Christ Manifest in Us

If you have your Bible, please turn to Galatians chapter 2. I want to read from verse 16 to verse 20 Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 to verse 21. We're on this series of the importance of water baptism. And we've set aside our other two series on Sundays and Wednesday nights simply to deal with water baptism, its importance.

And more than that its meaning. I have often in this church gone into this subject, dealt with it, expounded Romans chapter 6. But I feel like we're going a bit further and deeper here over these weeks. And that's right to do.

As a church we do that. That's what the entire Christian life is. We visit something, we think we've seen it, we've experienced it, we know this, we understand.

And then with the dealings of God, as we go deeper, then the Lord takes us deeper. And it's as if we haven't even covered this before. That's what actually happens with the Word of God, with doctrine and with truth.

We're on part 9 in this series. And again I didn't mean to do as many messages in this series. But you know what, I don't come into this laying down a pattern.

I'm seeking the mind of God. I'm praying. I'm looking at the body.

I'm communicating with you. This is real. This is live.

It's not something that we're doing as a lecture, as a discipleship course. We are walking out real lives. You're facing your flesh.

You're dealing with a real devil. You're surrounded by the world. You're having real issues in your heart to walk through.

And so it's live. It's real. The Holy Spirit speaks now, today, to His church.

But read in Galatians chapter 2. In my message tonight, Christ manifests in us. Galatians chapter 2 verse 16. 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 we, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. Remember that term from Romans chapter 6? God forbid we have it again.

In fact, in these verses, you have a repetition of Romans chapter 6. And then verse 18. 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.

And this is the verse I'm going to really deal with. 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. Let's pray together and ask for God's help and blessing. Father, we love you.

We bless you. We thank you for your grace and your mercy and your kindness tonight. Father, in all the provision of Jesus Christ, not only in sins forgiven, not only in justification by faith, but being crucified with Jesus Christ, being buried with him, Lord God, being risen again.

Lord God, we thank you that this isn't just a theology, it's not just history, but it's a living experience that we're going to spend our entire Christian life working out, walking out, Lord God, living through. Lord God, we find that like in Romans 7, it's a vicious battle. At times, O God, we have found ourselves, Lord God, nipped by the old man, Lord God, wrestling with him in a life and death struggle.

Lord God, we're asking of you that we might be under grace here tonight, that the grace of God might work mightily in hearts. Lord God, show individuals in this room, it's not by their own striving and efforts. Lord God, it's not a thing of pretense and pretending, but O God, it's the power of God.

It's all of grace that it might be of Christ. Lord God, we ask of you this walk in the Spirit, this walk of holiness and obedience, of being crucified with Christ, of living for Christ and letting Christ live in us. Lord God, let it be by your grace and your mercy.

Let the power of God be made manifest. Let Christ be made manifest in us and through us here tonight. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

Amen. Praise God. Our message here tonight, Christ manifest in us.

It says here in Galatians chapter 220, I, Paul speaking, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I believe this is at the heart and the end of the message of water baptism. What you actually do symbolically in water baptism is pointing to this point. No one embraces the cross easily.

No one. Christ had to go into Gethsemane. He had a travail in prayer.

He sweat, as it were, blood. He was there in great sorrow. He wept in the garden.

You know why? He's going to the cross. If you're going to go to the cross, you will visit Gethsemane. Don't tell me that dying to self is easy and blase.

It's not. Don't tell me that crucifying the flesh, mortifying the deeds of the flesh is a casual thing, a nominal side issue of the Christian life. This is a warfare.

You're on the battlefield of holiness when you begin to deal with this. But I want you to show where we're going. Why go to the cross? Why suffer with Christ? Why entail upon yourself this crucifixion, this death of who you are? It's for one reason, and that's the title I've given this.

Christ manifest in us. Christ could be in you but not manifest. Christ could be living in your heart by faith and yet he's not, listen to this, living his life through you.

He could be in your heart by faith. You could be living by faith. But are you walking by faith? Do you live out your whole life by faith? And so this is what we're going to deal with tonight in tandem with all that we've dealt with.

Let me go back and then we're going forward. We want to go deeper. Therefore, we've got to emphasize what we've already said.

What you know so well already over these few weeks, but it's so important. I've got several points here. I simply want to give you, like on Sunday, a simple verse expounded.

These verses are dynamic in the Bible. You ought to know them. You ought to breathe these individual verses.

There's so much power in them. And it can set you free. So many Christians are struggling over issues that are clearly stated in individual scriptures.

Number one, let me state this again, crucified with Christ. Paul writes here in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. I am crucified with Christ.

It was a personal testimony. It was a personal experience. It wasn't just a doctrine.

It wasn't just a teaching. Paul is saying here, I am. I, Paul the Apostle, a preacher, a leader in the church, a Christian, someone who got converted.

I am crucified with Christ. It was his personal testimony and experience. Do you know when Paul is writing this, he is writing to the churches of Galatia.

That is in the eastern part of present-day Turkey. There's an entire region that was called Galatia. And Paul is writing this church.

He actually went there, preached from town to town, community to community, and raised up churches. There was a move of God. He actually got waylaid on his missionary journey because of sickness.

He got laid aside. And out of that came the evangelization of an entire region. Miracles were done.

The Holy Spirit fell on them. They had real mighty works of God. Many, maybe thousands were converted.

And all these churches got raised up over an entire region or province. It was dynamic. I mean, the power of God was there.

Change lies. They came out of paganism. En masse, hundreds of them coming out of paganism.

This was the teaching of their fathers. This was their culture. This was their family lifestyle.

Paganism, darkness. You know who the Galatians are? They were the ancient Celts. They were Europeans who invaded down into Turkey.

And those Galatians married. They settled in that region. When Paul starts in Galatia, Patrick finished in the west in Ireland.

It was all the same preaching of the very same gospel of these pagan tribes steeped in darkness, blindness, no light. But do you know what Paul done? Paul went and preached the gospel there. He saw them born again, saved, changed, transformed.

Really meeting Jesus Christ. I mean, entire churches raised up who had living testimonies. But something went wrong.

See, crises can come to the individual Christian life. And preachers and nations. The churches within a nation can suddenly change.

A church that was once running well can suddenly change. Preachers who once ran well, something can happen with them. Why does Paul write Galatians chapter 2 verse 20? Why does he write it? Do you know all the great writers on the book of Galatians? Do you know what they say? This is the only letter.

He doesn't give a word of greeting, encouragement, exhortation. He plunges into Galatians chapter 1. And he is in shock. He is in awe.

How have you got away from the grace of God? How are you so soon removed, changed inside from the gospel of the cross of the grace of Jesus Christ? How have you perverted the gospel? This is those who started well. They ran well. They had their eyes on Christ.

They're walking in holiness. But something happened. Something actually tragic went happen.

And Paul is actually preaching to them, warning them. And then he gets into chapter 2. And he begins to talk about things that happened in Jerusalem. And then things that happened in Antioch.

And now things happening in Galatia. You see, things have happened in that early church that Paul had to deal with. And you know what? He had an answer.

Saints of God, there's an answer. See, for defeat, struggles, failure, disobedience, there is an answer tonight. And you can't imagine how terrible the flesh is when the flesh suddenly arises in the church.

When suddenly Christians who once obeyed God now struggle to obey God and find they can't obey Him. Those who once were consumed with a passion with Christ now get tied into laws and ritual bound by religion. It's a terrible condition.

And Paul's dealing with it. So, in Galatians chapter 2, he even mentions about Peter. Even Peter.

I had to rebuke Peter to his face and say, what about justification by faith? Even Barnabas got caught up in this. And now here you have the churches of Galatia forgetting the message of justification by faith. You see, by faith alone, in Christ alone.

That's how you get born again. It's not works. It's not staying holy by being holy.

There's something far more here. And so, Paul is writing as a shocked man, a grieved man, a disappointed man. And he's dealing with Christians who have faltered in their race.

Who did hinder you? Who bewitched you? Hear what Paul's saying. It's like someone cast a magical spell on you. Where you've taken your eyes off Jesus.

The finished work of the cross. You know, there's something I can't explain it. It's a mystery.

The cross is a mystery, I want to tell you. I don't fully understand it, but I can preach it. I can tell you the doctrine.

See, when you have your eyes clearly on the cross. And the finished work of the cross on what Christ has done. You live a holy life.

You obey Him. See, as soon as you hit a brick wall and you're not. It's because you've taken your eyes off Christ.

You have lost the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't understand how that works, but it does. And Paul deals with it.

Someone has bewitched you. You know what, Christ was laid out before you as crucified. You did run well.

You actually obeyed Him. You followed the truth. You did the truth.

You walked in liberty and freedom. That's the letter to the Galatians. How did you do that? You simply had your eyes on Jesus Christ crucified.

You simply loved the man of Calvary. You simply seen that he died for you and bled for you. And he loved you.

And he took your place on the cross. And here you are a sinner bound, in this room, bound by addictions. By the power of Satan.

By imaginations. By demonic powers. And you know what happened? You simply caught a glimpse.

I've had preachers talking to me the past week and in previous months over the past year. And they're mystified. See, they believe different doctrines than me.

And see, it seems too simple that I say, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be free of your heroin. You could walk in here demon possessed and you could be utterly set free. No breaking of curses.

No demonology. I didn't even get time to lay hands on you. I've had preachers, mature preachers, sitting confused.

Asking me, saying, put me over this. Give me the details. You didn't lay hands on them? No.

You didn't break any curses? No. You didn't cast any demons out of them? No. But how could this happen? By grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Justified from your sin. You see, there's a power in this. And you know what? That's where you start in salvation.

That's where your relationship with Christ. You're immediately free. You walk into this.

And then if you're not careful, you get taught out of it. Or the devil whispers in your ear. Or the flesh arises again.

The flesh you thought was dead and gone and buried. And suddenly you have to deal with the flesh. And you know what? If you're not careful, you're under an attack of propaganda.

This is the greatest propaganda war in the entire world. It's for your mind, concerning your flesh and your walk of holiness. And you begin to settle down.

So this entire letter, Paul is shocked. He uses Peter as an example. What do you think? You can't fall foul of this.

When Peter did, Paul rebuked him to his face. Said, you are to be blamed. Even Barnabas.

Paul's shocked. Even Barnabas got caught up in this. Saints of God, I believe this verse, Galatians 2.20. It is the high point in this entire book.

It is a dynamic verse. Until this point, Paul is shocked. He is laboring.

He is dealing with this crisis that's happened. But then he comes to a high point. Do you know why Paul's different? Do you know why Paul's marching to a different drumbeat? Do you know why he's insulated? Do you know why he's walking holy? He's running well.

He's in obedience. He hasn't changed direction. This is it.

This is the key of it. And you know, Galatians 2.20 is a condensed form of the entire teaching of Romans 6. My first point, crucified with Christ. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ.

It's his personal experience. He has an experience of being crucified with Christ. The Greek word there, and it's all one Greek word.

I am crucified with is just one word. One single Greek word. It means to be impaled, in company with.

You cannot separate your death from the death of Christ. We could call this co-crucifixion. It's not your crucifixion by yourself.

You've entered into his crucifixion. Now Paul says, Christ's crucifixion. It's more than a doctrine.

But this condition of being co-crucified is at the heart of this. It's our identification with Jesus Christ. It's a doctrinal truth.

We preach it. We believe it. We hold fast to it.

But since it's got to become an experience. Paul is looking at the decay in the church. He's looking at disobedience.

He's looking at law and rituals and traditions. He's looking at false teachers come in. What is his answer? I am crucified with Christ.

I have been crucified. I am in co-crucifixion with him. Listen to what it says in Galatians 5.24. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts.

When Paul says, I am crucified, what is he talking about? Who is the I? All through this, Paul constantly speaks about I. I am crucified. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live. Do you see how I is all through this verse? Maybe no verse has as many I's. You see, we think of being self-centered.

This verse on Paul is utterly free of being self-centered. And yet he keeps talking about I. About me. About personal experience.

This is no longer doctrine. This is no longer the church. This is his testimony.

I am crucified with Christ. But what is crucified? We've dealt with this, but I want you to hear it. I am crucified.

When Paul said that, what is he saying? What is crucified? You see, if I had two of you up on trial. One of you is innocent. One of you is guilty.

And I'm going to crucify you. And I'm going to choose whether it's going to be Thomas or Jer. One is guilty.

One is innocent. I better not get that wrong. I better not crucify the wrong person.

Isn't that right, Thomas? I don't want to do that. I want to make sure I'm aiming at the right person. The guilty person.

When I say I am crucified with Christ, you better know what you crucify. Do you crucify your personality? You could be a quiet person. Do you crucify that? You could be a loud person.

Do you crucify that? What do you crucify? When Paul says, I am crucified, what is crucified? See, you've got to know what you're crucifying. Who is to be nailed to the cross. You better not start trying to nail something to the cross that ought not to be on the cross.

And so in Galatians 5.24, and Paul's dealing with this whole thing, and they that are Christ's, in other words, that belong to Christ, that are born again, they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh. It's the flesh. The flesh, underline that.

What do you crucify? You crucify the flesh. A real born-again Christian, owned by Christ, possessed by Christ, what does he do? He crucifies the flesh. He applies the cross, the crucifixion of Christ, to be crucified.

See that word, crucified? To be impaled with Christ. I am crucified. Paul is saying, my flesh life was I. Do you see that I? It is I, the flesh life.

I, who I was. I, outside of Christ. That part of me that's unredeemable, it must go to the cross.

And so Paul says, all they that belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. You don't, let me tell you this, you don't have an uncrucified Christian. See, the flesh in the church, uncrucified's very dangerous.

Your flesh, my flesh, her flesh, is all very dangerous. Apart from the cross. When Paul says, I am crucified, he's not inflicting pain on himself.

There's a part of himself, innate within him, that he's found within him. Remember Romans 7, I find within myself a law. Have you found that law? Have you found this other mind that's against the Spirit, that's against the will of God, that's against holiness? Have you found it? In other words, you've experienced it.

Paul did. Paul says, I am crucified. That means you've found this flesh like Paul.

It means you identified it. Have you identified what the enemy is in you? Can you actually say, that's my flesh. That's a part of me that needs crucified.

I am crucified. And so he says, all those that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. In other words, the flesh, how do you identify him? Remember ladies, it's not a her.

You don't have a her old her. You have an old man. One old man.

All of us have an old man. Adam. Very ancient, 6,000 years old.

Let me tell you, he's the oldest man who ever walked on the face of the planet. Not Methuselah. Methuselah's gone.

Adam is still here operating. You're under his headship, outside of Christ. You're under Adam.

You're in Adam. You're of Adam. That's the old man.

And see, that old man can look very sophisticated. But can you identify your flesh? Do you know what your flesh looks like? Do you know your flesh is dangerous to you? That's why Paul crucified it. He didn't pray for it.

He didn't perfume it. He didn't counsel it. You know, right through the church of our day, they've had this whole movement of counseling.

And you know what they do? They counsel the flesh. Oh, you don't know what happened to me. This happened.

They said this. You're dealing with the flesh most of the time. And people spend hours counseling people in churches.

I'd rather preach and bring you into an altar and pray with you. I'm not against counseling. Godly counsel.

You know I do that. I'll speak. I'll answer questions.

I'll give time. But I'm talking about a psychology. I'm talking about all of this stuff that swept the church.

I'm thinking about your upbringing. Hold on. I am crucified with Christ.

But what about your homosexual problem? What about your drink problem? What about your daddy not loving you? Someone asked me recently, did your daddy ever tell you he loved you? And they're trying to get to the bottom. Why do certain people act in a certain way? Well, their daddy didn't say to love them. Come on.

You need to be very, very careful of what comes into the church. Do you know what? Your flesh can want minister to, to minister to do many things. Paul said, I have crucified the flesh.

And you know how you identify the flesh? With its affections and lusts. When Paul says, I am crucified with Christ, he's giving the answer to a church that thinks it's religious. Remember, they're not out in the world again.

They didn't go back to the pubs. You know what they've done? They started getting into rituals and dates and ceremonies. Starting to think about circumcision again.

Going back to doctrines, coming into the church again. They've moved to the outward ritual. Being saved through water baptism.

Going back to some ritualistic Christianity. Coming to the Lord's table. Feeling it in itself is sacred.

You've got to be so careful. How do we identify the flesh? When Paul talks in Galatians 5 about having crucified the flesh. Before that, he explains about this.

Listen to verse 16. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Do you know how people across the church say, I'm walking in the Spirit.

I'm led of the Spirit. What do you mean by that? Oh, the Holy Spirit speaks to me. I feel promptings and urges and words and prophecies.

I'm led by the Spirit. Do you know our Bible generally, there is an odd time where it says the Holy Spirit spoke to them. The Holy Spirit led to them.

But that's not the fundamental doctrine of being led by the Spirit of God. Paul lays it out here. If you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

What does being led of the Spirit mean? It actually means crucifying the flesh fundamentally. Are you a Spirit led man and woman? Are you a Holy Ghost man and woman? You have crucified the flesh. It means you're being led by the Spirit.

How do I know you're actually being led by the Spirit? You identify the flesh. You know what it looks like and you're crucifying, you're saying, you're going to the cross. That thought's going to the cross.

That ideology, that desire, it must go to the cross. I'll crucify it. See, that's being led by the Spirit of God.

Not thoughts and words. Oh, the Spirit told me to go do that. Why is it all those people most noted as being so-called led by the Spirit are those who are so little crucified? Haven't we come across it? There's some of the most wacky people on the face of the earth, in the church, and I believe in the real leading of the Holy Spirit.

But I want to tell you, it starts here. Crucify your flesh. Remember what Paul writes elsewhere.

He says, this is the will of God. Remember everyone in the church going hither and thither looking at the will of God. Is she the will of God? Is he the will of God? Is that job the will of God? Should I be here? Should I be in missions looking for the will of God for their life? Paul makes it so easy.

God's will for you is that you be sanctified. Your sanctification in body, soul, spirit. You want to know God's will for your life? Don't spend the next two years saying, I want to know my calling.

I'm trying to find the will of God. Okay, I've given it to you. I'm prophesying it.

Be sanctified in your body, in your soul, in your spirit, in every part of you. Wholly sanctified. That's God's will for you.

Don't worry about ministry. Don't worry about a partner or marriage. Don't worry about the job.

Get sanctified. I assure you, that is the roadway to every other thing. And so this is being led by the Spirit.

And listen, if you walk in the Spirit, ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It's talking about a real Christian born again. There are those that believe we had the sin nature rooted out of us.

That there is no more flesh to deal with. I don't know how they can believe that when you read things like this. Ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

There are lusts in the flesh. There are affections. There are strong burning desires.

And as I say, the word lust is not sexual lust. It means strong, burning, pushing desires. Strong impulses.

And that could look like many different things. But here Paul identifies what the flesh looks like. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit.

And the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other. So that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Have you encountered this battle? These ton of believers. Not being able to do what you want to do. Because the flesh and the Spirit are on collision mode.

You know the Holy Spirit does not accept the flesh. He'll never accept the flesh. The church accepts it.

Preachers accept it. Doctrines accept it. But you know what? The Holy Spirit is against the flesh.

You know why? The Holy Spirit says, that flesh is crucified with Christ. If you're a born again Christian, you are crucified. Now we need to keep dealing with this flesh.

The Holy Spirit will never make a peace treaty with your flesh. Never, ever, ever. You can scream.

You can be selfish. Like one of these kids. You can do a tantrum in the middle of the high street.

The Holy Spirit doesn't get down and say, there, there, there, per you. You know what the Holy Spirit says? I'll take you to the cross. See the Holy Spirit knows what that is.

Then listen. Very interesting thing He says next. Verse 18.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. If you're led of the Spirit, listen to this carefully, you're not under the law. There's a big dispute across the church.

Under grace, under law. Law and grace. I'm free.

Most of what I've heard in my lifetime, they say, oh, but I'm under grace. That means you're not going to oblige me to obey God's word. To live in holiness.

To do what you're saying or preaching. See, I'm under grace. I'm free from guilt.

From condemnation. From conviction. From you pointing anything out in my life.

I'm in Christ. I'm under grace. You can't say anything.

It doesn't matter how I've acted towards people. Doesn't matter about my attitudes. Doesn't matter how I've spoken to people.

I'm in Christ. I'm perfect in Christ. Nothing can touch me.

I am under grace. That's a false teaching. Do you know the true teaching is here? Paul's saying about being crucified.

He says if you're being led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Do you see that those led by the spirit are crucifying the flesh, not following the flesh? That shows you're not under law. How do I know you're not under law? How do I know you as a Christian have not gone back to law? The entire book of Galatians talks about this.

If you started well, but now you've gone back disobeying God, no power to live right, no ability to obey Him, not walking by faith anymore, trying to live by law and efforts and the power of your own strength, you're under law. If you're trying to live the Christian life and you're carnal and worldly and disobedient and angry and bitter, you're under law. You're under law.

Because I tell you what under grace looks like. Under grace there's power to live the Christian life. That's how I identify a man.

Under grace and under law. And so the church has confused this. Isn't it funny? I take a statement like crucified with Christ and this is where we end up.

To be crucified with Christ, you're under grace. Do you want me to prove that? I'm going to do it here tonight. I'll show you.

But let's for a second show what it means not to be under the law. Verse 19. Now the works of flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.

We've dealt with this in other messages. I'm just naming them. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies.

Heresies means to take a point of doctrine and split the body of Christ. It doesn't mean false doctrine. It means you take a true point and you'll split the church for that one point.

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, that's partying, and such like. In other words, there's no end to this list. There's no end to it.

Which I tell you before, as I have often told you in time past, that they which do these things, notice this, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. You cannot be a drunkard and go to heaven. Live in perpetuity.

Can you fail? Yes. Fornication, could you commit fornication and go to heaven? Yes. But you can't live perpetually in that.

You can't claim I'm under grace. I'm forgiven. I'm under the blood.

And then live like that. You cannot do that. Because you're being led by the Spirit of God.

A mark that you're under the grace of God is you'll gain victory over this. You know what? The mark that you're led by the Spirit of God, you've crucified the flesh. You've nailed it to the cross.

This is essential biblical Christianity. The flesh is your enemy. You've crucified it.

You don't show any mercy to your flesh. You go, you're my enemy. You're my adversary.

You're my opposer. You're my hinderer. You've tripped me up.

You've accused me. You've got me in trouble. You mislead me.

Being led by the flesh is a serious thing. And then he switches and he says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.

Do you see living in this? There's a glorious living in Jesus Christ. Do you see all this fruit is manifest? How? Crucified with Christ. You crucify the flesh.

How do you get the fruit operating in your life? How do you get the fruit growing in your life? How do you walk in this manifestation of the nine fruit? You know why? You crucify the flesh. I can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of crucifying the flesh. Hear me tonight.

Identify your flesh. Identify how it thinks, how it speaks, how it advises. Learn who your flesh is.

Romans 7, Paul found within himself he experienced the flesh. You better know. I'm telling you, in the middle of the night when I wake up at night, I better know.

Is that the flesh? Is that me? Is that the Holy Spirit? Too many in the church they think their flesh is the Holy Spirit. Do you know how perverted that is? The flesh is leading them. Thoughts are coming.

Ideas, they share things with others. It's the flesh. But you think it's good.

You think it's the Holy Spirit. You're saying God's leading me. It's against Scripture.

It's disobedience. Saints, your flesh is not a friend. Look what the flesh has done to you.

And so we see that to be under grace. Listen carefully to what it says in Romans 6, 14. Do you know under grace, the term is only used twice in our New Testament.

Under grace. Only twice in our New Testament. Do you know where? Does anyone here know where it says under grace? Only twice in the entire Bible.

Romans chapter 6. Listen to what it says. Verse 14. Dominion means sovereign power.

Dominating power. Controlling power. Reigning over you.

Driving you. Holding you fast that there's no freedom. But Paul writes there, sin shall not have dominion over you.

Why? For ye are not under the law, but under grace. Do you see that? To be under grace doesn't mean you're free from any guilt over all your atrocious attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions. Oh, I'm under grace.

Therefore, I don't need to be responsible for how I've acted. That isn't being under grace. Paul actually is the only one who has the right to expound it here.

He says you're not under grace if sin doesn't have dominion over you. The sign that you're under grace is sin doesn't have the controlling power. Show me Christians who are flaky, flagrant, sloppy in their lifestyle.

Don't tell me they're under grace. How can they be? If they're under grace, they'd be crucifying the flesh. They'd be dealing with their words, their attitudes, their actions.

Then he says, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. God forbid. It's my first point, crucified with Christ.

Do you see where it's taken us? To be crucified with Christ is to be under grace. It's to be led by the Holy Spirit. For this to begin working out, saints of God, do you know what I preached to you weeks ago? It's a real warfare.

Who here hasn't, like Paul in Romans 7, become a prisoner temporarily of this old nature? Found himself in a prison cell. See, I haven't joined the enemy. I'm in a prison cell.

I've been taken captive momentarily. It's a warfare. Saints of God, the flesh is real, but I've got to identify it.

I've got to be opposed to it. I've got to hate it. I've got to crucify it.

I've got to mortify the deeds or the manifestations of the flesh. So to be crucified with Christ is an answer for every man and woman in here. Second of all, continuing to live.

Not only crucified with Christ. I am crucified with Christ. What do you mean your personality? Who you are? You are crucified? No, the old man with its manifestations.

It's not my personality and my joy or my ability to stand and look at a tree and say, isn't that a beautiful tree? I'm not trying to crucify that. I don't need to crucify normal Christian behavior. I don't do that.

See, it's the flesh. But the second point, continuing to live. Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. I am crucified. I am dead.

I mortify my own self and yet I live. So Paul, if you're crucified with Christ, then what's this living? Do you see, Paul continued to live. Though he was crucified, though the cross marked his life, his words, his actions, his thoughts, his attitudes, everything he'd done.

The cross, death marked it. But Paul said, hey, but I live. The Christian life is a normal life.

I've met some strange people in the church. Queer people, unusual people, strange people. They might claim to be prophets.

I'm not so sure. Barnabas was a prophet. He was a very normal man.

Paul says, I live. This is true living. Do you realize you can't even begin to live your life as a Christian until you're crucified with Christ? Until this is part of your experience.

I live. Do you? Oh, Brother Keith, I'm living my life. I'm alive.

How alive are you? See, Paul knew for him to live meant crucifixion. If he crucified the old man, if he crucified the flesh, then he begins to really live. I mean really, really live.

This is true living. Until you stand identified with Christ, crucified, you've not even begun to live. You don't even know what true life is.

You don't know what it is until you go and say, I'm putting down the old man. I'm allowing him to go to the cross. I reckon him dead.

Now you can live. Saints of God, do you discover this? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live.

Do you know when he says nevertheless, he's got to qualify what he's teaching. This is the hard thing about teaching the Bible. This is the hard job of a preacher.

As soon as he preaches one point and says one thing, you've got people going, Oh, but. Oh, what about this? Or they take one single statement and go to an extreme. Oh, I'm crucified.

I feel my flesh. What's he talking about? I have a battle every day. That old flesh.

Is Malcolmson? Does he experience something I don't? Never. You need to understand. Don't take one statement by itself.

I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Death to self does not destroy.

And this is very important what I'm about to say. Death to self does not destroy individuality or personality or responsibility. None of those.

Being crucified with him. Well, I'm just dead. I can't even live my life.

I'm not responsible then. I'm dead. My life's nothing.

No, you live. You live in the life. If you're crucified with Christ, then live your life.

There's responsibility on it. There's a personality. Do you know, with a certain young lady here tonight, and we've been talking over these months, and what's come up time and time and time again, maybe more than any other time in my life, is the paradoxes of Keith Malcolmson.

He's hyper quiet. He can't stop speaking, and a hundred other paradoxes. And we just talked this out, the constant paradox.

How can that be? Because there's a difference between natural human personality and Christian character. Do you know why there's paradox? I'm scared. I'm fearful.

I'm filled with inhibitions. I'm scared. I'm a conservative.

I won't take any risks. I'll always play it safe. And yet people see me pushing ahead.

I'm not a leader by personality. There's all these paradoxes in who I am. Now, why are you looking at a man who can be bold in Christ, forthright, authoritative? Do you know why? Because I am crucified with Christ.

Do you know the life I'm living has come out of that? Keith is dead. That old Keith is dead. Four and a half years old, he died.

That old nature, you say, well, he wasn't up to much at that age. Oh, I tell you, he would have crippled me in my Christian life. I wouldn't have done anything for God.

I couldn't have done the will of God. Keith had to be crucified with Christ. All along the way, every step, I had to mortify the deeds of the flesh.

All those fears that would have paralyzed me. No way. I know where those fears are coming from.

That's not God. That's in my flesh. All the things saying, Keith, you can't do that.

That's got to go to the flesh. Keith could never have been a preacher. So Paul is saying here, I lived my life.

I've got responsibilities. It only magnifies the place of Christ in a normal sphere of life. See, the most spiritual men I've met in my life have been practical men, real men, normal men.

I'm crucified with Christ, but I'm living my normal life. So Paul is saying that I'm crucified with Christ, but he's continuing to live. Point three, Christ's life.

See, we're going somewhere. Paul is teaching us in this verse. He's got doctrine condensed down in one simple verse.

You ought to memorize this scripture. You ought to repeat it in your mind daily. You ought to be in the car, in the bus, going to bed at night and just be able to, quote, take this scripture out of your mind, just even without looking at the Bible, without opening your app on your phone.

You ought to be able to take that scripture. I'm crucified with Christ, yet I live. And you begin to dissect it, to feed on it.

This third point, Christ's life. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. My third point, Christ's life.

For the real Christian who has gone the way of the cross, see, my message title is Christ Manifest in Us. And I believe this is something that we're so ignorant of. Do you know there's an entire emphasis, doctrine, in the New Testament of Christ manifest in your body? Christ living in you.

An entire dominant doctrine. See, I'm tired of the men who squabble. I'm a Calvinist.

I'm an Arminianist. I'm a charismatic. I'm an evangelical.

I'm a Baptist. And then they have a whole set of doctrine, five points, seven points, nine points. This is what we believe.

Very rarely do you get a man of the cross saying, here's my doctrine. Here is spirit-led doctrine. I am crucified with Christ.

Christ liveth in me. Where are those who live for this? It's their doctrine. It's what they live out.

Christ is living in me. What do you mean by that? And so this third point, Christ's life. If you don't go the way of the cross, Christ cannot live his life in you as he desires.

And so Paul qualifies himself again. Yet not I. So Paul, you're crucified, but you're living. All right, so you're crucified, but you're living your own life.

Oh, no. Oh, no. I want you to see the life I'm living in the light of being crucified is not unto myself.

He says, yet not I. See, lots of people say, I'm saved. I'm in Christ. I'm born again.

The old man died. Now I live my life. I make my choices.

Your choices define who you are. What do you do with your money? I can tell a lot about you by your money, an awful lot. It defines who you are, how you make choices, decisions.

It reveals who you are, how you live your life. Is your life your own or is it Christ's? See, this is a mark of this crucified life. Oh, yes, I do live a normal life.

I enjoy trees. I take Shiloh for a walk once a day. I water my flowers in the garden.

That isn't a lack of a crucified life. There is a normal life. There's a workplace to go to.

There's a marriage to live in. There's family members to function with. There's hard things to deal with life.

There's the monotony of day-to-day routine. There's clothes to wash. There's clothes to iron.

There's a house to clean. Do you think that cleaning a house is suddenly something separate from a crucified life? I tell you, those that are crucified with Christ will go and hover the floor. That's a part of it.

I'm living my normal life. Oh, but I want to stay at home. I want to pray and read my Bible.

I wish I didn't have to work. I'm glad you have to work. Do you know there's only one thing worse than having no time is to have too much time.

It can be a curse to you. Too much time to think. Too much space.

Too much ability to do whatever. You can't even handle it. It can be a very dangerous thing.

And so what does this life look like? Yet not I. It's not me just living out my life, but Christ liveth in me. Do you realize this teaching of Christ living in me is all through the Bible? Galatians 2.20 says, Christ liveth in me. Colossians 1.27 says, Christ in you.

Chapter 3 verse 4, Christ who is our life. It says in John chapter 14, Jesus preaching and teaching, I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. The real Christian, Christ is in you.

The Bible says that Christ dwells in our heart by faith. He lives in our heart. There's those that reacted against this statement, inviting Jesus into your heart.

And they say, that's a wrong statement. That's not a biblical statement. And they're right.

But I'll tell you what is biblical. It's biblical to say, Christ dwelleth in your heart by faith. Physically, He's at the right hand of the Father.

He's in heaven physically, visibly. But Christ dwells in the heart of a Christian. He lives in the heart of a Christian.

That isn't just child speak. That isn't just a sentimental prayer. In a real Christian, Christ dwells, lives, reigns in their heart by faith alone.

And that's why Jesus Himself said, I in you. I don't believe we've discovered it. Since you ought to meditate on these scriptures.

Christ in you. What does it say in Colossians? Christ in you. The hope of glory.

This is a dynamic truth. Christ liveth in you. It's not you living the Christian life.

Oh, I'm crucified with Christ, but I live. No, not you. It's Christ now.

For me to live is Christ. You don't get crucified. You don't crucify the flesh so you can go and live your own way and say, I'm free of that.

Now I can live my own life, do my own thing. And I just walk this side. The Christian life is Christ living in you.

And Jesus goes on to say in John 17, 21, that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art to me. I in thee.

That they also may be one in us. Then he says this, I in them. Christ dwelling in a saint is dynamic doctrine.

It's a fundamental truth. Just like crucified with Christ is a vital doctrine. Your flesh being crucified.

How are you going to live the Christian life? You think it's up to you? Okay, your flesh is crucified. Now go live out the Christian life. Make the right choices.

You live this out. And God is going to watch you to see if you can do it. No.

Some of you are suffering because you're trying to live the Christian life without the power of an indwelling Christ. You don't even realize. He says, I'll live in you.

I'll dwell in you. I'll walk in you. I want to live this life through you.

I actually want to come and dwell in you in power. You know all these manifestations you hear of the Toronto Revival and the Pensacola Revival and whatever the next revival is. And they're all marked by manifestations.

They're either rolling on the floor laughing or they're shaking and jerking in some strange way. It's always a manifestation. Do you know what the New Testament talks about? Real manifestations.

That word manifestation is always identified. Christ says, I and the Father will come and manifest ourselves unto you. We will come in power and make ourselves known.

Not talking about the born again experience. It's talking about a walk with God of him revealing himself, making himself known in power. It says in John 15 and 5, and you know this, the parable of the vine.

Jesus said, I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

Why is it some Christians bring forth much fruit and others little fruit? Then there's those who claim to be Christians and there's no fruit. Jesus actually said it's got everything to do with me dwelling in him. I in him, the same bringeth forth fruit.

For without me you can do some things. A lot of things. The odd occasional thing.

Nothing. He says without me, it's connected to my life in you. See, if I'm living in you, you're going to bear much fruit.

Where does all the fruit come from? Christ dwelling in you. Since we don't discover this, it's not you living the Christian life. It's not you fighting the battles.

That's why all through the years, I've never got condemned by preaching. A lot of people are sitting, listening, preaching and something convicts them or challenges them or rebukes them or the standard seems too high. And they go down in the heat and go, I can't live this.

This is unreal. I can't do this. I tried this.

I've never been like that in my life. You know, every time I hear it, they go, it's dealing with me. It's bringing me to repentance.

You know what I always say? The grace of God comes with the Word. And I say, do it in me, Lord. See, I'm like you.

I go, I can't do this. But I do have faith, saints of God. I actually believe that God is speaking.

If it's the Word of God, if it's His standard, being a fruitful Christian, do it in me, Lord. I cannot. I know what I'm like.

But there's a way of living this life. It's not me living this life. See, Paul put that condition in there.

He says, Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Paul, how are you living this life? I mean, listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 15, 9. For I am the least of the apostles, and I'm not made to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

You see, it's the grace of God makes him that. And His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all.

Yet not I. Do you see that? He's saying no. Look, more than Peter and John and Matthew and Thomas, more than the twelve, more than any of the apostles. Paul is actually saying, do you realize I labor more than all the apostles, more than Peter? That's a dynamic statement.

And yet he qualifies it. Yet not I. Don't you think that I'm living better, doing better, because I am better? No way. It's the grace of God.

Yet not I, but the grace of God which is in me. So Paul says, I'm not worthy to be counted an apostle, but the grace of God made me an apostle. The grace of God made me a preacher.

Do you know the man preaching this, teaching this? Remember who he was? He was a religious zealot, killing Christians. Separating mothers from fathers, from children, throwing them in prison. He held the garments as they stoned Stephen to death.

Stoning was a cruel death, as Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, the power of God on him, that deacon of the Jerusalem church, preaching at them, you do always hinder the Holy Ghost, and they stoned him. Can you imagine a man being stoned? The bones, the thuds, the bleeding, stone after stone after stone, and you've got a saw of tarses standing there encouraging them, holding the garments. Do you know the miracle it took? He's on his way to persecute the church at Damascus.

He breathes out threatenings against Jesus. He hates the doctrine of Christ. Saints, what happened to him? Don't tell me you can't live this life.

What happened to Saul of Tarsus, a man who hated Christ, who hated the gospel, who persecuted the church? In fact, he says, I shouldn't be an apostle. I don't deserve to be a preacher. I am the least of all of them.

I was destroying the church. But how did you get like this, Paul? How did you become the author of 14 letters in our New Testament? How is it you planted churches all across empires? How is it you went into communities where there wasn't one single Christian, and you raised up new churches with leaders and gifted ministry, thousands born again? How could you do that? What happened in you, Paul? See, Paul had learned the secret. It's not me doing this.

Have you learned the secret, Christian? Or do you still think, go do it, try harder? When Paul writes to Galatians, he's stating very clearly. Why is it you're, what you started by faith, in the Spirit, you're now trying to do by the works of the law? You're still trying to keep the same command. Live in holiness, but now it's by the power of the flesh.

You know, the problem with you, Galatians, is you've forgotten you live the Christian life by Christ dwelling in you. This is an amazing, dynamic, powerful thing. Christ in me, the hope of glory.

That's why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5 and 6. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how the Jesus Christ is in you.

You're going to prove yourself. You're going to examine. That means scrutinize.

Scrutinize your words, your actions, your deeds. Is Christ in you? Are you merely trying to live the Christian life? So you think it's me living this life. So I'm so restricted.

I'm so this. I'm so scared. I'm so feeble.

I'm so lacking. Who's living this life? Have you come to learn like Paul? You need to examine yourself. You need to prove yourself.

The word proven there, it's of metals. You prove it. You test it with heat and other methods to see the quality of the metal.

Is it real metal? So you apply tests to it to go, I want to know if this is genuine. I want to know if it's real. Paul's saying, examine yourself.

Now some people need to stop examining themselves. They're belly button inspectors. They keep looking at their belly button.

They're inverted. They're always plummeting into the lowest pit because they're examining. But there is a right place for examining.

To examine that Christ is in you. He doesn't just say that you're born again or that you're in Christ or that you're justified. He said that Christ is in you.

Do you know what that means? That he's living his life in you. That he's dwelling in you with power. How that Christ Jesus is in you except you be reprobates.

The word reprobates means worthless, rejected, cast away, good for nothing. Since you need to examine yourself. Remember Revelation chapter 3 verse 30.

Jesus speaking to the church at Laodicea. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him.

This is the church at Laodicea. The lukewarm church. The coldest church.

The poverty, spiritually poverty stricken church. But Jesus there knocking. Is there one man? It's a carnal church.

A worldly church. A wrong church. A bad church.

Is there anyone? One man. One woman. Who'll open the door of their heart and I will come in.

I'm gonna sup with you. Do you know what it is for Christ to sup with you? In the inward parts of your heart. What's the answer to Laodicea? What's the answer to a cold backslidden church generation? I'll tell you what it is.

Letting Christ in your heart. Supping with him. Enjoying Christ.

Letting Christ live his life within you. It's a powerful thing. But let me finish point four.

By faith. How do you do this? Crucified with Christ. Yet I live.

Yet not I. It's not me living this life. It's Christ Jesus living this life. So how do you do this? By faith.

I live. Paul how do you live this out? What do you mean that now the life which I now live in the flesh, in the body. Doesn't mean flesh.

See how words, he uses I sometimes as I'm crucified. But I liveth. That's not the same I. I can be used in different ways.

Flesh sometimes means the Adamic nature of the old man. Sometimes means your body. So this is where Paul says now.

He says Christ liveth in me. And the life. Look at that life.

The life which I now live in the flesh or in the body. I live. How are you living? I didn't say how you got saved.

You got saved by faith. By faith alone. In Christ alone.

By grace alone. That's how you get saved. But I'm saying how are you living? How are you living your Christian life? How you live out your Christian life? How do you do it? It's by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia at a crisis point. They had begun in the spirit but were now trying to live their lives in their own strength, their own power. To accomplish the same as they were before.

But it's by a different means. No longer by the spirit. Now it's their strength, their power, their obedience.

They've missed something. How do you actually allow Christ to live his life in you? By faith. It's a thing of faith.

You don't earn it. You don't work it up. It's not your strength, your ability.

The weakest Christian can learn to have Christ live in them and live through them. They were trying to press on towards perfection, maturity, completion by the flesh, the old nature, the natural life, the human life, the human willpower. I can do this.

I'm going to try this. That can invert and go I can't do this. I'm a failure.

I can't live this life. I'm different than anyone else. You need to be careful you don't become a victim of the flesh because you go others can live this life I can.

How did you start then? Did you start well and now you're struggling? Did you walk free of your drugs, your drink, your immorality and now you struggle and you go there doesn't seem to be power? Why not ask yourself tonight why that is? Have you suddenly moved from grace to law? From faith to your own efforts and works? You can't afford to get this mixed up. If you're living in disobedience don't tell me you're under grace. Those that are walking victorious they're under grace.

A new Christian can be an utter victory because it's by faith. You didn't learn this. How did you walk out of your life of sin? By faith.

Then you get to the stage how are you going to live your Christian life? When you leave this meeting how are you going to live? By faith. Brother Keith I'm struggling. I'm wrestling.

I'm not sure I can do this. That's because you are concentrating on you. Why not let Jesus Christ live in you, walk in you, manifest his life through you and I'm telling you, if you want Christ manifest living in you, coming to dwell with power, that it's not you anymore.

See if it's you, you get all the glory. Paul, what a preacher. No, no, no, it was Christ.

Paul, look at all the churches. No, no, no, that was Christ. It was the grace of God.

Paul learned to live by the grace of God by Christ living in him. I can't preach things to God. I want to tell you tonight, I'm a preacher but I can't preach.

Then what are you doing, Malcolmson? I'm simply, every single message saying, oh God, help me. Getting on my knees and saying, I trust you. Just one more meeting.

Phew, got through that. How do you preach? By faith. When I was a young preacher starting out, I never heard anyone, and I've never to this day heard anyone in my entire life ever say what I'm about to tell you.

But I've told some of yous before. That during those six years of beginning to preach, it was horrendous. I would stand up and preach.

I'd try to get past the tea time. Oh, I hope no one stops me trying to get to the door of the church. And I wanted to go for a walk.

Cry my tears. Say, God, I never want to preach again. And in that six years, I learned to preach by faith.

And I'd begin to preach. Five minutes, it was fine. And then all of this crowded in.

See, preachers don't talk about this. The inspiration, the faith, the expectation, the young shit had all left. And I'd go, I'd drop flat.

I'd leave, cry. Go, I can't preach. I know I'm called to preach, but I can't preach.

What do you do when you're called to preach and you can't do it? And you're proved you can't do it? And you're mid-air. That's it. Nyeow.

Pow. Pow. You've got to touch God by faith.

And right in the middle of it, I said, I'm going to preach by faith. Saints, you can do anything by faith. You can evangelize by faith.

You can live out this. You can read your Bible by faith. The flesh crams in.

The thoughts, the distractions. I can't do it. Do it by faith.

I can't pray. Do it by faith. Step out, saints, and say, Lord, will you allow Christ to live His life in and through me? I cannot.

Not me. It's the grace of God. And let Christ come and dwell within you.

Please stand. Let's just lift our hands. Let's just ask the Lord tonight.

Saints of God, maybe you've been blind to this truth of Christ living in you and through you and manifesting His power. It is the grace of God. This is being under grace, in grace.

This is the grace of God operating in you. You're restricted by your own belief. You go back to law, to the strength of flesh, saying, in my flesh, I'm going to try and do this.

You're trying to muster up in the flesh what the flesh cannot do. By the flesh, even the natural man, your own humanity, your own personality. But, saints of God, God calls you to something that's way beyond your own personality, way beyond your own ability.

And the grace of God comes in. It's not you doing this. Take your eyes off yourself.

Begin to look to Christ. Begin to invite Him to come and live His life in you and through you. To put the words on your lips.

To let the power of God be His. Hallelujah. We worship you.

We praise you tonight. Oh God, thank you for your grace and your love and your mercy. My God, move on our lives tonight.

Let the power of the Holy Spirit come. We want to be led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Lord God, we want to be under grace and not under law.

We want to crucify. We want to mortify. We want to put to death the manifestations of the flesh.

That a manifestation of Christ living His life in us might come forth. My God, grip us with the reality that there's a person dwelling within us, living within us that we so restrict Him, but by faith in the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Lord God, it's Him that wants to live His life.

Father, I pray for every individual. Lord God, those wrestling and struggling, bring them by grace. Bring them through faith of God to the person of Christ.

Back to the cross. Back to crucifixion with Jesus Christ. Live in our life, not by our own self-will, but by faith in the One who loved us and died for us, who bled for us.

We love You, Lord Jesus.