May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the epistle of Paul to the Galatians, chapter six, and we'll
read verse 14. The epistle of Paul to the Galatians,
chapter six, and reading verse 14. 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.' This was the desire of the Apostle
Paul and surely it should be the desire of every true believer. Surely it should be therefore
our concern today And it is really a test of the reality of our
religion if we can confirm with the Apostle Paul such a statement
as this. He was concerned for the honour
and glory of his God. He wasn't concerned about anything
else. And therefore he asks, he says,
God forbid that nothing else should stand in the way but that
he should only glory in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he confesses that the truth
was that by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. He confessed the reality of his
religion that it was not without cost and neither is it in the
day and age in which we live. If our religion is truly godly
and truly in accordance with the word of God and truly for
the honor and glory of our God, then it will be costly. We won't
just be able to sail along through life with any opposition, without
any criticism. But there will be that opposition
and that criticism, and we will need that grace to stand firm
and to walk in the way of the Word of God which is so clearly
set before us. The Apostle was not concerned
about gaining the approbation of man. He wasn't concerned about
being raised up in man's esteem. He was only concerned about doing
those things which are in accordance with God's will. And he points
out that there were those who were desirous to make a fair
show in the flesh. Well, there are today, aren't
there? There are still many people who desire to make a fair show
in the flesh, in the churches. People who want to be thought
well of. Why do we want to be thought well of? Because of their
apparent religion, which may of course be very false and may
not be real at all, but nonetheless they may walk in a pharisaical
way and they want to be taken notice of, they want to make
a fair show in the flesh. And the Apostle points out the
example which existed in his day, they constrain you to be
circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross
of Christ for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the
law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
Well of course that was the great issue as we thought about in
our prayer meetings the situation of circumcision and the law of
God, whether that was still to be kept in accordance with the
Old Testament rights or not. But in a similar way today, there
are those who would try and constrain people to perhaps come, perhaps
come and worship with no greater desire than just to fulfill the
numbers, just to get greater numbers. Our real concern should
be for the blessing of the Lord. I remember when I was a boy,
and we had a boy at school who asked us, many in the class,
to go to, I suppose it was a Bible study at his church on a week
evening. And I remember I went, and I
don't think my parents were very happy, but anyway, I went. I
guess I was probably, I don't know, nine or ten, not very old.
And we went to this and it was full up with young children and
the person there, the minister, really got no idea, didn't really
speak anything in the gospel. And he just praised this boy
for bringing in so many people. And it was really a numbers game.
There wasn't really a concern about the blessing of the Lord
for the soul. Well that should be our concern.
Of course we're concerned about numbers and we desire The Lord
would bring many in, but surely our real concern should be the
Lord might richly bless their souls and not just fill up empty
spaces. And so here was the apostle pointing
out there were many in his age that were concerned about this,
to make a fair show in the flesh. And of course it wasn't only
with regard to this issue. There are many other things which
congregate to make a fair show in the flesh. Well, all those
things are really irrelevant to our spiritual good, to our
spiritual blessing. We have to leave them all aside
because they will not do us any real value when you and I come
to pass out of time into eternity, when you and I have to stand
before that great judge of all the earth. these things will
be of no real good or benefit to us, but what will be is to
have this great and wonderful and blessed knowledge of the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ applied to our souls with
divine power from above. And so the Apostle here speaks
in this very clear way, but God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This word glory really
means to boast or to rejoice or to joy in. Well, perhaps that
speaks a bit more clearly to us with regards to this wonderful
statement that we should glory, we should boast, we should rejoice.
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, that's a
great question, isn't it? It's a very important question
for all of us today, whether we indeed rejoice in that, that
we want to not have any dealings, as it were, with anything less
than this. The Apostle wanted only to be
concerned with this vital knowledge, this great blessing, this personal
favour, that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And just don't forget the Apostle
here is speaking in a personal way. He says, I and my friends,
our religion must be personal. We stand before God, we walk
before God. Is it true in our lives today
that we can speak like the Apostle, with that real desire and say,
God forbid, let nothing else stand in the way, let nothing
else penetrate my life. Let me not be involved in things
which separate me from my God. May I be really concerned about
my spiritual life. May I really be concerned about
being able to come as to glory, and to boast and to rejoice in
the cross, the life, the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, so today, my friends, how
do we react to a word like this? We should be so thankful that
we have the epistles, the letters of the Apostle Paul, which speak
so clearly to us of his concern about spirituality in the life
of souls now you see the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and
Through his death through his crucifixion. What was it for? Was for his people and it was
for his people that they might therefore be redeemed that they
might be sanctified that they might be forgiven and and they
might be eventually received into glory, to be with their
Saviour forever and ever. This was and is the real purpose
of the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through that
death on the cross, it was to redeem our souls, it was to pay
the price for our sin. And you see the Lord Jesus Christ,
He willingly paid that price. And what was that price? The
necessary price? The required price? It wasn't
in monetary value. It was something far more important
than that. It was the price of His most
precious blood. Yes, my friends, the Word of
God tells us The Apostle Peter tells us that we are not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received in faith by your fathers, but through the precious blood
of Christ. That's how, my friends, we are
redeemed. And let us remember the Word
of God also tells us that it's through the shedding of blood.
Without shedding of blood, there's no remission, there's no forgiveness. So as we this morning ponder
this great truth, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that finished
work to think that we have an interest in that death, a personal
interest, that Christ Jesus our Lord died on our behalf. He bore the punishment instead. What punishment for your sin? What punishment for my sin? Do you think about it sometimes?
Do you meditate upon it sometimes, that you could not redeem yourself?
You cannot pay the price necessary to redeem your soul from eternal
hell. That's where we're all going,
left to ourselves. We're going to eternal hell,
where there is no escape. There's no opportunity to repent
savingly. You see, no doubt all those in
hell wish they'd listened to the truth of God. But you see,
time has passed. Time for all those in hell is
no more. They are in that state of eternity. And therefore how important for
all of us to know that we are blessed with this glorious redemption
through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to know in our
own hearts again to have the personal experience. The Apostle Paul had a personal
experience that he was able to come and say humbly and yet gloriously,
I know whom I have believed. My friends, we do want to know
in our hearts that we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
it's not just some vague thing filtering away in our minds,
but we may have the evidence in our spiritual soul that we
are amongst those who have been blessed with a gracious calling
by Almighty God so that we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and we do believe in his redemptive death and we do therefore have
a good hope that it is well with our soul. We should not just
wander on aimlessly in this world today like many people do. Yes,
there are many people who come and go from the house of God
and they think they're ticking a box, and they think they're
doing that which is right, and they think by these things they'll
enter into heaven. Well, that's not so. Of course
it's right to attend to the worship of God whenever the opportunity
presents itself, but my friends, real religion is far, far more
than this. It is a personal evidence, a
personal knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ has died. to atone
for our sins, to redeem us from the wrath to come. And so this
morning, as we consider these words, do we come in with the
Apostle from our heart and say, but God forbid that I should
glory in anything else save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his finished work, his death. My friends, is your hope is my
hope there this morning. If you had to answer, if you
had to stand this morning before God, and God asked you the question, where would you respond? Are
you redeemed? Do you have a hope in his mercy?
Do you have that belief that Lord Jesus came to save you? And my friends, the reality is,
we are standing before God, aren't we? All of us, we're here before
God. And we cannot, therefore, turn
aside and ignore the truth of God's Word. We cannot be left
to just follow on aimlessly. We need to know that the Lord
is our Saviour. Well, bless God this morning,
if by His grace, and it's only by His grace, and it's glorious
grace and it's precious grace, and if we have received the grace
to know that the Lord has come, the Lord has touched our hearts,
and that we are a new creature. And that's what the Apostle goes
on to say here. Having made this statement, he says, for in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. He's speaking there really to
the works of the law, which have no value in and of themselves,
but in a new creation, a new creature. Well, my friends, again,
the evidence is if we have that in our hearts to know that we
are a new creature. What does that mean? It means
that we are born again by the Spirit of God. We are a new creature. The Apostle Paul knew that he
was a new creature. My friends at Church of God,
by His grace, do know they are new creatures. There's been a
change in our lives. There's been a movement of the
Holy Spirit within us, so that we do know that we are therefore
a new creature. And that's the blessing of God.
And that's the favour of God. And that's the mercy of God.
So may we all have then this morning the evidence, the blessed
evidence, the God-glorifying evidence that we are a new creature. And if we are, why is it? It's
because The Lord Jesus Christ has died to atone for our sins. That's why we're a new creature.
If, my friends, the Lord had not died for our sins, we would
not be a new creature. We would still be dead, spiritually
dead, lifeless, dead in trespasses and in sins. Well, where are
you this morning? Are you still spiritually dead?
Or are you rejoicing in what Christ has done in his great
and glorious work? And my friends, the Church of
God never tire of thinking, of meditating and speaking about
their great Saviour, to hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ is
that line in the hymn which is so apt and true, where it says
about how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It doesn't sound sweet in the
unbeliever's ear, but it does sound sweet in the believer's
ear. And so that may be. Help and
an evidence to you this morning as to whether you love to hear
about the name of Jesus Whether it's attractive whether when
you hear the name of Jesus spoken your ears prick up because it's
a name you love to hear or Do you turn a deaf ear you turn
away? You don't want to hear about it well, if you're a new
creature and If you've been blessed with this desire, like the Apostle,
but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, then you'll be thanking God and you'll be
rejoicing in what he has done. Oh, what a work it was, my friends. That work completed on Calvary.
What a costly work, wasn't it? What a work it was. And it was
so costly, it demanded the death of the Savior. You know, there
can be no greater cost, can there, than to give life. Because once
life is given, nothing else can be done. It's the greatest cost. And the Lord Jesus Christ therefore
willingly gave his life, not for his sins, but to atone for
the sins of his people. Those who had perhaps turn their
back upon him, those perhaps who had sinned against light
and knowledge, those perhaps who had followed their own way,
until the Lord God Almighty came. In essence, just the same as
it was on the day that the Lord came to the Apostle Paul at Damascus
Road. And what was the real effect?
The real effect was simply this. Light from heaven shone into
his heart. Light from heaven shone into
his heart. And that's really what occurs
when we become a new creature. The light from heaven shines
into our heart and it reveals many things, not all at once. It reveals our true condition
as we stand before a holy God. And we're not able to shuffle
around and avoid it because that light penetrates. God's light
shines into the heart. It penetrates. It has an effect. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For not only
does this produce the blessing of redemption, It also blesses
us with sanctification, which is that living desire to be made
holy, to be made more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Always remember
the example we have of the Saviour himself. Always may his life
be before us as we journey on this life today to realise the
life of the Saviour. He is our example. My friends,
that's the one who you and I are to follow. We're not to follow
men, we're to follow the Saviour, that great and glorious example
that He gave to us. You know, what a perfect life
it was. A life of prayer, wasn't it?
A life of doing the will of His Father. Yes, He didn't go about
satisfying His own lusts at all. My friends, he went about doing
those things which were God-honouring. We read together in this fifth
chapter a very testing statement. And the Word tells us, walk in
the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary
to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
ye would. There will be that continual
battle between the flesh and the spirit. And my friends, you
and I will need much grace and much prayer to be kept in that
right way, which is a holy way, a sanctified way, to not walk,
therefore, in that way of the works of the flesh, which we
read together in those verses in the fifth chapter. But there
will be the evidence of the fruit. It's important to notice that
the Apostle speaks of the works of the flesh, but the fruit of
the Spirit. The Word of God tells us that
spiritually we shall be known by our fruitfulness in the things
of God. our fruitfulness in the things
of God, not our barrenness in the things of God. I suppose
many people today are sad because they appear to be barren. Sometimes
people are satisfied with their barrenness. We should never be
satisfied with our barrenness. We should always be concerned
that we might be fruitful, because fruitfulness brings honour and
glory to our God. And therefore the Apostle tells
us, the fruit of the Spirit, he gives us a list, the fruit
of the Spirit, my friends, this is those things that we should
covet, cover earnestly the best gifts, as the Word of God tells
us, and here it is, a list of those blessings of the Spirit,
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, as a list. And then he wraps it up with
these words, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts. And that's really what the Apostle
comes on to. You see, he rejoices, he boasts
in the cross of Christ, as he says, 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. We have here the evidence of
the outworking of God's work in our hearts. And it is to mortify,
yes, our flesh. What does that mean? It means
to put to death the things of our flesh. You know, I dare say
we don't often pray about that, do we? We don't often pray that
we might be able to mortify the things of the flesh, as the Apostle
wrote to the Colossians, the third chapter, and the fifth
verse. He tells us, mortify therefore. Why is he saying that? Just look
back. He says, for you are dead, and
your life That new creature, your life, is hid with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. That's
a wonderful prospect for the Church of God. And therefore
he says, therefore all, mortify therefore your members which
are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordered affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. put to death
those things. Now, to put to death something
is obviously a painful thing, isn't it? A painful thing. And it is a painful thing to
mortify these things of our flesh. It's just like the apostle speaks
here when he says these words, by whom the world is crucified
unto me. and I unto the world. And you see, it's the effect
of this grace of God, it's the effect of true liveness in our
soul, if we are concerned like the Apostle, but God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Then
he tells us the effect of this, the true effect of this, the
God-honouring effect of this, is by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. The apostle describes our nature
as our old man. That means the old nature, our
old nature of which exists. And the Apostle Paul, he tells
him, and he wrote to the Romans in the sixth chapter, the sixth
verse, he says, knowing this, and again let's just refer to
the reason for that, he says, if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, We shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Again, a wonderful prospect before
the church of God. And so he says, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him. And just pause a moment. Crucifixion was the most painful
death. Christ was crucified to endure
the most painful death. And the apostle here speaks about
Our old nature is crucified, and it's a painful thing for
you and I to crucify our nature. That means to put to death those
things which are lustful, those things which separate from our
God. And you don't have to think very
hard, do you, about those things which separate between you and
your God? Crucified with Him that the body
of sin might be destroyed. And henceforth we should not
serve sin. By nature we serve sin, don't
we? What a sad fool we are. But we have this new creature,
this new nature. And so he tells us, for he that
is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we know that we should also live with him. What a glorious truth
that is. How therefore desirous we should
be to live our life unto the Lord, not unto ourself, following
the desire clearly stated here by the Apostle. But God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the word is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And in the same epistle to the
Galatians, the apostle also speaks in the second chapter, very similar
words. He says, for I through the law
am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ, united to Christ. We sometimes forget that, don't
we? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. What a grand statement that is,
isn't it? And what was true of the Apostle
Paul is true of the whole household of faith. These words are true. Who loved me and gave himself
for me. No wonder the Apostle comes down
to the end of this chapter and therefore says, God forbid, that
I should glory save in the cross, in the death, in the finished
work of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. Well, it's a great, wonderful
favour if you and I are able to live our life unto the Lord,
and not unto ourselves, because of that realisation of the wonderful
favour of God towards our soul. This is a theme the Apostle really
homes in on, on so many occasions, and it's important for us that
we also home in on such statements as this. Romans 12 verse 1, I
beseech you, and that really shows to us that the Apostle
was really wanting these Romans to listen to what he was writing. I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable
service. It's not unreasonable is it?
If you think Christ has died upon Calvary's cross, He's given
his life, he shed his most precious blood, that you might have life.
Isn't this a reasonable statement? A reasonable service? And he
goes on, and be not conformed to this world. Be not conformed
to this world. By nature we are. Our flesh conforms
to this world. The word of God encourages us,
and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." You see, there
is a wonderful favour and a wonderful blessing in walking this way,
Because it is a God-honouring way, and it's that way which
God would have us to walk in. Because it brings, therefore,
honour and glory unto his great and holy name. We just mentioned
about this new creature, and what does the apostle go on to
say? And as many as walk according to this rule, this path, peace
be on them, and mercy upon the Israel of God. There is a blessed
peace to the soul as we know that we are doing the will of
our God. If we are following the gracious
example set before us in God's word by the Savior himself, and
as the Lord gives us grace, abundant grace to walk in this way, there
is that peace which comes upon us into our heart because by
his grace we're doing his will. We're following him. And so he
says, peace be on thee and mercy upon the Israel of God, upon
the whole living church of God. Well, my friends, it's a great
word this, isn't it, this morning? And may all of us be able to
meditate upon it and pray that we might have much grace to walk
in the same way with the same desires that the apostle had. It's a great word, my friends,
and it's a great experience, and it's a necessary experience.
My friends, we don't want to go on, do we, in this world,
living unto ourselves. Many people do today. The Church
of God, you see, they try and live sometimes as near to the
world as they can. My friends, may we put the world
aside and desire to only do that which the Word of God instructs
us in, the greatest example, and the word of God and the words
which the apostle was able to write to the Galatians and those
words which have been maintained to us and speaks to our heart
today that we may thank God for them and bless God for them and
pray that we also may be able to walk in this way and be able
to say from our heart not from our head, not just a theory,
but a true experience, a true desire because of our love to
the Saviour. 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. Amen.