Apr 16
7
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil (Matt. 5:17).
Clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ is setting before us the reason of His coming into this world as the sinner’s Substitute and as Jehovah’s Messiah. He came to fulfill, which means: to finish, furnish, satisfy, execute, accomplish and complete all things written of Him in the law of Moses and all the prophets. “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). The Lord Jesus came to fulfill and furnish all the predictions of the prophets (Acts 10:43). Moreover, He came to fulfill and satisfy all the types of the ceremonial law becoming the great and only sacrifice for sin (Isa. 53:4-6; 1Peter 3:18). In addition, He came to fulfill and accomplish the demands of the moral law, by yielding perfect obedience to it (Rom 5:19). The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, living perfectly as our representative and dying effectually as our Substitute for sin is our very justifying righteousness before God’s just throne (2Cor. 5:21; Rom. 10:1-4; Gal. 3:10-13). In all things Christ Jesus magnified, satisfied and honored the holy law of God for us in all its precepts and penalties (Isa. 42:21). Tom Harding
What does it mean to be “of the works of the law?”
Todd Nibert
So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:9-10)
What does it mean to be “of the works of the law?” The word “of” refers to origin. If I am of the works of the law I trace the origin of my salvation to something I have done. Just what that something is varies according to who you are talking to. Some would say it is obedience to the law. Others would say it is your sincerity. Still, others would say it is your will that decides whether to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation. Whatever form it takes, it is still something you must do before you can be saved. Salvation is the end, the pay back, for the works that you perform. But those who are “of truth” (Gal 3:9), trace the origin of their salvation to God himself. What we do does not end in salvation. We begin in salvation. Our works find their origin in God himself (Eph. 2:8-10). All who are of the works of the law are under God’s curse! All who are “of faith” are “blessed with faithful Abraham.”
CHRIST, OUR CURSE
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
To this generation a curse is a fictitious evil spell of some kind which was fabricated by Hollywood for the purpose of creating a dramatic plot. We think of gypsy curses, voodoo curses or the mummy’s curse. In order to understand the reality of the curse of God, as it is found in scripture, we must see it as it is set in opposition to the blessing (Deuteronomy 28). This being the case, much light is shed upon what it is to be under the curse of God, if we see what it is to be an object of the blessing of God.
How revealing, for example, if the opposite of the benediction found in Numbers chapter 6 is considered. Numbers 6: 24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. The curse would be something like this: “The Lord curse thee and forsake thee. The Lord turn His back upon thee and punish thee. The Lord withdraw all favor from thee and leave thee in thy grief and misery.”
Apply this to our holy Lord Jesus, our blessed Substitute and we get some idea of the meaning of our text in Galatians 3. If he that is forgiven much, loveth much, then surely you and I must weep and embrace with deep devotion, this One Who has become our curse. If God had cursed and forsaken us, we must have acknowledged that He not only had the right to do so, but was obligated to do so. Nevertheless, God embraced and delighted in us. Our Lord deserved the highest favor and honor of the Father and yet He cursed and forsook Him. This is salvation.
The result of God’s blessing is that all things work together for our good and end in our eternal bliss and delight. To be under God’s curse means that though a man be rich, well respected and the recipient of all that this world considers good, it shall all work together for evil and culminate in his eternal damnation. Are you under God’s curse, or do you rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Curse? Chris Cunningham.
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW AND THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST
Last week, I heard someone make the statement, “God first sent His law to save man, and after that didn’t work, He sent His Son.” From this ignorant statement, I can conclude two things. First, this person doesn’t know the God of the Bible, because the God of the Bible has never tried to do anything (He does as He will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth), and, secondly, this person knows nothing of the purpose of God’s law, for He never sent His law to save anybody. The law was God’s schoolmaster (a stern and strict pedagogue or overseer) whose appointment it was to be our custodian or governor until Christ came. This law revealed the spotless perfection which was demanded by God Almighty. While revealing this perfection and teaching us our obligations to God, we could do nothing but come to one conclusion — we are unable to meet this expectation! The law lays before God’s people the straight line of His demand and in so doing, sweeps away all excuses and stops their mouths from trying to justify ourselves. Some will say that all a man has to do is repent. The law makes no provision for repentance. The law says, ” The soul that sinneth shall surely die”. The law drives the elect of God to be heartily sick of themselves and to look for hope in Christ alone. Many religionists speak proudly of trying to keep the law of God, but only the man made to see his inability to keep the strictness of the law sees the bondage and futility of that attempt. The law empties us of any vain goodness and makes us long to filled by Him who alone is good. In being stripped of all self righteousness, we desire only to be clothed in the imputed righteousness of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. This holy law that has driven the sheep of God to cast themselves upon Christ is now written within their heart. That which once was against them and condemned them is now that which they love for Christ’s sake and their good.
Marvin Stalnaker
Poor, miserable, paltry works of a polluted worm!
“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we
proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they
are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither
and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away.”
Isaiah 64:6
We once thought that we could gain heaven by
our own righteousness. We strictly attended to
our religious duties, and sought by these and
various other means to recommend ourselves
to the favor of God, and induce Him to reward
us with heaven for our sincere attempts to obey
His commandments.
And by these religious performances we thought we
would surely be able to make a ladder whereby we
could climb up to heaven. This was our tower of
Babel, whose top was to reach unto heaven, and
by mounting which, we thought to scale the stars.
But the same Lord who stopped the further building
of the tower of Babel, by confounding their speech
and scattering them abroad on the face of the earth;
began to confound our speech, so that we could not
pray, or talk, or boast as before; and to scatter all
our religion like the chaff of the threshing floor. Our
mouths were stopped; we became guilty before God;
and our bricks and mortar became a pile of confusion!
When, then, the Lord was pleased to discover to our
souls by faith, His being, majesty, greatness, holiness,
and purity; and thus gave us a corresponding sense of
our filthiness and folly; then all our creature religion
and natural piety which we once counted as gain, we
began to see was but loss; that our very religious duties
and observances, so far from being for us, were actually
against us; and instead of pleading for us before God as
so many deeds of righteousness, were so polluted and
defiled by sin perpetually mixed with them, that our
very prayers were enough to sink us into hell, had
we no other iniquities to answer for in heart, lip or life.
But when we had a view by faith of the Person, work,
love, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we began
more plainly and clearly to see, with what religious toys
we had been so long amusing ourselves, and what is
far worse, mocking God by them.
We had been secretly despising . . .
Jesus and His sufferings,
Jesus and His death,
Jesus and His righteousness,
and setting up the poor, miserable, paltry
works of a polluted worm in the place of
the finished work of the Son of God. J.C.Philpot