Galatians chapter 3. The book of Galatians, I think if
someone could tell me that you have one book in all the Bible
that you can keep, and the rest of them is going to be taken
from you, I think probably this would be the one I would keep.
I know the Gospels are the word of our Lord. while he was here. But this seems to have met the
need of my heart and my conscience now for many, many years. Paul
had gone down here to Galatia himself and preached the gospel.
And they had heard it and received it and believed it, that Christ
had died for their sins, and it was the will of God to save
them by Christ and by Him alone. They believed it. Christ alone, and the Scriptures
alone, and faith alone. It was truly that with these
people. But when Paul had left, these Pharisees came and said,
Paul preached the Gospel to you. Yes, he did. But there's more. He didn't have time to preach
the whole Gospel. So we want to tell you the rest
of the story. Christ is not enough. Now you
have to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. That's the
only way you can be saved. So Paul writes this letter back
refuting that, and he even says, listen, the gospel that they're
preaching to you is not the gospel I preached. I preached the whole
gospel to you. That gospel that you have already
received, if they come to you preaching more than that or something
apart from that, they're cursed. And their gospel that they preach
is a curse. So he spends basically six chapters
in Galatians straightening the mess out that they've got themselves
into. And this is just a portion of
this epistle here in the few verses that I want to look at.
In Galatians chapter three and look in verse six. Let's just
go without reading the whole text. Let's read it as we go
and look at it. even as Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness." Now, reason the
Apostle Paul says, even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted
to him for righteousness. They had been saying you have
to hear the gospel, what they counted the gospel. But you have
to be circumcised and keep the law, and by doing that, you receive
the Spirit. By doing that, you're justified.
So Paul turns around and he said, even as Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now let's begin
this way. Who was this man Abraham? Who is this man? I heard a Jewish
rabbi. say that it doesn't really matter
if there was an Abraham. That it's just the story that
is important to us. Well, it is important that there
was an Abraham, isn't it? Very important. If there's no
Abraham, there's no David. If there's no David, there's
no Christ. Abraham was a real man. But who was he? Well, first
of all, he was the very first man in the world that we know
of that God commanded to be circumcised. In Genesis chapter 17 and verse
11, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, Abraham, this is my
covenant between you and me that you shall keep. Every man child
among you shall be circumcised And you shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be between me and you a
covenant." And the scripture says Abraham was 99 years old
when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. The first
man that was ever circumcised was Abraham. Secondly, Abraham
was the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham the god Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob
begat the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Bible tells us that. But he not only was the father
of that great nation, in Romans chapter 4, verse 17, the Bible
says that he was the father of many nations. The father of many
nations have I made thee. The Lord sent Abraham out one
night, and He said, Abraham, look up into the star. Can you
count those stars? So shall your seed be. That's
how big your family's going to be. You're going to be the father
of many. The father of many. Fourthly,
Abraham was called the friend of God. That's what James said
about it. He was called the friend of God. Listen to Isaiah 48,
41a. Israel is my servant, Jacob whom
I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. It wasn't Abraham
who professed to be a friend to God. God said, You're my friend.
God said, You're my friend, Abraham. Ain't that amazing? This was
a great man, wasn't it? For God to say, He's my friend.
And fifthly, Abraham was a faithful man. Everywhere in the Old and
New Testament, we're told of Abraham's faithfulness to God.
Take now your son, your only son Isaac, and offer him for
a burnt offering. And I tell you, Abraham never
flinched, did he? Now I know that you fear God,
because you're not with help, your son, your only son from
me. What a faithful man he was. And
let me ask you this, where is Abraham today? Most people, you
and I don't know where they're at today. We just don't know. But we know where Abraham is,
don't we? The Lord Jesus says, on the last day they had come
from the north, south, east, and west, and they had sat down
with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven. Where is he today? He
is sitting. He is resting in heaven with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham is there. He is in heaven. What a blessed man he was. Next
to the Lord Jesus Christ, his name is mentioned. more than
any other name in all the Scriptures. 285 times, at least, I count
it, His name is mentioned in the Old and New Testament. Oh,
the Lord said, I'll multiply you and I'll make you a blessing. I'm going to bless you and I'm
going to make you a blessing. And everybody that blesses you,
I'm going to bless. And everybody that curses you,
I'm going to curse. What a man this was! The friend
of God. A blessed man. Well, my question
is this, how was this man saved? How was this great man justified? How was he made righteous before
God? What he says here in my text
in verse 6, even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him
for righteousness. You would think such a man like
this, such a faithful man, could be justified by his He had a
bunch of them, didn't He? I tell you, He could have put
every one of us to shame. But you know what? He couldn't
glory before God in His works. God has so purposed it that no
flesh is going to glory in His presence, not even Abraham. How
was this man saved? How was he justified? Well, the
Scripture says this, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now, if you run a reference on
this, verse 6 that you read here, Paul is quoting this from Genesis
chapter 15 and verse 6. Abraham believed in the Lord,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. And then in chapter
17 of Genesis, which was many years later, when Abraham was
99 years old, then he was circumcised. Why is that important? Why is
it important that Paul said back there in Genesis 15, Abraham
believed in the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness?
And then in Chapter 17, he was circumcised. Why is that important?
Because the Jews were saying you have to be circumcised to
be saved. Paul says, Abraham wasn't circumcised. How was he justified then? By
faith. By believing and believing alone. And look here in verse 7. He
goes on in verse 7. And he says this, Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, those who are justified by believing, those who have
a righteousness given to them Like Abraham did by believing,
these are the children of Abraham. The same. The same are the children
of Abraham. If you believe in Christ, I mean
with all your heart. I'm not talking about a little
intellect in your brain, but I'm talking about a heart-faith
in Christ. If you do, you may be a Jew or you may be a Gentile.
But if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart,
to the saving of your soul, to the justifying of your person,
you know something? You're a child of Abraham. Now, here's why the Jews didn't
like this. They believed the only way you could be a child
of Abraham was through physical lineage. That's why Paul said,
boy, I used to brag Remember how he said I used to boast because
I could trace my lineage all the way back to Benjamin. That
was the grandson of Abraham. And if you professed to be a
Jew, you had to have some physical evidence. You had to look up
your family tree and trace it all the way back to Abraham.
That meant something. Because to be a child of Abraham,
you had to be physically born of his lineage. Well, this is
what made these Jews so mad. Here the Apostle Paul comes here
and he says, No, that counts for nothing. To be a child of
Abraham, you have to believe like Abraham believed. Remember
the Lord Jesus said to the Jews one day, He said, You're of your
father, the devil. And they said, We're children
of Abraham. He said, I know that you're the seed of Abraham. I
know you can trace your physical lineage back to Abraham. But
he said, you're not Abraham's children. If you was Abraham's
children, what would you do? You'd do the work of Abraham.
What work did Abraham do? He believed in the Lord. And
he counted it to him for righteousness. And what the Jews realized, and
this is one of the things I think that made them so mad. When John
the baptizer went out to baptize one day, and the Pharisees came
to him, And he said, don't begin to thank within your heart. We
have Abraham to our father. Don't thank because you're the
seed, the physical seed of Abraham, that you're the children of Abraham. God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham. They got so aggravated at John.
They got aggravated at Paul because he said, flesh profits you nothing. Trace your lineage back to Abraham.
That means nothing. To be a child of Abraham, you
have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first thing
that made him so mad. The second thing that made him
so mad was this. To be a child of Abraham and
to believe meant that you had to be saved the same way the
Gentiles were saved. And they could not endure that.
And to be saved as the Gentiles were saved and the same way the
publicans were saved and the harlots were saved. Remember
in Luke chapter 7 when that probably a harlot, probably a whorish
woman came to the Lord Jesus and got down at His feet and
washed His feet. Remember what He said to her,
Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they said, if this man knew,
the Pharisee said, if this man that claims to be a prophet,
if he just knew what kind of woman she was, he'd have no dealings
with her. And the Lord Jesus looked at
that woman and remember what He said to her. Woman, go in
peace. Your faith, your faith has made
you whole. And that Pharisee sitting there
near that, and no doubt he thought this. Man, listen. I have fasted
all my days. I've paid tithes of all that
I possess. And I've done this and that, seeking for peace with
God, seeking to establish my own salvation with God. And here's
this horror. And the Lord says to her, you've
got it all through faith. It's faith. And He's telling
me I'm not a child of Abraham, but she is. But that's it, ain't
it? What those Jews sought for all
their life was to boast that they're a child of Abraham. And
here is this poor whore that she is the very one that's a
child of Abraham. And she didn't get it through
her works. She didn't get it through because she earned it.
She believed in Jesus Christ for it. And therefore, she was
a child of Abraham. The third thing that troubled
these Jews about faith, faith as Abraham believed, was this. If you say faith saves us, faith
in Christ justifies us, faith in Christ brings a righteousness
to us, then what about the law? What are we going to do with
all these ceremonies? What are we going to do with
these feast days? What about circumcision? What about that? I tell you, I can understand,
can't you? I can understand when those Jews looked back in the
Old Testament and they said, wait a minute, wait a minute.
God gave us circumcision. He gave it to the nation of Israel.
God gave us the Ten Commandments. He gave us the ceremonial law.
And now, Paul, you're telling us we lay all those things aside? We don't circumcise anymore?
We don't keep that Sabbath holy anymore? How can you explain
that? Well, Paul goes on here in verse
8, and he explains this very well. And what he's going to
do, he's going to take them back before the law. He's going to
take them back before anybody was ever circumcised. And look
what he says in verse 8. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, the Gentile nations, through
faith, Preached before. Before what? Before the law.
He preached before circumcision. What did he preach? The gospel
unto Abraham. What is the gospel? In thee shall
all nations be blessed. Also, there was something that
God sent to Abraham and promised to Abraham before Abraham was
ever circumcised. Twenty-five years before Abraham
was circumcised. God preached the gospel to Abraham
and said, I'm going to bless the nations through faith. Four
hundred and thirty years before he gave the law, he told Abraham
and he preached the gospel to him. I'm going to bless people
through their believing me. And Paul said, listen, listen,
the gospel precedes circumcision. The gospel comes before the law.
So therefore, the gospel has to win out. The law has to give way to the
gospel and the blessing that is by faith. If God promised Abraham the blessing
430 years before the law, then he must not have given the law
to bring the blessing. There must have been another
reason for giving the law. And if you'll read this chapter,
you'll see what that was. And it wasn't to save. It wasn't
to bring the blessing. It had nothing to do with that.
The blessing was going to come through the gospel. He had already
promised that. The Jews, poor things, they could
not see that. They could not see that. Oh,
they said, what are we going to do with this law? Paul said,
what are you going to do with the gospel? It was given before
the law. 430 years. And then he concludes with this
in verse 9. Look what he said in verse 9.
Since God promised the blessing to Abraham by the gospel, for
those who believe it. So then, they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. So then, since God promised to
bless by the gospel those who believe it, Paul said, I'm just
taking him at his word. If the scripture is so, then
he says, they which be of faith, they're blessed. But they don't
keep the law. Yes, but they believe. But they're
not circumcised, yes, but they believe. And that's the conclusion
he comes to. And it's a scriptural conclusion.
He said, the scripture says, I'm going to bless you, Abraham. I'm going to bless you through
the gospel. I'm going to bless you by believing the gospel.
Paul said, I'll just conclude then that whoever believes are
blessed. They're blessed. Just like Abraham
is blessed. Do they have a righteousness
imputed to them? Yes, they do, just like Abraham
did. Did Abraham have forgiveness
of all of his sins? They do, too. Does Abraham have
life eternal? Then they do, too. Whatever God
blessed Abraham with, he blesses his children with. Is Abraham
a home in heaven? Is he sitting up there in heaven
at rest? Then they'll be there, too, resting
with him. So then, so then, they which
be of faith are blessed. They're blessed. Oh, ain't this
a wonderful gospel? I mean, the poor Jew, he worked
day and he worked night. He just run and labor and worried
and fretted trying to keep this law. And he never could obtain what
he was seeking for. But here comes a poor old sinner
like you and us, and the very instant he believes the Gospel,
he has all the blessings of Abraham given to him. God has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
How does this come to us? Through faith. Through faith. So then, so then, They which
be of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Look over here in Romans chapter
9. Paul was always preaching this.
Philippians, Colossians, Romans, Galatians. It was in all his
epistles. And one of the reasons he kept
having to preach this constantly, it was just too good to be true.
that you could believe and obtain the blessings God promised Abraham.
It was just too good. You didn't work to get it. You
believed and you got it. He gave it to you. And look here
what he says in Romans chapter 9 and verse 30. What shall we
say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness. Even the righteousness which
is of faith." What a blessed verse of Scripture. Were you
a righteous man? Were you even seeking to be righteous?
We weren't even following that. We didn't know nothing about
the law, did we? What we knew about it condemned us. But yet
the Lord Jesus, as Larry told us this morning, He gave us faith. He gave us faith to believe it.
And upon believing Him, what did He give us? Righteousness.
The righteousness of God. The righteousness that God required. The righteousness that satisfies
His holy demands. And you got it all through faith.
And you weren't even following the law of righteousness. But
look in verse 31. But Israel, those Jews, which
followed after the law of righteousness, they were circumcised and tried
to keep the Sabbath and all the commandments. They followed after
this law, and yet they have not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were, a little here and a little there, partly
by faith and partly by works, by the works of the law. For
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed." And that is what Christ
is. That is what the gospel is to
so many. He is a stumbling stone. They
cannot believe that one man did all that God requires for another
man. And all he has to do to lay hold
is look to Christ. Believe on Him for it. And they
stumble over that. And they say, that offends me.
But boy, you that believe. You that believe. He's precious,
isn't He? He's precious. Now, Paul, back in our text in
Galatians chapter 3, in verse 10, he's going to begin here
in verse 10. And he's going to prove now that
nobody is justified by the works of the law. And he proves it
again by Scripture. Paul never uses his personal
opinion or personal conviction to prove anything. He always
goes to the Scripture. The Scripture. What saith the
Scripture? And he's proven now that if you believe in Christ,
you're a child of Abraham. And the blessings promised to
Abraham is yours. All the blessings of Abraham.
And now he's going to answer this question, what about the
law then? What are we going to do with
the law? Well, he's going to show here, beginning in verse
10, that the works of the law cannot, neither has it ever,
justified any man. Look what he says in verse 10.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
every one that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." Why is a person not justified
by the law? You can't keep it. It's too rigid. It's too strict. It's too binding. Peter said it's a yoke. that
neither we nor our fathers were able to keep. And here is what
Paul quotes, and he quotes this from Deuteronomy chapter 27 and
verse 6. Cursed is that man who confirmeth
not all the words of this law to do them. Cursed. And here
it is, all things which are written in the books. It's not keeping personal conviction. I've got all these personal convictions.
What's that? What does that mean? I do this
and I do that. From a child, I've done this
and I've done that. Listen, that means nothing. What does God
require of a man to be justified by the law? To continue in all
things which are written in the book of the law. And I tell you
to continue there, you've got to know what it says. You can't
be ignorant. Ignorance is not an excuse. Somebody
says, I didn't know. You're judged anyway and cursed. You're cursed. Every man. He
may be a preacher. He may be a pope. He may be a
widow woman that's raised her children. Every man, every man,
everyone is cursed. See how rigid that is? James
said, if we keep the whole law and offend in one point, we're
guilty of all. A man may appear outwardly holy,
as Paul said he did, but I tell you, what about the thoughts
of the heart? Have we ever lusted one lustful thought? Then we've
committed adultery. Have we ever had one thought
of hatred in our heart? Then we're a murderer. One of Clarence's dear friends
and relatives said, if you see a pretty woman and you look at
her, it's not adultery unless you go around the block and come
back and look at her again. No, it's adultery the first time
you look at her. You don't have to drive around
the block. The first look, the first look. Cursed is everyone
who continues not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do. And you know that law is still
void today. People talk about being saved and marriage and
salvation and all that. Well, you better look into the
book and see what God requires. Remember when that man came to
the Lord Jesus and said, What must I do that I may have eternal
life? The Lord said, Go find out from
the law. You want to do something? You want to marry something?
Then go to the law. But I tell you when you go there,
Boy, you find out it's too strict. It's too rigid. It's too narrow.
Peter said it's a galling yoke upon our necks that we can't
bear it. We just can't bear it. That's the first thing. What
about the law? Well, can you keep it? Can you
keep it? People run around, what about
the law? Then why are you going to do the law? What about pleading
guilty? What about that? Just pleading
guilty? Do you keep the law? No, but I try. How many people
have said, my dad used to say, you talk about the law, the law
of Moses, do you keep them? No, but I try. What does that
count for? This greater condemnation, cursing,
that's all. The Lord Jesus looked at the
Jews and He said, why do you go about to kill me? Not a one
of you have kept the law. Not a one of you kept the law.
And then a person here this afternoon has kept the law. And I haven't
kept the law. There's not been but one man
since the fall of Adam that has fulfilled the entirety of the
law of God. And he did it in his heart. And
that's the Son of God Himself in our humanity. He did it. But I tell you, if you and I
are going to be saved of the law, then we'd best look there and
search and see what it commands us. And it's from the cradle
to the grave. He that continues. And here in
verse 11 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul is going to prove something
else. Look in verse 11 and verse 12. Here's another proof that
the blessing must come not through the law, but through faith. Because the law and faith are
diametrically opposed one to another. They won't mix. You
can't say it's partly by faith and partly by the law. That can't
be. That's like oil and water. You
try to shake them up, and as soon as you quit shaking them,
they'll separate. That's the way the law and faith
is. Look what Paul says about it
in verse 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the
sight of God, it is evident. And he proves it from Habakkuk
chapter 2, verse 4. The just shall live by faith. We have life by looking. There is life for a look at the
Crucified One. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you are saved. You have life and you live by
faith. But look at the difference between
faith and the law. The law is not of faith. They are different principles.
But the man that doeth them shall live in them. See the difference between the
law and the faith? Faith brings life. Faith gives
you life upon believing. What does the
law require before it gives you life? Absolute perfection, doing,
doing. Faith believes, someone said,
what Christ has done on its behalf. That's faith. I believe what
Christ has done on my behalf. The law keeper looks to what
he is doing. See that? The man that doeth. I look to
Christ and I live. But the law says he that liveth
must do. Faith says cease from doing and
look and live. The law said it won't do you
any good to look. You've got to do, you've got to do, you've
got to do. Work, work, the law commands,
but neither gives me feet nor hands. But sweeter sounds the
gospel brings. It bids me fly and gives me wings. Believing brings me life. If I'm going to have life by
the law, work, work, work. If you live, you live by doing
these When it comes to our justification
before God, faith and the law are opposing principles. One
is believing only, the other is doing only. That's the difference. If you
do, you don't believe. If you believe, you cease from
doing in this matter of justification and obtaining righteousness.
One negates the other. One makes believing the grounds
of being justified with God. The other makes doing the ground. And you can't have both of those.
You can't have both of those. One negates the other. Those
Jews, they're in Acts chapter 15. They came down from Jerusalem
to Antioch. And they came to the church and
they said, listen, listen, we believe in Christ ourselves.
And now you must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. And
Paul and Barnabas rose up and said, no, you guys are flat wrong.
You're trying to bring this water and oil together and it won't
mix. And those Jews said, let's compromise. Let's compromise. What we'll do We'll accept faith
because we're believers. And if we accept faith, will
you accept circumcision and keeping of the law? Will you compromise? Will you get out of your narrow
mindedness and let's try to find some place where we can fellowship? Is there not grounds where we
can have unity? And Paul said, you've got to
curse gospel man. It's either faith alone or it's the law alone. It's Christ alone or it's Moses
alone. And you can't mix these two. No man is justified by the law. The just live by faith. And the law is not of faith. You ever wonder why we hold to
the free grace of God so strongly? It's a matter of life and death.
It's a matter of life and death. And I don't know, and I don't
even try to get in on these controversies where dear old John Wesley was
saved or not. That's none of my business. But
I know this. When John Wesley said imputed
righteousness and imputed nonsense, the man was out of his mind.
He's out of his mind. And if he was here, you and I
wouldn't give way to him for one moment. Mr. Wesley, imputed righteousness
is not imputed nonsense. That's the righteousness of God
that He gives to poor sinners who believe in His Son for it.
And this is the righteousness that saves, that justifies us
before God. Now, verse 13, look at this.
Look at this in verse 13. Apostle Paul is going to tell
us here now, instead of the law being a blessing, Instead of
the law blessing us and seeking blessings from the law, he's
going to tell us here in verse 13 that the law is something
we have to be redeemed from. Instead of it being a blessing,
it's a curse. Instead of trying to keep it
and be blessed by it, Paul said, my goodness, you have to be delivered
from the curse of it. And how is that going to take
place? Look here in verse 13. 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. Deuteronomy chapter
21 and verse 23. Cursed is every man who hangeth
on a tree. But in Deuteronomy chapter 21
and verse 23, Moses puts two little words in there that Paul
leaves out. Moses was proving something that
Paul wasn't proving at this point in time. But the two little words
that's very important. Moses said this, Cursed of God. Cursed of God. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
merely just die. He did that. But Bill, he died
a cursed. He died cursed of God. Cursed of God is everyone who
hangeth on a tree. Some people say that the Lord
Jesus Christ never actually took our sins in His own body. And
then they'll turn right around and say He bore our guilt. Well,
you can't find one place in all the Bible where guilt is mentioned. Not one place. Except it's always
associated with sin. If Christ bore our guilt, He
bore our guilt because He bore our sins. Some say that Christ was not
actually cursed, but God only looked upon Him as if He were
cursed. Or God treated Him as if He were
cursed. They say that it is impossible
for God to curse Jesus Christ. And when he said he was made
a curse, it simply means that God looked upon him as if he
was cursed. I looked up this word made, a
curse, made. It's the very same word in John
1.14. The word was made flesh. Was he actually made flesh? He
was. He wasn't as if. He was flesh. It wasn't as if God looked upon
Him as He were flesh. No, He was actually flesh. And when Jesus Christ hung upon
the cross of Calvary, He was actually made a curse for us. He took our sins. He took all
the consequences of those sins, the guilt of them, the filth
of them, the corruption of them, the wrath of God for them, And
he died, he gave up his life under the curse of God. Why did he do that? Nothing short
of that would redeem us from the curse of the law. If a person
thinks they can fulfill the law, they can keep the law. You better
be sure, hadn't you? Because I tell you, the consequences
of not doing so, you can go yonder to Calvary and see it. It's the
wrath of God. It's the anger of God. It's the
curse of God. And a man leaves this world under
the curse of the law, God will curse him for all eternity. And
that's what was in that cup Jesus Christ so dreaded when He was
in the garden as sweat drops of blood. Father, let this cup
depart from me. What was it? Cursed. Cursed be
everyone that hangeth on a tree. That's how bad our sins are.
That's how holy God's law is. The law of God's nothing to trifle
with. It's not meant to be wrote down
on a little old plaque and stuck in your yard and say, I stand
behind the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments is something
that we must be redeemed from. They're holy. They're just. They're
good. But I'm sinful. I'm carnal. And I must be redeemed from it.
And the only way I can be redeemed, and the only way you can be redeemed,
is someone else bearing the punishment of that broken law. And that's
what the Son of God did. That's what He did. And that's
one of the controversies between Paul and these Jews as he began
to preach the Gospel. The Scripture says that Christ
was made flesh. Why was He made flesh? He had
to be made flesh before He could be made a curse. He couldn't
be made a curse and stay in heaven. He had to be made flesh. He had
to represent us. And to represent us, you had
to become a man. And He had to live under the
law and obey the law. But to redeem us from the broken
law, He had to die under His curse. Listen to Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 9. He was made a little lower than
the angel for the suffering of death crowned with glory and
honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death."
Death. He tasted the sting of death. That wasn't a pretense. When
he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God didn't
pretend to forsake him. He did. Christ didn't pretend
to take a sting of death. He tasted death. When the Son of God left heaven's
portal and began to stoop in His humiliation, He never ceased
to stoop until He hanged bloody and guilty under the curse of
God's law and the sting of death on Calvary's tree. And those who count the law of
God a trifling thing, and try to mix it with grace, go yonder
to Calvary. Go yonder to Calvary. And you'll
see what the law demands. And if you don't meet its demands,
you'll see what happens in your death. Cursed. Look in verse 14 in closing. Why did God give His Son to be
cursed on Calvary's tree to redeem us from the curse of the law?
That was the negative aspect. We had to be delivered, redeemed
from the law. But here's the positive aspect
of it. Here's what He obtained for us. He redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. It's written, cursed
is every man who hangeth on a tree, that the blessing, that the blessing
promise to Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ. They were what the Jews were
complaining about. They said, well, all you guys
do is just believe. Just believe in Christ. And you
get the blessing and everything is so free. Everything is so
free. It's free to us. But it cost somebody a lot. It
cost him his blood. It cost him his sweat, his groaning,
his death. These aren't cheap blessings.
These aren't blessings that God just give away. They had to be
bought. The channel that they come to
us is through the cross. It's through blood, through death
of the Son of God. He redeemed us that the blessing
promise to Abraham might come to us through the cross, always
through the cross. What was that blessing? In a
nutshell, he tells us here in verse 14, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. That is where we begin
this chapter. How did you receive the Spirit?
By the works of the law or by the yearning of faith? It is
by the yearning of faith, isn't it? And here's the blessing in
a nutshell. The moment we believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God's
own Son, comes into our hearts as a spirit of adoption, and
He cries, Father, Father. And all the blessings, the forgiveness
of sins, righteousness, justification, life eternal, and blessings that
are too memorable to even proclaim or know, They all come with the
Spirit. If you have the Spirit of Christ,
then you have all the blessings. They're yours. And there's no
such thing, dear brothers and sisters, as believing and not
having the Spirit. If you believe in Christ, you
have the Spirit. He's in your heart, the Spirit
of faith. May God bless His Word. Let us
pray.