I please God to bless us together
as we continue our meditation in the Epistle of Paul to the
Galatians chapter 3 and we'll read verses 13 and 14 Galatians chapter 3 and reading
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 every one 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. These are very precious and glorious
words that the apostle wrote to the Galatians And we might
perhaps think that some of the previous verses might have been
a little bit negative, but here we have a very positive statement
that the Apostle writes to the Galatians. And what a wonderful
truth it is to believe tonight that these words had an application
to the Church of God at Galatia in those days, but they have
an application today to us. if we are amongst the true Church
of God, and how we should rejoice in such great truths. Because
without these words and what they mean and what they show
to us, then we would not have any hope of forgiveness from
all our sins, we wouldn't have any hope of eternal life. But
we can rejoice tonight in the great truths that these verses
contain. When we read, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. And that is really so
amazing and so humbling to think as we ponder ourselves, look
at ourselves, realise what we're like, We don't really see what
we're really like, but sometimes the Spirit of God does come and
shine into our hearts and we see how bad we are and how wicked
we are and how sinful we are. And yet to think that the Lord
Jesus Christ, Almighty God, so wondrously and so graciously
condescended to come into this sinful world, and to die that
Sanatonian death on the cross at Calvary in order to redeem
our souls, because without his life, without his death, there
would be no redemption. Tonight do we bless God for such
a truth as this. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, be
made a curse for us. part of that beautiful chapter
in the Hebrews chapter 9 where it again confirms really these
truths that we've just read and in verse 11 and 12 we read in
the ninth chapter of the Hebrews but Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." Well, we get the view, don't we? This
redemption never fades. It never disappears. It is eternal. And that which Christ did when
he died upon that cross at Calvary is a finished work. It's a complete
work. And what a mercy it is that you
and I can rely upon that work and rely upon the truth of the
Word of God which speaks to us of that work and in the detail
that it does. And so tonight may we be truly
humbled to think of this great truth that Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us and
as we read As the Bible tells us, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree, and of course the Lord Jesus Christ did in fact
hang upon the cross, and we know of course that cross really represented
the tree referred to here in these words. And there are a
number of references in the Word of God to confirm this important
truth that the Lord Jesus died for us. And we can read in the
in the epistle of Paul to the Romans in the 7th chapter and
the 4th verse. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. the effect of God's
blessing in our souls, the evidence of his death being that which
was sufficient to atone for all our sins, should be that which
brings forth fruit, spiritual fruit, in our lives to the honour
and glory of God. And to think then that we are
joined inseparably to this great God, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we truly ponder these things
and bless God for them. And we know that the effect is
that as these things are made over to the Church of God, that
our hearts are drawn to the Saviour. And the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
of himself On that occasion, when he would be crucified, he
tells us in the third chapter of John, he says, and as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and we preached on
that recently, I'm sure you remember, a wonderful illustration for
us. Those that looked to that serpent, those who were bitten,
they lived just the same today, as you and I, by grace, look
to the crucified Savior. and look to his shed blood, there
is salvation. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Wonderful promise, isn't it?
Wonderful it is if God shines into our heart the light of the
everlasting gospel, the light which shows forth in the face
of Jesus Christ, and gives us faith to believe these great
truths. And this word is true, and we
are amongst those who are classified here as whosoever believeth in
him. It's fundamental that we are
amongst those who do believe the truth of the gospel, that
we do believe the Lord Jesus Christ did die upon Calvary's
cross to atone for our sins, because there is all our hope,
there's no hope anywhere else. So may we be blessed to appreciate
the wonder of this word and have the evidence that we are amongst
these, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life and of course the word goes on to the 16th
verse which I'm sure is well known for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son. Again, it's a repetition
really, but it's very relevant. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Well, may we be blessed
with the wonderful favour of that in our souls tonight. And we see as we read on here
what the Apostle directs us again to the life of Abraham. justified by that faith that
God gave him. And we're no different today.
We are only justified by the faith that God gives us to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the apostle says that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, the only way. that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. How important it is that you
and I are amongst those who receive the wonderful gift of faith to
believe. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. How needful it is that you and
I are favoured to walk in that way and to rejoice in the truth
of God's Word, in the promises of God's Word that direct us
to rejoice in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and has accomplished. We don't want to wander far away
from the cross. We need to be kept very close
to the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. Continuing in the epistle of
Paul to Romans that we just referred to, in that fourth chapter and
coming down to the 13th verse, we're told for the promise that
he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or
to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. Well, you and I don't possess
faith ourselves. God gives faith. What a mercy
it is when you and I have the evidence that he has given us
faith. living faith to believe the truths
of the gospel and it is of course a wonderful effect it has on
our hearts and on our souls. So let us remember these words
for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was
not to Abraham or to his seed through the law He was so keen,
wasn't he, the Apostle Paul, to make the Romans and the Galatians,
and indeed all those that he met with, to understand very
clearly that it was not by the works of the law that they would
be justified, but it was through the gift of faith. And it's just
the same today. And may we be blessed for that.
And the wonder of it is, and the glory of it is, is this.
Because it's a gift to us, we have only one option. and that
is to praise and glorify God for the gift that he's given
to us to be able to lay hold upon the promises of God by faith. And so let us come tonight and
praise God for his wonderful mercy and for his wonderful blessing
to us and realize the truth of these words that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
You see, the Spirit was poured out, wasn't it, on that day of
Pentecost. It was a wonderful outpouring. And what a gracious and wonderful
effect it had. And my friends, it's a wonderful
thing today, when the Spirit is poured out into our hearts
and it reveals the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the work of the
Holy Spirit, to reveal Christ to us as our Saviour. Oh, what a mercy it is. When
the Holy Spirit does that, what a wonderful evidence it is of
eternal life in our souls. Because it's not something that
you and I can produce ourselves, it is only the work of the Holy
Spirit. And it's his prerogative to show
to us the blessings of the Saviour. And so, as we think of the amazing
plan of salvation, the amazing work The amazing love of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. May we rejoice
tonight in the truth of the Gospel. Go on our way rejoicing, praising
God for these wonderful truths, and to have, again coming back
to this great point, this wonderful evidence that we are amongst
those who are redeemed. Redeemed. And how are we redeemed?
Let us not forget. redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ. That's a text we should never
weary of speaking of, we should never weary of hearing. I'm sure
the Apostle Peter who wrote it was never weary of it. He rejoiced
in it, and may we rejoice in it tonight. And praise God for
the wonder of it, the wonder of redeeming love, and to bless
God for the truth of it. And so as we have these words
tonight, Christ hath. It's good, isn't it? The word's
positive, isn't it? Christ hath redeemed us. from the curse of
the law. Remember the curse of the law
which said, the soul that sinneth it shall die. And you see, the
curse was a doom. People were doomed under the
curse. We were doomed. But bless God, we received that
newness of life, that life from the dead. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, where
it's written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive the promise and the spirit through
faith. And just when we think of Abraham
and the faith he had, and we might think, well, that was so
amazing. So it was. But my friends, the
faith that you and I receive is also so amazing. because it
is the gift of God. And if we receive that living
faith, then we can be sure it is well with our souls. Amen.