Salvation in Jesus Christ

2. CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

“I am crucified with Christ,” says Paul; “nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Christ was crucified; He was “delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:25. But unless we are crucified with Him, His death and resurrection profit us nothing. SAJC 3.1

No one was ever saved simply by looking forward to a cross to be erected and a Christ to be crucified at some indefinite time in the future, and no one can now be saved simply by believing that at a certain time in the past Christ was crucified. SAJC 3.2

Sin is in the heart of man: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, ...all these evil things come from within.” Mark 7:21-23. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Jeremiah 18:9. SAJC 3.3

What I need is freedom from my own personal sin,-that sin which not only has been committed by me personally, but which dwells in the heart,-the sin which constitutes the whole of my life. SAJC 3.4

My sin is committed by myself, in myself, and I can not separate it from me. Cast it on the Lord? Ah, yes, that is right, but how? Can I gather it up in my hands, and cast it from me, so that it will light upon Him?-I can not. If I could separate it but a hair’s breadth from me, then I should be safe, no matter what became of it, since it would not be found in me. SAJC 3.5

It is evident from what has been said that whoever bears my sins must come where I am, yea, must come into me. And this is just what Christ does. Christ is the Word, and to all sinners, who would excuse themselves by saying that they can not know what God requires of them, He says, “The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14. Therefore, He says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. SAJC 3.6

What shall we confess about the Lord Jesus?-Why, confess the truth, that He is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, and believe that He is there risen from the dead. The risen Saviour is the crucified Saviour. So as Christ risen is in the heart of the sinner, therefore, Christ crucified is there. A man may believe that Jesus was crucified eighteen hundred years ago, and may die in his sins; but he who believes that Christ is crucified and risen in him, has salvation. SAJC 4.1

What a glorious thought that, wherever sin is, there is Christ, the Saviour from sin! He bears sin, all sin, the sin of the world. Sin is in all flesh, and so Christ is come in the flesh. Christ is crucified in every man that lives on earth. This is the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, which is to be proclaimed to all. SAJC 4.2