Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3254
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.” Galatians 3:13.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text is #873, Volume 15—CHRIST MADE A CURSE FOR US.]
THE Law of God is a Divine Law, holy, heavenly, perfect. Those who find fault with the Law, or in the least degree depreciate it, do not understand its design and have no right idea of the Law itself. Paul says, “We know that the Law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” In all that we ever say concerning justification by faith, we never intend to lower the opinion which our hearers have of the Law, for the Law is one of the most sublime of God’s works. There is not a commandment too many—there is not one too few! The Law of the Lord is so incomparable that its perfection is a proof of its Divinity. No human lawgiver could have given forth such a Law as this which we find in the Decalogue. It is a perfect Law, for all human laws that are right are to be found in that brief compendium and epitome of all that is good and excellent toward God, or between man and man.
But while the Law is glorious, it is never more misapplied than when anyone attempts to use it as a means of salvation! God never intended men to be saved by the Law. When He proclaimed it on Sinai, it was with thunder, lightning, clouds, fire and smoke, as if He would say, “O Man, hear My Law, but tremble while you hear it! It is proclaimed with the blast of the trumpet exceedingly loud, even as the great Day of Destruction will also be of which it is the herald, if you offend against it and find none to bear your doom for you.” It was written on stone, as if to teach us that it was a hard, cold, stony Law—one which would have no mercy upon us, but which, if we go against it, would fall upon us and grind us to powder! O you who are trusting in the Law for your salvation, you have erred from the faith—you do not understand God’s designs—you are ignorant of the Truths of God that He has revealed to us by His Holy Spirit! In the Chapter from which our text is taken, the Apostle says, “If there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by the Law. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise, by faith, of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.” The Law was intended, by its terrors, to crush every hope of self-righteousness and, by its lightning, to scathe and demolish every tower of our own works—that we might be brought humbly to accept a finished salvation through the one Almighty Mediator who has magnified the Law and made it honorable, and brought in an everlasting righteousness wherein we stand complete in Christ if, indeed, we are in Him by a living faith. So you perceive that all that the Law does is to curse—it cannot bless. In all the pages of Revelation, you will find no blessings that the Law ever gave to one who had offended it. There were blessings for those who kept it completely—though none ever did—but no blessing is ever written for one offender. Blessings we find in the Gospel, curses we find in the Law.
This afternoon we shall briefly consider, first, the curse of the Law. Secondly, the curse removed. Thirdly, the great Substitute who removed it by “being made a curse for us.” And then, lastly, we shall solemnly ask one another whether we are included among the innumerable multitude for whom Christ was “made a curse.”
I. First, then, let us consider “THE CURSE OF THE LAW.”All who sin against the Law are cursed by the Law— all who disobey its commands are cursed, cursed instantly, cursed terribly.
We shall regard that curse, first, as being a universal curse resting upon everyone of the seed of Adam. Perhaps some here will be inclined to say, “Of course, the Law of God will curse all those who are loose in their lives or profane in their conversation. We can all of us imagine that the swearer is a cursed man, cursed by God. We can suppose that the wrath of God rests upon the head of the man who is filthy in his life, the man who is degraded and under the ban of society.” But, my Friends, the real Truth is that the curse of God rests upon everyone of us as by nature we stand before Him! You may be the most moral man in the world, yet the curse of God is upon you! You may be lovely in your life, modest in your carriage, upright in your behavior, almost Christ-like in your conduct, yet if you have not been born-again—if you have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit—the curse of God still rests upon your head! If you have committed but one sin in your life, God’s Justice is so inexorable that it condemns you for that one solitary offense! And though your life should henceforth be one continued career of holiness, if you have sinned but once, unless you have a saving interest in the blood of Christ, the thunders of Sinai are meant to terrify you and the lightning of Divine Vengeance flash all around you!