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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might be outdated.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.
Blessing Through Cursing
Series No Other Gospel
| Sermon ID | 26251734456641 |
| Duration | 58:05 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Galatians 3:10-14 |
| Language | English |
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