The Tree of Life
The sermon emphasizes the importance of being grafted onto the Tree of Life, which is Christ, and living by His life rather than our own efforts or spiritual things.
Miles J. Stanford preaches on the theme 'Not I, but Christ' based on Galatians 2:20, emphasizing that true salvation is not just about forgiveness but about being a new creation in Christ. He illustrates the concept of spiritual transformation using the analogy of a crab tree that needs to be grafted with a new life. Stanford highlights the shift from worldly pursuits to spiritual priorities after salvation, where God removes our reliance on personal virtues and replaces it with a dependence on Christ's life within us.
Text
"Not I, but Christ" (Galatians 2:20).
It is not a matter of what fruit, but of which tree!
"What salvation has done is not merely forgiving me my sins; forgiveness, cleansing, justifying, applies to my responsibility and guilty condition in the first Adam; but salvation applies to my standing in the Last Adam. It is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
"What would you do if you wanted to make something of a crab tree? Not nurture, and prune, and dig about it. That God has done with His fig tree (Israel). If you know anything about it, you will cut it down and graft it. Until you find out that the old man is utterly bad, and that there is no mending it, you will not give it up. If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples." -J.N.D.
"Before we were saved, worldly objects and affairs usurped the place of Christ; but after being saved, spiritual objects and affairs now tend to occupy His place. Earlier God took from us the things of this world; presently He is taking away our spiritual thing or things. He removes our personal patience, love, power, gentleness, humility.
"Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead. We are patient not because we have received a power to be so, but because we have got a patient Person. So it is with humility and the rest: not a power but a Person." The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ.
"For to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:27).
Sermon Outline
- The Importance of Being Grafted onto the Tree of Life
- The Process of Being Grafted
- Living by the Person of Christ
- Patience and Humility
- The Life of Christ as the Fruit of the Spirit
- Grafting onto the Tree of Life
Key Quotes
“If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples.” — Miles J. Stanford
“Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead.” — Miles J. Stanford
“For to me to live is Christ” — Miles J. Stanford
Application Points
- We must be willing to cut down the old crab tree and be grafted onto the Tree of Life in order to live by Christ's life.
- The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ, and we must receive His life in order to live by it.
- We must live by the Person of Christ, rather than relying on our own efforts or spiritual things.