Well, good morning. Please open your Bibles to the book of Galatians. We're going to be in Galatians chapter 3 verses. 10 through 14. Galatians 3 verses 10. Through 14. Well, if you are anything like me when you get in your car to drive somewhere, especially somewhere that is unfamiliar to you, the first thing that you do is you reach into your pocket and if I can get it out of my pocket here and you pull this thing out and you type in the name of the destination, the place you're looking to go and figure out what's the best route to get there. What's going to get me to my desired destination safely and quickly? And then you're on your way. And when you think about it, it really is an amazing modern convenience. No bulky maps that might be outdated. I don't know if any of you have experience with that going on road trips. You've got one person driving and the other person with the map. That wasn't my generation, but what I used to do is I would go to MapQuest and print out directions and I would bring those in the car with me. I see some nods, people remember MapQuest. We would print those directions off, bring them with us in the car, but now we simply pull out our phone and off we go. And one of my favorite things about these navigation apps are the real-time updates. I can see if there's a speed trap ahead. I can see if there's debris on the road. I can see what the speed limit is on the road that I'm driving on. But one of my favorite features, and it saved me several times, is the real-time notification that the road I'm on is blocked. There's some sort of emergency that has happened. Maybe it's an accident or there's road work going on, but whatever the reason, there have been times when the route that I'm taking will no longer lead me to my desired destination. And so having my phone warn me of this and provide an alternative route that will get me to my desired destination is extremely helpful. And I say all of that to point out that there's a sense in which the Apostle Paul in our text this morning is acting as the navigation system for our souls. Each of us are traveling down the road of life with eternity ahead of us. And Paul warns us in this text that there are two roads that are marked as leading to life, as leading to justification, but only one of those roads actually leads to that destination. And Paul warns us that the road of works of the law is really a dead end. He warns us that it will not lead us safely into eternity. It doesn't lead to justification, but instead it leads only to eternal cursing. But he also presents us with the road of faith. And that road is not a dead-end road, but it is a road that truly leads to life and eternal blessing. And so as we examine our text this morning, I want you to be convinced of the utter hopelessness and the utter bankruptcy of traveling towards eternity on the road marked works of the law. And I want you to see, as Paul will say clearly, that all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. But I also want you to see that there's a road that leads to life and blessing. And I want you to see that those who are accounted righteous before God travel towards eternity on the road marked faith. And this road of faith, it was paved by the one who redeemed sinners from the curse of the law by becoming a curse himself. So as Moses said to the Israelites as they stood on the border of the promised land before his death, so I say to you, I set before you today life and death, blessing and curse, therefore choose life. Well, let us pray and then we will read our text. Father, we ask that you would pour your mercies out upon us. because of the merits of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ, that your spirit would meet with us in great power as your word goes forth. We pray that all of this would be for your glory and for the edification of your people and for the salvation of the lost. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's read now Galatians chapter three. I'm gonna start at verse seven. We'll read through verse 14. Hear the word of God. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not a faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. Amen. Well, to guide the examination of this passage, I've established three headings for us, and they are cursed by the law, justified by faith, and redeemed by Christ. In verses, excuse me, in verse 10, we're going to see that those who rely on works of the law are cursed by the law. In verses 11 and 12, Paul will contrast law and faith as opposing means of justification and concludes that sinners must be justified by faith. And in verses 13 and 14, the glorious crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ is magnified as Paul shows how sinners are redeemed by Christ. So again, our three headings, cursed by the law, justified by faith, and redeemed by Christ. Let us begin first with cursed by the law. having just set forth in the preceding verses that it is those who are of faith who are blessed along with Abraham. The apostle now turns 180 degrees from those who are of faith, and he addresses those with the legal status that are of the works of the law. Look with me again to verse 10. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide in all things written in the book of the law and do them. Now, if you are reading from the ESV like I am, the translation at this point misses some of the contrast that Paul is painting here. If you look up again to verse nine, Paul had introduced Abraham into his argument for the doctrine of justification by faith. And he concludes, he finishes in verse nine by saying, so then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Now to verse 10. He contrasts those who are of faith with those who are of the works of the law, or as the ESV reads, those who rely on works of the law. The meaning is the same, but I think seeing that visual contrast between of faith and of works of the law really helps us grasp what Paul is doing. Again, he's turning 180 degrees from the blessed person, the justified person who is of faith, And he's turning to the cursed person, to the condemned person, to the person who is of the works of the law. And what does he say about the one who is of the works of the law, the one who relies on works of the law? Well, the apostle in no uncertain terms declares that the person who relies on works of the law to be made right with God, that person is under a curse. And Paul, as he's been doing this entire letter, leaves almost nothing to the imagination. He leaves no room for doubt. If you were trusting in your own ability to keep the law in order that you would be justified and made right before God, you are under a curse. And a few questions arise here. And Paul, following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, goes right to scripture to provide an answer to these questions. And in doing so, here in verse 10, he answers three questions regarding the curse of the law. And that first question is this, what is this curse that sits upon all those who rely on works of the law? What is the curse? In short, this curse is God's perfect, pure, and righteous wrath against all sin and all ungodliness of mankind. But I do want us to dig a little bit deeper and look at the verse that Paul references here to support his assertion. Again, verse 10, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them. If you would, please take your Bibles, turn to the Old Testament, to the book of Deuteronomy. I want us to look at this quotation together, the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 27. And this is the section of scripture that Paul's quoting from in verse 10 of Galatians 3. Deuteronomy chapter 27, verse 26. And the context here is a covenant renewal ceremony that occurred as the Israelites entered into the land of Canaan. The Lord had commanded the Levites to lead the people in an affirmation of the curses of the old covenant. And that affirmation ends here in verse 26 with a sort of holistic curse. And in the previous verses leading up to verse 26, the Levites were going through this long list, albeit not comprehensive by any means, but it was still a long list of sins and leading the people to give their amens to the curse that would fall if those sins were to be committed. And after going through this long list, the Levites were to give this umbrella warning, as it were, in verse 26 to the people. Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. Now, look down to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Starting at verse 15 and going through the end of the chapter, we see extremely detailed and I might say even upsetting descriptions of what it would mean for the Israelites to fall under God's covenant curse. I want to read a few of these starting at verse 15. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in. And cursed shall you be when you go out. Now I'm not going to go on, but when you get home today, why don't you read through the rest of this chapter and see something here of the hatred that our holy God has for sin and for unrighteousness. But I do want you to look down to verse 45 of Deuteronomy chapter 28. In verse 45, we see quite clearly the essence of the curse. All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed. destruction. This is the essence. This is the nature of God's curse that falls upon lawbreakers. And friends, we are all lawbreakers. We all fall short of the glory of God. Even if we were in a theoretical universe to keep the entire law, but in just one moment of weakness, we have a sinful thought. We do something God forbids, we leave some command of God undone. In that moment, we have become guilty of the entire law and are under the wrath and curse of God if we are relying on the works of the law to justify us. Now make no mistake, Paul is warning the Galatians and he's warning you, do not rely on works of the law. And so friends, I have to warn you, do you think that you can be made right with God by something that you do? If so, it's you that is under this curse. The wrath and curse of God shall come upon you. It shall pursue you. It shall overtake you and you will be destroyed. So what is this curse that sits upon those who rely on works of the law? It is God's perfect, pure, and righteous wrath against all sin and all ungodliness. Well, the second question here in this verse, who are those who are relying on works of the law? Who are those who are relying on works of And the short answer to this question is anyone not trusting in Christ alone is relying on works of the law. Now, obviously, this would include the Judaizers. It would include the ones who had come into Galatia and were starting to mix works with faith in Christ for justification, but it also includes their modern equivalents. the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Christ, radical social justice evangelicals, and there are plenty more, friends, but each of these groups would claim that believers must add personal works of righteousness to faith in Christ in order to be justified before God. So certainly groups or individuals like this are included in those who are relying on works of the law. They are lumped in with those who are of the works of the law. But I would go further than this. I would submit to you that this also includes all unbelievers everywhere. It includes those who would see and understand the law of God and reject it outright. It includes people who would never claim to be pursuing righteousness by the law. And friends, it even includes those who would deny the existence of God altogether. How do I justify this? Turn back to the New Testament with me to Romans, this time Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two. What we see here is that it's not only the written law of God, which condemns those who rely on it. It is also the law of God written on the heart and on the consciences of men and women, which condemns them, even if they have never seen a verse of scripture in their own language. And this is why world missions are so important. Look with me, Romans chapter two, starting at verse 14. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves. even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day, according to my gospel, when God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. because all men and women are created in the image of God. They have a conscience. They can recognize right from wrong, even without the written law of God. By nature, they know something of the requirements of the law, and thus they become a law unto themselves. And Paul goes on to say that those without the written law will essentially still rely on works of the law, the written law on their hearts, when their consciences are accusing them and excusing them before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul is saying that everyone will be judged and therefore everyone must rely on something on that day. So you will either rely on Christ alone, or you will rely on your own ability to keep the law, whether that be the written law that we see in the scriptures or the law that is written on your conscience by your creator. But friends, the law only condemns, the law cannot save you. Back to Galatians verse 10, all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. And who are those who are relying on works of the law? It is anyone not trusting in Christ alone. It is that person in one form or another who is relying on works of the law and therefore under a curse. Well, finally, the third question from verse 10. Why are those who rely on works of the law under a curse? Again, in short, God's standard is perfection. and no one save Jesus Christ himself can meet that standard. Look with me again, verse 10. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. And by quoting here from Deuteronomy, Paul is clear. If one is to be blessed by God, if one is to avoid the curse of God, then the righteous requirements of the law must be fulfilled in them. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by what? Some of the law? The parts of the law that you feel really confident in? The things that God has given you common grace to overcome? No. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. God does not grade on a bell curve. God does not lower His standard so that we might make our way to Him incrementally by our own efforts. Rather, we need a righteous mediator to bridge and reconcile us to our Creator. And this is why those who rely on works of the law are under a curse. Their efforts, no matter how diligent or outwardly righteous, even their best efforts fall woefully short of God's perfect standard. Therefore, the curse of God must fall. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. It is not enough to simply know the law or even to have the law, As we read in Romans 2, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. The righteous requirements of the law, once again, must be fulfilled in you, individually, or the curse of the law must fall upon you. And I'll say it again, by your own righteousness, by your own goodness, by your own law-keeping, you will always fall short of God's perfect standard, and by necessity, you will bring upon yourself the curse of God. So why are those who rely on works of the law under a curse? because God's standard is perfection, and no one except for Jesus Christ can meet God's perfect standard. And so we've seen here that all who rely on works of the law are cursed by the law. As we move to our second heading, we see that sinners, our only hope is to be justified by faith. Look with me starting at verse 11. Paul is now going to draw out the logical conclusion of his previous assertion. Verse 11, now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. His conclusion is this, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Therefore, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. If the law is used as a pathway for self-justification before God, it will only bring cursing and never blessing. It is evident, therefore, that no one is justified before God by the law. The apostle has not excluded anyone from this statement. He has not left room for any group or any individual to claim that they are the exception to this rule. He has shut the door to any and all ideas of self-justification through works of the law. If you want to be justified, if you want to have God's wrath removed from you, if you want to be in a right relationship with your maker and judge, you cannot seek it through works of the law because it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. Instead, as Paul continues here, quoting from Habakkuk now, the righteous shall live by faith. This can also be translated as, the one who by faith is righteous shall live. And Paul is saying here that the one who will live, the one who will be justified, it is the person who will obtain a righteousness through faith. But faith in what? Well, obviously he's referring to faith in Christ. We know that he's laid this out clearly throughout this letter to the Galatians, particularly in chapter two, verse 16, where he says, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. And so we could restate Paul's argument here in verse 11 in this way. We could say, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law because righteousness is only obtained through faith in Christ. Now, looking to verse 12, Paul continues contrasting faith and law. He says, the righteous shall live by faith, but the law is not of faith. Quoting from the book of Leviticus here, the one who does them, that is the law, the commandments of God, the one who does them shall live by them. Look at these two quotations with me. As Paul uses them here in Galatians chapter three. Firstly, Habakkuk 2.4, that's where Paul quotes from first. The righteous shall live by faith. Next, Leviticus 18.5, the one who does them shall live by them. When you look at these two quotations on top of one another or side by side, however they're spaced in your Bible, when you look at these two quotations, what do they have in common? More specifically, what word do you see in both quotations? It's live. Live. That's the common word. Both verses speak to life. In the way that Paul's using them, they speak to justification. And look again now at the two verses. If live is the word that they have in common, what is the contrast? What are the two means of living that show up in those two quotations? Well, the quotation from Habakkuk. The means to life is what? faith. The righteous shall live by faith. But conversely, from Leviticus 18.5, the means to life is what? Does them. The one who does them shall live by them. The one who does the law will find life. It's as if Paul is, again, presenting us here with a fork in the road. On one side, there's this righteousness that is based on faith, on believing. And on the other side, there's a righteousness based on the law, on doing. One leads to life and blessing, the other leads only to death and to cursing. As we saw in verse 10, no one can obey the law perfectly, therefore no one can live. No one can be justified by their obedience to the law. You may have seen this meme template online. I'm looking for a nod of affirmation, Sheridan. He knows what I'm talking about. So there's this cartoon meme in this, you see the back of this cartoon character's head and in front of him are two different destinations. On the left-hand side, it's sunny and green and there's this beautiful castle awaiting you and then on the right hand side it's dark and it's thorny and all the greenery has died away and there's this broken down building. And so you can use the meme template however you want, but the question that's in all of these is which way? Which way will you go? And that's what Paul is setting before us here. And that question is presented to each of us in this room this morning. Which way will you go? Will you seek after a righteousness that is based on your obedience to the law? Will you do what the Judaizers did and seek to mix good works with faith? And then we'll have something that can really save us. And friends, to do so would be to destroy grace and bring upon yourself the eternal curse of the law. Or in contrast to that, will you see that you have no ability in and of yourself to meet God's perfect standard? Will you do something that is quite frankly impossible unless the spirit regenerates you? Will you humble yourself? Will you confess that you fall far short of the glory of God, and will you cry out to him in faith, God have mercy on me, a sinner? And friends, I would say to you, take that road. Take the road of faith, the road of believing, the road of resting, the road of trusting, because it is the only road that is safe. It is the only road that leads to eternal life. Now, before we move on, I wanna clarify something here when we read that the law is not of faith. Now, Paul is not saying that the law in and of itself is opposed to faith or that the law is completely void of grace. Consider for a moment the sacrificial system of the old covenant. In one sense, it is a system of grace, is it not? God graciously provided for his people a means of atonement for their sins. There was opportunity for forgiveness and for restoration. But Pastor Jerry said it this morning in the call to worship, the temporary sacrificial system along with the feast days is simply a type and a shadow of the substance that is to be found in the perfect, spotless, once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So we need to remember that the issue Paul is addressing in this letter is the Judaizers' misuse of the law. They were treating the law not as a mirror that reflected the perfect righteousness of God and showed them their sinfulness. They weren't using the law to learn what was pleasing to God so that they might go out and pursue a life of evangelical obedience, a life of thankful obedience for the free gift of justification that God had given them in Christ. Instead, the Judaizers had twisted the law into their own covenant of works, into their own system of self-justification. And it's this misuse of the law that Paul is responding to here, which is why he says that the law, when used as a means of justification, is not of faith. The law is opposed to faith, we might say, when it is used unlawfully. So Paul is not claiming that the law in and of itself is opposed to grace. In fact, we'll see this, Lord willing, in a coming sermon in verse 21 of chapter three, Paul will ask the question, is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. So we know that Paul is not saying that the law of necessity is not of faith. Rather, he's saying that when it is used as a system of self-justification, the law indeed becomes opposite of faith. And commentator William Hendrickson is helpful here, referring to Paul's use of Leviticus 18.5, where he says, the one who does them shall live by them. Hendrickson says this, quote, In its own setting, the included quotation from the book of Leviticus is both beautiful and comforting. However, when one begins to rely on works of the law, as if such obedience to law amounts to a ticket of admission into the kingdom of heaven, and that, after all, is the context here in Galatians, he should bear in mind that so conceived, law is the very opposite of faith. The two cannot be combined. Leaning on law means leaning on self. Exercising faith means leaning on Christ. As avenues by which men attempt to obtain salvation, the two simply do not mix. They are thoroughly antagonistic." End quote. Friends, God never set up the law as a means of justification. Yes, human beings have misused it in that way, but God's prescribed means of justification has always been faith alone. And I want you to be comforted by this. If you are in Christ, if you are trusting in Christ alone to save you and to reconcile you with your creator, you have peace and freedom from the enslavement of trying to earn God's approval. of trying to earn his love and his favor. If your faith is in Christ, you have God's approval. You have his love, you have his favor. And what's more, you're free to use the law lawfully. You're free to use it as a rule of life, knowing that it shows you what a life of thankful obedience to God looks like. The law for you, it's not an enslaving ball and chain. It is the law of liberty for you if you are in Christ. And so we've seen under this second heading that it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. We must be justified by faith. Well, as we move to our third and final heading, I want us to look at the crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ, of this glorious atonement that he makes for sinners. And I want us to see how sinners are redeemed by Christ. Look with me to verse 13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Two questions that I want us to answer and consider from this text, these two verses. The first question is, what does it mean to be redeemed? The second question, what was the price of our redemption? Firstly, what does it mean to be redeemed? Well, the dictionary definition of this word, the Greek dictionary definition means to cause the release or freedom of someone by means which proves costly to the individual causing the release. Quite simply, to be redeemed is to have the curse of the law removed from you. It's to have, as our text says here, excuse me, Christ redeemed us from what? It was the curse of the law. So if we were to simplify it, we could say to be redeemed is to have the curse of the law removed from you. And we remember that curse rightly abided on us, and perhaps for some of you here, it abides on you right now. Rightly so, because you have broken God's holy law. But if you are in Christ, you have been set free from this curse. You have been liberated from the curse of the law. If you are in Christ, he has purchased your freedom. He has reconciled you to God. He has obtained for you the forgiveness of your sins. Now remember the startling language of the covenant curses that we read in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Verse 45 specifically, all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed. Why? Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. Brothers and sisters, Christ has redeemed you. He has set you free. He has liberated you from this curse, from the curse of the law. And if you are in Christ, far from any expectation that these curses will one day fall upon you. Far from that dire expectation, you have nothing to look forward to besides blessing upon blessing upon blessing. Look down to verse 14, we see a picture of this. Christ redeemed us so that in him the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. Think of it this way, with the curse now removed from you, The blessing now flows and is poured out upon you. Looking back to verse six of Galatians chapter three, we're reminded that this blessing of Abraham includes justification. You remember Paul quoting from Genesis chapter 15 says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham believed God and he was justified. So the blessing of Abraham includes justification, but It also includes the gift of the Holy Spirit. To be justified and to be made right with God, I would say it necessitates, it demands that you have been regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit of God. So these two blessings, justification and the Spirit, are inseparable. You don't have one without the other. And note here as well, the blessings of justification and the indwelling of the Spirit, they're not exclusively given to those of Jewish descent. Remember, Paul is writing to the largely Gentile churches of Galatia, and he can say this in verses 13 and 14, that Christ redeemed who? Us. That Christ became a curse for who? For us. And he did this so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we, both Jew and Gentile, might receive the promised Spirit, redemption in Christ, the blessing of Abraham, justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, these things are given under only one condition, and that's faith. There are no ethnic barriers. There are no social barriers. There are no gender barriers. There are no economic barriers. Faith alone in Christ alone is the only thing needful for redemption. So what does it mean to be redeemed? It means to have the curse of the law removed from you and the blessing of Abraham poured out upon you. It is to be set free from the curse of the law and to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Let's look now to this final question under this heading. What was the price of our redemption? And I don't think it's an overstatement to say that the substitutionary atonement of Christ, it is the defining marker of the Christian religion. It is the center of biblical Christianity. Spurgeon once said this, what the sun is to the heavens, the doctrine of a vicarious satisfaction is to theology. Atonement is the brain and spinal cord of Christianity. Take away the cleansing blood and what is left to the guilty. Deny the substitutionary work of Jesus and you have denied all that is precious in the New Testament. And I wholeheartedly agree with Spurgeon. So with this in view, look with me again to verse 13. Friends, I want you to be struck by this. This is a very abnormal statement. There is nothing common about what we read here. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. In a book full of astonishing statements, this might be the most astonishing statement of them all. Jesus Christ became a curse. The holy, innocent, and unstained Christ became a curse. One with the Father, always doing the things that are pleasing to the Father. He became a curse. the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the one whom all things were created through and for, the one who is before all things, the one in whom all things hold together, he became a curse. The one who committed no sin, the one in whose mouth no deceit was found, he became a curse. The one in whom every respect was tempted just like you and I are, yet he was without sin. He became a curse. The one conceived of the spirit in the womb of the virgin, the very son of God himself, he became a curse. Brothers and sisters, this truth should humble you to the dust. In order for the curse of the law to be removed from you, the Lord Jesus Christ had to be made a curse. Now I said to you, go home this afternoon and read Deuteronomy chapter 28 and see something of God's hatred for sin and ungodliness. Go home and read Matthew 27 and see something of the hatred of God for sin and ungodliness. See the Son of God being made a curse for you. your redemption required nothing less than the suffering and the death of the Son of God. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. So what do we do with such an astonishing statement as this? And to be honest, we might be tempted to revolt from it, to draw back from it in defense of what we know about Christ, that he is utterly sinless and completely holy. Yet we must accept it because the Word of God teaches it to us plainly. And we see that Paul quotes again from Deuteronomy to show that Christ was indeed made a curse. He says, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And I want you to understand though that the act of hanging a man on a tree in the Old Testament was not itself the curse. It wasn't as if we're gonna hang him on the tree and then he'll be accursed. No, hanging on a tree was simply a sign that that man was already under a curse. So for Christ, hanging on the tree at Calvary was the sign that he was being judged as a lawbreaker, that he was under the curse. He was already cursed as he hung upon the tree. And the essence of Christ being made a curse for us is found all throughout the New Testament. There's many examples. One that is probably top of mind for you is Paul's statement to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, Paul says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Again, what do we do with such an astonishing statement, something so shocking to us as the Holy One of God being made a curse? Well, the only way for us to wrap our heads around this truth, that the blessed Christ became a curse, that the sinless Jesus was made to be sin, the only way that we can understand this truth is if we understand the concept of substitution. And the text says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by what? By becoming a curse, and here are the words, for us. He became a curse in our place. The curse that was upon us as lawbreakers, the sinless one took upon himself. The good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. And I cannot improve upon the prophet's language in Isaiah. 53, and I would warn you, brothers and sisters, listen to this. Don't let the familiarity of these words blunt the shocking nature of what is being said about God's anointed one. From Isaiah 53 verses four to six, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Friends, this is the reason that we sing amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? Our Lord kept the law of God in every detail. He always did what God commanded and he never did what God forbid. And remember for a moment, the stipulations of the law. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. That does not apply to Jesus Christ. He was not under the curse of the law in himself, because he did abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. He had no guilt in himself and therefore bore none of the curses threatened to lawbreakers. Christ is the only man in history who had the right to stand in the presence of God and claim his eternal reward by his own merit. But instead of receiving that due reward, The Lord Jesus chose suffering. He voluntarily chose suffering in both body and soul. Suffering so great that the Son of God, one with the Father, could cry out these words from the cross, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Does this pierce your heart, friends, this morning? This is the cry of our substitute. This is the cry of the one who bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Praise God that by his wounds we have been healed. Praise God that the curse of the law, our sin, our punishment, praise God that it was transferred to our substitute. We use that word imputation a lot. Our sin was imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was counted to him. God treated him as if he was the lawbreaker. And because of that, we can sing, oh my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is what? It's nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. But what's more, we can praise the Lord that it wasn't just our sin that was transferred to Christ. That wasn't the only thing that was imputed. on the cross, we can praise him that the righteous life of Christ was transferred, it was imputed to those who would trust in Christ. And the concept of substitution, it's not only necessary for us to understand how the blessed Christ could become a curse, it's also necessary for us to understand how you and me, fallen sinners, how can we be counted righteous in the sight of God, even if God takes our sin away? At best, that's a blank slate. Just as Christ took upon himself our curse and paid our sin debt in his body on the tree, his perfect righteousness is given, it is imputed, it is accredited to us, how? Through faith. Faith is the hand that receives the free gift so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ bore the penalty that we earned by being lawbreakers. We reap the blessing that he earned as a law keeper. So his death was substitutionary, his life was substitutionary. Brothers and sisters, do you see something this morning of the great cost of your redemption? This is no small thing. This is why Paul can so boldly command the believers in Corinth, you were bought with a price. And then he goes on to say, do not become slaves of men. If the curse of the law has been removed from you, if you have been redeemed by Christ, know this morning, brother or sister, you were bought with a price. Do not be slaves to men, be slaves to Christ. Go out and live a life of thankful obedience, not legal obedience. He has set you free from that. But you are his slave to live for his glory and according to his word. So we've seen that those who rely on works of the law are cursed by the law. We've seen that the righteous are justified by faith, and we've seen how sinners are redeemed by Christ. I have two additional applications for you this morning. Firstly, for those of you who are here who are outside of Christ, if you are relying on works of the law, either consciously or unconsciously, please know that you are under a curse. Please hear me, if you do not turn to Jesus Christ by faith, it is only a matter of time before the curse of the law shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ became a curse. He became a curse so that sinners like you might be redeemed from the curse of the law. He became a curse so that the curse of the law might be removed from you and the blessing of Abraham poured out upon you. So if you're outside of Christ this morning, I would say turn from your sin, turn from your self-righteousness, turn to the spotless Lamb of God by faith. As I said at the beginning, quoting Moses as he was addressing the Israelites in the border of the promised land, I set before you today life and death, blessing and curse, therefore choose life. Friend, if you are here and outside of Christ, if you die and the curse of the law falls upon you in its fullness for eternity in hell, your blood will not be on my hands. Choose life. Turn to Christ and live. Secondly, to my fellow believers, to those who by faith have been redeemed by the substitutionary atonement of Christ, please know that all of your sin debt has been paid in full. As our Lord said on the cross, what did he cry out before he gave up his spirit? It is finished. There remains not one ounce of God's holy wrath abiding upon you. Christ has satisfied it completely in his sufferings and death, and we know that. Why? Because he was raised from the dead. It was a perfect sacrifice accepted by God. And because God's wrath against you has been completely removed, because you have been completely redeemed from the curse of the law, God is not and will not ever seek to exact from you payment for sin. Christ has paid for your sins in full. What does this mean for you? It means that hard providences, trials, tribulations, various difficulties you face in life, we all have a slate full of them. These things are not God's way of exacting payment from you for your sins against him. To be sure, when we as God's children sin against him, he will bring conviction, he will bring discipline, he will bring chastisement, but he's not exacting payment from us. His discipline, His chastisement. These are acts of love by a loving Father and they are for our good. They are God working out His promise to mold us and to shape us more into the likeness of His Son. So I would encourage you to remember the substitutionary atonement of Christ when the Lord brings chastisement upon you. Remember that you have been redeemed from the curse of the law because Christ became a curse for you. Remember and be encouraged that for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. That is how you know you are a legitimate child, but God will not ever come to you seeking payment for sin because that payment has been made in full. Let us pray. Father, bless your word to us now. There is so much that was left unsaid from these verses. I pray that your spirit would make powerful application in the hearts of each and every person here. And Lord, above all has been our prayer this week that you would be exalted in our midst. Lord, help us if nothing else to treasure, to hold tightly and dearly, to never let go of the substitutionary atonement of Christ that is received by faith, That is the only way that we and any other sinner ever in history has been justified before you. Help us to hold these things more precious, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.