Sermon Tone Analysis

Galatians 3:10-14

 

An incident a couple of summers ago in San Antonio, Texas, illustrates the importance of making the right choices.

It was a hot, 99-degree August day when a ten-month-old baby girl was accidentally locked in a parked car by her aunt.

Frantically the mother and the aunt ran around the car in near hysteria, while a neighbor tried to unlock the car with a clothes hanger.

The infant was crying at the top of her lungs, beginning to turn purple and foam at the mouth; it was a combination of anxiety and the intense heat inside the car.

It had quickly become a life-and-death situation.

That’s when a tow-truck driver arrived on the scene.

The first thing he did was to grab a hammer from his truck and he smashed the rear side window of the car to free the baby.

Fresh air rushed in and the baby was saved.

He was a hero, right?

According to an article in the /San Antonio Tribune/, he is quoted as saying, "The lady was mad at me because I broke the window.

I just thought, 'What's more important -- a baby or a window?' "

 

Most of the choices we make in life are not between what is trivial and what is important.

Rather, most of the choices we make are usually between what is important and what is more important.

This morning's Scripture reading is so timely for us because it shows us what is most important.

Our text is from Galatians 3:10-14.

In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand for the reading of these verses.

10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”  12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will 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 hung on a tree.”

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

[Invocation] Each of us comes into this world with a huge problem.

What makes matters even worse is that all of our self-efforts to solve this problem on our own, leads to a greater cycle of futility and despair.

For the Galatian audience, Paul stated the problem like this: “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse…” The issue is: How can I be made right with God?

I have only two points this morning.

Paul’s outline breaks cleanly into two halves; first the problem, then the solution.

So our first main point is stated in the form of a serious universal problem:

 

*I.

All of us are born separated from God and attempts at self-justification only put us under a curse* (10-12).

This is the universal problem Paul addresses in verses 10-12.

Keep in mind that Paul is defending what it means to be justified through faith in Christ alone.

In verse 10, when he says “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse” he’s saying “all who rely on observing the law /for justification/… are under a curse.”

So observing the Mosaic Law with legalistic zeal is the opposite way to be made right with God.

And the word /cursed/ in this context means “rejected by God.”

This was a powerful blow against human works in general and the false teachers in particular.

If we put those two ideas together, we get a startling revelation.

This means that everyone who trusts in their own ability to keep God’s holy standards /apart from faith/ are not only unjustified, but they are rejected by God and accursed.

Whoa, Paul!

That sounds so harsh.

That sounds so intolerant in our “to-each-his-own” pluralistic world.

We’ve been conditioned in our media-savvy culture to wince at any kind of bold denunciations like this.

People will instinctively say this is wrong… not because it’s untrue, just because it’s unpopular.

But Paul knows that it’s better to be divided by the truth than united by error.

Or as late Baptist preacher Robert G. Lee used to say, “It’s better to be called cruel for being kind, than to be called kind for being cruel.”

God’s love isn’t politically correct; it gets into our private lives and tells us what we need to hear.

We’re all born with a serious problem—we’re separated from God by sin.

The greatest cruelty is having the truth that people need to hear, but telling them sweet sounding lies that they want to hear.

Our human nature wants to hear someone say, “Work hard and God will reward you.”

We like that because we understand a strong work ethic; we were raised to work for what we get.

We grew up hearing the industrious bromides of /Poor Richard’s Almanac/: “God helps those who help themselves.”

But the Bible says that’s wrong!

The Bible says God helps those who /cannot/ help themselves… and know it.

So God doesn’t say work hard, He says, “Trust Jesus.”

Our human nature can hardly believe this message.

We want to pay for it, we want to earn it.

That desire to earn what can only come by grace brought a curse.

Galatia, we have a problem!

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.

It was when the Judaizers wanted to /keep/ the command to circumcise Titus that Paul said the truth of the gospel was about to be compromised.

The problem with the Judaizers was not their failure to follow the detailed statutes of the law; the problem was that they missed the larger lesson of the law, namely, that without a new heart (Deut.

30:6,7) and without the enablement of God (Deut.

4:30,31; 5:29; 29:4) and without faith (Ex.

14:31; Num.

14:11; 20:21; Deut.

1:32) all efforts to obey the law would simply be legalistic strivings of the flesh.

[From /Piper/, Galatians 3:10]

 

That continues to be a major problem for most of humanity today.

This is the problem for all who don’t have the same faith that made Abraham rejoice to see Jesus’ day.

The absence of such faith results in living under a curse, both for those who have the law and for those who have no law, the curse remains apart from faith.

But thanks be to God, there is a solution to this problem.

*II.

Jesus Christ became a curse so that the redeemed might be blessed according to the promise given to Abraham through the Holy Spirit* (13-14).

This is the second of two major points in this passage.

We see this in verses 13-14.

Paul discloses here the solution to humanity’s inborn problem…

 

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 hung on a tree.”

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The fact that the only begotten Son of God had to come to earth to die for sins He never commit-ted is the most serious indictment against your sin and mine that could ever be given.

We were under the curse—rejected by God—because of our sin.

So Christ redeemed us from the curse.

How?

By becoming a curse for us.

As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made [Jesus] who knew no sin to /be/ sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God through Him.”

Like that little girl trapped in the hot car, we were suffocating in our sin; that’s when Jesus shattered the glass of our old nature in His death and resurrection to send the fresh air of life into our souls.

Not only did Jesus become /sin/ for us, but He became a /curse/ for us—rejected by God.

He quoted the words of Psalm 22 from the cross: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”…

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

He quoted this Scripture as a fulfillment of prophecy, not because He didn’t understand what was taking place.

He knew exactly what He was saying and exactly what He was doing on the cross.

He said: “For this cause I have come into the world.”

In dying for the sins of the redeemed, Jesus delivered us from the curse of being rejected by God forever.

In dying under the law, Jesus delivered those who were already condemned under the law.

We were born cursed, so Christ became a curse for us.

The reason He did all this was so that we might have a share in the covenant promises of Abraham.

God is glorified by keeping His covenant with His people; therefore, He leaves nothing in the redemption process to chance.

We have all that was promised to Abraham when we possess the same faith demonstrated by Abraham.

And it is through this faith that we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.