Far As The Curse Is Found Series

3. WE ARE REDEEMED WHEN WE TRUST JESUS WHO TOOK OUR CURSE UPON THE TREE

In verse 13 we read, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us...” Notice the word “us” in that verse? Who is the “us?”

Does that mean everyone on the planet will be redeemed? No. Jesus died for the sins of everyone in the world, but the Bible teaches that only those who trust Him are redeemed. So are you in the “us” who have been redeemed? Ask the person next to you, “Are you in the ‘us’?” If you’re not in the “us,” you’d better get on the bus that goes to the cross, because that’s the only way to be saved.

If you follow baseball you’ve heard of the “curse of the Bambino.” In 1910 the Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Red Sox had won five world championships before they sold the Bambino, but then they went for almost nine decades without winning the World Series. Everyone called it “the curse of the Bambino.” But in 2004, the Curse of the Bambino was broken when the Red Sox did something our Rangers couldn’t do last fall. They were playing the St. Louis Cardinals and were down 0-3 and came back to win the next four games to win the World Series—and the curse was broken.

The curse of the Bambino is only sports superstition, but the curse of sin is real. Disobedience to the law carries a curse, so without Jesus we’re all cursed. At the cross, the only man who ever lived a sinless life chose to take our curse upon Himself when He bore our sins. The Bible says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

Dr. Ray Pritchard is a great Bible teacher, and he has a graphic way of describing what happened when Jesus took our curse: “Imagine that somewhere in the universe there is a cesspool containing all the sins that have ever been committed. The cesspool is deep, dark, and indescribably foul. Imagine that a river of filth constantly flows into that cesspool, replenishing the vile mixture with all the evil done every day. Now imagine that while Jesus was on the cross, that cesspool is emptied onto him. The flow never seems to stop. It is vile, toxic, deadly, filled with disease, pain and suffering. No wonder God the Father turned away from the sight. All the lust in the world was there. All the murder; all the hatred between people. All the pornography, all the drunkenness, all the bitterness, all the greed, all the crime, all the cursing; every vile deed, every wicked thought, every vain imagination—all of it was laid upon Jesus when he hung on the cross.”

Do you remember the last word of the Old Testament? Curse. I’m thankful for a God who takes care of every problem in the world. When we come to the very last chapter of the Bible, we read these powerful words: “No longer will there be any curse.” (Revelation 22:3)