I had a large crowd this morning just because of this, what is
known in the religious community as being Easter Sunday. I could
predict even before I began to preach that it would be a dead
service. Some of the worst services I've
ever experienced in my ministry for Christ have been occasions when religionists
attend, and they attend only a few times
during the year. They make no contribution to
a service. They detract from it. I realize
that what I have just said would make a lot of people angry if
we had a large crowd of visitors who go just once in a while when
they feel like, well, I need to be religious once in a while
anyway. I can illustrate that by some
of my neighbors. The man who lives directly in
front of me is an ex-Methodist preacher. He's married to a Lutheran
woman. They go to church only three
times during the entire year. They've been living there five
years, and I've experienced this for the last five years. Exmas, they go to church. And Palm Sunday, to the religionists,
they go to church. Last Sunday they went. Oh, you
should have seen him strutting, getting ready, yet last Sunday
morning. And I said to myself, well, look
at old David. And today, they went to church.
Well, they didn't go to church, but anyway, they went to a religious
service. You say, well, I don't think
that you ought to say anything. You ought to appreciate folk
when they do go. You see, when you believe the truth of God's
Word, that it takes the Lord to work a work of grace in the
heart of a person giving him the desire for spiritual things,
giving the truth is not going to offend one of God's elect.
Stating the truth only offends those who have no concern whatsoever
for truth. So you can see why that a large
crowd of people who go just occasionally do not make any contribution,
but rather they detract from the spirituality of the service.
I know whereof I speak. I've experienced it many times
through the years. That doesn't mean that we're
not interested in people. We are. But we're interested in
giving the truth as it is to people as they are. I think this is a very fitting
subject for today. I think it will be helpful for
all of us who know the truth concerning the subjects, not
only of Exmas, but also of that which is called by religionists
as being Easter Sunday. Let's look at our text once again.
We read our Scripture reading before the last psalm, but let's
look at the text. Galatians 6, verse 14. I enjoyed greatly the study of this verse,
this past week, in preparing the lesson that I want to bring
to you this morning. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. Do you know why religionists
make such a big show of religion? In making a big show of the flesh,
they do not suffer the reproach of Christ. They'll receive no
scars for bearing the cross of Jesus Christ by making a big
show of the flesh. That appeals to religionists,
and it even appeals to non-religionists as well. When you look at the closing
verses of Galatians and consider the Apostle Paul as he wrote
to the Galatians who were being disturbed by the legalizers,
those who were concerned greatly about making a great demonstration
of the flesh, You can understand, I believe,
the feeling that Paul had. No other of his epistles begins
like this one or concludes like it. Galatians has not only an
unusual introduction, but it also has an unusual conclusion. And we will observe both this
morning and some of the things that transpire in between the
introduction and the conclusion. And then we will concentrate
on that great text, Galatians 6.14. Three divisions, three
crucifixions. The crucifixion of Christ, the
crucifixion of the world to the Christian, the crucifixion of
the Christian to the world. glorying in the cross is my subject
on this Sunday morning glorying in the cross I like to preface
our study this morning of Galatians 6.14 by reminding you of what
our Lord said to Peter the spokesman of the disciples in the 16th
chapter of the gospel according to Matthew immediately after he told Peter
that the confession which he had made was a revelation of
God, in verse 17. Following that, he stated that
he would build his church upon the rock, and that rock being
Jesus Christ, not Peter. Immediately after his statement
concerning the building of the church, he then gave the foundation
of the church, by predicting his own death, his own burial,
and his glorious resurrection out from among the dead. But
there is something striking in that passage, beginning with
about verse 21 through verse 23. And to the Lord had told
Peter, in fact, when he began saying, that I must die, I must suffer,
and I must die, When the Lord Jesus referred
to his own death by way of prediction, Peter didn't hear another word
he said. Isn't that like a lot of us?
When we hear something that we don't want to really hear, we
don't hear anything else. I'm going to prove to you that
he didn't hear what the Lord said about his own resurrection
out from among the dead. When the Lord referred to his
death, that got Peter. And Peter didn't follow him any
further. Immediately, Peter just closed
his ears to everything else. This can't happen. This can't
happen to you. And he even rebuked the Lord
for that statement. And then the Lord had to say,
Get behind me, Satan. You savers, not the things that
be of God, but those that be of men. Too many times when we
hear things that we do not want to hear, we close our ears, we're
not ready, we don't follow that which follows. And that's exactly
what Peter did. He must die before we would be
raised out from among the dead. And he didn't hear anything about
the resurrection. This morning our subject is glorying in the
cross. Glorying in the cross. You see,
Peter was not glorying in the cross. He was rebuking Jesus
Christ for making any reference to his own death. There is an unusual tone of severity
in the epistle to the Galatians. The average religionist today
does not want to hear anything that is severe. But there is a tone of severity,
and I want you to see it, in the epistle to the Galatians.
Never was there a man so willing to bear weak brethren as the
Apostle Paul. Furthermore, there was never
a man as anxious and as determined to expose false teachers as the
Apostle Paul. Now let's put those two statements
together. There was never a person more willing to bear the infirmities
and the weaknesses of young Christians and weak Christians as Paul.
But on the other hand, there was never a person so determined
to expose false teachers and false teaching than the Apostle. or one who just likes to hear
the preacher talk about sweet things and lovely things and
love and he never talks about severity, he never mentions wrath
or judgment, then you've revealed just what kind of person you
are. You've actually revealed just
what kind of person you are. The person who has anything,
he not only loves truth, but he hates everything that is against
truth. He hates everything that is contrary to truth. That was
the Apostle Paul. No Christian can be neutral when
the very foundation of the faith, once for all delivered to the
saints, is attacked. I can't be neutral, neither can
you. wherever I am, with whomever I might be, whenever the truth
of the foundation of the Christian faith is being attacked, I cannot
be neutral, I can't be silent. Paul couldn't either. Judaizers
had introduced legalism and ritualism into the churches at Galatia.
Hence Paul had an unusual introduction and conclusion to this epistle. There are two parts in his introduction,
if you want to take time to study it sometime during the day. First of all, you'll notice his
cool greeting. His greeting was cool. His greeting
was nothing like his greeting the Ephesian church, or the church
at Colossae, or the church at Philippi, or the other churches. So there was a cool greeting,
verses 1 through 5, and then that cool greeting was followed
immediately by a stern reproof, verses 6 through 9. You might ask a question this
morning, why Paul was so tolerant in Philippians 1.18, and yet
intolerant in Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. I'd like
for us to look at these two passages for a moment. Turn first of all
to Philippians 1.18. We'll not go back to verse 15
and begin our reading of Philippians chapter 1, but we do want to
mention one statement in verse 16, the one preached Christ of
contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds,
but the other of love. First part of verse 17. Now look
at verse 18. What then? Notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and
I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Now there were
some who were preaching Christ of contention, seeking to add
afflictions to Paul's bonds, and others of love. How in the
world could Paul be so tolerant here and then so intolerant in
Galatians 1, verses 6-9? Turn back to Galatians 1, verses
6-9, and then I'll answer it. Paul said, I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that call you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some
that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
ye have received, let him be accursed. In Philippians 1, he
was tolerant. In Galatians 1, he was intolerant. Now, how could he be tolerant
in one instance and intolerant in the other? I'd like you to
look at the context of each, and I think you're familiar enough
with the context of each to know the difference. In Philippians
1.18, the message was true. The principle was correct. The
method was wrong. Therefore, he was tolerant. I
said the message was true, but the method was wrong. and therefore
he was tolerant. On the other hand, in Galatians
1, the message was wrong. When the message is wrong, it
doesn't make any difference if the method is right. One cannot
be tolerant when the message is wrong. So in one instant,
Paul was tolerant, because the message was true, even though
the method of its presentation was wrong. On the other hand,
The message itself was wrong, therefore he could not be tolerant. He was intolerant. And so is
everyone who loves the truth of God. It never occurred to
the Apostle Paul, as it does to modern-day liberals, that
the gospel might be true to one man and not true to another.
That never entered his mind. The blight of pragmatism had
never crossed the path of Paul. The era of subjectivism had never
entered into his mind. Furthermore, the heresy of existentialism
did not invade the apostles' thinking. On account of the heresy introduced
into the churches of Galatia, Paul asserted his apostleship,
which he did on a few occasions. He showed that his calling in
the first chapter, verse 10, forward, came directly from the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he sets forth the power
of the cross and its various aspects as the only ground of
one's salvation. He showed that the cross of Jesus
Christ is the power of God. Number one, to deliver from sin. Chapter 1, verse 4. Chapter 3,
verse 22. Secondly, the cross is the power
of Christ to deliver from the curse of the law. Chapter 3,
verse 13. Thirdly, the cross of the Lord
Jesus is the power to deliver from the self-life. The self-life. Chapter 2, verse 20. And chapter
5, verse 24. And finally, the cross is the
power of God to deliver from the world. And that takes in
our text, which we're looking at this morning. The major point
of emphasis in the closing verses of Paul's epistle to the churches
of Galatia is glorying in the cross. Are you glorying in the
cross this morning? You might think you are, but
before we will have finished, you can know for sure if you
are or not. Are you really glorying in the
cross? Do you think you're glorying in the cross? You may be presuming,
you may be presumptuous about it. But are you really glorying
in the cross? That's the question. And we're
going to answer it this morning because it is so vital. No subject
is more important than this one. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the interpreter, not only of God, but of man, sin, the gospel,
and true service. Let's look at these just briefly.
First of all, the gospel is the interpreter of God. If you want
to know what God is like, consider the cross. Consider the cross. As the God
of the cross is the revealer of the love and justice of God. And there is no true love apart
from divine justice being met. Love is never extended to any
person unless the justice of God has been satisfied. You can
make no claim whatsoever on God's love unless you have experienced
in your own personal life the justice of God having been satisfied. It isn't enough to talk about
love. Millions of people are going to hell every day, every
year, who talk about love and yet they know nothing about the
righteousness of God. They know absolutely nothing
about the justice of God. They're always talking about
His love, His love. So righteousness or justice must
be satisfied before love can ever be extended to an immortal
man. That means that your sins were
paid for at Calvary. Justice was satisfied before
the love of God can be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. So as the God, the cross is the
revealer of the character of God. Secondly, The cross is the
revealer of man. If you want to know what man
is, look at the cross. Think not only about what man,
or men, plural, did to Jesus Christ when they nailed him to
the tree, but don't forget about the persons for whom he
died when he was nailed to the tree. He died for sinners. I said he died for sinners. Therefore
the cross is the revealer of man, his character, his depravity. The heinousness of man's sin
was revealed at Calvary. The cross is also the revealer
of sin as well as man. If you want to know the heinousness
of sin, look at Calvary. The Lord Jesus who never offended
anyone. The perfect human being. Absolutely
perfect. The impeccable Savior. And think
about what men did to Him. Sin. That's sin. When you think about the Gospel,
You can't think about the gospel because the cross is the revealer
of the gospel and there can be no gospel apart from the cross.
1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4 describes what the gospel is.
And finally, the cross is the revealer of service. The person who was in bondage
to sin has been delivered from such
bondage, and now being a free person, he's free to serve the
Lord Jesus. So the cross is the revealer
of God, the revealer of man, the revealer of sin, the revealer
of the law, if you please. The law had to be satisfied.
The law was good, holy, just. Nothing wrong with the law. It
had to be satisfied, and it was satisfied at Calvary. The revealer
of the gospel, the revealer of service. Please observe what Paul said
in the first part of verse 14. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every man has an
object of glory. I don't care who he is, he has
an object of glory. the avaricious wealth, the vain
distinction, the ambitious power, the self-righteous virtue, the
philosophical wisdom. But in what does the Christian
boast? Only in the cross of Jesus Christ.
He doesn't boast in philosophy. He doesn't boast in power. He doesn't boast in wealth or
fame. His boast is only in Jesus Christ. Does that fit you? Can you say, As Paul did, God forbid that
I should glory, save, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to get the impact of
that statement. The word for glory used here in verse 14 is
a present infinitive called kamae, which means to glory or to boast. to take pride in. To glory or
boast or to take pride in. This verb is used 36 times in
the New Testament. But we're not going to look at
all of them. I do want to mention just a few that you might get
the real impact of this word, this verb that is used. Turn
with me first of all to Romans chapter 2 and let us read verses
17 and 23. The same verb is used in both
these references. Behold thou art called a Jew,
and restest in the law. Now notice they were resting
in the law, and while resting in the law, they were boasting.
And makest thy boast of God. There are people today who are
resting in the law, or they're resting in religion, human religion,
or human tradition, and while resting in human tradition, are
making boast of God. But that boast is just as vain
as the boast of these Jews that Paul exposed in Romans 2.17. Now, beloved, you've got to make
the application. Now drop down, if you will, to
verse 23. Thou that makest thy boast of
the law. Boasting in the law. Through breaking the law dishonorest
thou God? Making boast of the very thing
they were breaking. There are many religionists today
who have their church creeds and church covenants and they
boast in their creeds and their covenants but they're not even
living up to their own creeds and covenants. Same thing. Same thing exactly. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Let's
read this verb in two or three other places. 1 Corinthians 1
verse 29 and verse 30. Paul said that no flesh had glory
in his presence. Now, in order to get the impact
of this use of the verb, go back to verse 27. But God had chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. And base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are. Here's the reason,
here's the purpose. In order that no flesh should
glory or take pride in his presence. Then look at verse 30. But of
him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And here it is
again, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. I said every man has an object
of glory. I like the New American Standard
Bible's translation of this phrase. But may it never be that I should
boast. That's what Paul was actually
saying. And that's really the better translation. But may it
never be that I should boast. except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now we're still talking about
glory, and every man has an object of glory. I'd like you to turn
with me to Jeremiah, chapter 9, verses 23 and 24. We have
three negatives and one glorious positive in these verses. three negatives and one glorious
positive. Jeremiah warned about the unreasonableness
and folly of glorying in external privileges and advantages. And here's what he said, Jeremiah
9 beginning with verse 23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, That wisdom won't do you much
good when you face death. And if you don't have the wisdom
of God, that wisdom that you have of the world will not amount
to a thing in the world. So let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, and not God's wisdom here. Get the connection.
See, Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. He's the true wisdom
of God. I can glory in Him. I can take pride in Him and not
sin. And that's exactly what Paul was doing. And there's only
one person in whom you can glory and take pride and not be committing
sin. And that's Jesus Christ. Let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom. That's the first negative.
Number two, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Number
three, let not the rich man glory in his riches. There are the
three negatives. Now look at the positive. but let him that glorieth glory
in this. Oh, I like this. I love this. That he understandeth and knoweth
me. Do you understand and know the Lord? That I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, For
in these things do I delight, saith the Lord." No greater passage,
no greater parallel passage than this to study in connection with
the first part of Galatians 6.14. There is no passion in our nature
which so effectually defeats its own end, or so completely
mars the accomplishment of its object as human pride. When a person possesses pride,
pride of self, pride of self-accomplishments, Even the very thing that he's
accomplished has been marred by his pride. Now be honest with
me. Here's a person who may have
accomplished a great deal in this world, but you don't like
to hear him tell about it all the time, do you? Nothing marrs
even the accomplishments so much as a man who manifests his pride
in what he has accomplished. You know that's true. If we catch a man in his gloryings,
we take him at his height, whether he be sinner or saint. When we hear a sinner glorying
in his accomplishments, we see him at his height, and sometimes
a little higher than he actually is, and maybe sometimes a lot higher
than he actually is. because they're not really honest
with himself. And he wants you and he wants
others to think that he is really better and greater than he actually
is. So when we hear the gloryings
of men, we see men at their height, whether they be sinners or whether
they be saints. Now if they be sinners, then
they're glorying in their achievements, their accomplishments, maybe even their privileges, maybe in their physical appearances. But you know, if you are a handsome
individual as I am, you don't have anything to do with it. If you are a beautiful woman,
you didn't have anything to do with it. If you have unusual opportunities
in life, the providence of God gave you
those, so that isn't anything to glory in or brag about or
take pride in. Do we stop to really weigh these
things? So when we see a sinner taking
pride in himself or in his accomplishments or in his opportunities, in his
advantages. Just remember, we are seeing
the sinner at his height. But when we listen to the Christian
who says humbly, God forbid that I should glory. You know, I never think about
a person like that. in terms of his achievements,
his accomplishments, his opportunities. As an individual, he's just simply
glorying in what God has done for him. Let's observe the negatives of
Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. Three negatives here. The first surprising negative
was wisdom. This is the wisdom of the world,
not the wisdom of God. Now, if you were to read the
book of Proverbs, you would say that wisdom is the principal
thing, therefore get wisdom. And you could read many, many
verses in the Proverbs that emphasize wisdom, and you would say, well,
do not those verses in Proverbs contradict this text? No, no. No. There are no contradictions
in Scripture. The wisdom that even Solomon
was talking about, after all, Jesus Christ is the personification
of wisdom. He's the personification of wisdom.
If you don't believe it, read the 8th chapter of Proverbs.
Wisdom personified is Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said He's been
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. What Jeremiah is talking about
here in this negative when he says, let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, he's talking about wisdom that is void of reverence
and is detached from the grace of the sovereign God. That's
what he's talking about. We must learn to separate opinions
from principles and theories from practices. A man may be skilled in the decrees
of divine counsel and also in the traditions of men at the
same time. But the man of God knows the
difference between the decrees of God and the traditions of
men. And he's going to glory in the
decrees of God and not in the traditions of men. Therefore, we need to know the
difference. And we need to be able to separate opinions from
principles. Human opinions from divine principles. That's so important. We know
that the unsaved man boasts in human traditions. Religionists
boast in human traditions. That's going on all over the
world today. In religious services, People
are boasting in human tradition. Beloved, I'm not preaching on
this this morning, but I challenge anybody anywhere to prove from
Scripture that Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday and
raised on the first part of Sunday morning. That is as foreign to
scripture as day is from being night. And that is human religious
tradition in which people are glorying. The Lord Jesus Christ
was crucified on a Wednesday. I said on a Wednesday. About
three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon. And buried before
the beginning of the next day. Before six o'clock if you please.
And He came forth victorious out of the grave at the end of
the Sabbath, the week of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week. And, beloved, in that statement
we have the fulfillment of Christ's own prediction that He would
be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights,
not part of three days and part of three nights. But you try to tell that to the
average religionist today, and he'll classify you with Herbert
Armstrong or somebody else. That's okay. See, I'm responsible
for truth, and so are you. So are you. Look at the twelfth verse, if
you will, please, of Galatians chapter 6. The Apostle Paul was condemning
human tradition. human tradition. They constrain
you to be circumcised. They constrain you to be circumcised. The legalizer's constraint to
circumcision was that they might make a fair show in the flesh. Let us not forget that God turns
the wisdom of man into foolishness. Into foolishness. Notice the
second negative. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. The second negative was power.
The mighty man must not glory in his might. Here again the
prophet was referring to strength. Beloved, whether it be individual
or collective, doesn't make any difference if it is individual
or collective. I got so amused the other day,
the other morning we were watching a program and someone was interviewing
Billy Graham when he was here in Houston not long ago. And
he was asked a question about a certain group of people and
he said, oh I know nothing about them, it's just a little small
group and he just laughed it off. But the way he said it, a little
small group that believed that, just laughed it off. He said,
you tell me what they believe. In other words, I'm so big and
I'm associated with such a large movement, I don't have time for
those little trivial things. Evidently, you don't have any
time for God's little flock. God's little flock. Has he forgotten
the language of Holy Scripture? I'm afraid so. Everything with
Him is worldwide. worldwide so once again I repeat the prophet
was referring to strength whether it be individual or collective we're not very far away from
there being many many people associated in one big old universal
visible, false church on earth. Don't forget that. Let me illustrate this. A sword
may be good and is powerful if it is reverently regarded. I said a sword may be good if
it is reverently regarded. I can give you a classic illustration
of this. For example, the sword of Gideon is always a curse. But listen now, but the sword
of the Lord and Gideon is putting it in its proper perspective.
The sword of the Lord and Gideon. That's an instrument of achievement. I said the instrument of achievement.
So power apart from the grace of God is destructive. But the power of the Holy Spirit
within the Christian or within the local church is constructive. If an individual possesses power
apart from grace, it's always destructive. That's why I guess I don't have
much affinity for politicians. They're all striving for power at any cost. I was telling some
folk recently, you know, I believe that the politicians in Washington
and now they're talking, you know, about the Social Security
and they're going to run out of money and they're always,
if they can keep the elderly people disturbed that are relying
solely on Social Security for their source of income, In their
old age, if they can get them disturbed enough, a lot of them
will die of a heart attack, and that'll, you know, eliminate
a lot of payments. So they just keep on talking.
What is it? A power struggle. Well, I don't
care who the president is, whether he's a Democrat or a Republican,
he cannot accomplish anything, and I'll tell you why. When a
Republican president is in office, when he's in office, the Democrats
are going to do everything they can to try to get him out of
it. And I'm not dabbling in politics, I'm just telling the truth this
morning. And when a Democratic president
is in office, the Republicans are going to do everything they
can to get him out and make the Republicans look good. They talk
about bipartisan, being bipartisan, that's a laugh. That's just like
getting a Methodist that is sold on Methodism and a Baptist that
is sold on the Baptistic belief. Well, be bipartisan in this. Be bipartisan in your belief.
Let's look at the third negative. The man who glories in his riches.
This must not be understood in the sense of a few millionaires,
but of anyone who regards his money, whether it be little or
much, in an irreverent manner. Whether it be little or much,
he regards it in an irreverent manner. How many of us glory,
for instance, we better not glory in our houses, they can burn
down. And all the insurance companies can get tired of paying insurance
after a while and they can go up on their rates so high you
can't afford it. If you're glorying in your automobile,
look out, you may be going down the street and it'll be totaled
out before you get very far. So the person who glories in
whatever he has... Now let me illustrate it in a
very practical way this morning. I ought to be practical. Do you
enjoy going to see someone and he spends all the time while
you're there showing you what all he's accumulated? Or when
you go see someone, do you like to sit down and you like to hear
the person magnify the things that he has learned from Holy
Scripture? and talk about the riches of God's grace, which
means the most to you. That's getting down where we
live, isn't it? I think so. Therefore Jeremiah
said, Let him that glorieth glory in this, the Lord speaking through
him, that he understandeth and knoweth me. Grace alone can conquer pride. Before the grace of God entered
the life of the Apostle Paul, or Paul the Apostle, let me put
it in its proper, some of you don't know what I'm talking about,
but some of you do, you heard me recently. In the life of Paul
the Apostle, take a while to straighten that out. What happened to him before?
He was always glorying in something. Let's see about it. Will you
turn back or turn to Philippians chapter 3, turn forward that
is, to Philippians chapter 3. Let's begin with about verse
4. I want you to see that he had some things in which he could
glory. And no doubt he did as a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. Think about his accomplishments.
I want you to see that it takes the grace of God to subdue pride. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, verse 4, if any other man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. If someone thinks
that he has some reason for trusting in the flesh, I want you to know
I have a greater reason, Paul said. Let's read on. Circumcised the eighth day are
the tribe of Israel, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
He felt he was doing everything God demanded. I love verse 7,
But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Grace subdues pride. And grace is the only thing that
will subdue pride. Then he goes on to say in verse
8, Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. What things? Go back and look
at the preceding verses that we have just read. Those are
the things that he had suffered loss. of all of them? For what purpose? Oh, that I
might be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness,
but that which is of God by faith. Now I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15 for just a moment. After Paul was saved,
after the grace of God came into his life, he still had things
in which he could glory, but he did not He did not. Why? Because grace subdued pride
in Him. Look at verses 9 and 10. For
I am the least of the apostles, and am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all. Now, he was not manifesting pride
when he made that statement. That was a fact. That was a fact. I want you to see that there
were things in which he could boast, but pride was subdued,
and was subdued by grace in him. So even after he was saved, he
could say. And he was right in making this statement. I labored
more abundantly than they all. But he didn't stop there. Notice
how he concludes. And oh, what a conclusion this
is when he says, Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. There's a manifestation of true
glory. True glory. The cross of Jesus
Christ is the highest object of the redeemed man's glory. I said the cross of Jesus Christ
is the highest object of the redeemed man's glory. Glory implies the highest appreciation
for the cross. Paul valued it more than anything
else in all the world. Nothing was so important to him
as the cross. He looked upon it theologically,
that is from God's viewpoint. He looked upon him morally, that
is, from man's viewpoint. And when we would look at these
two statements, looking at it first of all from God's point
of view and secondly from man's, there is one statement that will
give an answer to both. What is it? What is it? In the answer, we might say to
these two questions, what does the cross mean to God? And secondly,
what does it mean to man? We see the dignity of the crucified. I said the dignity of the crucified,
the atoning efficacy of the crucifixion, and the triumphant enthronement,
intercession, and sovereignty of the Son of Man. The cross
proves it is not safe, it is not safe to judge by mere appearance. Now what do you mean by that?
What do you think about those who stood around that day when
the Lord Jesus was taken by the hands of wicked men and nailed
to the cross? He had been crowned with a thorn of crowns and then
nailed to the cross and then the cross was suspended between
heaven and earth. What do you think they really
thought? What was their judgment of the cross? Did not many of
them say, He says He's King of the Jews? Why doesn't He come
down from the cross? I want you to get what they thought. He saved others, why can't He
save Himself? I want you to see what they were
thinking. You see, if they had been judging
the cross by merely outward appearance, then they were right in saying,
why doesn't He come down, why doesn't He save Himself? How
many of us have been guilty in judging something hastily by
mere outward existence of something or the
appearance of something, and we didn't really make the proper
judgment? When Jesus Christ died on the
cross, even though it looked like that that was defeat, it
was victory! That was victory! victory for
you and victory for me, for there he died, the just one for unjust
ones, whom the Father gave to him in the covenant of redemption." Paul described his own preaching,
go back to Galatians 3 verse 1, he described his own preaching
as having set forth the cross before the Galatians in such
a manner, in such a manner, as though they had seen the Lord
Jesus crucified before their very eyes. Listen to the verse. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth? Those two words, set
forth, are so important. Placarded. like a signboard painted
on the side of the highway, before you, set forth, crucified
among you. The sight of Jesus Christ crucified
takes the brightness and the glamour not only out of all false
religions, but also all the works of human flesh. Beloved, if you think that you
have really accomplished something, stop long enough to take a look
at the cross by faith. And when you take a look at the
cross, you do not see that your accomplishments
are worth very much in the light of what Jesus Christ accomplished
for you. One good glimpse of Jesus Christ
crucified destroys all the glamour, not
only of false religions, but also of human endeavor. Human endeavor. Now we're getting
down to the real key to the question. Are you glorying in the cross
this morning? as Paul gloried in the cross?
Well, let's see if you are. Here are the answers now in the
next two. We're going to see if you can take the next two. So let's look at the second crucifixion.
The second crucifixion is the world being crucified to you. Is the world crucified to you? The cross of Jesus Christ causes
the world to be crucified to every believer in Jesus Christ.
Don't tell me this morning that the world is crucified to you
if you're not glorying in the cross and if you're not manifesting
that glory in your daily lives. Now here's the real test. We're
looking at something now that will determine whether you are
a professor or a possessor of salvation. Notice what he says. By whom the world is crucified
unto me. Unto me. Now what does the word
crucify mean? Starao is the verb that is used
here. It means to crucify affixed to
the cross. It is used metaphorically to
crucify, and it's used metaphorically here. I said it's used metaphorically
here. To crucify, to mortify, to become dead to. There it is. Has the world become dead to
you? So the perfect, passive, indicative
verb here is important. Notice what I said, perfect,
passive, indicative. It has become dead to you if
you're glorying in the cross. Has Paul gloried in the cross?
It isn't a matter of the cross becoming dead, I mean the world
becoming dead to you. when you look at the tense of
the verb. It's perfect, passive, indicative. It's a fact. That's the indicative. It's a
fact. It's passive. It's perfect. The world has become
dead to you. Now what was Paul actually saying?
Paul's old world of religion and his world of environment
had both become dead to Him. Now, I want to ask you a question.
You say this morning you are a Christian, you are glorying
in the cross of Christ, the cross means so much to you, is the
world dead to you? Is the old religious, traditional
world dead to you? Is the old world of circumstances
dead to you? So Paul was saying, my whole
world stands dead to me. Whether it be my religious world,
what I was as a Pharisee, or my environment. And the word
cosmos is used, that old system. That old system, that evil system.
Whether it be religious or my circumstantial world. That world
stands dead to me. All the things of this world
system, its pleasures, its treasures, its honors, all of them have
lost their charm to me. I'm asking you a question. That doesn't mean that you're
not to provide for your family. You have a responsibility. But
my question is, has the old world, the religious world, this evil
system, with all of its charm, its pleasures and everything,
its honor. Has it lost its charm to you?
If not, you're not glorying in the cross in the first part of
the verse. Because when one glories in the cross, as Paul gloried
in the cross, that old evil world system stands dead to you who
are glorying in the cross. Now let's look at the other side.
the third crucifixion. The Christian is crucified to
the world. When the world becomes dead and
stands dead to you, then you stand dead to it. You stand dead to it. So this
means that the Christian stands dead to the world as the world
does to him. Hence the believer is the object
of contempt. Do you believe this? The believer
is the object of contempt to all those who love this world
system. Now, beloved, here is what touched
my heart, I guess more than anything this last week. Because here
is the real test. Here is the real test. How different
were Paul's marks that he speaks of, his marks, than those that the Jews gloried
in. I want you to look at this in
the entire context. That's why we began reading this
morning with verse 11 and read through the 18th verse. But let's
go back now and look at something in conclusion. We must see it
in the light of its context. When you look at verses 12 and
13, What had Paul been condemning throughout the epistles of the
Galatians? Not only had the legalizers introduced legalism, but they
had also introduced ritualism, circumcision. So both legalism and ritualism
had been introduced. Now if you'll just be circumcised,
this will take away the offense of the cross. We will not suffer
the afflictions of the cross. So look at verses 12 and 13.
As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. Be circumcised, and that's a
show in the flesh. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. Now if you'll just follow this
religious tradition, you'll not suffer any persecution. Beloved, you have to go outside
the camp. to bear the reproach of Christ and there you suffer
persecution. The religious world hates every
recipient of grace. Jesus Christ told his disciples
in John 15, remember the world hated me before it hated you.
The world hated me, the same word cosmos, hated me before
it hated you. I want you to see what happens
when a person glories in the cross. Then in verse 13, For
neither they themselves, who are circumcised, keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh. People who are interested in
numbers today, they're interested in human tradition, to keep the
numbers coming, that they may glory in the flesh. Glory in
the flesh. Now I want you to see the difference
between Paul's scars which he could show as a proof of his
glory in the cross of Christ and those who glory in the mark
of the flesh by being circumcised. What a contrast. I said I think
this is what really affected me as much as anything in the
study of this whole passage. So how different were Paul's
marks from the mark of circumcision the legalizers were seeking to
inflict upon the Galatians in order that they could glory in
their flesh. Now the word for marks comes from the Greek word
stigma, of course the plural form here is stigmata, can either
mean a mark or a scar. I've read a number of different
commentaries on this and there are some who have tremendous
lessons and they interpret this as a mark and then they go through
and give a whole list of marks of one who is saved. Is that
really what Paul is talking about? Now there's truth in what is
said. I remember reading one man this past week and he had
a list of seven things that he gave as marks of salvation. And none of them really touched
on what I think that Paul is talking about in this text. So
the word stigma can either mean a mark or a brand that denotes
ownership, and it is used in that sense, just like a person
would brand his cattle that would denote ownership. But is that
what it means? Or does it refer to the scars
on Paul's body which he had received as a result of being beaten with
forty stripes save one, being stoned and left as dead? Personally,
beloved, I believe it refers to his scars. That's in keeping with the context.
Now it can mean either. It can either mean a mark or
a scar. But I beg you to look at it in
the light of its context. And whenever a person was circumcised,
that was a mark in the flesh that could be seen and detected. So Paul said, I want you to know
that all the scars that you see on my body, they are in proof of the fact
that I'm persecuted for the cross sake. for the cross's sake. So what a contrast between Paul's
scars and those who desired to make a fair show in the flesh
that they might avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Now
my application. And what is it? Are you willing
to go along with all the traditions, religious traditions of our time,
in order to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ? I don't believe that you and
I have many scars on us to demonstrate our suffering. for the cross of Christ. Do we bear any scars, really? I close by just quoting the verse. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom, or by which, or through which,
however you want to interpret it, through which the world is crucified
unto me. The world stands dead to me, and I stand dead to the world.