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Good evening to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Galatians, 
Galatians 3. In Galatians chapter 3, we're going 
to read from verse 1 to verse 14. Last time we were in the 
book of Galatians, we looked at verses 1 through 9. This evening, 
we'll look at verses 10 to 14 with regards to the law and the 
curse. and Christ as the curse bearer. 
This is Galatians 3 beginning in verse 1, the word of God. 
Oh 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. Amen. Well, let's pray. God, 
thank you for your word. We rejoice in your goodness to 
us in revealing yourself to us in the Bible. We thank you for 
the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do pray, 
Lord God, that you would help us now to understand your word, 
that you would give us your spirit to know the things that are herein 
revealed and to glory in them. We pray that this exercise of 
worship would be unto your glory and unto the lifting up of the 
saints as well as the salvation of sinners We pray all of this 
in the name of our blessed King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
Well, remember last time we were looking at this sort of dichotomy 
or this difference in principles that the Apostle Paul brings 
forth with regards to the Spirit on the one hand, or faith on 
the one hand, and the law or the deeds of the flesh. The Apostle, 
having already worked through a number of defenses of the doctrine 
of justification by faith alone, comes to them and he asks them 
this series of questions. Ultimately, do your deeds done 
in the flesh complete? the work started by the Lord 
Jesus Christ? Are you so foolish? Have you been so bewitched? Have 
you so turned from the clear proclamation of the gospel that 
you actually believe that you can add to the finished work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And so now we see that he comes 
to this having ended the section that we looked at last time by 
talking about the fact that all those who are blessed in Abraham 
are those who have faith. It's not those who are of the 
ethnicity of Abraham. It's not those who are connected 
genealogically to Abraham. It's not those who are of the 
Old Covenant community. of Abraham and Moses, but rather 
it is those who are of faith that are blessed with Abraham. 
And now the apostle moves to another approach to the defense, 
not as if it's somehow discordant with what has preceded it, but 
coming at it from another angle with regards to the law as a 
covenant of works or faith as that blessed reality that connects 
one to Christ and to the God of our salvation. And so we're 
going to look at verses 10 to 14 just under four simple things. First off, the covenant curse. 
Secondly, the covenant truth. Thirdly, the covenant champion. 
And then fourthly, the covenant blessing. So looking first at 
the covenant curse, this is in verse 10. For as many as are 
of the works of the law are under the curse. We might ask the question, 
what is a curse? The language is not only confined 
to biblical reality, but the language of curse, generally 
speaking, with a multitude of different meanings, is carried 
throughout a number of different traditions, but with respect 
to the Bible, what does it mean, this language of a curse? We 
could define it as a judicial sentence of divine condemnation 
that proceeds from God's holiness in opposition to sin and results 
in man's alienation from life divine blessing and the presence 
of God. It's a judicial sentence of divine 
condemnation, the curse. We see this in the curse visited 
upon Adam for his violation of God's holy precepts. He had a 
law of universal obedience written upon his heart and a particular 
precept to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil and he did not inherit or merit blessing but rather cursing 
because of his disobedience. He merited and inherited a judicial 
sentence of divine condemnation and it proceeds from God's holiness. When God rightly And that's the 
proper word to apply to this. When God rightly visits a curse 
upon someone, it doesn't come forth from an arbitrary motion 
of a divine tyrant, but it comes from the very perfection of the 
divine being himself. It proceeds from his holiness. 
from His everlasting purity, from His righteousness, and it 
is delivered in opposition to sin. Sin is that which merits 
the curse, the violation of the law of God, and it results in 
man's alienation. All of this should be terrible, 
but it comes to this head in the fact that by the curse, by 
this righteous sentence, by this righteous condemnation, by the 
visitation of divine holiness in opposition to sin, man is 
alienated from life, alienated from divine blessing, and alienated 
from the presence of God. if you're here this evening and 
you fall under the curse, that's everyone who does not believe 
in Jesus Christ, who does not believe in the blessed gospel 
of our Savior, you find yourself as one who is rightly and justly 
cursed under the divine sentence of condemnation. and the right 
recipient of the holiness of God's justice in opposition to 
your sin. The meaning of the apostle here 
when we read, for as many as are of the works of the law are 
under the curse, were to understand here all who rely on the works 
of the law for their justification before God. This doesn't mean 
those who are the Jews of the Old Covenant. Those as many as 
are of the works of the law are under the curse. You know, being 
that covenant, those covenant people who were bound to the 
law's obedience, not for justification, but for those physical blessings 
in the land and the divine presence within that particular context, 
they were of the law. They were the people of the law. 
The Apostle Paul, while he doesn't use that language explicitly, 
he does use that language with regards to the principle of it 
in Romans, for example, in more than one location. But for as 
many as are of the works of the law, that is those again who 
rely upon works for their justification before God. I was about to say 
the Apostle Gil. John Gill, Disciple Gill, his 
meaning is, with regards to Paul, what's Paul saying here? His 
meaning is that as many as seek for justification by the works 
of the law and trust in their own righteousness for acceptance 
with God, these are so far from being blessed or justified hereby. It's the point here where we 
read when we continue after the semicolon, for it is written, 
cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which 
are written in the book of the law to do them. So what's the 
idea here? These Judaizers were were seeking 
to not only by their own fleshly obedience merit God's justification, 
but they were boasting and forcing a boasting in other people's, 
in their conversion of other, their conversion, not truly speaking, 
but in their gaining of proselytes after this falsity and after 
this error, propagating this idea that Christ, it's good to 
have faith in Him, but you also remember must be circumcised, 
you must adhere to the Mosaic calendar, you must adhere to 
the Mosaic ceremonies to ultimately and finally be saved and justified 
before God. So, What the Apostle Paul is 
saying here is that if you seek to put yourself under that reality, 
under that covenant of works, no longer the covenant of grace, 
if you seek to put yourself under the covenant of works as a means 
whereby to be justified, then the curse is upon you. Cursed 
is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written. 
in the book of the law to do them, a quote out of Deuteronomy, 
where, remember, among many other things, we find the Deuteronomical 
curses. Curses visited upon the people 
of Israel for their disobedience, judicial sanction, divine condemnation, 
the visitation of God's holiness in opposition to sin. Pastor 
Butler referred to that this morning. Ultimately, what Paul 
is saying is unless you exercise that entire, that perfect, that 
perpetual, that exact obedience to the law of God, then cursed 
are you. And we know that there is an 
obvious impossibility here. All who rely on the works of 
the law are under its curse. for perfect obedience is required 
and universally failed. The point ought to be clear. 
Failure comes with submission to the covenant of works and 
to the law as a means whereby we can be justified. Paul has 
already come at this from a number of different angles. Not only 
has he said it explicitly that we're justified by faith and 
not by the works of the law, he's come at it by his own defense, 
the defense of his apostleship. He's come at it with regards 
to this setting on two sides, the law and the spirit, or the 
the flesh and the faith or the spirit. He's already been coming 
at this by many a different way and now he drops the hammer, 
if you will, of this reality that if you submit yourself to 
the covenant of works as a means whereby to be justified or the 
law, rather as a means whereby to be justified, you're certainly 
under the curse. There's no hope. There's no salvation. There's no divine blessing. There's 
no covenant membership when you submit yourself to this cursed 
manner of salvation adding to the finished and the glorious 
works of Christ. And we'll see that as we move 
on here when we get to this glorious and striking statement that comes 
In verse 13, Owen wrote something like this. A man may as soon 
climb to heaven by a rope of sand as be justified by his own 
righteousness. This illustrates the absolute 
futility of, remember, even seeking justification by the smallest 
grains of sand of our own fleshly doing and our own righteousness. 
We may say Christ 99.999 as far as we can go. And yeah, just 
a little bit of us, because we have a little bit of obedience. 
We got to do a little bit. We got to show some sorrow. We 
got to show some grief. We have to endure some small 
measure of time to actually be accepted. But most of it's of 
Christ. Even that smallest grain of trying to smuggle in human 
righteousness rubs against the very glory and the majesty of 
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and puts us under the curse. 
When any hope is put in ourselves, when any hope is put in anything 
outside of the one who gave himself for guilty sinners, we find ourselves 
under the curse of God. And notice, secondly, the covenant 
truth. Notice the covenant truth, but 
that no one is justified, verses 11 and 12, 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. The Apostle Paul brings forth 
a couple passages from the Old Testament here in order to argue 
for this covenant truth. And what is the covenant truth? 
It is that we are not in covenant by virtue of the law's obedience, 
but by virtue of the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are marked by faith and so 
live thereby. We're not marked by obedience 
to the law, gaining life by it. That no one is justified by the 
law in the sight of God is evident. Just back up a moment, it might 
be on the same page, maybe you have to go back a page, but to 
Galatians chapter two, because we see there, once again, this 
five-fold repetition that comes with so much clarity. Part of 
me believes that Paul's repetition here is because of verses like, 
oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? and verses like, 
I marvel that you are so soon turning away from the gospel 
of grace to another gospel, which is no gospel at all. In other 
words, Paul is deliberately repetitious, yes, because of the importance 
of the subject matter, but B, because of the folly and the 
madness and the stupidity of these Galatians. Verse 16 of 
Galatians 2, and the absolute clarity wrapped in repetition, 
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but 
by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, 
that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the 
works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall 
be justified." And so when we come to Galatians 3, the Apostle 
Paul is in a way saying, this argument that I made back to 
you in chapter 216, even though they didn't have chapters or 
verses, but remember when I said to you five times that justification 
is not by the law, but it is by faith, that's evident because 
we have the Old Testament witness that the just shall live by faith. It's not as if you're coming 
across anything new. It's not as if you're coming 
across something that should surprise you. Habakkuk spoke 
of this reality that the just shall live by faith. The Old 
Testament is replete with the doctrine. It has never been the 
case that a sinner is saved by his own righteousness according 
to the law. his own obedience to the law. 
Justification, Paul's point, before God is by faith and not 
law. The law and faith are They're 
two distinct principles, not set in this somehow head-butting 
opposition to one another, but they are two distinct principles. 
And Paul, in his book to the Galatians here, is setting that 
forth. No one is justified by the law 
in the sight of God. That's evident. The just shall 
live by faith. The law is not of faith, but 
the man who does them shall live by them. Turn with me to some 
case studies in this in the Gospel of Luke. This reality that the man who 
does the law shall live by them. Paul, again, speaking to the 
impossibility. of living with respect to the 
law's obedience, that law's obedience can somehow bestow and convey 
life. It's impossible because of the 
nature of man. And in Luke's gospel, we have 
these two instances where Jesus Christ is not saying, do this 
and live or do these commandments and inherit everlasting life 
as if to convey that salvation is, according to law's obedience, 
there are terribly effeminate pastors who cross their legs 
and wax terribly on YouTube with regards to the fact that saying 
that Jesus is in opposition to the Apostle Paul. that Jesus 
actually gave us this pattern of salvation, this schema of 
salvation that is do the law and live. And Paul comes along 
and he perverts that a little bit. We need to listen to Jesus 
and not to Paul. But does Jesus actually do that? The answer is, of course, no. 
But there's a couple passages that they would go to in order 
to argue this point, and we'll look at them. Notice in Luke 
chapter 10. This has to do with the parable of the Good Samaritan. And we'll say it at the outset, 
and we'll repeat it again when we get to the end, but the point 
of the parable of the Good Samaritan is not so that we as Christians 
would go out and be like the Good Samaritan. Say that at the 
outset. Should we do that, and is that 
an implication, an application? Certainly, but that's not Christ's 
point. Notice what we see here in the 
parable of the Good Samaritan, verse 25, The emphasis we should 
draw from this statement is, what shall I do to inherit eternal life. He said 
to him, what is written in the law? What is your reading of 
it? So he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your 
strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. 
And he said to him, you have answered rightly. Do this and 
you will live. So, is Christ here actually saying 
that if you are obedient to the law, you will live? Well, in 
a way, he's saying that because, yes, if a man, a woman, a boy 
or a girl is perfectly, perpetually, exactly, and entirely and personally 
obedient to the law of God, he will live in the sight of God, 
but it's impossible because of the reality of sin. And let's 
just think about it for a moment. If one was able to externally 
comply with all of the demands of God in the perfection of His 
divine holiness, that would be one thing, again, impossible. 
But then we have the internal reality that is to attend and 
that is to obtain with regards to that. In other words, it is 
loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and 
strength. Not just this external obedience 
to the law of God, but a wholehearted internal obedience to the law. But Christ is saying this to 
drive this certain lawyer to understand his particular sin 
and his particular idol of the heart. But he, verse 29, notice, 
wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? 
So the first key of interpretation here is the, what shall I do? 
In other words, the understanding that I need to do stuff to inherit 
everlasting life, and then wanting to justify himself. This is the 
second interpretive key, if you will. This man is not seeking 
the truth, He's not seeking proper teaching, but rather he's wanting 
to justify himself. So he said to Jesus, and who 
is my neighbor? Then Jesus answered and said, 
a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell 
among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, 
and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a certain 
priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by 
on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived 
at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side. 
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, 
and when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged 
his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own 
animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the 
next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii gave them 
to the innkeeper and said to him, take care of him and whatever 
more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of 
these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among 
the thieves? And he said, he who showed mercy 
on him. Then Jesus said to him, go and 
do likewise. And we'll see it's very similar 
and perhaps maybe even a bit more clear, not because Jesus 
is obfuscating or being cloudy, but in the occasion of the rich 
young ruler, but it's a similar emphasis here. Jesus is hitting 
the certain lawyer in the heart of his own sin, cutting to the 
quick of his own pride as an Israelite, at his own hatred 
and prejudice against such a person. The Levite and the priest do 
not, in other words, those who are of the covenant community, 
those who are of old covenant Israel, those who are marked 
by a certain prevailing religious and ethical prejudice, they do 
not help, but a Samaritan does. And if you ask the ancient church, 
who is the Samaritan, they'll say the Samaritan is Christ. 
The Samaritan is Christ. In other words, the point is 
not, OK, listen to this parable, now go help somebody. Are we 
to help somebody? Absolutely. But the first emphasis 
and message here is Christological in nature. It's you cannot be 
saved by obedience to the law. You cannot justify yourself. You cannot do and live. In fact, 
try to live by this principle, and Jesus gives them the principle. 
The ancient church would say the Samaritan is Christ, they 
would say the man who fell among robbers is Adam and all man in 
him, and they'd provide some interesting allegorical interpretation 
as to what this parable means, and I don't think that they're 
altogether lost in that. But the Good Samaritan is Christ. And the emphasis here isn't do 
this and live because you actually can, but hitting him in the heart 
where the law properly hits him, he's driving him to the one who 
is the Good Samaritan, Christ himself, the one who gave that 
parable on that glorious day. Notice in Luke 18. Notice in 
Luke 18, excuse me, and Jesus and the rich young 
ruler. It's something very similar here. Something very similar that Jesus 
is doing. Verse 18 of chapter 18, now a 
certain ruler asked him saying, notice the same question, good 
teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to 
him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that 
is God. You know the commandments, do 
not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal. do not bear false 
witness, honor your father and your mother. And he said, all 
these things I have kept from my youth. So when Jesus heard 
these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing, sell 
all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have 
treasures in heaven and come follow me. But when he heard 
this, he became very sorrowful for he was very rich. You see 
Jesus hitting him at his particular idol, at his particular sin here, 
not giving a pattern whereby we are to be justified before 
God by our obedience to the commandments, But Jesus, knowing the hearts 
of all men, Jesus knowing the thoughts and the intents of the 
heart, cuts to the quick and shows them their need of Christ 
by this mirror of the law. The mirror of the law always 
shines back upon us, and it shows us not a glorious one with a 
sparkling tooth and flowing feathered hair, but it shows us an ugly 
one that stands before that law's reflection, and it shows us our 
wickedness, it shows us our dirtiness, and it should drive us to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. One man has aptly said that the 
law does not make us clean, it shows us that we're dirty. The 
law does not justify us, it shows us that we are in need of justification. And that coming not from ourselves, 
but from the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of His person and 
work. Moving on then, thirdly, to this 
glorious reality of the covenant champion. If we find our way 
back to the book of Galatians, we come now to the covenant champion. Paul is clearly removing any 
notions of justification by faith plus works. any notion of justification 
by works alone, certainly, and upholding and defending and clearly 
arguing for and winning the argument that justification is by faith 
alone. And now he comes with another 
hammer of truth that brings the weight of the crucifixion of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.13. 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. We have here the blessed reality 
that Christ has redeemed his elect by bearing the curse due 
to them under the law. He comes with the weight of this 
now. If it is the case, and it is the case, that Christ has 
redeemed us from the curse of the law, why would you seek to 
put yourself back under that curse? Remember, the Apostle 
Paul had already come to them and clearly portrayed Jesus Christ 
to them as crucified before their eyes of faith. the clarity of 
the Gospel had been proclaimed. He had proclaimed it so clear 
that His words to Peter were the words to them. If righteousness 
comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. And so, why would 
you foolish Galatians so foolish that it can only be the case 
that you've been bewitched, why would you put yourself under 
the curse that Christ came into the world to liberate us from 
and to deliver us from? It's madness. Christ has redeemed 
us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Paul ties this back to a verse 
in Deuteronomy 23, and we may go there in a moment, or Deuteronomy 
21 rather. Christ was made a curse, not 
by sinning, but by being reckoned as sin on our behalf. Remember 
always, almost always, but with regards to the doctrine of substitutionary 
atonement. When we read this language for 
us, There is so much that's in that with respect to Christ in 
our salvation. Christ has redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, having become a curse for us, instead of us, 
in the stead of us, in the place of us, in our room. It's not 
only a gift from on high, we may give somebody something that 
comes with a measure of weight and feeling and efficacy and 
blessing, but it may not be the case that that gift is the gift 
of ourselves standing in their room substitutionarily. Jesus 
Christ came into this world, sinners to save, and the blessed 
character of that salvation is that it was vicarious. It was 
substitutionary. That is, it was in our place. 
It was instead of us. His obedience to the law, His 
active obedience unto the whole law in our stead, His obedience, 
the only one who ever was obedient to the law of God, His obedience 
avails for our righteousness and our right standing before 
God and His substitutionary, His vicarious bearing of the 
wrath of God for the condemnation of the curse in our place answers 
the sin that we so multitudinously brought before God. Christ has redeemed us from the 
curse, so why then would you bring your circumcised foreskin 
your calendar and say to God, look, look at this. In addition 
to Christ, I fulfilled all of these ceremonies and festivals. 
You see the madness and the folly of man? in seeking that his own 
things can be brought before the God of heaven and earth, 
that he can confidently walk to Mount Sinai with all of the 
thunderings and with all of the lightnings and say, look at my 
circumcised foreskin and look at my righteousness and look 
at my covenant faithfulness and look at what I've done. It is a madness. I was thinking 
about that this morning in connection to Malachi 1, where we read of God, through the prophet, 
indicting the nation for bringing their blind and their lame sacrifices, 
remember? And one of the arguments there 
is, you know, bring that stuff before your governor. Bring that 
sort of approach of heart and folly before your governor and 
see if he'll accept that which is not truly acceptable for the 
payment of taxes and tribute and all of those things. Imagine, 
you know, seeking to come before God and God has there the finished 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ bearing the curse. But 
no, you know what? I'm going to come and I'm going 
to slap down a bag of filthy rags and say that this also is 
required. And the emphasis always lands 
on that. The doer of the deeds of the 
flesh who does them thinking that can be justified before 
God isn't really giving 99% respect to Christ and 1% to himself. It all comes down to the slapping 
down of the filthy rags and the pride that's connected. to those 
filthy rags, go to your governor and slap down, instead of pieces 
of silver and gold, slap down a bag of fecal-stained rags and 
see how he accepts that. That's what you're doing, Judaizers. 
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become 
a curse in our place, and you're gonna come with your foreskins, 
your calendar obedience, and your ceremonies of Moses that 
have been abrogated by that Christ. The madness of it and the madness 
of anything similar that obtains in our own day is clear. Christ 
was made a curse, not by sinning, but being reckoned as sin on 
our behalf. This is one of those blessed 
passages that ought to warm our Christian hearts. Even on a hot 
day where we're waiting for dinner and our eyes are heavy and it's 
kind of a little bit hot and stuff, even then. where our Christian hearts ought 
to be lifted by this blessed truth, Christ has redeemed us. 
If we could really understand and really know, if our minds 
could truly enter in and peel back the layers of the fabric 
of our humanity, and really see the weight and the gravity of 
sin, we would melt and dissipate into nothingness. To see not 
only the reality of the full holiness of God, His rightness 
and His righteousness in visiting upon man divine sanction, divine 
condemnation, just the perfection of God's holiness on its own, 
sin not yet considered. But then, our sin considered 
now? The violation of the perfect 
law of this God? And the reality of this Christ 
and what He did upon the cross? What weightiness there is in 
this? And I want to draw just a connection 
here with respect to the curse. But first off, let's remind ourselves 
of the two mountains. Maybe you didn't think I'd get 
back to mountains, but I'm coming back to mountains for a moment 
if you were here a number of Sundays ago. But it's perfectly 
applicable here. How did curse first come into 
the world? It came into the world On a mountain, 
Mount Eden, at a tree. How is the curse answered? On 
a mountain. Mount Calvary at a tree. Again, not a happy accident, 
not just, hey, that's cool how it worked out, the Old Testament 
writers and the New Testament writers, that's pretty cool. 
No, it's by the infinite wisdom and the glory of God and the 
genius of redemptive history, the glory of it, and how the 
Bible captures that genius and that glory to see that on a mountain, 
At a tree, the curse came into the world. But now, at a tree, 
with another Adam, on a mountain, the curse is overturned, the 
curse is answered by this glorious Christ. Thaumaturgus... You'll probably 
hear it from him too often, as much as you might from Spurgeon 
and John Owen, et cetera. But he said, wrote, it becometh 
me, and he's speaking here as if he's Christ upon the cross 
speaking to the thief next to him. So he's speaking as Christ. It becometh me by the tree to 
cure the wound that was inflicted upon men by the medium of a tree. Just one more time, it becometh 
me by the tree to cure the wound that was inflicted upon men by 
the medium of a tree. The curse overturned, the curse 
brought into the world on a mountain at a tree, the curse taken away 
on a mountain at a tree. Gregory of Nazianzus writes, 
Adam by the tree fell away, thou by the tree art brought into 
paradise. And think about this for a moment. 
Not only do we have this Adam Christ, obvious typology, anti-typology, 
this glorious connection, the first Adam on a mountain, at 
a tree, plunging humanity into curse, the second or last Adam 
on a mountain, at a tree, lifting up his elect, who were dead in 
Adam, to life in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, but there's 
also a connection between Adam and the thief on the cross. Some 
have called this the bookends of redemptive history. Redemptive 
history continues, but as it pertains to the first coming 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, what happened to Adam at a tree in 
the garden? He was cast out of paradise. The first man who sinned at a 
tree is cast out of paradise. What happens to the thief upon 
the cross? He's the first man of the new 
creation who is brought from the wickedness of being outside 
paradise to paradise by Christ upon the cross who says, today 
you will be with me in paradise. Make no mistake, that too is 
not a happy accident. We have that first man of the 
creation falling on a mountain at a tree, and on a mountain 
at a tree we have the first man of the new creation, the thief 
upon the cross, being ushered back into paradise. The curse 
being cancelled, the curse being born before His very eyes, His 
eyes of sight and His eyes of faith, and He's brought into 
paradise. became a curse for us, for as 
it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. What a 
wonderful thing. Again, he died for us, brethren 
and saints in Christ. We think upon our careers as 
sinners, we know that we were the just recipients of the curse, 
the just recipients of justice, the just recipients of divine 
condemnation, the holiness of God rightly opposed to us, But 
this one came, this blessed one came, the Son of God, the one 
who stretched out the heavens himself was stretched out upon 
a tree that he might bring many sons to glory. What a glorious 
thing we have in Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law 
having become a curse for us. And lastly and finally we have 
the covenant blessing and we'll close as this is our fourth point 
the covenant blessing. Notice there's a that transition 
here. There's a reason for this redemptive 
work of Christ. And Paul is using it within his 
argument, within his framework, to argue against justification 
by faith plus works and for justification by faith alone. Notice that this 
cross-redemption by Christ is unto this reality. 14, that the 
blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, 
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 
So the blessing of Abraham is not in your connection to the 
Old Covenant community. The blessing of Abraham is not 
found in obedience to circumcision, and obedience to the rites and 
ceremonies of Abrahamic Mosaic religion. The blessing of Abraham 
is not seen in us being the children of believing parents. The blessing 
of Abraham is seen in the receiving of a righteousness that is not 
our own that avails with God. The blessing of Abraham is the 
imputation of the righteousness of Christ received by faith alone. The blessing of Abraham. Christ 
died so that that blessing might come not only to Jew, but also 
to Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive. the promise 
of the Spirit through faith. John Gill writes with regards 
to this, and probably what the meaning, after John does his 
stuff where he kind of says, could be this, could be that, 
but it's probably this, he says this, A spiritual promise, in 
other words, the language of the promise of the Spirit through 
faith, a spiritual promise in distinction from the temporal 
promise of the land of Canaan made to Abraham and his natural 
seed, and means the promise of eternal life and happiness in 
the world to come, which promise is now received by faith, and 
that in consequence of the sufferings and death of Christ the testator. In other words, blessing does 
not come because you are sons and daughters of Abraham according 
to the flesh or according to your cultic religion, but rather 
it comes because of Christ Jesus. And our entrance, if you will, 
the instrument that lays hold of the blessings, all of those 
objective blessings, is faith. It's not the law's obedience. 
It is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What a blessing that we have 
in this. The law condemns, Christ redeems. The gospel does not 
offer a system whereby we are saved partially by Christ and 
completely by the works of the law or the flesh, but rather 
it holds forth a crucified and risen Christ. Justification is 
by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, and 
all who believe are sons of Abraham and heirs of God. One thing, 
as we close, that I can leave you with simply, as we move forward, 
we'll spend more time, and when I don't run out of time, we'll 
talk about some more implications with regards to our doctrine 
of baptism and covenant theology, but while those are important, 
what's important to draw from this? It's important to draw 
that Christ has answered the curse for us. What a blessed 
thing to take home on a Sunday evening that we rightly deserved 
the curse. We did violate, we still do, 
as those with remaining corruption, though redeemed by glorious, 
amazing, and victorious grace. We rightly deserve God's condemnation, 
His wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to 
come. That's what all sin deserves. But the Blessed One, the Son 
of God's love, the One who is very God of very God, light from 
light, true God from true God, came down into our lower shame, 
assumed our humanity, and gave Himself upon the cross, becoming 
a curse for us. that we all might be freed from 
that curse and bless His holy name and live with Him eternally 
in Emmanuel's land. What a blessed thing. When we 
reflect on the holiness of God, when we reflect on the certainty 
and the reality and the gravity of our own sinfulness, it ought 
to not terrify us and bring any terror, but as Christians, we 
quickly look with smiles of joy and everlasting hope and happiness 
upon Christ who came into this world to redeem us from the curse 
of the law. And if you're outside of Christ here this evening, 
know that you should feel terror. The thunderings of Sinai and 
the lightnings of Sinai, the thunderings and the lightnings 
of the holiness of God blast down upon your heads, and you 
are rightly under the curse of a righteous and a holy God. And 
the way of blessed, cursed liberation is not through the deeds of the 
flesh, whether in whole or in part, but it's to look unto the 
Lord Jesus Christ and to live in Him, and by faith lay hold 
of the blessed and irrevocable promises of our blessed God. 
Believe on Him and you will be saved. Let us pray. God, we thank 
You for Your Word. We rejoice in Your goodness to 
us in disclosing Your truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Do be 
with us as we consider, as we contemplate these things. Let 
us, cause us by Your Spirit to reflect with great joy upon the 
doing and the dying and the rising again of Jesus Christ our precious 
Savior. What a glorious thing we have 
in Jesus Christ, one that we have in Jesus Christ and the 
blessedness of the gospel. We do pray that you'd help us 
to leave this place rejoicing in you, singing the praises of 
our God that we would Go to our various places, having been blessed 
by the presence of God, in the worship of God, in the house 
of God, with the people of God. And let us always count that 
as a high joy. We pray that you would go with 
us. Help us in this week to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy 
of the glorious gospel of you, our blessed God. And it's in 
Christ's name that we pray. Amen.