Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Galatians chapter 3. I've done a message from this
before, and I want to talk to you today about a phrase that's
found in verse 13 of Galatians chapter 3. I'll go back before
that verse to give you some context. But the phrase is, Christ hath
redeemed us. That's the title of the message.
Christ hath redeemed us. From verse 13, and it says, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, and here's a quotation from the book
of Deuteronomy, which is the second reading of the law. It
is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And what
it was talking about is the curses of the law were brought down
upon those who were dead by hanging, actually. Of course, Christ hung
on the tree, speaking of the cross. And so he was made a curse. But let's go back to verse 10.
And what this shows us is in verses 10 and 11, that all of
us by nature, and I've spoken of this so many times on this
program, when we talk about men and women by nature, there's
several things you've got to understand. For example, one
of the verses I quote all the time is 1 Corinthians 2, 14,
when it says, the natural man, receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually
discerned. And the natural man, or man by nature, over in Ephesians
chapter 2, it speaks of those who are by
nature children of wrath. And when it starts out there
in Ephesians 2, it talks about, and you, verse 1, you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, And then in verse two
it says, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
That's describing all of us by nature. And it says in verse
3 of Ephesians 2, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, the natural mind, and were by
nature, you see that phrase, by nature the children of wrath
even as others. Now God's chosen people were
not never children of wrath, but by nature there was no difference
between God's chosen and those who were marked out for destruction,
called the non-elect. But the thing about it is, when
we say by nature, there's several things you gotta take in mind.
It's talking about how men and women are born naturally into
the world, and were not born saved. We're not born knowing
God. were born in trespasses and sins. That verse in Ephesians chapter
two and verse one, you hath he quickened, made alive, you hath
he quickened because you were born naturally dead. So you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And that's
when we say men and women by nature. And there's several things.
Number one, that means that we fell in Adam. When Adam fell
in the garden, he fell as the representative of the whole human
race, and we all fell into the state of sin and death and depravity. through Adam. Romans chapter
5, let me read you that verse, teaches that. And there are other,
I'm just giving you examples now. I'm not giving you all that
the Bible says about this subject, but the examples that I give
you are all scriptural. If you look at Romans 5 and verse
12, where it says, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, And death by sin, the wages of sin is death, and
he says, death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, that's
all humanity in Adam, for that all have sinned, or literally
all sinned. And so, it is man's natural bent
to sin. Now, when you read passages like
Ephesians chapter 2, when it talks about walking according
to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan. And by
nature, as we are naturally born, we're fallen in Adam. We are
spiritually dead. That's why we must be born again.
And we all deserve condemnation and hell. That's why we have
to be justified in the sight of God. That's all we can earn. And we're spiritually dead in
unbelief, in darkness. We don't have spiritual eyes
to see or spiritual ears to hear. We're spiritually dead. And so
the only way of salvation is for us to be quickened, made
alive by the Spirit in the new birth. You must be born again.
or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. You don't have the
spiritual eyes and understanding and heart to do so. You have
no desire to come to God as he is revealed in the Bible. Now you might have ideas of God,
but understand this now, that includes man in his best acts
of religion and sincerity and charity. Even those who are religious
who are not born again, you see. So we understand that. And this
verse, go back to our text now in Galatians 3 and verse 10.
It says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse. Now what is it to be under the
works of the law? Well now he's speaking here to
people who had been diverted and confused and moved off of
their consistent looking unto Jesus Christ as their law keeper
and as all of their salvation. And they were being led by false
preachers who were trying to bring them back under the law,
the law of Moses, the law of circumcision, in order to be
saved, in order to be righteous, in order to be assured. So these
are false preachers who are trying to get people to be good according
to the standards of the law, and here's the important thing,
in order to be saved. And so who are under the works
of law? Any sinner, any person, any man or woman who is trying
to be saved by their works. You see, this doesn't just refer
to what man looks at in the news and sees immoral people who throw
caution to the wind, things like that. They are included now because
every man and woman by nature has this kind of idea that if
I would straighten up, do right, and do good, do well, then God
would smile on me and bless me and save me. But that's wrong.
Salvation is not by works. And if you're trying to be saved
or made righteous in God's sight or be made right with God, if
you're trying to be forgiven of your sins by your law-keeping,
your works, you're under a curse. Now, why is that? Well, look
back at verse 10. For it is written, this is why
the law was given, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do.
Because if you're trying to be right with God, and I won't say
to be saved from sin in this sense, because if you can be,
here's what I mean. If you can be right with God
by your law keeping, you never have sinned. You're not a sinner,
but you know that you are. The Bible says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's why we need salvation.
We all fell in Adam. We're all spiritually dead and
depraved. and in darkness. That's why we
need to be born again. We need to be justified by a
righteousness that we cannot produce. And we'll talk about
that in the next verse. But listen, listen. If you're
going to be made right with God by your law keeping, you have
to keep the whole law perfectly from the cradle on. I heard a
preacher say one time, from the cradle to the grave, No, because
if you can keep the law perfectly, you won't die. The wages of sin
is death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. I'll go even this far. If you
could keep the law perfectly, if you could be a perfect man
or a perfect woman all your life, you'd never get sick. You'd never
age to the point of dying. You'd grow up. Christ was a perfect
man. He was God manifest in the flesh,
and he grew to be 33 years old. But he didn't grow old and die.
He died on the cross. But he didn't deserve death because
of his own sins. He came under the law of death
because of the sins of his people. But again, I'll get to that in
just a minute. But if you're going to be saved,
you don't need to be saved if you're like this, but if you're
going to be made right with God, have a right standing with God
based on your works, then you have to be able to say, I've
never sinned. I have never broken the law. Because James said it
this way in the book of James, if you break one point, you've
broken them all. And here it says, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. Now, where does that leave us?
Well, look at verse 11 of Galatians 3, 10. But that no man, and that
would include women too, no man, woman, no child, nobody, is justified
by the law in the sight of God. Now, there's one thing to say
I'm good in the sight of men, but in the sight of God, it's
another thing. God has a different standard.
It's a perfect standard. And so no man is justified by
the law and the sight of God. It is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. Now, what is it to be justified? Well, number one, it's to be
forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. And I want you to keep
that in mind. It's not just to be forgiven
of sins. A lot of people talk about forgiveness
of sins. But to be justified in the sight
of God is to be forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. Has to be a ground, something
that honors God. God must be just. If God forgives
me of all my sins, he cannot do it arbitrarily. And He cannot
do it in a way that dishonors Himself and His law. His law
must be satisfied. His law must be honored. He must
be honored. He must be glorified. God must
be, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 45, both a just God and a Savior. Now mark that down in your minds.
Write it down on paper. And make that the issue of life
and death that you seek for. When you hear a sermon, when
you search in the Bible, God must be both a just God and a
Savior. He cannot be just a Savior without
being just and right. It's gotta be a way. So to be
justified is to be forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. Now what is that just ground? That right ground that honors
God? It's the blood of Jesus Christ. It's not my law keeping. It's not my believing. Yes, I
believe and we must believe, but that's not the ground upon
which God forgives me. It's not my repentance. It's
not my tears of remorse. Yes, I repented. Yes, I feel
remorse and sorrow for my sins, and I should, more than I do. But that's not the just ground
upon which God forgives me. The only just ground upon which
God forgives me is the blood of Jesus Christ, the death of
Jesus Christ in my place. We sing a song in our church
called Redeemed. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed how? By the blood of
the Lamb. Okay, and we'll get to that in
just a moment again. Okay, to be justified is to be forgiven
of all my sins on a just ground. And to be justified is to be
declared righteous in God's sight, in His court of justice, again
on a just ground. Now what is the just ground?
It's the righteousness of Christ, the obedience unto death of Christ,
His righteousness imputed. Paul wrote in Romans 4 and verse
6, "...of the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works." So in other words, understand
that. So look at it again, verse 11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just,
the justified, those who are forgiven of all their sins, and
those who have been declared righteous in God's sight, shall
live by faith. Now what is it to live by faith?
Well now look at verse 12 of Galatians 3. The law is not a
faith, If you're trying to keep the law in order to be forgiven
or to be accepted or to be saved, you're not walking by faith.
You're walking by works, you see. And the law is not a faith. The law does not require you
to believe. The law requires you to do it
or die. The law's requirement is do and
live, disobey and die. The law, the false gospels of
conditional salvation, that is conditioned on sinners, the false
gospels of legalism are gospels of doing, doing, doing, doing.
You've got to do this, you've got to do that, and you've got
to do more, and you've got to keep on doing it until you make
it to the end, and you may not make it then. That's legalism. That's a bondage. The true gospel is the gospel
of done, of finished work. And who finished it, who did
the work? Not you, not me, Christ. So the law is not of faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. Do and live, disobey
and die. So if I'm a sinner, I have no
hope of being justified, forgiven, declared righteous by keeping
the law or trying to keep the law. Yes, I should try to be
the best person I can be and follow God's word, love my neighbors,
myself, love God perfectly. But my friend, that is not what
saves me. Now what does? Look at verse
13. Now here we come to the text. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. You see, the just shall live
by faith. What does that mean? That doesn't
mean that my believing is meritorious before God, that if I do my part
and cooperate and believe that God's gonna forgive me, no. To
live by faith is to live looking, resting, and believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, somebody says, well,
I just believe. Well, what do you believe? In
whom do you believe? Who is your trust? Paul wrote in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He is
able, Think about that. I'm persuaded
what? That He is able, Christ is able
to keep, preserve that which I've committed unto Him against
that day, the day of judgment. Now, what have I committed to
Him? My whole salvation is committed to Christ. Listen to me. No part of my salvation is committed
to me. My whole salvation is committed
to Christ. And I look to him and rest in
him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
He is my righteousness. It's his blood by which I am
forgiven of all my sins. So Christ, verse 13, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now, how did he do it?
How could God, you know, think about it this way. we're sinners,
we are sinners. So how can God forgive me of
my sins and declare me literally and rightly righteous when I'm
a sinner? How can He do that and be just
and righteous and holy and honor Himself? Is God pretending? Is God faking it? You know The
Catholics, they call this kind of preaching legal fiction. It's
not fiction. How can God do that? And then
here's Christ. God, manifest in the flesh. How could God make Him to be
a curse? And that's what it says here.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. He was made a curse. Which means
this, that Christ legally was brought under the curse of the
law to suffer death for us, his people. How could God do that? Well, here's the answer. It's
the Great Exchange. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For God the
Father made him, God the Son incarnate. to be sin for us,
Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Christ legally. Judicially, forensically,
came under the curse of the law as the surety, the substitute
and redeemer of His people and that's who the us is. He was
made a curse for us and he quotes from Deuteronomy, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, crucified. What does it mean that Christ
was made our surety? It means the sins, the sin debt,
you might say, of all of His people who were given to Him
before the foundation of the world, and that's the us here,
the elect of God, all of their sins were laid upon Him, charged
to Him, imputed, accounted, reckoned to Him. He took my sin debt and
He said, put it to my account, I'll pay the debt. That's how
He did. And He did, He was appointed
by the Father to do that. And He was willing to do that. He said, I laid down my life.
Nobody takes it from me. He willingly did it for the joy
that was set before Him, the glory of His Father and the salvation
of His people. And He was able to do it. I know
whom I have believed and persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day." So there we
have it. So Christ as the surety of His
people took our debt and He came to this world and united with
Himself a perfect sinless human nature, body and soul without
sin. The God-man, the Word made flesh
dwelt among us. He kept the law perfectly in
my place and did it even unto the death of the cross to satisfy
the justice of God for my sins. And he came under that curse
legally. He was not made a sinner. He
was not corrupted in himself, in his mind, his affections,
his will with my sins, but he suffered the consequences, the
penalty. of all the sins of all of his
sheep. Not everyone without exception.
Now when Paul writes here, he said he was made a curse for
us. He's talking to believers there.
So how do you know that he was made your surety, your substitute,
your redeemer? We'll look at verse 14. All of
this took place that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Now, what is the blessing of
Abraham? The blessing of Abraham is salvation by the grace of
God. Read Romans 4. What did Abraham,
the father of the Jews, what did he find pertaining to the
flesh? Nothing. God saved Abraham by
grace. Abraham is an archetype, you
might say, a supreme example of how God justifies, redeems
the ungodly. So Abraham had nothing in himself
to recommend him unto God. When God found him in the Ur
of the Chaldees, he was an idolater, but God pulled him out. and gave
him life. And Abraham was justified before
God based upon the righteousness of Christ to come imputed to
him. He had righteousness imputed
to him. And it was the righteousness of the coming promised Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So that Christ redeemed Abraham
from the curse of the law. Christ redeemed Abel, Enoch. He redeemed Noah. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. All the Old Testament saints
were redeemed by the blood of Christ on Calvary. The price
of their redemption was paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ
on Calvary when he died and was buried and rose again. the blessing
of Abraham. And he mentions the Gentiles
here because he's telling these Jewish professing believers that
it's not just for national Israel, that God has a people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And what will the
Gentiles receive? The same that the believing Jews
received, that is, that through Jesus Christ, they received the
promise of the Holy Spirit through God-given faith. The Holy Spirit
comes and gives them life from the dead and gives them a new
heart, new mind, new spirit, gives them faith to lay hold
of Christ, born of God. How do I know I've been just,
let's put it this way, let's go all the way back. How do I
know I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world in
Christ? How do I know that Christ was made my surety? How do I
know that he was made my substitute and died for me on the cross
of Calvary and was buried in a rose again for me? How do I
know that I've been born again by the Spirit? Have you been
given the gift of faith in Christ and repentance of dead works?
That's the promise of the Spirit through faith. Christ hath redeemed
us, his people, from the curse of the law. And that's the only
just ground upon which God justifies sinners, forgives us, and declares
us righteous in His sight. Christ has paid the price in
full, established righteousness in full. All that was required,
He did. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.