Open with me again to Galatians
chapter one. And I greatly appreciate y'all's
generosity and your patience and kindness to me. Enjoy coming. I was asked last Sunday to bring
our older kids Sunday school. Cody was going to be out of town,
and he usually does the high school class, and he asked me
to take it. And I got to thinking about my
boys. They're getting up and starting
to earn some money for themselves. As a parent, I'm always curious,
have I taught them? Did I remember to teach them
this? Did I remember to teach them that? And those thoughts
were going through my head, and I was like, have I made it a
point to teach them about giving? Do they know how to give? And
I started looking, and kind of my thoughts were towards our
giving, right? and just wasn't being blessed
to me. The study was just, it was going
poorly. And finally realized, you dummy,
you're on the wrong topic. If you wanna know about giving,
look at Christ. Have you ever sat down and really
thought about the generosity of our God. And I don't do it
often. You know, we know that all things
come from God. He gives to us abundantly. He gives us all things. I started reading about some of
the things He has given. And just in Job and the Psalms,
just from these two books, We can go on forever and ever on
this topic, but listen to some of these things he's given. The
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life. He giveth songs in the night,
and by the breath of God frost is given. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel. Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Thou hast given
me the heritage of those that fear thy name. He giveth strength
and power unto his people. He gave ear unto me. He listened. He gave his ear
to hear my cry. The Lord will give grace and
glory. The Lord shall give good. The heaven, even the heavens
are the Lord's. But the earth hath he given to
the children of men. He giveth food to the hungry. And this one really struck with
me. The Lord gave the word. Aren't we thankful the Lord gave
his written word? and he gave the living word. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. The Lord gave the word. Galatians 1. Let's read those
five verses together again, and our text will be verses four
and five this morning. 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. Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. 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,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The Lord our God
gives in abundance. And Lord willing, we're going
to look this morning at his giving of himself in regards to his
manner, the way in which he gave, his gift, what he gave himself
to, and his purpose in giving. First, let's look at the manner,
the how he gave himself. In Matthew 5, he said, think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfill. The way in which he gave himself,
the manner in which he gave, is declared throughout all the
scriptures. But this morning, turn over to
2 Corinthians chapter 9. Just back a few pages. 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7 says, Every
man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. From this sentence, we can see
that Christ gave himself with a purpose, own purpose, and with
a purpose. He gave himself willingly and
he gave himself cheerfully. Our Lord gave himself with a
purpose. He didn't come into this world
with a general idea to accomplish salvation, with a general, ah,
lazy fare, maybe I will, maybe I won't, complete this work. He had a purpose for coming into
this world, for giving himself, and that was to accomplish salvation. And that which he set out to
do, he completed. His purpose was done. He finished the work. He gave
himself on purpose. He gave himself willingly, not
grudgingly or of necessity. As children, our parents would
often give us instruction to go and do something. Go clean
your room. A sentence worse than death. Go clean your room. We all went and did that joyfully,
didn't we? No, we went with the threat of
the belt behind us. We were forced to do it. We went
grudgingly. We went of necessity. That is
not the way our Lord gave himself. He came willingly. There was no law that said you
must go. There was no external force that
forced his hand to come and give himself. He gave himself willingly. And he gave himself cheerfully. That's an amazing thought. The
definition of that word cheerfully or cheerful was cheerful, joyous, prompt to do anything. He didn't hesitate. When I read
that definition, my thoughts went to Isaiah. When Isaiah saw
the Lord sitting upon a throne, when he heard the message, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. After these things, he heard
the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will
go for us? The question had hardly been
asked and Isaiah promptly said, here am I, send me. Isaiah didn't
hesitate. He didn't weigh his options.
He didn't do a a cost-benefit analysis of what
am I going to give up? What am I going to gain? He didn't
think of the difficulties he may have to endure. He gave himself
promptly. Immediately, he said, here am
I. Send me. Seeing our great need,
when the cry went out How can God be just and justify sinners? Our Lord Jesus Christ, our great
Savior, gave himself with purpose, willingly, and cheerfully. Being fully aware of the penalty
that would be paid, he gave himself without hesitation. Over in Matthew 6, our Lord gave
instruction for the giving of alms. Alms are separate from
tithes. Tithes were under the law. Alms,
we call them donations today. Gifts, not required of ourselves. Gifts for the needy, gifts for
the poor. He said, Take heed that ye deem
not your alms before men. Do not sound a trumpet before
thee. But when thou doest alms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. God gave his
only begotten Son as a mercy gift. And when he came into his world,
he did not come with palm and ceremony, with sound of the trumpet
before him, taking up a temporal throne that our natural flesh
would admire and adore. He came into the world despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. the everlasting King of Glory,
who all of heaven worships, adores, and praises, made himself of
no reputation. He came humbly. He gave himself in humility. Listen to Deuteronomy 16. Three
times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast
of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before
the Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is
able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he
hath given thee. Every man, according to this
law, was to give as he was able. Jesus Christ, our Lord and our
Savior, He came into this world as the fulfiller of the law. And He didn't stop at the legal
requirement of 10% tithe. He didn't come to make salvation
possible. He didn't take the first step
And say, okay, I've got you started. Keep the law. Nor did he stop at 99.9%. He didn't say, I've done it all. I've made salvation possible
for you. All you have to do is let me
into your heart and accept me. He gave himself completely, entirely, without
reservation. I don't think we can ever fathom
the depths of that statement. I think all of eternity will
be filled with the wonder and praise and adoration of the statement,
he gave himself. He gave himself according to
his ability. He gave it all. Jesus Christ, our Lord, gave
Himself with purpose, willingly, humbly, cheerfully, completely. And what did He give Himself
to? What is His gift? First, he gave himself to the
Father's will. Turn with me to John, John chapter
six. Hold your place. Well, we'll
come back to Galatians in a little while. But John's chapter six. What did our Lord give Himself
to? John 6, verse 38. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is my Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which
He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up at the
last day." Our Lord gave Himself to His Father's will. His Father's
will is to save those for whom He lovingly elected in Christ
Jesus. And our Lord gave Himself to
that will. All that was required for our
salvation, He gave Himself to. He gave Himself to that work. Turn back a couple pages to John
4. John 4, verse 34. Jesus saith unto them, My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. He gave himself as the fulfiller
of the law, as the substitute for those for whom the Father
gave him. Having accomplished that work,
he gave his back to the smiters. and his cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair, he hid not his face from shame and spitting. He gave himself into Pilate's
judgment. Our God, our Creator, gave himself
into a man's judgment. What humility. He gave himself
into our wicked hands to be crucified and slain. He gave himself to be forsaken
of the Father on our behalf. To endure the judgment and the
wrath reserved for sinners before God. He gave himself and life
himself gave of the ghost. He gave himself into the tomb. The Lord our God, Jesus Christ
gave himself purposefully willingly, cheerfully, humbly, completely
as a sin offer for this guilty, vile, wretched sinner and all
others like me whom God the Father chose in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. That's his gift. He gave himself. Finally, for
what cause? What's the purpose? Turn back
to Galatians chapter 1. What's the cause? What's the
purpose that our Lord came and gave himself? Galatians 1 verse 3. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 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, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. Christ gave himself for
our sins It is our sins that separate us from God, our sins
that have us condemned. In giving himself, he did that
which we cannot and will not do. He kept his law perfectly. As a man, as a servant, he lived
under the law's rule. and he earned righteousness."
That to me is an amazing statement. God earned righteousness. God is righteous. The Lord Jesus
Christ is righteous. the man, Jesus of Nazareth, earned
righteousness. He gave himself completely as
a man. Having earned righteousness,
he didn't stop there. As if to say, see, I've proved
it. A man can keep God's law. Now all you've got to do is follow
my example. No. He paid the penalty for our
sin in full. He who knew no sin was made sin. He bore the curse in his body. He shed his blood. He laid down
his life. He went into the tomb. He did
all of this as our substitute. Why did God give himself first
for our sins and then that he might deliver us? Who needs deliverance? Have you
ever asked yourself that question? That he might deliver us? Who
needs deliverance? Those held captive. If you're
not held captive, you have no need of deliverance. Are you held captive? Am I held
captive? All of mankind is held captive,
but there be few that know it. Many are blind to their state. We're held captive by our sin.
By our debt to the law, we can't pay the price owed. We're held
captive in our rebellion against God. And until God is pleased
to reveal to us what we are by nature, we will remain bound. But our Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself that he might deliver us. from this present evil world. What's that deliverance look
like? When God comes to a sinner and redeems him and frees him
from that bondage, does that free us from the trials and the
tribulations and the heartache of this world? No. So what does that deliverance
look like? To be delivered from this present evil world is to
be freed from its influence. To stop chasing after the things
of this world. To seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. The kingdom of God is a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, give me a heart to pursue
after him. We still have to endure all that
this life has. But our affections, our heart,
our desires, they're not set on this temporal experience,
existence. We seek the things of Christ. by His grace. He gave Himself according to
the will of God and our Father. Why did Christ give Himself purposefully,
willingly, cheerfully, humbly, completely? In fulfillment of
the Father's will. God the Father purposed to save
sinners that He chose, and in order to do so, it is necessary
that the sins of those sinners, those that He chose, be completely
paid. Not a one can remain. The wages of sin is death. God
the Son gave Himself according to the will of God, and because
of Him, we chosen, lovingly elected, redeemed sinners are blessed
to call the God of Heaven our Father. to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. He gave himself. He accomplished salvation. He
finished the work. He receives all the glory. Amen and amen. May the Lord be
pleased to bless us.