In the foregoing message we saw that the believers have been redeemed by being bought and by being forgiven of their sins. In this message we shall see that the believers have been redeemed by being freed, washed, and sanctified.
To be freed is to be released. God has forgiven us and has released us, for forgiveness involves releasing. Whenever a person is forgiven he is also released. Our God has forgiven us, and this means that He has also released us.
First, we have been released from God’s judgment, that is, from His condemnation. John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Because all people are sinful, they all are condemned before God. God is righteous, and He cannot reckon those who have sinned as being without sin. As sinners, descendants of Adam, we have already been judged and thus are under God’s condemnation and even His sentence. We have been sentenced to eternal perdition. But when God forgave us, He released us from His judgment and sentence.
Because God loves mankind, He laid our sins on His Son, who died on the cross as our substitute to be judged by God. Now those who believe in Christ are released from God’s judgment. But those who do not believe in Him remain under God’s condemnation and can only wait for eternal judgment and perdition.
We all were condemned in Adam through his sin. This means that we were judged at the same time Adam was judged. In other words, we were judged, condemned, before we were born. Since we are a part of Adam, we were judged when Adam was judged. No matter whether we are good or evil, we all, as a part of Adam, were under God’s judgment before we believed in Christ. But “God did not send the Son into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). Here we see that Christ, the Son of God, was sent to save us from God’s condemnation, which was brought in by the sin of Adam. Although we were condemned in Adam, we have been freed from this condemnation through Christ.
As redeemed ones, we have also been released out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). God is merciful, but He is still just and has His law. The entire human race, however, is against His law and is breaking it. Therefore, the sinning race of mankind is under a curse, the curse of the law. This is the reason there are so many calamities, tragedies, and sicknesses, all of which are an indication that mankind is under the curse. But God is full of mercy, and He gives people a chance to repent. When we repented and were forgiven by God, we were released from the curse of the law.
As descendants of Adam, all sinners are under the curse. In Romans 5 we see that Adam brought us all under the curse. However, the curse was not made official until the law was given. Now the law declares that all the fallen descendants of Adam are under the curse. Whereas the law condemns us and makes the curse official, Christ through His crucifixion has redeemed us out of the curse of the law. “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is every one hanging on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). Therefore, the curse that came in through Adam’s fall has been dealt with by Christ’s redemption.
The origin of the curse is man’s sin (Gen. 3:17). The curse is carried out through the law, for the law administers the curse. Therefore, the curse is related to the law of God; it is the demand of the righteous God upon sinners. When Christ bore our sins, He also took our curse. Because Christ was cursed in our place, the demand of the law was fulfilled, and He could redeem us from the curse of the law. Now, as believers, we are freed from the curse of the law.