I want to begin this message
by asking you a question, and it's a question that can be answered.
Do you glory in the cross? I hope by the end of this message,
you'll know whether or not you actually glory in the cross. Do you? It's a very personal
question. Do you glory in the cross? What God thinks of you will be
seen in how you answer that question. Do you glory in the cross? And to glory is also translated
to rejoice, to joy, to boast. It's what you have confidence
in. It's what you rest in. It's what you're relying on.
Glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's what you have
confidence in. Now everybody has something they
glory in. Do you, do I glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ? Now the book of Galatians, I
would say the theme would without question be the recovery of the
gospel. The Galatians were in the midst
of losing the gospel. And that's something that every
time I think of that, it scares me. It could happen here, it
could happen anywhere, it could happen to me, it could happen
to you. Look what Paul says to the Galatians in verse six of
chapter one. He says, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert, they would change
the gospel of Christ. Now a changed gospel is no gospel.
A changed gospel is no gospel. And look at the strength of Paul's
language here. He says, but though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we've preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him
be damned is what he's saying. Verse nine, as we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that which you've received, let him be accursed. Now, verse 14 of Galatians chapter
six is a summary. of everything that he'd said
up to this point. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest sin a man could
commit is pride. It's the most senseless thing
too, pride. pride. God hates pride. He makes it very clear in the
scriptures. Six things does God hate, yea, seven are an abomination
to him. A proud look and a haughty spirit. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. God hates pride. He hates pride of face, Pride
of race, most especially pride of grace. God hates pride. Now, the Apostle Paul, humanly
speaking, if the grace of God didn't prevent it, he could have
been a very proud man. I believe Paul was probably the
most brilliant man of his day, his intellect. Amazing. Look at the way the Lord used
him. He was used to plant churches, to preach the gospel all over
the known world at that time. He was the apostle to the Gentiles.
He was brought up into the third heavens and taught the gospel
directly by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was used to write scriptures.
He wrote more scripture than anybody. He wrote 13 books in
the New Testament. What a man Paul was. But he understood
this. Who makes you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if you didn't receive it? I mean, even on a
human level, whatever you have, you receive. I work hard. Well,
who gave you the grace to do that? Or who enabled you? Well,
I've studied, I've tried. Well, who enabled you? Who gave
you your mind? Who gave you everything you've got? Everything you have,
he has given you. And any difference there is between
you and somebody else, he made you to differ. So, the Apostle Paul himself,
by grace, would not have been proud of any of these things. Now, at this time, he says, God forbid that I should glory,
be proud of, have confidence in, rest in, anything. Save the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. There was nothing else to glory
in. Now, I think it's interesting
that Paul does not say at this time, God forbid that I should
glory in the person of Christ. Although we do. He didn't say,
God forbid that I should glory in the incarnation of Christ.
Although we do. He didn't say, God forbid that
I should glory in the life of Christ. although we do. But he said, God forbid that
I should glory, say, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorying
in the cross excludes glorying in anything else. If you glory
in anything else, you've never gloried in the cross. Now, let
me repeat that. Glorying in the cross excludes
glorying anywhere else. And if I glory anywhere else
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, I prove by that I've
never really gloried in the cross. Like Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
back, back up to verse 11 of Galatians chapter six. Paul says, You see how large
a letter I've written unto you with my own hand. Now, he usually
dictated his epistles through other people. And this time he
said, you see that I've done it. And he's actually talking
about the size of the letters, how big they were. This was his
bold type, as it were, to show how important this was to him.
He's wanting the Galatians to know this is the most important
thing I've ever said. This is what I want you to hear.
You see how large a letter I've written with you with my own
hand. It's something he didn't generally do. Now, he says, verse 12, as
many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. That's what most religion is
about, isn't it? A fair show in the flesh. It's about appearance. As many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain
you, they compel you, They say this is what you need. They constrain
you to be circumcised. Now remember what the issue of
circumcision is. He's not talking about physical circumcision.
Paul was physically circumcised. He said circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching
the law of Pharisee. He wasn't talking about physical
circumcision, but what circumcision represents. Circumcision represents
you doing anything that makes salvation dependent upon you. That's what circumcision is.
If there's something you need to do in order to make what Christ
did for you work, that is circumcision. Anything that you can do that
would add to or help your salvation is circumcision. Now he says
of these people, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,
they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. Now here's why they preach
circumcision. They don't want to suffer persecution.
They know exactly what they're doing. And they know what to
avoid to keep that from taking place. They want, they avoid
persecution for the gospel sake. Look in Galatians chapter five,
verse 11. Thy brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, and they
were saying, Paul preaches this. He said, no, I don't. No, I don't. If I did preach circumcision,
why would I yet be suffering persecution? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased, removed. And these fellows know exactly
in bringing this message, they're trying to avoid this situation. They talk about law-keeping,
verse 13, for neither they themselves were circumcised. Keep the law?
They talk about law-keeping? They don't keep it. They're hypocrites.
They're actors. They're not even real. They talk
about law-keeping. You know, I actually looked this
up today because I was thinking about that scripture. I quote
it a lot, Romans 2, 1, where it says, Thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For thou that judgest
doest. Didn't say you did them. Didn't
say you would do them. It said you do the same things. Law keeping, please, please. That's what these guys were claiming.
Now they said, for neither they nor those circumcised keep the
law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may
glory in your flesh. We don't keep the law, but if
we can get them to, somehow it's going to be a feather in our
cap. It's going to be a notch in our belt. That's what was going on
at this time. And these are the people that
were coming in and undermining the truth of the gospel. Then
Paul makes this glorious statement. but God forbid that I should
glory. Now, remember who's talking.
This is Paul the Apostle. I guess John the Baptist was
the greatest man that had been born to women, but Paul had to
come in second. I mean, he's very special. This is the Apostle
Paul, and he says, God forbid, that's the strongest negation
of something he could use, that language. Perish the thought,
may it never be. God forbid that I should glory. saving the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, we know that he is not talking
about the piece of wood that our Lord was nailed to. It would
be a disaster if somebody found that and started selling it and
all the things that would come out of something like that. A
piece of wood wouldn't do anybody any good. It was a pole anyway,
it wasn't a cross. And he was nailed to a cross.
But this is actually talking about the fact. This is what
Paul said, I glory. And remember, the question is,
do you glory in the cross? Now first, just for a few moments,
let's think about the fact of the cross. In Galatians chapter three, verse
13, we read, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it's written, and this is
a quotation from Deuteronomy chapter 21, 23, cursed. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Now you think of the fact of
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a death reserved for
the worst criminals and the son of God, the son of man, the son
of Mary, literally nailed to a tree, being made a curse for
us. At some point, the sinless one was made sin. At some point,
the sinless one began to bear our sins in his own body on the
tree. You see, my sins became his sins. and he suffered the full equivalent
of an eternal hell. No man could do that. That's
why hell is eternal and man could never satisfy God. But he suffered
the full equivalent of an eternal hell, being forsaken by God,
having no light, no mercy, nothing but his father's awful frown.
That's all there was. He was actually nailed to that
tree, the suffering of Christ, forsaken by God, whatever hell
is. And we sure don't know. I tell
you what, when people say, I'm going through hell right now.
No, you're not. No, you're not. I can assure you that. But whatever
hell is, he suffered the full equivalent of it when he was
nailed to the cross. And it was my sin that became
his sin. The sins I've committed. Now,
the sins I've committed, oh, to think that he bore those in
his own body on the tree. He really was nailed to a cross,
but no but. But what's that mean? What do
we learn from that? Well, he's speaking of the doctrine
of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 and 18, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect. I rob
it of its power by trying to dress it up. For the preaching
of the cross, and that word preaching is the doctrine of the cross,
the word of the cross, what the cross actually has to say. The
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but undoes what you're saying, to it. The preaching, the doctrine
of the cross is the very power of God to salvation. The cross
is everything. It's everything. A message without
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is a crime in its execution. It's a crime. It's wrong. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. Now, I want to
give three very, I hope simple, points about what we see in the
cross and why we glory in the cross and why we refuse to glory
anywhere else. First of all, the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the full manifestation of the character
of the living God. That's a big statement. The cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ is a full manifestation of the character
of the living God. Everything God is, is seen in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's so glorious. I've said this several times.
I don't even know if it's the right way to say something, but
the cross is the most God-like thing God ever did. It tells
us who He is. You think every attribute of
God is completely displayed in the cross. And you know, we can't
even know God. We can't know who He is, we can't
know what He's like, apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Think of them. The cross is the eternal purpose
of God coming out. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and I love the way Peter spoke on
Pentecost. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You see, the cross is the
will of God. It's what He's always determined.
It was the theme of eternity past. The Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. What glory there is in the cross.
And the cross tells us who God is. It's His utter purpose. Think of the justice of God.
You know, everybody's got some kind of sense of justice. We're
born with that. But think of the justice of God. When sin
was found on His Son. He killed him. It was the justice
of God that put Christ to death. You want to talk about Jehovah,
what about holiness? Oh my, his hatred of sin, his utter hatred
of sin is all manifested in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But look at how his wisdom is manifested, how he's made a way
to take somebody like me, and I have some idea of how sinful
I am. Not a complete, mind you, but
I got some idea. And none of us really know the
extent of it, and I'm thankful for that. But he's made a way. to be absolutely just where his
justice is honored, and he's made a way to justify somebody
as sinful and ungodly as me. Don't you admire his wisdom that
he could actually do something like that? I like what you said
about it, Rich, some time ago. Man couldn't come up with a plan,
and if he came up with a plan, he couldn't execute it. But God
does. Oh, the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think of the power that's involved in the cross. the power
of Christ in actually satisfying God. You think of the wrath of
God coming down on him, and he drunk it dry. What power there
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. What power there is in actually
putting away sin, so it's no more. I don't have any sin. All the sins I've committed,
Not in me, they're in Him. He bore them in His own body
on the tree, and if He bore them, I don't have to. They're gone. What power that He can make my
sins to not be remembered, where God looks at me and doesn't remember
my sin. They're sins and iniquities I
will remember no more. And the only way He can say that
is if there's nothing there to remember. That's what He did
about the sins of everybody He died for. He put them away. What
power we see in the cross. What about the love of God? God
could love you so much that he would give his son to die in
your stead. It is mystery, isn't it? I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned, ungleaned. What mystery there is. But the
cross, every, you think of any attribute of God that's taught
in the scripture, the cross is the full manifestation of that
attribute. Oh, how glorious the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's so beautiful. He's so glorious
in light of the cross. The cross is a thing, it's a
thing of scary, but what a thing of beauty it is. So the cross, first of all, the
reason we glory in the cross is because this is the only way
we know God. This is the full manifestation of the character
of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, secondly,
the cross is the truth about all mankind. The cross is the truth. concerning
all mankind. I think it's amazing what a high
opinion we have of ourselves, but the cross forbids us from
glorying in anything else. Listen to me carefully, as the
Lord enables you. Taking credit for anything is
a denial of glorying in the cross. If you as a man believe that
you have a free will and your free will makes the difference,
you're not glorying in the cross, are you? You're glorying in something
else. To glory in the cross excludes glorying in anything else. And the cross tells us who we
really are. Now, I hate saying this, but
I've done some really bad things. I've committed some horrible
sins of which I'm terribly ashamed, and I wouldn't want you to know
about them. I'm a sinner, and I've committed some horrible
sins, and if you saw me, if you witnessed me committing those
sins, you still wouldn't be getting the picture. You see, the picture
of our sinfulness is not in the sins we commit. The picture of
our sinfulness is found in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one time the restraints were removed and men were allowed
to do what they wanted. The scripture actually says in
Luke 23, they delivered Jesus. He delivered Jesus to their will
for them to have their way with him. And here's how bad you are.
Here's how bad I am. If God removed the restraints,
you would kill God. You believe that? If God would
remove the restraints. The carnal mind is enmity with
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. Now it doesn't say it's at enmity,
it says it's enmity itself, the carnal mind. And that is only
seen, what you and I really are, is only seen in the light of
the cross. Now, That's sad. That's just sad that we're that
bad. But the only way you're going
to know how bad you are is in the light of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And seeing my own sinfulness
in the light of the cross, I am for sure I don't have anything
in myself to glory in. As a matter of fact, it's not
like I have a choice. It's not like I have another option. I'm
forced to glory in the cross. There's nowhere else for me to
glory because of my sinfulness. There's not one thing about me
that could ever let me glory in anything but the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I do glory in the cross
because I don't have anywhere else for glory. I don't have
any other options. We glory in the cross when we
see what our Lord Jesus actually accomplished on Calvary Street. I love the scripture, when he
had by himself purged our sins. I love it that it didn't say
when he purged our sins, it says when he by himself purged our
sins. That means me and you didn't
have anything to do with this great transaction. He did this
by himself. Hebrews 10 and 11, by the witch
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. I'm sanctified. Plumb, completely
sanctified. Holy, holy. That's what the Lord
achieved on the cross. Hebrews 10, 14, by one offering.
He hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. Beloved, when he said it is finished,
my salvation was signed, sealed, and delivered. And that's why
you glory in the cross when you glory in a completed salvation. That's something that you can
have anything to do with. It's what he did and you glory
in it. Now the cross is everything and
every part of our salvation. What's election without the cross?
The only reason we were chosen is because we were chosen in
Him, the Lamb sent from the foundation of the world, and the cross of
Christ was everything in my election. Everything! The cross of Christ
is everything in my justification. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. There's one reason why I stand
justified, and that's because of the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The cross is everything in the forgiveness of sins. There's
one reason why my sins are forgiven. For Christ's sake. Because of
what He accomplished on Calvary's tree. The cross is everything
in my redemption. He redeemed me by His blood.
Did you notice that scripture? He hath redeemed us. It didn't
say will redeem us or He wants to redeem us. It says He hath
redeemed us. Being made a curse for us. It's a completed, finished work. It's everything in calling. I'm
called for one reason. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why I'm called. Faith. We have faith in His blood,
don't we? That's what Romans 3.25 says.
Faith. Faith in Christ. That faith is all in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're resting in His cross. What
He actually accomplished on Calvary's tree. Salvation completed by
Christ on the cross. is the only thing that gives
me any peace, joy, rest, and comfort. Salvation completed
by Him. It's everything in the preaching,
isn't it? Didn't Paul say in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 and 2, I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A crossless message is no message. And the only hope, I can say
this with such full conviction, and really believe in what I'm
saying, the only hope I have that God will accept me is that
Christ did it all on the cross, and there's nothing for me to
do. He actually made me perfectly
accepted before God. Now, why do I glory in the cross? Number one, because that's the
only way I know God, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number
two, I glory in the cross because I don't have anywhere else to
glory. I'm so sinful, I can't take one thing. I look at myself,
there's not one thing about myself that I can glory in. Can't do
it, can't do it. Number three, I glory in the
cross because this is what, there's something to glory in, a completed,
free salvation. I rest in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I glory in the cross. Do you
glory in the cross? Do you have confidence in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you rest in what he accomplished
by what he did on Calvary Street? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it had an effect
on Paul. This is just as important. This is just as inspired. It
had an effect on Paul. Look what Paul said. He said
in verse 14, 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. Now, if you glory in the cross,
You're going to say the same thing Paul did, in light of the
cross of Christ, in light of who he is and what he achieved
and what he's done for me, I see the world in a completely different
view. What do I mean by that? You know,
there are a lot of things about the world we like. we love. Don't you love your family? We
love the beautiful creation that God has created. Claire and Annie
are going to, Drew are going to Cancun and that's a, what
a blessed place to go. I mean, what a benefit. And somebody
says, well, that kind of stuff is worldly. No, it's not. No,
it's not. I want to, I like vacations and
so on, and you like good food. So what a blessing good food
is. So when we're talking about the
world, we're not talking about things like that. We're not. John said in 1 John chapter 2,
verses 15 through 7, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. For all that's of the world,
the lust of the flesh, The lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the father, but it's of the world. The lust of
the flesh, the pleasures of sin. The lust of the eyes, being more
concerned with what men see, desiring to be popular, being
more concerned about what men think than what God thinks. The
lust of the eyes. The pride of life. Power. I want to have power. Now, the
lust of the flesh, that's the world. The lust of the eyes and
the pride of life. Now, a messy question. Do you have trouble with any
of those things? Lust of the flesh? lust of the eyes, pride
of life. Do you have trouble with any
of those things? Sure you do. Sure you do. But if you're a
believer, you hate him. You hate him. You don't love
him. You hate him. You despise him.
Oh, you ask for the Lord to deliver you from him. You hate him. You
don't love him. Now, if you're a believer, you
see what the world is. In light of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I see the world as a crucified thing, as
worthless. And I'm talking about this world
that hates God, the world's religion, the world's ideas and maxims
and thinking. We have no love for it. You know, we're not of this world,
are we? I love the way the Lord said that, we're not of this
world. You know, we're just passing through temporarily as pilgrims.
We're not going to be here much longer. And the Lord said regarding
all these people, they are not of the world, even as I'm not
of the world. What a heritage every believer
has. I mean, I've always been in Christ. And when I was... I'm there right
now, always will be, in the person of Christ. I'm not of the world,
and I don't love the world. Now, if I would say that if you're
a believer, you get victory over the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and these things are
no longer problems with you, well, nobody believes that, do they?
Nobody believes that, but we don't love the world. hate the
world, the world's a crucified thing unto me. And then he says,
and I unto the world, the world will never have any love for
the man who says, God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world's never gonna like
that kind of thinking. I mean, you're just taking away everything.
You're taking away everything, everything I'm hoping. What do
you mean by that? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to,
by His grace, I'm not going to glory. I'm not going to have
confidence anywhere else. Now, how about you? Can you say
from your heart, God forbid that I should glory saving the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be enabled, just like Paul, to say, God forbid
that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we're sorry for our sin. We thank
you for the revelation of it. We thank you for giving us the
grace to see that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is everything
in salvation. Lord, teach us to preach only
the cross. Teach us to glory in only the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us to rest only in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, how beautiful, how
beautiful, how glorious, how majestic you are in light of
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, how it glorifies you. It
glorifies every attribute, and we give thanks for this revelation. Lord, how we thank you for the
completeness of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord,
by your grace, let us see this world for what it is, a crucified
thing, and let the world see us as crucified, not worthless
because of the gospel we preach. Lord, we desire to be bold witnesses
of Thy gospel. Teach us to preach Your gospel.
Enable us to open up doors for us to preach Your gospel in this
place. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.