The Ninth Epistle.
DATELINE: Sunday, December 31, 2000.
Breaking The Curse.
By Rev. James R. Bingham
Special to corndancer.com
Posted from Memphis, Tennessee
Galatians 3:13-14
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:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Let's discuss the possibilities and the wonders of Breaking The Curse.
What curse? Before we identify the curse, let's consider the second verse of our text, Galatians 3:14. Keep in mind that Paul is talking to the Galatians, a loose confederation of the descendents of nomadic Celtic warriors and other tribes in the region now known as Turkey. Paul wants to know why the Galatians departed from the teachings of the gospel of grace and began to cling to old Mosaic law.
You see, through our miseducation, we are taught to recognize and accept only what we can realize with our physical senses. To counter this falsehood, the Christian proselytizer — any of you who respond actively to the Great Commission — must teach others how to walk by faith, and not by sight. This is not an easy task.
Sometimes even the strongest of believers find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place because the innate feelings of their spirit do not agree with what they can see, touch, or taste.
What do we want from this life? We want freedom from the cycles of poverty, addictions, mistrust, deceit, envy, failure, lust, and downright defeatism.
We want to know how to love one another and how to join hands to make ready for a new and better day. Thus we listen to teachings that promise a better way.
A Spiritual Foundation Is Built
Upon the Basic Principles of Faith.
When we begin to build our spiritual foundation, we adopt the basic principles of faith. We seek God's power. We seek the knowledge that He can make a way where there was none. Though we might not see the answers, we learn to trust that He does.
What happens to us when the going gets rough? Too often we act tough, get our back up, and discard the fundamental principle of our doctrine that urges meekness. Jesus said, Blessed are the meek for the meek shall inherit the earth. In this sense we learn to forgive when we have been wronged. We learn to keep on keeping on, even though others are against us or don't understand us.
If you abandon the Spirit when things go wrong, you must face a difficult question: How did you come to understand that the just shall live by faith? Did you memorize the law, or open your ears to the voice of faith?
Paul asks some fundamental questions in Galatians 3:2-5:
2 This only would I learn of you, Received you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Take a long, hard look at the world around you. Can you see the changes that have come upon you in this day and time? To emphasize this point, I will put two figures in front of you and ask you to identify which of the two served as a messenger of the Lord. Which of the two would you have been willing to serve?
Hitler or Dr. King:
Who Would You Have Followed?
In the first half of the last century, Adolph Hitler presented himself as the supposed messiah for any who would choose to follow him into his skewed vision of a perfect world. He was bent on ruling the world. Millions of Jews were slaughtered.
Hitler's evil eye was directed not only upon the Jewish people, but also upon the peoples of Africa and their descendents throughout the world. The German dictator looked with disdain on Jesse Owens, the great athlete, who raced on the winds of his faith to prove that Aryan supremacy was a lie. Before a hundred thousand Nazis in a stadium in Berlin in 1936, Jesse Owens outran all comers, won four Gold Medals, and set world records under the scornful eyes and verbal insults of the so-called Master Race.
Hear this mystery! The United States of America, which in the mid-Thirties was not too far removed from slavery, which was ruled by Caucasian men, had a perfect opportunity to join hands with Hitler. Instead, the nation supported the efforts of a dark-skinned, non-Aryan named Jesse Owens. They did it again when the dark-skinned Joe Louis defeated the blonde Max Schmelling in the boxing ring.
This is significant because it delivered a physical defeat to the staunchly physical, fleshly Nazi society bent on world domination. To whom was the defeat delivered? To the Anti-Christ! Something more powerful than the flesh controlled and directed the minds of the world. This power was so strong that when the world reached the bitter end of a great struggle, Hitler was hurled into the oblivion of absolute defeat.
Can We Walk Hand-in-Hand
In Peace and Brotherhood?
The second figure is Martin Luther King, who came upon God's earth to deliver the message that all of God's children should be able to walk hand-in-hand in peace and brotherhood.
Dr. King preached meekness and non-violence. In the heat of battle, he urged people under assault in the streets and jammed rudely into jail cells to turn away from anger and fall to their knees in prayer.
Churches were bombed. Fire hoses were turned into water cannons to assault innocent people. Men disappeared in the dark of night, never to be seen alive again. White anger was at a zenith.
Yet, something stronger arose, something strong enough to silence the shrill shouts for white supremacy in the U.S.A. What profoundly blessed force led the minds of the light-skinned leaders to side with Dr. King and defeat a hypocritical legion of segregationists? How were these leaders able to open the nation's heart to the cries for freedom, justice, and equality? Why were the doors opened so that all men could share the right to pursue that peculiar brand of happiness enshrined in the Constitution?
The answer: Faith in the power of God.
While certain men were being subdued by the Aryan doctrine of white supremacy under Hitler, others were rejecting it. What brought them through? It was their faith.
What Brought Us through the Worst
Manifestations of Racialism? Faith.
When the signs said "colored only," "white only," and "we don't serve niggers here," what brought the oppressed through the social minefield of overt racialism so they could see a day such as today, where black men are the bosses and foremen of white men? It was their faith. They had heard a joyous sound that said, Jesus saves!
So it was with Abraham. The beginning, father of the faithful.
Galatians 3:6-7.
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
God promised Abraham that if he believed, then all who adopted his belief would be blessed, generation to generation.
Remain subject to the law, however, and be cursed to condemnation.
No, you aren't to disregard the commandments. The very nature of the commandments should live in your heart. Act according to the law. Don't think, however, that just because you act physically with certain deeds, without having the motive of the acts in your heart, that you are going to be blessed with entrance into the kingdom.
Galatians 3:10 says that "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse...." Now listen. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (See Jeremiah 11: 3-5)
A Covenant Sealed
With the Blood of Jesus.
The physical land of milk and honey was the land of Canaan. We have been brought a new covenant that includes, yet goes beyond, the first covenant. The first covenant, or promise, was sealed with the blood of sacrificial animals. Yet on a higher level of faith, the second covenant, or promise, was sealed with the blood of Jesus.
Because we have not accepted the blood with our hearts and acted only to satisfy the law, we have become deceivers. We rob God of that which is his. God said in Malachi 3:9, "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation."
Is the curse upon us because we do what the law says, or because we have avoided the law? The answer is yes on both accounts. We have become deceivers. We live by a heartless code that taunts, "Action speaks louder than words!" I think otherwise. The Word, not physical action, gives us life when we hear the Word truly in our heart. Faith is our life giver. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
We are cursed with a curse because we have justified our wrongful deeds by covering up our motives and intentions. "My intentions are to prove to the world that I am great, that I can make it, that I can do whatever I choose, that I am God!!" Sad to say, the I Mantra, the Me Above All creed of this present Age of Dissolution, prods and motivates men of all races, faith systems, and religious affiliations to act daily in a manner opposed to the Spirit. Our efforts are directed at self instead of counting all men as more than our own persons.
Don't Waste Energy on an Issue
Already Solved by Moral Law.
Just think. If we would stop and consider just how foolish it is to spend time and energy on equating the races, we would probably realize that we have been focusing on an issue that was solved over and over again by moral law — that which is right.
Does it really make sense to judge a man by the slant of his eyes or the misdeeds of his forefathers? To judge thusly brings condemnation upon us all. History records that every race has enslaved people, even their own. So be it, so what! Doesn't the change of heart we see today, growing as a young flower, count for something? Sure it does.
Our faith demands that we recognize man's ability to change. Our faith demands that we do not destroy one another because of our infantile allegiance to man's inhumanity to man.
Here's an instance: Some would have the African-American think he is "The maker, the owner, God of the universe!" No, my friends: You are not God. You are a god because God has made you righteous. The paradox is profound here. To uncover its meaning will reveal much about the heart of man. God made one sin who was not sin, who was without sin, who is forever free from sin, so that you and I could be free from sin. With this newfound freedom, we can exercise the liberty of moving beyond the flesh, of believing and receiving deliverance and healing.
Break the Cycles of Poverty,
Addiction, Lust, Deceit, Envy.
Call upon His Glorious Name.
God alone in his mercy makes it possible for you to break the cycles of poverty, addiction, lusts, deceit, envy, jealousy, and laziness. He provides the resources, but expects you to follow the basics. Your motives must be attuned to his Spirit. Magnify and glorify Him. Give Him praises. Work in His name.
God grants you the authority to do all things through the power of His name. Jesus said, Go throughout all the world teaching and preaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and The Holy Ghost! He proclaims and announces the supreme authority by which we claim our healing and our deliverance.
Look at Romans 1:16-17. "....it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.... God (is) revealed from faith to faith." Interpretation: The just shall live by faith.
Look at Acts 3:6. Peter and John said to the man at the gate who was asking for alms, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Interpretation: He exercised the man's faith.
Redeemed from the Flesh.
Yet we move through this world under the curse, unable to see the feast He sets for us. We live as though we are permanent baby Christians, "physically minded," when in fact Jesus has redeemed us from the flesh.
Look at 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." When he was hanged on the cross, he said, "The buck stops here." He was not sin but made to be sin.
He became sin so that when he died, he could enter into the bowels of hell.
He put on a covering of sin. He covered us with his Blood, but he put on sin. Because he died covered in sin, Hades and the underworld let him in. Since he was not sin, but made to look like sin, he was able to take off sin. When he took off sin, he was able to snatch the keys of hell and go where others could not go.
He could counsel with those who had died in the law, setting them free. He was able to talk with those who waited judgement and tell them that I AM is still alive. The God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I AM is alive and so shall you be. A place has been prepared for you!
He saw dead men walking. He offered them new life.
A Cloak of Glory in the Fires of Hell.
In the fires of Hades our Lord put on a cloak of glory, magnifying the Father. He turned to death and said, Where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? It is lost to the glory and power of God Almighty.
Jesus the Christ rose from the grave and claimed the power of heaven and earth. To all who believe, he gives an equal power, the wondrous power to break the curse of the curse. Power to see as a fully grown Christian. Power to touch and be healed. Power to live by faith.
Break the Curse! Be free. He has shown us that when all else fails, trust on His Name and you shall satisfy the righteous desires of your heart.
Break the curse! If the Lord is with you, no weapon formed against you shall prosper.
Do you want it made plain? Do you want a written guarantee? Read Galatians 5:1 and understand the declaration from Peter and John to any who would share in the blessings of Abraham. It states, plainly and clearly: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Break the Curse! Break the Curse and be one in Christ Jesus!
Give God Some Praise!!!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rev. Bingham
can be reached by E-mail at
jamesrbingham@juno.com.
His phone number in Memphis is
901.785.5691.