The Book of Galatians #10
Galatians 3:6-14
Did you ever wonder why public personalities like Tim Tebow seem to be so controversial? It’s because they give God the glory for the change and difference in their life. Satan always opposes God getting glory. Let some sorry, no-good dope head die, and they will bend over backward trying to make them look good. But let someone try to live for the Lord, and they hate it and will try to tear them apart.
But there is no other way to respond to grace. And once you understand just how sorry and worthless you are, then grace is magnified and God is glorified. And yet the world continues to look for a way to avoid grace and do it themselves.
That’s the purpose of Paul in writing this letter to the Galatians. He is lifting high the glory of grace and correcting the teaching that says Law is a part of salvation. We’ve made our way to chapter 3, and a couple of weeks ago we started our study of verses 6-14. We’ll finish it up tonight.
Galatians 3:6-14
The key thought is justification. It carries the idea of having our standing changed and being declared righteous. And in reality, the doctrine of justification is the basis of New Testament Christianity.
The word 'justification' comes from the law courts. A person was arraigned before a judge, they were pronounced guilty, unjust. That's true of every man born into the world, they are pronounced, before the bar of God, unjust. What is it that can make a man just in the eyes of God? What is it that can make him righteous or right in the eyes of God? What is it that can, rather than condemning him, excuse him from condemnation?
Only one thing: the Bible says, "We are justified freely by his grace."
It's all of grace. It's nothing we've done, nothing we've earned, no good works that we did, no religiosity, no going to church, getting baptized, reading the Bible, all kinds of things like that. What justifies a man before God is the activity of the grace of God on behalf of that man.
That truth was being challenged in Galatia. False teachers are seeking to add Jewish works to the mix. To refute their claims, Paul is writing to the churches of the region.
So far he has reminded them of their own experience in getting saved, and now he is offering scriptural support to the argument.
From the positive side, in verses 6-9, he presents Abraham and the fact that he was declared righteous by God before his own circumcision and long before the Law was given. That's the positive proof.
Then in verses 10-14, he gives the negative proof that salvation is by faith as seen in Old Testament Scripture.
You say, "What do you mean, a negative proof?" Just this: in verses 6-9, Paul showed what faith did. Faith justified Abraham. Now Paul shows what works can't do. That's the negative.
On the one hand, here's what faith does do. Then on the other hand, here's what works can't do. And again, he teaches from Scripture.
His sermon from the negative side has three points.
First, he says "The man who accepts the law as the way of salvation has to stand or fall on the basis of law." In other words, if you want to get redeemed by law, good luck.
The second thing he says is, "It's impossible to stand on the law."
The third thing is, "The person who tries is cursed."
So if you're going to try to live by law, you have to go whole-hog for the law. Secondly, you ought to know it's impossible; thirdly, you ought to know that you're cursed for failing.
The same is true today. If you think you can be saved by adding works to Christ, then you are putting yourself under the law and the law demands perfection. So you might as well forget it. It's impossible, and if you try and fail, you're cursed.
Notice verse 10
Here, he quotes Deuteronomy 27:26. Now remember, Abraham was justified by faith, God's promise was that all nations would be blessed through Abraham. Or we could say it this way: If the nations would be justified, it would happen the same way it happened with Abraham which was through faith. On the one hand is a life of blessing, or if you want to live by law, the law will curse you.
Instead of being blessed by being put under grace, they put themselves under the Law and they were under a curse. And the reason they were cursed is because under the law you are obligated to keep the whole law and it is impossible to keep.
Verse 11. "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident because the just shall live by faith." Again he quotes the Old Testament. That’s Habakkuk 2:4.
He says, "If you knew your Bible, your Old Testament, you'd know Habakkuk said, 'The just shall live by faith.' The law is going to curse you, faith is going to save you."
Verse 12
That's an interesting statement. What is he saying? He's saying that law and faith are opposite. They are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive. The law and faith do not go together. The law is not of faith. If you have any legalism, you violate the simplicity of faith. Now, if you want to live by the law and get saved by law, then God wants perfect performance.
Remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Be perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect." If you want to live by law, that's the standard. "Well, we've never killed." If you hate your brother, you're a murderer. "Well, we've never committed adultery." If you look at a woman and lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart. Jesus just destroyed their claim to self-righteousness.
No, you can't live by the law.
If you try, you'll bring a curse. You break one single law, and you've violated everything. If you want to do the law to get saved, then you'll have to live it to the nth degree.
That's Leviticus 18:5. He uses another Scripture. He's taking the Old Testament and turning it on them. Leviticus 18:5 is the accuser; they can't keep the law. So instead of being saved by the law, the only thing the law does is curse you. The law just shows you're a sinner. There's only one way to be saved, and that's through faith in Christ.
So first Paul says, "If you want to keep the law, you have to live by the whole thing." That's in verse 12.
Then he says, in verse 11, "But you can't. You can't do it all. By the law, in the sight of God, no man is justified."
Thirdly, backing up to verse 10. "If you try, the only thing you'll be is cursed."
Then he closes with a remedy for such desperate people. You can't achieve self-righteousness. You can't make yourself right before God. Works can’t save you because you’ll never be perfect. Then how does it happen? How can we come to God? How can we be made righteous?
Verse 13
The word “redeemed” means “to buy out of the marketplace; to redeem as a slave”. Christ has purchased us back from slavery. What was the price?
Listen: "For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or spot." (I Peter 1:18-19). The price was blood. The only thing that could pay for our sin was blood, and Jesus took the curse on Himself.
Let me show you something interesting I discovered recently. Notice verse 13.
"Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." That's Deuteronomy 21:23. Paul uses another Old Testament verse. Jesus was made a curse. For whom? For us. He paid our debt, our price.
It's interesting that under Mosaic Law, every criminal sentenced to death, after their execution, the body was tied to a post, or “hanged on a tree”.
Why? It was an open, public symbol of his rejection by God. It was to be a visible declaration that the people could see. So after the stoning, the body was tied to a post as a visible representation of the man being rejected by God.
Now be clear: this verse does not mean that a man is cursed by God because he died on a cross, or because he was hanged on a tree. It means that because he was cursed by God, he was hanged on a tree.
See the difference? He wasn't cursed by God because he was hanged on a tree; he was hanged on a tree because he was cursed by God. You could die on a cross and not be cursed by God.
But in those days, when men were rejected by God, as a public sign of that rejection, they were hung on a post.
Now Jesus was cursed by God, right? How could Jesus be cursed by God? Well, certainly not because of His own sin, but He bore our sins in His own body. And God is too holy to even look on sin. And even though Jesus was holy and God loved Him with all His heart, God cursed Him and poured out the violence of His curse on Christ on our behalf.
And to be honest, it's no wonder that the Jews couldn't believe Jesus was their Messiah. If they knew Deuteronomy 21:23 and they knew Jesus died on a cross, it's no wonder that they would have a hard time believing He was their Messiah. They would say, "How in the world could the Messiah, the Anointed of God, be cursed by God?"
In fact, in I Corinthians 12:3, the implication is that, when the Gospel was preached, the Jews would scream back, "Jesus is accursed! Jesus is accursed!" The reason they would do that is tied to the law that God gave and that He was hanged on a tree.
And unfortunately, while a few recognized He was hanged on that tree for their sake, and that made the difference, most would never see it.
But notice a little phrase in verse 13. It is the two greatest words ever written and they are "for us." That means, “on our behalf”. We deserved the curse, but He took it “for us”.
Now here is where the teaching of justification by grace gets very personal.
Can you keep the law? All of it? No. If you can't keep the law, you are cursed. But God comes along and says, "I'm not going to make you bear your own curse, I'll put My Son as a substitute. He'll take your curse."
And then whether you want it or not, whether you accept it or not, God spent the fury of His curse against sin on Jesus, who bore all your sin. Your sin and mine has already been atoned for. The curse has been turned to a blessing. It’s already paid for.
That’s verse 14.
The curse is lifted, and God did it for two reasons.
One, was that the blessing of Abraham would come on all the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.
And two, that they might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.
As always, God has a purpose. He wants all men to be made righteous and to receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So He applied the curse on Christ, that we might be blessed, and that we might receive the Holy Spirit.
How do you receive it? Well, look at the end of verse 14.
Two words: through faith. Have you ever thought about what real faith, justifying faith, is? Let me give you three quick shots.
First of all is self-renunciation. It's when you come to the place where you put absolutely no hope in yourself. That is the beginning of justifying faith. You're like the children of Israel when Pharaoh was in hot pursuit. Ahead of them was the Red Sea, about to devour them; there was only one direction to go, up, and they couldn't do it.
That's the way the sinner is. The sinner who is coming to the point of true justifying faith sees the justice of God pursuing him. He sees Hell awaiting him. He knows he needs to get to God, but he can't. In desperation, he knows he has no resource in himself and there's nothing he can do.
The second thing is reliance. When you come to that place of desperation and there is nowhere to turn, all of a sudden, you are offered a way of escape in Jesus Christ. You cast yourself on Christ's mercy, forgiveness and power to save and He comes through.
The last word is appropriation. Christ offers the gift, and you take it. That's saving faith. It’s really not very complicated, is it?
It's when you've reached the end of your rope, and you discover Jesus and take Him up on His offer. That’s saving faith.
Someone says, “My faith is weak." That's alright because even a weak faith can respond to a strong Christ.
Think about it this way: The promise is made, not to strong faith, but to sincere faith.
Paul says, "Justification is by faith. You know it from experience and you know it from Scripture.
You want positive proof? Think about Abraham. He was justified by faith.
You want negative proof? The only thing that ever happens through the law is curse.
But if you want to be made right with God, it’s not going to happen by going to church and being good. It’s not accomplished by reading Bible, and praying and being religious."
Why won’t that help? Because you're cursed.
But if you will come to the end of yourself and put you faith and trust in God, you will blessed along with Abraham as a child of faith.
