Did you know that in 1527, in the town where Martin Luther lived, which is Wittenberg in Germany, Luther's town, there was a plague, a plague, bubonic plague to be specific. And that plague arrived and struck the town in the year 1527. Many, many people died. Healthy people were fleeing the town, fleeing from the sick, leaving Wittenberg as fast as their heels would take them. But there was one man who didn't leave. You've guessed it. It was Martin Luther. Martin Luther stayed in Wittenberg while most of the population fled. And Luther and his wife, Catherine, and their children stayed in that town where the plague was raging. They actually turned their home into a hospital. They opened their home and made it into a makeshift hospital ward for the sick to be treated. People couldn't understand Luther. What he was doing, was he mad? People asked him, why are you not fleeing? Why are you, Martin, why are you not running for your life? You know what his answer was? Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You see, Mr. Luther believed that loving your neighbor involved looking after them when they were sick, putting your neighbor's health in front of your own health. So you now, I hope, can see the relevance of Martin Luther and the Reformation to us today. Bubonic plague. During the Middle Ages, millions of people died in Europe from this sickness. I mean far, far more than have died from COVID in our world today. And yet there was Luther putting his own life at risk in order to treat the sick. When I read about that, I admired the great reformer even more than before. I think, friends, you'd agree that he's worth remembering today, isn't he? So just in case there's anyone asking this morning, why are you preaching about the Reformation? What relevance is that? Oh, not the Reformation again. Just preach the gospel. Well, we're coming to the gospel. This year, of course, is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther burning the papal bull in the year 1520. Pope Leo X's bull arrived in Wittenberg, actually it arrived this month, October 1520, arrived in Wittenberg, was delivered to Martin Luther. And Luther burned it. Oh, he wasn't very Christ-like. Should he not have written a nice, kind reply to the Pope? No, Luther just lit a bonfire and dropped it into the bonfire. The papal bull. Now, when we say bull, we're not talking about the four-legged variety that runs around a field. It's just a piece of paper, a letter, a document from the Pope. excommunicating Mr. Luther and those who believed his doctrine of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. And so Luther, well he didn't burn it immediately, he was very gracious, he didn't burn it immediately. He waited from October to December and then on the 10th of December 1520, He burned it in the bonfire and burned other papal documents as well along with it. You know where he burned it? Under an oak tree. Under the oak tree in Wittenberg. You can actually go to Wittenberg today in Germany and go on a tour. Some of you may even have been there. I don't know. But there is an oak tree in Luther's town. It's called Luther's Oak. Now the original oak isn't there that Luther burned the bull under, but there's another oak has been planted in its place because the first oak was chopped down for firewood. Whoever chopped it down wasn't too worried about church history. But there was another oak was planted in its place, Luther's oak. We have a wee oak tree out at our new house, Isabella's oak. You see, whenever she was born, Derry and Straban council kindly gave everybody who had a little child, gave everybody a free oak sapling. So we kindly received it, planted it in a flower pot out the back of our current house at the manse. But now we have transplanted it into the garden at our new house, into which we hope to move. We hope to move to it in the near future, God willing. But there's the oak tree in the garden, Isabella's oak. And we're thinking today about Luther's oak. We're thinking about that tree where he burned Pope Leo's papal bull. You know, as I thought about Luther's oak or Luther's tree, I thought about another tree that's mentioned in the Bible. And it's the tree that's mentioned in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. That's our text as we finish today. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Yes, we as a family are thankful for little Isabella's oak tree. As a congregation today, we should certainly be thankful for Martin Luther's oak tree. But you know, friends, we should be thankful above all today for the greatest tree of all, for the tree of Calvary, the tree where Jesus bled and died. In Galatians 3, verse 13, we have, first of all, a test. A test. There's a lot of testing around today, isn't there? Lots of testing going on today. Testing for COVID. Well, we're going to do some testing this morning in church. Now don't worry, it's not for COVID or any other disease. We're going to do a spiritual test this morning, and this is the most important test of all. This is not a test for the body, this is a test for the soul. And here's the test. Two words there in our text, the law, the law. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. What is the law? It's the Ten Commandments. That's God's test for mankind, for humanity. Every person takes this test, you know. God tests every person by the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Is there anyone or anything that is more important to you in life than Jesus Christ? You have broken the first commandment. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord shall not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. You'd be amazed at how many people today use the name of God as a swear word. I don't watch an awful lot of TV. I've kind of gone off it the last six months. You know the reason why. But what TV I do watch, I try to watch things that are uplifting and that tend to cheer you up. I was surprised at a program that I find uplifting, but I was very surprised that on one occasion, in one episode, they used the Lord's name as a swear word, took his name in vain. OMG. Transgressing the third commandment. This is the test. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. I honestly don't like man-made rules about Sundays. I think they sicken people and put people off the gospel. So I really have no interest in man-made rules about Sundays. I mean, I remember from years ago in Christian circles some of the rules that you had to abide by, and you weren't allowed to do this, and you weren't allowed to do that, and you had to do this, and you had to do that. And whenever you went to this book, you couldn't find it, couldn't find any of those rules. So I tend to run a mile from man-made rules when it comes to Sunday. But I do believe that one of the ways that we can keep the Sabbath day holy is by attending the house of God, by going to a church service. And one of the ways to break the law of God is by failing to show up at the house of God. A lot of people fall down here, don't they? The test. Heaven's test for the sinner. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Doesn't just mean taking a gun, putting it on somebody's head and pulling the trigger. Hatred is in the same category. Hatred. To have hatred in your heart for anyone. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. How do you measure up in this test? It's the law of God. It's the great test. The Lord Jesus made it very simple. He whittled those 10 commandments down to two commandments. He said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. It's the greatest commandment. And then he said, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. It's the test to show us Whether we need a savior or not. The law of God. The holy law of God. There's nothing wrong with the law. The law is good, Paul said in the book of Romans. It's good. And you know why it's good? Because it reveals to us our need of Christ. You see, that brings me to the result of this test, this spiritual test, in Galatians 3.13. The result is, folks, guess what? We're all positive. Everybody who takes this test comes back positive. The only person who came back negative was a man called Jesus. He was free from the virus of sin. But everybody else is positive. Everybody else has the virus, the worst virus of all, the virus that'll damn your soul. COVID-19 will affect your body, bring sickness. Sadly, for some, it will even bring death to the body. But this virus, the virus of sin, brings death to the soul. It brings eternal death. It brings the second death, and that is infinitely worse than death for the body. Because, thank God, those of us who are in Christ, even if the body should die, and by the way, let's remember it will die someday, 10 out of 10 people die. But those of us who know Christ, it will be for us absent from the body present with the Lord. And forever we will be with the Christ who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. We're all positive with the virus of sin. You say, how do I know we're positive? Well, look at that word that's found in our text, curse. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Curse, curse, cursed. That's us, that describes us. We're all positive. We're tested according to the commandments of God, the law of God, and the result is that we're all positive with the virus of sin. What an awful virus it is. But there's a vaccine. You want to know the vaccine? Christ hath redeemed us, being made a curse for us. Luther was cursed by Rome. They sent the bull. He was excommunicated under the curse of papal Rome, under the anathema of papal Rome. But you know Christ was cursed by the law. Yes, Martin Luther, cursed by Rome, but Christ cursed by the law, the law that we have broken. And the Lord Jesus has redeemed us from this curse because he was made a curse for us. He took the sins of the person who wrote the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul. Paul admitted that he was a blasphemer. On Calvary's tree, Jesus took all the blasphemy of Paul. He took all the sins of Peter, Peter who had denied him with oaths and curses. foul-mouthed abuse as the Savior was tried in the palace of Caiaphas. Jesus took every sin that Peter committed. He took the sins of David who committed murder and adultery. He took the sins of Aaron who helped to make the golden calf. He took the sins of Martin Luther. He took the sins of your pastor, but we better not go there. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. He died on a tree Peter says that in first Peter 2 24 who himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree The tree is the very symbol of the curse Genesis 3 Garden of Eden command was You can have all the fruit in the garden help yourselves There's only one tree you must refrain from knowledge of good and evil But Adam and Eve couldn't resist it. And you get some person today who says, oh boy, if I had been in the garden, I wouldn't have yielded to the serpent's temptation, how deluded they are. I want to tell you folks, if we had been in the garden, if we had been in Adam and Eve's shoes, we would have done exactly the same as they did. But how is it, isn't it remarkable, there's the connection, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3, but ah, the tree of life, the cross of Calvary that Jesus hung upon. He has redeemed us from the curse by hanging upon the very symbol of the curse. He was crowned with thorns. Again, another symbol of the curse. And God said to Adam and Eve that the ground would be cursed. It would bring forth thorns because of their sin and rebellion. And we find that our Lord Jesus goes to Calvary wearing a crown of thorns. They gave him a crown of thorns. Do you expect them to give us a crown of roses? The world crowned him with thorns. Are they going to crown us with laurels? They hated him without a cause. Don't be surprised if they hate us. You know my two favorite words in Galatians 3.13, let me leave them with you as we finish. My two favorite words in this verse, they're right there in the middle of the verse, for us. For us. Christ was made a curse for us. He did it for us. He took our place. He was dying for us. Not for himself, not for his own sins. He was spotless. He was innocent. But it was for us. We who have failed the test for the virus of sin. We who have tested positive. And in order to provide a spiritual vaccine, he redeemed us and was made a curse for us by hanging upon the tree. Ah, you could put those words up in lights, those two little words for us. It's the great doctrine, is it not, of substitution, substitution. That's why we love our Savior today. That's why we're in his house. That's why Martin Luther loved him, even though most of the Roman Empire was against him. Because old Luther knew that the Savior had been made a curse for him. Princess Alice was the daughter of Queen Victoria. Her little daughter fell seriously ill with diphtheria. Doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child's breath. On one occasion, during the illness, the little child was struggling to breathe. Forgetting herself entirely, her mother took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Gasping and struggling for her life, the little one said, Mommy, kiss me. And without thinking of herself, the mother tenderly kissed her little daughter. She caught diphtheria. And some days afterwards, she went to be forever with the Lord. You see, folks, real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn't count the cost. That's why the Bible says, many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drain it. I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross he suffered from the curse to set me free. Better not sing. Isn't that what some people say today? Better not sing. No, I think we'll sing. We'll sing of our Redeemer. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon. paid the debt and made me free.