THE THREE CURSES OF SIN

“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: Galatians 3:13

The only hope lawbreakers (you and me) have is Jesus Christ! He alone is able to save a lost sinner from the wrath of Almighty God. Christ kept the law of God in every single detail. He bore no guilt, He bore no penalty, and He had no mark of death, because He was perfect without one single sin! Only He could stand before God and claim eternal life or the right to never experience death.

The glorious Gospel is that instead of claiming this right only for Himself, He offers to give His righteousness and perfection to lost sinners all over the world, and take their sins upon Himself. Right now, Jesus Christ makes this offer to you: Jesus will swap your unrighteous life for His righteous life, His sinless life for your sinful one.

When Christ died in our place, all the curses of the law were upon Him. He died on a tree, the very symbol of the curse of the Law, and wearing a crown of thorns, the very symbol of the curse from the Fall, and He drank from the cup, the symbol of vile sin the curse of Gall.

As sinners we cannot undo our past sins in our own power, but we can experience the grace of God by trusting in the righteousness which Christ has secured. Not only will Christ give you His substitutionary righteousness, but He will also give you His power to live it!

“The Crown”

The Curse of the Fall

“And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head...”

Matthew 27:29

It wasn’t an accident that a crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus Christ. Evil men thought it was a cruel mockery of hatred and rebellion, but it was more. Soon when the Lord returns the Roman Empire will know the joke was on them. For the crown of thorns was a message planned in heaven.

I. The Crown Was a Sacred Mystery

The crown of thorns represents the curse that is upon all of humanity because of sin. In the Garden of Eden there were no thorns until sin entered and God cursed the ground! The crown of thorns was a type of the curse that Christ bore.

II. The Crown Was a Solemn Misery

The crown speaks of excruciating suffering and pain. The spikes were pounded into the Lord’s head the most sensitive part of the body. He was bearing our grief and sorrows.

III. The Crown Was a Cruel Mockery

The soldiers were mocking the Lord out of rebellion. They were saying, “You’re not our king and we will not bow our knee to you!” They spit in His face! What will you do with Jesus? Crown Him as Lord or crown Him with thorns?

IV. The Crown Was a Saving Ministry

The crown showed a great truth. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) It means that our sin and the curse of the fall was placed on the Lord Jesus and He bore our punishment. The plan of salvation was thought out before the foundation of the world! No man would have thought that God was in control that day, but He was! Jesus wore our crown that day.

“The Cross”

The Curse of the Law

“But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities:

the chastisement of our peace was upon him;

and with his stripes we are healed.”

Isaiah 53:5

I. The Reality of Christ’s Sufferings.

For such a cruel death He died,

He was cast out and crucified.

Those loving hands that did such good,

They nailed them to a cross of wood.

Crucifixion made death as painful and slow as a fallen human mind could conjure. The agony endured by the victim included thirst, nails through the hands and feet, cramps, and the victim was left to die from exhaustion. Matthew tells us about the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross, “And sitting down they watched him there;” Sinful men nailing their Maker to a cross and sitting down to watch Him die and all done with carpenter’s tools. Simply amazing!

II. The Reason for Christ’s Sufferings.

Fallen man is in a state of revolt against God but the defiance of Adam has now been offset by the obedience of Christ. Jesus took our place so that we might take His. He was victorious over sin and death, and now sinners can have peace with God. In the famous words of the centurion soldier, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

“The Cup”

The Curse of Gall

“...O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will,

but as thou wilt.”

Matthew 26:39

East of the city of Jerusalem is a little garden called Gethsemane. Jesus often went there to pray and He was there the night the Roman soldiers came to arrest Him. Earlier He had eaten the Last Supper with His disciples and had talked about His coming betrayal and crucifixion. Now He was bowed in prayer and cried out; “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” He was talking about the horror that He faced and what He would soon suffer for you and me.

The Contents of the Cup

What was so vile about the cup that the very Son of God shrank back from? It was not the dread of crucifixion because He said He would willingly lay down His life and had the power to take it up again. What was in the cup?

The pollution of sin was in the cup! The Bible tells us Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He was sinless but in order to redeem us, our sin had to be placed on Him at the cross. The Father placed your sin, my sin, all sin on His Son. The cup was full of every vile and wicked sin committed through the ages of time both past and future. The punishment of sin was in the cup. Punishment would be upon Him for all sin and for all people. God the Father, in justice, had to treat Him as if He had committed all that sin! Jesus Christ, the Creator and Eternal Son of God who had been with the Father for all eternity would now face God’s holy wrath. Worst of all Jesus saw in that cup that He would be separated from His Father for the first time ever. The price of sin was in the cup. From the Garden of Eden to now the Garden of Gethsemane sin had gripped mankind. The Lord looked into the cup and saw He Himself become sin and even worse He saw the horror of separation from His Father. But sin's price had to be paid and Jesus was the price.

THE WAY

A pioneer missionary in Africa tells how he was taking the gospel to a new tribe, far to the north. With his bearers, he arrived at a village, a point beyond which his porters refused to go. The missionary appealed to the local chief. Was there someone in his village who could act as his guide to the distant northern tribe?

The chief summoned a man, tall, battle scarred, carrying a large axe. A bargain was made and the next morning the missionary set off through the bush, following his new guide. The way became increasingly rough, and the path had all but disappeared. There was an occasional mark blazed on a tree, occasionally a narrow path,

Finally, the missionary called a halt. He asked the guide if he was sure that he knew the way, The guide said to him, “You see this axe in my hand? You see the scars on my body? With this axe I blazed the trail to the tribal village which we go. I came from there. These scars I received when I made the way. You ask me if I know the way? Before I came there was no way. I am the way.”

Beloved, we at Bible Baptist Church want you know that the Lord Jesus Christ came from glory. Jesus came from heaven and He said when He was headed back to heaven, by way of the cross in John 14:6; “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me.”

Before He came, there was no way to heaven. The scars on His body attest to the price He paid to blaze that trail back to God. He points to His scars and says, “I am the way.” If you are sick and tired of going your way in life and the trail seems empty and futile. Give up your own efforts because no matter how rich, successful, religious, or powerful you are, Jesus is still the only way.

QUESTION:

“If you were to die today, are you 100% sure you know you would go to heaven?” Now you might say, “Well I’m not sure.” But guess what? The Bible says we can know without a doubt that we can go to heaven when we die.

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13

You see going to heaven is not based on what you think, feel, how good you are as a person, or how religious you are. We can imagine all kinds of falsehoods and untruths in our minds so we must go by what the King James Bible says to know how and what God thinks. God says:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

So how can a person go to heaven? We go to heaven by placing our complete and total faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us. We must believe by faith that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, then He was buried, and God the Spirit raised Him from the dead and He is alive right now in heaven!

The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is something we practice every day. We put our faith in doctors, other drivers, pharmacists, the food we buy, and basically everything we do. But the most important decision you can ever make is to put your faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him as your Savior!

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:15

You can believe and be saved right now by asking Jesus to save you from your sins! Just pray. Dear Jesus, I admit I am a sinner. I ask you to please forgive me. I believe by faith that You died for my sins, and You were buried, and raised from the dead. Jesus, I accept you as my Savior, In Your name I pray, Amen.