Cursed on the tree
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· 6 viewsBecause no man can stand holy before God, Jesus, stood accursed so we go free.
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Why the cross?
Why the cross?
-The simplest answer is the Romans form of execution was this
That is very true
However, I’m more confident in that there was no other suitable death that could have been afflicted on Christ because this was the plan of God
I think we have this foreshadowed in the OT and spelled out in the NT
Our text we will look at briefly tonight is Gal 3:10-14
We must be-careful to not misread a passage by jumping into the middle of it
So I will summarize what is being discussed before
Back in the middle of chapter 2- Peter has lead some of the Galatians astray in treating circumcised believers one and uncircumcised believers- primarily Jews and Gentiles
Paul opposes him and we can see in
But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
You are living as if you are free from the legality of the law (gentile) but in fact you are an ethinic Jew, how can you make a ethinic Gentile be forced to obey laws the ethinic Jew is free from?
So Paul, battles for the truth that no one is saved by keeping the Law
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Is it an external thing you do or an internal work of grace through faith?
He goes on in
Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Which is doing the saving? The Spirit of God by grace through faith or works of the law?
Then he further nails down Abrahams faith for all Jews who may be reading
Its by faith he believed and it was counted to him as righteousness
So Jew or Gentile- its grace through faith= True Israel
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
It was God who foreplanned to redeem the Gentiles- declared the Gospel message back when he made his covenant with Abraham that all nations would be blessed through Abraham
Not necessarily his seed but through faith in the God of Abraham placed his hope in
It wasnt law keeping- it was faith- faith long before the written Law was given to Moses
So Paul continues these thoughts in vs 10-14 as we see the ramifications of Law and the necessity of the cross
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.
Vs 10- The law is perfect and true--- the problem is we cant keep it
-The Law purpose was to reveal to us the Holiness of God and just how sinful we are
It was impossible to keep them all
But that was the standard given in
“ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
In Chap 28- blessings for keeping all the law and curses for breaking even just one
Because God is Holy- to transgress one command- means to transgress the Holy God himself
As so, man brings curse upon himself due to his rebellion against God
So no human effort or external works will earn salvation
This is were every other religion falls- Every single one of them is based on a works based righteousness
I Do, so I get
So problem with that is man cannot be righteous enough or good enough to equate to the goodness of God that has been assaulted
Vs11- no one is justified before God by the Law
-this is where the “I’m a good person” defense falls flat
We were or are all cursed by God because of our sin
No law keeping will be good enough
So Paul quote another OT passage
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Sheer external righteousness creates pride
But for a man to be really righteous- to have the goodness of God- its only comes by faith
Vs12- the Law shows us our flaws
Its a faithful schoolmaster as Paul further speaks in Vs 24 until Christ came
We looked to it in faith knowing God would send the Messiah
So did every faithful Jew until Christ came
Because he did what man could not--- that is keep the law
Our standard was
You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
The problem we stated earlier was we couldnt keep them
So instead of blessing- we received the curse
Vs 13- Christ redeems believers from the curse that sits upon them by keeping the whole law and then dying in their place
We were talking with the kids last night at dinner over our catechism book
I would encourage you to look into these- they are great for adults as well.
Im learning as we teach the kids
45. What did Christ undertake in the covenant of grace?
A. To keep the whole law for his people, and to suffer the punishment due to their sins.
Q. 46. Did our Lord Jesus Christ ever commit the least sin?
A. No; he was holy, harmless, and undefiled.
Q. 47. How could the Son of God suffer?
A. Christ, the Son of God, became man that he might obey and suffer in our nature.
Q. 48. What is meant by the Atonement?
A. Christ’s satisfying divine justice, by his sufferings and death, in the place of sinners.
Q. 49. What did God the Father undertake in the covenant of grace?
A. To justify and sanctify those for whom Christ should die.
Q. 50. What is justification?
A. It is God’s forgiving sinners, and treating them as if they had never sinned.
Those very questions are at the heart of Easter
Their was a curse placed on us and it is God who acts outside of us to redeem us through Jesus
Only Jesus could satisfy the holiness and wrath of God because he was God himself
So the curse is placed on him
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
But Paul makes this OT connection concerning the curse
“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 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.
MacArthur gave some good information here
Jewish death sentence was executed via stoning, then they would attach the body of the criminal to a post for all to see he was cursed by God
“It was not that a person was cursed by being hanged on a tree but that he was hanged on the tree because he was cursed. Jesus did not become a curse because he was crucified but was crucified because he cursed in taking the full sin of the world upon Himself.”
Stoning wouldnt suffice- he must be put on tree for in that act- Christ took the curse on himself and died a substitute so we could be set free from the curse
The cross was necessary for the payment of the curse.
Vs14- So now in Christ the blessing of Abraham can go to all people through faith
the same grace Abraham recieved through faith is found in every believer because Christ became accursed in placed of the placed cursed
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.