Well, what a joy it is to be
here. I've been kind of almost crying
as we've been singing here this morning and just the spirit of
worship and the spirit of love for the Lord that's in your hearts
is very apparent and is very heavy on my heart as I've joined
with you in worship. For many of you, I've had the
chance to be with you and to know you. Others of you are new
to Crossroads and to the college ministry, and I look forward
to being able to get to know you better in the time ahead.
I'm so excited to have already on the calendar that I'll be
back in February for the Resolved Conference which I just think
is going to be such a life-changing conference and I hope and pray
that you will be there. I think it's going to be life-changing. This is such a special place
to me because of you and your heart for the Lord, for Rick
Holland, whom I love very much. And I don't want this opportunity
to pass to just express my gratitude for his friendship and what he
means to me. And Rick is one of my five favorite
preachers in the world. And there really aren't a lot
of people I think that I would walk across the street, quite
frankly, to hear. because there's a lot of mediocre
preaching today, but I would get on a bicycle and ride a long
distance to hear Rick Holland preach the Word of God. I have
twin boys that go to the Master's Seminary, Master's College, and
they're a part of this group week by week. They're out some
for golf tournaments, but they tell me on Saturday night on
the phone, they say, Dad, we'd rather hear Rick Holland than
even John MacArthur. I've never told John that, so
that's just between us in this room. So they love to sit under
Rick's ministry and how he unpacks the Word of God. So you are in
a very special place and in a very favored place. And I pray that
you can be here week by week and bring your friends. This
is where it's at. This is where it's happening. Having said that, I want you
to take God's Word and be opening it and turning to the book of
Galatians. Galatians chapter 16. And today I want to speak
to you from God's Word a message that I've entitled, Boasting
in the Cross. And I want to read just one verse
in Galatians 6 verse 14 to serve as as really a springboard to other
verses in the book of Galatians. But this is a verse that has
long captured my heart. Normally, when you go on the
road, you preach something that you've preached several times
and something you just preached. And I preached this maybe ten
years ago and I've never forgotten it. And it's still etched on
my heart and on my mind. And as I thought about what I
would speak to you regarding today, The text has come to the
forefront of my mind. Spurgeon said when he would open
his Bible and to consider what to preach, he said it was as
if every verse in the Bible cried out to him, preach me, preach
me. Don't listen to the other verse, preach me. And Galatians
6.14 has won my heart for this morning. I want to read it to
you and I want us to consider it today. It is such a powerful
text of Scripture. But may it never be that I would
boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world." The
Apostle Paul says here that he boasted in the cross more than
anything in his entire life. There were a lot of things in
which Paul could have boasted. He could have boasted about his
higher education. He could have boasted about his
intellect. He was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, the leading
teacher of the day. He graduated from the university
at Tarsus, which was known far and wide as the elite place where
the scholars gathered, and he was head and shoulders above
the smartest students of his day. And it has been said that
he had one of the highest intellects, not only of his day, but of any
day. The Apostle Paul could have very
easily boasted in his academic resume, and in his brilliant
mind, and in his grades, and in his scholarship. But Paul
didn't boast in this. He could have boasted in his
social pedigree. He came from a very privileged
background. He was born a Roman citizen.
He was born in Tarsus to an elite family. And he enjoyed all the
privileges of Roman citizenship. If you were born a Roman citizen
in the Middle East, you really were in the upper crust. And
you had something very special for which to be proud of. that
set you apart from others. You were positioned to do well
in life. And yet, Paul did not boast in
this. Paul could have boasted in his religious background.
He was born a Jew, circumcised on the eighth day. The tribe
of Benjamin, one of the elite tribes. It was from Benjamin
that some of the kings came from. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. And yet, Paul did not boast in
his religious upbringing. Instead, Paul chose to boast
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beside the cross, Paul
could have boasted about many things in the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul, when he came to this verse,
he could have said, I boast in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
And that is absolutely fundamental to the Christian faith. Because
he had to come as he did to be what he was to do what he did.
But he doesn't say that he boasts in the virgin birth. True as
it is, he could have boasted in his sinless life. There has
never been a perfect man alive on this planet except Jesus of
Nazareth. He never sinned. He never once
broke the law at any point. And Paul could have boasted in
the sinless perfection of Christ, but that was not in which he
boasted. He could have boasted of the
Lord's teaching ministry because Christ was the great expositor
of the truth. No one ever taught like Christ.
Everyone else just quoted other teachers. Jesus unpacked the
law and He quoted His Father. No one ever ministered the Word
like Jesus. Yet, Paul does not boast in his
teaching. He could have boasted in his
resurrection even. He could have boasted in his
ascension, his exaltation, his second coming. And yet Paul says,
the very heartbeat of my soul, the very passion of my life,
all of these dimensions of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
all point inward to the cross of Jesus Christ. It's where all
the lines merge. It's where all of the eternal
purposes of God converge upon that hill outside Jerusalem 2,000
years ago. And what a strange thing to boast
in. The cross? That was the electric chair of
the first century. There was no more horrific death
than the cross. The cross was a sign of shame. The cross was a sign of an ignominious
death. A Roman citizen could not even
be crucified. Only the worst criminals of the
day. And yet Paul says, God forbid,
or may it never be, that I should boast except in the cross of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, we boast about a lot
of things today. We boast about our football teams.
We boast about our basketball teams. And to a point, rightly
so, and it's fun, and it's a part of just The culture. We boast about our cars. We boast
about this or that or this or that. And some of it is fine
in its place. But every one of us who know
the Lord Jesus Christ must be at the place where we live as
a lifestyle. The very heartbeat and the passion
of our soul is that we boast in the cross of Jesus Christ.
The cross is everything to us. Look at verse 14 again. Still by way of introduction,
he begins verse 14 by saying, may it never be. In the Greek,
it's two words, Meganoita. It's the strongest, most emphatic
negative that could be given in the Greek language. The New
King James translates it, God forbid. Absolutely no way. This could never be. And what
Paul is doing is he is in his own heart, he is drawing a line
in the sand, and he is setting down an anchor, and he is telling
us, God forbid that I ever boast about anything in my life except
the cross of Jesus Christ. May it never be that I should
boast. This word boast means to glory
in, to rejoice in, to exult in. except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This would be the sole object
of his boasting and in his glory. He gives us a brief glimpse as
to why, and I'm going to open it up here in just a second,
but you'll notice at the end of verse 14, he gives us just
a hint regarding why he boasts in the cross of Jesus Christ. He says, through which, meaning
through the cross, The world has been crucified to me and
I to the world." That's a powerful statement. And if you're a Christian,
it's true in your life. For the world to be crucified
to me means that the world is now dead to me. And for me to
be crucified to the world means that I am now dead to the world. The world has lost its allure
to me. The world has lost its pizzazz
for me. The world has lost its charm
to me because of the cross. Because the cross has rescued
me out of this world and has set me apart to God in fellowship
with Him. And I've burned my bridges behind
me and the world is no longer at the center of my life. The
cross has affected a radical separation between me and the
world. And yes, there are still temptations.
And yes, there is still the enticement at times. But down at the epicenter
of my soul, I have been crucified to the world, and the world is
now crucified to me. Do you know anything about that? Could you write out your testimony
and this be your testimony? Is the world dead to you and
you dead to the world? Have you lost some of your popularity
in the world? Does the world now see you in
a different way? On campus, are you seen by the
world in a way in which really the world has lost some of its
feeling for you, because you've been set apart unto Christ. And
are you now equally dead to the world? What I want to do now
is to survey the book of Galatians. I want to give you five reasons
that come from the book of Galatians regarding why Paul would make
such a statement as this. why the Apostle Paul would say,
may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. This is good for my own heart
to remind myself of why Jesus Christ is everything to me, for
me to live as Christ. and to die is gain. Why, Paul
would say that we preach Christ and Him crucified. That the summation
of the heartbeat of His ministry is embodied in the person and
work of Christ in the centrality of the cross. Let's begin. Come back to Galatians chapter
1 with me, if you would. Galatians chapter 1. And I want
to hit five mountain peak passages with you this morning. that are
really like pillars, five pillars that will uphold this statement
at the end of the book of Galatians. And the first that I want you
to see is in chapter 1, verses 3 through 5, and reason number
one why Paul boasts in the cross. Number one is salvation, which
is a divine rescue from this world. Here's the first reason.
Look at verse 3. As Paul winds down this opening
introduction to the book of Galatians, he says in verse 3, Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the mere saying of the Lord Jesus Christ, normally he'd put a period
here or say Amen, and then begin the message of the book. But
Paul is so full of the cross in his life that he cannot even
mention the name Jesus Christ without bleeding out of his heart
something special about Christ. And so he says at the end of
verse 3, and the Lord Jesus Christ, now here it is in verse 4, who
gave Himself up for our sins so that He might rescue us from
this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. Here's reason number one why
Paul boasts in the cross, and why all of us here today who
know the Lord, glory in the cross of Jesus Christ. It is because
of salvation that Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue
us out of this world. When he says in verse 4 that
Jesus gave Himself, it speaks of how intentional the Lord Jesus
gave Himself. He did not die as a martyr. He
did not die because the situation overcame Him to such a point
that they took His life away from Him and His blood was spilt. His blood was not spilt. His
blood was intentionally poured out upon that cross. And Jesus
said in John 10, verse 17, that no man takes My life from Me. Jesus chose when He would die
upon that cross. Father, into Thy hands I commit
my spirit. And then it was Jesus who said,
it is finished. You see, Jesus laid down His
life for us upon the cross and no one took it from Him. He says, for our sins. Here is
the heart of the gospel. Him who knew no sin, God made
to be sin for us. In one word, the message of the
cross, when you boil down to it, is the word substitution.
Jesus died as our substitute upon the cross so that He might
rescue us. The word rescue presupposes that
those for whom He died were in great peril and danger. It presupposes
that those whom he would extricate were in a life-threatening situation. My friend, that's where we were
before the Lord found us. We were on the broad road headed
for destruction. Do you know that? And do you
know that this world is going to hell? Do you know that? Do
you know that this world is under judgment? This morning as I drove
in, coming down the freeway out of Santa Clarita, I saw the hills
and the mountains on fire. And I thought, what a picture
of this world. This world is simmering, ready
for the judgment of God. And yesterday, they were trying
to evacuate people out of the canyons and rescue them and deliver
them to safety. Because if you stay there, you
will surely be burned up and there will be loss of life. In
a far greater way, Jesus went to the cross and He intentionally
gave His life for us that we might be extricated out of the
condemnation of the world and be rescued and delivered unto
salvation." He says so that He might rescue us from this present
evil age. Do you see that in verse 4? From
this present evil age? This present evil age is the
world system in which we live. This world system that is anti-God
and anti-Christ and anti-truth is anti-everything that God stands
for. Just go home and turn on cable
TV. Just go home and pick up the
newspaper. Just get in the car and turn
on the radio. Just go down to the mall. Just
go wherever you are. Open your eyes. You'll see a
world in rebellion against God and a world that is being reserved
for the judgment of the final day. And yet Jesus, in great
love for us, has come into this world and was parachuted down
through the womb of a virgin and lived a sinless and perfect
life and went to a cross. And there bore our sins and iniquities
that He might deliver us out of this place before the whole
thing goes up in hellfire. That's why Paul said, I boast
in the cross of Christ. Everything else is trivial. Everything
else is secondary. Everything else is menial compared
to what Jesus did upon that cross for me. And all of this, verse
4 says, according to the will of our God and Father. You see,
Calvary was no afterthought. The cross was not a bad situation
that got out of hand, as I said earlier. Jesus died according
to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, Acts 2,
23. So, this is why Paul gloried
in the cross. Because he understood that his
life was once a part of this evil age and this world system,
and that he was without hope in this world, and that he was
under the sentence of death in this world. And that there is
salvation in no other name, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And that Jesus
is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the
Father but through Him. And that Christ has exclusively
rescued His soul and ours from the coming destruction. Can you
glory in the cross for that? Can you boast And your Savior
hanging upon that tree, it is through His death that you have
received salvation and the forgiveness of your sins. Something else
that I want you to see, not only salvation, but come to chapter
2 and verse 16. I want you to see justification,
which is a divine declaration of righteousness. Justification. This aspect of the cross goes
yet further than salvation in verse 1, which the word salvation
just means a deliverance or a rescue of someone out of great danger. This goes beyond simply the removal
from the negative. This now is a salvation unto
the positive by which God declares us to be the perfect righteousness
of His Son, Jesus Christ. So, we read in chapter 2 and
verse 16 that knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. If you've been around Grace Church,
you no doubt have heard of and know what the word justification
means. But in case that term is new
to you, it is a word of the courtroom. It is a legal word in which A
man stands before a judge and is declared to be acquitted,
and is declared to be righteous, is declared to have a right standing
before the law and before the judge. The word justification
means to be declared and pronounced the very righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And the exchange of the cross
is this, that God gathered up all of the worst about me, my
sin, and laid them upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I believe
upon Christ, God takes the best about Christ, His righteousness,
and lays it upon me." What an exchange. Him who knew no sin,
God has made to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. And so he says in verse 16, he
says, knowing that a man is not justified, is not giving a standing
of acceptance before God, does not have a right standing before
a holy God in heaven by the works of the law." Meaning, there is
no way any one of us can keep the law. For all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23. And the
wages of sin is what? Death. Romans 6.23. And so not
a one of us are justified by the works of the law. He says
in verse 16, but through faith in Christ. And Jesus Christ came
into this world born of a virgin under the law. And He lived under
the law. And He perfectly kept the law
of God at every point. And when Jesus went to the cross
and died, He died as our perfect sin-bearing Savior. And now when
we believe upon Christ, God takes the perfect righteousness of
Christ and imputes it to our account. To impute it to our
account means that He charges it to our account. It would be
like I would give to you a deposit slip and you would take your
money and match it with my deposit slip, not a bad idea, and take
it to the bank and they would put your money into my account. The cross is all about God taking
the righteousness of Christ and putting it into your account.
such that you have a right standing, a perfect standing before Almighty
God in heaven. In fact, he says this three times
in verse 16 of chapter 2. He belabors this point, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through
faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ
Jesus, so that we may be justified – second mention of the word
– by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, since
by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. Third use
of the word justified. And if you'll look across the
page in chapter 3 and in verse 11, he mentions this truth, this
doctrinal truth of justification Yet a fourth time when he says
in verse 11, now that no one is justified by the law before
God is evident. If you're jotting down notes,
jot this down. The Bible teaches us that there
are three imputations. Three great imputations that
have taken place in redemptive history. Number one is Adam's
sin. When Adam sinned, his sin was
immediately charged to the account of everyone who would ever be
born and who would come into this world. And there is a very
real sense in which you and I became a sinner over 6,000 years ago. When Adam sinned, we all sinned. Romans 5 verse 12. This is at
the heart of being a good systematic theologian. To understand the
original sin of Adam has been charged to the entire human race. What does a man have to do to
be lost? Nothing. Just be conceived in
the womb. And Adam's sin has already been
charged to the entire human race. You say, well, that doesn't sound
very fair to me. Well, number one, if you had
been in the garden, you would have made the very same choice. But number two, there's two more
imputations. And the last two are positive
and be careful before you say that's not fair because you don't
want it fair. The second imputation took place
2,000 years ago at Calvary's cross when Jesus died for His
people and He laid down His life for His sheep and all of our
sins were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ and upon that cross,
Jesus bore our sins in His body. You say, how did that happen?
It happened by imputation as God charged, imputed all of our
sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's very good for us. And the third imputation is now
whenever sinners believe upon Jesus Christ, all of His righteousness
is imputed to us. And there you have the whole
message of the Bible in a nutshell. That's all you need to know.
from Genesis to Revelation, other than the fact that he's coming
back, which is pretty big news. When Adam sinned, his one act
of disobedience made the many disobedient before God. We became
sinners over 6,000 years ago before we ever entered into this
world. And 2,000 years ago, our sins
were imputed to Christ and He suffered and bled and died for
us. to take those sins off of us
and put them upon the scapegoat, Christ. And now, by faith and
repentance, His righteousness is imputed to us. Have you ever
received the righteousness of Christ? Has His righteousness
been charged to your account in heaven? You see, the only
way to find acceptance before God is for there to be absolute
perfection to be registered next to your name in heaven. And we
have all already blown it. Yet there is one who was perfect.
His name is Jesus of Nazareth. And if you will trust him, his
perfection will be charged to your account in heaven. No wonder
Paul boasted in the cross. And he spent his whole life in
Judaism trying to work his way to the top, and in one moment
he was made righteous before God through faith in Jesus Christ. Well, there's a third truth that
I want you to see. In Galatians chapter 2, looking
in verse 20 and 21, not only justification, But there's a third truth that
I want you to see regarding why Paul boasted in the cross, and
it's in verse 20 and 21. It is the word sanctification,
which means to be set apart unto God and to be set apart unto
purity and holiness. Look at verse 20. It's a verse
with which we are very familiar. He says in verse 20, I have been
crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live."
See, he's talking about the cross. I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me,
past tense, that looks back to the cross, and gave Himself up
for me, that looks back to the cross. He's talking about the
cross here. and how the cross has changed
his life. You see, salvation is more than
just paperwork in heaven. It's more than just bookkeeping
in heaven. It's more than just God putting
something in your account in heaven. It is God doing something
in your life and soul. You see, salvation is not just
getting man out of hell and into heaven. It is getting God out
of heaven and into man. And it comes through the cross.
He says in verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. What a
statement. What does he mean here? I have
been crucified with Christ. That was just Jesus on that cross. What do you mean I have been
crucified with Christ? Well, Paul is saying there were
two deaths that day. When Jesus died, I also died,
for I was in Christ just as I had been in Adam. And I have died
now to my old way of life. Not only did Jesus die upon that
cross, but now there is the reality that I also died with Him. And it is no longer I who live. What are you saying? I mean,
Paul was obviously alive when he wrote this book. What do you
mean? It is no longer I who live. What Paul is saying is, is the
old Paul has died. That old self-righteous, self-centered,
self-seeking Paul. That egotistical, arrogant, religious
Paul. That Paul who could be filled
with self-pity and self-pride. That Paul that lived for himself. That old Paul that had to elevate
himself above others, that Paul which longed for the affirmation
and the recognition and the status of the world and even the world
of religion, that old Paul has died and there is now a new Paul
who is alive and it is the cross that has radically transformed
and changed me. Do you know anything about that?
You see, every one of our lives needs to be like a two-volume
set of books. And volume number one for you
needs to be entitled, B.C., Before Christ. And that was your old
life, your old way of life as you lived according to the course
of this world. And in between these two volumes
is the new birth. And volume one ends with a death,
and it is the death to your old way of life. And volume 2 begins
with a resurrection as you are raised to walk in newness of
life. And this is your AD volume, after
death, and you now live for the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's
just no going back to volume 1. It's impossible. Because the
cross has changed and transformed your life. Somebody as well said,
if your religion hasn't changed your life, then you need a new
religion. Because the real Christianity will change your life. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation,
a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold,
new things have come. So Paul says here in Galatians
2.20, I've been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I
who live. But Christ lives in me." That's
because of the power of the cross. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself up for me. And later in chapter 5, verse
24, he says, now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
the flesh with its passions and desires. That's why Paul boasted
in the cross. That's why you and I glory in
the cross. That's why the cross means everything
to us. It's because through the cross
God has begun the process of radically changing my life and
making me into the very image of Christ. It's through the cross
that He has crushed my pride and crushed my self-centeredness.
And there is a new life that is emerging. A life just like
Jesus lived. A life of humility and obedience
and righteousness. There's a fourth word that I
want you to see in chapter 3 and verse 13 and 14. Thinking about
the cross. And why Paul boasted in it, not
only salvation and justification and sanctification. And by the way, let me also say
that everyone whom the Lord justifies, He also sanctifies. And everyone
is justified at the moment of conversion. And the process of
sanctification also begins at the moment of conversion. This
is all lumped together. It's a packaged deal. And just
as we can't separate the Saviorhood of Christ from the Lordship of
Christ, neither can we separate these benefits of the cross.
And when you believe upon Christ upon the cross, all five of these
immediately, instantaneously, in a moment, all become our possession. Salvation out of this evil world
age. Justification before a holy God
in heaven. Sanctification from our old way
of life. And now fourth, redemption. Redemption. Look at verse 13 in chapter 5. This is a glorious truth. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Stop right there. To redeem us
means to make a purchase. And not merely to make a purchase
and to leave what you bought in the store. This word... is a word which means to buy
out of. In other words, to go into a
marketplace, to go into an arena, to go into a place of commercial
exchange and to pay a price to buy something and then to take
it with you and to take it out of that arena such that you now
place it in a new environment. That's what the word redemption
means here. That Christ has come into this
world, and upon that cross, He suffered and bled and died for
us, and He bought us with His shed blood, and He has bought
us out of this world of sin. And out of the kingdom of darkness,
and out of the realm of Satan's hold. He redeemed us, it says
here in verse 13, from the curse of the law. And the curse of
the law is condemnation. The curse of the law is to be
under the law and to fail to keep the law. And the Bible says
that we have all broken the law. And the Bible says if you break
one of the points of the law, you have broken the entire law. And so, all of us stand as guilty
before the great lawgiver, Christ, having not only broken the entirety
of His law, both in attitude, or supremely in attitude, and
many times in action, but also under now the condemnation of
the law. And the condemnation of the law
is the sentence of death. The condemnation of the law,
bottom line, it's a potent word, but it's the truth, is the word
damnation. And that's where we stood before
God. Guilty, vile, and helpless we. And Christ came into this world
and with His shed blood purchased our soul on the slave block of
sin and has delivered us and set us free. And Jesus said in
John 8, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. So, verse 13, Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. You see, upon the cross, not
only did God impute to Him all of our sins, but as He became
our sin-bearer, He then became our curse-bearer. And He became
a curse for us. That's why He died, for the wages
of sin is what? Death. And that's why Jesus had
to become a man, because God can't die. And if Jesus was to
die for us, then He must become a man for us that He might pay
the penalty for us by becoming a curse for us upon the cross. And so it says, for it is written,
cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And that is Jesus
upon the cross. This is from Deuteronomy 21,
23. It's long before crucifixion
was even invented as a form of capital punishment, but it points
back to the Old Testament when someone would be caught in a
criminal offense and would be stung to death, and after they
would be stung to death for some sin such as adultery or or whatever
of those charges that the Old Testament required capital punishment. After they were stoned to death,
they would then be nailed to a tree until sunset so that it
would make a public statement to the entire community that
they are rejected by God for breaking the law. That was but a graphic illustration
of the cross as Jesus would be hung upon a tree and there become
a curse for us before a holy God so that we would be blessed
and we would be forgiven and we would be set free. And that verse 14 says that in
order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come
to the Gentiles. And the blessing of Abraham is
really referring to all the blessings that are ours in Christ. And
Ephesians 1, 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Sometimes our charismatic
friends ask us, have you had the second blessing? And I want
to say, the second? I've had every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ. There's a last word that I want
you to see in chapter 4 and verse 4. Not only did Paul boast in
the cross because of salvation and justification and sanctification
and redemption, but beginning in chapter 4 verse 4, running
through verse 7, we see that Jesus through His death has brought
us adoption as well. Notice in verse 4, but when the
fullness of the time came." Referring to the time for Christ to enter
into this world. Verse 4, God sent forth His Son. You see, it was by divine initiative
that Jesus came into this world, born of a woman. He had to be
born of flesh and blood, remember, in order to die for us. Born
of a woman and thereby born under the law. Born under the obligation
to obey every part of the law and to be judged by his keeping
or not keeping of the law. Born under the law so that he
might redeem those who were under the law. That is you and me. Now notice this, that we might
receive the adoption as sons. You know the difference between
being born again and being adopted into God's family? And both have
happened in our lives. When you are born again, you
go through the vaginal canal. And there is a conception within
the womb of your heart. And there is the divine nature
that is imparted to you and you take on the family likeness.
And you take on the divine nature and you come into this world
as a spiritual babe. And the rest of your Christian
life is a growth in grace as you grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you go through this whole
development phase of 1 John 2.13 from infant stage to young man
phase to full mature adult phase. But with adoption, and this is
also true, you came into the family of God as a full-born
adult. with all of the rights and privileges
of a full-born adult in God's family, able to access the throne
of God, a partaker of the inheritance of God, a recipient of the Spirit
of God, and able to commune with God and come before His throne
of grace as a full-fledged member of the family of God. That so
affected the Apostle Paul as he understood that, that's why
he said in chapter 6, but may it never be that I should boast
except in the cross of Christ. I want to conclude by asking
you this. Do you know Jesus Christ? Is
He your Lord and Savior? Do you boast in the cross and
glory in the cross? Do you exult in the cross for
what it has done for you? For those of us who know Christ,
we understand what Paul is saying here. And if you have never believed
upon Christ, I invite you to surrender and commit your life
to Him. And I promise you on the authority of God's Word that
your life will never be the same again. You will be saved out
of this evil world system. You will be justified before
a holy God in heaven. You will be sanctified from a
life of sin. You will be redeemed from the
curse of the law. And you will be adopted into
the family of God and immediately given throne rights and privileges
to be a part of the family and have a seat at the table. and
to be a recipient of the inheritance that belongs to the family of
God. If you have never committed your life to Christ, there is
no coincidence that you're here today, that you're here by divine
appointment. And if you've never trusted in
Christ as your Lord and Savior, this message is God's invitation
to your heart today. May you repent of your sin. throw
yourself upon the mercy of God, and you will find a Savior who
will save you unto the uttermost. And you will say with the Apostle
Paul that I will spend the rest of my life boasting in and glorying
in the cross of Christ, because it is through that shed blood
that I have been saved. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
You for the mighty act of redemption at Calvary's cross. We thank
You for how the Son of God was lifted up to die for us. And
how You gathered up our sins and laid them upon Him. And He
bore our sins in His body and carried them far, far away. And with His blood has now washed
us from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. and now
presents us faultless to stand before Your throne. Lord, may
we truly magnify the cross and rejoice in the cross and glory
in the cross of Jesus Christ. And may we live cross-centered
lives. Lord, bless these precious people. And for any who do not
know Christ, may this be the narrow gate for them through
which they would enter unto eternal life. In Jesus' name, Amen.