He Took the Curse

Subject: What did Christ do about the curse of the law?

Complement: Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming the curse so we could receive the blessing of Abraham through faith.

Dominant Thought: Trust Christ who took your curse so you could receive God’s blessing.

Aim: That the congregation would abandon any confidence in law-keeping for justification and rest fully in Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross.

Propositional Statement: Because Christ absorbed the full curse of the law in our place, everyone who trusts him moves from condemnation to blessing.

Big Idea: The only escape from the curse of the law is the Christ who became it.

Sermon Thesis: Christ didn’t just sympathize with cursed people — he became the curse, exhausted it, and opened the door to the blessing that law-keeping never could.

Galatians 3:10–14 ESV

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.

Introduction

If you’ve ever been in a courtroom — or watched enough legal dramas to feel like you have — you know what it looks like when the verdict comes down. The judge doesn’t negotiate. The gavel doesn’t leave room for appeal in the moment. Guilty is guilty. The sentence follows the verdict.

Paul has been building a case throughout Galatians that the Judaizers’ gospel is a fraud. They told the Galatian believers that faith in Christ was a good start, but it wasn’t enough. You needed to add circumcision. You needed to keep the law. You needed to perform your way into full standing before God.

And Paul has been dismantling that argument piece by piece. He’s told his story — the gospel came to him by revelation, not from men. He’s told Peter’s story — even the pillars of the church understood that justification is by faith alone. He’s asked the Galatians to examine their own experience — did the Spirit come to you through law-keeping or through hearing with faith?

Now in Galatians 3:10–14, Paul lands the theological knockout. He goes to the Old Testament — the very scriptures the Judaizers were using to make their case — and he shows them three things: the law condemns, the law cannot justify, and the law cannot deliver what it promises. Then he shows them the one thing that can do what the law never could.

This is a passage about the curse. And it’s a passage about the Christ who took it. We have three movements in the text this morning, and I want you to stay with me, because the medicine is in verse 13.

Point one. Point two. Point three. Let’s get into the text.

The Law Puts You Under a Curse (vv. 10–12)

Galatians 3:10–12 ESV

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.”

Paul opens with a verdict: “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.” That’s not a warning. That’s a present tense reality. Everyone who is trusting their law-keeping for their standing before God is already living under condemnation.

And Paul goes straight to Deuteronomy 27:26 to prove it: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Notice the scope of that word: all things. Not most things. Not the big ones. All things. Every statute. Every commandment. Every requirement. The law doesn’t grade on a curve. It doesn’t give partial credit. It demands perfect, complete, unbroken obedience.

This is the problem with the Judaizers’ theology. They were telling people: do more, perform more, observe more — and God will accept you. But they’d missed the math. The law doesn’t reward effort. It rewards perfection. And since no human being has ever achieved perfection, the law’s verdict over every human being is the same: cursed.

In verse 11, Paul goes to Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous shall live by faith.” This is a text Paul already quoted in Romans. He’s not just proof-texting — he’s making a logical argument. If righteousness before God came through law-keeping, then the righteous would live by keeping the law. But the prophet said the righteous live by faith. Therefore, righteousness before God does not come by law-keeping. It comes by faith.

And in verse 12 Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5 to show that the law and faith operate on completely different systems. The law says: do this and live. Faith says: trust this and live. They are not two lanes of the same highway. They are two different roads going two different directions. You cannot merge them. You cannot take a little of column A and a little of column B. It’s one or the other.

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

26 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Habakkuk 2:4 ESV

4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Leviticus 18:5 ESV

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

Paul is not being anti-law here. He’s being pro-gospel. The law is holy and good — he’ll say that clearly in chapter 3. But the law was never designed to justify. It was designed to reveal. And what it reveals is that every human being falls short, and falling short means standing under a curse.

Illustration: Think about a credit score. The system doesn’t ask about your intentions. It doesn’t care that you meant to pay on time. It records what actually happened. Miss a payment — it marks it. Default on a loan — it marks it. The system is impartial and unforgiving. And the lower your score, the more doors close to you. Housing. Car loans. Business credit. The score determines your access.

The law works the same way. It records the truth about your moral ledger. And the truth is, every human being who has ever lived — except one — has a score that disqualifies them. The law doesn’t hate you for it. It just reports what is true. And what is true is: you are under a curse you cannot clear by your own effort.

Application: Some of us are still trying to earn our way out. We’re doing more church work, giving more money, being nicer to people — not out of gratitude for what God has done, but because deep down we think our performance is what keeps God on our side. We think if we do enough, God will stay pleased with us. If we slip up, we’re afraid we’ve lost our standing.

Paul wants you to understand: that’s not faith. That’s law-keeping. And law-keeping doesn’t produce blessing. It produces a curse, because law-keeping demands perfection you do not have. The good news is not “try harder.” The good news is something entirely different.

Christ Stepped In Your Place (v. 13)

Galatians 3:13 ESV

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”—

Verse 13 is the hinge of the whole passage. Everything before it is the problem. Everything after it is the result. And verse 13 is the solution.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”

Let’s slow down on that word “redeemed.” In Greek it’s

exēgorasen (he bought out of the marketplace). This is commercial language. It’s the language of the slave market. To redeem someone was to pay the price that set them free. Paul is saying Christ entered the marketplace where we were held under the curse, and he paid the price that purchased our freedom.

But here’s what makes this verse so stunning: how did he pay the price? He didn’t just pay it from a distance. He didn’t cover the debt with some external transaction that left him unaffected. He paid it by becoming the curse himself.

Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23: “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” In the ancient world, a body hung on a tree or a post was a public sign that the person had been condemned, rejected, cut off from God and from the covenant community. It was the ultimate mark of shame and divine judgment.

Deuteronomy 21:23 ESV

23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

When Jesus was crucified, he was hung on a tree. And Paul’s argument is breathtaking: that wasn’t an accident. That wasn’t a mistake. That was the point. Jesus, who knew no sin, stepped into the place of the cursed. He took upon himself the full weight of the divine judgment that our law-breaking deserved. He absorbed the curse entirely — not symbolically, not partially, but completely.

The sinless Son of God became sin. The blessed one became cursed. The one who stood in perfect covenant relationship with the Father was, on the cross, treated as the covenant-breaker — so that the covenant-breakers could be treated as the beloved Son.

This is the great exchange at the heart of the gospel. He took what was ours so we could receive what was his.

Illustration: In the military, there’s a concept of taking fire for your unit. When enemy fire is coming in and a soldier puts himself between that fire and his fellow soldiers, he doesn’t eliminate the danger — he absorbs it. The bullets that would have killed the others hit him instead. His body takes what was meant for them.

That’s what Jesus did on the cross, but on a cosmic scale. The judgment of God against human sin — the full force of divine wrath against every act of rebellion, every broken law, every failure to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves — came down. And Jesus put himself in the way. He absorbed it. All of it. So that the ones behind him would be free.

You want to know what it cost for you to be free? It cost him everything. It cost him the cross. It cost him the curse. He took the hit so you wouldn’t have to.

Application: This is why you cannot add anything to what Christ did. The Judaizers wanted to add circumcision. People today want to add their good deeds, their church attendance, their moral record. But if you add to what Christ did, you are saying his sacrifice was not enough. You are saying the curse was only partially absorbed and you need to cover the rest.

Paul says no. The redemption is complete. The price was paid in full. The curse was exhausted on the body of Christ. What he did on the cross was sufficient — not a down payment, not a partial payment, but a complete and final payment for every sin of every person who trusts in him.

Trust Christ who took your curse. Not Christ plus your effort. Not Christ plus your religious performance. Christ alone.

The Gift Is Already Waiting (v. 14)

Galatians 3:14 ESV

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 doesn’t leave us at the cross. Verse 14 tells us where the cross leads: “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Two results follow from Christ becoming the curse. First: the blessing of Abraham comes to the Gentiles. Remember where Paul started back in verses 6–9. He went to Genesis and showed that God promised to bless all nations through Abraham. The Judaizers were saying that blessing was tied to the law, to circumcision, to ethnic and religious boundary markers. Paul says no — the blessing was always tied to faith, and now through Christ, the curse that stood between us and that blessing has been removed.

The door is open. Not just for Jews. Not just for the circumcised. For everyone who trusts in Christ — every nation, every background, every history — the blessing of Abraham is now available. The promise to Abraham is fulfilled in the gospel.

Second result: we receive the promised Spirit through faith. This is significant because Paul already established in verses 2–5 that the Galatians received the Spirit through the hearing of faith, not through works of the law. Now he’s showing the theological foundation for that experience. The Spirit comes to those who are in Christ, and we are in Christ by faith, and we are in Christ because he took the curse that kept us out.

The Spirit is not a reward for performance. The Spirit is a gift — the promised gift of the new covenant — given to everyone who trusts in the cursed and risen Christ.

Illustration: When a debt is fully paid, the creditor doesn’t just close the account — they release the debtor. The lien on the house comes off. The garnishment on the wages stops. The weight that was sitting on your financial life lifts. You’re not just “not in debt anymore” — you’re free to use your resources differently. You’re free to build, to give, to move.

That’s what the Spirit represents in verse 14. Christ didn’t just pay off the debt of the curse and leave you in an empty house. He paid the debt, removed the lien, and moved in himself. The Spirit of God takes up residence in the life of everyone who trusts in Christ. You are not just forgiven — you are indwelt. You are not just declared righteous — you are given the presence and power of God himself to live the life you couldn’t live under the law.

Application: Church, this is the goal of the gospel. Not just to escape judgment. Not just to get a ticket to heaven. The goal is that you would be filled with the Spirit of the living God — that the very presence of Christ would take up residence in your life and transform you from the inside out.

This is why Paul is so passionate about protecting the Galatians from the Judaizers’ distortion. It’s not just a theological argument. It’s a pastoral crisis. Because if you go back to law-keeping for justification, you cut yourself off from the blessing. You trade the Spirit for performance. You trade freedom for bondage. You go back to a system that can only curse you.

Don’t go back. Trust Christ who took your curse so you could receive God’s blessing. And let the Spirit who lives in you be evidence that the transaction is complete.

Conclusion

I want to close by taking you to a hill outside Jerusalem.

It’s a Friday. The sky is wrong — dark in the middle of the afternoon. Three crosses are raised on the hill they call the Skull. And on the middle cross hangs a man who had done nothing wrong. No sin. No failure. No record that deserved this end.

But over his head, they nailed a sign. The King of the Jews. And in the theology of Deuteronomy 21, what they meant as mockery was actually prophecy. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. The one who had every right to blessing — the eternal Son of God, the beloved of the Father — was hanging on a tree. Taking the curse. Absorbing the judgment. Becoming everything that we deserved so that we could receive everything that he deserved.

They took him down from that cross. They wrapped him and sealed him in a borrowed tomb. The disciples scattered. The women wept. It looked like the curse had won.

But early on the first day of the week, something happened that the curse could not prevent. The same God who promised blessing to Abraham — the God who keeps every word he speaks — reached into that tomb and raised his Son from the dead. The curse was exhausted. Death was defeated. The grave could not hold the one who had become the curse, because the curse had no legal claim on him. He took it voluntarily. He paid it completely. And on the third day, he walked out.

And now the invitation goes out to every cursed person — every person who has failed the law, every person whose moral ledger is in the red, every person who knows that on their own merits they have no standing before God — the invitation is this: trust Christ. He took your curse. He offers you his blessing. He gives you his Spirit.

You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to perform for it. You receive it the same way Abraham received it — by faith. Trust Christ who took your curse so you could receive God’s blessing.