A DRAMATIC RESCUE
(May 30, 2010)
KEY VERSE – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1) SECONDARY THEME VERSES: “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16); “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21).
THEME: Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone releases us from the yoke of the law, freeing us to live a life of love through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Legal (Imputed) Righteousness: We are justified by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). Imparted Righteousness: Immediate Moral Change at conversion (Gal. 6:15); Gradual Moral Change through the fruit-growing work of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) which requires our cooperation (Gal 5:16-17, 25, 6:8). We cooperate by using CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection, Confession/Thanksgiving. Foundational verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 5:1-5)
REVIEW:
We worship the “Lord Jesus Christ.” Every title and name given him in the Scriptures in loaded with significance. He is divine (Lord), he is our human Savior (Jesus), he is God’s anointed promised Messiah (Christ). His coming to the world brought the message of grace, a message that was almost totally foreign to the ancient world. This message, the core message of the Cross, rescues us from the ‘present evil age,’ and transfers us into the ‘age to come.’
INTRODUCTION:
Some scholars feel that verse 4 is based on an early Christian Confession. Paul is quoting it here as the foundation for his argument in the letter.
Martin Luther wrote of vs. 4, “These words are very thunderclaps from heaven against all kinds of righteousness.” (Stott quoting Luther, 17)
1. A Second Look at the Salutation
2. What Does ‘Present Evil Age’ Mean?
3. A Dramatic Rescue
– Christ Gave Himself Willingly
– Christ Gave Himself for Our Sins
– Christ Snatched Us from the Present Evil Age
– Christ’s Sacrifice Was Willed by the Father
I. CHRIST GAVE HIMSELF WILLINGLY
. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, . . .
Muslims cannot comprehend how a prophet of God, what more the Messiah, the Son of God, God himself could ever be killed by humans. This is a ridiculous thought. God is strong, mighty, all-powerful. How is it possible that puny man can kill him?
QUESTION: What verses would you quote to a Muslim to prove that Christ gave himself of his own will to die for us?
“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph. 5:25)
“. . . he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.” (Phil. 2:8)
“Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness . . .” (Titus 2:14)
“. . . I lay down my life . . . no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18)
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.” (Mt. 27:50)
Sinners, turn: why will you die?
God, your Maker, asks you why.
God, Who did your being give,
Gave Himself, that you might live;
He the fatal cause demands,
Asks the work of His own hands.
Why, you thankless creatures, why,
Will you cross His love, and die?
We have built into our culture, due to the idea of Christ’s sacrificial death, a lofty appreciation of the willingness of the strong to die for the weak. This was foreign to the culture of the ancient world and totally foreign to religions that have imbibed power as the ultimate grace, e.g. Islam!
SO WHAT: God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself willingly to die in order to save us from ‘the present evil age’ and transfer us into ‘the age to come.’
II. CHRIST GAVE HIMSELF FOR OUR SINS
. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, . . .
When we speak of Christ dying for us theologians speak of his ‘vicarious death’ and also ‘penal sufferings.’ Vicarious means that he suffered as a substitute for us. Penal means that he was punished for our sins.
‘Penal substitution argues that Christ, by his own sacrificial choice, was punished (penalized) in the place of sinners (substitution), thus satisfying the demands of justice so that God can justly forgive their sins.’ (Wikipedia) He endured in his person the penalty that our sins deserved.
QUESTION: Think of yourself as a NT Christian living just 10 years after the crucifixion of Christ. You are witnessing to a Jew or a God-fearing pagan about the fact that Christ died for our sins. What Scripture would you use to guide him/her?
“No other passage from the Old Testament was as important to the Church as Isaiah 53.” (Joachim Jeremias, as quoted by John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 145)
NT writers quote 8 specific verses from Isaiah 53 as having been fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:1-12)
“The song makes twelve distinct and explicit statements that the servant suffers the penalty of other men’s sins; not only vicarious suffering but penal substitution is the plain meaning of its fourth, fifth and sixth verses.” (J.S. Whale as quoted in The Cross of Christ, Pg. 147)
ILLUSTRATION: I came to the Lord on a Sunday evening about 9:00. The brother that led me to Christ in the front seat of his car, then drove me home. Just before we parted he wrote the reference for a Scripture verse for me to memorize. It was Isaiah 53:5-6. I wrote that verse out on a piece of paper and took it to work. I was working for a farmer cultivating broccoli and so sitting on a tractor all day long. I put the verse right in the center of the steering wheel and worked on memorizing it throughout the day.
NT verses on the vicarious / penal suffering of Christ for us.
“. . . Son of Man . . . to give his life a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28)
“This is my body given for you … my blood which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20)
“The good shepherd … lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
“He was delivered over to death for our sins.” (Romans 4:25)
“Christ gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)
“Christ became a curse for us.” (Gal. 3:13)
“Who gave himself a ransom for all men.” (I Tim. 2:6)
“He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” (I Pt. 2:24)
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 2:2)
Alas, and did my Savior bleed?
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
At the cross, at the cross
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!
Was it for crimes that I have done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree.
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died
For man the creature’s sin.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
‘Tis all that I can do!
SO WHAT: The OT foretold and the NT confirmed that Christ died for us, he bore the punishment that our sins deserved, he died as our substitute, in our place.
III. CHRIST SNATCHED US FROM THE PRESENT EVIL AGE
. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, . . .
. . . a passing, transitory . . . evil, satanic world system that has dominated the world since the Fall and will continue to dominate it until the Lord’s return. (MacArthur, 6)
To Paul, the present age is evil because it is subject to the sway of wicked spiritual beings and under the control of wicked spiritual forces, chief of which are the powers of sin and death. In this present age the totality of human life is dominated by sin and opposed to God. (Fung, 41)
“God would not have to carry out an invasion in order merely to forgive erring human beings. The root trouble lies deeper than human guilt, and it is more sinister. The whole of humanity – indeed the whole of creation (“The whole world is a prisoner of sin . . .” Gal. 3:22) – is, in fact, trapped, enslaved under the power of the present evil age.” (JLM, 105)
All the ‘ransom’ and ‘redemption’ verses in the NT relate to our sorry state as slaves to sin and the evil powers of the world. Acts 20:28 speaks of purchasing the church with the blood of Christ and I Cor. 7:23 says we were bought with a price. All of these are from slavery to freedom verses.
RESCUE
Galatians 1:4 contains the only metaphorical use of exaireo in the New Testament in relation to salvation. It means simply to rescue, deliver. Stephen, when he spoke before the Sanhedrin used it to describe the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt (Acts 7:10, 34). Peter used it to describe his deliverance from prison in Acts 12:11. (MacArthur, 6)
It corresponds to exagorazo used in Gal. 3:13 and 4:5 which mean ‘to buy out of enslavement.
According to Lightfoot the verb deliver, rescue, snatch out of strikes the key note for the letter to the Galatians. (Stott, 17)
Christianity is a ‘rescue’ religion.
“The purpose of Jesus’ death was to rescue us. Salvation is a rescue operation, undertaken for people whose plight is so desperate that they cannot save themselves. In particular, he died to rescue us ‘out of the present evil age’. Since Christ inaugurated the new age, the two ages at present overlap. But he died to rescue us from the old age and secure our transfer into the new, so that already we might live the life of the age to come.” (Stott, The Cross of Christ, Pg. 340)
SO WHAT: Christianity is a rescue religion. When we share the Gospel it is in order to rescue people from the present evil age, a system dominated by the world, the flesh and the devil and to transfer them into the ‘age to come’.
III. CHRIST SACRIFICE WAS WILLED BY THE FATHER
. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, . . .
The cross was just not according the Christ’s willingness to die. The Father was not reluctant to act. In the death of the Son of God the Father and Son were in perfect harmony. The Lord Jesus Christ ‘gave himself’ but his giving of himself was also ‘according to the will of the Father.’
We see above that the apostle saw God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as a joint source of grace and peace, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as they were the joint source of Paul’s apostleship, Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.
. . . God did by sending his own Son . . . (Romans 8:3)
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all … (Romans 8:32).
For God so love the world he gave his only begotten son . . . (John 3:16)
The Father does not love us because the Son died for us. Rather the Son died for us because the Father loves us. (P.G. Ryken)
HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make this wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon the cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
SO WHAT: Christ did not give himself against the will of the Father nor did the Father force the Son to go the Cross. In the trinity there is perfect harmony. The Cross is an example of the Triune God working in perfect harmony.
CONCLUSION
The first section ends with a doxology: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Doxology simply means a word of glory. The idea of a doxology comes from Jewish practice. The Muslim Arabs borrowed the idea of doxology from the Jews and Christians and thus when giving the name of God almost always write behind the name SWT, e.g. Allah swt. SWT stands for Subhanahu wa-ta’ala. Translated it means: Glorious and exalted is He, or May He be glorified and exalted.
There is no doubt that it is fitting to place a doxology at the end of Galatians 1:4. Let’s all say the Arabic doxology together after I read the verse one more time:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father . . .
Doxology: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Doxology (Arabic): May He be glorified and exalted.
SO WHAT
SO WHAT: God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself willingly to die in order to save us from ‘the present evil age’ and transfer us into ‘the age to come.’
SO WHAT: The OT foretold and the NT confirmed that Christ died for us, he bore the punishment that our sins deserved, he died as our substitute, in our place.
SO WHAT: Christianity is a rescue religion. When we share the Gospel it is in order to rescue people from the present evil age, a system dominated by the world, the flesh and the devil and to transfer them into the ‘age to come’.
SO WHAT: Christ did not give himself against the will of the Father nor did the Father force the Son to go the Cross. In the trinity there is perfect harmony. The Cross is an example of the Triune God working in perfect harmony.