I Fought The Law and The Law Won

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.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 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”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Have you ever heard of Babe Ruth? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Well, for the last 100 years, Babe Ruth has been known as one of the 4 or 5 greatest baseball players to ever play the game. Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career, mostly during an era where he would hit more home runs in a season by himself than the majority of the teams would hit as a whole. He was one of the best young pitchers in the game and the best hitter the game of baseball had ever seen. After the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, Ruth’s contract was sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000, a massive amount of money for a ball player in that era.

Well, after Ruth changed teams from the Red Sox to the Yankees, the fortunes of the two franchises shifted dramatically. Up until this point, the Red Sox were the dominant force in the American League, and the Yankees struggled to gain prominence in New York City, where they had to compete with the Giants and Dodgers. The Yankees would begin an extremely impressive set of decades that saw them win more than 1/4 of all the world series for the next century. It all began with the Red Sox owner selling the best player in the world to the rivals down the road.

For 86 years, Red Sox fans were convinced they were cursed. This was commonly known as

The Curse of the Great Bambino

The “rivalry” was mainly a string of epic failures and defeats, often at the hands of the Yankees. In Boston, scenes like Bucky Dent in 1978, Bill Buckner in 1986, and Aaron Boone in 2003 all became synonomous with the curse that would seemingly haunt Red Sox fans forever. The more they fought, the more they sank into the quicksand of losing.

The “rivalry” was mainly a string of epic failures and defeats, often at the hands of the Yankees. In Boston, scenes like Bucky Dent in 1978, Bill Buckner in 1986, and Aaron Boone in 2003 all became synonomous with the curse that would seemingly haunt Red Sox fans forever; a curse which meant they’d never get our of their own way to win. The more they fought, the more they sank into the quicksand of losing.

But, in 2004, the curse was broken when a few crazy guys put together a magical run and completed the greatest comeback in sports history, defeating the Yankees 4 straight games in the playoffs after being down 0 games to 3. It even took a heroic performance with a significant shedding of blood! They eventually went on to win the World Series, and the curse was broken. Now, I don’t know about you, but recounting this story makes me feel like I’ve just had church!

Let’s move on past that curse and dive into our text this morning as we look at the curse of the Law in Galatians chapter 3

Galatians 3:10–14 ESV

Now that we’ve read the whole passage of our main text, let’s take another look together at verse 10.

Let’s take another look together at verse 10

Galatians 3:10 ESV

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.”

The curse in this verse here is something I hope we can all understand. Being righteous is an “all or nothing” enterprise with God. When He gives us instructions, only the full obedience of His will can be accepted. Because God is holy, He is unable to accept anything into His presence of relationship except for things that are perfect and Holy. We can sometimes complicate this in our own walks with God. That being said, this verse leads us to our first observation in that we are often affected by

The Curse of Trying to be Perfect

How many of you in here this morning would call yourselves a perfectionist? A type-A personality? You don’t have to raise your hands, but I’d wager a fair few of you. I bet most of you that are perfectionists are either first borns or only children. We youngest are the best at having the free spirits! But that’s neither here nor there. Being a perfectionist is both a blessing and a curse. Those with type A personalities (aka people I will never fully understand) have to work very hard to move past things that aren’t just so. It goes without saying that this style of living can be disheartening and exhausting. No matter how far along we go in life, we will always be let down by the imperfections of people; both from others and ourselves. If we are to be able to rest in our hearts and minds, it helps to have perfection to rest in.

When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis and were cast out of the garden, what came from their sin was a curse. Adam was cursed with the toil of work, and Eve with the pain of childbirth. They were cursed with the stain of sin on their bodies, and experienced hardship as a result of their sin. The Law of God started to grow and be written on the hearts of the people. God’s law was in the Garden (don’t eat from the tree) and just outside the garden as well (offering sacrifice, which Cain failed in).

God’s law, however, has always been designed to be an incomplete rendering of the restored relationship between God and man. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we see the completed work of redemption take place in a person, only the promise of the future hope, the Messiah.

Jesus often taught throughout his ministry on the flaws of the Law. It was a point that often angered the Pharisees and confused the people. His purpose in teaching this way was to start to remove the law from the hearts of people and replace it with the gospel, the law of faith.

This is where the beauty of the work of Christ comes in. As we remember the curse of trying to be perfect, knowing we’ll never be able to do it on our own, we give thanks to God the Father for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ and...

The Joy of the Pardon

Galatians 3:23–24 ESV

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 3:13–15 ESV

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”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

Galatians 3:26 ESV

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

I love the picture in this passage of being “imprisoned” by the law, being held captive. It relates to the title of today’s message - “I Fought the Law and the Law Won.” Our inability to break the chains of sin further points to the joy we have in relying on Christ to free us from that slavery to sin. Paul writes here in Chapter 3 talking of the Law as guardian. Now I’ve talked rather negatively about the Law, but the Law was and is a gift from God. Being given instruction and direction on how to live is an opportunity for us to grow and become more like God intended each and every day.

Where we must draw the line of significance is in the pursuit of obeying the Law. As Christians, we have an obligation to obey the moral law of God (think Ten Commandments), not the ceremonial law of the Jews in the Old Testament. We obey the law because obedience is a necessary consequence of faith. If we believe God has saved us from our sin, we ought to live in that knowledge and seek to honor the gift of God. It must be clearly stated then, is that faith comes first, then righteousness. Our righteousness does not bring faith or salvation.

With the pardon from sin overtaking the curse of the law, we have the opportunity to receive...

The Blessing of Being Perfected

This blessing is called “sanctification.” This is the process by which we all begin to live in freedom to obey the Law of faith, which just so happens to coincide with obeying the moral Law of God. It’s a privilege to be perfected by Christ. It’s a privilege to be better, holier, more loving today than I was yesterday. It makes me a better man, father, husband, friend, brother, and son. It’s the stretching, the growing, the effort that’s put into me by the Holy Spirit. It’s what I do with that God-given blessing that makes all the difference

Galatians 5:13–14 ESV

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

This freedom is so important to our daily lives. Loving those around us is the natural consequence to being perfected by Christ.

How should we then live?

The question then now is how should we then live? How do we move forward?

Even if you aren’t that perfectionist or type-a personality, it’s spiritually necessary for us to drop the effort of trying to earn favor with God. We ought to rest in the freedom Jesus has given us and love people with a love that only comes from God. We must admit to ourselves and to the Lord that we are going to make mistakes and errors. We are going to sin, but it is the gift of faith and the grace of God that brings forgiveness and salvation to those who would believe. It isn’t our efforts that save us, it’s God who saves us and sanctifies our efforts.

While we aren’t saved by what we do, what we do is an opportunity to be used by God. So take serious the call of God to use our freedom to serve one another in love. How do we avoid the pitfalls of trying to be perfect? We continue to return to the source of truth and forgiveness - God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s People. We maintain relationship with God daily; are convicted, comforted, and energized by the Holy Spirit; and we commit ourselves to the body of the Church, where we give of our time, talents, and treasures.