GALATIANS 2

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

DEAD BUT ALIVE

How can a person be dead and yet be alive at the same time?

Something has to die before we can live, what is it that dies?

What dies when we are crucified with Christ?

Well: it is the old life of sin, despair, and guilt.

Jesus was nailed to the cross, he became a curse for us, so that his righteousness could be imputed to us 2 Corinthians 5:19-20.

In Colossians 2, we have these great words:

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

We are now alive, but it is not Keith that is alive, it is Christ, living in Keith, through his Holy Spirit. Christ is now living inside of me, through his Spirit.

Yes, I am still living in a fleshly body and yes I still have a fleshly mind and emotions, but I am not living in fear, I am living by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, we have sure and certain promises.. amen.

What are these promises, they are yes and amen.

2 Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

We live to the beat of a different drummer, we are not dancing to the flesh anymore, we are under the tune of Jesus. He is our life, we march to a different captain, which is Christ.

Paul says in Philippians 3:

AMPLIFIED BIBLE
10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

My life is now lived by faith in the Son of God; it is lived because of the death and resurrection of my Savior.

My past life is gone, as Paul says back in Philippians 3:

4 Though for myself I have [at least grounds] to rely on the flesh. If any other man considers that he has or seems to have reason to rely on the flesh and his physical and outward advantages, I have still more!

5 Circumcised when I was eight days old, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew [and the son] of Hebrews; as to the observance of the Law I was of [the party of] the Pharisees,

6 As to my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and by the Law’s standard of righteousness (supposed justice, uprightness, and right standing with God) I was proven to be blameless and no fault was found with me.

7 But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.

8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
has to die.

The death is daily, and is constant.

Paul thought of his past life, as dung.

Would you go near a pile of dung?

Stop returning to the dung of your past life, that is gone.

Someone once said these words and this is true:

ALL MEN DIE, BUT VERY FEW TRULY LIVE

Let me say this:

Only those who have died to self and live to Christ, have truly lived.

Let me finish, with a man ten thousand more qualified to speak on this subject

MATTHEW HENRY SAYS
[1.] He is crucified, and yet he lives; the old man is crucified (Rom. 6:6), but the new man is living; he is dead to the world, and dead to the law, and yet alive to God and Christ; sin is mortified, and grace quickened.

[2.] He lives, and yet not he. This is strange: I live, and yet not I; he lives in the exercise of grace; he has the comforts and the triumphs of grace; and yet that grace is not from himself, but from another. Believers see themselves living in a state of dependence.

[3.] He is crucified with Christ, and yet Christ lives in him; this results from his mystical union with Christ, by means of which he is interested in the death of Christ, so as by virtue of that to die unto sin; and yet interested in the life of Christ, so as by virtue of that to live unto God.

God bless you
kk