When our Lord said here, when
the scripture said, in verse 7, be not deceived, God is not
mocked. Whatever a man soweth, that shall
he reap. If he sows to his flesh, he shall
of the flesh reap corruption. Well, there were men in Galatia
who were sowing to the flesh by preaching law and telling
men they must be circumcised. And they mocked God in that.
For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. It's a mockery and you're sown to the flesh if you present
Christ any other way than the full, free, complete salvation
of all that the Father gave him and all for whom he died. Is
that not right? And to sow to the Spirit is to
preach Christ as he is in the gospel. It's very simple to me,
and that's why he says, you know, let us not be weary in well-doing.
You know, these fellas, they're going to make a big splash. They
make a big noise, and they seem to be very, very successful at
what they do. But he said, you just keep on
keeping on. We'll reap. We'll reap. In due season, just
don't faint, just don't quit, don't be wearying. And then we
have the opportunity, let's do good unto all. But oh, if you're
going to do good to somebody, especially do good to them that
are household of faith. And that's why it goes on to
say down in verse 12, as many desire to make a fair show in
the flesh. Fair show in their own fallen
nature. They constrain you to be circumcised. Oh, listen, you
know, I know you accept Jesus. I know you believe Jesus. I know
you believe in the blood, but, but you still got to do this. You still need this. And the
reason they do that, because they do not want to suffer persecution
that there ain't but one way, one place, one person who put
away sin, and that was on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
by himself. And now, so they say, but boy,
look at all, look at all them, you know, I tell you what, I'm
preaching the whole gospel. I'm telling you everything there
is about the gospel, but this is what you got to have to go
with it. And that's why, look what he says, they make a fair
show in the flesh. They've got a lot of folks converted.
They've got a lot of folks living right. They've got a lot of folks
dressing right. They've got a lot of folks smelling right. They've
got them just the way they want them. But he says here, for they
themselves who are circumcised, they're not doing what they preach.
They're not practicing what they preach at all. You know why they
do it though? That they can glory in the fact
that you're my convert and I had you to do this. But look what
Paul said. He uses very strong language
here. He didn't use it, he used it about three times. But he
says, God forbid, there's no way that we want to glory in
anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the Lord. Now men may
boast in glory in what they accomplish by the flesh, but Paul says that
for believers, for God's people, God's elect, we only have one
thing that we truly glory in, truly boast in, and that's our
Lord Jesus Christ and His cross and what was accomplished on
that cross. And we know from the scriptures and from our own
experience that all men, they're going to glory in something.
Man is going to glory in something. It's his nature. He's going to
brag. He's going to boast. He's going
to glory in something. I rejoice in my son. I glory
in my son. I boast in my son. Fine, fine
man. Fine father. Just a wonderful
man. But everybody's going to glory
and boast in something. They're going to glory in their
works. They're going to glory in their something. But I tell
you what, to glory, the Scriptures tells us to glory in or boast
is to worship, to rejoice, or boast in to make the chief object
of your delight. To glory in that. And what we
have the believers, the apostles saying, and every believer of
every age has ever gloried in, even before it got here, and
that was the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the chief
object of Him and His blessed work on the cross. That's the
chief object of our delight. We love it. We love the cross.
Old hymn writer said this on the Mount of Crucifixion. Fountains
open deep and wide. Through the floodgates of God's
mercy, float a vast and gracious tide. Grace and love like mighty
rivers pass incessant from above. And heaven's peace and perfect
justice. kissed a guilty world in love. And old Mr. Spurgeon said this,
the heart of the gospel is redemption. Particular redemption. And the
essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, he said, I found
by long experience that nothing touches the heart like the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you this, I also know
this, how blessed is the man to whom God has enabled to see
the glory of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And now I'm
going to explain what the cross is in a minute. And I tell you
what is foolishness to some, the cross and all that it stands
for is foolishness to some. I heard a man talking about it
this morning. He says, you can leave where I'm standing right
now and go to Central Park. And he says you
can go in a lot of different ways to get there. And he says,
and I believe that's the way that people can be saved. There's
lots of different ways to be there. But believers are not
going to Central Park. You want to be in God's presence.
You want to be accepted of God. That's not the way you get there.
There ain't a dozen ways to get there. There ain't but one way
to get from here to there. And if God's blessed you to see,
they say that's foolishness, but to those who have eyes to
see, the cross is the glory, and we see it in that wisdom
of God to those who see it. And what's a stumbling block
to men and women of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to those
who've been unable to see is the very power of God to those
who see. Now, I tell you, the Apostle
Paul here, he could have gloried in a lot of things. He could
have gloried in a lot of things. But God revealed to him the glory
of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you what
he could have gloried in. He could have gloried in his
unusual conversion. You know, he had a very, very
unusual conversion. He was on the Damascus Road.
He had in his pockets warrants, warrants. So when he got there,
he was saying, now I want this person, this person, this person,
this person, I want them arrested. I want them taken over here to
the jail. And if they give you too much argument, put up too
much a fight, just go ahead and kill them. That's the way it
was. He hated despised. And he was
on his way to Damascus. And then this light above the
brightness of the sun came down on him and put him in the dust. And I tell you what, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself appeared to him and spoke to him and called
him Saul. And I tell you, He talked about
that conversion often. But yet, He didn't glory in being
saved so much as in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ loved
Him and gave Himself for Him on the cross. It's not hallelujah,
I'm saved. It's not the same as hallelujah,
the Lord Jesus Christ saved me. And beloved, it's better to be
taken up with the glories and the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ than to even have the comfort of salvation and the
comforts of it. Because I tell you, looking at
Him and seeing Him, that's the only place you're going to get
any comfort in this world. And oh, I tell you, He could
have gloried in His position as an apostle to the Gentiles.
Oh, he had the high call and I'm telling you and he was despised
for it. I mean he went to Gentiles. He's one of the smartest, probably
the most intelligent man that God maybe ever created. He was an intelligent man. Great
thinker, wonderful thinker. But I tell you what, instead
of glorying in that, he gloryed in the fact, not that he was
an apostle, he gloryed in the fact that Christ Jesus came to
save the chief of sinners of who he was. That's what he said. He might have gloried in his
success as a preacher of the gospel and bond slave of the
master. You know how many churches that
God used him to establish in his earthly ministry? Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians,
Ephesians, Thessalonians, Thessalonica,
On and on and on and on and on. God used this man. But no, no,
no, he said if I'm going to glory anything, I'm not going to glory
in my preaching. I'm not going to glory in my
ministry. I'm not going to glory in being an apostle. I'm not
going to glory in my conversion. I'm not going to glory in being
a Jew. I'm going to glory and boast and rejoice in and worship
the one who was on that cross and put his way my sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And I tell you what, he found
all that, his source right there. And I tell you what, when a man
leaves this, when a man leaves this, he has left everything
that would be his hope. There's no hope when you walk
away from the cross. You walk away from what it means.
And I tell you, the cross, in which the apostle said he gloryed
in, has in this this wonderful, wonderful truth. It's always
present. It was present before God ever
made anything in this world. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. God had the view, cross in view,
before He ever spoke anything in existence in this world. And
you know what the thing that we're going to glory in and rejoice
in all the way through eternity? That Lamb that was slain throughout
eternity. So every purpose that God had
for all time and eternity culminated that day outside Jerusalem with
that man on that cross. I tell you, the whole counsel
of God, the whole will of God, the whole purpose of God centered
in our Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. And the glory in that
is the glory and the wisdom and power of God. Look in Jeremiah
with me just a minute, chapter 9. I tell you, men go to glory
in something. Look in Jeremiah 9, just with
me just a minute, talking about glory. The whole counsel of God
found its power and glory and wisdom in the cross and centered
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he said
here, Jeremiah 9.23. This is God speaking now. Thus saith the Lord. Look who's
talking here. Thus saith the Lord. Let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man, the
prince man, the person who's got the power, that's got the
authority, who can control things and control people, don't let
him glory in his mind. And don't let that rich man,
I mean you can have a half a dozen banks that cannot contain all
the money that he may have. Don't let that rich man, don't
let him glory in his riches. But if a man is going to glory,
let him glory and boast and rejoice in this, that he understands
and knows me. And that I am the Lord which
exercise, manifest, and work out in people's lives, loving
kindness, judgment, righteousness in the earth. Because these are
the very things I absolutely delight in, saith the Lord. Oh my, to know the meaning of
the cross, To know what took place on the cross is to know
and understand God to some degree and to glory in Him. To glory
in anything earthly thing is to deny the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ and to rob Him of His glory. And let me say a few
things about why our true boasting, our glory is only in Christ and
His cross. First of all, let me say, what
is this cross in which we glory? Now, it's not a material cross.
I've said this before, if you can find any part of the cross
of which Christ was crucified, make toothpicks out of it. Because
if anybody got a hold of it, they would worship it as a piece
of wood. If they could get a hold of anything
that they thought was connected with the cross of Christ. They'd
make a shrine out of it. And Baptists, and Methodists,
and Presbyterians, and everybody who had anything, and Catholics,
and don't make no, even people who don't even profess religion
would fly up to see it. And we're not talking about an
earth, we're not talking about a cross made out of wood. That's
not what we're talking about. We're not talking about a steeple
that you put on top of a church and you put a cross across it.
We're not talking about that thing that men and women hang
around their neck or hang in their ears or show some sign
with doing this hocus pocus like that with their hands. That's
not what we're talking about. We're talking about the great
atonement, the great sacrifice for sinners that was accomplished
at Calvary. The cross, beloved, when you
talk about the cross, it represents three things. And I told somebody
this week that these three things is the gospel. These three things
are the gospel. And the cross is a term for suffering. satisfaction and substitution. And if you can get a hold of
those things and God makes you see them and understand them,
then you know the gospel. And I tell you what, we sang
that song, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Was it for
crimes that I had done, He groaned upon that tree, amazing pity,
grace unknown, and love beyond degree. Oh my, that's why you know if
God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin? And I tell you what,
and this is the glorious gospel that springs out of this cross.
And when we talk about suffering, we're talking about our Lord
Jesus Christ. The scripture says that He suffered
the just for the unjust for our sins. Oh, the scripture says that he
appeared once in the presence of God to put away sin by the
sacrifice of our sins. And Peter said, Oh, no, you can't
suffer. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
must go up to Jerusalem. I must suffer at the hands of
sinful men. And can you imagine what suffering
it was for the Lord Jesus Christ to be identified with the human
race? much less to be identified with
us. You know what suffering it was
for Him to be made flesh? To come all the way down from
glory and come into this world and have a body like ours? The suffering of His mind, I
mean He had come among sinners I wasn't a holy person, a good
person, a righteous person on the face of the earth when our
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. But oh, He suffered. And I tell
you what, I mean He suffered. He suffered when they spat on
Him. He suffered when they smacked Him. He suffered when they beat
Him. He suffered when they kicked Him. He suffered when they drove
the nails in his hands. He suffered on that cross. He suffered till he thirsted
so much that it says that his mouth was like a potsherd. And
they asked, he said, oh, listen, ah, he said he's thirsty. Let's
God tell you what we'll do. We'll give him some vinegar to
drink. That'll do. We'll just make his sufferings
worse if we can. And you know who he is suffering
for? Suffering what you and I could have never begun to suffer for
our sins. When a man leaves this world
without Christ, he'll leave this world a sinner and he'll never
ever stop suffering for his sins. But Christ being the holy, infinite,
eternal Son of God, do you know what it would be like for Him?
Him, pure, spotless and holy? to take upon us, Himself, our
sufferings, our sin. Oh my! And I'll tell you something. This is a prayer of mine and
I've prayed so many times, so many times. And that's all we
could say. Lord, the Scriptures tells us
that You touch with the feelings of our infirmities. You're touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. You know what I'm going through.
And He really is. He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. You know why? Because He bore
them all. He bore them. Already bore them.
If you've got a sickness, Christ already bore that sickness. You suffer a defect in your body,
Christ doesn't bore that. Everything that was wrong with
one of His people, He suffered it. So that He could identify
with us. You ever cry with strong crying
and tears and asking God for mercy? Our Lord the Scripture
said in Hebrews 5, He was strong crying and tears, crying out
to His Father. And oh, I tell you, I'll tell
you something else it does. Not only is it a term for suffering,
but also it's a term for satisfaction. I'll tell you, He alone, He alone
by Himself satisfied the justice of God. Bless His name. I mean, you know, Hebrews, Isaiah
53 said, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the
Lord to make his soul an offering for sin. And the Lord saw the
travail, the agony, the pain, the suffering of his soul. And
when he saw that, he was satisfied. They brought lamb after lamb,
after lamb, after lamb, after lamb, after lamb. Bullock after
bullock, after bullock. They had the Day of Atonement
for centuries and millennia with a scapegoat went to the wilderness
and the other goat had his hands identified with him and was slaughtered. But God never said, I'm satisfied
with them. I tell you, the day that Solomon
ascended the throne, they quelled twenty-something thousand lambs
in one day. Blood was running up to the neck
just about. Blood everywhere. And God never
said, that's a sweet smelling savor to me. And you know why
they had to keep doing it? Because it never ever satisfied
God. It never put away one sinner.
But when God saw His Son's soul, saw His Son, on that cross, that
dreadful, dreadful place. A place where strict justice
where he found sin. A place where wrath, a vengeful
wrath of God said, I will, I will, I will not clear the guilty.
A place of awful judgment. And then, when our Lord Jesus
died, God smelled that. That's a sweet smelling savor.
I'm satisfied. I'll never ever ask for anything
else again. My justice will never come back
to one for whom he died. I'll never be angry with one
for whom he bore sin. I'll never be angry and pour
my wrath on anybody for whom he died. And I tell you the scripture
said he tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of
God alone. And he drunk the cup of woe by
himself. You want to read a verse of scripture.
You do this when you get home. Levitation. Chapter 1 and verse
12. It says this. Is it nothing to
you that pass by that the Lord hath poured out
on me the fierceness of his wrath? Is it nothing to you that pass
by Now listen, he did that for somebody. He suffered for somebody. He
satisfied justice for somebody. And you know who those were?
He was a substitute in all that suffering and all that satisfaction. He stood in somebody's place.
He was there as a substitute. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. The Lord Jehovah laid on Him,
laid on Him the iniquity of us. God made Him to be sin for us. and Him who knew no sin, that
we, we, those for whom He died, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Look over at John 17, 7, just
a minute. John 17, 18, 7, excuse me. John 18, 7. Our Lord Jesus Christ was His
representative in our life. Everything He did, He was representing
a people on this earth. before God. And God, if He ever
views us as anybody outside of Christ, I mean, there's no hope
for Him. There's no hope for Him. Jesus,
keep me near the cross. Keep me, keep me near that cross. Oh, looking, looking, looking.
Look what He said here in John 17. Here they came out to get
Him. Judas had betrayed Him. This mob came out to get Him. And then asked he them again,
Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Our Lord answered, I have told you that I am. Now listen to
it. If therefore you seek me, you
let these go. And that's what God said. When our
name was called, and I believe me, God saw us and saw us in
all of our sinfulness. But there at that blessed cross,
when God's children were called to give an account, to stand
before the bar of the holiness and justice and righteousness
of God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ walked up and said, take
me. And He was so glorious in His
person, so meritorious, in His person and in His blood and in
His suffering so meritorious that He had sufficient, sufficient
ain't the right word, He had the power and the glory so meritorious
that His merit and His worth and His glory and the worth of
His person was so glorious that it could save a multitude that
no man could number all at one time. at one time, all of them
at the same time. Ain't that right? Now that's
how glorious and meritorious our Lord is. That's why no wonder Abraham
said, I saw his day and I rejoiced in it. Oh, no wonder, no wonder men
and women say, oh my, What a Savior is Jesus, my Lord. And that's
the cross that we're talking about. What is the cross in which
we glory? What is it? It's the preaching. It's the preaching of God incarnate. When we glory in the cross, we're
glorying in this blessed truth that that man who was on that
cross was God who became a man. And the reason he became a man
was so he was able to die. He's able to die. I've said this
before, and you know it, and you've got it memorized, I'm
sure. God can't die. But only God can satisfy God.
Man can die, but man can't satisfy God. But you put God and man
in the same person, and the man can die. Since he's God, then
he can satisfy God. Because you're looking at one
and the same person. No wonder the apostles said,
great is the mystery of godliness. What is it Paul? God was manifested
in the flesh. And oh, and I tell you what,
when he became flesh, you know what it says? And we beheld his
glory. As the only begotten of the Father.
Why? Because he was full of grace.
Full of grace. and full of truth. Oh my. And it's the preaching of grace
for the guilty. Oh, to find somebody guilty.
You know why people's not saved? They're too good. They're too
good. That's why people's not converted.
They're too good. If you don't trust Christ, it's
because you're too good. It's not because you're too bad.
It's not because you're guilty. If you ever get guilty, If you're ever guilty, I'll take you home. Rick Williams
was at my house the other day and somebody told him something
that he should have done. He didn't do it. And he told
him, he says, man, you really messed up. You should have done
exactly what I told you to do. And why didn't you do it? He
said, well, I didn't. I just didn't pay attention to
it. And he got all over me. He just said, I'm guilty. I'm
guilty. Everything you say about me is
true. And that's all you can say, guilty. When you get caught,
you're guilty. Have you ever been guilty before
God? They catch me running, speeding,
the first thing I say is, yes sir, you caught me. Last time
that happened, that fella said, well, since you told me the truth,
you slow this thing down next time. I said, okay, I'll do it. But I mean, what else you gonna
do? If they catch you, Bruce, what you gonna do? You're gonna
have to say, you can't say, well, my gas pedal's stuck, you can't
say that. You can't say, I'm on my way
trying to get my wife to the hospital. She said, Mary, she's
68 years old. That won't work. So you just,
you know, and that's what I'm telling you. If you're going
to be, you know, if you don't know what it is to be guilty,
not before man, not what men think about you, but when you're
guilty before God, When God takes His holy law, God takes your
sinfulness, and God takes your fallen nature, and He makes you
see inside your heart, inside your soul, all the sin you committed,
and He makes your mouth to shut up, and you ain't got nothing
to plead anything else, but say, Lord, if You will, if You will,
You can make me clean. Huh? But oh, it's the preaching,
what we're talking about the cross, it's the preaching of
an effectual redemption, an effectual ransom. I mean when Christ died,
He actually saved His people. His blood actually put sin away. And that's why He said, who's
gonna condemn us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? It's God that justified us. It's
Christ that died. He ain't ready to be risen again.
Who's going to lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That's
how powerful it is. And it's the preaching, I'm going
to tell you something, it's the preaching of a certain salvation.
You cannot preach the cross and preach Christ on His cross without
preaching A certain salvation. People are going to be saved
in the preaching of the gospel. In the preaching of Christ crucified. You know why I know that? That's
what our Lord said. You know what He said? He said,
My sheep, they hear my voice. And you know what they do when
they hear my voice? Where are you going Lord? I'm
going this way. Well, I'm going to go that way too. Huh? Where is he at? He's going right that way. Well,
that's the way I'm going to walk right behind him. I'm going to
walk right with him. Huh? That's what it means. He
said, they know me and they follow me. And I'll tell you what else
he said. You know what? He said, if you
be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I've told you and you
believe not. You know why you don't believe? Because you're
not my sheep. They hear me and he said something
else. He said, you know, there's a
people out there that my father gave me and Everyone that my
father gave me, you know what they're gonna do They're gonna
come to me and when they come to me And I tell you what and this
is all you're talking about blessing my heart bless his name. Oh,
I'm so grateful for this That whatever you do And I tell you
what, if you're a David that took a bath of sheep. If you're a Solomon that went
after strange women and set up false gods. If you're somebody that's failed
and only God knows it. He said, there's nothing you'll
ever do that'll make me cast you out. Because anything you've
done hasn't surprised me. I atone for every sin you've
ever committed. Oh, bless His name. If He would have cast a man away
from the way he is, and what he's done, and how he's felt,
and how he's failed, He would have cast me away years and years
ago. He would have cast me away years and years ago. But He ain't
going to do it. He ain't going to do it. And I don't want to go out here
and get in the hog pen. I had all the hog pen I wanted. Don't
want to go back. Do you? I've got enough to do
with just this, what goes on inside of you that nobody else
sees. What is this about this cross
that calls us to glory in so much? When Paul said, I count
all things but dung that I may win Christ. Did you count all
things but dung that you could be found in Christ? That you
may win Christ? Well, I tell you, we glory in
the fact of it. I mean, it actually took place.
It's real. I heard a fellow saying the other
day, he said, you know, said Jesus, he said he caused trouble
wherever he went, and that's why they crucified him, said
he's just a troublemaker. That's all he was, a troublemaker,
and he had it coming to him. Oh, there's so many people out
there making fun of Christ. But there's glory in the fact
of it. All religionists have invented so many strange, unusual
ways for people to get to salvation, to get in the church, and to
be saved, and all this rigmarole. I was up in Kentucky over the
weekend, Jehovah's Witness going down both sides of the street,
passing out their garbage. I've probably told you all this
before, but they've been to my house several times over the
years, and I wouldn't even let them get out of the car. And
so they sent somebody about Ruby's age, a couple old men, a couple
of older women. And they thought, well, surely
that fella would be nice to them old folks. And this woman about
Ruby's age, she barely did get the door open, was just getting
her foot out of the car. And I just walked out the door
and I said, put your foot back in the car. You ain't getting
out of here, I don't want nothing you got. Barely get the door
closed. He thought this man had mercy. I got nothing for anybody. You know what, David said, I
hate them with a perfect hatred that hates you. Men that hate
God, I don't want nothing to do with them. But there is nothing in all the
universe so great, so glorious, so mysterious as God dying for
man. Who can understand these things
that are so wondrous? I tell you what, look over here
in 2 Corinthians 11.3. We glory in the simplicity of
it. Not only the fact of it. I mean it took place. It's real. And there's glory in the simplicity
of it. Look what he said here in 2 Corinthians
11.3. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguile thee through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now that word
simplicity means singular. There's nothing confusing about
salvation in Christ. There's nothing confusing about
it. What could be confusing about
one Savior, one sacrifice, one way, one beloved,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism? As dense as I am, I can understand
that. Paul said, this one thing I do. He didn't say I'm doing three
things, he said this one thing I do. This one thing I do. And that
singularity, we glory in the singularity of it, the simpleness
of it, the power of it, the glory of it. And I tell you, beloved,
and I know this, it's foolish, absolute, a man's a fool to try
to find favor with God by doing anything. He's a fool to try
to find favor with God by giving something. Or any other way,
he's a fool to think he can find favor with God. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said, I'm the door. And you know, not only is he
the door, but he told about the Pharisees that they took away
the key of knowledge. They took away what's true about
men. And beloved, the key, he's not
only the door, but he's the key. that unlocks the door. He's the
key that unlocks the scriptures. He's the key that makes us everything
that there is in the scriptures that we can see and understand.
He's the one that gives us that understanding. He's the room
in which you enter. He's the sheepfold in which He
brings you to. He's the only bed for rest for
a weary soul. He's the only window of light.
And He's the only food on the table. And that's the only food
I want. And then I tell you what, you
know what we glory in, and I love this, I love this, and I hope
you do too. We glory in the fact that it's
suitable. The suitability of it, what I
mean. The cross and our Lord Jesus
Christ and what He accomplished for me, it suits my needs. It suits me as a sinner. And I tell you what, he's suitable
for the greatest sinners. You look at the people he's been
saved by. Mary Magdalene, seven devils. Thief on the cross. One minute he's railing on Christ.
In a little while, our Lord Jesus. I'm taking you to glory with
me today. I'm taking you to paradise. Saul of Tarsus, chief of sinners. And then, people like me. in
people like you. You know anybody worse than us? Is there anybody worse center
in this building than you? Huh? You're pretty bad, you're
pretty rotten. But ain't you glad that Christ
Come to save sinners. And it's suitable not only for
that, but it's suitable for any sinner. Oh, listen. And it's suitable
for the sinner that... I mean, he knows he's poor. What in the world is he going
to give? And it's suitable for double-dive sinners. Oh, ye that
sins are crimson, you that are red like crimson, and double-die
sinners, it's suitable for them. And I'll tell you especially
who it's suitable for. It's suitable for God. It's suitable
for the holiness of God. It's suitable for Him. And that's
what He provided for us. It'll meet all of our needs.
And I'll tell you something else. By we glorying the cross and
glorying our Lord Jesus Christ and His death on that cross.
Because by His death on that cross, that's the only way men
can live. They only live by another man's
death. Not only do they live, but they
begin to live to God. They're conformed to our Lord
Jesus Christ. They're made new creatures in
Christ. Look what it says right there in verse, you're back in
Galatians with me, let me show you something here in Galatians
6.15. Talking about we live to God,
look what happens to us here. He said, verse 15, we glory in
the cross because for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision. But what? A new creature. And we can't make ourselves,
but nothing, you know, Religion don't add to Christ
and unreligion don't take away from Christ. It's a new creature
in Christ. And look what he said, and as
many as walk according to this rule, according to the line that
God has laid down, peace be on them and mercy upon God's Israel. And that's the same people. And I tell you, we live in peace,
oh my. We live in peace and joy because
Christ did it all. Live unto others. And you know
what else? They live forever. Live forever. I'm gonna lay this
body down one of these days. But I'm living. The life that
I live now, I live by the faith of the Son of God. And this old
body, one of these days, it's going to go. And that's alright. But I'm telling you, that life
of Christ in me, that's what's going to go away. That's what's
leaving here. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, boy, I know there's going to be a resurrection on
the last day. You know what our Lord said? I'm the resurrection. I'm the one that gives you the
life that you got. I've done resurrection just like I did
Lazarus. I'm the resurrection. He's already resurrected us.
Isn't that right? I've been resurrected from the
dead. And one of these days I'm going
to be resurrected from physical death. Me and Todd, I've taken too long.
Me and Todd's talking about this other thing. You think about
all the people, of the Lord's people, wherever they've been.
I mean, they're in the sea, they're in the dust. Somebody wanted
to dig up somebody the other day, and they said, I'm going
to tell you, you won't even get a casket out of there. She was
buried in a pine box, and you won't even get the pine box out
of there. It's been in there so many, many years, that all
you're going to get is dirt out of there. You ain't even going
to get the dust. So he said, well, let's just
let it be then. But if that's one for whom Christ died, she
wasn't in the casket, let it go ahead and rot. Let it go back to the dust because
that's where our Lord said you scored to anyway. But He knows
exactly where the dust is and He can put that dust back together
just like He took Adam and put him out of mud and put him out
of dust and He'll take that dust out of the ground and whoever
that believer is, whether a man or a woman, He'll unite them
together just like that. That's pretty glorious, ain't
it? That's pretty glorious. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for allowing us to
worship today, to meet here today. And I pray that you've enabled
us to see our Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings, his satisfaction,
his taking our place, bearing our sins in his own body there
on that tree. I thank you that you've made
us accepted in Him. And Lord, oh Lord, we have nothing,
nothing, nothing in this world that we desire more than our
Lord Jesus Christ and to be conformed to His image someday. Savior
people, oh Lord, Savior people in this place, for Christ's sake,
amen. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. I am Thine all in all. Jesus made it all. All to Him I owe. Sin and the crimson slain, He
washed it white as snow. Amen. See you tonight, 6 o'clock,
God willing.