Glorying In The Cross

the Lord. Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 14, the Apostle Paul makes this statement.

He said, 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 I know anything about glorying in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not glorying in my works. Not glorying in how by grace God has enabled me to fill in the blank, whatever you want to use. Not glory in my experience, but glory only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it mean to glory in the cross?

Have I ever, with Paul, gloried in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, who made this statement? The Apostle Paul. Now, Paul was the man God used more than any other man to expound the gospel. He is the one who said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the apostle God chose to take the place of Judas.

You remember in Acts where they through lots to pick out a couple of men they thought could take Judas' place, and they said, show us which one of these two men you have chose. Well, he didn't choose either one of them. They made a mistake. There's only 12 apostles. Judas lost his apostleship. Paul took his place. He is one of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

And he was a man who, before his conversion, before God saved him, hated Christ dearly. He hated Jesus Christ, and he wanted to stamp his name out of existence. When they stoned Stephen in the early church, They cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul." That was Paul's name before conversion, Saul of Tarsus. He held the coat while the people stoned Stephen.

Chapter 8, verse 1, and Saul was consenting unto his death. He was giving agreement, this man deserves to die because of what he says and his love for Jesus Christ. In chapter 9, we read, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, breathing out, it came out of his very pores, threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, the way of Christ, the way of grace, He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And that is when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. But he wasn't going to a prayer meeting. He was going to kill Christians. That was his desire because of their association with Jesus Christ.

Now, I think this is interesting. This is speculation, but some have speculated that Paul was the rich young ruler. Now, I know in Mark 10, verse 21, when the Lord spoke to the rich young ruler, the scripture says, and Jesus, beholding him, loved. Now that tells me that the rich young ruler ended up being saved, because there's nobody that Jesus Christ loves that he doesn't save. All he loves, he saves. He said, behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

But the rich young ruler was not saved yet. Now look at the similarities between him and Paul. They were both rich young rulers. They both thought they'd kept the law. Both said, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. Both did not realize that they were eaten up with covetousness. That rich young ruler could not sell his riches. And Paul said, I've not known sin except the law said thou shalt not covet. So if Paul is not the rich young ruler, Paul was very much like this man that God saved.

And he had a unusual hatred of Jesus Christ because I believe he wanted to prove him to be wrong. He resented the way the Lord turned him away when he wouldn't forsake all and sell all he had and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He hated Christ. He wanted to prove him wrong, but Christ met him.

I love the story on the road to Damascus. You go on reading in Acts 9, the Lord appeared to him above the brightness of the sun. And Paul fell to the ground and was blinded. Saul saw, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. The Lord made himself known to the apostle Paul.

I love what he said to Ananias. He's a chosen vessel unto me. And Christ appeared to him, taught him the gospel directly. Paul was brought into the third heavens. And the Lord taught him the gospel directly. I don't know how long he was up there. He said, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. But he was taught the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ.

As a matter of fact, he said in the same epistle of Galatians, verse 11, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel was preached to me is not after man. It's not derived from any human source, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, think about this man, Paul. He wrote 13 books in the Bible. He was a writer of Scripture. He was the great missionary. Most of the churches in the New Testament were founded by him.

I can see where Paul, if there's one person who maybe could glory in things the way the Lord had used him, the way the Lord had revealed himself to him, it would be Paul. But what does Paul say? God forbid that I should glory. saving the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid, perish the thought, may it never be, that I glory in anything, not the way God has used me. I glory only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let's look a few verses before this and see why he said this. In verse 11 of Galatians chapter 6, the closing of this epistle, he says, you see how large a letter I have written unto you. with my own hand." Now, usually Paul had eye problems. It's obvious. I think maybe he received those eye problems when the Lord appeared to him above the brightness of the sun, and maybe his eyes never recovered.

And he would usually dictate to people the words of his letters, and they would write them down. But here he says of this letter, I'm writing this letter with my own hand. And he was using these large letters because that's the only way he could see them, but he was showing them the importance of this letter he's writing to the churches at Galatia. Now, he says in verse 12, and these are the people who were troubling the Galatians, He says of them, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you. They say this is a rule. They constrain you. You need to do this. They constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Now, I love the way Paul describes these people. He said, they want to make a fair show in the flesh. They want you to be impressed with them. Do you remember Matthew chapter six, where the Lord talked about the giving of alms, praying and fasting? He says, all their works they do to be seen of men. They want you to see how much they give. They want you to see their prayer life. They want you to see their fasting. They're making a fair show in the flesh.

Now this is what is called the lust of the eyes. That's when you're more concerned about what men see than what God sees. This is when you want to impress men and have men look up to you, like the Pharisees who loved the highest seats in the synagogue and to be greeted in the market and called Rabbi, Rabbi. They loved men to esteem them highly, and they make a fair show in the flesh. And wouldn't that demonstrate religion? I want you to be impressed with me. I want you to be impressed with how close I am to God, how God is using me. It's a fair show in the flesh.

They constrain you to be circumcised. Now, circumcision represents the keeping of the law. As a matter of fact, it's the easiest commandment to keep. It would be easier to be circumcised physically, even as an adult, than to never tell a lie again, or to never tell a lie. Circumcision represents salvation by work, salvation ultimately dependent upon what you do.

They constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. You see, Paul said, if I yet preach circumcision, If I preach works, then the offense of the cross is ceased. If you preach pure grace, if you preach Christ only, people will persecute you because they're not going to love your message, because your message says what they're hoping in is no good. They're works. You say only Christ is everything in salvation. And if I'm looking to my works in any way, I'm not going to like that message. And he says the only reason they constrain you to be circumcised is they know if they preach the gospel, if they preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they'll suffer persecution.

Now look what he says next in verse 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They tell you to keep the law, but they don't keep the law. All of their religion is hypocrisy. It's an act. What they're telling you to do, they don't do. They tell you to keep the law, They don't keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

Here's one of my converts. Here's somebody I won. Here's somebody I've influenced for good. They want the glory in your flesh. That's what's behind most of what is called soul winning. I racked up another one. I got another one. Look how God is blessing me.

Now look what Paul says, but God forbid, may it never be, perish the thought that I should glory in anything, not in me writing the scriptures, not in God bringing me into the third heavens, not in God using me to establish churches, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I I'm crucified unto the world, and the world unto me. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, I hope it goes without saying that we know he's not talking about glorying in the wooden cross upon which our Lord was crucified.

In all likelihood, it was not a cross like this. It was a wooden stake that he was thrown down on and nailed to. You know, people use the cross as jewelry. We have crosses on steeples. We have crosses in our churches in the back of the pulpit and so on. That's wrong. That is idolatry. It's making an image of something and giving it some kind of religious significance. If you had a literal piece of the wood that Christ was actually nailed to, it would not do you any good. You'd probably end up worshiping it.

He's not talking about a wooden cross. He's talking about He who was nailed to that wooden cross. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. People sing, I'll cherish the old rugged cross. I hope we can learn to sing, I'll cherish the Christ of the cross. Now Jesus Christ nailed to a cross that Paul gloried in is the whole counsel of God. Let me make that true from the scripture. Revelation chapter 13, verse 8. The lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross. Before time began, this took place, somebody says, how can that be? Well, God's eternal. With him, there is no past, there's no present, there's no future. All is in the eternal now. He's not bound by space or time the way you are and I am. Jesus Christ being crucified is God's eternal purpose.

It is the revelation of Himself. The cross was the reason for creation. The cross was the purpose behind Adam's fall. Adam's fall took place for the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is the most God-like thing God ever did. It's the full manifestation of the character of God. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross. is the full manifestation of the character of God. Every attribute of God is on display in Christ being nailed to a cross. This is what God's eternal purpose is. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And in Christ being nailed to a cross, we see God's revelation of Himself, God's purpose, God's power. God became flesh. What power? God was nailed to a cross, the God-man. What power? What about the accomplishments of His cross, the power displayed in the accomplishments of His cross?

Well, by the cross, He put away my sin. He made the sins of everybody He died for to be no more. That's why God says there are sins and iniquities that I remember no more. There's nothing there to remember. When Christ said, it is finished, they were all put away.

He made the way for God to be just, absolutely just and flexibly just. and yet justify ungodly sinners through what Christ did on the cross. Listen to this scripture. For he hath made him to be sin. For us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The glory of the cross is he makes believers the very righteousness of God in him. How we see the justice of God. He'll never let sin go unpunished. God's no respecter of persons. When sin was found in His Son, He killed Him. The sins of God's elect became His sins. And the justice of God smote Him down and killed Him because God is just, God is holy.

Here we see the wisdom of God, how He's made a way to be just, and yet justifies somebody like me or you. Here we see the love of God, His love to sinners. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Here we see God's righteousness. He is righteous in saving everybody who Christ died for.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation, for therein in the gospel is the very righteousness of God revealed. God's independence is seen in the cross. He didn't need me or you to do anything for Him to save us. He did it all by Himself. Hebrews 1, 3 says He by Himself purged our sins. Here we see the sovereignty of God.

When Christ was on the cross, there were two crosses on either side of Him. One, we have a man that was not saved. The other, we have a man who was saved. Who made the difference? God made the difference. Oh, the revelation of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything. I'm not to glory in the fact that God has used me. I'm not to glory in the fact that Christ himself appeared to me. I'm not to glory in the fact that I was taken into the third heavens. I'm not to glory in the fact that God used me to write scripture. I'm not to glory in the fact that God used me to found churches. All I can glory in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, if I ever see the glory of the cross, The Lord said in John 17, verse 4, this was His last prayer, He'll be dead, hanging on a cross 24 hours, and He's giving a summary of His life's work and the accomplishments of His death. He said in John 17, verse 4, I have glorified Thee on the earth.

That's what Christ did. He glorified His Father. He glorified His Father's law. He kept it. He glorified His Father's justice for sin against the law. He was punished as the sin-bearing substitute. He glorified His Father. I've glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work. that thou gavest me to do." And what was the work the Father gave him to do?

Matthew 1, verse 21 says, "...thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And on Calvary's tree, when he said it is finished, they were saved from their sins." Now Paul says, "...the only thing I glory is what Christ, who He is, and what He accomplished on Calvary's tree. Let me give you another Scripture that says the same thing. Philippians 3, verse 3 says, We are the true Jews. Somebody that's born physically a Jew is not necessarily a Jew. The true Jews are those who believe. The true Jews, the true Israel of God is the elect of God. He said, we are the circumcision. And he gives three marks. We are the circumcision, which number one, worship God in the spirit.

Now, what does that mean? We worship in a more spiritual manner? We don't have to have the trappings and smoke and mirrors of religion, but we have simple worship? Well, worship is simple. But that's not what he's talking about. We worship God in the spiritual nature given to us in the new birth. A natural man can't worship God. Only someone who is born of God can worship God. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We are the true circumcision which worship God in spirit Rejoice and rejoice in Christ Jesus.

Now that word rejoice is the same word Paul translated glory, or he said glory in Galatians 6.14, our text. We glory only in Christ. We don't glory in our experience, We don't glory in our works. We glory in Christ. We look nowhere but Him. We don't have confidence in anything else. We have confidence only in who He is and what He did. And the next thing Paul says is, we have no confidence in the flesh.

Now, if you glory in Christ, you don't have any confidence in anything that has anything to do with your flesh or anybody else's flesh. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You don't have any confidence in the flesh.

God forbid that I should glory. saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, who he is and what he accomplished on Calvary's tree, my everything in salvation. And then he said in verse, the end of the rest of the verse, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Now, if I glory in the cross, The world, and that's not talking about planet Earth and God's beautiful creation. It's talking about the world that doesn't know God. The world that has no love for the gospel. What John said, all that's of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of the life. It's not of the Father, but of the world.

In light of the cross, I see the world as having no more value than a crucified thing. Now if I ever see the cross, I'll see the world in that light. If I've never seen the glory of the cross, I can't see the world in that light. But if I ever see the glory of the cross and say with Paul, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll see the world for what it is, no more value than a crucified thing. The religion of the world, the maxims of the world, the desires of the world, I'll see them no more as a crucified thing. And the world's going to see me in the same light. If I glory in the cross, the world's going to place no more value on me than someone dead and crucified. Bury them and get them out of my sight. No love from the world.

Now, have you, have I, ever with Paul said from the depths of our heart, 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. Upon the cross of Jesus, mine eyes at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered there for me. And from my smitten heart with tears, two wonders I confess, the wonders of his glorious love and my own worthlessness. I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face, content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss, my sinful self, my only shame, my glory, all the cross. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information provided on the screen.

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