Redemption Part 6: Redeemed From the Curse of the Law

Redemption Part 6 teaches that Christ has redeemed believers from the curse of the law, so guilt and condemnation no longer have to keep them from God or His promises. The pastor explains the difference between the law, which he calls a contract of performance, and the covenant, which is God’s promise to do the work Himself. When the veil of condemnation comes off, he says, we are changed from glory to glory. This message continues from Redemption #4 — The Words We Speak and Freedom From Condemnation.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on May 28, 2024. It runs about 63 minutes and ends with communion and a prayer for God’s glory to rest on everyone listening. The pastor opens by saying he expects to clear up misunderstandings about the Old and New Testaments, and he prays that the eyes of everyone’s understanding would be enlightened.

His focus is a phrase many believers know but few can explain: being redeemed from the curse of the law. To get there, he reviews what the series has already covered, then walks through 2 Corinthians 3 and Galatians 3 to show why the law could never give life and why the covenant always could.

Redemption Part 6: A Continual Motion

The pastor begins with review. Redemption is a continual motion. We have been redeemed, we are being redeemed, and we will be redeemed. Romans 8:23 shows that the last thing to be redeemed is our body, which is still subject to death today but will one day be redeemed too.

All creation is waiting for that redemption, eagerly expecting the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19–21). Earlier weeks also showed that the blood of Jesus brought a redemption no law could ever bring. It redeemed us from guilt and condemnation.

That, he says, is where most Christians struggle hardest. Condemnation does more than make us feel bad. It keeps us from God’s promises, because we are meant to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Scripture shows two ways condemnation reacts. When Adam sinned, he hid, and the Lord had to call, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8–10). The second is Peter. After fishing all night with nothing, he let down his net at Jesus’ word, caught so many fish that the boats began to sink, and then fell at Jesus’ knees, begging Him to depart because he was a sinful man (Luke 5:4–8).

Either way, hiding or pushing God away, guilt separates even on-fire believers from what God wants to do in their lives. The answer is Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” How can there be condemnation, he asks, when the law has already been fulfilled in Jesus? He said, “It is finished.”

The pastor also offers a definition. Webster’s dictionary, he says, describes redemption as the act of making something better and more acceptable. Redemption is more than a ticket to heaven. God wants us to grow to maturity, the way an oak is made to grow far past ten feet.

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

The first entry point for living free of condemnation, the pastor teaches, is watching your mouth. Psalm 107:1–2 says, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” This verse becomes a refrain he returns to again and again throughout the message.

James says that a perfect man is one who can bridle his tongue (James 3:2). Perfect, the pastor explains, does not mean never making a mistake. It means mature, using your mouth for what is good. Ephesians 4:29–30 adds that no corrupt word should proceed out of our mouths, only what builds up and imparts grace to the hearers, and that we must not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom we are sealed for the day of redemption.

Jesus put it even more strongly: by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:37). The pastor calls the mouth the doorway where condemnation comes in to raise havoc in our relationships and jobs. That is why Revelation calls him the accuser of our brethren (Revelation 12:10).

Jesus dealt with condemnation directly. When the religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery and said Moses’ law required stoning, He told whoever was without sin to throw the first stone. One by one they left, from the oldest to the youngest. Then He asked where her accusers were and said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:3–11). If He removed condemnation from her, the pastor asks, how much more from us?

The Ministry of Death and the Ministry of Righteousness

The main teaching opens with 2 Corinthians 3:7–9. Paul calls the law the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones. It was glorious, so glorious that Israel could not look steadily at Moses’ face, yet it could never give life. “For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.”

The pastor jokes that Moses’ veil was the first bag-over-the-head experience in history. As he sees it, that glory made people feel unworthy. A veil still lies over those who read the Old Testament while bound to it, and God wants to remove it, because there is a greater glory for us to possess.

Verses 12–14 continue: since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face (2 Corinthians 3:12–14). The pastor ties this back to Psalm 107. Because we have hope, we can say so. We speak out of God’s goodness and what He has done, not out of “we can’t have” and “we can’t do,” which he calls the language of the ministry of death.

Then comes the turning point in 2 Corinthians 3:15–18. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”

Guilt makes us hide or push God away, but when we take off the veil and look at what He has done, we are changed. The pastor stresses that this transformation is not the result of keeping the law perfectly. In his words, “it’s an inside job” that we allow Jesus to do. The law calls for faith in your own strength, cunning and wisdom. The covenant says, I will do it for you.

This is why he rejects the phrase “just a sinner saved by grace.” That, he says, is like calling yourself an honest thief. You are either a sinner or saved. If you are saved, you are the righteousness of God in Christ, as a gift: He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Accept it, he urges, because coming into God’s presence that way changes you into His image.

Satan is the accuser, the pastor says; Jesus is the Redeemer who gives righteousness to the brethren. When the Father looks at you, He sees Jesus.

The Law Is a Contract, the Covenant Is a Promise

Many people, the pastor says, think the Old Testament simply is the law. It is not. A testament is a covenant, and the law is not a covenant. The law is a contract, and every contract has performance tied to it. He illustrates with a house-painting job paid in installments: if I stop paying, you stop painting. Every part of a contract must be fulfilled.

A covenant, by contrast, is a relationship of love. The covenant with Abraham came 430 years before the law (Galatians 3:17). In the pastor’s telling of Genesis 15:9–18, Abraham prepared the sacrifice and laid the halves on the ground, then God put him to sleep and passed between the pieces. Man’s only part was to provide the sacrifice. God did the rest.

The pastor applies the same pattern to the cross. No one took Jesus’ life; He laid it down and had authority to take it up again (John 10:17–18). He was not a victim but a victor; God did it all.

The table below summarizes the contrast he draws throughout the message.

Abraham’s promise of descendants like the stars was humanly impossible, yet God said that by this time next year he would have a son. What matters now, Paul says, is not circumcision or uncircumcision, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). It is no longer about a contract; it is about a covenant.

So why was the law added at all? Galatians 3:19 answers that it was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. That Seed is Christ. In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4–5). We, however, are born again not under performance but under love.

This is why the pastor tells believers to stick to God like glue whatever they have done. He who began a good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6). Our part, like Abraham’s, is to offer the sacrifice by presenting our lives as a living sacrifice and being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1–2).

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not, says Galatians 3:21–22. But if a law could have given life, righteousness would have come by the law. It did not then, the pastor says, so why do Christians think it does now? The law gives only a duty, and our weakness under that duty condemns us. Under covenant, God gives promises and fulfills them Himself.

Redeemed From the Curse of the Law

Paul compares the law with the covenant in Galatians 3:10–12: as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, because everyone who does not continue in all things written in the law is cursed. No one is justified by the law, for the just shall live by faith. The pastor defines the curse as poverty, sickness, guilt, condemnation and spiritual death.

Under the law, he says, if you commit one sin, you have committed them all. Mercy does not give you what you deserve, and grace gives you what you do not deserve. We are saved by grace through faith, as a gift (Ephesians 2:8).

Even under the law, he notes, blessings were proclaimed from Mount Gerizim and curses from Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 11:29), with peace offerings, because guilt had to be dealt with. Jesus brought us peace with God by fulfilling the whole law.

The law, says Galatians 3:24, was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The law could only produce faith in what we can do. The covenant produces faith in what God has done. If God did not spare His own Son, how will He not with Him freely give us all things (Romans 8:32)? And as we receive His promises, the pastor adds, our very nature changes (2 Peter 1:4).

Repentance, he explains, means changing the government you live by and accepting what God has done. That is how you receive healing. He shares his own testimony of having been diagnosed with cancer twice and declaring victory from the moment it was pronounced, standing on the promise that no weapon formed against him will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). Once a drug addict and alcoholic, he says, he now knows his potential in Christ.

Being redeemed means being taken from somewhere and placed somewhere. God has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:13). And here is the summit of the message: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us,” so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:13–14). If you are redeemed from the curse, the pastor asks, what is left? The blessing.

David understood this. Even after his sin with Bathsheba, he did not run from God. He prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and asked not to be cast from His presence (Psalm 51:10–12).

He closes the teaching with parallels showing that Jesus fulfills every word. Moses’ first sign in Egypt turned water into blood, a sign of death; Jesus’ first miracle turned water into wine (John 2:1–11), a sign of new life that gladdens the heart (Psalm 104:15). Adam ate from a tree and brought a curse; Jesus died on a tree. The ground produced thorns; Jesus wore a crown of thorns. Not one jot or tittle will pass away until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18).

So labor to enter His rest (Hebrews 4:11). Rebuke guilt like a barking dog. A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again (Proverbs 24:16). At communion, the pastor reminds the church that the cup is a new covenant, not a contract, for the remission of all sins.

Living Redeemed This Week

Here are the practical steps drawn from Redemption Part 6:

• Run to God, not away from Him. When you fail, do not hide like Adam or push Him away like Peter. Come boldly to the throne of grace.
• Say so. Replace “I’m no good” with Psalm 107: the Lord is good, His mercy endures forever, and you are redeemed.
• Drop the “just a sinner” label. Confess what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: you are the righteousness of God in Christ.
• Stop performing for God’s blessing. Thank Him for what Christ has already fulfilled, and receive it by faith.
• Behold His glory. Spend time looking at what Jesus has done, and let Him do the inside job of changing you.
• Get back up. If you fall, rebuke condemnation and stay in His presence, confident in Him rather than in yourself.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Opening and prayer for revelation
• 1:10 Redemption is a continual motion
• 2:15 Redeemed from guilt and condemnation
• 3:25 Adam hides; Peter says depart
• 5:23 Watch your mouth: Psalm 107
• 7:53 The woman caught in adultery
• 9:06 Better and more acceptable
• 10:23 The ministry of death: 2 Corinthians 3
• 12:57 Great boldness of speech
• 14:18 The law is a contract
• 16:59 From glory to glory
• 18:22 Not just a sinner saved by grace
• 22:05 Under the curse: Galatians 3:10
• 26:03 Blessings and curses on two mountains
• 28:20 God’s covenant with Abraham
• 30:54 No one took His life
• 33:46 Faith working through love
• 35:22 Why was the law added?
• 37:50 He will complete the good work
• 42:54 The law as our tutor
• 46:59 Repentance and a testimony of victory
• 50:52 Redeemed from the curse: Galatians 3:13–14
• 54:18 Water to blood, water to wine
• 56:58 Enter His rest and communion

Redemption Series

This message is part of a teaching series on redemption at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: Redemption Part 1: Behold the Lamb of God Who Takes Away Condemnation
• Previous: Redemption #4 — The Words We Speak and Freedom From Condemnation
• You are here: Redemption Part 6: Redeemed From the Curse of the Law
• Next: Redemption Part 7: Redeemed from the Curse of the Law and Free from Condemnation

Frequently Asked Questions

Does being free from the law mean sin no longer matters?

No. The pastor’s point is that the law could never produce righteousness, so trying harder under it only produces condemnation. In Christ, God changes us from the inside as we behold His glory. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more,” after removing her condemnation, not before. Freedom from guilt is what makes real change possible, which is why he calls it an inside job.

Why does the pastor connect baptism to faith?

He teaches that baptism follows a conscious decision to believe, not something done to us before we can believe. It is an outward show of what we stand in faith for, including that our mortal bodies will one day be raised and changed in the twinkling of an eye. That final redemption of the body, he says, is the last stage of the redemption that began when we believed.

What did the plate-spinning illustration mean?

The pastor recalls a performer on The Ed Sullivan Show who ran from pole to pole, sweating to keep every plate spinning so none would fall. That, he says, is life under the law: constant effort to keep everything up. Life in Christ is rest. Even if a plate falls, the promise is still yours, because the covenant depends on what Jesus fulfilled, not on your performance.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Romans 8:1 — no condemnation in Christ Jesus
• Psalm 107:1–2 — let the redeemed of the Lord say so
• 2 Corinthians 3:7–9 — the ministry of death and of righteousness
• 2 Corinthians 3:15–18 — from glory to glory
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 — the righteousness of God in Him
• Galatians 3:10–12 — under the curse
• Galatians 3:19 — why the law was added
• Galatians 3:13–14 — redeemed from the curse of the law
• Galatians 5:6 — faith working through love

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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