertheless very real. And that's what Paul describes when he says, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The Lord Jesus Christ dwells in Paul and dwells in us. Or to put it another way, looking at it from our point of view, we are engrafted into him. We can still use the figure of a head here. but now not a representative head, but the head of an organism, so that the body is very really connected to that head, and all of the parts are united to that head in the body, so that the life that we now live in the flesh, in our daily activities, is animated by something others cannot see, but is very real in our hearts. Jesus Christ himself and this connection to him. That's union with Christ. Jesus Christ as our head represents us, and Jesus Christ as our head gives his life to us. And this truth of union with Christ is prominent in the Lord's Supper. Perhaps we overlook that sometimes, understandably, because when we see the Lord's Supper, we see bread broken and wine poured, and we think immediately of the Lord Jesus Christ covering our sins. Well, that's prominent in the message of the Lord's Supper. But just as prominent in the message of the Lord's Supper is the union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can see that from our Reformed forms that deal with the Lord's Supper. First of all, the Belgic Confession, Article 35. And if you'd like to follow along, that's in the back of the Psalter on page 52. The Belgic Confession, Article 35. Count four paragraphs in, and then halfway through that fourth paragraph, We read this, thus then, though Christ always sits at the right hand of his Father in the heavens, yet doth he not therefore cease to make us partakers of himself by faith? This feast is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself with all his benefits to us. and gives us there to enjoy both himself and the merits of his sufferings and death, nourishing, strengthening, and comforting our poor, comfortless souls by the eating of his flesh, quickening and refreshing them by the drinking of his blood. The Belgic Confession explaining the Lord's Supper emphasizes the idea of communion with Christ and partaking of Jesus Christ. And in doing that, it is teaching the doctrine of Galatians 2, verse 20, union with Christ. That's also the Heidelberg Catechism, beginning in Lord's Day 28. And since we've recently gone through these Lord's Days carefully, we simply mention the language now from these Lord's Days. Lord's Day 28, question and answer 75, how art thou admonished and assured in the Lord's Supper that thou art a partaker of that one sacrifice of Christ. Partaker has the idea of union in it, accomplished on the cross and of all his benefits. Then question and answer 76, what is it then to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ? And then in the answer, but also beside that, to become more and more united to his sacred body by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us, so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and that we live and are governed forever by one spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul. Question 77 continues that idea. Christ will certainly feed and nourish believers with His body and blood. And in question 80, question and answer 80 as well. What difference is there between the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass? The Lord's Supper testifies to us, second, that we by the Holy Ghost are engrafted into Christ. who according to his human nature is now not on earth but in heaven at the right hand of God his father and will there be worshiped by us. Heidelberg Catechism emphasizes Christ is in heaven and we are on earth but in the Lord's Supper we partake of him. In the Lord's Supper we have the testimony we are united to him. And then in our Lord's Supper form which It begins on page 91 in the back of the Psalter. We read of this union also. This is the secondly on page 93, the paragraph that begins secondly, and then about halfway through that paragraph, We read, that is, as often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you shall thereby, as by a sure remembrance and pledge, be admonished and assured of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you, that whereas you should otherwise have suffered eternal death, I have given my body to the death of the cross and shed my blood for you, and as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with my crucified body and shed blood to everlasting life, as this bread is broken before your eyes, and this cup is given to you, and you eat and drink the same with your mouth in remembrance of me. We partake of Jesus' body and blood in the Lord's Supper, and that speaks of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we say that language is mysterious. I am crucified with Christ. We say it is mysterious that it's not I who live, but Christ that lives in me. And that indicates that there's a depth to this reality of union with Christ that's hard for us to grasp with our human minds, especially because it cannot be sensed by our physical senses. It's a spiritual union with Jesus Christ, but nevertheless, it is a very real union with Him. That's glorious for the child of God. That's comforting as we come to the Lord's Supper and receive its testimony. You are united to Christ so that you're crucified with Him. And it's not you who live your life in this flesh, but Jesus Christ who lives in you and animates you. But now we see that Paul puts that mysterious language to a very specific application in Galatians 2. The doctrine of verse 20 is the doctrine of union with Christ. But why does Paul bring up that doctrine at this point? In order to see that, the reason why Paul does this, Go back to verse 16 and see the main point that he's making in this section, and as a matter of fact, the theme of his entire epistle to the Galatians. And that main point that he's making is that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. and says that we, knowing this, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Paul is teaching the doctrine of justification. He's teaching the doctrine of justification by faith. He's teaching the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And he's doing that over against the enemies of that gospel, known as the Judaizers, who had come into Galatia and said, but you must obey the law to complete your salvation. There is something that Christ has left for you to accomplish in this salvation. You're justified before God, not by Christ's work alone. partly by his work, but not by his work alone. There still is something for you to work and to do to be justified. Over against that, Paul says, justification by faith alone. But justification must have a ground. There must be a solid foundation upon which God can declare You are righteous. I wash all your sins away. And that solid ground of justification is the cross of Jesus Christ. His death. His crucifixion. Because on that cross, all our sins were punished with the eternal curse of God. and that curse was exhausted, that curse against you and me, against God's people was exhausted on the cross so that there's no more curse left for us to bear. That's why Paul brings up the doctrine of union with Christ now because he would point to our being crucified with Christ as the Lord Jesus Christ represented us, as the ground for this justification. That's always the way Scripture deals with justification. It always points to the ground in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist does that in Psalm 51, where he expresses his joy over the forgiveness of his sins. When he says, wash me, and I shall be clean. Wash me, he says, wash me with the blood, the blood of bulls and goats, representing the blood of Jesus Christ. Wash me with the blood of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul does that in Romans 3 when he teaches in verse 28 the truth of justification. And then in that same passage calls our attention to Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. And Paul does that here now in Galatians 2. How is it that we can be forgiven all our sins through the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ? By that union, as Christ represents me, I am crucified with Christ. That crucifixion then is not only the ground of the forgiveness of our sins, but the cross of Christ is the ground for all of the blessings of salvation, including our new life. As Paul goes on in verse 20 to say, I don't live myself, But the life in me, the spiritual life in me, is the life of Christ in me. That life, too, was won by Christ at His cross. Paul brings up this truth of being crucified with Christ to show the ground in Christ's death for our forgiveness and our salvation. And that's what this supper testifies, as we eat and drink this morning. The body was broken and the blood was shed, that all our sins might be washed away, that we might be righteous in Him. That raises the question then, why? Why am I united to Jesus Christ? Why does He represent me as my representative head? And why am I united to Him as a member of His body? Why does this happen? And Paul answers that in the text when he says, 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. The reason or the source of this union with Christ is the love of Jesus Christ for His people. He's the Son of God who loved me. John, in his Gospel account, emphasizes that in chapter 13 when Jesus begins to take His final steps towards the cross. John says, Jesus having loved His own, loved them to the end. He loved us as He walked towards the cross. He loved us as He went through the trials. He loved us as He suffered His blessed body to be nailed to the tree of the cross. The reason for all of that is His love for us. And when we step back and consider that love, we find that that love did not begin during that last week of His life as He went to the cross. It didn't begin as they drove the nails into His hands and feet. But that love of Christ was from all eternity. Paul says here, He loved me. Very specifically, He loved me. He didn't just have a general love. And whoever would do their part to come into that love, he would receive. But he loved a specific individual, Paul. The church of Jesus Christ makes that confession. He loved me. He loved those specific individuals for whom he died. And that takes us back then all the way into the furthest reaches of eternity, before the creation of the world, before we were born. From all eternity, he loved me. and set His love upon me. That love is the explanation for why He went to the cross, the explanation for why He lives in me now. It's the eternal love of Jehovah God in Christ. We read of that love in different places where the Scripture teaches us that truth of election. In Romans 8, verses 29, and 30, for example. For whom God did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. That whole chain begins with God foreknowing, for whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate or choose or elect to be conformed to the image of his son. And that idea of foreknowledge in Romans 8 verse 29 is the idea of foreloving. Knowledge in the Bible often means love as it does here. He loved us first. and chose us in that love, setting that love upon us and decreeing that we should belong to Jesus Christ. That love, which is eternal, is the explanation then for why the body was broken and the blood was shed. He loved me and gave himself for me. so that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the demonstration, the ultimate demonstration of the eternal love of Jehovah God. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. The Lord Jesus Christ in that great love has laid down his life for our salvation. And that leaves the one question yet, then, how? How is it that we are united to Christ? We see why we are united to Christ, the love of God in Christ demonstrated in the cross of Christ. But how is it that we have this union? In the first place, the answer to how is through the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord Jesus Christ pours out upon us and gives us in our hearts. Now that's not mentioned explicitly in the text, but we do read this, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. But Christ is in heaven. How is it that Christ can live in me? Well, the answer to that is found in other passages which shed light on this, John 14, 15, and 16 especially, where Jesus said, I'm going away from you, but I will come again. And how would Jesus come again? He wasn't speaking there, first of all, of his return someday, finally at the end of time, he will come again that way. But He was speaking, especially in John 14, 15, and 16, of His coming again by His Spirit. I'm going away, but I will not leave you comfortless. I will send you a comforter, another comforter. And that comforter that He would send is the Spirit of Truth. How is it that the life that I now live is the life of Jesus Christ in me? It's by His Spirit whom He has imparted to us. That Spirit who renews us, who gives us new life. That Spirit who bestows upon us all of the blessings that the Lord Jesus Christ has earned. By the Spirit. And that Spirit in our hearts creates faith. Gives that faith to us as a gift. And that is explicitly taught in the text. 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. The Holy Spirit creates in our hearts this faith which can be thought of simply as that union to Christ. As that bond to Him, as the Catechism puts it in Lord's Day 7, Question and Answer 20, we are engrafted into Christ by a true and living faith. And this teaches us something remarkable about that gift of faith. That this faith, that the Holy Spirit works in our hearts, is all about Christ. That's the power of faith. That's the meaning of faith. Union with Christ so that even this part of our salvation is not our contribution to the salvation, but is simply receiving what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. We live this life now by faith. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ. We find in Him all our strength and live out of Him. And that's how we come to the table of the Lord this morning. The Lord has given us a testimony here by this table, a testimony of His love, a testimony of our union to Him, a testimony of our forgiveness of all of our sins through His broken body and shed blood. And the Lord Jesus Christ has given us the faith by His Spirit to receive it. So that eating and drinking we may say, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word to us this morning. Will thou bless it to our hearts, encourage us by it, comfort us with the knowledge of our union to Christ and the great blessings that we have, which he has earned by his cross. Feed us now with a supper and hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake, amen.