Please turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. This entire book of Galatians the Apostle Paul wrote to deal with the topic or the doctrine of justification. And justification deals with the question, how can a man stand before God?
How can any sinner ever get into the presence of God in a justified manner? Well, essentially, throughout the ages there have been two answers to this question. One is by the works of the law, or the performance that men engage in, and that is condemned throughout the Bible. It is condemned in this chapter, Galatians 3, by the Apostle Paul.
The genuine way, the genuine means by which a sinner can stand justified before God is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. That's the Apostle's point, that's his theme, that's his whole thrust in this book of Galatians, which is probably the first letter that the Apostle wrote in the late 40s to the churches in the Galatian region. Now I'll just pick up reading in Galatians 3 at verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.
This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you, and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.
Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the siege should come, to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. A mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God?
Certainly not. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Amen. Father, we come now and we pray for the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We pray that he would guide us and lead us into a fresh appreciation of the gospel of free and sovereign grace.
May we see Jesus Christ as our great Redeemer, as the one who became a curse for us, so that we might have everlasting life. God, for any and all who do not know you in this room, we pray today your Spirit would convict and would show them their sin and show them the only remedy for sinners, even Christ our Lord. We pray that you would wash us afresh in his precious blood and help us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And it's in his name that we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
And while there is that element in our hearts that just craves the law, we need to remember, the law is good if one uses it lawfully. It is a righteous thing. It is a good thing. There needs to be a recovery of God's law in the church today and in the world today.
But we mustn't, as God's people, ever forget, we do not stand before God based on our law-keeping. We don't stand before God based on our obedience to the law. We rather stand before God justified because of Christ's obedience to biblical law. His death, His sacrifice, His substitution on our behalf is what makes the way into heaven.
And so as we summarize, or rather as we conclude our study in biblical law, it is good to remind ourselves of the law's inability to save us. Now remember, this is not a disdaining of the law. The law is a good thing. The law is a blessed thing.
You know, of all people, I love the law. I desire that everybody share that love and know the scriptures. But within our hearts, there's always two tendencies. There's a lawless tendency, and there is a legalistic tendency.
And interestingly enough, both those tendencies have as a common enemy the law of God. God didn't give us his law so that we would try to earn our salvation. And if you are here this morning thinking that the way to get to heaven is just by doing more good things, hopefully you will see in our study this morning that that's wrong. That's not the way we get to heaven.
No one ever got to heaven because they did more good things. The only way we'll ever get to heaven is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot miss that emphasis several times in Galatians 3. Now, I realize that some of this context is a bit confusing when we just sort of parachute our way into it, so we're going to confine our study this morning very particularly to verses 10 to 14.
And I want to do three things this morning. I want to notice, first of all, the nature of the curse that Paul speaks of. It says all those who are under law are under a curse. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
So the nature of this curse that is upon every man everywhere as a result of having broken God's law. Secondly, we'll notice the nature of the Redeemer. Paul celebrates the glory of Jesus Christ in verse 13. And then thirdly, we'll notice the nature of redemption.
Now, redemption, kids, is just a word that means Christ bought us back. That's what redemption means. The idea is, is that because of our sin, we're in a, like a, like a grocery store, or a slave market. And we're doing those things that we want to do, sinning.
Well, redemption is Christ buying us out of that. Christ paying a price so that he can free us from that place and cause us to live unto him. That's what the word redemption means when you hear me speak of it this morning. Well,
The Nature of the Curse
notice first of all the nature of this curse. Paul says in verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now, this idea of being under the works of the law, it means trying to earn your way to heaven. Again, if we were to look at the larger context, that's how the apostle specifies it.
It is those who rely on law in order to be saved. You might ask yourself, who actually does this? A lot of people. In fact, if you go out on the streets today with the brothers who pass out tracks, and you ask people, a good percentage of them, when asked, will say that they believe they're going to heaven.
And then when you present the follow-up question as to why do you think you're going to go to heaven, they'll say something like, I've been pretty good. Or they'll say something like, I've never done anything really bad. So they're looking at their performance as the basis upon which they will stand before a thrice holy God. Paul's whole argument in this section is that to do that is the height of folly.
Because when you rely on your own performance, not only are you not blessed, but you are actually under a curse. Not only are you not going to enter into heaven, but you will most certainly suffer the wrath of God in hell. Not only if you go out on the streets and you ask people why they think they're going to heaven, but survey the world's religions. In essence, They can all be reduced down to this common denominator.
If we do more good than bad, we'll make it into heaven. Christianity doesn't operate that way. Christianity does not say, do more good than bad, and you'll enter into heaven. Christianity says, you've only ever done bad.
Hey, how do you like that for your feel-good religion? We don't like that in 21st century North America. We don't like to feel bad. We'll pay people to lie to us just so we'll feel good.
Christianity comes along and says, you have never, ever done what is good. In fact, the things you think are really good, they're filthy and rotsite. But Christianity says there's a champion. There's a Redeemer, there is a Savior, there is One who obeyed perfectly, there is One who died as a sacrifice and who rose again.
And for you miserable, guilty, law-breaking sinners, when you look to Him in faith, you will live. Christianity is completely different than every other religion in this world. So it is a real issue who would try to attempt to be justified before God by words. That's the way we roll.
Law Cannot Justify
Notice the inability of man as it's stressed in verse 10. Notice the impossibility of salvation by law according to verse 11. He says that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. And then he shows, by way of contrast, how the just actually live.
It's by faith. You cannot just keep the law and go to heaven. Let me give you an illustration of this. Let's just say, right now, you're here and you're 25 years old.
Some of you older people may be saying, hey, that's great. I'd like to be 25 again. And let's just say you're not a believer on Jesus Christ, and you're hearing this message this morning, and you conclude, I need to change. I need to clean up my act.
I need to reform. They're a reformed church. I need to be reformed. I'm going to go out, I'm going to stop doing these bad things, and I'm going to start doing these good things.
Let's just suppose, and this would never happen, but let's just suppose that you did this, you left here, and you only did good from here on out. That's not going to happen, by the way, but just for the sake of argument, let's say that it did. You left here, and you only did good. You went to the right places, you did the right things, you read the right books, you didn't watch the wrong things, you refrained from sin, you stopped your old sinful habits, would you go to heaven or hell?
You go to hell. You say, why? I cleaned up my act. Because you've got 25 years of your act that is still filthy, and polluted, and wicked.
That's the glory of Jesus. He takes the entirety, and He cleanses us. He washes it. He purifies it.
This is why the Apostle can say, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Not some sin. We don't need moral reform. We don't need to get a little better.
We need to be saved. We need to be cleansed. We need to be justified. We need to be washed and purified.
And God in the Gospel does that through our Lord Jesus Christ. John Calvin, commenting on this section, said, The contradiction between the law and faith lies in the matter of justification. Remember this, my pro-law loving brothers. I'm not here to be an antinomian.
I am pro-law, I love the law, not as a means of justification. Sanctification, when Jesus prayed, sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth, we go to the law and it defines for us how we are to live as Christians. But hear Calvin, the contradiction between the law and faith lies in the matter of justification, for the present question is not whether believers ought to keep the laws as far as they can, which is beyond all doubt. We don't take this section and say, well, the law has no abiding validity in our lives.
Let's just go do what we think. No. That's not Paul's point. What he's talking about is a means of salvation before God.
Are your resources in the law, or are they in Jesus? If they're in the law, you're under a curse. If they're in Jesus, you're under blessing. He says, but whether they can obtain righteousness by works, which is impossible.
In our study of God's law and our appreciation for it, we must see its lawfully useful place. Even in this section, Paul says in verse 25, after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Some have taken that as a, well, we don't have any need for the law anymore. Yeah, not as a tutor to drive us to Christ, because we're already in Christ.
But we certainly use the law as a means, as a help, as a definition to our sanctified life. We have to think in clear categories here. What Paul is saying in the book of this letter is how does a sinner get right with God? Now notice this curse that Paul speaks of in verse 13.
He says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. That sounds bad, doesn't it? Christians today, and probably non-Christians, love the Bible's blessings. Blessings are good, aren't they?
I mean, we all know how to say, Lord, bless me. Bless my friends. Bless my relatives. Bless the church.
Bless the nation. have it within us to call on God and ask Him for good things. Curses, however, strike us a little bit odd. How could God, who is good and gracious and loving and kind, ever pronounce a curse on anyone? Because that God who is loving and gracious and kind and good is also holy.
And He's righteous. And He's just. And He prizes His own glory. And He prizes His own law.
And he prizes and values his own justice. So that God pronounces a curse on those who violate it, on those who offend, on those who have broken his law. And I just want to suggest three things concerning this curse this morning.
The Curse Is Universal
The first is that it is a universal curse. If you read the papers and you look at the news, you'll obviously see things are bad. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look out around us and say, man, this is a violent, corrupt, and wicked place. Why is that?
Because of this curse. Because it's a universal problem. Whether you're black or you're white, whether you're Canadian or Asian, Whether you're a man or a woman, whether you're old or young, it is a universal problem. People spend a lot of money today trying to figure out how to clean up society, but no one wants to say what the root problem is.
It's not hard. It's not difficult. In fact, it's a very small English word. It's sin.
That's the problem in society. That's the problem in the world. In a letter that is very similar in essence to Galatians, Paul starts out in Romans chapter 1 at verse 18 with this statement. He says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Isn't that interesting? Paul doesn't begin with the love of God. He doesn't begin with the mercy of God. He doesn't begin with the grace or the kindness of God.
He begins where evangelical preachers today never begin, with God's wrath. Why, Paul? Because without the context of God's wrath, the gospel isn't good news. It's just another way for us to be even happier rather than being that blessed revelation of God's righteousness so that we might be saved.
After Paul makes that statement in Romans 118, he then goes on to show this isn't just a Jewish problem. It has to do with the Gentiles as well. And in the Bible, the Jews at one point were God's covenant people. Gentiles was everybody who wasn't a Jew.
So when Paul says Jew and Gentile in Romans, he means everyone. Every single human being. This is still the problem. This is still the issue.
This is still the reason why you're afraid to walk down the streets at night. Because of sin. It is universal. In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 3, notice how Paul describes what that church was before they became Christians.
And he's not just saying that church in Ephesus, but he includes himself with that. In Ephesians 2 at verse 1 he said, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." That's his description of humanity apart from Jesus. So if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus, don't say, well, this is a bit of a religious fanaticism, I'm not that bad. That's the lie you've been telling yourself all your life, I'm not that bad.
The lie I told myself before I was saved, I'm not that bad. The lie anyone in here that's saved was telling when they were unsafe, I'm not that bad. We'll have to compare ourselves with the really bad. I'm not like Charles Manson.
I'm not like that guy who lives down the street and commits adultery. I'm not like the pedophile. Yeah, but the problem is you're not like Jesus, and he's the standard. We're not just looking to be a little less worse than our neighbor in order to get to heaven.
God demands perfection. You say, well, I can never be perfect. Exactly. That's what Christ answers to.
He is God's perfection. He is God's redeemer. He is God's champion.
The Curse Is Just
This is a just curse. Some people say, oh, that's just not fair. Don't you love the way sinners get to think they can tell God what's fair and what isn't? We are so messed up.
We are so polluted and so vile, and yet, we're going to put God, as Lewis said, in the dark, and make him answer for the way that he behaves. That is the height of arrogance. For people to say, this is not fair. The prophet Ezekiel had to countenance people like that in his day.
God says to the prophet, the children of your people say the way of the Lord is not fair. You know what God does? He says it is their way that is not fair. He doesn't say, well, let me explain myself.
Let me defend why I do what I do. What does Paul do in Romans 9 when men want to rise up against the Holy Lord and impugn Him with evil because He's sovereign? Paul says, shut your mouth. Who are you, O man, to reply against God?
If you were in the pottery, you wouldn't fashion a clay pot in your shop and then listen to it complain and rebel against you for the way you made it. You're like, this would be hotter. Look, I am. I take a hammer and pop.
You don't complain against me. I don't roll that way. Yet every sinner on God's earth wants to try and call Him to defend. It's really sick.
The Prophet, in the Book of Lamentations, says, why should any living man complain against God in light of his own sin? September 12, 2001, everybody was asking the question, where was God? Funny they don't ask that on September 10th, in worship and in praise and in adoration. But when it looks as if God hasn't done His job, we want Him to account for us.
This is a just curse. The Bible tells us that all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our own way. It may not be pedophilia.
It may not be child molestation. It may not be murder. It may not be rape. But it's there in one form or another.
So we have this idea that the big bad sins deserve hell, but my sins, no, not so much. This is a just curse. Ezekiel saw the justness of this curse in his day. We rehearsed this on Wednesday night.
As God comes to tell the prophet that he is going to judge Judah, the prophet eats the scroll and it tastes sweet to him. It was a scroll full of judgment and justice. Why did it taste sweet? Because the prophet saw the justice of it.
It is just and righteous with God to punish lawbreakers. In 2 Peter 4-11, the Apostle tells us that God did not spare sinning angels. It's another thing I was thinking about. Some people who are anti-law in its social and political applications say, well it was unique to Israel because they were a theocracy.
Of course God held them accountable. Yeah, they were a theocracy. They were His favorite people. They were covenantally blessed, and God judged them and punished them.
Will He not do that to the non-covenant people? He will certainly do that. Peter says God did not spare the sinning angels. 2 Peter 2 verse 4. He didn't spare the ancient world at the time of the flood.
He didn't spare the perverts of Sodom and Gomorrah, according to verse 6. This is a just curse, and everybody, deep down in their heart of hearts, knows it's true. You may have been infected with humanism, you may be anti-God to the core, you may be a professing atheist, but Paul tells us otherwise. He says that in Romans 1.32, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, All sinners everywhere know it is righteous with God to judge them.
They don't confess it, they don't own it, they don't embrace it, but deep down in their hearts, they know. They know that. It is just from Calvary's perspective. We consider Calvary the cross of Jesus Christ.
We think of love, we think of mercy, we think of grace. We often don't remember it's love, grace, and mercy that kiss justice and righteousness there. Paul's whole argument in Romans 3.25 and 26 is that Calvary preaches his righteousness. Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose its evil great, hear its guilt, may estimate how he wrought Calvary.
From that perspective, this is a just curse.
The Curse Is Terrifying
And I would submit, thirdly, with reference to this curse, it is terrifying. Again, people don't wander around saying, boy, I'm under the just curse of God and I'm terrified. They should. If you don't know Jesus Christ this morning, you should be terrified.
The Apostle tells us in Hebrews 10.31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Jonathan Edwards' most famous sermon was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The scroll says, today we've turned to the ground, we've died. God in the hands of angry sinners.
This is terrifying. This is the most important thing in your life to consider right now, and tomorrow, and the next day, and forever. Am I right? Am I right?
John Owen said, when men are under any dreadful providence, thundering lightnings, tempests, In darkness they tremble, not so much at what they see or hear or feel, as from their secret thoughts that God is near and that he is a consuming fire. The lightning puts fear into you. Consider the author of the lightning. If the one who can shake this earth and open it up doesn't scare you, then pray to God.
Mercy. It is a just curse.
The Nature of the Redeemer
Let's consider the Redeemer. The nature of the Redeemer. Notice that Paul says in verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
Christ Became a Curse
The first thing we notice is that he became a curse. Isn't that amazing? Jesus became a curse. Not he always was a curse. but he became a curse.
This is consistent with the Bible in other places. Remember in John 1.14, the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, he was rich, but he became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might become rich in him. Christ became a curse.
What does this mean? John Eady says, not under the curse originally, but filled with blessedness, the law having no claim on him derived from previous or personal violation of any of its statutes. He became a curse in the same manner he became sin. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, this same poll says that God made Him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The idea is that God took our guilt, God took our shame, God took our sin, God took all of the liability for His punishment, and He heaped it upon His Son.
And then His Son at the cross, standing in our place, took the wrath of God for us. He became a curse for us. That's what just amazes me when people say, or people try to blame God, or they call into question God's ethics, or the way and means by which God rules this world, and how it's unfair for, how it's so wrong for Him to do this and that. And this is fair.
God's own Son came into this world. He came to His own and they received Him not. He lived in perfect obedience to his father, he died as a sacrifice and a substitute, and he rose again, not for himself, but for us. That's not fair.
That's grace. That's mercy. That's kindness. Be careful about calling into question God's fairness.
You don't want God's fairness, because you'll end up in hell. God's graciousness. Jesus became a curse.
Christ as Substitute
Notice as well that he is a substitute. I love the two words in this statement. Having become a curse for us. That's the grand essence of this whole transaction is that Jesus stood in for us.
He performed in obedience to his father's law for us. He died for us. He rose for us. The Bible is filled with this language of substitution.
The Bible is replete with this doctrine that we could never satisfy God's requirements, so Jesus does it for us. We could never atone for or remove our sins through our suffering. Jesus does it. This is Paul's point.
The scripture tells us he died for our sins. Christ died for us. He gave himself for our sins. He died for the ungodly.
He died for all. A brother, according to Paul, is one on whose behalf Christ died. His death is an offering for sin. His death is one sacrifice for sin.
It is the blood of Him who offered Himself for us. His death makes expiation. That means it removes the guilt that attaches rightfully to sinners. There is propitiation in His blood.
That means that He takes the wrath of His Father. That's what propitiation is all about. We are justified in His blood. We are reconciled by His death.
He gave Himself as a ransom. This is His grand declaration in Matthew 20. It says, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life, what? A ransom for many.
He did this in particular. He did this for specific people. He redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us, according to Galatians 3.13. He is Christ our Passover, according to 1 Corinthians 5.7, who was sacrificed for us.
You see, that's the point. You cannot make it to heaven based on your performance of the law. Jesus performed. Jesus obeyed.
Jesus not only did the law, but he did it happily. We can identify with that, can't we? There's times we do something externally, but our hearts aren't in it. The boss comes and tells you to do some menial task, well, you'll do it.
But in your heart you're saying, shouldn't the other guy do that? I'm much more skilled than you. Some of you children, your parents ask you to do a household chore, and you do it! externally, but in your heart you're cursing your parents. See, that never happened with Jesus.
He not only did the external act, but he did it with the right internal disposition. He always does what makes the Father happy in his own words. He's able to confound his disciples when they say, he says, I have meat of which you know nothing of. They're like, where did he get something to eat?
They don't even track with what he's saying. To do the will of my father is my food and my drink. He's our substitute.
Christ Hung on a Tree
And then the third observation, based on this section, with reference to the Redeemer, is he hung on a tree. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. He has become a curse for us. Paul inserts parenthetically, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
That's from Deuteronomy 21 and verse 23. The land was not to be polluted so you were not to leave the victim overnight. Paul uses that reference or allusion to highlight the reality that Jesus Christ became a curse. He hung on a tree.
He hung on a cross. He suffered the greatest, greatest shame for sinners. Christ's sacrificial death at Calvary was the means by which we are redeemed from this curse of the law. That's what He wants us to see.
He's become a curse for us. Not only in obeying His Father's will, but in dying and suffering His Father's wrath. Do we look at Christ that way? Do we see Him as being our curse-bearer?
Dude, we like blessing. We gravitate toward blessing. One more move for blessing. Give us blessing.
Blessing, blessing, blessing. God bless. Bless, bless, bless. Someone in here want to write a book, How to Get God's Blessings.
It'd be probably their best seller. That's what we want in the 21st century in North America. Give us blessings. Bless me, Lord.
Bless me, Lord. It's all I ever hear Keith Green say. When you think more about this curse aspect, as I submit that when we do it will promote praise and worship, it's not just what we've got, it's what we've been spared from. Do you realize that when Jesus hung on that cross and he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
In that cry of dereliction, Through that transaction at Calvary, He made it possible and essential for us to never, ever have to cry back like once. You and I will never have to say, why hast thou forsaken me? Because Jesus paid this debt, and He paid it all, and He did it through His own precious blood. Acts 20, 28, Paul charges the Ephesian elders, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.
Ephesians 1, 7, we learn that in the Beloved we have redemption, how? Through his blood. Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Paul connects our redemption to that transaction at Calvary, saying that that curse of the law has been born in the person of the Savior, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. We'll pick up, God willing, tonight on the nature of redemption itself, but in closing, I want you to turn to Luke 15.
Application: Christ Receives Sinners
I admit, this has been more of a theological, exegetical sermon If you do not know the Savior, I want you to see, right now, the personal side to this grand transaction. I want you to see His willingness to save sinners. That He didn't obey His Father, and that He didn't go to the cross as an unwilling, grumbling, griping man. But rather, He did this as joyful.
In fact, Paul, the author of Hebrews and Hebrews 12 says, who for the joy set before him, despising the shame, the shame connected with this transaction, he endured the cross. Why? For the joy that was set before him, the glory of his father, the salvation of his sons. But you've got to see the human element in all of this.
Not that I don't think it's there in Galatians 3, 13, 14. It's certainly there, the fact that Jesus became a curse for us. But for children, adults alike, I want you to just bask afresh in what Jesus is all about and how He deals with sinners. We won't go through all of Luke 15.
I'm sure it's familiar to most everyone in here. If it's not, please take it home and read it. Please learn about Jesus from Luke 15. Basically, the situation is simple.
People in Jesus' day wanted to hear what He had to say. difference than what we're used to. People don't always want to hear what Jesus has to say. You know, we'll listen to the gurus, and we'll listen to the social engineers, and we'll listen to the government, because we want to hear what they have to say. But when it comes to Jesus, meh.
But in this particular instance, notice in Luke 15.1,
Luke 15 and the Welcoming Savior
then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. Isn't that beautiful? Look what manner of crowd Jesus brought. Tax collectors and sinners.
When you hear those two words, tax collectors, probably something in your heart goes, hmm. We don't generally gravitate toward tax collectors. Right? We don't usually say, we love Canada Revenue.
I love paying my taxes. In the United States, the IRS. paid thugs on behalf of the government. We don't normally want to invite our IRS or CRA agents over for dinner and chill with them. No, we despise them.
It was the same way in this instance. Only this was a little bit worse, because generally these tax collectors were Jews, employed by the Roman government to collect taxes from other Jews. So not only did they have the horrible task of taking money from their brethren, they were their brethren. It's one thing when a Roman thug comes and takes your money, but it's another thing when one of your brother thugs takes your money.
They heard about Jesus. They wanted to hear Jesus. And then it gives the general term of sinners. That's the audience.
Tax collectors and sinners. Well, there's a third party present. Verse 2. Pharisees and scribes.
They were the religious men of Jesus' day. They were the guys that wore suits. Not that every time you wear a suit you're not really sincere. Hopefully that's not the implication.
They stood on the street corners, and they made long prayers, and they just paraded their holiness and their piety before all of their fellow countrymen. So the tax collectors and the sinners draw near to Him to hear Him, and the Pharisees and the scribes, they see this, and it disgusts them. It makes them angry. It makes them grumble, it makes them complain, it makes them sound like little children.
And here's what they do, looking down their long, pious noses at the scene before them. They say, this man receives sinners and eats with them. They weren't saying it like you and I might. This man, this beautiful man, this one who's become a curse for us, this man, this choice servant of God, come from God to save sinners.
This man actually receives sinners. He eats with them. That's not how they were seeing it. They were upset.
They were angry. They were put off. They knew there was a lot of attraction to the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew that people wanted to be near Him.
What do they do? This man would seize sinners and beats with them. I guarantee you that everybody in that audience, sinner, tax collector, who had grown near to hear Jesus, their ears immediately went like this. What's he going to say?
He's really irritated the Pharisees and the scribes. What is he going to say to this charge? Is he going to Although that's not the case, I don't receive sinners. You're going to say, oh, I hate sinners, just like you Scribes and Pharisees.
They smell bad. They're horrible. I detest that. What's he going to say?
Sinners and tax collectors have to plan the rest of their day. The answers that he does not, they're going to go. What does Jesus say? Jesus answers their question.
And he not only says, yes, I receive sinners and tax collectors, but I do it happily. I do it with joy. I do it with gusto. I do it with celebration.
Y'all should be smiling now, because this is our Savior in action. This is the Lord whom we serve. He says, I save them, I receive them, and I do it like this. Luke 15.2 is the reason for the three stories Jesus tells in Luke 15.
The first one he tells is about a shepherd. And a shepherd loses his sheep. But he leaves the flock and he goes out and he finds that one lost sheep. And when he finds it, he doesn't smack it.
He doesn't reduce its rations. He doesn't beat on it. He doesn't confine it to the sheep present. He lays it on his shoulders and he returns rejoicing.
I bet you the tax collectors in the center started to go, wow! That's how he saves? That's how he receives? That's how he'll take me?
But it doesn't stop there. Jesus said, I'm like a woman. Not in a bad way. Not in a 21st century way.
But a woman who lost a coin. Does she just say, well, it'll be a write-off for CRA or IRS or for the tax collectors at the end of the year? No. She moves her furniture.
She gets her broom out. She starts looking for that coin. When she finds that coin, what does she do? She rejoices.
She invites people over and says, rejoice with me. I found my coin. If you're a sinner and you don't know Jesus Christ in this room right now, this is the character of our Savior. Though Christians at times may be grumbling, whining jerks, Jesus is a glorious, receptive Savior.
That's not all. There's one more story. He says this man had two sons. And the one son had the chutzpah, the gall, the arrogance to wish his father dead.
Oh, it doesn't say that in the text. Oh, yes it does. Father, give me my share of the inheritance. When do you normally get an inheritance?
At the death of the one who is leaving him. The son is essentially saying, you're nothing to me except money. If I could hasten the day for your death, hey, fine, just give me my share of the loot. He goes out and he wastes all that money.
He's starting to see something here. Isn't this what we are? Isn't that what we are? We've left the father.
We don't care whether he lives or dies. We just want what he gives us. Just give me what's mine. That's what this son does.
And then he goes out and he wastes all that money. You know what the Bible calls prodigal living. Yes, it's the prodigal son. Wasteful.
He didn't go out and invest. He wasn't wise. He didn't do good things. He just wanted to go partying.
What everybody today thinks is so cool, that's what this guy's doing. He takes the money and he goes out and he parties. What happens? He learns very quickly that the pleasures of sin are indeed passing.
They're not lasting. They're not secure. They're not forever. They are passing.
This man is so hungry, he's slopping the pigs desiring to eat what they're eating. I don't know if y'all have ever seen a pig slop. You gotta be pretty hungry to want to eat that. especially as a Jew, when a pig was the apex or the pinnacle of the unclean animals. You didn't want pig food.
What does he do? I'll first go to a man and see if I can get some help. Typical sinner. Starts to feel his want, starts to sense his need, and what does he do?
Go right to Christ? No, I'm going to go to this man, I'm going to see if I can work for him, I'm going to see if he'll take care of me. Doesn't work. That's where all the false religions come in.
I know I have this yearning for God. I'll try this. I'll try this. I'll try this.
I'll try that. I'll try this. I'll try everything else but God. Man's vain attempt to try to satisfy that God-shaped hole in his heart.
What happens? It doesn't work. I know what I'll do with this. I'll go back to my father's house, because I know my father.
He's full of puns. I'm sure I wished him dead. I took what was mine. I took the inheritance.
But I do know he's got a degree of mercy. I do know that in case hired servants off the street, that he tends to that. I'll just be one of them. Just be a day laborer.
Just be the guy hanging out on the street corner. He'll use me for the day. I'll at least get to eat. I'll at least get a little bit of shelter.
What happens? He goes back. The remainder of the narrative ought to melt everyone in here. But he was a long way off.
His father raised him. How would we have run to a son who gave back to us? Probably bowed fists to us. You can come back.
But we're going to make sure we deal with some things first. In fact, if you would have been an onlooker, you might have thought that's how the father was running there. Oh, he's next. He's angry.
He's really upset. He's going to let that son. I'm glad I'm not that boy. What's happened?
He fell on him, but he's not hitting him. He fell on him, but he's not kicking him. He's kissing him! He's actually kissing him and hugging him and rejoicing with him.
He's grabbed him and he's running back to the house and he tells his servant, get a ring and put it on his finger. I know in the past I've said, put a finger on his ring, and my kids have called my attention to that. He said, get a robe and put it on him. I said, sir, he smells like pig.
Put a robe on him. You know that fatty calf we've been saving for a special occasion? This is it! Slay it!
We're gonna have veal tonight. We're gonna eat, we're gonna celebrate, we're gonna rejoice, we're gonna delight. Why, sir? Because my son that was dead is now alive.
My son that was lost is now found. There's always got to be a gloomy cloud in every crowd, doesn't there? The other brother. Oh, I never got a fatty calf.
I never got a robe. I never got these good things. Who's he? He's the Pharisees in the scribes, isn't he?
Father, it seems the tax collectors and the sinners, the Pharisees and the scribes, they complain about it. I didn't get this. I didn't get this. I didn't get this.
I didn't get this. Welcome to the grace of God. Welcome to, not Elvis's, but God's grace land. It's about mercy and kindness and the reception of sinners that looks like a rejoicing Savior.
That's how Jesus saves. That's how He became a curse for us, having redeemed us from the curse. That's how He'll save you right now when you believe Him. That is the stuff that worship is made of.
If you don't want to worship after that, you need to repent. You need to read this section and pray to God to soften your heart, melt your heart, give you a saving interest in the Lord Jesus, and that right response of worship and adoration and praise. You know what these tax collectors and sinners heard that grand day? Jesus received sinners. and eats with them.
Isn't it amazing? This altar says that surely, or even, the wrath of God shall praise you. Have you ever wondered about that? The wrath of God, or the wrath of man, rather, shall praise you, speaking of God.
That's what we've just seen, too. This man receives sinners and eats with them. They preach the gospel. they preach the gospel, in their wrath, in their anger, in their enmity toward Jesus Christ, they are telling sinners the good news that He does receive. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for the Holy Scriptures, and we thank You for the fact that Jesus became a curse for us, and that He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. I pray that all of us would be looking to Him in faith, that all of us would know the of being found in Christ Jesus, not having a righteousness of our own which is from the works of the law, but having that righteousness which is given freely by you through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray, God, as well, that you would bless our time now as we go to the fellowship hall. We thank you for all of the food that you have provided to us.
We thank you for all of the work that has gone into preparing these good gifts. And help us, Lord, to eat and drink for your glory's sake. Help us to have good conversation concerning our Lord, and we pray these things through Jesus Christ. Amen.