January 1, 2017
Morning Worship
Text: Galatians 3:9; Philippians 4:5-7
Subject: Redeemed From the Curse of the Law
Title: Redeemed From Wrong Thinking – Redeemed Part 6
This morning we continue in our series Redeemed from the Curse. And we also are celebrating communion as the Body of Christ.
Communion is so intricately entwined with the things we have been talking about for the last six weeks.
In communion there are three parts really…
1. We reflect on how we might have blocked the blessing from coming by sin in our lives and we ask the Lord to forgive us our sin as we confess to Him…
2. We remember the redemptive work of the cross and how Jesus became a curse for us so that we might receive the blessings of Abraham…
3. We proclaim Jesus’ return to gather those whom He has redeemed…
Before we get into our sermon about how we are redeemed from an unsound mind let’s take the time to worship the Lord through communion and thank Him for the blessing we have received and how much we are blessed…
1 Corinthians 11:28-32 (NIV2011)
28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.
32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
Taking communion without self-examination and repentance will keep you from receiving the blessing…
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 (NIV2011)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Jesus, hung on a cross to become the curse so that we wouldn’t be cursed… We are Blessed!
1 Corinthians 11:25 (NIV2011)
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 10:16 (NKJV)
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
The Cup of Blessing…
1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV2011)
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:9 (NKJV)
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine
I will appropriate it to my life today…
Are you blessed this morning?
Everywhere I turn in the bible, when I’m going through my daily readings or preparing for a sermon or something in the daily devotional, it all points to what we have been talking about for the last month and a half.
God’s desire for us is to be blessed. Now we are around people every day at work, in our families, our neighbors, who really don’t have a clue about this and we constantly are bombarded with words of cursing instead of the blessing. Turn on the news – curses. Read the newspaper or magazines… wars and rumors of wars… famine, destruction, global warming… and that is just before you have your morning coffee. And we often get so caught up in these things that without even knowing it we begin to believe them. Are these things curses or blessing?
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NKJV)
1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
Oh do you see this? God’s desire for you is to be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28:15 (NKJV)
15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
And then it goes on to list all the sickness and conditions that might overcome you if you disobey the word of the Lord.
But what is God’s desire for you? That you obey Him and then be blessed! We talked a couple of weeks ago that obedience for the Christian means being in a right relationship with God through repentance and trusting the complete work of Christ at Calvary to be sufficient for your salvation. Placing your faith in Him. Making Him Lord of your life.
You cannot make Jesus your Savior if you are not willing to make Him Lord. And if He is Lord then doesn’t that mean that you are submitted to His will and His word in your life?
Then why is it that so many people don’t get the blessing? They go through life struggling with this sickness or that financial struggle or another relationship issue… It seems to come down to this. First of all, let me say that I don’t pretend to know what any individual is lacking. But according to scriptures it seems to be disobedience that opens the door. This disobedience may not necessarily be something that is specifically spoken of in the bible, but it may be an area where one has resisted doing what the Holy Spirit has called them to do. So let’s go back to Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
1. Be anxious for nothing… anxiety includes fear and stems from doubt. Where does doubt come from? It begins in the mind – the soul of a man – and it is the devil’s main source for attack on you. From the beginning he implanted doubt… Did God really say? And he is convincing people everywhere that God’s word isn’t true, or that it wasn’t really God who spoke to you to do this or that. He even uses people in the church world to convince others of this. People believe that God heals, but He does it in His time when He wants and that sickness can last for months, or years, but God is going to heal you. Deuteronomy 28:59-60 (NKJV)
59 then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues--great and prolonged plagues--and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Now that is talking about those who are disobedient. So if prolonged sicknesses come specifically because of disobedience, then is it God’s will that people be sick? But that’s what some theology teaches. If you know in your heart - notice I said heart and not mind – that something is God’s will for your life, shouldn’t you have confidence in asking for it to be accomplished and not be anxious?
2. but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; supplication (also known as petitioning) is a form of prayer, wherein one party humbly or earnestly asks another party to provide something, either for the party who is doing the supplicating, or on behalf of someone else. Supplicating is not begging! It is done with thanksgiving because one knows that what they are asking is God’s will. Mark 11:24 (NIV2011) 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
3. 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Praying in God’s will, and being sure it is God’s will, gives you protection for your mind and your heart. But, IF – there’s that big two lettered word – if there is an area of your life that you are withholding from obedience to God, whether it is the written word or the spoken word by the Holy Spirit in your life, then you are just making confession. Confession from the mouth only, when there is disobedience, is blocked from the heart. That is why salvation is so easy, because in salvation the very first thing that is done is repentance which clears out all the disobedience, and then confession with the mouth that goes to the heart. And when you are truly saved your heart, your spirit man, knows it. And the peace of God begins to wash over you and guard you so that the enemy cannot get in.
So how do we protect ourselves? There is really one thing that you can do to be effective and be completely blessed. Be obedient. You see, when it comes down to it all, God has already done His part for our blessing.
Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Is there any part of what the Holy Spirit said through Paul that is hard to understand? We are redeemed from the curse… that’s God’s part… so that the blessing might come… God’s part again… that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
What has the Spirit promised us? 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
The key to guarding your mind is to make every effort to do what God says to do.
And then protect yourself from the influences of the world…Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
What happened to Israel as the Lord was preparing them to go into the Promised Land? They sent out spies… The Lord had made them a promise and He was already doing His part.
In Numbers 13 after the spies had come back Numbers 13:30-33 (NKJV),
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
Oh what would have happened if they would have just obeyed the Lord?
Whose report are you going to believe? Will you believe God’s word and then obey – whether written or spoken? Or are the giants so big that you just can’t believe that God’s word is true?
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Are you ready to receive what the Lord has promised you today?
