Galatians chapter three and verse
10. For as many as are of 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading. There are five verses before
us today, and I want to leave us with five key statements. They're really very full verses,
but you have to settle on something. And we've got five statements,
which I trust will once again stress some of the powerful gospel
truths that the apostle was writing here to the Galatians. Remember,
Paul is contending with the Galatians for the supremacy and uniqueness
of the gospel. and he's doing so against the
background of the arguments of these Judaizers who were trying
to recruit the Galatian saints to a hybrid gospel, which Paul
says was no gospel at all, but it was a mix of law and faith,
by which they say righteousness and holiness could be obtained
before God. So for these Judaizers, for these
legalists, these troublemakers in Galatia, for them justification
was a blend of Christ's work of cleansing laid as a foundation
and our own works of obedience built upon that base. Sure, they said, you can start
off by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, they probably
said you have to. But afterwards, you need to move
onto a higher plane. You need to deepen your spiritual
experience. You need to enter upon a more
devout and devoted lifestyle of submission and separation
in order to be wholly consecrated to the Lord Jesus. This was their argument, and
let me say, It's a very enticing argument. We shouldn't think
otherwise. In fact, it might be said that
we need to be resolute in defending against that argument. We need
to be contentious for the truth because it has got its attractions,
there's no doubt about it. Remember, these Galatians are
true believers. The Apostle Paul speaks to them
as his brothers and sisters in Christ. And they are anxious
in that capacity, in that state. They are anxious about honouring
the Lord. They're eager to do the will
of God. And so when someone comes along
with a pedigree, someone comes along from Jerusalem and offers
you a 10-point improvement plan to please God and gain His approval,
it sounds good. It excites the natural inclinations
of the old man. It tempts our pride It makes true believers who are
deeply sensitive to their sin and their unworthiness hope for
a path to greater peace and deeper truth. And works righteousness
and self-righteousness are the most potent drugs in the devil's
toolbox. but it's a foolish and it's a
damaging notion. And this is why Paul asks in
verse three, we didn't read verse three, but in the verses that
lead up to our passage today, he says, are ye so foolish, having
begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? And he sets out five powerful
gospel truths that believers should, and indeed believers
do know, but sometimes we get tempted to forget. And the first
one that I want to draw your attention to is that seeking
righteousness by the works of the law brings us under the curse
of the law. You see, what Paul is stressing
here is that the law does not make righteous. It sets the standard
for perfect obedience and it measures how far short we fall. And to the extent we fall or
transgress which means go across the lines that it sets. To the
extent that we fall, the law declares us guilty and it brings
us under its curse of shame and blame and condemnation and ultimately
death. It separates us from God. And the law will always judge. and it will always find guilty
until it discovers perfect obedience and perfect holiness. And that in every aspect and
every degree. By nature, no man or woman can
attain to such holiness Therefore all men and women are under the
curse of the law and guilty before God. So the first thing that
the Apostle Paul stresses is that seeking righteousness by
the works of the law brings us under its curse. And then he
goes on to say that no man is justified by the law in the sight
of God. And it's as if he is endeavouring
to both emphasise his point and contradict these Judaisers. So he says it as clearly and
as simply as possible. God does not employ the law to
measure righteousness because no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. It is used to measure unrighteousness. If there is such a thing at all
as righteousness with God, if Abraham was declared righteous
with God, if Abraham had righteousness imputed to him and was accepted
by God, it was not by the law and it was not by his personal
obedience. The law measures unrighteousness,
it does not measure righteousness. In the sight of God, who sees
and knows all actions, all thoughts, all words and motivations, who
searches the hearts of men and women, no mere man is holy, righteous
and justified. So Paul says, why would you put
yourself under the curse of the law and under its condemnation
when there's no acceptance, when there's no peace, when there's
no comfort or joy to be found in it? The law will merely prove
to be a heavy yoke with no rest included. So he's drawing these points
to the attention of the Galatians. He says that if you seek righteousness
by the works of the law, it will bring you under its curse. He
says no one is justified by the law in the sight of God. And
then he goes on to say that the just shall live by faith. and that the law is not of faith. Therefore these two things are
not compatible. Paul goes on to tell the Galatians
how a completely different measure of acceptance is applied by God
with respect to righteousness and justification. Now they knew
this, they knew this to be true because they were believers,
but they were forgetting. And Paul quotes Habakkuk chapter
2 verse 4 to prove that what he is saying was nothing new,
it was not any new teaching. It was what he had taught them
from the scriptures when he had been with them among the Galatian
churches. The just shall live by faith. The Old Testament believers knew
those things to be true. God's elect are justified in
Christ by God and live in the joy and peace of that blessed
state by faith. That is by trusting in the success
and sufficiency of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you'll remember last week we spoke about this and we asked
the question, I think I entitled that sermon, what is it in Galatians
3 verse 6. But we were speaking of the fact
that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But remember what we said about
that. We learned last week that it is not the exercise of faith
that justifies. We're justified by Christ upon
whom our faith is fixed and by whom we live in the light of
God's goodness and pleasure. We receive the experience of
mercy and grace. And Paul's statement here that
the law is not of faith isn't a criticism of the law. It's
a distinguishing and separation of the roles of law and faith. The law serves its role and purpose
when it is used lawfully. However, trying to obtain righteousness
by it in the sight of God is an unlawful use. The law has
nothing to do with faith in that sense. It does not ask for faith. It does not require faith in
Christ. It does not ask or require that
we live by faith for righteousness. It's the Gospel that reveals
the righteousness of God and the Lord our righteousness by
it. And it's the Gospel that directs
and encourages men and women to trust in the Lord our righteousness
for salvation. The law takes no account of faith. It does not see it, it does not
measure it, it does not encourage it or nurture it wherever it
is found. Everything to do with faith comes
from the gospel and comes by grace. The law requires doing. Faith inspires trust and belief
and rest and reassurance. The fourth thing that the Apostle
shows us is that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. And here, the success of Christ's
work on the cross and the precious value of his blood is emphasised. Redemption is the work of Christ
to satisfy all the demands of a sinner's debt and duty and
obligation to God. The law's curse against our sinful
nature and every subsequent transgression that we performed lay heavily
upon the elect of God, just as it did upon every other sinner
of Adam's fallen race. Death, the wages of sin, is the
curse and condemnation of the law. But Christ died for his
church to take those things away. He suffered the curse of the
law for us. And here we find the great doctrines
of substitution and suretyship come to the fore in the apostles'
teaching and the representative offices of our saviour who stands
in our place and in our stead are here clearly in view, that
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He who knew
no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And that's the good news of the
gospel. That's the message of mercy and
grace. This is what Christ has done.
And it's that truth that informs our faith and feeds our hope
and gives us confidence for eternal life. Let us never forget that
Christ took our place and became a curse for us. This aspect of
our Saviour's work was transactional. A debt was due and a payment
was made so that there is no longer any debt. There's nothing
that remains outstanding and it would be wrong for a believer
to even try to add anything or pay more because in doing so
It's an implicit denial of the sufficiency of the work of Christ
on the cross on our behalf. And that was the gospel that
Paul preached. It was the gospel that the Galatians
had initially received, believed, and by which they were blessed
and comforted under Paul's ministry. Their blessings and their comfort
was at risk under the teaching of these false professors whose
doctrine denied the success and sufficiency of Christ. And therefore
Paul returns to his example of Abraham's faith to remind his
Galatians friends about this last point today. The blessing
of Abraham has come on the Galatians and on all Gentiles through Jesus
Christ. The blessings of the gospel,
the comforts of the gospel, and peace and fellowship come through
Christ. Abraham never had these blessings
because of his obedience to the law, but by faith, the faith
of Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ. Every spiritual
blessing comes to us by God's grace and comes to us in Christ. Every need we have, every obligation,
every debt is satisfied completely in Jesus Christ. That was Paul's
gospel. And it's what we mean when we
speak about preaching Christ. It's not merely that we preach
about Christ, though we certainly do, nor even that we mention
his name and what he has done. It is that we preach how all
our standing Blessing, holiness, acceptance, comfort, peace and
joy come to us in and by and from and through and with the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is an error, there is an
error today and it's not new. And it says, we begin with Christ
for justification at conversion and we go on to perfection and
holiness and sanctification by our own obedience and dedication
and commitment to living godly lives. Whole denominations base
their views and their teachings on that lie. Courses are run,
books are written and men and women are tempted to look away
from Christ to themselves for the deeper things of God. I trust
we shall not now or ever be so deceived or tempted to follow
the mistake of the Galatian believers and having begun in the Spirit,
try to add our own works to complete our salvation. God forbid. Amen.