Why He Gave Himself for Me

Why He Gave Himself For Me

Why? Galatians 2:20 (The topic of why God would love me has come up a couple to times this week)

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

How can I be dead (crucified) and yet be alive?

Man is a spirit; Man has a soul; Man exists in a body of flesh.

· The spirit has been quickened – (Ephesians 2:1-2 qualifies this statement)

o Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

· The flesh continues on as if nothing has changed

o Bring your body into submission – 1 Corinthians 9:27a But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:

o How? By the spirit and the soul – Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

· Therefore, if anything is to be crucified, it must be my soul.

o The soul is the mind, intellect and emotions. That which makes you uniquely you.

o In other words, I must die to self

§ READ Mark 8:34b-38

· But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8:11.

o That’s how you can be dead (crucified) and yet live.

Why did He love me and why did He give Himself for me? (One is because of the other)

Why He gave Himself:

· First, to glorify the Father through His own obedience – Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

· Also – John 17:1-4

o Okay, that’s why He died, but why did He die for me?

· For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

o Yes, God loved the whole world, but why did He love me? After all, I’m unlovable at best.

Why He love you so:

· God saw great value in you

o After all, He had created you in His own image – READ Genesis 1:26-27

o And, we were wonderfully made – READ Psalm 139:13-16

· Matthew 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

o Now many understand the Pearl of Great Price to be the Kingdom of heaven and that’s fine for we are the Kingdom, and if not the Kingdom a part of it.

§ Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

§ Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

§ Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21.

· HE paid a great price for you because HE saw the worth in you that HE has created you for!

o He gave Himself for you because He saw the Pearl over the decay of a dead man.

o Acts 20:28 …which he hath purchased with his own blood.

God also had a purpose and a plan: Jeremiah 29:11 comes to mind. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

· 1 Thessalonians 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

· According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ephesians 1:4

· God is LOVE, and HE expects us to be the same.

o John 17:20-26

Amen

PM Service = Leviticus 19 – Standards of Holiness.