Galatians 1:4-5 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:… I. THE PRINCIPAL FACT OF THE GOSPEL is, that Jesus Christ "gave Himself for our sins." 1. "For our sins" — there was the occasion for this act. Did you ever reflect, my brethren, on the peculiar nature of this property, which is here said to belong to us — "our sins"? They are the only thing which we can truly call our own. Everything else that we possess, is given — nay, it is but lent to us; it came, in many instances, without our seeking, and we must quickly part with it again. But "our sins" are our own. The possession of them is of our own making and acquiring. We may, indeed, have had partners, prompters, assistants — each of whom has thereby added to his own accumulation of this property. But our share remains undiminished — there is none to divide it with us. And, what is worse, it is a property which, when once acquired, cannot be alienated or put away. Need I say, that it is a most worthless, most injurious, nay, ruinous possession? There is indeed good reason for all this anxiety: for our sins both deprive us of many present blessings, and entail upon us many future woes. 2. Our text, my brethren, while it names the great fact of the gospel, answers this difficult question. Christ "gave Himself for our sins" — and that in such a manner, as to leave the fatal property just what it was, hateful, and condemned by God and man, while its owner is set free from its curse. "Take Me," He exclaimed, "instead of those sins." True, they are still "our sins," and we must be humbled for them, and repent of them; but, by faith casting them afresh on the atoning Saviour, we shall find that they can no more interrupt our intercourse with God as a friend, than if they had never been committed. II. ITS INTENDED EFFECT. Christ gave Himself for our sins, "that He might deliver us from this present evil world" 1. "This present world" is "evil," because it is a rebellious world. It has apostatized from the service of its true and rightful Master — of Him who made it. 2. "This present world" is "evil," because it is a corrupting world. When sinners have been reclaimed from it, they are still liable to be "again entangled therein and overcome." 3. "This present world," is "evil," for it is a doomed world. It bears upon every part of it the sentence of condemnation. (J. Jowett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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