If you'd like to follow along,
I'm going to be in Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, and I want
to begin reading in verse 10. For as many as are the works
of the law 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. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. 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 I'm gonna stop right
there. I'm not going to preach about
the law today. I will be speaking of the curse
of the law when I get to it. But the law is not my subject. However, this scripture reading
that I just did starts, Paul starts it with this flat statement.
And this is a flat statement. This is not up to debate. It's
not up for any argument. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. I'm gonna put it right there,
period. Period. So I have to say something about
that, because that's the way Paul starts this, going to this.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. My title is
Substitute. Substitution, excuse me. And
I think Paul Walter did a really good job about this a couple
of weeks ago. So I'm not gonna have to spend a lot of time here.
But I just wanted to say, I want to tell you, I want to do the
deeper meaning, Paul. The deeper meaning of this is
this. No man is justified by the law in God's sight. No man. Now, you understand, if it's
true when Paul wrote this, it's true now. If it's true when Paul
wrote this, and it is, it's always been true. Nothing changed. The law did not change. But no
man's ever been justified by the law. That's why Christ came. There's no qualifier here and
there's no time element here except the present. No man is
justified. No believing man is justified
by the law in God's sight. And certainly no unbelieving
man is justified by the law in God's sight. But Paul is writing
to believers and telling us this. The just, by faith, shall live. And the law is not a faith. And
that's just what it says. What I wanna get to, though,
is verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. being made a curse for us. First
of all, Christ has redeemed us. Now the emphasis there was mine
because of this. Paul wrote this in the past tense. And I'm gonna say this, I'll
say it again. I'm sure I've said it before.
Paul knows the difference between the present tense and the past
tense. He's a very smart man. Very educated,
and matter of fact, God taught him the gospel. He was taught
the gospel by Jesus Christ, and he said Christ has redeemed us.
Very clearly in the past tense. Now, what does the word redeemed
mean? Redeemed, it means to pay the ransom. That's what it means. Ah, wait a minute, and here's
the thing. Take ownership, take ownership. I like that, I do. You understand,
it's not that he just bought us and said, oh, no. He bought
you to himself. He owns you if he bought you. I like that. Paul said it. I am a bond slave of Jesus Christ. What's that mean? He meant a
bond slave. Christ owns me. And being a bond
slave means I love it. I love it. I'm glad of it. Oh, I know. To redeem someone
is to deliberately, purposefully go out of your way to pay a debt
that you don't owe. Christ didn't owe a debt. I did. Christ didn't owe a debt. You
did. And we couldn't pay it. We could not pay it. What's that
mean? Redemption was not an accident. It was not an afterthought. It
was the purpose of Jesus Christ when he came to this world. The angel told Joseph, call his name
Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. There was a
purpose. A very clear purpose. And I want
to tell you this right now. I've kind of heard it in passing
and I think it's just a mistake on somebody's part. I hope that's
all it was. But right now, understand, Christ is not redeeming anyone. He's calling in his people. He's
bringing in his sheep. But he's not redeeming anyone.
Redemption is done. Christ has redeemed us. The good
shepherd did give up his life for his sheep. And other sheep
he had that were not of this flock right then, but them I
must bring. And guess what? He redeemed them
all at the same time. And the same time he redeemed
them, he redeemed us who are alive right now. If we are redeemed. Redemption was a one-time act
of the Son of God manifest in the flesh done to perfection. Matter of fact, in Psalms it prophesies of a
plenteous redemption. And in Hebrews we're told that
he hath obtained, past tense, eternal redemption for us. Once, by the one offering. Oh, I like that, I do. But here
specifically, Paul is telling us, excuse me, Paul is telling
us Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now, the
law's curse is very simple. Break it and die. That's the only punishment for
breaking the law. Death, death. Matter of fact,
this is the curse of God on sinful men. He told Adam in the garden,
in the day thou eat of it, you die. And Adam died. And he was our federal head.
And in Adam, all die. Ah, but in Christ, shall all
be made alive. I like that, you know. I told
you there's good news here. but he has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, because here's what the law says, to be guilty
in one point is to be guilty of the whole law, of breaking
the whole law. And understand, it's not that
you break the laws of God, it's the law, singular. It is one
coherent whole law. And if you break one part of
it, you've broken the whole thing. We break more than one part of
it every day, and so do you, and so do I. We break it. Christ has redeemed us from the
law's curse, the curse of the law. Oh, I like that. The broken law has one curse,
and we need to be redeemed from that curse. And Paul is telling
us we have been. We have been redeemed. See, because
there's another part of this. There are some people, God said, I'll send them strong
delusion that they should believe the lie. But there's one thing
that most people don't want to consider about breaking one law,
I've never stole anything, I've never killed anybody, I've never
committed adultery. That may be true, that may be
true. There are people who are willing
to justify themselves. And they try to justify themselves
before God. It doesn't happen. Paul's already
said it. No man. No man. Anyway, but here's
the thing. Leave one part out of the law,
and you've broken it. Understand? Don't love God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. One time, and you've
broken the law. Don't love your neighbor as yourself. One time, you've broken the law,
and you're guilty of all. And the law says, the law's curse
says, die. Death. The wages of sin is death. But thank God he didn't stop
there either. But the gift of God is eternal life. Through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the law. It's a hard thing to think about.
It's a hard thing to relate to people. They don't quite understand
it. One sin, one stolen paperclip, One thanks not given, where you
should have given thanks. And here's the one that got the
Apostle Paul. We talked about this the other day on the phone.
One unholy thought, and you've broken the law. Now a lot of
people wanna say, you know, oh well, those 10 commandments,
you know, that's deeds, not thoughts. Christ said if you thought it
in your head, if you thought it in your heart, you've committed
the act already. And you know what? That's the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not covet. That's a thought. You understand? That's a thought. Thou shalt
not covet. If you take somebody's stapler,
that's stealing. If you think about taking somebody's
steeler, that's coveting. The one sin that Christ started
his diatribe with when he was talking about what comes out
of a man, the first thing he listed was the words evil thoughts. You understand, my tongue's an
unruly member. I can't control it that well.
But my thoughts, Lord have mercy, they condemn me every day. And
your thoughts condemn you every day. I guarantee it. But Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. The curse of the law. What did
he say? Here it is. Substitution. Being made a curse
for us. For us. He was made a curse for
us. And here it is, Christ has redeemed
us, being made a curse for us. Those are exactly the same people.
The ones that he redeemed are the ones that he was made a curse
for. This is the gracious doctrine
of substitution. Christ Jesus took my place in
my stead. You understand? I should be dead
right now. But in Christ, I live. Why? Because he has redeemed us, being
made a curse for us. We were cursed. I was cursed. And rightly so. Deservingly so. And he was made a curse for us. I don't know. You understand,
we broke. His holy and just and good commandments. We were condemned already when
it says we didn't believe in Jesus Christ. He that believeth
not on Jesus Christ, on him the Lord sent, is condemned already. And yet Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us. Joseph Hart wrote this. This
curse pertain to those who break one precept, e'er so small. And
where's the man in thought or deed that has not broken all? That's us, folks. That's us. And that is what Christ took
upon himself. He was made a curse for us. You understand? Jesus Christ
had never done any sin. It's hard to imagine, it's hard
to even believe at this time. Never had a wrong thought, never. Jesus Christ loved his neighbor
as himself every day, all day. He loved God with all his heart,
mind, soul, and strength every day. And yet this man, this God
man, became a curse for us, for his people. Now that's love. That's love. This is how he redeemed us. He
shed his blood willingly when our blood should have been shed.
He became a curse and died the death that we earned, that we
deserved. He died as a malefactor. He died
as a criminal. He died in full view of the heaven
and the earth and the people that were gathered there. And
that's where we should have been. Because we were the guilty ones.
We were the sinners. We were the malefactors. He became
our substitute. And by that, I mean he took our
place. He took our death while he was
on that tree. He said it. Father, why hast
thou forsaken me? God, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? This is why. He was made a curse
for us. He was made a curse for us. God
forsook God. And I agree with Martin Luther.
I can't explain how that could happen, but I know it did. And
I know in the father's sight, he forsook the son, why? Because
the son took our curse upon himself. Now, he became our substitute,
and by his redemption, we are now clean, without sin. That first burnt offering that
Abraham offered, first time that burnt offering was mentioned
in the Bible. he was gonna offer up his son Isaac. Why? Because
God said so. And he took Isaac, and Isaac
looked at him and said, we've got the wood, we got the fire,
we're gonna do a burn offering, where's the lamb? And Abraham
looked at him and told him, he said, son, God will provide himself
a lamb. And God did. Jesus Christ is
the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God
slain as from before the foundation of the world. When Isaac and Abraham got up
there, and Abraham was getting ready to raise that knife, Isaac
was laying on the altar, God said, whoa, stop. And he said,
look over there. And there was a ram caught by
its horns in a thicket. And they took that ram and put
it in the place of Isaac on that altar and slew it, killed it. And that ram's blood was shed
in the place of Isaac. That's substitution. And Isaac
was received as from the dead by Abraham. Abraham had been
thinking him dead for three days on the trip there. And he received
him. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God. He knew that God had promised
his seed to come through Isaac. And that even if he killed Isaac,
God was gonna have to raise him from the dead. But he received
him as from the dead. How? By faith, by faith. And God gave a substitute for
Isaac right there in that place. And that's what Christ did for
us. God, God placed him on that cross. Jesus Christ voluntarily
went there. He could have called 12 legions
of angels, but no, he came to become a curse for us. Abraham had faith, so Abraham
believed God. and God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And I can tell you this, there
was never a truer word spoken because God did provide himself
a lamb. God provided the lamb as himself
and God provided the lamb himself. That's substitution. And Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, came and redeemed us, his people, from the curse of the
law. And we have been given in him
and by him eternal life. Eternal life. You understand? In a very real sense, I'm gonna
make a statement. I can't die. Now, it's not because I'm good.
It's not because I'm strong. It's got nothing at all to do
with me and it's got nothing at all to do with this physical
body. This body can die. But by the promises of God in
Jesus Christ, believers shall never die. And when their bodies
die, it says this, precious in the sight of the Lord is the
death of his saints. You know why? Because he's bringing
them home. He's bringing them home. I like
that. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. We
had an innumerable multitude of sins, and he took them all.
He took them all. upon himself and he took them
in himself. He bore in his body on the tree
our sins. And here's the thing. We had
absolutely no part in this redemption. He did it. He did it. It's done,
but he did it. It's done because he did it. We were there in him, but we
don't participate. We don't help. We don't help
now. Redemption is done. Redemption
is done. He became a curse for us. We
were there in his heart and his mind, and upon his shoulders
he carried us. I was thinking about this on
the way up here. When they crossed over Jordan, the law stayed behind. And the
law came with them. Moses stayed behind. Moses, as
a picture of the law, stayed behind in the wilderness. And Joshua led the children into
the promised land. with Joshua was the law. But it was inside the tabernacle
with a mercy seat on top of it. That law is fulfilled in Christ.
And he redeemed us from the curse of the law. Oh my. see him dying in our place, bearing
under our disgrace, bearing all our sin and blame, Christ, our
substitute, was slain. Don Fortner wrote that. And that
one Walter just read today, he pleads, though a sinner, though
a sinner, I am safe. He pleads before the throne,
his life and death in my behalf, and calls my sins his own. Oh, I like that verse, I do.
He was made a curse for us. He was made a curse. For it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Ah, that the blessings of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles. The blessing of Abraham. Abraham
believed God. and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Abraham believed God and he got
up and he got out. Abraham believed God and he was
looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. The faith of Abraham is the faith
of God's elect. And the faith of God's elect
is the faith of Jesus Christ, the one who became a curse for
us, our substitute. And it is by grace through faith
that we are saved. And that's not of ourselves.
It is the gift of God. You know why? Because we're his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And let me tell you this, folks,
believing Christ is a good work. Believing God is a good work.
Faith in God is a good work. It's the gift of the Spirit. Oh my, that we redeemed Gentiles
are his people, the sheep of his pasture. I like that. and we receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith, his gift. I'll close with this. 1 Peter
2 and 24 says this, who his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree. That we, here it is, here's where
we are. That we, what? Being dead to
sins. should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye are healed. He became a curse for us. And him becoming a curse to us
made us dead to sins. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. For all the promises of God are
in him, are yea, and in him Amen. Unto the glory of God by
us. Now he which established us with
you in Christ has anointed us and hath anointed us is God,
who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in
our hearts. Oh, I like that. Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law. being made a curse for us. Understand,
if you believe God, if you've been given faith, and you believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no curse upon you now. None at
all. Christ took it away. He took
away our sins. He was made a curse. Now our
sins, our sins had to be punished, and they were. in him, in him,
and thank God for him. We have been given eternal life
in Christ Jesus. Everlasting life. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again this time, this place. Lord, thank you for all of the
blessings you've given to us. through your son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. He has saved us, redeemed us,
called us, justified us from all sin. He has given us his
righteousness to wear as a robe, to wear in your sight, we are
clean in him. Be with Paul and Walter as they
come to preach your word. Help us. Help us, Lord, to apply
it to our hearts, to dwell upon it, to think upon you and your
son. In Christ's name we pray, amen.