1. Roosevelt Island used to be called Blackwell’s Island. In 1828 New York City built a huge penitentiary there. In 1921 the name of the island was changed to Welfare Island (it was changed to Roosevelt Island in 1973), and in 1934 they closed down the penitentiary and started building the hospitals that are there now.
2. Outside the penitentiary there used to be a graveyard for the criminals and upon one of the tombstones was the following unusual epitaph:

Here lies the fragments of John Smith
Who contradicted his Maker,
Played football with the Ten Commandments,
And departed this life at the age of 35.
His mother and wife weep for him.
Nobody else does.
May he rest in peace.

3. It has always amazed me how someone who is obviously in hell is supposed to "rest in peace"?
4. But the part of this strange epitaph that I’d like to specifically comment on is the third line. You cannot "play football with the ten commandments" and expect to escape the judgment of God.
5. Also, strictly speaking, a sinner cannot "break the law." Actually the law breaks the sinner!
6. There is another problem people have with the law, and that concerns those who believe that they can get to heaven by keeping the law. Back in the apostle Paul’s day there arose such a group, and his epistle to the Galatians was written to combat this particular error (cf. 1:6-9).

1. THE LAW CAN ONLY CURSE SINNERS (3:10)

1. Notice Paul does not say, "For as many as broke the law are under the curse…" Rather, he says: "For as many as are of the works of the law…" (3:10).
2. In other words, all who seek to obtain favor with God on the basis of obeying the law are actually under the curse of the law. This is the exact opposite of what the world believes.
3. This works-righteousness type of religion forms the basis of Judaism, Roman Catholicism, and even most of modern day Protestantism.
4. This is the teaching of all the major world religions as well as all of the modern cults. There is a cult in Queens Village called Mt. Sinai. Why do you supposed they gave themselves that name? Because that is where God gave Moses the ten commandments.
5. Paul strengthens his argument by quoting Deut.27:26. It is not enough to keep the law for a day or a month or a year – God says to "continue" to keep the law.
6. The children of Israel agreed to this (cf. Ex.24:3,7,8). But they failed to keep God’s law, they disobeyed the law willfully, continuously, and shamelessly (cf. James 2:10).
7. You can live in Queens County or Nassau County for 50 years and never break the law. But do not expect the Mayor or some other official to present you with an award.
8. But if you are caught one time driving without a seat belt, you are a law-breaker and will get a ticket. Why? Because the law only penalizes law-breakers; it does not reward or bless those who try and keep the law.
9. Harry Ironside used to use this illustration: a man fell off a cliff and as he was going over, he grabbed hold onto a chain that was fastened to a tree stump. The chain had ten links. Ironside asked this question: how many links would have to break before the man would fall into the abyss below?
10. The answer is obviously one. The law is like that chain. Let me say a few words to anyone here today who is not saved – the law is like that chain. You have broken God’s law and are falling off the cliff into God’s horrible pit called hell.
11. And unless you repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will wind up in that pit and never get out.

2. THE LAW CANNOT JUSTIFY SINNERS (3:11,12; cf. 2:16)

1. Paul has established that the law curses sinners. Next, he emphasizes once more that the law cannot justify sinners (3:11; 2:16).
2. Justification is that act of God whereby He declares righteous all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Once again Paul quotes from the Old Testament, this time from Hab.2:4 – "The just shall live by faith" (3:11). This Scripture is quoted three times in the New Testament (cf. Rom.1:17; Heb.10:38).
4. "And the law is not of faith…" (3:12). The law does not ask men to believe. It does not even ask men to try and keep the ten commandments. The law calls for strict and perfect obedience.
5. As usual, Paul quotes the Old Testament to drive home his point – "The man that doeth them shall live in them" (3:12b; cf. Lev.18:5).
6. Faith and law are two entirely different principles – in fact, they are contrary and cannot be combined. LAW says "Do and thou shalt live," and FAITH says: "Believe and thou shalt live."
7. The purpose of the law is to show a sinner that he is guilty and condemned (cf. Rom.3:20; 7:7-10). The law is like a mirror that shows us that we are dirty sinners – it cannot save, it can only condemn.
8. Religious people who attempt to please God by keeping the law are actually "frustrating the grace of God" (Gal.2:21). And if sinners could be saved by obeying the law, "then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal.2:21).

3. CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW (3:13)

1. To redeem is to buy back, or to deliver by paying the price. The curse of the law is death, i.e., the penalty for not keeping the law is death (cf. Gal.3:10b).
2. Since we are all hopeless and helpless law-breakers, our prospects would not be very good. But thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ has delivered those under the law from paying the penalty of death demanded by the law (3:13).
3. But some might ask: but how does this affect us Gentiles, being we were never under the Mosaic law? Thank God, provision has been made for us too – "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ" (3:14). This too is "through faith" (3:14b). Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
4. Christ has redeemed us by dying in our place on the cross. He endured the dreadful wrath of God for us. The curse of God literally fell upon Him (3:13; cf. II Cor.5:21).
5. This is what we call the doctrine of the substitutionary death of Christ – "the just for the unjust" – "being made a curse for us" (Gal.3:13).
6. We were condemned to die, but Christ died in our stead. And apart from His death on the cross, there can be no salvation.
7. The Jewish method of execution was not by hanging, but by stoning (Deut.13:10,11). But in order to add to the shame of the criminal, they hung his body on a tree, and those who were hung on a tree were cursed by God (Deut.21:22,23).
8. Once more, the apostle Paul skillfully quotes the O.T. and applies this Scripture to our Lord’s shameful death on "a tree" (the cross).
9. Crucifixion was regarded by the Romans as too shameful and disgraceful for a Roman citizen. Cicero said: "The very name should be excluded from the thoughts, eyes, and ears of a Roman citizen. It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen, but what shall I say about lifting him on a cross? No word can adequately describe such a nefarious thing."
10. And crucifixion was no less abhorrent and shameful to the Jews (cf. I Cor.1:18,23).

1. Many years ago, a watchmaker took a visitor through his shop and showed him all of his different watches and clocks. He told him that there were two different ways of regulating the time of the clocks.
2. In one case a signal was sounded at regular intervals telling the correct time and revealing the error of those clocks which did not have the right time. But this was all the signal could do – it could only reveal how much the clocks were off time. If they were wrong, the signal would reveal the error; but it could not rectify it.
3. That is the way the law works – it strikes the signal, but it cannot repair the wrong. It sounds out "You’re a sinner," but it cannot save you.
4. But there was another way to regulate the time. In the second case there was a master clock connected electronically to a number of clocks in such a way that the clocks were controlled from the Master Chronometer. They were synchronized to go beat by beat under the control of the constant corrector. That is grace – what the law cannot do, grace is able to do.
5. It is only by God’s grace that anyone can ever be saved. If you repent of your sin and trust Christ, He will save you by His grace today.