The Curse and the Cross

Galatians 3:10–14 CSB

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. 11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 14 The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Let me start by defining terms… first, the law. The law in the most basic sense are those commands and statutes the Lord has commanded humanity to obey.

For the Jews the first 5 book of our Old Testament and their contents contained the “Law” or the Torah.

Their are 613 commandments broken down into 248 positive commands and 365 negative commands.

Even if we forget all that and focus on the 10 mentioned in Exodus we still cannot live up to them…

God’s righteous standard is IMPOSSIBLE for us to adhere to.

Let’s look at the basic 10…

Do not have other gods before me. - you can say you don’t but if you are completely honest I imagine you will find something you have put in place of God: work, sports, family, church, hobbies, etc.

Do not make an idol for yourself. - this is a lot like number 1, we can idolize many things: money, sports stars of teams, celebrities, political figures, fame, we may have even made an idol of things like the cross, church things, etc.

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. How many times have we said, “Oh Lord”, “Jesus”, Oh my God” and we weren’t praying our crying out to Him?

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Most of us don’t observe a sabbath anymore. We work 7 days a week. God in His wisdom told us to labor 6 and rest on the 7th. we need to take a break.

Honor your father and mother. Well you know how you acted…

Do not murder. Okay I’ll give you this one… wait a second, didn’t Jesus say that if we have anger in out heart against our brother (or sister) then we are guilty of the same sin.

Do not commit adultery. Same as before, Jesus said that if we even have lust in our hearts we have committed adultery. I’m not going to ask but…

Do not steal. This one can be a little tricky. Someone probably came home with a pen or pencil from work that wasn’t theirs. Maybe you stopped working 10 minutes before you were supposed to and slow walked to the time clock. Anyone ever get a candy bar from a vending machine they didn’t pay for?

Do not give false testimony. The commandment forbids even the least suggestion contrary to the truth but it also forbids libel, slander and backbiting… uh oh.

Do not covet. Anyone ever looked an item owned by someone else and though, “I wish that was mine”?

I am sure there is no one in this room that is not guilty of at least breaking one of these at some point in their life…. we cannot meet God’s standard.

The works of the law and the faith of the gospel have radically different consequences.

Because of the law we came into this world under a curse - the reason it is a curse it like I mentioned earlier… we cannot keep the law perfectly. We can try but we will fail.

Faith on the other hand sets us free from the law.

But it is not just faith in whatever - we all have faith, everyone say in a pew or chair this morning and you had faith it would hold when you sat or I assume you wouldn’t have sat there.

Our faith must be place in the One who could do something about the curse…

Jesus became cursed so the curse could be broken.

Jesus redeemed us. Our second term, redeem - it means to buy out of slavery by paying a price.

When a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz, the Nazis lined up ten men to be executed in retribution. One of the chosen, Franchee-shek Guy-oh-nee-chek (Franciszek Gajowniczek), cried out that he had a wife and children. A Franciscan priest, Father Maximilian Kolbe, stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest; let me take his place.”

Kolbe was allowed to substitute himself. He died in that man’s stead so another could live. Guy-oh-nee-chek (Gajowniczek) survived the camp and lived into his nineties, telling the story of the man who died in his place.

Connection: What Kolbe did in a moment of grace, Christ did on an eternal scale. The curse that should have fallen on us was taken by Him. He stepped forward and said, “I’ll take their place.” The cross wasn’t just a rescue; it was a substitution.

Jesus was a substitute for the penalty we owed under the law.

Jesus sets us free from the slavery of sin - He paid our price.

The law brought a curse but salvation came by faith.

If sin is a virus, the law is the test that proves we’re infected - but the cross is the cure that heals completely.