I was married 10 years, and I had been a Christian for a lot more than 10 years,
before I came to the stark realization that I basically, in my self-understanding and my
self-talk, I basically saw myself as doomed. That the way I talked to myself and understood myself,
I mean, I knew Bible passages, and I grew up in a church where they would have said,
I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. There you go. You grew up in the same type of church.
And I grew up in a church like that, and I knew that, and I would have sort of denied that I had
these types of basic self-talk and feeling, but I was married 10 years. I'd been a Christian for a
long time. I'd been a pastor for whatever, seven or eight years or five, six, seven years, before it
started to come home to me in a very, very powerful way, that at the very center of who I was and how
I saw myself, how I talked to myself, my fundamental beliefs were that if people got to know me more,
they would like me less. And the things that I got involved in wouldn't work out, that things would
fail. Whatever I get involved with, it's going to fail. And I had a range of views all connected
to that, that nobody would really care for me as I really was when they saw me deep down.
You know, in a sense, using biblical language, I saw myself as cursed.
I saw myself as cursed.
And this Bible text that we're going to look at today, on one hand, it just seems odd.
You know, talking about Abraham and all these rhetorical questions and being cursed, and
cursed is the one who hangs on a tree. On one hand, when we're first listening to it, it
sounds a bit confusing. It sounds just sort of odd. But the fact of the matter is that many
of us probably here in this room and many of the people that we meet, and in fact, I would
say that at some level, every human being has some basic sense of being cursed. But for
some of us, it might be a hidden thing. It might only come up in certain contexts. But
for many of us, it's actually a very, very powerful daily reality. And the Bible has some very powerful
things to say to this situation. So it'd be a great help to me if you took out your Bibles
and turned in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Excuse me, I have a bit
of a frog in my throat. Galatians chapter 3, verse 1. And it actually sort of, interestingly
enough, there's a bit of a running theme here about curses in these 14 verses, because it
actually begins with Paul. I mean, on one hand, it's a rhetorical gesture, but he's trying
to make a bit of a point to them. Those of you who haven't been here, when you're going
through the book of Galatians, Galatia is a church in what we now call South Turkey,
so sort of South Middle Turkey. And it hasn't been a church for very long. Most of the people
in the church are pagans who've become Christians. There's some Jewish people who've become completed
Jews, or we would call them Messianic Jews or completed Jews. They've also become Christians.
And there's been a problem in the church of what Paul calls false brothers.
believers, and he's trying to deal with it. And look how it begins. And, you know,
literally it says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Or who has cast a spell
on you? Would be another completely valid way to translate it. Or another valid way to translate
it would be, say, who has done the evil eye on you? Now, just, you know, before we go anything
further, I'm going to talk a little bit about how many people, I think anybody who struggles
with anxiety, anybody who struggles with people pleasing, anybody who struggles with alcoholism
or drug issues or pornography issues, at a very deep level, we're struggling with a sense
of being doomed. And I'm going to mainly be using examples around that from at a more
sense of psychological level. But there are many people in our culture who basically worry
that they've been cursed. And it's not just in our culture, but, you know, it's a major issue
in Muslim cultures, in much of what we call the third world, is the belief that there really
is the power of some people to cast a spell or give you the evil eye or do something to you
that means that spiritual forces are now against you, causing you illness or failure in business or
failure in life or failure in romance. It's in fact a very, very common and prevalent view that this
means actually something quite literal. And I'm not going to talk about that as much, but all of the
thing about curses covers even that as well. If you're here and you worry that because of your
your father or your mother having pronounced curses over you or your neighbor, this text is
specifically for you. And Paul begins by saying, you know, has something gone on here? We're going
to see that he doesn't believe it has real power. And it's partially he's trying to shock them into
paying attention to what's going on. But for us, for some of us, it might have a very type of literal
connotation. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, cast a spell on you, given you the evil eye?
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. And as we're
going to see in Jewish culture and in Roman culture, to be crucified was a type of a curse. Roman citizens
couldn't be crucified. Had to be low status or no status individuals. And but but here just I want
to think I've already started with a biographical moment about my feeling of always being doomed.
And if you could put up the first point, just after I came to this church, I was doing a Bible
teaching time on Galatians. And as I was doing the Bible teaching time on Galatians, I realized I had
to break with my Anglican culture about how sermons worked. Because, you know, I grew up in an evangelical
background, have lots of evangelical experience. But in Anglican churches in the Diocese of Ottawa,
you know, basically the sermon is a 12 minute of insight of nice thoughts. And but what Paul is
saying here is when it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified,
he's actually in in the original language, it's very clear that what he said is that when he came to
church every Sunday, what he did was hammer away at the fact that Jesus Christ had died upon the cross.
And everything was connected to Jesus dying on the cross. And so here's my first point, please pray
that at Messiah we will preach Jesus Christ crucified in such a way that God touches people's hearts.
Like if you could pray for that, that would be really good. That we always go back to the cross.
We always go back to what Jesus has done for us on the cross. And and that's what Paul is saying.
That's he said, how did I work when I came amongst you? Every time I taught, I talked about Jesus
dying on the cross for you. In fact, he almost puts it as if he had a big billboard and he spoke in front
of the billboard. And on the back of the billboard was a picture of Jesus dying on the cross with a big
sign saying Jesus Christ crucified. That's how prominent it was for him. So please pray for me
and for the church of the Messiah that that will be the case. But but back to the text, what Paul is
going to do it because it's going to seem a little bit weird that all of a sudden he goes to a whole
pile of questions. In fact, there's a basically a question every verse. And what Paul does is he goes
back to their experience. He's just reminding them of how they came to faith and how they lived their
faith before the false brothers came. And so he asked them a series of, in a sense, rhetorical
questions. And here's the first one. Let me ask you only this. Verse two, did you receive the Holy
Spirit by works of the law? In other words, by doing rituals, by keeping kosher or by hearing
with faith? In other words, you heard about Jesus Christ crucified, that he died for you to be your
savior, to make you right with God. That's why he died upon the cross was that he was in a sense,
and they would have understood this language of sacrifice, that he was God's sacrifice to make
you right with God, not just for the moment, but for the rest of your life. He makes you right with
God. And what he's pointing to is, is that when a Christian, when a person puts their faith in Jesus,
they, they hear the explanation of who Jesus is dying upon the cross and what he's accomplishing when
he dies upon the cross, they hear this explanation and invitation. And they respond by putting their
faith and trust in Jesus, that they believe that Jesus dying on the cross is God's means and power and
provision to make a human being who has faith in him to be right with God forever. And they hear it,
they hear the story. And when they hear, they trust. And one of the things that they do when they
trust then is that not only are they changed, the text is going to talk about that in a moment,
they're made right with God, but God also gives them the Holy Spirit. Every Christian,
when they put their faith and trust in God, receives the Holy Spirit. Every Christian, no exception.
And he goes on with other questions. Are we so, verse three, are you so foolish having begun by the
Holy Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh, by your own human effort? Did you suffer
so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works
miracles among you do so by works of law or by hearing with faith? This emphasis on hearing with
faith. Now, here's another bit of a self-disclosure to you. So I'm working away on this sermon all week.
I'm reading the text every day. I'm thinking about it, you know, looking at different resources to help me
understand what it says in the original language and in the context. And in the context, it's very clear
and very obvious to them. Something very dramatic happened to all of them. To all of them, they went
from maybe being unobservant or observant Jews to hearing about Jesus Christ crucified, trusting in him.
And in a sense, the Holy Spirit became so real to them that they started to live very different lives
as the Holy Spirit kept bringing them back to Jesus and changing their lives. And for the pagans,
some of them maybe worshipped the emperor's God. Others maybe worshipped many different gods.
And they did all sorts of pagan sacrifices and pagan practices, but they hear about Jesus
and they're starting to learn to stop doing all of those things. And the Holy Spirit became so real and
powerful in their lives, it changed their lives. And Paul is just reminding them historically of their
experience of what went on in their lives. He's reminding them of what happened to them in their day-to-day
lives. And I'm reading this text and I'm trying to think about how to preach it to you.
And it was at that moment, and this is another self-disclosure thing, was as if God spoke to me
and said, George, how much are you dependent upon the Holy Spirit? Like with these rhetorical
questions come to you, do you have this sense, George, of dependence upon the Holy Spirit and the need
of the Holy Spirit to move? George, do you have this? Have you, George, slipped into just wanting to use
your intellect and your experience, etc.? Have George... You see, the Bible is asking questions,
and I was sitting there trying to think of how I could get you folks to understand that God's asking
you a question, and God showed up and interrupted my sermon preparation and actually made me hear the
question myself.
George, what about you? If you could put up the next slide.
Many Christians, at a functional level,
we act as if a Christian needs the Holy Spirit
like a fish needs a bicycle.
I'm adapting a famous thing by, I think it was Germaine Greer,
a feminist, who said,
a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
It's a very funny line.
But you know, at a functional level,
many of us act as if
a Christian needs the Holy Spirit
like a fish needs a bicycle.
Like, we don't really need it.
Like, we got the prayer book, we got our liturgy,
we got our church council, we got our money,
we got our degree, we got our this,
we got our that. And when we're really
stuck, we call out for help.
But fundamentally, we don't think we need the Holy Spirit's help to do our day.
Maybe I'm the only one.
But this text, by what, in a sense,
you see, in a sense, the problem is that
when, for many of us, when we read these rhetorical questions,
they don't make any sense to us.
And if they don't make any sense to us,
it might be that at a functional level,
we're slipping into merely
trusting our mind,
our willpower,
our abilities,
our genetics,
and our connections.
So if you could put up the next slide.
You know, please pray
that we,
as a congregation,
please, please pray for me,
please pray for yourself,
that we will be so gripped by the gospel
that we will live
in dependence
on the Holy Spirit's life-giving power.
In other words,
pray
that these rhetorical questions would grip you.
And not just be
an antiquarian,
ancient thing
that we have to try to get our minds around.
But that it would grip us.
You know,
Jesus says
when he's in the upper room
with his disciples,
I think it's in John 16,
and he knows
he's going to die
the next day on the cross.
And he's trying to get
his disciples to understand
and he says
it's a good thing
that I go away to the Father.
He's talking about his crucifixion
because in a sense he says
if I don't die on the cross
and rise from the grave
the next day,
you won't have the Holy Spirit.
It's a good thing
I'm going
and you get the Holy Spirit.
And for many of us,
we just,
we need to be gripped
with this truth.
So it's a bit of a long aside,
but it's very interesting
that
it's
just the other day
I was talking to somebody
just a couple of weeks ago
I was talking to somebody
and I had to say
a couple of hard things to them.
And so I was thinking
and praying about
how I was going to say
some challenging things
to this person.
And then I realized
I realized that
what I needed to do first,
I wish I could do this
all the time,
but I realized
what I needed to do first
was just to fundamentally
affirm them.
Because the fact is
that what I wanted
to say to them
is I actually had
a high regard for them
and I had a high regard
for their potential.
And I had a bit of a feeling
that not many people
had ever talked about
the high regard
that they had
for the person
or their high potential.
And in fact,
the difficult things
I wanted to say
to the person
or the challenging things
I wanted to say
to the person
was so that they could start
to reach
their God-given potential.
And so I needed to
affirm them
in some way.
And the Bible here
is going to be doing
a similar type of move
actually.
So it begins
in verse 1
by Paul saying,
like,
have you guys
come under a curse?
Like,
has somebody
cast the evil eye
over you?
Like,
what's going on?
He asks them then,
he reminds them
of their experience.
He reminds them
of their experience
of how they become Christians.
He reminds them
of how the Holy Spirit
is at work
in their lives.
He reminds them
that they never
kept kosher,
but they received
the Holy Spirit.
They never followed
all the Jewish festivals,
but they received
the Holy Spirit.
They never,
you know,
they never followed
all the cleanliness laws
and everything
in the Old Testament,
yet they received
the Holy Spirit
and they prayed
and God did miracles
to them
and he's reminding them
of all of these things.
And now that he's gone
from their experience,
he does something
which,
regrettably,
in our church culture
often seems like
it's a sign
that you're a dumb
fundamentalist.
But really then,
after he's talked
about their experience,
he in a sense says,
and what does
the Bible say?
And what does
the Bible say?
And the first thing
he's going to do,
and we're going to look
at in a moment,
in what the Bible says,
is the Bible communicates
to him,
he wants to communicate
to them something
very, very, very powerful
about the fundamental
reality of who they are
now that they have
given their lives
to Jesus.
And all of the talk
about being cursed
and being doomed
only comes after
he's assured them
from the Bible.
He's reminded them
of Jesus
and he's going to talk
to them about Jesus
in terms of opening
the Bible to them
and it's after that
that he says
the hard things
to them.
If you could put up
the next point,
this would be very helpful.
Here's the thing.
Please pray that we will,
as a church,
will always ask,
what does the Bible say?
That's the apostolic question.
Jesus said it.
The apostles say it.
What does the Bible say?
And Paul is going to go
through a series of quotes
that come from Deuteronomy,
that come from Leviticus,
that come from Habakkuk,
that try to bring home
who it is that Jesus is.
And he begins right away
in verse 6.
In my version of the Bible,
it's made as if it's all part
of one long sentence,
but it's a different idea.
So let's say verse 5 again.
Does he who supplies
the Holy Spirit to you
and works miracles among you,
do so by works of the law?
In other words,
by your ability
to keep kosher.
And in our case,
it's because your ability
to go to church on time
and your ability
to dress well at church
and the fact that you know
that you can sing
some praise choruses
with your eyes closed
because you know
the words right
and you know Christianese.
And basically,
you either live a moral life
or you live a moral life
where nobody knows
all the bad things you're doing
but looks like
you're living a moral life.
Is that how you live
the Christian life
or is it by hearing with faith?
And then he goes
to the primary biblical example
of hearing with faith.
He goes in verse 6
to Abraham.
And why is that?
Just to remind you.
Just who was Abraham?
When God calls Abraham,
what was Abraham doing?
When God calls Abraham,
Abraham wasn't singing
praise choruses by,
you know, Tomlin.
He wasn't keeping kosher.
What was he doing?
He was worshiping the moon.
He was a moon god worshiper.
If you go back,
you hunt around
the Old Testament,
Abraham was a moon god worshiper.
And God said,
Abraham,
I want you to leave your family.
I want you to leave your friends.
I want to leave your security.
I want you to leave
everything you know.
And I want you to leave
the moon god.
And I want you to leave
all the other gods
that you worship.
I am the god,
the lord god
of all the earth.
And I want you
to be mine.
And if you believe
what I say,
and come,
and do what I say,
because you believe
what I say.
Well, what does it say here?
Look at this,
verse 6.
Just as Abraham
believed God,
and it was counted
to him
as righteousness.
Now, it's a very,
very tight
little phrase.
Notice the first thing here.
It's not saying that
he believed
in God,
right?
Lots of people
believe in God.
The hard thing
isn't believing,
merely believing in God,
but not only believing
in God,
but believing
what God says.
Believing in what
God says.
Probably,
I don't know
what the statistics are,
maybe 80,
90% of Canadians
believe in God,
but do we believe
that when Jesus,
just before he dies
upon the cross,
and knowing how shocking
it's going to be,
and he's trying to prepare
his disciples
for the fact that
even though
he's going to die
the death of a slave,
seemingly completely
and utterly defeated,
he's trying to tell them
that and reminding them
that on the third day
he's going to rise from death,
and in the context
of his impending death
by crucifixion,
he says,
I am the way
and the truth
and the life.
No one comes to the Father
but by me.
Do you believe that?
Abraham didn't just believe,
I mean,
Abraham believed in God,
sure,
God,
this God,
that God,
all sorts of gods,
but it was that Abraham
believed God
when he said,
leave your family,
your worship,
your friends,
your power,
leave all of that
and come
and follow me.
And when Abraham
believed what God said,
and the word here
counted as righteousness,
righteousness,
it's a term from accounting.
And maybe the best analogy
would be this.
I don't know how many of you,
some of you here
don't own homes,
you'd like to own a home someday.
And I know that
when Louise and I
were looking to buy
our first house,
one of the things
we were trying to find
is if there was somebody
who would rent to own.
The way I understand
rent to own
would be this.
You know,
one of you folks
have a townhouse
or something
and we're not sure
if we're going to be able
to buy the house
or if we have the down payment.
But what we just begin
is we begin the process
of renting with you.
In a rent to own situation,
what you say is
maybe a year or two
into it,
you'll count all those
rent payments
as if they had been
mortgage payments.
You change
the accounting term
and understanding of it.
And what the Bible
here is saying
is that God does
something very interesting.
If you go back
and you read
Genesis chapter 12
and you read
Genesis chapter 15
and you read
Genesis chapter 18
and what God
is saying to Abraham,
you see,
on one hand,
the rent to own thing
is that you've just,
you've changed,
you know,
now rather than
just being rent,
it's been mortgage payments
which means now
if the house was worth
$300,000,
you've made some
mortgage payments,
it's now,
you now only owe
$290,000
because you've been renting
and now you switch
all those rent payments
to own payments.
But it's still just money.
But in this case,
what it's saying
is that God does
this unbelievable
act of grace
because Abraham
has no money,
he has no credit,
all he's been doing
is worshipping
the moon God.
But if Abraham
not only believes God
but believes
in what God says
and trusts what he says,
God will take
that faith
as if
Abraham
has lived
a perfect life
and is able
to be in perfect
fellowship with God.
Like it's an
incommensurate,
sorry,
it's a big word.
The whole thing
about faith
is it's something
completely and utterly
shocking.
In our flesh,
what we'd like God
to say is
we're going to accelerate
your good works,
George.
That's what I'm going
to do for you,
George.
I have a deal for you.
He's like a sleazy
type of salesman.
We don't think
that we want God
to be like a sleazy
salesman,
but that's in a sense
in our flesh,
in our frail nature
what we want.
We want God
to be like a sleazy
sales agent
and say,
listen,
just for you
because you're special.
I like you.
I have a good feeling
about you.
And so,
you know,
every time you memorize
a Bible verse,
I'm going to count it
as if you've memorized
the whole book of Hebrews.
We're going to just
accelerate all this.
You go to church,
I'm going to count it
as if you've gone
to church for five years.
I'm going to accelerate things.
And that's what we sort of like,
but what we're stuck here
is something completely
and utterly,
it's just grace
that God says,
no, no, no,
I'm not going to get
in a game with you
of thinking that you
can contribute something.
The whole point is,
I want you to understand
you can contribute
zilch,
nada,
nothing.
If you believe me,
I'm going to work out
the details.
And Abraham didn't understand
what the details would be.
Abraham,
like Moses,
like David,
had to wait
for Jesus to come.
Just as we look back
to what Jesus has done
to apply it to our lives,
they had to look forward
to it.
But what they're believing
is,
God,
we don't know how
you're going to make
us right with you.
But we understand
that our efforts
don't matter at all,
we're just going to believe
that only you can do it
and that you will do it
and I trust that you will do it.
And that's what's so brilliant here
is Paul reminds them
that that's what they've done.
They've done,
in a sense,
the exact same thing
that Abraham has done.
Only they have
the great advantage.
Abraham didn't understand
about Jesus Christ crucified.
They understand
Jesus Christ crucified,
but they've had to do
the same thing.
They have to take God
at his word
that he will do
everything that is needed
to make people right
with God.
And in a sense,
what Paul is going to be saying
in these next few verses,
it's exactly the same thing
that we understand.
You know how we have
a very common thing
in our culture,
how that,
you know,
somebody is more than
a brother to me.
There's somebody
completely not related
to us biologically,
but they're more like
a brother to me
than my brother.
They're more like
a parent to me
or more like a mom
or a dad to me
than my actual mom or dad.
And Paul is saying
the exact same thing,
that in God's economy,
in the way God deals with us,
it's not just about genetics.
That when God says,
all the nations of the world
will be blessed
through you, Abraham,
he's speaking on many levels.
On one hand,
that it's through him
that the Messiah
will eventually come,
but at a fundamental level
that it's this fundamental
act of faith
and trust in God
to do what has to be done
for us to be made right
with him
and that in a sense,
it's Abraham,
to be like Abraham,
that's the thing
which is important,
not the biology,
not the genetics.
That's the fundamental thing
in terms of being made right
with God.
So in light of that,
let's listen to what he says.
I have to watch my time.
I can't carry it away
with this.
Right?
So back to verse 6.
Just as Abraham believed God
and it was counted to him
as righteousness,
know then,
verse 7,
that it is those of faith
who are the sons of Abraham.
Just like I said, right?
More like a son to me.
And the scripture,
foreseeing
that God would justify,
that is,
make right,
declare right,
count as righteous,
the pagans,
by faith,
preached the gospel
beforehand
to Abraham.
In a sense,
what this Bible,
what this text is saying
is that when the Bible speaks,
it's God speaking
and it's God
who preached the gospel
to Abraham
and when we hear
what the Bible records
about God's,
about what is said to Abraham,
we're hearing God speak.
This is one of the reasons
why it is never,
it is always wise
to ask the question,
what does the Bible teach?
And so it says here again,
by faith,
sorry,
verse 8 again,
in the scripture,
foreseeing that God
would justify the pagans
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.
So,
Paul is,
he's gone to their experience,
he said,
no,
it's not just experience,
what does the Bible say?
What does the Bible say?
He's gone to Genesis
and now he's going to deal
with some of these things
because
he,
the Bible wants us
to live
in step
and in line
with the gospel.
the Bible wants us
to understand
both
how
our situation
was far worse
than we could ever
possibly imagine,
that we were already
separate from God
and we could face
an eternity
separated from God.
And at the same time,
it wants us to try to get,
start to begin
to understand
the mystery
of this grace
that given our
desperate need,
God does something
that's,
our minds
can't really
fully grasp,
but God does
something
unbelievably
generous,
unbelievably
loving.
It's humiliating
and costly
to him,
but God
bears this
vast cost
so that human
beings
can be made
right with him.
And he doesn't
want George
to live
ten years
into his marriage,
eight years
after his ordination
or whatever
the number of years
was,
feeling day
by day
as if he's
doomed.
And he doesn't
want you
to feel that
too.
He wants us
to be gripped
by the gospel.
In the face
of our anxiety,
in the face
of our worry,
in the face
of how we
talk to ourselves
at four o'clock
in the morning,
in the face
of how we speak
to ourselves
when we're driving
into interviews,
in the face
of our feeling
that whatever
we touch
will go wrong,
whatever we touch
will go dirty,
that I am only
stupid,
that I will
always fail,
that things
that I am
involved in
will always
fail,
in the face
of the worry
that our
grandparents
or our parents
have cursed us
or that the
next door neighbor
has cursed us
and it binds us,
the Bible wants us
to understand
that God
has done
everything
that needs
to be done
to make us
right with him
in the death
of his son
upon the cross,
that we receive
that not
because of
how brilliant
and successful
and our potential
but in our
complete and utter
need,
we put our
trust and faith
in him
and we now
have a completely
different destiny
and God
wants us to live
with the gospel
being real
to our hearts
and as the gospel
is real
to our hearts
that it affects
the way we minister
and we marry
and we date
and we handle money
and we see our culture
and we see our world
and we see our job
and we see our attainments.
You are justified,
you are counted righteous
by what Jesus
has done
for you on the cross.
What did he do
for you on the cross?
Series of questions
or statements.
Verse 10,
for all who rely,
I lost my place,
I probably have.
Actually,
put up the next point.
For all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
That's in the book
of Romans.
Because that is true,
every human being,
I think,
has some sense
of being cursed.
Be mindful of that
as we read these verses.
Verse 10,
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,
works of the law,
once again,
remember what Paul
is saying here
is he's not disparaging
the Bible.
He's saying,
works of the law,
you know,
in a sense,
God actually set before us
all of the things
you have to do
just to show people
amongst other things.
I mean,
it's not just
that they would be failed,
understand that they can't
reach God
by their own efforts,
but it's also to point
in a sense
into the future
how it's God
who's going to clean us.
It's God
who's going to feed us.
It's God
who's going to provide
the sacrifice.
It's God
who's going to be the priest.
It's God
who's going to be the prophet.
It's God
who's going to be the king.
It's God
who's going to do
all of these things.
You know,
you hear this prophet,
but a true and greater prophet
will come
and his name is Jesus.
You see an earthly king
like David,
but a true and greater king
will come
whose name is Jesus.
You see
the priest
offering a sacrifice
and a true and greater
priest will come
and his name is Jesus.
And you see the sacrifices
and a true and greater sacrifice
will come
and his name is Jesus.
And we can understand
how ritually
we can be clean,
but a true and greater
cleanliness
will come
in the person of Jesus.
And we can see
how we can be healed,
but a true and greater
healing will come
and his name is Jesus.
and we can see how just social relations will come,
but a true and greater healing of relationships will come
and his name is Jesus.
And so it's not just that the law is telling us
that we can't actually accomplish these things by ourselves,
but at the same time that it's teaching us
that we can accomplish this,
it's pointing to the very, very center of our lives
where we want to be reconciled to the creation.
We want to be reconciled to human beings.
We want to be reconciled to ourselves.
We want to be reconciled to God.
We want to feel clean.
We want to feel fed.
We want to feel protected.
We want to feel loved.
We don't want to feel abandoned.
And that God himself is the one who is going to do this for us
in the person of his son.
And that is what the Bible is pointing to in the law.
And he's saying, listen, you listen to the law
and the law just tells us what we all know.
We're never clean enough.
We're never fed enough.
We're never strong enough.
We get sick.
We die.
We fail.
We sin.
We betray.
We abandon.
We are abandoned.
That happens.
And the laws made it all clear.
And then verses 11, 12, and 13,
such wonderful verses in quick, rapid fire.
Every case he quotes the Bible,
he makes a point, he quotes the Bible,
whether it's from Deuteronomy,
Habakkuk, or Leviticus.
Verse 11,
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law,
for the righteous shall live by faith.
What does that mean?
It's saying that the Bible, it's from Habakkuk,
that the Bible itself is going to teach us,
just as the Genesis story about Abraham teaches us,
that it's by believing in God's promise in his word
that he will do everything to make us right with him.
That's what makes us right when we believe that,
when we realize we can't be clean enough,
we can't be whole enough,
we can't be alive enough,
we can't be slim enough,
or strong enough,
or rich enough,
even if we are for a moment,
and we think we're the cat's meow,
but then we get old,
then we get sick,
then we die,
then our loved ones die,
then there's always this basic need,
and it's to bring us to this point
to realize that God has to do something
that we receive by faith,
and that he has done in the person of his son.
Verse 12,
but the law is not of faith,
it's moral striving,
rather the one who does them shall live.
In other words,
you have to make a choice.
Are you just going to continue to think,
I'm just going to pretend I'm really good,
I'm going to pretend that I'm never going to die,
I'm just going to pretend that I'm right with God,
I'm just going to pretend that all I need
to be centered,
and some of you are saying,
George, I'm not pretending,
but it's only pretending in the sense
that all these things fail.
They all fail.
Verse 13,
Christ redeemed us.
Redeemed is a word from the marketplace,
it's the word from the town center,
it's the word that Jesus pays a price
to deliver us from slavery into life.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse for us,
for it is written,
curse it is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
You know,
many people in our culture say that the way forward
is just to embrace our cursedness.
I was just watching a TV show the other day
and the ex-wife says to her husband,
you drink too much.
And he,
with an impish smile,
and we're meant to sympathize with him,
says,
no,
I drink the exact right amount.
I drink the exact right amount
as she walks out.
And in much of our culture,
we're sort of taught
to just embrace the fact that you drink,
just embrace whatever it is,
the adultery,
just embrace the betrayal,
just embrace the greed,
just embrace the aggression,
just embrace it and stand tall.
You could put up the next point.
What the Bible is saying here
is God calls out,
humble yourself.
Don't embrace the curse.
Embrace the one who embraced your curse
to make you right with me.
It's a completely different way of living.
Embrace the one who embraced your curse
to make you right with me
after you humble yourself.
And then verse 14
sort of summarizes all of this thing
as we try to draw it all to a close.
Actually, we'll read verse 13 again.
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 pagans
so that we might receive
the promised Holy Spirit
through faith.
If you could put up the last point,
that would be great.
You know,
it was my curse,
not his,
that he bore on the cross.
By faith in him,
the curse is gone
and I am blessed to grow
as God's very own,
as the Holy Spirit indwells me.
You know,
you know,
when I,
when I really,
I mean,
I still struggle with it at times,
you know,
because you can't live your life
for 35 years
thinking one thing about yourself
and just change it like that.
And I,
I,
you know,
I need to be gripped by the gospel.
I need to be gripped by texts like this.
I need to be reminded
that every curse,
all the doom,
fell on him
that I might have his destiny,
that he loved me so much
that he took my doom
and my curse
so that I could have his blessedness
and his destiny,
that that,
I need to be gripped by that.
It needs to be real to my heart.
But if you think about it,
all of our fears,
those of us who struggle with fears
that if people got to know me
as they really know me,
that they wouldn't like me,
that everything about me
is going to be a failure,
that everything I touch
will just get dirty,
will get soiled,
that there's just something broken in me.
And at the same time
that we believe this,
we hate that it will ever be revealed.
And it's why it's so easy
for us to turn to alcohol
or pornography
or just some type of addiction
or we're putting on false fronts
or aggression
or bullying types of behavior
to keep people far from us.
But if you think about it,
all of our fears around cursedness
is crucifixion.
Being naked and perfectly revealed to others,
Jesus died on the cross naked.
Being publicly mocked,
Jesus was publicly mocked
as he's dying on the cross.
Being mocked by people in authority,
the people who know,
the people who are successful.
And not only that,
but even being mocked
by the rabble,
the failures,
the people who wander around
just by having a drink,
the elite and the rabble,
all mocking you,
all up at front,
to be in pain,
to be abandoned,
to have it all be done in public,
to be mocked,
to be seen as doomed,
to die a death as doomed,
as a failure.
And all of these are things
that in fact,
Jesus does.
You can see how to die upon the cross
is in a sense
to be marked as cursed.
And the Bible says,
what does the Bible say?
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 you and me
so that we might receive
the promised spirit
through faith.
If you are in Jesus,
you are not cursed.
Your curse was born by him.
If you are in Jesus,
you are not doomed.
Your doom was born by him.
Your destiny,
I don't know if you're going to get
the job or all that,
but your destiny
is that when you die,
your eyes will be awake
for full the first time.
And the creator of all things,
your heavenly father,
will look at you with love
and welcome you
to be with him forever.
And that is your destiny.
And you live your life
on the way to your destiny.
with the promised Holy Spirit
living within you,
giving you life.
Please stand.
Let us pray.
Father,
thank you for Jesus.
Thank you for his death
upon the cross.
Thank you that he bore the curse,
my curse,
the curse of those who were here
that he bore it on the cross.
Thank you for this great act of love.
Thank you, Father,
that when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus,
that you make us alive,
that you redeem us from slavery,
that you make us right with yourself,
that you give your Holy Spirit
to indwell us,
that you give us a new destiny
and a new future
that is certain,
not because we're certain,
but is certain
because you are unchanging
and certain
and you have promised
in your word.
And so,
Father,
may your Holy Spirit
so bring us to Jesus
and bring us to the gospel.
Make us disciples of Jesus
who are gripped by the gospel,
learning to live
blessed by your Holy Spirit
that we might be a blessing
as we bring you glory
here in Ottawa
and to the ends of the earth.
And we ask this
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.