131117 Blessing or Curse?

Galatians 3:10-14 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” ¹² But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Paul is deeply concerned for the Galatian Christians. He has discovered that they are being misled away from grace into a “works” salvation. Since he can’t be with them, can’t call them on the phone, can’t “message” them on Facebook or some other social media, he has to write them a letter! This has been a concern of Paul’s for a number of years. He even had to confront the Apostle Peter over his being drawn back into legalism when the Judaizers came to town. Now he wants them to understand that there are only two choices in spiritual life — blessing or curse! If you rely on a works salvation you are under a curse. Christ redeemed us from the curse and set us free so we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

There is something about human nature that causes us to want to rely on our own strengths and abilities. The big problem is that we can never, in our own strength, be able to overcome the sin that we inherited much less the sin we have committed on our own! It’s very easy for a Christian believer to forget that salvation is not earned through our good works.

If we rely on works we are under a curse!

The curse is being cut off from God. Let’s look back at our text, Verse 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

The agony that Christ experienced on the cross is something very hard for us to understand. Remember, we are born dead in trespasses and sins. Until we come to faith in Christ we are all cut off from God. That is the natural condition of man! The people who are proclaimed here to be relying on the works of the law, and are therefore under the curse are not atheists or even agnostics. They are Jewish “Christian” believers who are fully convinced that you have to obey the law in order to be a real Christian. There are many people today who believe this and show this belief by demanding a “works” salvation.

We need to remember that Jesus himself took our sins in his own body on the cross and in so doing became a curse for us! He took the curse for us because he loves us.

In order for a person to turn away from the gospel of grace to the bad news of “works” he, or she, has to make a decision to do so.

This is a self-reliant, man centered effort. Listen to Verse 5 above. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith —

"Works of law" are not the "good works" that a Christian does in reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. They are the self-reliant efforts to demonstrate virtue to man and God. The Judaizers had no problem beginning with faith. The problem they introduced was that in order for your faith to be real it had to be attached to “works of the law” or legalism.

Notice carefully. The curse in verse 10 is not because you fail to do the works of the law. It is because you do them. The advice of the Judaizers to supplement faith with "works of law" has exactly the opposite effect from the one intended—it brings a curse, not a blessing. It was when Peter started keeping the dietary laws that Paul said he was out of sync with the gospel and transgressing the law. The Judaizers had missed the whole point of the law. That the law was designed to bring men to faith. Without a new heart, and the power of God at work in your life, and without faith all efforts at keeping the law would simply be the legalistic striving of the flesh! Having begun in the Spirit they were now trying to go on in the flesh and any effort to keep the law simply…

Leads to spiritual death. Deuteronomy 27:26 ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

“Law” is not just the law of Moses is every form of legalism, and there are many. Legalism leads to death. This is not Old Testament versus New Testament this concept is included in both parts of the Bible. Moses’ law itself tells us that all who cease to live wholly by faith and apply themselves to keeping the law in their own strength in order to earn God's fullest favor are under the curse of the law. Jesus himself said that the Pharisees don’t do all that is written in the law. While they tithe the herbs in their garden they neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness. Attempting to live by the law in order to please God is an absolute waste of time! All our righteousness’s are like filthy rags.

The point is this, "good," moral, religious people, who have not been crucified with Christ and do not have his Spirit empowering them with humility and joy and love by faith, often come into the church, claim the teachings, and set out to work for God in the power of the flesh, and are, therefore, under a curse from the law itself. The law serves only to bring us to the end of our human effort and point us to the fact that…

Christ redeemed us from the curse!

We cannot save ourselves by our good works. We cannot pay for our sins because the wages of sin is death! I praise God that…

He took all our sins. This was not just some new idea that Paul came up with. It had been in the mind of God and had been written down for hundreds of years. Let’s look at what Isaiah had to say some seven hundred years before Christ was born! Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus paid the price for our sins. There is no hope at all in our trying to bribe God with our good works because they are not based on faith. If we could live a good enough life to pay for our sins then Jesus died for nothing. Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” He was not just talking about the physical pain and anguish of the cross he was talking about bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows. He was talking about being pierced for our transgressions. He was talking about being crushed for our iniquities and having the chastisement that brings us peace laid on himself. In the judgment hall of Pilate and the execution grounds of Calvary the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on our account in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him. There was no legalism and Jesus life. He perfectly trusted the Father and lived in the power of the Spirit. He fulfilled the law perfectly because he knew that the law taught faith which works through love. Praise God, he did this for us and it was…

Once for all. This was not repeated year after year on the Day of Atonement. Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. Let’s see what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Hebrews. Christ came at the end of the age to offer himself as our sacrifice. Listen while read. Hebrews 9:28 Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The angels had told the apostles that this same Jesus they had seen ascend into heaven would return in the same way that they saw him go into heaven. Folks, we need to live our lives in expectation of the sudden return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know when it will be but I know beyond a doubt that it will be. Jesus became a curse for us and offered one sacrifice for sins forever…

So we could be set free. Look at what John saw while he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos. Revelation 22:1-5 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ 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. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Some of the things John wrote about his vision in the book of Revelation are hard to understand. But when it comes to, what I consider to be, the most important things there is little room for doubt. Everything taken away from us in the book of Genesis is returned to us in the book of Revelation. And it is returned to us eternally. There will no longer be a curse! We shall see his face and there will be no night for we will no longer need rest! The curse came about because of sin and was lifted because of the sin-bearer entering into the holy place in heaven with his blood sacrifice to cover our sins forever. We are no longer under a curse.

Jesus Christ went to the cross so that we might receive the blessing of Abraham.

That we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Some people will try to separate the blessing of Abraham which is, simply put, the just shall live by faith and not by human effort, from the promised Holy Spirit. Let’s see what the Bible has to say about that.

The blessing of Abraham. Many years had passed since the flood of Noah’s day and now a family was chosen by God to be the channel of blessing for the whole world. Abraham, or as he was then known Abram, was not selected because he was a godly family he was selected because God selected him and there is no better answer than that. Let’s look at what the Bible tells us in Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Abram was seventy-five years old when God spoke to him. It must’ve been quite a shock to hear the voice of a God that you had never heard before. He was childless and had no likely hope of having any children. At the time of his calling he lived in what is today Syria. He had moved there with his father, his wife and his nephew several years before. In his farewell address to the people of Israel, Joshua the son of Nun said that Abram and his people had served other gods beyond the river. Yet, for God’s own reasons, he chose this man to become the father of many nations when it was absolutely, humanly, impossible. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. And when they were both near a hundred years old they gave birth to a son and were instructed to name him “Isaac”. Isaac means laughter because Sarah had laughed when she heard God say that she would bear a child. Forever after they would remember that incident. Every time Sarah looked at her son Isaac she remembered that she had laughed when told that she would have a child in her old age.

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. That came about because the Holy Spirit had worked in his life. When the blessing of Abraham comes upon someone they come to God through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of Abraham was not just for his physical descendents. It was for all who would come to God by faith. It was always God’s intention of Abraham’s blessings…

Might go to all the world. Some have referred to the book of Isaiah as the Old Testament gospel so let’s look at Isaiah 49:6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

This prophecy was not just raising up the tribes of Jacob and bringing back the preserved of Israel but ultimately included being a light for the nations so that the salvation of God can reach to the ends of the earth. If you recall that, at least once, in Jesus’ ministry he entered the temple and cleared out the money changers and livestock peddlers who were cluttering the courtyard that should have been set aside for the Gentiles to come to hear the word of God. Jesus said that his father’s house was to be a house of prayer and they had made it a den of thieves. There were at least three separate courtyards around the temple. There was the courtyard of the men and the courtyard of the women as well as a courtyard for the nations. The Gentile nations were to be brought there and taught the word of God. So far as we know it never happened. The promise to Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed in him seemed to be contradicted by everything that had happened in history.

Abraham could not have imagined the vision that John saw. He saw a great multitude of people, so many he could not count them, of every nation and people and language standing before the throne. Indeed, worthy is the Lamb that was slain who ransomed people for God from every nation. Jesus had said that this gospel will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations and then the end shall come.

The modern missionary movement growing out of the Reformation is the Spirit of God moving to fulfill Jesus’ promise. Perhaps in our lifetime the gospel will be preached to the final last nation and then the end shall come. If we’re alive on the earth at that time our bodies will be transformed and we will rise to meet Jesus in the air. If we have died we will come back with him when he comes. If you need to understand that completely I would say you’re in serious trouble. There are many things that I believe even though I don’t understand them. I can only tell you what the word of God says.

If we rely on works to save us we are under the curse of being separated from God. Such a reliance is man-centered and leads to spiritual death.

Praise God, Jesus redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us. He took our sins in his own body once for all to save us from our sins. He did this so that the blessing of Abraham could come upon us and we might receive the promised Spirit.

That the Spirit may be received by faith. Paul sees the blessing of Abraham summed up in the Holy Spirit. See what he wrote to Corinth. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

The blessing of Abraham is salvation by grace through faith. Every believer from Adam and Eve through Abel to the very last person on earth, in that very last tribe, all have been, or will be, saved the same way. By grace through faith not of ourselves it is the gift of God and not of works so that we can never boast. The Holy Spirit comes to live in the life of every person who’s going to be saved and brought under the blessing of Abraham. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and righteousness and judgment. Then the Holy Spirit moves us beyond ourselves into God’s family. In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. You can’t get in without it! Having been brought into the family we drink of that one Spirit. Praise God for that! We have hope of salvation, now let us go on in growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

If Satan cannot prevent you from coming to Christ in salvation he will do everything possible to prevent spiritual growth in your life. Satan cannot take away your salvation but he can take away the joy of your salvation. The Galatian believers were in danger of losing their joy. Teachers had come to town who wanted to draw them away from the gospel of grace into a “bad news” message of self-centered works. Remember, salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Such salvation always results in a life of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot earn it through good works nor can we keep it through good works it is all by grace through faith from beginning to end. Have you put your trust in him? If you sense him calling you he will receive you if you will come to him.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.