Galatians 3:11-14

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 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”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Introduction

  • Resurrection is integral to every Christian’s life
  • As a Christian I can expect and hope that what happened to Jesus is one day going to happen to me.
  • As a Christian I can expect and eagerly await the resurrection of my own physical body
  • Jesus said he would rise from the dead
  • Then Jesus rose from the dead
  • The resurrection Jesus experienced is the same one promised to all who trust in him
  • That is what Christians have proclaimed now for 2000 years

Welcome to this celebration of resurrection! We want you to know that resurrection is the central joyful expectation we have as a church. Christ himself is how we are reconciled to God and have peace with him; bodily resurrection is our eager expectation and hope. We who believe invite you to that same wonderful hope. Resurrection is the thing that defines us -- that makes us different from other people -- and the bodily resurrection of Jesus’ is the guarantee of ours.

Recently, we’ve been studying Galatians 2:19-20 -- part of one of the letters a man named Paul wrote to a group of churches in what is now central Turkey.

[Quote it with the congregation]

Galatians 2:19 and 20: “Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:19 and 20

  • Those verses are all about crucifixion.
  • Those verses make it sound like crucifixion is the central message of our faith.
  • Those verses sound very like Friday afternoon, not Sunday morning.

How do we go from being a crucified people to being a risen people?That’s the question we need to answer this morning so something wonderful can happen to us.

Turn to Galatians 3:11-14. That’s where we’ll find how we can become a risen people. It tells me three things:

  • I have to do what I could never do
  • Jesus did what he would never do
  • God did what he always planned to do

Galatians 3:11-14

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

  • I have to do what I could never do

13 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”—

  • Jesus did what he would never do

14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

  • God did what he always planned to do
  1. I have to do what I could never do (now what do I mean by that?)

I’ll tell you what I mean, and to do it, I want to give you two examples. I could show you a hundred stories from Scripture that operate the same way; but since Galatians 3 uses Abraham to make the point, that’s what I want to do.

Abraham’s Example

Genesis 17:1-2When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face.

  • The Law of Sin and Death was already at work in Abram (around 1800 BC)
  • God revealed himself to Abram when he was an old man (99 years old)
  • God made a conditional Covenant with Abram to be in relationship with him if Abram walked blameless before God
  • Abram worshipped God (fell on his face),
  • Abram continued to sin after the covenant was made. (Abram lies to Pharaoh in Gen. 17, ex.)
  • Abram was unable to do what God told him to do

My Example

But look, this doesn’t just apply to Abraham.

Deuteronomy 6:4-8God tells us exactly what he expects of each of us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

  1. I look at that and realize how pathetic my efforts are. I don’t
  2. Love God with all my heart
  3. Love God with all my soul (do I even know what that means?)
  4. Love God with all my might
  5. God’s words are not in my heart -- not the ones he commanded in Deuteronomy. Sure, I memorized a few verses out of the New Testament, but I don’t know much from Deuteronomy. The really pathetic thing is I can quote Deuteronomy 6:4 from memory, but I’ve never even considered trying to do it.
  6. I didn’t teach the Law of God diligently to my children. I really blew that one
  7. When I’m sitting around the house with Jama we hardly ever review the Law
  8. I can’t remember the last time I hailed a stranger while I was walking by the way and told him about the Law
  9. And even though I have a Bible app on my Iphone, I don’t think I’ve ever let Leviticus play while I was falling asleep
  10. That’s not all of them, but you get the idea

It's not that I don’t love God. I do. I really do. I just always find that, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t love his Law.

So I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. God told me what I have to do; but it is something I could never do. I could neverfollow his Law perfectly.

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

And yet, I continue to sin, and to shorthand it, what you get for sin is death -- spiritual and then physical death. I have to do what I could never do: I could never follow the Law.

  1. Jesus had to do what he would never do
  1. Obedience: The Character of Jesus
  • Luke 2:49: The earliest thing we have that Jesus said (Age 12) And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?
  • John 12:50: “I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
  • Luke 5:21“And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
  • Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
  • John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
  • Luke 22:42: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

It was simply in the character of Jesus to obey God perfectly. The only problem is that...

when Jesus took the punishment of crucifixion (which was actually the punishment I deserved because God told me I had to do what I could never do):

  • it wasn’t enough that he bore with my sin (he demonstrated he was so good he could forgive me)
  • It wasn’t enough that he wore my sin (like a garment someone puts on)
  • Jesus had to absorb my sin (he had to become cursed of God -- even the form of his execution confirmed the curse)

But Jesus’ whole life was a life of obedience to his Father. How could he who never sinned become cursed of God? See? Jesus had to do what he would never do.

  • It just wasn’t in his character to sin.
  • It just wasn’t in his nature to turn his face away from his Father.
  • It just wasn’t in the Father’s nature to turn his face away from his Son.
  • But it turns out that was the only way for...
  1. theFather to do what he always planned to do

The story of Abraham tells us something very important. Even though Abraham was a sinner, God promised this 99 year old man that he and his wife Sarah would have a child.

Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith Sarah received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

Abraham’s story is a parable of resurrection. The law of sin and death was working on him hard. He had no children. There was no way he was going to have children. And yet God raised up a child for Abraham. I don’t have time to demonstrate it, but the rescue of Isaac from the altar is also a parable of resurrection. God promised Abraham, “through your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Resurrection was always God’s plan. He kept leaving lost humankind these little markers to prove it. And what he did in the form of a parable in the Old Testament for Abraham he went on to do in the form of his very own Son for you and me.

Romans 8:11“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Do you want to be raised from the dead? Do you want God to give life to your spirit and to your body? Place your trust and your hope in Jesus and he will fulfill his promise.

AMEN