Just this morning, I'd be preaching
to you Tuesday night from Exodus chapter 12. I'm going to hold
off. I've been studying and mulling
over something Brother Rex mentioned in his prayer and I'm, if God
will give me a message, I want to preach to you Tuesday night
on God's prevenient grace. That's an old, old word, not
used much, prevenient. The old writers used to talk
about prevenient grace. That's the grace that goes before
and prepares the way for grace, prevenient grace. That'll be
my subject Tuesday night, the Lord willing. Turn with me tonight
to Galatians, the book of Galatians. I want to speak to you about
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Particularly, I want to talk
to you about glorying in the cross. In this great epistle,
the apostle Paul, as he was infallibly inspired by God, the Holy Spirit
declares that salvation is entirely the work of God's free grace
in Jesus Christ. Now look at the first chapter.
First, we're going to go through these six chapters very briefly,
and I'll get to my text and won't spend much time on it. And the
first chapter. The apostle defines the gospel. Now the gospel of Christ is defined
many times in scripture. It's defined many times. I didn't
say many ways. It's defined many times. It's
defined in Romans chapter one. It's defined in first Corinthians
15. It's defined in Ephesians chapter one. It's defined for
us in second Timothy chapter one. And it's defined here in
Galatians chapter one. It is always defined as Paul
defines it here. with different words, but the
same meaning. It's defined as the good news
of grace. The good news of grace through
the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, our substitute, the one
mediator between God and man, giving all praise, honor, and
glory to the triune God alone for this thing called salvation.
In this passage before us, the apostle speaks of the one true
gospel and tells us that it is the good news of grace and peace. You see that in verse one or
verse three, rather grace and peace. To you grace be to you
and peace from God, the father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he speaks of this grace and peace coming from God, the
father and our Lord Jesus Christ through the accomplished redemption
of our Lord Jesus, verse four, who gave himself for our sins,
gave himself because of our sins, died because of our sins that
were made his, gave himself to pay the debt for our sins, for
this purpose, that he might deliver us He died for the purpose of
delivering. And either he has delivered us
or he has failed in his purpose. That he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God. And then
the gospel. Always gives all glory, honor,
and praise to God alone. Verse 5, to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. Now you mark it down, you
mark it down. Any doctrine, any preaching,
any religious teaching that rubs your feathers the right way and
makes you feel good about yourself is false. The gospel doesn't praise man
ever. The gospel does not exalt man
ever. And those who preach the gospel
do not spend their time praising and exalting men. The gospel
exalts Jesus Christ and gives praise to God alone. And then
in verses six through nine, Paul tells us that every other gospel
is a false gospel. Any gospel other than that of
free grace through the accomplished redemption of Jesus Christ the
Lord is a sham, a pretense, a fake, a damning gospel. Every religious
message that men preach mixing grace and works, mixing the work
of Christ with the work of man, mixing the will of man with the
will of God. is altogether a damning delusion
of Satan. In verse 6 he said, I marvel
that you're so soon removed from the gospel of Christ to another
gospel. And then in verse 7 he says,
which is not another. And he uses two different words
for another. You remember our Lord Jesus,
when he was about to leave this world, said, I'll pray the Father
and he will send you another comforter. That is, he'll send
you another just exactly like me. Here, the apostle says, the
gospel these fellows are preaching is another gospel, but it's not
another. He says, the first word, another
is a different word. It means something that is not
even close. Not even similar. It's not the
gospel of Christ. And he said, now let me be plain.
If I come and preach another gospel to you, then that which
you have received, by which God called you to life and faith
in Christ, or anybody else preaches another gospel to you than that
which you have received. If an angel from heaven should
light on your bedpost tonight and preach another gospel to
you, let him be damned. Wow. Is it that important? Is it that important? The glory
of God in your soul is at stake. Yes, it's that important. And
this whole epistle is written to show us the importance of
the gospel of God's free grace. In chapter 2, the apostle deals
with the matter of justification. If you want to write out some
headings at the tops of these chapters, I think they'll be
significant. In chapter 1, he tells us there's
just one gospel. In chapter 2, he tells us this
one gospel declares free justification. Free justification. Free grace
justification. Free grace justification by the
obedience of Christ. He's telling us here how to distinguish
the true from the false with regard to the gospel. In this
second chapter, he asserts that we are justified by Jesus Christ
alone without any contribution on our part. Without any contribution
on our part. When Peter And Paul and Barnabas
were at Antioch with the Gentile brethren, and they were having
a barbecue dinner, having pork chops and ribs and all the stuff
that good southern folks like to have for dinner. Peter saw
James coming with certain brethren from Jerusalem. These folks who
were Jews, but were still clinging to Jewish traditions and legal
customs. And he got up and gargled with
Listerine and walked over to the other table acting as though
he did not behave like the Gentiles because he didn't want those
Jews to smell pork chops on his breath. And Paul said this was
such a serious thing. All he did was get up and move
from one table to the other. But in doing so, he led Barnabas
to do the same thing. And he led a dissimulation even
among the Gentiles to do the same thing. And in doing so,
by implication, Peter was saying, we're still under the law and
we must do certain things to make ourselves pure before God.
And Paul said, I withstood him to the face. He did it publicly
because Peter's action was public. He withstood him to the face
publicly because Peter had publicly led a dissimulation away from
the gospel. Had Peter departed from the gospel?
No. Had he forsaken the gospel? No. But by implication, he led
others away from the gospel in his actions, and Paul withstood
him. Now look at verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, a man is not made righteous before
God by his obedience to the law, but by, now watch it, Not by
faith in Christ, that's not what he said. What does he say? But by the faith of Christ. Our faith in Christ receives
the atonement. Our faith in Christ receives
reconciliation. Our faith in Christ receives
justification. But we were justified by the
faith of Jesus Christ, by his faithful obedience unto death
as our mediator. When he was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification, we were justified
by his obedience unto death. We were justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Even we had believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Is Paul declaring that we're
justified without anything we do? Sounds like that, doesn't
it? You mean we're made righteous
entirely without any contribution on our part? That's what he's
saying. Look at verse 19. This is what it means to be justified.
For I through the law am dead to the law. I by the work of
God's law in executing Christ, my substitute, and dead to the
law, for I died in my redeeming. Read on, that I might live unto
God. Verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. Quite literally, Paul declares,
and this really would be a better translation in my opinion of
the text. I was crucified with Christ. He's talking about something
that took place in the past. When Christ was crucified, I
was crucified with him. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. That's what the new birth is.
It's Christ coming, taking up residence in you. And the life
which I now live in the flesh, I live, watch it, by the faith
of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I live
this life now. by the faithful obedience of
the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The life
I now have, I have as the result of and as the inevitable result
of what Christ did while he walked on this earth and when he died
for my sins. Read on. I do not frustrate the
grace of God. The implication is clear. Those
folks who teach something else frustrate the grace of God. For
if righteousness come by the law, if righteousness can be
obtained by something you do, it doesn't matter what righteousness
you're talking about. If righteousness before God can
be obtained by something you do, then Jesus Christ died for
nothing. Christ is dead in vain. And that
didn't happen. Then we come to chapter three.
Now there are multitudes who will Sailing along pretty good
through chapter two. Yes, sir. We believe in salvation
by grace. We believe we're justified by
grace. Our works don't have anything to do with it. And then they
get to this thing called sanctification. And then all of a sudden everything
is works. We're justified by grace, but
we have to sanctify ourselves. We're justified by grace, but
we have to make ourselves holy. We're justified by grace, but
we have to keep ourselves in God's favor by our obedience
to the law or by some obedience to something. We must make ourselves
holy by what we do. Now listen carefully. You can't
get to God in glory You can't live with God in eternity, except
you be justified, made righteous by the law, by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ himself, righteous in the court of heaven. But you've
got to have more than a righteous record. If you would live for
eternity, you must have a righteous nature, a holiness that only
God can give. And that righteous nature is
what's created in the believer in the new birth in what we call
sanctification and sanctification. Paul tells us in chapter three
is just as much the work of God's grace without our works as is
our justification. Look at what it says. Galatians
three verse one. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you? You think I can use scathing
words when I talk about works religion? Paul used scathing
words. He said your religion is nothing
but witchcraft. Somebody's cast a spell over
you. Somebody is Taken some chicken feet and chicken bones and done
a voodoo spell on you. That's what your religion is.
You've been bewitched. That you should not obey the truth. Before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified
among you. I preach Christ plainly to you.
This only would I learn of you. Received you the spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? How were you born again? By something you did or by simply
believing the son of God receiving life from him Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit. Are
we are you now made perfect by the flesh? Sanctification is
holiness It's holiness follow peace with all men and holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. Justification is righteousness. Sanctification is the imparting
of a holiness that only God can give and that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. This too is by the grace of God. And Paul goes on to assert those
who suggest who teach that we make ourselves more holy. We
make ourselves purer. We make ourselves more really
spiritual people by our obedience to the law. He says they are
under the curse. Look at verse 10. For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Next time
you hear somebody talk to you about Obeying the law. Well,
I believe we ought to obey the law. Yes, I live by the law. I keep the Sabbath day and I
do all the stuff. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse for it is written. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written. In the book
of the law to do that mean Merle, if you mess
up once you're gone, Jesse, exactly what it means. Either you must
obey the law perfectly, or there's no obedience to the law. And
bless God, we have obeyed the law perfectly and fully satisfied
it in a substitute. And now we live by his grace,
living in us by his spirit in the grace of God. Then in chapter
four, Paul explains the history of Sarah and Hagar and their
two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And it tells us that these two
women and their sons came into existence and lived for the purpose
of serving as an allegory. They are an allegory to teach
us the relationship of grace and works. Oh, now, now that's
what we've been wanting to get to. In what sense are we still
under the law? The same sense that Ishmael can
still live in the house with Isaac in exactly the same sense. is Jerusalem which is above the
mother of us all. Hagar is Mount Sinai which gendereth
to bondage. Hagar's son Ishmael is the product
of the flesh. Everything that comes from your
good works in the flesh is Ishmael. Anybody want Ishmael? Anybody
want Ishmael? Only another Ishmaelite. Sarah
bears a son, who's a child of promise. The gift of a covenant,
the gift of grace, the gift of mercy, Isaac. And Sarah, speaking
by the Spirit of God, said to Abraham, her husband, cast the
bondwoman out with her son. Throw the baby out with the bathwater. Because the son of the bondwoman
cannot be heir with the child of promise. There's no room,
absolutely no room in the house of grace for the works of the
law. If you would be justified or
sanctified by something you do, you won't find yourself comfortable
in this place. You won't find yourself comfortable
where the gospel of God's grace is preached. There's no room
in the house of grace for the Ishmaelites of the law. Then
in chapter five, Paul tells us just how important all of this
is. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you." Now, Paul is the one doing the
writing, and he is the one who assumes responsibility for what
he says. But don't forget, the Spirit of God is the one who
inspired his writing. Behold, I, God the Spirit, say
to you, if ye be circumcised. Anybody here got an appointment
to see the doctor any time in the near future to be circumcised?
Anybody? Well, let's not talk to us then.
Oh yes, talking to us. It's talking to us. It's not
just speaking of circumcision alone. If you do something, If
you attempt something, praying, reading, going to church, giving,
serving as a missionary, preaching, laying down your life for somebody
else. If you do anything by which you hope to get God's favor,
improve God's favor or keep God's favor. What does it say? Christ
shall profit You nothing. Hold to the law. Hold to your
works. You give up Christ. Hold to Christ. You give up the law and give
up your works. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised. If you do one thing, you got
to do it all. He's a debtor to the whole law. Now watch this.
Christ is become of no effect unto you Whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you've fallen from grace. You've missed
the gospel altogether. For we, through the spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. And then in the rest
of the chapter, he tells us what it is to live by faith. Those
who live by the law live after the flesh and fulfill the lust
of the flesh. The law stirs up nothing but
lust in man and produces nothing but the lust of the flesh brought
forth in man. The religion is nothing but the
outworking of the lust of the flesh. It's carnal, it's malicious,
it's hard, it's divisive, it's cruel, it's abominable. The lust
of the flesh. But God's people walk in the
spirit. We live in the spirit and walk
in the spirit, trusting Jesus Christ, the Lord, and fulfill
the works of this or the fruit of the spirit is fulfilled in
us. Then in chapter six, Paul tells us what this life in the
spirit is. What is it to, to live in the spirit, to not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, ye which are spiritual, you who live in the spirit, you
are spiritual. We, uh, we talk so, so much like
papers, our Tibetans. So, you know, Oh, he's so holy. Now he's a really spiritual man. Oh, she's such a spiritual woman.
Let me tell you something. If you're in Christ, you're spiritual.
Did you get that? If you trust the son of God,
you are holy and you are spiritual. You live not in the flesh, but
in the spirit. Now you, which are spiritual.
Restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. What do you do? When you're,
uh, out working with, uh, with across Peterson and, uh, That
old man you had so much respect for, forgive me for using the
language. He smashes his hammer against
his thumb, and man, he lets out an oath. Look at him. Boy, that's... Let me tell you what I saw over
there the other day. That's what Ham did with Noah.
Uncover his nakedness. What do you do? One of God's
people is overtaken with a fault. Be it such a minor fault or a
fault like David murdering his friend and taking his wife. What
do you do? Do everything you can to pick
him up, set him on his feet. Everything you can. Religion says kick him. and beat
him, because religion says you ain't like that. The gospel moral teaches us we're
just exactly like one another. Considering yourself, remembering
you're the same stuff, lest you also be tempted. Bear ye one
another's burdens. He's talking about particularly
the faults, the weaknesses, the failures, the sins, the offenses
of one another. Bear one another's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ. Don't just put up with them,
bear them, help them along the way. For if a man think himself
to be something, when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. God keep teaching me. that I
am nothing. I am nothing. Several years ago, when Jesse
Jackson was running for president, he had a constant political rally,
a cry for rallying. I am somebody. I am somebody. I am somebody. And it's real
popular because everybody thinks I am somebody. I'm here to tell
you, you are nobody and nothing. And I'm one of you, nothing,
nothing. Don't think so highly of yourself,
but let every man prove his own work, prove the work of God in
him. Then shall he have rejoicing
in himself alone or not in another. Won't need somebody else to tell
you you're his. For every man shall bear his own burden. Then
he says in verse six, let him that is taught in the word communicate
unto him that teacheth in all good things. That is, you who
are made beneficiaries of gospel preaching, you support those
who preach the gospel. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall
he also reap. He's talking about supporting
the cause of Christ around the world. People have the idea how
many times if somebody gets a little older and have trouble in their
house and They said, well, my chickens are coming home to roost. Whatever man sows, that will
also reap. I reaped all the hell and fury
of God's wrath in his son for all that I am and all that I've
done 2000 years ago. God Almighty is not going to
punish me for my sins, not in this life, nor in the life to
come. He punished his son for my sins. What's he talking about
then? He's talking about using that which God puts in your hand.
Your time, your effort, your money, everything you possess.
You can use it for one of two things, either corruption or
something worthwhile. He says, whatsoever man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh
shall of his flesh reap corruption. You can take everything you've
got and buy lands and houses and boats and cars and trucks
and guns and watch it all rot away. Or he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. You can take
it and send it down to Mexico and watch God use it for the
everlasting salvation of men's souls. Let us not be weary in
well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we think not. As we therefore have opportunity,
let us do good unto all men. especially unto them who are
of the household of faith. As we have opportunity, as we
have opportunity, as we have opportunity, let us do good. What on earth are you responsible
to do? What am I responsible to do?
Just exactly what God almighty gives us opportunity to do. That's
all. That's all. As we have opportunity,
let us do good to all men, especially to God's elect. Verse 11. You
see how large a letter I've written to you with my own hand? As many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain
you to be circumcised. They constrain you to produce
good works. only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. They do it because they
don't want to be identified with Jesus Christ and the gospel of
his grace. They don't want to suffer anything
for the cause of Christ. For neither they themselves are
circumcised. Keep the law, but desire to have
you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh
so they can use you to promote themselves. Verse 14, but God
forbid that I should glory, boast, trust, rejoice in anything save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. In Christ,
it doesn't matter whether you were born a Jew or born a Gentile. Doesn't matter whether you're
born a man or born a woman. Doesn't matter whether you were
born black or born white. Doesn't matter whether you're
rich or poor. Doesn't matter whether you learned
or unlearned. It doesn't matter what your rank,
station, position, or race in life is. The only thing that
matters is a new creature. That's all. That's all. Has God
made you new by his grace? Has God put Christ in you? And
as many as walk according to this rule. What rule? Ah, the sweetest rule you ever
heard of in your life. What rule? The most blessed rule
you can ever experience. What rule? The loosest rule there
is. What rule? The rule of free grace. The rule of free grace. Peace
be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. The Israel
of God. Now he's been talking about Jews
and circumcision and law throughout this book. He's writing to Gentiles. But Gentiles who were being taught
by Judaizers, that is, men who professed faith in Christ and
still taught works of the law for righteousness, that somehow
another being a Gentile put you as a second-class citizen in
the kingdom of God. And throughout the book he says,
listen, those fellows over yonder aren't Jews. Those fellows who
are circumcised in the flesh aren't Jews. They're just Jews
in the flesh. Those fellows over yonder in
the land of promise are not the children of Abraham. You're the
children of Abraham. You're the true Israel of God.
You're God's people. You who walk by the rule of his
grace, whether Jew or Gentile. From henceforth, verse 17, let
no man trouble me. He said, uh, frankly, fellas, I just don't
give a flip what folks say about me. I'm not going to be bothered
with it. I'm not going to let it affect
me. How come? For I bear in my body,
the marks of the Lord Jesus. I've been crucified with Christ
and Christ lives in me and I've been ruled by him and I live
in him. Brethren, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Now go back to verse 14. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul speaks about the cross,
he is not talking about that wooden cross upon which the savior
died. Now, for you who still have religious
relics hanging around the house, I sure wish you'd go burn them.
And you can't buy church furniture without crosses on them. If y'all
can do something with that plus sign on any of those pews, you're
welcome to do it. The religious relics are nothing
but pieces of idolatry. Pictures of Christ in crosses.
If you've got one hanging around your neck, sell it, melt it down,
do something with it, get rid of it. They're just religious
pieces of idolatry. It's not talking about the sign
of the cross. You see these athletes, you know. That's just paganism. Superstition. And we're not superstitious pagans.
Get rid of all that nonsense. Do you know those Jews kept that
brazen serpent that Moses made and lifted up into wilderness?
Do you know how long they kept that? Man, they kept that throughout
the days of Moses and Abraham. They kept it through the days
of Joshua and the judges. And you know what they ultimately
did? They burned incense to it. What she would do with that?
Throw it away, melt it down and make you a good spittoon out
of it. That's exactly right. It's contemptible. It served
its purpose. It has no other purpose. And
that's exactly what the king required him to do. He ground
it up and said it's a worthless piece of brass. If I could actually
find the cross, on which Jesus Christ died. If I could actually
find it, and I know the papers, they've got splinters from it
all over the world. They've been found everywhere.
If I could find it, I'll tell you what I'd do with it. I'd
burn it, and I'd take it out somewhere and scatter the ashes.
I wouldn't even tell Shelby where I scattered them. Because if
you could find it, you'd gather up the ashes and worship them.
Well, I don't worship these things. Throw them away then. Throw them
away. And they're shrouded. Everybody
gets all excited about it. Oh, you reckon they really found
that shroud the Lord was wrapped in? No, I don't reckon that. But if I could, I'd either burn
it or I'd make good shine cloth out of it. But I sure wouldn't
worship it. Those things are meaningless.
What's he talking about when he talks about the cross? He's
talking about the gospel of the grace of God revealed in the
cross. He's talking about the message
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's talking about that message
by which the glory of God is revealed. He says, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross, the gospel of Christ
is that by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. He glories in the cross, declaring
the cross of Christ to be our only hope before God. He glories
in the cross, declaring that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
is the singular solitary message of Holy Scripture. I determined
to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Glorying in the cross because
the cross is that by which alone we are reconciled to God. Multitudes
would have us to somehow turn our backs on the cross. You thought fellows are just
too simple. There's more to this thing of Christianity, more to
this thing of preaching the gospel than, than preaching Christ crucified. Paul said Christ crucified is
all the counsel of God. He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Christ and him crucified. And he said
to the Ephesian elders that I've declared to you all the counsel
of God. Christ crucified is all the counsel
of God. No part of this book can be understood
apart from the gospel of God's free grace. And everything in
this book directs us to the gospel of God's free grace. To turn
our backs upon the gospel is to turn our backs upon Christ.
To outgrow the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and our need of
it is to outgrow Christ and our need of him. Oh no, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Soon we will be getting in the
book of Exodus to Mount Sinai. And I thank God for the giving
of the law. and the blackness and the darkness
and the thunder and the lightning and the terror that the law reveals. But I don't want to spend much
time on Mount Sinai. We often go with our savior to
Gethsemane to the Mount of Olives and rejoice in his goodness and
mercy to us and pouring out his spirit upon us and in the great
suffering he endured while he was on this earth as our substitute.
We go with our Savior into the ascension and the resurrection
glory that he enjoys now. And we rejoice in that. We rejoice
in his glorious coming, his second advent. But God forbid that we
glory in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
cross is our hope. The cross is our salvation. The cross is our delight. The
cross is our joy. The cross is our meat and drink.
God forbid that I glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But brother Don, if that's all
this is the case, then where's the place of faith? What does
faith do? Faith receives it all. Faith receives it all. Faith
connects us to righteousness. It doesn't produce it. Faith
connects us to holiness. It doesn't produce it. Faith
connects us to redemption. It doesn't produce it. Faith
receives all the blessedness of God's free grace, but it doesn't
cause any of it. Our faith in Christ is that which
has come as the result of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his dying upon the cursed tree. Back in 1969, I was in a Bible
college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and they had a Welchman
come to visit. And he preached in chapel that
morning. They always had me sitting right on one seat up from you,
right on the front row to keep an eye on me. I'll be sure I
was there, I reckon. Most of the time, chapel services
were boredom at best. But Tommy Lawrence came, Dr.
Thomas George Lawrence was his name. And he preached a message
from Galatians 6, 14. And about two minutes into his
message, you'd have thought the only two people in that building
were the preacher and me. Because he realized in a hurry,
he was in an ice house and I was enjoying everything he was saying.
He'd look at me and say, what do you think of that? He said, I must
glory in the cross of Christ because the cross of Christ is
a covenant respected. And he proceeded to preach for
a little bit about God's covenant. He said, uh, my mama named me
Thomas George Lawrence. I was named Thomas after an uncle
named Thomas and George after an uncle named George and Lawrence
called my daddy's name with Lawrence. But that's not really the reason.
She named me Thomas George Lawrence because before the world was
made, God wrote Thomas George Lawrence in the book of life
and said salvation's his. He said I must glory in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is a compassion revealed. God commendeth his love toward
us. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. He said, I must
glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is a
conquest realized. Christ has conquered death, hell,
and the grave for me. And then he said, I must glory
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is a compassionate
rule. Grace be upon you and mercy and
peace who walk according to this rule. What rule? The rule of the cross, motivated
by the sacrifice of Christ, inspired by the sacrifice of Christ, living
In this world for the glory of God, by the sacrifice of Christ,
remembering the sacrifice of Christ, God forbid that I should
glory, that I should trust in, boast in, rejoice in, or proclaim
anything else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.