Crucified with Christ my Savior

54. The One Who Has Given Himself Up for the Believers and Who Lives in Them

In Galatians 2:20 Christ is presented as the One who has given Himself up for the believers and who lives in them. We must experience and enjoy Christ in this aspect. It is only when we come to know Christ as the One who lives in us and we live by Him, not by ourselves, that we can enjoy Christ as the One who rescues us out of religion. When we live by Him as our life, we realize that any kind of religion is bondage or slavery and does not help us to live Christ; rather, it hinders us from living Him. In other words, when we live a life that is Christ Himself, we discover that even the highest religion is only bondage and does not help us to progress in the way of life. By knowing Christ as the One who lives in us and by living by Christ through our faith in Him, we should experience and enjoy Him as the One who rescues us from religion.

a. The Believers Having Been Crucified with Him and Living No Longer

In Galatians 2:20 Paul declares, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live. ” When Christ was crucified, according to God’s economy we were included in Him. This is an accomplished fact. Moreover, this is not a matter of doctrine; it is a matter of revelation. In our Christian life there should come a day when the Holy Spirit shows us that we have already been crucified with Christ and that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. When we truly see this fact, we will not do anything by ourselves, for a dead person can neither do good nor have any hope. From that day onward, we simply will not be able to make any resolution or have any hope in ourselves. If we see that we ourselves were crucified with Christ when He died on the cross to save us, and if we praise the Lord for this fact, then He will have more ground in us, and He will be expressed through us.

God’s economy is to terminate us and put us into the tomb so that we may receive Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God. Having received Him, we should let Him live in us. It is crucial to see that we have been crucified and that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. If we realize this, we will care only for Christ and will say, “God, now I know that You do not want anything of me. You want nothing but Christ. I have been crucified, terminated, and finished so that I can live Christ and magnify Him. ”

b. The Believers Living by Him Who Lives in Them through Their Faith in Him

1) The Believers Living by Him Who Lives in Them

In verse 20 Paul goes on to say, “But it is Christ who lives in me. ” We have died in Christ through His death, but now He lives in us through His resurrection. His living in us is entirely by His being the life-giving Spirit ( 1 Cor. 15:45b ). This point is fully developed in all the following chapters of Galatians, where the Spirit is presented and emphasized as the One whom we have received as life and in whom we should live.

The Conclusion of the New Testament:

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ

Message 326 (LSM)

Margaret Mae Simpson was the daughter of Albert Simpson, (founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance) and Margaret S. Simpson. She was born on April 1878, Louisville, Kentucky and died October 9, 1958, Orenburg, New York. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York.

Margaret was born while her father was pastor of the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. She was very frail as an infant so her parents baptized her in a private ceremony at the manse (a house occupied by a Presbyterian minister) on April 14, 1878 by Arthur Pearson, a close associate of her father as well of other renowned preachers such as Dwight Moody, George Müller (whose biography he wrote) and Charles Spugeon.

In 1880, her family moved to New York City. Their home on 331 W. 34th St. became a center for prayer and healing. Margaret grew up under the influence of Godly parents and a strong body of believers, living through the years of the founding of the Christian Missionary Alliance. She spent summers with her family at camp meetings in Old Orchard, Maine.

Around 1897, the Simpsons moved to Nyack, New York, new location of the Ministry Missionary Training Institute ( now Nyack College). She married George Buckman and moved to California where she lived most of her life. In 1956, Margaret moved back to the Nyack area. She is best known for tunes she composed for her father's hymns.

Hyman. net selected various hymns which A. B. Simpson wrote and which Margaret composed for her father: # 74, 362, 477, 481 and 654.

Hymn 279 "Through the Cross I Pray" was written by Watchman Nee but the music selected was composed by Ms. Simpson.

Hymn NS 960 " If Thou Wouldst Deal With Me" selected one of her hymn-tunes as well.

Hymntime. com

It is not hard to die with Jesus when His risen life we know. This is a real key to our Christian life. The Lord said pick up your cross and follow me. That means our whole life, even to our physical death is under the cross. This is a healthy Christian life. First we must know the joy of His risen life. By this we know Him and enjoy Him. Because of this, His grace, we can be willing to take the cross. Like the Lord we can see the joy set before us.

This is a hymn that really takes us to a deeper experience of Christ. You will not find this in the popular contemporary music of this age. As I ponder on this hymn, I did not get past verse one. I think of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “I’m crucified with Christ, never the less I live, ” This was Paul’s experience and it must be ours. To the death born Life of Jesus I am entering into this new Life. Wow! So that really touched me. Through the death of Jesus our life was born and our continuing gaining of Him is in the same way. We must stand with the Truth that we are crucified. Now we can enter in to His Life by experiencing Him in His sufferings. The Lord leads us to situations where we must lay down our soul life. This is a suffering yet, we suffer with Him. This is experiential as we let the cross works in us. It can be little things our major life changing events. This is the way to be separated from the world and sin. It is this subjective experience of the cross. He is leading us all the way to Calvary. But He is with us all the way. We have the assurance we will pass through into this resurrection Life. Christ was forsaken at the cross. We may be waste to the world but Christ is with us in our darkest spiritual death experience. He has been there and He is with us in these hard times. Lord by thy mercy you can lead us all the way. This is our course to continually gain Him unto maturity. Thank you Lord you cut the path. Now by your Spirit we follow you!

This song is written by brother A. B. Simpson and his hymns are always so full of the experience of Christ! I didn’t really know what going to Calvary meant until now. “At Calgary there is a wonderful death, a death that brings resurrection. ”When we put the self, which means what we want, our pride, our aspirations, all those things, to death on the cross, what is left is just the Spirit. And that is when we can experience the power of Christ’s resurrection! Lord, grant all the believers this experience of enjoying dieing to the self through resurrection power!

We cannot participate in Christ's suffering for redemption, but we must take part in the suffering of Christ for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ.

"So then death operates in us, but life in you." (2 Corinthians 4:12)

"Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the chosen ones, that they themselves also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." (2 Timothy 2:10)

All the way to Calvary
Where my Savior went with me
Thank you Lord I went with Thee
All the way to Calvary!

Galatians 2:20

Powerful Song!

There is only one proper way for Christian life: The Way to Calvary. If we die with Christ, we will live with Christ and we will know and taste His resurrection power.