He became a curse for me

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

Galatians 3 · chapter mention Galatians 3 · chapter mention

of a frog in my throat. Galatians chapter 3, verse 1. And it actually sort of, interestingly

Galatians 3:1

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

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

and you read

Genesis chapter 15

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

and you read

Genesis chapter 18

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

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.

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.

Amen.