Turn with me back to Galatians
1. Galatians 1, obviously we're
going to observe our Lord's table tonight. And our prayer is that we might
observe this, we might take this truly in remembrance of him. You know, that's why we're here
every time we're here. That's why we're here every time
we're here. But he gave us this special loving ordinance to tangibly remember him. This do in remembrance of him,
and I pray we might truly observe this table in great remembrance. We have so much to remember,
don't we? We have so much to thank him for. We have so much
to be thankful for. We forget it sometimes, don't
we? But we have so, one of these days, as soon as eternity gets
here, and we look back on everything, we're gonna realize, man, we
had a lot to be thankful for. So, so much. And if all we had
was this, what this represents, we know what this bread represents,
and we know what this wine represents. This is the body of the Lord.
He said, you take this and you eat this, this is my body. Now,
it's not actually his body, were worshiping God through this ordinance. He said, you drink this cup,
this is my blood. This is the New Testament of
my blood. And if this was all we had, this
one remembrance of this sacrifice, here we are just like the Israelites
used to gather around an altar. And there'd be a lamb laying
on a pile of rocks. Well, we took some wood and nailed
it together and made a little table out of it. And we have a body and we have
blood here. And the reason God told us to
do that, told Moses to do that, Knowing this sacrifice that God
Almighty made, if this was all we ever had to give thanks for,
eternity is not long enough. It's not long enough for us to
just thank Him for this one thing. Thank God, though, because of
this, we're going to have all of eternity
to try. Because of that right there, we're going to get eternity.
We're going to try. to give him thanks and honor
and praise for this. Well, Paul begins his letter
to the Galatians with this precious news. We just read it a second
ago. The reason for our hope, he declares
our salvation. The one who is our salvation. what He did for us. What is our
hope? And really, that's all we want
to hear tonight, isn't it? That's all we want to hear about is
what is and who is our hope. We're here to remember this. This right here. Verse 1 says,
Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead. We are what we are by the grace
of God, aren't we? I mean by the grace of God. If
it were not for God's grace, We preach grace. We believe grace. We're clinging to grace. If it
was not for God's grace, God would have left the Apostle Paul,
Saul of Tarsus. If it was not for God's grace,
he would have left him, Saul of Tarsus. And if it was not
for the grace of God, he would have left every child of heaven,
a child of hell. Isn't that right? But for God's
grace, every child of mercy would still be a child of wrath. Every single one. Turn just a
couple of pages over to Ephesians 2. We've been going here a lot
lately, and I was thinking, you know, if I could only have one
page out of the scripture, wouldn't it be precious to have Ephesians
2? Ephesians 2 verse 3 says, Among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ by grace, you're saved. You're saved. Don't you
love those words? Don't you love that? Isn't that
just so sweet? Isn't that just so easy? It's
easy on the ears. It's easy on the heart. Those words are precious to us.
By grace, it's all by grace. It's all by grace. This is what Paul said about
himself. He said, I am the chief of sinners. Isn't that what he
said? No man or woman is as sinful
as I am. You think he meant what he said?
Or you think he was just saying that just to sound like he's
supposed to? He said, I am the chief. I'm the chief. I am the worst. He said, I am the least of the
apostles. Isn't that what he said? He said,
I'm not worthy to even be called an apostle. He said, I persecuted
the church of God. I'm not even worthy to be called
an apostle. But look what he said one page
over, Ephesians 3 verse 8. He said, unto me who am less
than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. You know who can just from the
heart just preach the unsearchable riches of Christ? A man who knew
himself to be the least of all saints, the greatest sinner on
earth, the greatest blasphemer. He physically took God's people
and murdered them. And now he said, I'm telling
you, this is a good God we have. Oh, this is a merciful God. Oh,
gracious God. Thank God for God's grace. That's
what Paul said through the whole New Testament. Thank God for
His grace. Back over in Galatians 1. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle,
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead. And all the brethren which are
with me." I love that. All the brethren which are with
me. The title of this message is
coming from the first three words of verse four. It says, who gave
himself. Do we know why he gave himself
this sacrifice? He came down and he gave himself
to be this sacrifice to God for sinners. Do we know why he did
that? Romans 8 says that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's why he did it. Can you
imagine that? God, the triune God, God is three
persons. One God, three persons. They
are Self-sufficient. They need nothing. They don't
need company. They're content. They are perfect. They are complete. But God purposed in his heart
to make a family. To adopt a family. To bring in
brethren. The firstborn among many brethren. Ephesians 1 says it was unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. We have been
made to be true brothers and sisters through that right there. The real brothers and sisters.
True family. We all have family, don't we?
We're connected to them. We're vitally joined to them. You know how? By blood. By blood. By name. You a moody? Yep, I'm a moody. Well, I know
your whole family then. You a Christian? Yeah. The whole family. United together in Christ, through
Christ, only because of this, what we're trying to remember,
through this sacrifice of himself. And because of that right there,
we have an eternal father, don't we? An everlasting father. Because of this sacrifice right
here, we have an eternal husband. An eternal husband. an eternal
brother and because of that we have each other eternally, each
other. Look with me at Ephesians 3 again,
one more time over at Ephesians 3. Verse 14 says, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named." Man, don't you love that? Adopted brothers, right there
in the family of God. Back over in Galatians, verse
1 says, Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead,
and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches of
Galatia." This letter is the inspired Word of God. It's the
inspired Word of God. This letter is written to a particular
people. A very on purpose people, which
makes it all the more special and it gives us all the more
reason to say thanks. This word is not written to every
word in Galatia. He said it's written to the churches.
And he's not talking about the buildings. The building is not
the church. The people are the church. Those who have been laid hold
of. That's the amazing thing about
this grace is God laid hold of us. Those that he called and
he brought. Here we are. How did we get here? God called us. He brought us. Those who God's Holy Spirit has
given faith to believe on Christ. That is all our hope, isn't it? Right there. Nothing that I did
this week gives me any hope. Nothing that I did this week
diminishes any hope. It's all right there. Every ounce
of it. It's right there. Those that
have been made to willingly bow the knee to this Christ right
here. The living God. That's the living God right there.
Those that he's caused to thank him and praise him and remember
him in his death. If that's us, this right here
is written to us. This is written to us. Now, what's
the message? What does God have to say to
us? Verse three says, Grace be to you and peace from God the
Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. What a message. He said, let me tell you what
God says. Grace be to you and peace. Who's saying that? God, the father
and our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when you can believe
something. When it's at the mouth of two or three witnesses. That's what the scripture says.
Paul said, I'm saying this. on the behalf of two other witnesses,
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Three witnesses. Grace be to you and peace. Peace. You know why people go
on vacation? You know why people go on vacation?
It's to get a little bit of rest, peace, Relief from the world
we live in. Isn't that why we go on vacation? Just to step out for a minute. Let's just step out for just
a minute and get a little bit of rest, just a little relief. Where's your cell phone? Left
it in the room. Just a little bit of peace. In
this right here, that right there, here we are, we're gathered right
now all around this right here, and our minds are all focused
on this right here. And in this right here, that's
exactly what every believer will find. every believer. When we take just a minute and
honestly, in our heart, our mind, our soul, and everything that's
in us, remember Him. And remember His death. Remember
what He did. We are honestly refreshed with
every ounce of peace, rest and relief we could ever need. Every
ounce of it. This is a vacation. We call this
heaven on earth, don't we? That's what it is. Now what are
we remembering in this? Verse 4 says, who gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our father. That's amazing.
That is just amazing. He did not just give us his decree. You know, somebody can come before
a king and say, I need some help. And the king, all right, I'll
help you. And I'll give you my decree. He didn't just give us
his decree. He did not just give us His time
and He did not just give us His effort. He did not just give
us His possessions. And here's some money to help
you out along the way. He gave Himself. He gave Himself. He gave His
life. He gave His breath. He gave his sweat, he gave his
body, he gave his blood, he gave it all. I mean, he gave it all
for our sins. He did that for our sins. Turn
over with me to Matthew 20. Matthew 20, verse 28. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life
a ransom for many. Many. Did Christ die for everybody? You ask people, who did Christ
come and die for? They're going to say, everybody,
Jesus died for everybody. Did Christ die for everybody?
No, he did not. But thank God he died for many. It's no small number. Albert
Einstein cannot count it. Many, many as the stars of the
sky and the sands of the seashore, many. He gave his life a ransom. for many, all who are recipients
of this grace that Paul's talking about, this grace and this mercy. He gave himself for our sin. He gave himself for our sin.
The sins that you and I committed today are right there. The sins that you
and I committed today are all piled up right there. Those sins were nailed to that
cross. Nailed to Him. Nailed straight
into Him. And I bear them no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Back
in Galatians 1. Verse 4 says, Who gave Himself
for our sins. that he might deliver us from
this present evil world. Everything around us is evil. It shouldn't be any shock to
us. It just should not shock us when everything around us
disappoints us and discourages us and causes us to just sink
down in the miry clay of sin. That should not be a shock at
all. Because it's an evil world. Everything around us is evil.
It's all evil. But remember this, He gave Himself
for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. And He did it according to the
will of God and our Father. What that means is, Because of
this one sacrifice right here, it is our Father's good pleasure
to give us the kingdom. That's what it means. Now look
one more time with me at Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 12 says, that
we should be to the praise of His glory. who first trusted
in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, the good news, not
just of salvation, the good news of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed. In whom? You know the gospel
of our salvation is not a what, it's a whom. In whom? After that you believed, you
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory. What that means is all we have
to do is sit and wait and hold on to our promise. That's all
we have to do. Just hold on to the promise.
Christ has redeemed us. He's redeemed us. He has redeemed
us from sin, He's redeemed us from death, and He's redeemed
us from hell. He's redeemed us. And it does
not matter what's going on in our life in this present evil
world. That right there, that remembrance
of that right there is all we need. That's all we need. Knowing this. Holding on to this. We can say back in our text,
back over in Galatians 1 verse 5, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Amen. We may be still living our days
in the pit, this pit that this world is. We're going to carry
it out our days in this pit, but we are not going to go down. God found a ransom. He found
a ransom. And we're about to partake of
this table. And this table is for God's believers.
That's who it's for. Those who truly believe that
Jesus Christ paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson
stain. He washed it white as snow. And
I don't have to do anything to help him out. It's finished.
If you believe that, then let's remember him in this.