The curse and the cure

INTRO

Good morning, if you have your Bible you can turn to Galatians 3 as we continue on through Paul’s angry, passionate, and loving letter to the churches in Galatia who have believed a distorted Gospel. The battle that Paul is fighting against is acceptance. Who is actually accepted into the family of God, who is actually approved by God? Is it jews who believe in Jesus but still follow the jewish laws and customs? Is it Gentiles that believe in Jesus but also take on the jewish laws and customs? Or is it Jew or Gentile and believes in the finished work of Messiah Jesus who lived, died, rose again, and put His Spirit in those who believe? And how can we know for sure God doesn’t want us to do those jewish customs anymore? What was the point of all those things? Well now that I have asked you thousand questions, I’m hoping to answer some of them today, some of them through the next couple weeks as Paul with his Jedi like wisdom uses the Old testament to show New testament truth.

But before we get into the text, I really think you are smart people (I’m not being sarcastic) and so I like asking you questions where you respond to hear your thoughts and ideas. And this one is hard because I want you to really work and not give me a christienese answer. Are you ready for the question?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PERSON?

As we think about this question, remember that there are a lot of worldviews about what does it mean to be a good person. When it comes to Christianity, to God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has made it plain for us to understand what it means to be a good person and how we should live. He holds nothing back in his word. And Paul wants to help us know this so that we have not condemnation, fear, or despair when we meet him one day and give account for our lives.

So with that at stake, let’s pray and then look into the Word of God.

BODY

English Standard Version Chapter 3

10 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.

The Jews that were distorting the Gospel in the churches in Galatia where using the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, specifically Leviticus and Deuteronomy, to bring these Christians into religious bondage. So guess what books of the Bible Paul uses to show them that they should not use the law? Yup! The Torah, specifically Leviticus and Deuteronomy with a couple other ones for good measure. So I thought it would be good for us to understand why and how Paul does this because it does affect us today even though I am assuming many of you are not diligently studying Deuteronomy and Leviticus right now? Anyone? Don’t be ashamed if you are, just showing that many people do not gravitate to these books. (Unless you have a weird pastor going through the book of Ezekiel.)

Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 27:26 to show how they are cursed if they depend on the law for acceptance.

The quick background to this text is that the Israelites are about to enter into the promise land, Moses is giving his last message and then tells them if they follow the Lord, there will be blessings. If they don’t follow God, there will be curses, (which should trigger your mind to Eden with blessings and curses). And Paul knows that this task of obeying the law, the whole law, is impossible. Let’s just start with the 10 commandments for a second. Have any of you kept all 10 commandments in your life? You have never coveted your neighbors stuff? You have never bowed down to a false idol like your job, your relationships, family, or some hobby? The thing that rules your attention, time, and passion is what you are worshipping. James 2:10 tells us that if you keep all the commands and yet fail at one, you have failed at all of it.

So these Jewish leaders that are trying to swoop in on these churches in Galatia are telling them you need to follow all these laws brother. You got to keep all the traditions going, keep this kosher diet strong BECAUSE that is what really get’s you accepted into God’s family. That’s really how you are blessed. And Paul punches them in the face with their own fist by showing them that the Law tells us that you are cursed, not accepted, cut off, if you do not follow it completely. If some of you are currently wondering, “Well why did God give them the law then??” Don’t worry, we will cover that, in a couple weeks. But for now, just know that Paul is trying to help shame the jewish leaders and tell the truth to the churches in Galatia about how this rule following is foolish and will bring a curse on them. It is bondage, slavery, and it does not bring you into acceptance but a curse/cut off from the family.

Paul then goes a little outside of the Torah to the book of Habakkuk to show them that all of scriptures, not just the torah point to faith in God as the thing he is after, not just rule followers.

Paul quotes from Habakkuk 2:4 to show the importance of Faith.

We talked about this last week (but it is important to repeat) with Abraham last week and how it was faith in what God said, not just in God, that made Abraham righteous. And that is something that I’m sure Paul had pounded in his preaching when he was in Galatia. But here he shows from Habakkuk, a prophet right before the Babylonian exile, tells the people that they are needing to live by faith to be righteous. Faith is the thing that moves God and we know that because of how Jesus would always marvel at faith. It was one thing he marvled at while here, the lack, or great ammount of faith people had. Faith always leads you to not just believe in God, but believe what God says which therefore brings about obedience. Most people try to obey God’s commands (the law) to be accepted. God desires faith in him and then from there there is obedience (Gospel).

So why is faith the thing that is important? Because it is trust, it is relationship that God wants. Not just a bunch of rule followers that can follow commands. Can you think about what a relationship wold be if someone just did what was commanded of them and didn’t actually trust the person and believe them? It’s not relationship, it is slavery. Paul is showing that not only is Abraham showing us that faith is important, but the whole old testament backs this up.

Think about king David for a moment. He was a man after God’s own heart, but how? He loved God’s law, but he also worshipped. He prayed. He was in relationship with his good shepherd, not just a rule system.

Paul then circles back to Leviticus to really get to the heart of the matter.

Paul quotes from Leviticus 18:5 to expose self righteousness.

The exact statement from Leviticus is

English Standard Version Chapter 18

5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

So if you live by something, it is the thing that defines you. It is your security and comfort usually. We say things like “He lives for his job” or “They live for the cabin” saying, that is what their whole life is defined and purposed on. So with the statement that Paul is trying to expose here is that if you live by the law, you have to keep the whole law. Which is impossible, as we already discussed. But Paul is exposing a self righteousness because once again, these Jewish leaders were teaching that is was the upholding of the law and the traditions of the Jews that brought you into acceptance with God. So in an essence, he is saying this somewhat sarcastically, like “You want to live by the law? Okay, live by the law man! Make sure to obey all 613 commandments to a T! If that is what you are going to live by, then live by all of them. Which Paul, a previous Jew and part of the Sanhedrin, knew was impossible.

Let me give you a sneak peek for the next couple weeks about why God gave the law. It wasn’t so people could fulfill all the commandments. It was to show their need for a savior. The law is not faith because they were supposed to put their faith in God, not the law. They were supposed to look to Abraham, their father, and see that before all the bells and wistles of their religion, it was God, His word, and Abe believing that Word. It’s faith. and from faith flows obedience. Not obedience and then faith.

But listen to this good news this morning. Are you ready to hear some good news this morning?

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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 quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 to show us that Jesus redeemed us from the curse.

Oh man this is good but we need to understand this more. And Paul is drawing from his important word in the intro to his letter which was “deliver/rescue.” Remember that word? Deliver, pulled out of, rescued, or redeemed. Has anyone in the last week used that word outside of a Bible study? Have you used the word “redeemed” in the past month? Ya, me neither.

But here is how you would uses it if you did. Hey, can I redeem this coffee for you? Hey can I redeem this lunch for you? What am I saying? I am going to pay for something that you should pay for, but I’m going to pay for it. So Paul is saying here, Jesus is paying for the curse that you deserve.

Now I need to play Bible jump around for a little bit to connect some dots for us. The original context of this verse is from Deuteronomy 21:23 where if someone disobeyed a lie that was guilty of death they would stone them and then put their dead body on a pole. The statement is “look at this person, and learn.” Don’t do as they did because then you will be cut off, or killed too. But the Isralites already had an event where they knew that they needed to look at a pole, or a tree, to find life. It was back in numbers 21 when they were grumbling and complaining to God and Moses about the hot desert they were wandering around. And God sent snakes because of their grumbling (let the reader understand) and Moses cries out to God to forgive them of this sin. And instead of God wiping out all the snakes, or doing some supernatural event he tells Moses to make a serpent, a false image, and put it on a pole. The put it up for all to see and if people look at it and they have been bitten by the snakes, they will not die. Why? Because the thing that was killing them (snake bite) was being cursed on a pole by God therefore they were healed from the snake bite because God cused it, cut it off, has not power.

Everyone still with me? Okay fast forward to John chapter 3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. Jesus tells him a lot of things but he says that just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him, will live. Now lets tie this all together for a moment. How do people find life from Jesus if he is a curse? Because when we look at him as see that he was pierced for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities, and the punishment that brought me peace was on him, we see that He is enough to forgive us our sins and bring us into acceptance with God.

Just think about that. Look at Christ crucified and see that he has redeemed you from the curse.

But here is where it is really crazy, there is more. What does Paul say comes with Jesus being the curse for us? Let’s read this together

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

So that! He became a curse so that you can just come to church? So that you can live a good and moral life? So that you can make sure everything goes your way? NO! So that you and I can have the blessing of Abraham (Acceptance into God’s family) and that we might recieve the promised Spirit through faith!

I pounded on this last week and I will pound it again. We need the Holy Spirit. He is a non negotiable in the Christian walk. If we are not dependent on Him, aware of him, pushing him aside for another podcast, reel, tick tock, or whatever else we think is better than the living God we have a problem. If you are here and you do not know Jesus, you have realized that you have believed a distorted Gospel that is more about you praying a prayer so you can go to heaven than a Gospel that is about God sending His son to take your sin, bring you into His family, and give you His Spirit, today is a great day to believe! And in faith, recieve the promised Holy Spirit.

Do you have the Holy Spirit? Do you have the power that Jesus promised to go and preach boldly? Do you have the power to say no to sin and yes to righteousness? Do you have the power of the Spirit to not live for this present evil age of self focus and self righteousness? Do you have the Holy Spirit with His giftings? If not, today is a great day to receive. Living Rock Church, do we want to just be a bunch of moral people, following obediently self righteous laws and rules or do we want to look to Jesus, receive his blessing and receive the Holy Spirit? If that is you today, and please don’t stand out of fear of man, but if that is you today because you want more of the Holy Spirit, please stand in response.

Pray