Christ Who Gave Himself

Good morning. We're continuing to step our way through the book of Galatians here, now in the fourth week of our study. Now, I want to give a little bit of a forewarning about next week's passage. I just feel that that's fair, okay? I want to warn you in advance.

So, for next Sunday's passage in Galatians, I want to give a caution, two things, about the words that aren't there and the words that are there in Galatians 1, 6-10, okay? Now, what do I mean? The first part is that between verses 5 and 6, there are some words that aren't there in all of your Bibles. We're going to need to talk about the words that aren't there.

Okay? Is that clear? No. Okay. Well, you'll find out. The other thing is brace yourself for some strong language in next week's passage. Okay? So those two warnings, I just want to caution you ahead of time. Be prepared. Just kind of get ready for it. All right? All right.

Until we get there, now here's the deal. We have been talking about this idea of what's called a chiasm. It's a mirror image, and this passage we are seeing today has this mirror image pattern from the very start. It's simple. There's a beginning part and an ending part that have a similar set of words and theme, and then the middle part, okay? And the simple chiasm begins and ends with God our Father, and it centers on the person and work of Christ. Isn't that a surprise, huh?

It underscores and emphasizes the person and work of Christ. Now, a chiasm is a mirror image in writing, as we've told you before. So we'll see this pattern as we've seen actually in the entire book of Galatians. Now, he starts off the beginning of verse 3, he says, Grace to you and peace. Now this greeting is one that draws from what was typical of some secular greetings, but it carries it out and combines it in a unique way. Let me say what I mean.

Typically in Greek they would say words that were related, it would be kara, which would be joy, or kyrein, which would be greetings, or sometimes, in this case, keres, grace. That would be common Jewish greetings, all of them starting with that CH and then an A sound. Latin, those of the Roman background, in Latin would say salas, meaning health. And among the Jews, if they were speaking in Greek, would be which would be where we get the female name in our language, Irene, or Hebrew, Shalom. And Jerusalem, for example, is Yerushalom. Yerushalom, habitation of peace.

Now, what did Paul do? He drew from one of the Greek greetings and the Greek version of the Jewish greeting and combined them, put them together. So that by itself is unique, but He not only combines them, but as we'll see here in a minute, he adapts them for the greeting with the churches in Galatia. The greeting took a modification of the Greek greeting and combined it with the Jewish greeting to make something that is uniquely Christian.

What I mean by modification of the Greek reading is that the Christians used the word grace in a way that was far and above, beyond the way the rest of the speakers of Greek used it. Grace was, among those who were secular, that is non-Christian Greeks, was something that meant a favor that you do for a friend or a relative. Well, Christ died while we were yet sinners. So it is grace far beyond grace as commonly understood. So that's what I mean by adapting it.

This set of words, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, is something that Paul uses in seven letters. The last one of those is personal, the others to one or more churches. And interestingly, he uses those In every case, and I have yet to figure out why, there's a strong Roman connection in every single one of those. Other places where he writes, and other people he writes, he uses some variation on that. Where he uses exactly that, there's a strong Roman connection. I still don't know. If you figure it out, let me know.

He says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. By combining the Greek and the Jewish greeting here, what would that do? That would support the idea that the believers were one in Christ, whether they were of Gentile, non-Jewish, and or of Jewish background, either one. They would understand, oh, he's greeting us, no matter what background you come from.

When it comes to our eternal position in Christ, I use the word eternal position because who we are and have become in Christ is changeless into eternity. We're not waiting for eternity to begin to be who we are in Christ. We are that now from the time we believe.

There is no earthly distinction that counts more. It doesn't matter gender. It doesn't matter one particular ethnic background or another, it doesn't matter any economic status. It doesn't matter any social status. There is nothing that you can have or do here on planet Earth that counts more than who you are in Christ. Nothing is of higher priority. In Galatians 3, as we'll see some time from now, he says in verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free man, There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It would also imply that these churches had both Jews and Gentiles. Both of these are represented in the church and that would also fit with everything else we know about those cities and about those churches. Everything from both scripture and history. The indications are that most of the people in these churches were Gentile, but there was a significant number of Jews in the churches as well. So we've got both those indications. A mixed group, Gentile and Jews, more Gentiles than Jews, but both of them in each of the churches there. One other aspect of using this mixed greeting of greetings to the Greeks, greetings to the Jews, is he introduces grace. That's his starting introduction.

Living by the law denies grace and denies peace as well. Later on in Galatians, he's going to say to these people who are struggling with adapting the law to themselves, He's going to say to them, be careful or you're going to devour one another. There's vicious behavior going on among the believers. And look at this carefully, for a believer to embrace or turn to the law is to deny what Christ has done on the cross. Why do I say that?

Because Christ died on the cross not only for our sins, but to separate us from the law. We have died in relationship to the law. In Romans 7, 4 through 6, Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ. And then farther down, But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound. We died in relationship to the law. We are not under the law. And to re-embrace the law again is to deny what Christ died for.

You see, it's important for believers to understand that the believer, that's you and me if you believe here today, we live and breathe, spiritually speaking, an atmosphere of 100% grace. all grace, all the time. That's God's design and intent. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This grace and peace, typical Greek and Jewish greetings here, for Paul and the Apostles are words that were put together and they are in that combination unusual. These paired greetings are made even more unusual by making God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ the source of them. Now that's something that the Greeks, as they greeted people, and the Jews, as they greeted people, didn't even begin to fathom. Grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, grace is an expression of God's own character. Grace is not just something that God says, I think I'll be gracious today. I think I'll extend some grace to these people. No. It comes from His infinite character. How much grace does God have to offer?

It's Himself. It is infinite. It is infinite in depth. God doesn't come to some point and say, well, that's it. I'm all out, folks. There's no sign of the pump. No. Done for the day. Grace is not limited. It is unlimited. It is infinite in character. Also, God is unchangeable. God will not come to some point, a future time, like maybe three o'clock this afternoon and say, I'm done being gracious. No, God is not only infinitely gracious, he is always and eternally gracious. That is his character.

It isn't simply just a commodity that the Lord provides. We don't just walk up to heaven's deli counter and say, cut me off a slab, two pounds, please. Okay. It is not a commodity. It is God himself. It is his own character, infinite and eternal. It is part of who God is.

And this grace by the Christian definition, understand the Christians didn't use the word the way the unbelievers did. We would say that we give presents in our culture typically in a way that is more like the Greek secular understanding of grace. You give gifts, you don't expect something back, to those who are friends and relatives. This grace, Christian grace, is grace given to us while we were not friends and relatives. We were made friends and relatives, those who believe, but we were not friends and relatives when Christ died for us, when his grace was shed for us.

Peace, then, is a consequence. Isn't that interesting? He doesn't just throw out grace and peace. And by the way, you find these in that order. Grace first, then peace. Grace first, then peace. Why? That grace must first be extended before we know any peace at all. We have peace with God, Scripture tells us. Peace within. By the Lord's doing, we can have peace with one another, and it's all from God as the source, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This grace, which is translated charis, and by the way, if you're joining us for the first time here, this number is a page number on your handout. Charis, here is the word for grace. It meant this favor freely given without expectation returned, but for the friend and the relative. The Christians stretched the meaning beyond anything that the secular folks ever dreamed of. Paul's letters here indicate grace meant favor and goodwill proceeding from God the Father directed to those to whom he was writing all from God's infinite resources by a new definition of what grace meant.

God our Father here. God is certainly the Father. That's who He is. That's His character and His eternal person. And this certainly names Him as one of the three persons of the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But beyond that, God our Father indicates our relationship to Him. Not just that He is the Father, but that He is our Father. We have a relationship to Him. A family relationship.

In Galatians 6.10, it says, So then, while we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially those who are of the household of faith. We're in God's household. We're in God's family. We have a relationship with Him that is such that we can call Him our Father. We have a relationship with Him that is such that we can call one another brothers and sisters.

He's going to speak to the believers in terms of the household of the faith here. Paul can write this way because we who believe have been made by God's doing to have a family relationship through Jesus Christ. Notice some of the phrases that come out in the New Testament, including this very book, God our Father, beloved children, as Paul writes to the church at Ephesus. the household of the faith, as we'll see later on in Galatians. Brothers and sisters, Abba means Papa, Christ our brother even.

Here's Ephesians 2.19 says we are of God's household.

Galatians 4.6 says Abba, which is equivalent to Papa. We have a Papa relationship with the Father.

Isn't that amazing? That kind of intimacy Many years back, I'm trying to remember whether Nancy and I were married yet, but you know it's many years back if I can't remember, right? Many years back, I remember I worked in the electronics plant, and Nancy had also worked in the same room across from the room, and I don't know how I ever concentrated. But anyway, we worked at the electronics plant, and we're putting together this electronic equipment. And my dad walked into the room. And I said, hi dad, you know, and the supervisor ran over to me and says, you can't say that, you know, he's the general manager and the vice president of Dictaphone Corporation. I said, yeah, but he's my dad.

There is that intimacy and that familiarity that we have there. We have a household relationship, a family relationship, the rest of the world cannot claim. and it is astounding. We're talking about the one who is master over the entire universe. So why do these things come together here from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Both. Why both? You see, peace for the believer comes because God our Father, the one with whom we have a family relationship, intended that it be that way. That was his design. It was by Christ's work on the cross that that peace comes. So it is from Jesus Christ.

It is made presently effective, we know, we'll see later on in Galatians 5.22, by the Holy Spirit. Same word for peace. The Trinity is involved in our having peace. All three members of the Trinity.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins. The sins were ours. When Christ died on the cross for my sins, it should have been mine to bear. And he could have just said, hey, it's your problem. Deal with it. And I would not have come out very well. He could have demanded for us to just take the fall, and we would have taken the fall. But instead, Christ knowing and being willing, took our sins upon himself to die in our place. He paid full price. No bargain rates, no coupons, no bulk deals. Full price for every single one of our sins. Every last one.

Christ himself in John 10-11 says this, I am, as we mentioned in the second Peter class and we've said here before, The way that he said it is the same way that God answered to Moses as translated in the Greek Old Testament. When Moses said, who should I say has sent me? And the Lord says, I am a go in me. I am being in fact, God, the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down willingly his life for the sheep.

The last part, Galatians 2.20, who loved me and gave himself up for me. At the Good Friday service, a month ago today, right? We said that Christ loved and gave himself up for us.

John 3.16 begins by saying, you know, God so loved that he gave his only son.

In Galatians 2.20, Ephesians 5.2 and 5.25 get very specific. He gave and loved.

We see in this passage half of that, Galatians 1.4, the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins. Here's so that, and those are really, really, really big little words.

God the Father didn't design and intend that Christ give Himself for our sins on just sort of a, hey, let's do this. Hey, I know, I just thought of something. But instead, He had indeed thought from eternity past. and planned for eternity past that this would be the way. Now, Paul next gives us a sweeping summary of the outcome that God intended. Let's take a look at that sweeping summary.

That He might rescue us from this present evil age. Now, this word might is not some probability statement. He might. It's not to dangle some uncertainty over your head. It means in order that. It's a certainty, not an uncertainty. Let's look at this phrase, the present evil age, so we'll know better what this rescue is all about. What do we need to be rescued from?

The authors of the New Testament wrote in terms of two ages for this present world, the present evil age and the age to come when Christ would reign upon the earth. Now you have on page four of your handout this chart, and we'll step through it here.

From the time of Adam's sin, which we call the fall, to the time of the Lord's coming again, we have this present evil age. That is the current time, as we said in the second Peter elective just before here, that's also a time of darkness. The world is in darkness. The one to come, or the age to come, this is the time when the Lord reigns. So there's the present time and the age to come.

And that's the pattern you see in the New Testament. Stated variously, but abundantly clear. We have here passages from Matthew, Ephesians, and Galatians. And Galatians, of course, referring to this present evil age, the one from whom we are to be rescued. The one from which we are to be rescued. So, that he might rescue us from this present age. So what about this rescue part?

You say, wait a minute, I'm still here, and sometimes this body doesn't always cooperate. Sometimes things happen in life that aren't exactly what I had in mind. The day doesn't go like I thought it was going to go at the beginning. Sometimes things hurt. Sometimes I can't feel things I'd like to feel.

What does this rescue mean? We're saved from, and I put in there parentheses, rescued from, the penalty of sin. That is, at the point of belief, rescued from the penalty of sin. We are no longer destined for God's judgment, but instead are saved, rescued from it. We are rescued from the power of sin in the present time.

The Lord has made provision for every believer. As we'll see later on in Galatians 5, He said to all the believers there, you must, and I'll carry over the sense of the Greek, you must right now continue to walk in the Spirit. Right now. To these believers who were young in the Lord. A couple years at most.

There is, by the Lord's provision, His ability to be rescued from the power of sin now. Thirdly, the presence of sin. The Lord, at a time to come, will take us all to be with Him. We will be with Him and taken from the very presence of sin altogether. that he might rescue us from this present evil age. The Greek behind the set of words literally says that he might outlift us out. Now, is that redundant? Yes, that's exactly what he did. He was redundant by emphasis. Out! Out!

You see, one of the things we'll find as we go through the book of Galatians, you're done here, folks. How about that? You're done here. How about that? You're all finished here. You are seated in the heavenlies. Live there. How about the living here? Oh, that's his job. It's no longer I who live. I'm done here. Christ who lives in me. He might outlift us out. We're out of here. We're done. God's action through Christ is intended for a heavenly people.

People who, Ephesians 2.6, who have been seated with Christ, past tense, in the heavenly places. Quite apart from the character, remember we're being rescued, and the destiny, remember this world is not headed for some good things next, of this present world. our blessings are out of this world.

Ephesians 1.3, blessed in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. A few blessings? A couple of them? Two or three? A handful? No. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 2.6, seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3.20, that's where our citizenship is. Got your citizenship papers? If you have your Bible in your hand, that's your citizenship papers. Your citizenship papers say, heavenly. That's where you're seated. That's home. That's where you're blessed. That's where your citizenship lies.

According to the will. The words according to are used in the New Testament to indicate consistent with. consistent with, is the idea, consistent with the will of God our Father, of our God and Father. It was in the past, and is right now in the present, consistent with the will of God our Father, that we who believe, you and me, we who believe, are rescued by Christ's doing from this present evil age Two heavenly blessings, seating and citizenship. From, to. Out, out, from. To there. We've shown this diagram before. You have it also on page 5 on your handout.

I won't go into the details here, but this is God's big picture, isn't it? This is God's sovereign will for those who believe This rescue is something that he has put in place that defines who we are, that defines where we're going to spend eternity. And certainly we have right now some things that the Lord has laid out for the way we live and what things must happen in our lives as believers. But in the big picture, the big picture of the rescue is God's sovereign will. And you know what's cool? We can't blow it. We can't blow it. Isn't that assuring? I can't say, oops. I don't need to. And God doesn't say, oops, either. This is His sovereign will. The last part, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

You see, everything Paul wrote about, Galatians 3 and 4, Here is a fulfillment, this is the first verses there, verses 3 and 4, is a fulfillment of God's eternal purpose, to declare, to reveal, and to share His glory for what end that He might be glorified. God's eternal purpose. It's a purpose that isn't just for some time window, it isn't God's eternal purpose until noontime. God's eternal purpose until the end of May. No. God's eternal purpose. His eternal purpose. A purpose that has eternity past as its foundation and eternity future as its destiny. That purpose.

Let's look at Galatians 1, 3 through 5, expanded and explained. And if you're new here, you'll have to have somebody help you figure out what that is. What we do here, I'll just say briefly, is we expand upon the meaning of the passage so that it's well understood. So it's a little wordy, but bear with us. Here's how it goes.

Grace to you and every kind of spiritual peace. From the infinite source of both, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself voluntarily and out of a heart of unconditional love, paying a full price for all of our sins in order that he would rescue us who believe out from this present evil age, which continues from the time of Adam's sin to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of that took place according to the will of God, the one who is our Father. To the Father be the glory forevermore, endlessly. And that is the resounding truth.

We're going to be, in the weeks to come, looking at a lot of details. He's going to be giving us some words, as I warned you, will be a bit heavy, strong language next week. He's going to be talking about details of his life and his life of others. Talking about the reason for the law. Why do we have the law? Lots of other things. We're going to be getting into those details. But even before he steps through that door, what does he do? He's done what he did here today. He answers some big picture kinds of questions. What is this about? What are we going through here on planet Earth? Who is it about? Who are the people that matter? Who are the ones that matter? What have we got to do with this? What is God doing here on planet Earth? Or what on earth is God doing?

One of the perspectives that he's presenting here is the law is all about what we think we're going to do for God. That's the law. What we're going to do for God and about how we're going to show God that we are worthy. Oh, yeah, I'm worthy. I have done all this stuff and I've not done all this other stuff. And we're going to, by the law, demonstrate our worthiness, so we think, for God's grace. But what does Paul do here? He begins this letter after saying, Hi, I'm Paul, okay? To these churches who were falling desperately under the law, who were, as Paul will put it later, falling from grace. He's going to tell about what God did for us, not what we're going to do for him, the law. He's going to tell them that Christ died even while we were yet sinners, unworthy. And the law will not make you worthy.

Christ loved and gave himself for us. God did the work, not us. He is worthy. And it's only because we're in him that we have any worthiness at all. We're unfathomably blessed, blessed out of this world because of what he's done and because of his worthiness. Let's go to our Lord in prayer.

Lord, we do thank you for what you've done. We've seen in Paul's brief description in three verses here, the big picture. We've seen the sweeping description of what you have done for us. And we've seen the law, it's very intent, set aside. And we thank you for your most marvelous and amazing grace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.