Galatians chapter 3, in the chapter
that we just read, Galatians chapter 3, directing you this
evening to the 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."
Taking then these words and addressing the subject of redemption from
the law, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us, for it is written, curses 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. Clearly then, with regards to
the price of the ransom, it is not in any sense paid to Satan. And many, in their confusion,
imagine that that is the case. That is not the case. Satan,
the devil himself, is a usurper. but the ransom is paid to that
Lord of God of which the Apostle speaks elsewhere and tells us
that the Lord is holy and the commandment holy and just and
good and that law must be satisfied and God therefore can by no means
clear the guilty because that holy righteous and just law is
but a revelation of himself and his own character and his justice
must be satisfied and here we have the answer that we've just
sung of in that hymn concerning the plan of salvation as it's
revealed to us in God's words 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 a tree. Well let us come and examine
just what he said in these two verses we see something of the
curse of the law being spoken of. We see Christ set forth as
the Redeemer of his people, and all of this is spoken of in terms
of the blessing of Abraham, and that blessing of Abraham coming
even upon sinners of the Gentiles. First of all then, the curse
of the law. We read of redemption from the
curse of the law." Think of the demands that the Lord of God
makes and how awful those commands and those demands are. It's seen
quite clearly in the extent of the law. What do we read here
in verse 10? As many as are of the works of
the law, are under the cursed. 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." Here are the demands,
all things, all things that are written in the book of the law
are to be done without any exception. In that sense God's commandment
as the psalmist says, is exceeding broad. It reaches everywhere. And of course the children of
Israel in the Old Testament were very much reminded of that truth. They were to have the Lord of
Gods ever before their eyes. It was to be continually at their
right hand and at their left hand. Remember the language that
we have in Deuteronomy and there in chapter 6 and verse 6. These words which
I commanded this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the
way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And
thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall
be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them
upon the post of thy house and on thy gates. Wherever they are,
whatever business they are occupied with, the Lord of God is there
continually speaking to them. Of course, the Jews in their
legality from this devise the idea of their phylacteries, those
little letter boxes in which they would have inscribed the
laws of God and they bind them about their foreheads, they bind
them on their wrists, but that's not what is really being said. They have God's law with them
all the time, if what we read in verse 6 is correct. This word
of the Lord is to be in their hearts, wherever they are, whatever
they're about, to be mindful of it. Not just to be understood
in that legal sense, but whatever occupation they're engaged in,
whatever part of life They find themselves in God's word, God's
law. He's there to govern all their
actions, and not only their actions, but as we come to the New Testament,
of course, we see how the Lord Jesus brings out the true nature
of the law. As Paul says, that Lord of God
is spiritual. In Christ, in the Sermon on the
Mount, unfolds that truth. It's not just a matter of actions,
it's a matter also of the attitude of the heart. It's not just what
they do, it's the way they think. And it's the things that they
say. And if anyone offends at all, he is guilty and he's condemned. Oh, that's the curse of the law.
As James says, whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend
in one point he is guilty of all, all the dreadful demands
of that Lord of God and yet it says in verse 12 the man that
doeth them shall live in them if a man can but do these things
he shall live in them as we read again in that same sixth chapter
of Deuteronomy that we just referred to And there at the end of the
chapter, it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these
commandments before the Lord our God as He hath commanded
us. If they do all that the law says
they will have a righteousness. But that is an impossibility.
Because man, he sinned in Adam and we have inherited that sinful
nature from Adam. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean not one? It's an impossibility. How are
we born? We're born dead in trespasses
and in sins. O alas then for man, there is
no righteousness that he can attain in and of himself, but
the law condemns him. Whatsoever things the law says,
it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. How plain are
the statements that this apostle Paul makes in his various epistles. All the demands of the law. The
length, the breadth, the height and the depth of that law of
God. But not only the demands, there's
also the sentence of the law. What do we read here? We read
of curse. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. Well, what is that curse? The soul that sinneth, it shall
die, death. The wages of sin, death. And we see it right at the beginning
when The Lord God creates the man, places him together with
the woman in the paradise which was the garden of Eden, and sets
before them all the trees of the garden, and that one prohibition,
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is not to take
that fruit. And He's told in the day that
they'll eat us thereof, they shall surely die. and we know what happened how
Eve is tempted tempted of Satan by means of the serpent and partakes
of the forbidden fruit and gives to her husband and he eats of
that same fruit with his eyes wide open and they are transgressors
or they are in the transgression and as by one man sin entered
into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned it says and interestingly there in that
verse in Romans 5 the margin gives an alternative so death
passed upon all men in whom all sinned We all sinned
in Adam. He is there at the head of the
race and he's a representative head, just as the last Adam,
the second man, the Lord from heaven, Christ himself, is a
representative head. He's the head of all the election
of grace. So Adam was the head of the whole
of the human race. and when he sins all sinned in
that one man by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned or
God told our father Adam if he transgressed death was certain
thou shalt surely die thou shalt surely die dying Thou shalt die
is what it literally says according to the marginal reading. And
how true that is. Oh, there was a death that was
so immediate. There was a spiritual death.
We've spoken of these things in times past. There was a spiritual
death immediate there. There they were in the paradise
of God and God would come and he would commune with the man
and with his wife and they would walk with God, and when God comes
after the transgression, what do they do? They try to hide
themselves from the Lord God. They try to conceal themselves,
they don't want to be where God is. Where are thou, Adam? says the Lord God. Not that the
Lord God could not see where Adam was. He knew he was in the
transgression. But what a word was that to the
man. Where art thou? Where art thou? And when we come to the end of
that third chapter, our God sends them out of the garden, thrusts
them out of the paradise of God. Oh, there was a separation, there
was a spiritual death that came upon them immediately. They died. Dying Thou shalt die. And then there was another death.
There was a physical death that would come in due time. Adam and Eve have to discover
the truth of their mortality. And so now a time to be born,
a time to die. And what is that physical death?
The body. Without the spirit is dead. It's another separation really.
When God made the man, he created him, a body, and breathed into
his nostrils a breath of life, and he became a living soul.
But when he dies, there's that separation. The spirit goes to
God who gave it, the body returns to the dust, to the earth, just
as it was. And so physical death comes.
And then also, as we know, there is something much worse. There's
an eternal death for those who die dead in their trespasses,
in their sins, those who die without God and without Christ
and without hope. What does Christ say to those
whom he puts to his left hand in that great day of separation,
the last judgment? when he separates the sheep from
the goats. Depart from me, he says, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
There's the final separation. That separation that will never
end. How awful. Again, when the Apostle
speaks, writing there in the opening chapter of 2 Thessalonians,
He speaks of those who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power. All with separation, upon separation,
upon separation. And this is the man who was made
in the image and the likeness of God. This is the man who was
created to have fellowship with God. Man's chief end. to glorify God and to enjoy Him.
He's made for God. And that is surely the chief
part of those dreadful sufferings, an eternal separation. There's
no unbelief, you see. No unbelief in hell. They know
that God is, and they're separated from Him. Think of what that
must be like if you know anything of the grace of God What is it
like when you feel that the Lord is at a distance? And sometimes
it's like that, isn't it? Even with the people of God,
we try to pray and we feel the heavens are brass. How awful
it must be to be in a place where there's no unbelief, they're
all believers in God, and yet they know not God, and they're
separated from God. This is that curse. This is that
dreadful sentence. that comes upon the transgressor.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, it says, being
made a curse for us. And of course, it's answering
what we have stated previously. There at the end of verse 10,
"...curse is every one that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them, all the transgressors. They must
receive the punishment of their sins, even those who will be
with God for a never-ending eternity in heaven. Their sins have been
punished. God doesn't wink at their sins.
And so we come to consider in the second place this blessed
truth of Christ, the Redeemer of His people. Oh, he was made
of a woman, he was made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law that they might receive the adoption of sons
as he goes on to say in the fourth chapter here. But let us consider
something of Christ, that blessed Redeemer, the Christ. Who is
the Christ? Well, as we know, the Christ
is the Anointed One, Christos. It means the Anointed, this is
the Messiah. Thy God hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows, it says in the prophetic
scripture there in Psalm 45. And those words are applied directly
to Christ when we read in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 9. Christ
is that One who has been anointed with the oil of gladness above
His fellows. and so we have it when we come
to read the gospel we see it in those words that are recorded
at the end of John chapter 3 God give us not the spirit by measure
unto him or there was such an outpouring of the spirit upon
the Lord Jesus of course the spirit is there in his very conception
because the holy thing that's conceived in the womb of the
Virgin Mary why she's with child of the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost
shall come upon them the power of the highest shall overshadow
them and then when Christ begins his
public ministry he goes to John there at the river Jordan and
He is submissive. He receives that baptism of John,
that baptism of repentance. In a sense, he is identifying
with those who need repentance. As the prophet Ezekiel must go
and sit where they sat when he is going to prophesy to those
who are in the captivity in Babylon. I sat where they sat, he says.
Astonished. Three days. Well, the Lord Jesus
comes where his people are. He who knew no sin is made sin. He identifies with the sinner.
He receives John's baptism. And as he comes forth from the
waters of baptism and the Father speaks those words, This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So the Spirit descends. All is anointed with the Spirit
of God. And God doesn't give the Spirit
by measure. There's a great effusion of the
Spirit. and the Spirit is there throughout all his earthly ministry
and we see it as we read through the Gospel and it's a profitable
exercise to see that. Now as a man he is so dependent
upon the Holy Spirit in all his ministry. But what is the significance
of the anointing? Well, when we go back to the
Old Testament we see who was anointed. Of course, the kings
were anointed Samuel anointed David to be king
there in 1 Samuel 16 remember he goes to the home of Jesse
and all the sons are brought before the prophets but the youngest
boy David the shepherd boy he's the last one brought in but this
is her and he anoints him he anoints him in the midst of his
brethren The significance of Psalm 47,
God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy brethren.
The anointed king. But then the prophets are anointed. Certainly we read in 1 Kings
19 how Elijah anointed Elisha to be the prophet after him.
So the king is anointed in the Old Testament and the prophet
is also anointed. And we know for Wello all of
the priests had to be anointed. Thou shalt anoint Aaron and his
son says God to Moses and consecrate them that they may minister unto
me in the priest's office. They were anointed and they were
consecrated, sanctified, set apart to their priestly office. And Christ is the fulfillment
of all those who were anointed. The anointed king, the anointed
prophet, the anointed priest. Christ. And here we have him,
Christ, the anointed, has redeemed us from the curse of the law. And how has Christ redeemed his
people by enduring that accursed death of the cross and by doing
that so willingly and voluntarily. It is written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree That's the language again that we have
in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 21. You may see the reference
in the margin there. It is written, Deuteronomy 21,
23. It is written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And we read only on Thursday evening there in Acts
10 and the preaching of Peter in the house of Cornelius and
doesn't Peter there in verse 39 speak of Christ how they slew
him and hanged him on a tray that's the very language that
Peter uses in the house of Cornelius and he uses it again writing
in his first epistle chapter 2 and verse 24 who his own self
bare our sins in his own body on the throne it's a reference
clearly to the cross and that crucifixion that the Lord Jesus
Christ endured because it was the Roman manner of executing
any criminal and it's a cursed death clearly it's an accursed
death and it's all undertaken so willingly and so voluntarily
by the Lord therefore doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I may take it again he says
no man taketh it from me I lay it down of myself I have power
to lay it down I have power or authority to take it again this
commandment have I received of my father Oh, it's a voluntary
sacrifice. He goes willingly even to this
accursed death. He is obedient and obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Oh, the wonder of this,
this work of redemption that the Apostle is speaking of. And
as it's a voluntary sacrifice, and an accursed death, so also
we see clearly it's substitutionary. I know these are such basic things,
but now we need to remind ourselves of these great gospel truths
again and again, this whole plan of salvation. It's substitutionary. And it says, doesn't it here,
how was he redeemed? Being made a curse for us. That's
how he redeems. being made a curse for us. Not himself. He's not the accursed
one. He's the innocent one. He's the
innocent one. Pilate says to the Jews, I have
found no cause of death in him. Why is there no cause of death
in him? Because he's the sinless one. He's the guiltless one. He's the innocent one. But God
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. There is his substitution. God did it. God hath made him
to be sin who knew no sin. The sinless one, made sin for
us. It's that wondrous act of exchange
where he takes upon himself the sins of his people and in exchange
for their sins he bestows his righteousness their sins become
his sins and he suffers in their room in their place in their
stead and his righteousness all that life that he had lived that
life that was holy and harmless and undefiled and spotless, he
was separated from sinners. He never went about doing good,
obeying all the commandments of God. And all that righteousness
is given to his people. The wonder of it, Christ also
with one suffered for sin, she says. The just for the unjust
to bring us to God. How he brings his people to God. All this death, it's substitutionary. It's Jesus in the sinner's place. Living for the sinner, dying
for the sinner, rising again for the sinner. And this death,
all of it, it's so judicial. It's the truth that God is a
just God. And here we see God as that judge,
that one who is holy and righteous and can by no means clear the
guilty. What is a sacrifice? It's a penal
sacrifice. And the Lord Jesus therefore
must endure all the mockery of a trial. Or they take him initially
to the high priest of the Sanhedrin. but then they have no authority
you see to execute a man that belongs to the Roman governor
and so then they lead him from Caiaphas it says into the hall
of judgment he's taken from the Sanhedrin
he goes before the governor Pontius Pilate the hall of judgment there's
a trial And it's a mockery of a trial. And yet it's all the
acts of God. It's here that He is, as it says
in the text, made a curse. Very striking expression. Being made a curse for us. And it is. It's an act of God. God is in this. It's what the
Lord God himself has appointed. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. It's God's doing. He's laid all
the iniquity of his people upon that blessed person, the Lord
Jesus. And what does God say? Awake,
O sword, against My shepherds, and against the man that is My
fellow. Smite the shepherds, and the
sheep shall be scattered. What a word is this? This is
a man whom God acknowledges as My fellow. Against My shepherd,
against the man that is My fellow. He's equal to God. He is God. He is God. he is God manifest
in the flesh and the command is given that the sword of justice
must awake against him and so he pays the price who is he paying
the price to? he is paying the price to God
he is satisfying the law of God this is where the ransom is paid
and let us be clear I have spoken to people in the past and they
are so confused as to where the price of the ransom is paid it
that receives the price of redemption it's not the devil that usurper
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law all that Lord
of Gods how demanding it is but God's justice now is altogether
satisfied if we confess our sins He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness because of what Christ has done to the
law even God's justice is on the side of the sinner now all
of God's attributes are on the side of the sinner His mercy,
His grace but also His righteousness and His justice all All for the
sinner because of what the Redeemer has done. 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 a tree. And what is the outcome? What
is the outcome? Well, in the following verse. It's all 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.
What a blessed consequence is this, the blessing of Abraham. Oh, remember the promise that
was given to Abraham? In thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. that was the promise to Abraham
when God entered into covenant with Abraham that was the great
promise that was given all the families of the earth are blessed
and that was 430 years before God gave the law at Mount Sinai as he says here at verse 16 To
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not,
And to seed as of many, but as of one, and to those seed which
is Christ." Well, Christ is the seed of Abraham, that of which his son Isaac was
a type. Isaac's a type of Christ. Isaac
is the promised seed. Sarah must have the son. But the true seed is Christ,
thy seed which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. Why the Gospel must have the
priority, the Gospel does have the priority. And that is the
blessing of Abraham. And what is the blessing? What
is the blessing? Well, verse 9, they which be
of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. It's the blessing of saving faith. It's the blessing of justifying
faith. It's the blessing of pardon from
all sins because the price of redemption has been paid to the
Holy Lord of God It's the blessing of justification. That is the
blessing. That is the blessing, justifying
faith. And remember how we see it in
what Paul says there in Romans chapter 4. These are great chapters,
aren't they? Wonderful chapters. Galatians
3, Romans 4. I mean, it's all the Word of
God, I know, but there are some portions of God's Word that are
so remarkable. And what Paul says there in that
fourth chapter concerning Abraham? Verse 3, What saith the Scripture?
is the question. What saith the Scripture? And
there is the answer, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. Genesis 15.6 in the margin. That's the scripture. Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. What
does that mean? Well, to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. His righteousness
is not something of work then. But to him that worketh not but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. It's not of works. This righteousness,
it's of faith. But what is this righteousness
that faith has to do with? Of course, faith is not of works. Faith is the very opposite of
works. It's not of works. It's of faith. And then when
we come to the end of that fourth chapter, we see what the faith has to do with. The
faith has to do with that promise that centers in the seed, which
is the Lord Jesus himself. We're told in verse 20 of Romans 4, concerning
Abram, he staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief,
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 was imputed
to him for righteousness." What is being imputed? What is being
accounted to him? It's the promise. It's the promise. And the promise centers in Christ. Again, the Lord Jesus Himself
says it in the Gospel, doesn't He? There in John 8, 56, He says
to the Jews, Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he
saw it and was glad. How did Abraham see the day of
Christ? Do you mean how many centuries
after Abraham was Christ born? How did he see that day? He saw
it in type. And he saw it in type there in
Genesis 22, when he is commanded to take his son, his only son,
Isaac, and he's to go to the Mount Moriah and he's to offer
Isaac as a sacrifice to God. And it's all typical. Of course
he doesn't sacrifice his son. God makes provision. There's
a ram that's caught there in the thicket by its horns and
is to sacrifice the ram instead of the son. And he receives his
son as from the dead, it says in Hebrews 11 when we read of
the faith of Abraham. He receives his son from the
dead. It's all so much a type of the Lord Jesus and the work
of the Lord Jesus, that promise. that sent us in him that was
to come the one that's spoken of here
who has paid the great price of redemption and so purchased
for his people the forgiveness of all their sins and this is
the one that we have to believe in what does the Lord himself say there in
that 8th chapter Before Abraham was, I am. He's the great I am
that I am. Before ever Abraham was. And he's that one who, in the
fullness of time, comes made of a woman made under the law,
that he might redeem them that were under the law. Oh, this
is the blessing. It's the blessing that is in
Christ, in His person, as the seed of Abraham, in the work
that He has accomplished, His obedience, His obedience unto
death, even the death of the cross, it's the pardon of sin,
it's justification, it's the faith of Abraham. But more than that, what do we
read here in verse 14? That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. It's not just that blessing of
Abraham coming on the Gentiles, it also goes on to speak of the
blessing of the Spirit and of faith. How important it is, this faith. How does it come? Well, we read,
don't we, previously here, of the hearing of faith. He asks
these foolish Galatians who are being ensnared by these legalistic
teachers who want to bring them under the law, they're saying
that these Gentile converts need to submit to circumcision. If you're circumcised, Paul says
you're a debtor to the whole of the law of God, you foolish
Galatians who have bewitched you. This only would I learn
of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith, he asks. Which way
is it? Is it the works of the law or
is it the hearing of faith? Again in verse 5 he says, 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? Now he makes an emphasis there,
the hearing of faith. Again in Romans 10 he says, faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's the
hearing of this word of God, it's the hearing of this gospel
of Christ, it's hearing of this promise. That's how faith comes. But what is the gospel? Well,
we seek to compare scripture with scripture and we come to
a chapter like 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 where again he's making
the contrast between law and gospel and there in 2nd Corinthians
3.8 he says the gospel is the ministration of the spirit. It's the ministration of the
spirit, it's the work of the spirit. It's that faith that
comes by the operation of the Spirit of God in the soul of
a man. It's that faith that is the work of God. And this Abram, of course, he
is the father of all them that believe. All those that believe, they
are the sons Thou the seed, Thou the heirs of Abraham, and it's
all in Christ. As he says at the end of this
third chapter, if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise. Oh the wonder, the wonder of
this, the blessing that comes On the one side there is the
law of God, that holy law of God. There's nothing wrong with
the law. It's God's law. It's a holy law. It's God's commandments that
are holy and just and righteous. It's a good law. But the law is good if a man
uses it lawfully. It's not made for the righteous
man. Who is the righteous man? The righteous man is that man
who is justified, he's righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
that man who now has come into the possession of the blessing
of the Gospel, the blessing of Abraham. And how has he come
into such a blessing as that? It's the conclusion that the
Apostle is making here, having made that statement in verse
13 concerning the law and the demands and the curse of the
Lord and the redemption from the law it's all 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 or we can only obtain that saving faith, that justifying
faith when we know that gracious working of the Spirit. What does
Christ say we are to ask of the Father? Or we know how to give
good gifts to our children, how much more, Christ says, how much
more shall God give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask Him. Or that we might ever crave that
gracious ministry, that blessed work of the Spirit, making the
truths of the gospel, such a reality in ourselves that we might see
that all our redemption must center in Christ, in his person,
in his work. Oh, the Lord grant then that
we might see the wonder of what's declared here in the text, redemption,
and redemption from the law by the faith of Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord bless to us his
word. Amen.