We turn to God's Word again in
that chapter that we read Galatians chapter 3 and directing your
attention for our text to the verses 13 and 14 Galatians chapter
3 and verses 13 and 14 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 that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Here then in Galatians
chapter 3 and verses 13 and 14, 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, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And as we turn to the words that
we've just read, these two verses, I want to take up the subject
matter of redemption from the law. Redemption from the law
First of all, to consider what the Apostle says here with regards
to that curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us, he says,
from the curse of the law. What are we to understand by
such an expression with regards to that Lord of God which is
holy, that commandment which Paul elsewhere says is holy and
just and good. And yet, it is that law that
brings with it only a curse. What are we to understand then
by the curse of the law? First of all, we see it, do we
not, in the demands that the law makes of us. And it is an extensive command
that we find in that holy law of God, as we see previously. in what the Apostle says at verse
10, as many as are of the works of the law, we are told are under
the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. You observe the strength of the
language that Paul is using. He speaks of all things which
are written in the book of the law. The psalmist says, I have
seen an end of all perfection. Thy commandment is exceeding
wrought. Who is able to measure up to
those things that God requires of us in that holy law? If we are those who are able
to keep it in all its parts and yet fail in just one particular
matter, we are said to be guilty of all. It requires full complete
and perfect obedience. James tells us in his epistle
chapter 5 and verse 10 that whosoever shall keep the whole law and
yet offend in one point is guilty of all. It is so extensive then
in its demands upon the sinner. if we could but do the thing
that the law requires of us. As he says here at the end of
the twelfth verse, the man that doeth them shall live in them.
It is so complete an obedience that we must render if we are
to please God in the matter of his law. We have those words,
remember, at the end of the sixth chapter in the book of Deuteronomy. concerning the law, Moses says,
it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do before the
Lord our God all these commandments. We must observe and do them all,
and we are to do them in his sights. And he is that one, of
course, who has eyes that are as a flame of fire, who sees
into the very depths of our souls. man looks upon the outward appearance,
and the Lord looketh upon the heart. And so, it's not just
a matter of our doing the commandments externally, it's also that that
concerns the attitude of our hearts. It has to do with our
minds, our thinking. We're not only to do the commandments,
but also to be those who are rightly thinking the thoughts
of God after Him. All what dreadful demands in
the law makes upon men. It is in this sense that we see,
ultimately, it can only bring a curse. The dreadful sentence
that is passed by the law on those who are transgressors is
that of death, is it not? We read back in Ezekiel chapter
18 and verse 4, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death, says
the apostle writing to the church at Rome. This is what sin brings,
and where there is any transgression, just one transgression, the inevitability
of that dreadful curse of the broken law. And we see it right
at the beginning, do we not, there in the Garden of Eden,
when God gave commandment to Adam concerning the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the day that
thou eatest thereof God said thou shalt surely die and Adam
was disobedient to that commandment and death was the consequence
of his disobedience Paul again when he writes in Romans chapter
5 and verse 12 says as by one man sin entered into the world
and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned he was there at the head of the race of course he is the
representative head of all those who were in him and in his transgression
all transgressed, those words there at the end of that twelfth
verse in Romans chapter 5, death passed upon all men for that
all, or as the margin says, in whom, in Adam that is, in whom
all have sinned. Remember just what it was that
was said to Adam there in the garden concerning that tree and
the fruit of that tree, if he was disobedient and partook of
what God forbade, he would die. In fact it says, thou shalt surely
die. The margin again brings out the
force as we have it in the original. He says, dying thou shalt die. There was a certain inevitability. And that death, as we know, that
came upon Adam and all who were in him, that death was complete
and complete in a threefold sense. There was a spiritual death. And what is that spiritual death?
It is the awful separation between God, the Creator, and His creature. And previously there had been
communion between God and man, but no more after Adam had transgressed. There was a separation, there
was that sense of his guilt. When God comes again into the
garden, what do we read concerning Adam and Eve as they sought to
hide themselves? All their separation, that's
a spiritual death. Though it is so final there at
the end of that terrible third chapter in the book of Genesis,
God thrust the man and his wife out of the garden. And there
was a flaming sword, we're told, that turned every way to keep
the way of the tree of life. There was a separation. There
was an immediate death in that sense. That's death that is separation
from God. And of course that is the condition
of all men by nature. That is our condition as we come
into this world. We're in that state of alienation
from God. And so, that sinner, every sinner,
must know that new birth, must become partaker of a different
nature, a new nature, a divine nature. You cannot see the Kingdom
of God, says the Lord Jesus Christ, except you're born again. Or
there is that death that is spiritual and it was immediate. In Adam's
experience, dying, dying thou shalt die." And as there was
a spiritual dying, so subsequently there was also a physical death. Not only a separation from God,
but there must in time be that separation of the soul from the
body. Is that not what death is? The
tearing of the soul, as it were, from the body of man. When God
made the man, he created him in his image, after his likeness,
formed his body of the dust of the earth, breathed into his
nostrils a breath of light. Man became a living soul, body
and soul together. And what is death? It is a separation.
The body returns to the earth as it was, the spirit to God
who gave it, we read in the book of Ecclesiastes. James again
tells us that the body without the spirit is dead. That is physical
death. And that is appointed to men. It is appointed unto all men.
Once to die and then the judgment. All of this is the curse, you
see. The curse of the law. Spiritual death. The physical
death. And then ultimately with the
impenitent and the unbelieving there will be an eternal death,
will they not? An eternal separation from God. When the Lord Jesus speaks of
that great day of judgment, when he comes again, the one to whom
the Father has committed all judgment, how there the Lord
speaks of separating the the sheep from the goats and he turns
to the goats and he says, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
flines reserved for the devil and his angels. All that awful
words, depart from me, he says. Depart from me. Look at the language that we
find when Paul writes of these things to the Thessalonians. In 2nd Thessalonians chapter
1 verses 8 and 9 he speaks of himself
being revealed or the Lord Jesus being revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."
Here it is, you see, it's from the presence of the Lord, eternally
cut off, eternally separated. Well, that is the dreadful curse
that comes. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the Book of the Law, to do them. But we're told in our text, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law. And this is a subject
that we're considering, is it not, redemption from that law. And so, having sought to say
something with regards to the nature of the curse, let us turn
in the second place to consider Christ Jesus, who is the Redeemer. Christ, it says, has redeemed
us. Christ hath redeemed us. Now you know, of course, the
significance of the title that is given to Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Christ, the Messiah. The word, of course, literally
means the Anointed One. He is the Anointed One. God,
thy God, hath anointed thee, says the Psalmist, with the oil
of gladness above thy phallos. or the prophetic word of the
Old Testament Scriptures concerning Him, God hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows. What a glorious effusion
of the Spirit came upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter
3 and verse 34, God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. He was full of the Holy Ghost.
He was full of good works. Now, we see, of course, the importance
of the anointing when we think of His threefold office. He is
King, He is Prophet, and He is Priest. And so, when we go back
to the Old Testament, we see that those who occupied those
offices in Israel, there was that threefold office in Israel, They were those who were to be
the shepherds of God's ancient covenant people, the princes,
the kings, and the prophets, and the priests, and all of them
were anointed. David. David was anointed by
the prophet Samuel. You remember in 1 Samuel chapter
16 how The Prophet is directed to the house of Jesse and the
sons of Jesse are paraded before him but the youngest son is out
in the fields caring for the sheep but he is to be brought
in. This is the one that is to be anointed. The Prophet Samuel
anoints him even when Saul was the king David is anointed to
follow him and then in due course he is set over Judah and over
all Israel. In 2 Samuel chapter 5 and verse
3 we read they anointed David king over Israel. But then also
when we think of the office of the prophet Elijah is the great
prophet there in the Old Testament. And we see that quite clearly
in the Mount of Transfiguration, those two that the disciples
see appearing with the Lord Jesus Christ as he is transfigured,
Moses and Elijah, Lord and prophets. And they speak of course of his
decease that he is to accomplish at Jerusalem. The great subject
matter of the law, the ceremonial law, the great subject matter
of the prophets. The Lord Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy. But Elijah is the most significant
prophet in that he stands there as representative in the Old
Testament of the whole of the prophetic office. And he is to
be followed by another, by Elisha. And what do we see? We see how
Elijah anoints Elisha to be his successor in 1 Kings chapter
19 and there at verse 16. The first book of Kings, chapter
19. Here is Elijah, and the Lord
is giving commandment to him, and he is told, amongst other
things, the end of that 16th verse, "...Elisha, the son of
Shaphat, of Abel, Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in
thy room." Elisha is anointed to be the prophet just as the
kings were anointed so one who is to fill that office of the
prophet is also anointed for his work and then we know that
the priests were anointed that was the commandment that was
given to Moses back in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 30 Thou
shalt anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to be priests
before Mary. They are anointed to the priesthood. And here, when we think of the
great work of redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished,
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He is that one who is anointed
to be prophet, king, and also to be priest. But he's not only
the priest. We read at home this morning
there in the fifth chapter of Hebrews how he is a priest after
the order of Melchizedek. But he's not only the priest,
he is also the sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God, is he
not? He is the Great Paschal Lamb. the Lamb that taketh away
the sin of the world says John the Baptist and our Christ you
see is that one who has redeemed his people and redeemed them
by that sacrifice of himself by the shedding of his own blood
now consider that sacrifice, it is of course a voluntary deed,
a voluntary sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ makes here At the end of this 13th verse
we're told it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. And how was Christ crucified? It was by hanging on a tree,
hanging on a cross. In Acts 5 we read how that it
was this one, says the Apostle, whom ye slew and hanged on a
tree. His expression is used by the
Apostles in Acts 5 and verse 30. Again, Peter says much the same,
writing to believers in his first epistle. In chapter 2 and verse
24 he says, concerning Christ who is his own self, bear our
sins in his own body on the tree. It's a fulfillment of the prophetic
words, the words of Deuteronomy chapter 21 and verses 22 and
23 speak of one cursed who hangs upon a tree,
and so it must be that Christ, when he comes in the fullness
of the time, it must be at that time when the Roman Empire is
holding sway, and crucifixion, of course, was a Roman form of
execution. We see the perfect timing of
God in all of these things that the Scriptures might have their
fulfillment. How is Christ to die? He is to hang on a tree. He is to be crucified. But in
all of this, as I said, He is willing to die. His sacrifice is a voluntary
sacrifice. As He says in those words of
John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18, Therefore doth my Father
love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again."
And Mark what he says, I lay down my life that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from them. I
lay it down of myself, he says. I have power or authority to
lay it down. And I have power, authority to
take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Because what? was required of
him in the terms of the eternal covenant that he would lay down
his life, he would make the great sacrifice. This is the manner
in which Christ has redeemed his people by the shedding of
his precious blood and it is that that he undertook so willingly. It wasn't that men were able
to take his life. There were those occasions, as
we've said in times past, several occasions when the Jews would
have killed him, they would have stoned him for blasphemy, but
they could not, his time was not yet come. Or when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, and likewise when
the fullness of the time was come, the Son would make the
sacrifice. Not what men did. he voluntarily
gave himself to death and that sacrifice was also, of course,
substitutionary. It was a substitutionary death
that he died. What does it say? Here in the
middle of verse 13 we read of him being made a curse for us. Made a curse for us. The curse was ours. That's what
Paul is saying. We were the transgressors. Curse
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. The Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who was innocent. He had continued in all things
written in the book of the law. He honored the law. He magnified
the law. He was the innocent one. He was the righteous one. So
why did He have to die this accursed death? Well, it says He was made
a curse for us. All those two words, for us. Here is salvation, you see, in
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done by substitutionary atonement,
dying in the room instead of His people. And so what do we
see in the course of His earthly ministry? before the crucifixion
there is his trial. And what a mockery of a trial
it really was, and yet unnecessary. What is the judgment of Pilate? He says in Luke 23 and verse
22 concerning Christ, I have found no cause of death in him. Or the man knew not what he was
saying really. How true were the words! He found
no cause of death in Him. He was not worthy of dying. He
was the innocent one. Ah, but what was the great purpose
of God? We are told, are we not? He hath
made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. He was made sin He knew
no sin, but he was made sin for us, says the Apostle Paul, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And Peter, Peter
says much the same. Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust. He dies the just man in the place
of unjust men. He dies that death in order to
reconcile sinners unto God. It's a substitutionary death
that he dies in. He dies willingly. It's a voluntary sacrifice that
he makes. It's a substitutionary death
and it's also a judicial death. It's a penal sacrifice that we
have. And again, we see something of
that in the fact that there was a trial. There was a trial, mockery
that it might have been, yet unnecessary. But really, it's
the work of God that we see here. God is the great judge. Look
at the language again here, in this 13th verse. It says, he
was made, the curse. He was made a curse and it has
been observed that this is the act of God. This is the act of
God. He is made of a woman. He is
made under the law. He is made sin. It's all the act
of God. The Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all, we read concerning the Lord's suffering servants
there in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6. The Lord laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. All it's a terrible death is
that He's dying. It's a penal sacrifice that He
is making. Again, the language of prophecy
in Zechariah 13 and verse 7, a Waco sword against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow. Smite the shepherds,
saith the Lord, and let the sheep be scattered. So it was that
they who were his sheep, his disciples, they all forsook him
and fled. They were all scattered. And it is him who is the great
shepherd of the sheep who is smitten. who dies at the hands
of God. God makes him a curse as he suffers
that cruel death, that accursed death of the true crucifixion. And what does he do in all of
this? Why? He is paying the ransom price. It's redemption from the curse
of the law, is it not? Christ has redeemed us, it says,
from the curse of the law. It is the law that must be satisfied. Now, some seem to have strange
views with regards to the one to whom the ransom price was
paid. He's not paying any price to
Satan. Some have said that, you see.
What foolishness! Satan is a usurper. He has no
rights. He's a rebel against God. No,
it is the Holy Lord of God to whom the ransom is due. And what
is the demand of that law? Well, we've already spoken of
that. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin
is death. The Lord Jesus Christ has paid
the price that the law requires. And so the justice of God has
been satisfied. And God is therefore now just,
and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Amazing is
it not, to think of it really, that all those holy attributes
of God are now on the side of that sinner who is in Christ. That sinner for whom Christ bore
the curse. It's not just the mercy, the
grace, the love of God that is on the side of sinner, but all
the other attributes. God's holiness, God's righteousness,
God's justice. Or what does John say in his
first epistle, if we confess our sins? If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. how significant. He doesn't say
He is merciful and gracious to forgive our sins. He is that.
He is a merciful God. He is a gracious God. But John
can speak of His faithfulness, of His justice, because the Lord
Jesus Christ has satisfied all the demands of that holy law
of God. And what is the consequence of
all this great work that we read of in the 13th verse? We have
it in the verse that follows, verse 14, that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The blessing of Abraham. Why
it takes us back, does it not, before the law? before the law. We have it here in verse 17,
do we not? That covenant confirmed before
of God in Christ while it was 430 years before the law. It is the promise that was given
to Abraham. It's that blessing that he's
spoken of. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles we have it right there at the beginning in Genesis chapter
12 verse 3 in thee says God in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed now what is the blessing of Abraham why is
it not the blessing of the Spirit and of faith there at the end of verse 14,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. He's writing to the Galatians.
He's a Jew of course, a converted Jew. But the Galatian church
is a Gentile church, principally made up of Gentile believers. But you see, there's neither
Jew nor Gentile. There's neither
bond nor fruit, there's neither male nor female in the Lord Jesus
Christ when he comes to this salvation. Where? The Jew and
the Gentile might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. What is the blessing then? It
is that promise of the Spirit and that promise of faith. We have that quite clearly in the former
part of the chapter, verse 2. He asks, and this only will I
learn of you, Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith? And again in verse 5, He therefore
that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? He's speaking of faith and he's
speaking of the Spirit he's in. Now, what do we know concerning
faith? We're told in Romans chapter 10 and verse
17, so then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. And what is that Word of God?
It is the Gospel. And the Gospel, we're told, is the ministration
of the Spirit. The apostle makes that distinction
between the ministration of the Law and the ministration of the
Gospel so plain when he writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And
it's said that he speaks of the gospel in those terms. It's the
ministration, he says, of the Spirit, in distinction to the
ministration of the law. And how does faith come? Faith
comes by the operation of the Spirit. It is that faith that
comes by the operation of God, under the Word of God. that the
Spirit himself is the one who first gave that word, who takes
that word and applies that word, and makes that word a reality
in the soul of the sinner who is blessed, blessed with Abraham. Abraham is the father of all
them that believe, we're taught. Here is the blessing of Abraham
then. It's the blessing of the Spirit, the ministry of the Spirit. It's the blessing of faith. That's what we're told at the
end of this 14th verse that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. But then also we see quite clearly
that the blessing of Abraham is the blessing ultimately of
the pardon of sin and justification before God. And we have that
quite clearly set before us in that fourth chapter of the epistle
to the church at Rome. And you're familiar with the
language. Here is the apostle speaking of Abraham. Verse 3, he asks what says the
scripture, Abraham believed God, he says, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are thy whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin." Here is the blessing of Abraham, you
see. As we have it there in the 32nd Psalm that we sang from
in the in the mythical version. David is describing the blessedness
of that man unto whom God imputeth righteousness. And then he quotes
here in verses 7 and 8 Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Oh, this is the blessing
of Abraham. Because here in this chapter
he is so evidently speaking of Abraham. And what are we told
subsequently with regards to Abraham? Well, you know at the
end of the chapter. Verse 19, being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
to one belief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able
also to perform. And therefore it, that is the
promise, The promise was imputed to him for righteousness. What was the promise he'd sent
in Isaac? The promised seed, the promised son, the glorious
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, Christ, is that one who is
the true seed of Abraham. And we have it here back in chapter
in Galatians 3, to Abraham his seed were the promises made,
he said, not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, unto thy
seed which is Christ. All Christ is that one, you see,
that Abraham's faith had to do with. He believed the promise
that centred in Christ, the one in whom all the promises of God
are yea, and in him, Amen. Abraham saw Christ. We saw Christ
there in Genesis chapter 22, did he not? When he was commanded to take
his son, his only son, and to sacrifice him there upon the
Mount Moriah and he was obedient to the divine commandment but
of course it was not Isaac that was sacrificed There was a substitution,
there was a ram provided courts by its horns in the thicket and
he was to offer that in place of his son, the very doctrine
of substitutionary atonement that we've spoken of. This is
the blessing of Abraham. It's at Faith that has to do
with the great promise of God which centers in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that promise then of pardon
and that promise of justification. And this is the great message
that is to be proclaimed even to sinners of the Gentiles. Even
to sinners of the Gentiles. It's all to this end, is it not?
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on the throne. And the consequence, in order
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, through
faith. O God, grant that we might know
then something of that gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost, that
He might come to us as that Spirit of Christ, and that He might
work in our hearts that blessed faith as ours as its object,
Christ in His person, Christ in His work, that we might be
those today who are found truly looking unto Jesus, the author,
the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at
the right hand of the majesty of God there in heaven. The Lord
then be pleased to bless his word to us. Another piece of glass over here.