Redeemed from the Curse
Stand Firm in Freedom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I’m not quite sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line I realized something about myself that is really hard to admit: though I have been a saved believer in Christ Jesus for many, many years, I often live ignorant of what it means to be redeemed from the curse of sin.
I’ve spent the majority of my life trying to be a good person, at least in front of other people. I do this for many reasons:
I believe God wants me to be a good person;
I want people to see me as a good person;
I know the many sins that tempt me and feel a sense of guilt that they continue to have influence in my life;
I often feel like if I just act better then God will both bless me, despite my sins, and forgive the sins that I do, though I don’t want to do them.
At times I’ve even been terrified that God would decide that forgiveness is available to everyone, except me. So, if I just do enough good, then maybe, just maybe, He’ll look past my sinfulness.
Finally, I’m fairly pragmatic in most things. This had led to the false belief that if I do good things, then good things have to happen for me (some foolish version of Christian Karma or something). And when they didn’t, as has often been the case, I complain, whine, get angry, and play the “God doesn’t love me” game.
All of this points to someone who didn’t really understand what it means to be justified by grace through faith. I was, in fact, a Christian Pharisee and didn’t even know it.
However, years ago I did some deep dives through the book of Habakkuk in the OT, and Romans and Hebrews in the NT, and I was faced up with this difficult revelation about myself.
I’d love to say that my self-justifying ways have been forever overcome, but that would be a lie. That being said, I now know that to live and think like that is to live and think as one who is still under the curse of sin. And I have to remind myself often that I have been redeemed from the curse, not by my own righteousness or law keeping, but by the completed work of Christ Jesus.
As the great hymn by Fanny Crosby states: “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.”
This morning I believe there is probably at least one other person here that suffers under a similar malady. And while your inner Christian Pharisee might struggle in different ways than me, you too find yourself trying to earn God’s forgiveness and/or favor by your good works. If that is you, Galatians 3:10-14 has a word for you, as it has so often had for my inner Christian Pharisee.
Body: Galatians 3:10-14
Body: Galatians 3:10-14
One of the key concepts to be unpacked in this section is this:
What did Jesus save us from?
In the previous passage we saw that as a people who have been justified by faith, we have received an inheritance from God.
In essence, what Jesus has saved us to.
Here, we see what Jesus saved us from.
He saved us from the curse brought on because of sin.
Interestingly, the section is laid out like an thematic sermon from the standpoint that a question is raised and it is answered with an OT reference:
Why are those who rely on law keeping under a curse? Deut. 27:26
Why can’t a person be justified by law keeping? Habakkuk 2:4
How do we know that law and faith are not two routes to God? Leviticus 18:5
How did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law? Deut. 21:23
Verse 10 - Living Under Sin’s Curse
Verse 10 - Living Under Sin’s Curse
Continuing his defense against the Judaizers, Paul points out the futility in law keeping in order to be justified before God.
But, since the Judaizers were doubtlessly pointing to the OT, Paul shows here that this is not a new idea, but it is actually found throughout the OT.
Paul quotes Deut. 27:26.
“ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
It takes place towards the end of Deuteronomy, when the people were set on the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, representing blessing and cursing, focusing heavily on the need for the people to obey the laws of God.
Paul uses this to introduce the key concept of this section, the curse.
Biblically, curse is the opposite of blessing.
There are 282 instances of different forms of the word “curse” in the Bible.
The most basic idea is to have divine harm or evil invoked upon someone. Additionally, something that causes misery or death.
Cursed or accursed people have no place in the presence of God:
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
Throughout Scripture we see that being cursed meant being separated from both God and the community of faith.
Paul points to this passage in Deuteronomy to tell the Christians in Galatia that justification by law keeping can do nothing but bring a curse because one must be able to keep the entire law in order to be righteous before God.
We see this in James as well:
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Timeless Truth: Because of sin, mankind is now under a curse that we cannot redeem ourselves from.
Timeless Truth: Because of sin, mankind is now under a curse that we cannot redeem ourselves from.
Verses 11-12 - The Inability of the Law
Verses 11-12 - The Inability of the Law
Paul says no one being justified by the law is “evident” because the Scriptures clearly teach it.
For Paul, Scripture is the final arbiter of truth. That should be true for us as well!
He quotes Habakkuk 2:4.
Contextually, the prophet Habakkuk appeals to God about the unpunished sin all around him...
Despite what Habakkuk saw and would see around him, he needed to live a righteous life of faith in God.
Paul also quotes Leviticus 18:5.
His point being, that law-keeping has always been about keeping the law constantly to find life.
Paul wants the Galatian believers to understand that God’s plan was always to bring about a more perfect sacrifice for sins.
And that’s where the next two verses focus in on.
But the Judaizer sympathizers might ask, “Why not both the sacrifice of Christ and law keeping?”
Many today ask the same question, by the way.
Paul’s answer has already been stated throughout the first two and a half chapters: that Christ’s sacrifice must be completely sufficient for justifying, without anything else added to it.
Here, Paul shows them that in order for one to be justified by law-keeping, he or she must keep the law in it’s entirety. Which no one can do.
Timeless Truth: Faith, not law-keeping, justifies man before God.
Timeless Truth: Faith, not law-keeping, justifies man before God.
Verses 13-14 - Redeemed By the Blood of the Lamb
Verses 13-14 - Redeemed By the Blood of the Lamb
It’s vital to understand that, in dying on the cross, Jesus became the very embodiment of the curse. The very embodiment of sin.
When He did, the full force of God’s wrath against all our sins was poured out on Jesus.
That’s the pain and suffering of the cross of Christ. Thousands of people have been crucified throughout history. But no crucifixion has been or ever will be anything like Jesus. Only once did God pour out the full measure of His wrath on someone on a cross.
Jesus did this to redeem that which was cursed; His followers, then and into the future.
This quote is from Deuteronomy 21:23.
Why did Jesus do this?
So all those who believe might share in the blessing of Abraham to be God’s people;
So all who believe would receive the gift of His presence, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead.
Timeless Truth: Christ Jesus alone redeems believers from the curse.
Timeless Truth: Christ Jesus alone redeems believers from the curse.
Final Challenges
Final Challenges
I started this message with a bit of a confessional about my own struggles when it comes to living as a redeemed person, not as one who is still under the curse; a Christian Pharisee, if you will.
And I also mentioned that I imagine that I’m not alone when it comes to this.
This morning, you may or may not have heard much of what I’ve said before; because of sin, mankind is now under a curse that we cannot redeem ourselves from. Faith, not law-keeping, justifies man before God. Christ Jesus alone redeems believers from the curse.
It’s one thing to say, “Yep, I know that!” or “Yep, I agree with that!” I’ve believed that since my earliest days of being a Christian. And yet, that old inner Christian Pharisee isn’t easily silenced, is he or she?
So today, I’d like to challenge every one of us here to think about how we might be trying to earn God’s forgiveness. Maybe you’re not trying to do it right now, but I think many of us run into times in our lives when we do. Here’s what I want you to remember: Christ Jesus redeemed me, (even me!) from the curse of sin. All He requires of me is faith.
Second, how can you share this hope with others this week? The vast multitudes of people in our world today are trying to earn God’s favor. They desperately need to hear the truth that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by become a curse for us.”