Galatians 3:10-14

                                                                     Galatians 3:10-14

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.

 

Every person is born under the curse of sin that is the blight of humanity.  This is evident by constant flow of people who die every hour of every day and by persistent sin.  Mankind desperately needs to be set free from this terrible curse.  This is what makes the gift of justification by faith so precious.  Christ has taken the curse of sin on behalf of every believer.

 

THE LAW IS A CURSE FOR THE DISOBEDIENT: The purpose of the Law is to demonstrate our need for justification by faith.  The Law could never be a means of justification because nobody besides Christ has ever been able to keep the Law.  Those who break the Law are justly condemned by the Law.  This is why Paul points out that the law is a curse on all who fail to abide by it.  Knowing the Law or having the Law is of no use for those who disobey the Law.  Many Jews were under the impression that their attempts to keep the Law would be sufficient to justify them.  Paul makes it clear that this is not the case.  Failure to keep the Law perfectly only results in condemnation.

 

THE LORD IS CURSED FOR THE BELIEVER: The only man to ever perfectly keep the Law was the Lord Jesus Christ.  He took the curse of the Law in our place by taking the punishment required by the Law in our place.  He purchased our forgiveness and righteousness with His own blood.  His sacrifice is valid for all who believe, not just for those who were given the Law, but also for Gentiles who had not had the Law revealed to them apart from their own consciences.  Justification is only by faith because it is the only means available to us.  The only hope for those who have broken the Law, all of us, is to trust in the substitutionary death of Jesus who kept the Law but took our curse upon Himself.

 

APPLICATION: Don’t ever trust in our feeble good works, they are always undone by our sin.  Praise and thank the Lord Jesus who paid the price for our sin that we might be found in His righteousness through faith because our sin has been placed on Him.

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