The title of my message, taking
my text as you have guessed, I'm sure, from verse 14 in Galatians
chapter 6, the title of my message is The Cross Our Glory. The Cross Our Glory. Today we'll observe the Lord's
Supper and we're going to do it simply, simply, without fanfare
without any, as they're called, aids to worship. I'm not going
to change my clothes and put on some sort of robe. We're not
going to kneel before the communion table and give you the sign.
We're not going to do any of that nonsense. We're not going
to recite any sort of magic potions like they do in the Catholic
Church and teach what they call transubstantiation. That's a
big word. You know what that means? They
say that from the hand of the priest, the so-called priest,
that imposter, from his hand the red becomes the actual body
of Christ. So that's crazy. That's exactly
what transubstantiation means. And the wine actually becomes
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, no, no, no. That's not what
it means when Christ said, except you eat my flesh and drink my
blood, you have no part in me. That's not what that means. He
was speaking spiritually. We're united to Christ by faith,
by taking the bread that came down from heaven and eating it,
and it becomes a part of us, and we're His, and He is ours. The life that we now live, as
Paul said, in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God.
Our Lord told His disciples that night before He went to the cross,
before He was betrayed, He said, because I live, because I live,
ye shall live also. The same life that's in the head. Isn't that a glorious thought?
The same life that's in the head is in every member of His body. The same eternal everlasting
life. If we are unable to remember
Him, who loved us and gave himself for us, it'll do us good. It'll do us good. It'll be beneficial
to our hearts, and that will be enough. That will be enough. Oh, if we can just remember him,
if we could be overwhelmed with the sense of his amazing grace
and his everlasting love, overwhelmed with the thought, he did that
for me, You mean he did that for me, especially for me, if
God is pleased? To refresh our hearts with the
memory of that, with the blessed fact of that, it will overwhelm
us. And it will have this effect.
We'll bow down in our hearts. And we'll worship God. We'll
worship God. We'll leave here exclaiming,
hallelujah, what a savior. We'll forget. We'll forget, at
least for a little while, all those things, all those things
that all just clamor for our attention, all those things we've
got to take care of, all the stuff that's waiting for us,
all those burdens. Oh, we've got to get back to
it. Oh, may God allow us just for
a little while to put that aside. And once again, by His grace
and the supply of His Spirit, to behold the Lamb of God. Oh,
if we're enabled to do that, and I pray that the message will
be conducive before we come to the Lord's table to allow us
to do that very thing. That will be, as one old Puritan
put it, When he found himself in the cellar of affliction,
he said he remembered that the master of the house kept his
best wine there, and he would drink wine on the leaves well
refined. Oh, if we can remember him as
we observe the Lord's table, we will indeed eat his flesh
and drink his blood and live forever in a spiritual, spiritual
sense. My dear friend and yours, my
pastor brother Don Fortner, I don't know how many times I've shared
a table with him, a meal at his house and he and Shelby at my
house and just about every time after we've partaken of whatever
was supplied, whatever was prepared and it was always good, Don would
finally pull back Push his chair back from the table and say,
mmm, good groceries. Good groceries. Children of God,
if we're enabled by his spirit to remember the Lord Jesus Christ,
we'll do the same. We'll do the same. Oh, we'll
worship him. Paul says we can glory in this. We can glory in this. We're allowed
to. As a matter of fact, we can go
further than that. God commands us to. But nothing
else. Nothing else. Oh, if you know
the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't need nothing else. He's enough. You don't like anything else
to glory in. I don't need to look for anything
else to glory in. If I've ever behold the Son of
God, oh, that'll ravish my heart. I'll never get over it. Now you'll
get over a decision for Jesus, probably. a couple hours after
you make one. You'll get over walking up an
aisle. You'll get over learning some
doctrine, memorizing verses of scripture and acting religious.
You'll get over that. Oh, but if you ever truly, truly
meet the Son of God, if you ever experience, and I'm not afraid
of that word, experience God's amazing grace, let me tell you
something, you'll never get over it. And it will be your joy and
delight, not to glory in anything else, but to cross the accomplishment,
the death, the atonement, the redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God says you can glory in that
and never be concerned that you might go too far. Don't even
think like that. You can't glory in this enough.
You can't give praise and thanks and worship to him enough, and
that's what it means to glory. It's to ascribe, as the psalmist
said, greatness to our God. It's as he said in another place,
not unto us, O not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. And if we're Allowed and
able to do that, it will refresh our hearts. Do you feel like
you could use a little refreshing? A little reviving? Oh, may God
be pleased to do it. Recently, several mornings this
week, I've set out on the patio with my coffee, and I've just
enjoyed it. Listening to the birds, it was
comfortable. Now, up until just a few days ago, Man, it was too
hot to sit out there. I mean, there wasn't a breeze
enough to stir a leaf on the tree. I mean, it just wasn't
comfortable, but I guess a drop in humidity or whatever causes
it, God caused it. I could sit out there and it
had a nice breeze and it just felt good, felt good, comfortable,
enjoyed it. I told Robin, I could just sit
out here all morning, just sit out here all day. Oh, may God
send His Spirit like the Lord described the Spirit as being
the wind. Nicodemus, the Spirit's like
the wind. Oh, may His Spirit blow upon
us and revive us and refresh us as we remember our great God
and Savior. John Bunyan. Old Bunyan, he was
a tinker. John Owen, a contemporary of
his day who was a great theologian, he said concerning the tinker
Bunyan, He said, I would give all my learning, all my degrees,
if I could write like that tinker in Bedford. Bunyan said concerning
the book of Galatians and especially Martin Luther's commentary on
this book, Bunyan said outside of the Bible itself, Luther's
commentary on Galatians was his favorite book. favorite book. If he could only have one other
than God's Word itself, he would take Luther on Galatians because
he found that he was most helpful to a wounded conscience, most
helpful to a troubled heart. The problem turned back, if you
will, here in Galatians chapter 1. Here's the problem that Paul
was dealing with. Chapter 1, verse 6. Let's just
lay a little groundwork and then we'll come back to our text.
Here's the background, why Paul wrote this epistle. In verse
6 he tells these believers, I marvel, I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. Paul says, how can you do that?
How can you even think about that? Don't be led astray. Verse 7, Concerning that other
gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you
Here was the problem. There are some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ now we said in the
reading in Acts chapter 15 you have the historical account of
what Paul says here in Galatians in Acts chapter 15 verse 1 Here
it is and certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. You cannot be saved. This is
what they were saying. And this is why Paul wrote his
epistle. Grace alone is not enough. Now, they didn't deny grace.
No, no, they didn't do that. They were more sneaky than that.
But they simply said grace is not enough. Christ alone is not
enough. You've got to add law to grace. You've got to keep the law. You've
got to add Moses to Jesus Christ because alone he's not enough. And the consequences of such
teaching here back in Galatians chapter 2 is this. If what they
were saying is true, then this is true too. Verse 21 of Galatians
2. Paul said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness came by
the law, if what they're telling you is true, if righteousness
came by the law, if it came by observing the law, then Jesus
Christ died for nothing. He died in vain. If men could
have been reconciled to God, if God Almighty would accept
any sinner upon the grounds of their own legal works, there
was no need for Jesus Christ to die. You see how important
it is? You see why Paul came out firing
with both barrels, so to speak? He said, we wouldn't give leave
to such teaching? No, not for a moment. I do not
frustrate the grace of God. And then in the closing verses
of the chapter that we read, he does like the wise man, the
preacher in Ecclesiastes. He closed his book with these
words, let us now hear the conclusion of the whole matter. And here's
Paul's conclusion. Here's God's conclusion. But God forbid that I should
glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Again in Acts
15, Paul goes up to Jerusalem and he tells James and Peter
there about what God had done by his hand. And here come those
Judaizers, those legalists. They follow Paul there and they
raise this same issue. Oh, that's fine, that's fine,
Christ is fine, but you must add Moses. And they settle that. They reaffirm, let me read it
to you, in Acts 15, verse 30. This is what they conclude. that they all with one united
voice reaffirm that believers are not under the law in no sense
whatsoever, not for justification and not for sanctification. I've
heard some professing Christians refer to those blessed truths
as They apply to a believer like some kind of game of hopscotch.
I'll stand on this square to be justified by God's grace.
But to be sanctified, to be made holy, I've got to jump over on
this square of my own works. Oh, no, no, no. God has made
Christ to be unto us what? Sanctification and redemption. and wisdom and righteousness
imparted and imputed they're all in and because and flow through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they reaffirmed and
they gave Barnabas and Paul letters stating that very fact and sent
them back to Antioch. So when they were dismissed they
came to Antioch and when they had gathered the multitude together
they delivered the epistle And in verse 31, which when they
had heard, when they had read it to them, they rejoiced for
the consolation. They said, you're not under the
law. I imagine they might have sang a song something like this,
because they just rejoiced. When they heard that everything
they had been told by the legalist was a lie, When they told they
weren't under that heavy yoke that neither themselves nor their
forefathers were able to keep, they rejoiced. And I imagine
they might have seen something like this, free from the law,
oh, happy condition, they rejoiced. It's not wrong to rejoice. Oh,
free from the law, oh, happy condition. Jesus had bled and
there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, but Christ has redeemed us once for all. And they said,
hallelujah, that's good news. That's so good to hear. Galatians
chapter three, verse 13. That's exactly what Paul wrote.
Plainly, plainly, look at it with me, look at it with me.
Verse 13 of chapter three. Christ hath, hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Oh, glorious
substitute, glorious savior, mighty God, prince of peace,
everlasting father, that deserves a song of thankfulness and praise. You remember what the psalmist
said, Psalm 40? I waited patiently for the Lord, and he, he inclined
his ear to me. He, God Almighty, heard me. Wow, David seems to think. Wow,
imagine that. He heard my cry. God Almighty
heard the cry of this one insignificant sinner. He heard my cry, isn't
that something? Verse two, that's not all he
did. He, that is God, brought me up
also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see
it in fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Verse 16 of that same
psalm, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Like Paul said, like
we sang a moment ago, to God be the glory. Great things he
have done. As we mentioned, Paul seems to
spare no punches on this legalist religion. Anytime grace is mentioned,
legalism gets a whack upside the head, just gets knocked out. Can't be both. It's all works
and it's all grace. It can't be both. It's impossible. The subject, the cross our glory,
is one of the deepest importance. It's not one of those things
that true believers can agree to differ on. Your views on the
millennium, whether you're post-millennial, or all-millennial, or post-millennial,
or Reynolds Aluminum, it don't matter to me. Those are things that are not
essential, are not essential to our fellowship. And there
are other things, need not mention, but that won't determine, you
could be wrong on that, I could be wrong on that, there's a lot
of prophecy experts out there anyway we don't need any more
but it won't determine where you spend eternity but a man
better be right on this this will determine where you spend
eternity this will determine when you stand before God Almighty
whether you here enter in or depart from me this is vital
What do you think about the cross of Jesus Christ? Notice the immediate
context of our text here in Galatians chapter 6 verse 12. Paul says,
as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they constrain
you to be circumcised. Verse 13, that they may glory
in your flesh. What does that mean? A fair show
in the flesh, the glory in the flesh. What exactly did Paul
mean by that? Well, it's the religion of a
man's own making. Religion, which is a fair show
in the flesh, is just pretense. It's all outward. It's all outward. It's fleshly religion. It's like
children on Halloween. They dress up in costumes and
pretend to be something that they're not. It's interesting.
It's interesting that the one thing our Lord cursed when he
was on earth was that fig tree which represents hypocrisy. All
leaves, but no fruit. That's what God cursed. And that's
what the Lord saw in the Pharisees. And he said, woe unto you hypocrites. His fiercest words, his anger
words was kindled against that fleshly religion, their own righteousness. Matthew chapter 23 verse 1, Then
spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying,
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. They love
to be recognized. They want the chief's seat. all
therefore whatsoever they bid you do observe and that observe
and do but do not ye after their works for they say and they do
not for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay
them on man's shoulders but they themselves will not remove them
with one of their fingers but all their works here it is here's
fleshly religion that Paul spoke of But all their works they do
for to be seen of men. That's why they make broad their
phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. They
want people to see them, to take notice of them. And they love
the uppermost rooms at feast, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
and greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi,
Rabbi. And then Christ said, All this
is nothing but fleshly religion. On down in the chapter, he says,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Wow. Wow. That's pretty tough. That's pretty
plain. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.
For ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer them that are
entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses. and for a pretense make
long prayers. Therefore ye shall receive the
greater damnation. Even so, verse 28, ye also outwardly,
outwardly, blestly, outwardly appear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. All your religion
is what the prophet called garment-rending, garment-rending. Joel chapter
2, therefore also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with
all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, rend
your heart and not your garments. Fleshly religion is just garment
rending. Rend your heart and not your
garments. Turn unto the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. Let's turn away from that. Enough
of that. Look what Paul says. True religion, faith consists
in this, glorying in nothing but the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul seems to put both feet down
and says that that legalist religion, fleshly religion, that outward
show, you can have it. You can have it. I'll not join
in. I turn my back on it, and all
your glory in the flesh, I don't want any part of it. Paul said,
I had enough of it to do me a lifetime, because he was in it. He was
a ringleader of it, but now he says, God forbid that I should
glory. The hymn that we sang in our
bulletin earlier expresses it that way, doesn't it? Aloud in
his praises, our voices shall ring. With the ransom in glory,
to Jesus our King, to Him who has loved us and washed us from
sin, to Him be the glory forever. Amen. When Paul says, God forbid
that I should glory again, as we mentioned in the reading,
he wasn't talking about the literal wooden cross. The cross that
Jesus hung upon was no different than those others on his left
hand and on his right. Saying, just wood, just wood. People talk about, what's that
old hymn? On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. Oh,
I love that old wooden rugged cross. I wouldn't have it if
they found it. The very cross Christ, that's not what he's
talking about. Not a picture, not wearing a
cross, not carrying a cross. That's all outward. No, what
Paul talks about is this. He meant to declare strongly
that he trusted in nothing else but Jesus Christ himself. Jesus Christ who died upon that
cross for the pardon of all Paul's sins and the salvation of his
soul. Let others look where they will
for salvation. But Paul said, I'll only look
to him, the Lamb of God. I'll glory in nothing else, I'll
have confidence in nothing else, I'll lean on nothing else, I'll
build on nothing else, and I'll glory in nothing else but the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Paul meant. the
atonement that Jesus Christ made for sinners by his suffering
for them, the complete and perfect sacrifice for sin which he offered
up when he offered up himself, that's what Paul meant by the
cross. Christ crucified the only Savior. This was Paul's meaning. By the cross of Jesus Christ,
the apostle understands the all-sufficient and all-satisfactory sacrifice
of Christ upon the cross with the whole work of redemption.
Would Paul have glory? This is something to consider. Do you think Paul would write
such words and say such things if he were speaking about a mere
attempt at redemption? Or an offer of redemption? Or the possibility of redemption? That's religious talk. That's
not Bible talk. That's not how God talks about
redemption. With Paul glory in an incomplete
redemption, what I mean by that, a redemption that needs me to
add something to it before it succeeds. Christ's done all he
can do. I've heard that all my life.
And they said it was good news. That wasn't good news. Man, that's
sorry. That's sorry. That's pitiful. That's a lie.
Scott Richardson said they're telling lies on God. No, no,
no. A redemption that needs me to
add something to it before it's successful or not, that's not
worth glorying in. That's not worth having. An atonement
that really didn't atone. A redemption that after all really
didn't redeem. If Christ did no more than that,
why glory in it? There's nothing there to glory
in, to hope in, to trust in. But there is a redemption that
was obtained. Is there not Christ we read in
Hebrews 9 and 12, He entered one time into the holy place
having, now catch this word, catch this word, having obtained,
obtained eternal redemption for us. Now I can trust in that.
I can lay my immortal soul down on that. I can trust that I'll
stand before God without a spot or a blemish, without any such
thing. I can live with that hope. I
can die with that hope. I can face God Almighty with
that hope because Jesus Christ obtained my eternal redemption. Glory to His name. Glory to His
name. That's what Paul rejoiced in.
And that's what every child of God rejoices in. The finished
work of Jesus Christ. That's what I'll boast in. That's
what I'll brag about. Not what I did, but what he did. And child of God, remember this.
Remember this. The redeeming effects of Christ's
death are still prevailing. Are still prevailing. as John
saw and heard in heaven itself. John was caught up to heaven.
Come up here, John, and I'll show you things that must be
hereafter. And John saw a multitude before
the throne of God. Now, a possibility of redemption
wouldn't have brought them there. God doing all he can and leaving
the rest up to them wouldn't have made that happen. And we
read in Revelation 5, one of the elders said unto me, weep
not, behold, behold, behold. Oh, God help me to behold. The
line of the tribe of Judah, druid of David, hath prevailed, hath
prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And
I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had
been slain. having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the
earth. And he came, he came, he came, and took the book out
of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, and we had
taken the book. The four beasts and four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art
worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou
was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. God's Word knows nothing about
a possibility redemption. Oh, Lamb of God, you have redeemed
us to God by your own blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. Oh, when you drink the wine,
child of God, rejoice. By His blood, He redeemed you
to God. You're His. The hymn writer put
it this way, speaking about the perpetual. unchanging, unending
value and merit of Christ's blood. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that blood, lose all their guilty stains. Really? Really. Really. They really do. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. For real. When this poor lisping,
stammering tongue lies silent in the grave, then in a nobler,
sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save. Really. Really. Because the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, speaks to all eternity, to the everlasting
satisfaction of God Almighty. God Almighty. That's why we're
accepted in the beloved. Paul says, the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. The world had no more attraction
to Paul, or for Paul, than a dead corpse. and the world looked
at Paul in the same way. It was a mutual agreement. No
attraction. They had no use for Paul and
Paul had no use for them. The cross of Christ, the death
of Christ on the cross to make atonement for sinners is the
truth of the whole Bible. The whole Word of God. If we
have not yet found that out, we've not read the Bible to any
prophet. That's exactly right. Read the Bible. And not to see
Christ crucified, it's to read with blinders on. I mean, from
Genesis to Revelation, that's the thing. That's the thing.
I like what old Bunyan said. He said, I saw, moreover, that
it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better.
Well, I just feel saved. That doesn't add anything. nor
my bad frame that made my righteousness worse. No, no, no. For my righteousness
was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Bunyan wrote this. He said, the
run and work the law demands but gives us neither feet nor
hands. But better news the gospel brings.
It bids us fly and gives us wings. Blessed be God, we shall never
put off Christ that God has put on. The garments of salvation
shall never wear thin, shall never wear thin. The robe of
righteousness in which the Lord God has clothed all of his people
will never wax old, will never lose its beauty, will never lose
its luster, will never fade away. When God Almighty says concerning
any prodigal son or daughter, Put on the best robe. Hey, bring
the best robe and put it on him. And that best robe is the perfect
righteousness of God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and there
will never come a time, child of God, listen to this, there
will never be a time for any reason that God Almighty says,
now take it off. Take it off. Never be a time. Or I might deny him like Peter. clothed in his righteousness.
I may forsake him, clothed in his righteousness. Oh, there'll
never be a time once he says, put the best robe on him, it'll
stay on us and it will present us without fault before the throne
of God. We are forever and completely
always child of God. Rejoice in this. We're always
accepted and beloved. Villains come and villains go.
Villains are deceiving, but our hope is in the Word of God. None
else is worth believing. Let me bring this to a close.
Here's the robe of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ
that we glory in. Ezekiel 16 speaks of it. God
speaking, and he says, when I passed by you and looked upon you, behold,
Thy time was the time of love, and I, notice it's I, I, I, God,
I spread my skirt over you, and I covered your neck in this.
Yea, I swear unto you and entered into a covenant with you, said
the Lord God, and thou becomest mine. Oh, Bobby, you sometimes
sing, as long as God and I shall be, I am his. and he is mine. And thy renown
went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect,
it was perfect, through my comeliness which I put upon you, saith the
Lord. Mr. Toplady, I guess it's probably
most well known him as Rock of Ages, but he wrote others. Here's
one. From whence this fear and unbelief,
Has thou, O Father, put to grief your spotless Son for me? And
will the righteous judge of men condemn me for that debt of sin,
O Lord, which was charged to thee? Complete atonement thou
hast made, and to the utmost farthing paid whatever thy people
owed. How then can wrath on me take
place, if sheltered in his righteousness and sprinkled with his blood?
If thou hast my full discharge procured, If freely in my room
endured the whole of wrath divine, payment God can not twice demand.
First at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine. As we come to the Lord's table,
let's come with that same blessed determination that the Apostle
Paul spoke of when he said, God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen lord bless you