Okay, open your Bibles to Galatians
chapter 3. We're going to be picking up
where we left off two weeks ago. And I said we were going to spend
two weeks on these two verses. We're actually going to spend
another week after this on verse 14, though. Because I was looking
at verse 14, and I thought, boy, we need to look at verse 14 as
well. But today we're going to be in Galatians chapter 3. We'll
be looking at verse 13 again, where it says, 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." And
what a wonderful verse. Two weeks ago I preached on the
perfect substitution, that Christ is the perfect substitute, that
His work was perfect, absolutely perfect, and we are redeemed
by Him. And we saw the perfect substitution
in the work of Christ there dying for the sins of his people. And again, we'll spend today
on verse 13, and then next week we'll look at verse 14, because
verse 14 gives us the reason why Christ went to the cross,
that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. So let's read verses 10 to 14 to see the context of our
verses. Context is so very, very important. And so let's read the context
here. For as many as are the works of the law are under the
curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of law to do them. So we see here, and we can surmise
from what we see before us, that all the world, as scripture says
in Romans, is guilty before God. all the world. Every son and
daughter of Adam is guilty." But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. Very clear verse. We cannot be justified by the
law. We cannot be justified by the law. The just shall live
by faith. And again, that's God-given faith. And the law is not of
faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. So if
a man wants to try to keep the law, he's got to keep it all.
That's impossible. We're lawbreakers. I tell Vicki,
I'm a lawbreaker. By nature, I'm a lawbreaker.
And we know that just by driving on the road, don't we? I could
go five over. I can go ten over. So we're just
naturally lawbreakers. Right? Naturally lawbreakers.
My oh my. Christ hath redeemed us. Look at this. And the law is
not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live. And then
verse 12. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
He's redeemed us. This tells us of something that's
already finished. Notices in the past tense. Christ
hath redeemed us. It's all past tense. He's already
done it. The work's finished. His perfect substitutionary work
is done. Now we experience that in time
and space, don't we? When we're born again in the
Holy Spirit of God, he regenerates us, gives us faith to believe.
Look at this. 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. Why? That the blessings
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
So again, let's read those two verses again. Christ hath redeemed
us, verse 13 and 14. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessings
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Now the law of God is divine. It's holy. We don't make light
of it, do we? We don't make light of it at
all. Just because we say that we're not under the law, we are
not making light of the law. It comes from God. It's so holy
that Christ had to fulfill it in our room and place. In our room and place. God is
so holy. He's so just. that he can't bend
his law just a little bit. It must be satisfied, either
in the substitute or in the sinner. It must be. And Paul says the
law is holy, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. So even Paul,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, says that the law is
holy. It's holy. And even when we are studying
justification by Christ alone, through God-given faith alone,
the born-again, blood-washed believer, we never set aside
the law. We just know that we're not under
it. Christ fulfilled the law in our Roman place perfectly.
Perfectly. And think of this, too. Zane
and I were talking about this this week. Not only did he die
a sinless death, but he lived a sinless life. And that life
was for you and I, beloved. That death we know was for us,
right? He had no sin. But see, our iniquities and our
sins were placed upon Him. They were imputed to Him, right? Oh my. And God poured out His
wrath on the substitute, the great substitute of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He would never have to pour out
His wrath on you and I. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's absolutely
wonderful. And the law of God shows forth
the holiness of God. It shines forth the holiness
of God. And you know what else it does?
It shows the depravity of man. Because not one of us can fulfill
even one law. Not one of us. So it shows the
holiness of God. His justice, holiness. His justice is holy justice.
And remember, he's the holy God. Everything about him is holy.
Everything about him is holy. Even the Bible is the holy Bible,
right? The angels who didn't sin are the holy angels. He's
holy. Oh my. And we can never fulfill one
jot or tittle of the law, so Christ the God-man comes, leaves
heaven, leaves the glory and splendors of heaven, becomes
a man, yet still God, lives a perfect life for you and I as believers,
dies on the cross for us. Scripture says, the just one
dying for the unjust. That's me. That's you. And the law is glorious. It can only be satisfied by a
sinless one. Because we're a bunch of sinners,
right? We can't satisfy the law of God. So the law of God must
be satisfied by a sinless one. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ, conceived of a virgin, conceived
of the Holy Spirit of God, born of a virgin, Sinless. Absolutely sinless. Perfect. And think of this, the law is
glorious. It's never misapplied. It's never misapplied when it's
properly used, but it's misapplied when people use it as a means
of salvation. It's misapplied then. Because
what does the law do? It shows us our sinfulness. It
shows us that the whole world is guilty before God. That's
the proper application of the law. It shows our utter sinfulness. And self-righteous men and women
who try to be justified by the law, are just pouring condemnation
upon themselves more and more because there's absolutely no
one who can be justified by the law no one we saw that in the
portion that we read there when it says but that in verse 11
but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God
it is evident for the just shall live by faith so it's a It's
a misapplication of the law when people use it as a means of salvation.
That's what the Judaizers were doing. They were misapplying
the law. And Paul's showing them, Paul's
showing the Galatians how they've done that. Because now he's bringing
forth justification in Christ and through Christ alone. That's true salvation. God never
intended men to be saved by the law. When he proclaimed it on
Sinai, it was with thunder and fire and smoke. It was never
intended to save anyone. Scripture says, O man, hear my
law, but thou shalt tremble while thou hearest it. If we truly
hear the law of God, we tremble. Because it shows us that we're
condemned. But praise God there's a Savior.
Praise God there's a Savior who's redeemed us from the curse of
the law. He's made a curse for us. Praise
God. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
He's removed that curse. And if one, if a person breaks,
this is what folks don't realize, I didn't realize this when I
was in religion, but if a person breaks one point of the law,
they're guilty of it all. I remember I heard a fellow one
time, believes like we believe, and
he said something that just struck me and I thought, oh my. He said, you know, the Lord tells
us to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, mind, and soul.
He says, how did he put it? He says, I got the heart down.
I'm working on the other two. And I thought, the heart is wicked,
desperately wicked. Speak in the eyes. That's just self-righteousness,
beloved. See, people can have proper doctrine and not know
Christ. I was one of them. I was a five-point... I started
off, I was an Armenian in religion. Full-on Armenian. Five-point
Armenian or whatever you want to call it. I had ate the whole
cookie. Then I became a five-point Calvinist
and I was such a legalist. Oh, everyone was just a bunch
of sinners. How can they be Christians and do that? Meanwhile, in my
heart, I'm just full of wickedness. And then God saved me. Then God
saved me by His grace and His mercy. My, oh, my. And you're right. Hallelujah.
He gets all the glory, honor, and praise. He gets it all. So
a man can know proper doctrine. A man or a woman can know proper
doctrine and not know Christ. My, oh my. And how much faith
do we have to be saved, have to have to be saved? Just the faith of a mustard seed. I believe, Lord! I believe. My. See, the religious man says,
what must I do to be saved? Like the Philippian jailer, right?
And I love Paul's response. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. That's the question right now.
Do we believe? That's the question for whoever
will hear this message. Do you believe? Do you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ? Thou shall be saved. Hallelujah. Makes your heart sing, right?
Does it say when you believe the five points of Calvinism? When you believe whatever this
thing here says? You know, it says believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. God-given faith. Oh my. God will do what's right,
won't he? It's not up for us. It's not
for us to judge who's saved and who's lost, is it? God will do
what's right. God will do what's right, beloved.
And we just keep preaching, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
thou shalt be saved. No works. No works at all. Salvation by the pure, free,
and sovereign grace of God. So much so, salvation so sure,
so perfect, that Christ has to remove the curse of the law from
us. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Spurges brings
forth about the law. It was written on stone as if
to teach us that it was a hard, cold, stony law, one which have
no mercy upon us, but which, if we break it, will fall upon
us and dash us to a thousand pieces. That's true, isn't it? The law is firm. It's unbending. But grace, Grace, so merciful. The grace of G-d, so wonderful. And it comes to us in and through
the wonderful, merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed
His precious blood to redeem us. That's how, when it says
here, Christ hath redeemed us, He redeemed us with His blood.
He gave His life. Not only did He live a perfect
life for us, then He gives His life. He says, He gave up the
ghost. gives His life for you and I,
beloved, to redeem us from the curse of the law. And that curse
had a hold upon us, didn't it? Justly, justly. My, and if someone's
trusting the law for their salvation, they've erred from the faith.
I don't care how little it is, they've erred from the faith.
Salvation is of the Lord. They don't, if someone's trying
to be justified by the law, they don't understand God's design,
they don't understand God's salvation. I was there, so I'm speaking
from experience. And I know some of you were too.
Trying to do so much, right? I got to pray more. Got to get
myself joyful. You know, now I'm just happy
in the Lord, are you? I'm so thankful he saved me. I'm still
saying me. Are you? Every day. Sister Carolyn told me she was
talking to somebody. Oh, I got to repeat this as that
was so funny. She was telling me about she's
talking to a friend who's a Catholic. And he says, I confess my sins.
I confess my sins once a year, right? He said. And Carolyn said,
once a year? Man, I confess my sins every
day. She says, if I had to go to a
priest to confess my sins, I'd be burning my tires off in no
time. I told Norm Wells about that.
He was laughing, sister. He thought that was great. It's
true though, isn't it? It's so true. We have the freedom,
beloved, to confess our sins to our holy God, our Lord and
Savior, who has redeemed us by giving his life for us, and has
shed his precious, precious blood, beloved. It's absolutely wonderful. My, the law was given by Moses
to make men feel themselves condemned. God gave the law to show men
that there's no way for us to save ourselves. None. We're all guilty before God to
conclude us all in unbelief and to condemn us. Why? That God might have mercy upon
his people in Christ. See, this is the wonderful thing
of salvation in Christ for you and I who are God's people. We
see ourselves as condemned by the law. We know. We look at
the law, God, and we're like, we're done. When Christ spiritualized
the law, right? When he said, if you're angry
with your brother, you murder him. Oh my gosh. Right? When he said to the man that
if you look upon a woman with lust, you've committed adultery
with her. Oh, we're all doomed, beloved. That's just two of them. Oh my goodness! And I love, though,
I love what he said to the lady caught in adultery. Now they
never bought the man, did they? Because a lot of people think
that he was one of them. But they bought this lady. We
caught her in the very act. And the Lord said to her, remember? Where are those who condemn you?
Where are your accusers? Well, they're gone, Lord. He just forgave her on the spot
and said, go and sin no more. And that's only in Christ. That's
only in Christ that we sin no more. We're still sinners, aren't
we? But God doesn't look at our sin
anymore, does he? Let us just live in that. God
doesn't look at our sin anymore. He sees us in Christ, beloved. and and rejoice rejoice let us
rejoice because I know I know I'll be laying in my bed sometimes
and stuff come up from my past and oh my gosh and I just have
to say to myself oh Lord you've taken it all away it's all gone
it's all gone it's all washed in your precious precious blood
and you carried it away so far away that that father you don't
remember my sins anymore we all struggle with that don't we Let
us just think that way. Let us just think they're gone. When they're gone, they're absolutely
gone. Oh my gosh, it's wonderful. And the thunders and the storms
and the lightning at Mount Sinai just thunder down, don't they?
But do you know what? Do you remember how Christ calmed
the sea? That's what he's done for the
thundering of the law at Mount Sinai for us. It's a beautiful,
clear day now. The law says, I got no claim
on David, man. Because he's in Christ. And put
your own name in there. You who are the beloved of the
Lord. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful, isn't it? The
law has no claim. God's justice says, I've already
been satisfied. Christ has already removed the
curse from Gavin. Isn't that wonderful? He did it by his redeeming
blood. So the law of justice says, I
don't have any claim on you. The justice of God says, I'm
satisfied. And the father looks at you and
he says, I see Christ. And that's true of every single
one of us who are believers. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. I'm just going to pass right
by you. Not like you didn't exist, but you're under the blood of
my son. You're under the blood of my son. Oh my! And so the law, the law
was given to demolish self-righteousness. And that's what it does for us,
doesn't it? Because we realize, after we're born again, we realize
there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. There's no act. There's no amount we could give. There's nothing we can... For
what shall a prophet of man if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? There's nothing. And what shall
a man give for a ransom? There's nothing we can give to
ransom our souls. Nothing. Christ did it all. He did it all, beloved. He alone has finished the law. He's made it honorable. He's brought in everlasting righteousness,
beloved. And the law can't bless. It can
only curse. That's all it can do. It can
only pronounce death upon the sinner. The soul that sinneth,
it must die. So there's Christ the King, the
Glorious One, the God-man, the Ancient of Days, become a man
and he's bleeding and dying on the cross to remove the curse
from all his people and bring it home right down to us. Remove that curse by the giving
of his life, by the shedding of his blood. He's redeemed our
eternal souls. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us, beloved. My, oh my. And this curse is
universal. It's universal, isn't it? It's
upon all who are under the law. Well, that's all of us. But Christ
redeemed a certain amount of people. A number that no man
can number. We don't know who they are, but
he's done it. He's done it. This verse tells
us that. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. He's redeemed us, being made
a curse for us. Oh my, my. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. And then look at verse 14, that
the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. He's done it, beloved. He's done it. This curse is universal. It can only be removed by God. The law can only be satisfied
by a Holy One, right? And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here we go. Let's look at
this. Let us marvel at this. We who have been born-again and
blood-washed saints. Let us marvel at what's set before
us. Christ hath redeemed us. It's
a fact. This is not up for debate. People
like to debate, right? This isn't up for debate. This
is truth proclaimed. Christ hath redeemed us. And
who's Paul writing to? He's not writing to the whole
world, is he? He's writing to the churches at Galatia. He's
writing to born-again, blood-washed believers, right? And he's saying
to them, you've been redeemed. This is a fact. And remember,
he's showing, remember the setting too, he's showing justification
through faith alone in Christ alone, right? By Christ alone,
as opposed to the Judaizers who are saying you have to be circumcised,
which is the law, right? Part of the Mosaic law. He must
be circumcised to be saved as well as have faith in Christ.
And he's showing us in an amazing way here, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God, the true author of the scriptures, that
salvation is only in Christ and Him alone. That it's Christ who
has redeemed us. We can't redeem ourselves from
the curse of the law. So he's saying, you want to live
by the law? You're under a curse. So basically, what he's saying
is all those Judaizers are false teachers who are under a curse.
Now, born-again believers hear that, and we're like, I don't
want to be under a curse. I'm not under the curse anymore.
Christ redeemed me. I don't want to listen to those fellows anymore.
And I believe there were some that said, and see, Paul's not
saying you're a bunch of lost folks. See how far we can go
into error? Remember the Corinthian church? They were all messed up, right?
He didn't say, well, you're not my brethren. I love that. So much grace given. So much
grace given, beloved. Let us be like that. Let us be
like that as a body, just to give grace more and more and
more, right? It's wonderful. I know we say
it, but we desire to do it, don't we, as God's people? We desire
to do it. It's hard sometimes, but let
us be like that. Let us err on the side of grace
and mercy, then be stern. Right? My oh my. What did that Samaritan do? He
came and just bound up that fellow. He didn't say, well, you got
on the wrong road and you let yourself get mugged. You did
all this stuff. He didn't say. He just bound
him up, right? Picked him up. Took him to the inn. Said, whatever
he needs, I'll pay for it. That's Christ, isn't it? That's
Christ with us. My oh my. It's wonderful. You
know, a Mormon, the sinner, believes and trusts in the crucified Christ.
His pardon at once he receives. Salvation is full through his
blood. Full. We have a full salvation, beloved.
Not a part salvation. We have a full salvation. And
it's instantaneous. This removal is instantaneous.
My oh my. My oh my. You ever think of this
too? In Christ's life, When he was
going about doing good and people were being cured and healed,
right? Did those things take time or were they instantaneous? Well, they were instantaneous.
Well, I'll give you some examples of that. My oh my. There's a man stretched out on
his couch. He's not risen from that couch
for years and years. Years and years, and the Lord
says, take up thy bed and walk to him. Now, I'm going to say something about
my, I went through several operations as a kid, and then when I was
12, I had to learn how to walk all over again. I went through,
in a cast for I think it was about eight months. My muscles
were gone. That was just after eight months.
This man was there for years. I had to learn on the poles.
I had to walk up. I had to learn how to walk all
over again. Strengthen the muscles. This was instant. This man, this
is why I'm amazed. This man, he jumped up. No physical
therapy. He jumped up. He grabbed this
man and he walked. And he's probably praising God
the whole way, wasn't he? Well, we know the man at the
gate called Beautiful. He was leaping for joy, that fella.
instantaneously. And there's another from his
closed lips, a sound that's scarcely ever escaped. He's mute. Christ
touches his lips and he speaks instantaneously. There's a young girl. She lays
asleep, dead in bed. Jesus went to her and her eyes
are closed in death. Jesus did but take her clay cold
hand in his hand and say damn so I say unto thee arise. You
know what happened? She arose and then she started
ministering to him. oh my our God his cures is instantaneous
crisis removed us from the curse of the law it was done at Calvary
but then we we we see it when when when we're born again and
it's removed instantaneously isn't that wonderful Absolutely
wonderful. Fully discharged by Christ I
am from sin's tremendous curse and blame. Fully discharged,
beloved. It's gone. We've been redeemed. The curse of the law has been
removed. We're justified now in God's sight. In the believer, born-again believer,
we cry out with Paul, there's therefore now no condemnation.
Who shall lay any charge to God's elect? Let man say what they
will, beloved. It's baseless in God's eyes. Who shall condemn us? No one.
No one, beloved. You know what happens? We condemn
ourselves, don't we? But you know what? We don't have
to. Now we mourn over our sin, but
it's forgiven, beloved. Let us live in the moment that
Christ has redeemed us. We're redeemed from the curse
of the law. Now that law is going to extract justice, right? It has to be satisfied, again,
either in the substitute or in the sinner, right? Praise God
that Christ died as our substitute, beloved. Hallelujah. My all clean
my lord all clean not a spot now all is gone I am completely
washed from head to foot the stains are all removed Gone,
we're like white as snow the scripture says in the eyes of
the Lord Black, yet calmly. You know what that means? Calmly,
in the Hebrew there, in the Song of Solomon, means beautiful.
We're black with sin, and yet in Christ, we're beautiful, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
amazing. Did Jesus upon me shine? Then
Jesus is forever mine. Oh, my distrustful heart, how
shall thy faith appears? Or how small thy faith appears?
Far greater, Lord, thou art than all my doubts and fears. Amidst
all my sin and fear and woe, thy spirit will not let me go." He never lets go. We wander off, we go off sinning. Here, never let us go. Never. Never. Oh my. The Son of God appears. Think of this. How shall a sinner
be saved? The Son of God appears. He says, Father, launch thy thunderbolts
at me. Here's my breast. Here's my breast. Plunge that sword in here. Plunge your sword of justice
in here, here in my shoulders. Let the last of vengeance fall
upon them. In Christ the substitute came
forth and stood for us, the just for the unjust. What a Savior,
beloved. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. He's so amazing. He's so merciful. He's so good to us. We do not
get what we deserve. And we say Hallelujah, don't
we? Hallelujah.