The Epistle of Paul to Galatians
chapter 3. I just want to read two verses
to you. Verses 13 and verse 14 of Galatians chapter 3. If you have a few Bibles, it
is found on page 1268. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
13 and verse 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 promised to
Abraham, God promised Abraham a great blessing. And Christ
was made a curse that this blessing God promised to Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Paul mentions two benefits
here from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 13, the
blessing of being redeemed from the curse of the law. And then
in verse 14, that the blessing promised to Abraham might come
to every believer. That is, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, by
faith. What is the curse of the law?
I want you to consider these things with me this morning.
Let's begin just here. What is the curse of the law? It is so important to know this
because Christ has redeemed us from it. What is it? What is
the curse of the law? Well, it means the law has been
violated. For the law to curse, it means
what it commands has been violated. It means there is one area are
many areas of our heart that we've not obeyed the law of God. We've not loved Him with all
our hearts, all our minds, all our souls, and all our strength. That the thought that we've had
of God is beneath Him. That we have diminished the glory
of God in our thoughts. We thought less of him than the
Bible depicts him to be. That's what it means to sin and
come short of the glory of God. It means the law finds something
in the heart, in the motives, in the words, in the deeds that
is beneath God, beneath what he demands, beneath what he requires. Or it means this, that the law
has discovered that we don't love our fellow man, our neighbor,
as ourselves. We've sinned and come short of
that glory that God requires of our loving our neighbors.
We've stolen. Whatever that means. We've stolen
from somebody something material. Or we've stolen someone's reputation. Or we have borne false witness
against someone. Or we have lied. Or we have dishonored
our father and our mother. This is what it means to be under
the curse of the law. We have violated the law. We
have sinned against it. We have not lived up to its commands. And therefore it has searched
the heart. And it has discovered these sins. And it has pronounced the heart.
to be cursed. The law is spiritual, and the
Scripture says it reaches the inmost thoughts. The thought
of foolishness is sin. It discovers sin in a person
when and where a person can't even see sin in himself. I think it was Moses who said
that if a man sinned through ignorance, And even though he
didn't know it, yet is he guilty. So the law searches the heart. It knows more about us than what
we know about ourselves. It discovers the sin. It says
that it's sin. And it says, I curse the sin. I curse the sin. This curse is
a just curse because it comes from a just God. The law of God
is God's law. Listen to Proverbs 26 too. The curse causeless shall not
come. The law never pronounces a curse
unjustly. There is always a cause for it
cursing the deed that has been done. And one of the most fearful
things is for the omnipotent judge to find a violation of
his law. and then curse us because of
it. The Bible says it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And I tell
you it is an awful thing to sin against man's law. But it is
an incomprehensible horror to sin against God's law. To be
charged by man and put in a man-made cell and lose our freedom, that's
a dreadful thing. To be charged of the judge of
all the earth of violating His law and to die under that curse
and to be put in the prison of hell is a horror that you and
I cannot even imagine. This is something about what
it means to be cursed by the law. Sometimes we find warnings. We find threats coming out against
lawbreakers. Listen to Nahum chapter 1 in
verse 2. God is jealous, and the Lord
revengeth. The Lord revenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. The Lord
is slow to anger and of great power, but He will not acquit
the wicked. The Lord hath His way in the
whirlwind and in the storms, and the clouds are the dust of
His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes
it dry. He dryeth up all the rivers.
The mountains quake at Him, the hills melt, and the earth burn
at His presence. the world and they that dwell
therein. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can abide the fierceness
of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by Him." Now, if you go there
sometime and read that passage, that is one of the most fearful
things. But that is something of what
it means to be cursed by the law. To be cursed by God's law
is to be cursed of God. And often in His long-suffering,
He sends out the threatenings that judgment is coming. Listen
to Malachi chapter 4 and verse 1. Malachi chapter 4 and verse
1. For behold, the day cometh, saith
the Lord, that shall burn as in an oven, and the proud, yea,
and all that do wickedly shall be And the day that cometh shall
burn him up, saith the Lord of hosts, and he shall leave them
neither root nor branch. Listen to Deuteronomy 32 verse
39. See now that I, even I am he,
and there is no God with me, I kill and I make alive, I wound
and I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my
hand. I lift up my hands to heaven,
and I say, I live forever. If I whip my glittering sword,
and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my
enemies, and I will reward them that hate me." Now you say, Bruce,
that's awful. It is awful, isn't it? For God
to threaten. for him to send out warnings
ahead of time. But this is what it means to
be under the curse of the law. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. And I think one of the missing
notes in our day is this kind of preaching. We hear so much
about the patience of God and the goodness of God and the love
of God, and we thank God for it. And we as believers should
study more about these things. We should have great confidence
in the long-suffering of God and the love of God that's in
Christ. But Wayne quoted to us that God
is angry with the wicked every day. And this is something about
what it means to be under the curse of the law. And I would
say this this morning, brothers and sisters, If we don't know
anything about what it means to be under the curse, then we
know nothing about what it means to be saved by Christ. Because
before grace comes to us to deliver us and give us the saving knowledge
of Christ, we know what it is to be convicted of our sins and
to stand guilty before God. And these are some of the threatenings
that he sends out beforehand. Listen to Habakkuk chapter 1
and verse 3. Thou art of pure eyes than to
behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity. And listen to this
passage. Every transgression and every
disobedience shall receive a just recompense of reward. When? In the day that God has appointed
to judge the world in righteousness by that man that he has ordained.
Wherefore, he has given assurance unto all men." The clouds, the
skies, the universe declares the power and it declares the
justice and wrath of God against sin. The Bible does and the preachers
do. And every man to some measure,
unless he has utterly seared his conscience, knows something
about the justice and the holiness of God as He threatens sin. These are some of the warnings
and some of the threats against people who are still under the
curse of the law. But the law is more than just
threatenings. It finally renders execution. And as we see the longsuffering
of God in the Scriptures, sending warnings and threatenings, we
also see God rendering execution. Finally, when he will be long-suffering
no more, he executes judgment. What is it to live and die under
the curse of God's law? Do you remember Cain? Do you
remember the first brother, first son of Adam and Eve that was
ever born? The Bible says he was of the
wicked one. God warned him. If you do well,
you'll be accepted. But if not, sin lies at the door. What did he do? He slew his brother,
didn't he? He slew his brother. And what
did the Lord say to him then? Now art thou cursed. And what did Cain say? He had
a fearful countenance. He said, now my punishment is
greater than I can bear. From your face I shall be hid. I shall be like a vagabond, and
people will seek to slay me." He found himself to be under
the curse of the law. And I tell you, to live with
that curse upon his conscience was bad enough. But what was
it like finally when he come down to his day of death? And not too many years after
that, we see the most dreadful execution of the omnipotent God
against the lawbreakers in Genesis chapter 6. Listen to this. God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and the
Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the
face of the earth, for it repenteth me that I have made him. What is it to be under the curse
of the law? It is to have God to threaten
that person. is to have God to threaten to
destroy them. And living and dying under that
curse is to have God literally executing the sentence, the curse. I will destroy man whom I have
made. And I tell you, brothers and
sisters, if there was ever a passage of Scripture to teach that God
hates sin and will not tolerate And where it's found, finally
He will execute judgment upon it. It has to be in the old world
where God destroyed mankind. Can you imagine as that began
to happen? As it began to rain? As it began
to cloud up and rain? Can you imagine the curiosity
upon their faces? They never saw anything like
this before. But as it kept raining, the second
day and then the week, How they began to grow concerned because
all the valleys were filling up with water. It was beginning
to rise upon the hills. But can you imagine how frightened
they were, how anxious they became, and how fearful they were as
the waters began to rise upon the highest mountains. And they
fought with humanity and beast to reach the peak of those mountains.
And here's the most dreadful thing that you and I can imagine.
And I think this tells us something of what it is to live and die
under the curse of the law. There was no mercy for those
people. Don't you imagine some was pleading for mercy? Oh, have
mercy upon us. We're going to perish. But did
God hear them? He didn't, did He? All of them
drowned. The only safe people was those
eight souls who were tucked away in that ark. Only they were saved
from the wrath of God. And the rest died under the curse
of that law. So what does Paul mean when he
said, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law? It
means to be under the law that we are under God's threatening
judgment. His pending judgment. And if
we die there, Judgment is executed against us. Remember Sodom and
Gomorrah and the cities of the plains? Here is what the Lord
said about them. They were wicked sinners before
the Lord exceedingly. And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the plains about them in like manner giving themselves
over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance." Listen to this, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire. What does it mean to be under
the curse of the law? If a person dies there, this
is what it means. They will suffer the vengeance
of God, the vengeance of eternal fire. And you and I could get
up early that morning with Abraham and follow him out and look towards
the cities of the plains. And I'm telling you, things have
changed. Where's the well-watered plains?
Where's all of the cattle? Where's all of the people? Where's
the beautiful cities? It's all gone. God had burned
it up. Every means of bringing judgment
is available to the omnipotent God. He could break up the fountains
of the deep and open the windows of heaven and drown the world
with a flood. Or He can send fire from heaven
and burn people up. That's what it is to live and
die under the justice and the judgment and the curse of God's
holy law. If you and I this morning could
walk the corridors of hell and we could see the disfigured faces
of those spirits that have gone to that place of torment, if
we could hear their screams, if we could watch them as they
were tormented in remembrance of their sins and by the wicked
spirits that are there, we'd know something about what it
is to live and die. under the curse of God's holy
law. We come to Revelation 20, and
John the Revelator tells us there of the great white throne. It's a great throne because it's
the throne of the Sovereign Lord. It's a white throne because it's
the throne of justice. A throne of holiness. And so
great was that throne, and so white that the earth and the
heavens fled away from its presence. And all the dead were raised.
And they all stood before God. And the Bible says they stood
there to give an account of their works. And the books were opened. And I wonder if one of those
books was not the book of the law. Because in the book of the
law is written what God requires of humanity. And in the book
of the law it is written that everybody has violated that law. And what that violation is, and
the book was opened and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now that is a just
judgment and it is upon those who live and die under the curse
of the law. If you want to know what it is
to live and die under the curse, I think I've just explained it
to you. You say, Bruce, that's fearful.
Brothers and sisters, I can't begin to comprehend the height
of it. I can't begin to enter into it, what it is to be under
the curse of God's holy law. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things that's written in the book of the law to do
them. That's the curse. Who's under this curse? That's
a good question to ask, isn't it? What is the curse? It means
we live under the threatenings of God. And dying under those
threatenings, that threatening will be executed against us.
The second question is who is under this curse? Listen to Romans
chapter 3 and verse 19. We know that whatsoever things
the law saith, It saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and the world become guilty before God. Who is under the law? Every man
by nature is under the law. As you and I are born into this
world, we're born dead in trespasses and sins, and we are under this
law. Every man outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ is under this law. Every man who is unjustified,
every man who is unforgiven is under the curse of this law. Every man who has not heard the
gospel and believed the gospel of God's grace in Christ is under
this law. The world is guilty before God. Every unbeliever in the Lord
Jesus Christ He that believeth in him is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already. The Jews had the law
given them on tables of stones, and they sinned against it, and
they were susceptible to its curse. The law was given to us
Gentiles in our conscience, and we sinned against it, and it
made us susceptible to the curse. Who is under the law? Every single
soul who is outside the grace of God that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think of this, if you would.
Some of you in the morning, you'll go to work, and look at the co-workers
around you, and think of this. There's a man, there's a woman
that is living under the curse of God. You visit your families and you
have your family reunions. And you go to funerals. Think
about this. When you're in the grocery store
and you see people all around you, think of this. How many
people are surrounding me that are under the curse of God? Because they're under the law.
And everyone who is under the law is guilty before God. Because those who are under the
law have violated it. And if we have violated this
law, then we are guilty. And the reason these things,
the reason that we as pastors must dwell on these things, and
man, don't tell me they're not difficult. Don't tell me it's
not difficult to preach it, and don't tell me it's not difficult
to listen. It is difficult. But the reason
we have to do this is because until we know something about
the curse of the law, we'll never appreciate the cross of Jesus
Christ and what He suffered. They that are whole need not
a physician, do they? The guilty don't need grace.
A man who is not dead in trespasses and sins doesn't need life. And
a man who does not know himself to be condemned by the law and
cursed of God under the law has no need of that redemption that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now it brings us to this
portion of our text. How did redemption from this
curse come about? And he tells us so plainly, doesn't
he, in verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us. I think there is something
we always have to remember. We always have to remember when
Jesus Christ was born into this world, He never ceased to be
what He was before He came. He took something to Himself
that He never had before. He took flesh to Himself. He united His heavenly nature,
His divine nature, with our human nature. He never ceased to be
as holy as He was before He came. When He took our humanity, He
was called that holy thing. And He never sinned, neither
could He sin. He was holy from the cradle to
the grave. Even when He hung upon the cross,
the Bible says, He offered Himself with that spot to God. But upon the cross, He was made
something that He was not before. What was it? He was made a curse. I don't pretend to understand
all of that. It's like that passage in 2 Corinthians
5.21 that Brother Wayne quoted. God hath made him to be sin. Who can understand such a thing?
God hath made Christ to be sin. Never ceased to be holy, but
He was made something that He wasn't before. He was made a
curse, not for His own sins, not for His own sake, but for
us. He was made a curse for us. And the Bible says He took the
sins, and this is a mystery that you and I believe. He took the
sins of every elect soul of all time. Everybody that will believe
and be saved, their sins were taken from them 2,000 years ago
and placed in the very body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
His body and in His soul, He endeared the curse of the law. Now, I can't get a hold of that
either, only by faith. Everything that I said about
God hating sin and God being angry with the wicked and God
executing judgment For those who sin, everything I said about
that can be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. Everything that belonged to the
sinner, all the consequences of his sins, was suffered there
at the cross. Not only the threatenance, but
the execution. God spared not His own Son. I don't think that Jesus Christ
went to hell. But I tell you what, He suffered
more than any man who ever went there. Hanging up on that cross. Brothers and sisters, what is
hell? What is hell? Is it not to be forsaken of God? Did Jesus Christ hang there forsaken
of God? My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? What is that? He's bearing the
curse of the law. To die under the curse of the
law and under the wrath of God means you're forsaken of all
that's good. What was it that was good that
was left for the Son of God to experience upon the cross? All
good had forsaken Him because God had forsaken Him. What is
it to go to hell? It means everything that's good
has been lost. That's what He suffered upon
the tree. He was made a curse for us. I tell you, the cross
is not a pretty thing, is it? We glory in it because of what
was accomplished there. But I'm telling you, the cross
is not a pretty thing. And in our day, we've had preachers
that try to pretty it up. And they talk about Christ upon
the cross being an example for us. And they never go any farther
than that. They say such things like this. We are to love one another. That's
what Christ taught us upon the cross. We are to be patient and
endure pain and suffering. That's what He taught us upon
the cross. They look at the cross as nothing more than a mere example
of how we should live. Brothers and sisters, first and
foremost, the cross is not an example. The cross is where redemption
from the curse was obtained. And it was obtained by Him, the
blessed Son of God in our humanity, being made a curse for us. It's a place of suffering. It's
a place of agony. It's a place where God's anger
and wrath is exposed. It's a place of blood. It's a
place of death. Because that's what it took to
deliver us, you and me, from the curse of the law. You and I must never look upon
Jesus Christ as an example until we find ourselves complete in
Him. And when you find yourself complete in Him and delivered
from your sins and the judgment of God upon them, then you say,
here's my example. But He must first and foremost
be your substitute. You must see Him taking your
place under the curse that belonged to you. You must look to Him
as your substitute and believe that He died in your stead, in
your place. and in your room, and that all
that was owed to you, justly so, was placed upon and executed
upon the Son of God. He was made a curse. And I'm not able to enter into
that. I believe, but I can't enter into that. I think that's
why darkness surrounded that cross. Something was going on
between the Father and the Son that you and I can't enter into.
We just believe it. We just believe it. God was dealing
with Him instead of us for our sins. You see, sin has to be
dealt with. It has to be dealt with. God
made us, and He's the Judge of all the earth. And sin must be
dealt with. If God deals with it in us, He'll
destroy us. He's up to pure eyes to forgive
us, to have mercy upon us. Sin must be dealt with. And that's
what was taking place on the cross. And doesn't it thrill
your soul when you find out that God has dealt with sin by substituting? He was made a curse for us. And now when we are justified,
we are justified by the blood of Christ. And God's all-seeing
eye cannot find any sin in us. Why? Because our sin was born. Our sin was punished upon the
cross of Jesus Christ. Ain't that a wonderful gospel? Whatever belonged to us for our
sins, Christ faced it in our stead. And facing it, He redeemed
us from the curse of the law. And quickly, notice this. Here
is another benefit. Not only that He has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, but in verse 14, He redeemed
us from the curse of the law that this blessing promised to
Abraham might come on the Gentiles. that we might receive the promise
of the Holy Spirit. Oh, it's essential to have the
Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we're
none of His. We can't know Him apart from the Holy Spirit. We
can't have any assurance that we're children of God apart from
the Holy Spirit. He bears witness with our spirit.
It was essential that Jesus Christ go to the cross. And He told
His disciples that, didn't He? It's expedient for me that I
go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But if I go away, if I go to
the cross, and I suffer your penalty in my own soul and body,
and I raise from the dead and ascend to the Father, I'll send
Him back to you. And how many hearts, how many
poor broken hearted sinners has the Holy Spirit came to crying,
Father, Father, Father, Father. And how does He come to our hearts?
We didn't deserve God sending His Son, did we? What an unspeakable
gift. And neither do we deserve the
Holy Spirit. We're not worthy of Him. We can't
earn Him. We can't work to get Him. Then how does He come into our
hearts? He's called the Spirit of promise
and He is received by faith. No other way for the Spirit to
come into our hearts. Remember in Acts chapter 8 when
Simon the saucer offered Peter money? If He would give him the
Holy Spirit? Give me this power? And what
did Peter say? Your money perished with me.
Because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased
with money. He can't be purchased. He can't
be earned. He can't be worked for. How does
He come? By hearing the Gospel and believing
the Gospel. Look in chapter 3 of Galatians.
Look in verse 2. What a question the Apostle Paul
asks these Galatians. This only would I learn of you. Receive you the Spirit by the
works of the law? Wayne, you may have mentioned
this morning about all those years you tried to keep the law,
and all that time you did not have the Holy Spirit. He does
not come that way. He does not come into our hearts
to abide with us and seal us that way. It's not by works of
righteousness which we have done. Then how does He come? By the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith. When we hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ and how He's redeemed us, and we believe Him, we believe
the gospel, Upon our believing, immediately, the Holy Spirit
comes and takes up His residence in our hearts. I want to show
you a couple of passages in closing. Look over to your left in Acts
chapter 10. This is where Peter went down
to Carnelius' house, the Gentile. And that's what you and I are.
We're Gentiles. And look what he preached unto
them, and look what happened. Look how they received the Holy
Spirit. Look in Acts chapter 10 and look in verse 34. Peter was amazed that the Lord
had sent him down here to preach Christ to these dead dog Gentiles.
And in verse 34, Peter opened his mouth and said, Oh, the truth
I perceive that God is no respective person. But in every nation he
that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted."
He had already accepted. If you fear Him, a work of grace
has begun in your heart already. If you work righteousness, the
Holy Spirit has been working in your heart. The word which
God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ. He is Lord of all. Peace by His
cross. That word, I say you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached. How that God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went
about doing good, healing all that was oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things
which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
who they slew and hanged on a tree. But bless God, what did He do
when He was hanged on that tree? He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. He was made a curse for us. God raised Him up the third day
and showed Him openly, not to all the people, But unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with
him after he arose from the dead, and he commanded us to preach
unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And to him
gave all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin." while Peter
yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which
heard the word." The Spirit does not come to us by us doing the
works of the law, but He comes to us by us hearing the gospel
of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you heard the gospel
of Christ? Do you believe in the gospel
of the grace of Christ? Then you have the Holy Spirit. We receiving the Holy Spirit
in our day doesn't take place what happened to these folks.
We receive Him the same way, but the outward manifestation
is not here anymore. There was a reason they spake
with tongues and glorified God. Peter would have never believed
it. But when you and I are set in like we are this morning,
And we hear that Christ was made a curse for us. And in our hearts
of hearts, we are enabled to believe Him. The Spirit, though
He may do it so secretly, He comes into your heart. He abides
there in every believing heart. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
That He was made a curse for you? Then the Holy Spirit has
come to your heart. You say, I didn't feel a thing.
Whoever talked about fillings. Fillings come and fillings go.
We're not talking about fillings. We're talking about faith. Faith
in the Son of God. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through His name. I told you the other morning,
I never read in the Bible where God condemned anybody for not
filling. He just don't do it. His command
is not feel. His command is believe on my
side. And look here how Peter expressed
it in the 11th chapter of Acts in verse 15. Here is where he
defended himself from these Jews. Chapter 11 verse 15, As I began
to preach, I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as
on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of
our Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water, that
you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as
God gave them the lack gift, as He did unto us, who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. What was I that I could withstand
God?" Are you a believer this morning? Have you been unable
to lay hold of faith upon Him that was made a curse? Then,
dear soul, you have the Spirit of promise. Believe it! Believe it! God bless His Word. Let's pray.