I'm speaking to you today on
the subject, the cross. Last Sunday morning I brought
a message on the gospel, this morning on the cross. I'm dealing
with vital issues, vital issues, issues that concern you and concern
me. I want to read to you from Galatians
6, verse 14. The scripture says, But God forbid
that I should glory, saith in the cross, 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. Now, I've been asking you questions.
I spent last Sunday morning asking some questions about the gospel,
if you've ever heard the gospel, if you know the gospel, if you
believe the gospel. Well, allow me to ask you one
question this morning, just one question, and this is the What
do you think, personally? I'm talking to you now, individually. I'm not talking to everybody,
as they say in television land. I'm talking to you. What do you
personally think of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now,
that's the question that I want to put to you, straightforward.
What do you think of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Exactly
what is your opinion of the cross of Jesus Christ? What do you
really feel? When someone mentions the cross, when you're reading
the Bible about the cross, what do you feel about the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, somebody says, well, I
live in a Christian nation. Well, that's not the question.
That's not the question at all. I'm not dealing with the Christianity
or lack of Christianity in America. I'm talking about the cross.
Somebody else says, well, I attend church occasionally. Somebody
else says, well, I attend church on a regular basis. Is there
such and such a church? That's not the question. That
is not the question. The question is, what do you
think about the cross? And somebody else says, well,
I believe the Bible. I do believe the Bible is a good
book. And I do believe that there's
life after death. I believe that man will live
again. I believe in the resurrection. I believe that there was a man
called Jesus who lived on this earth. That's not the question.
That's all well and good. And you're saying more than most
people in this world can say who have no interest in the church
or the Bible or the gospel or anything else. But my question,
I want you to answer this question. What do you believe and what
do you feel and what do you think about the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Now, I'm going to tell you what
I feel. This is my opinion and these are my thoughts about the
cross of Jesus Christ. First of all, this is my hope.
I have no other hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise, but I wholly and completely lean on Jesus' name. His oath,
his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood. When
all around my soul gives way, he then is my only hope and stake. Christ is my hope. This is not
only my hope, but this is my song. Christ died for my sins. I sing it in my heart, and I
sing it in my mind, I sing it in my soul, and I sing it with
my lips. I love songs about the blood.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And
there may I, though vile as he, wash my sins away. It's my song. And not only that, but this is
my religion. I have no other religion. My religion is Christ. My religion is Christ's death.
My religion is Christ's substitutionary death for my sins. My religion
is summed up in one thing. Christ died for my sins, according
to the Scriptures. Somebody said, Are you saved?
I asked this question. Is Jesus Christ still at the
right hand of God? They say, well, certainly He
is, then I'm saved. Because Christ died for me, He rose for me,
He ascended and is seated at the right hand of God, and there
He intercedes for me. And if He ever quits calling
my name and ever quits interceding for me, ever quits pleading His
blood, and His wounds never stand for me, then I'm lost. That's
all my religion. It's wrapped up in one thing,
Christ died for my sin. That's my message. When you've
heard me preach one time, you've heard me preach, because I'm
going to preach it next time you hear me preach. Christ died
for our sins. That's the sinner's gospel, and
that's the only hope that a sinner has. This was Paul's message.
He went to the great city of Corinth with all of its philosophy
and all of its wisdom and all of its learning and all of its
education, and he said, I am determined I am determined to
know nothing among you, even you Corinthians. I'm determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. If you don't want to hear about
Christ crucified, you don't want to hear from me. If you don't
want to hear about Christ and his cross, then you don't want
to hear my message, because that is my message. I play a one-string
fiddle. It's Christ and him crucified.
That's the sinner's message. That's the sinner's hope. That's
the sinner's gospel. And a real sinner, that's what
he wants to hear. And not only that, but this is my refuge.
I rest in the fact that Christ died for my sins. I like what
that old singer years ago used to sing on the radio. He says,
I once was lost, but now I'm found. And by God's grace, I'm
heaven bound. My only hope, my only plea, is
that when Christ died, he died for me. I trust in nothing. Listen to this. I'm still telling
you what I think of the cross. This is my opinion. I hope it's
yours. I trust in nothing but Christ and him crucified for
the pardon of my sins, for the sanctification of my soul, and
for the salvation of this sinner." Nothing. Nothing at all. I look
not to my works because my works and my righteousness is a filthy
rag in God's sight. If my works are measured in the
light of themselves or in the light of other men's works, they
may look fairly good, but when my works are measured And evaluated
by the holiness of God and by the divine obedience of my eternal
Lord, that's when they're filthy right. I look not to my merit,
not even to my faith. I look to Christ. You see, faith
in your faith won't save you. Faith's not the object of faith.
Christ is the object of faith. I rest in nothing. I lean on
nothing. I build on nothing. with Christ
and Him crucified. I rejoice in nothing. I have
nothing in which to rejoice if Christ didn't die. We are of
all men most miserable. If His bones are in Jerusalem
in a grave, we are of all men most miserable. We have no hope.
Our glory is in nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Let's borrow
the words of the Apostle Paul and make them our testimony,
opinion and thought. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to die,
and when I come to die, I'm going to die resting in, trusting in,
believing in the sacrifice of the Son of God on that cross
of Calvary. So that's my question, and I
leave it with you. What do you think of the cross
of Jesus Christ? Now, my friends, I command your
attention on this subject. I'm not selling books. I'm not
selling records. I'm not bombing money. I'm not
building a kingdom. I'm not building a school nor
a hospital. I'm preaching the gospel. And I can't command your
attention to support my hospital or support my school or support
my program, but I can command your attention to the cross of
Jesus Christ. because it vitally concerns you.
There's no subject of greater importance. Our schools will
crumble. Our hospitals will be of no use someday. Our little
kingdoms and monuments will not be left standing one stone upon
another, but the cross is the everlasting theme. It's the everlasting
message. And I'll tell you this, happiness
or misery will rest on your thoughts about the cross. Eternal happiness
or eternal misery, eternal blessing or eternal cursing is not going
to rest on whether or not you were a Baptist or a Methodist
or a Presbyterian, or whether you were a Calvinist or an Armenian,
whether you were premillennial or postmillennial, or whether
you built a school or a church or a hospital. Eternal blessing
or cursing is going to rest upon what you thought of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Life and death, life and death,
heaven or hell. will rest on one thing. It will
be determined not by anything in you or me, but in Christ Jesus
and him crucified. Do you see what I'm saying? That's
the reason I command your attention. That's the reason I'm saying
I want you to listen, because I'm dealing with the salvation
of our soul. I want to know the gospel. I
want to be saved by that gospel. And I want above all things under
God's heaven to preach that gospel, because it's the power of God
unto salvation. What do you think of the cross? Let's look at Paul's
statement. This man of Tarsus, Saul of Tarsus, who was converted
by the grace of God, who wrote 13 or 14 books in the New Testament,
who was a man used mightily of God, this is a summary of his
whole ministry, life, and message. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's
look, first of all, at what Paul did not glory in. Now, when we
talk about glorying in something, we're talking about taking delight
in it. We're talking about being overly concerned about it. We're
talking about that which takes first place in your thoughts,
in your life, in your work, in your vocation, that which is
of most importance to you. That in which you glory is your
delight. It's that which is most important.
It's the crisis part of your life. That's what Paul's talking
about here. Now, suppose there are many things in which Paul
could have gloryed. If there's any man that could
have gloryed, it would have been this man. In fact, he said that.
If any of you can take any pleasure or any credit for what you've
done in the flesh, I'm over. If any man, he said, can have
confidence in the flesh, then I'm over. So we might add that
word. Glowing in something is that
in which you delight. It's that in which you have confidence.
It's that which is most important. It is that which you are vitally
interested in. And the Apostle Paul could have
glowed in his national privileges. He was a Jew. He said, I'm not
a hat breed. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. My daddy
was a Hebrew and my mama was a Hebrew. I'm a son of Abraham.
If you want a glory in your race, Apostle Paul could take one step
beyond you, or maybe many beyond you. He said, I'm a Jew. I'm
a Jew. And not only that, but he could
have gloried in his works. If any man hath wear up to glory,
he said, I'm over. If any man has anything in the
flesh in which he can place his confidence and his glory, I'm
over. No man ever served God more faithfully.
No man ever worked harder. No man ever suffered more than
Paul, no man ever preached more than Paul, no man ever wrote
more scripture than Paul, and yet he says, I don't glory in
this at all, in my accomplishments or in my work. Sometimes I think
when I see men glorying in their works and in their names and
in their accomplishments and they put out the figures and
the facts and the numbers and all these things, I think to
myself, Paul wouldn't have done that. Paul said, I'm less than
the least of all the saints. He said, I'm really not worthy
to be an apostle. He said, Christ came to save
sinners of whom I'm chief. He never gloried. He never listed
how many souls he'd won to the Lord. He never listed how many.
We have no record of how many people Paul preached to or how
many people were saved. He said, I thank God I baptized
none of you. I read an article about some
fellow that baptized 150,000. Paul said, I thank God I didn't
baptize any of you. God didn't send me to baptize.
or the count knows this, he sent me to preach the gospel. The
gospel. He could have gloryed in those
things, but he didn't. He could have gloryed in his knowledge.
In fact, one ruler said to him, you've studied so much, you've
lost your mind. He was a man of letters and learning and intellect. But he didn't glory in that,
and he didn't glory in his revelation. Do you know that he was taken
to the third heaven? That's right. He said, whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know, but I knew a man
so many years ago, that was taken to the third heaven, and saw
things, and heard things, if not lawful or possible to utter. Paul had been into the presence
of God. That's right, according to the
Scripture. But he doesn't glory in it. He doesn't glory in that. He doesn't say, God forbid that
I should glory, saving the fact that I'm wise and intelligent,
and I've had revelations that are far beyond anything you've
ever heard or seen. He didn't glow in his graces. He was a
bold man, courageous, stood before kings, stood there on Mars Hill
and faced the mines, the great mines of his day, and said, Well,
I know you folks are awful religious, and you've got a shrine to this
God, that God, and the other God, and even to an unknown God.
I'm going to preach that unknown God to you. That's a bold man. And he was a humble man. He said,
I'm nothing. No, I'm not one whit behind the chief apostle.
I'm nothing. What is Paul? He said, nothing,
nothing. He was a set denying man. He
was a prayerful man. He was a thankful man. He was
a man of God. If ever there was a man of God,
but he never glowed in these things. Never glowed. I wonder
about our glowing in ourselves and in our buildings and in our
organization and in our accomplishments, aren't we ashamed of ourselves?
Who maketh thee to differ? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you boast as if you didn't receive it? A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from God. What do you glory in,
Paul? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's Paul's glory,
his chief glory, his only glory. I want to sound a warning note.
And if you've got ears, our Lord used to say that, he that hath
ears to hear, let him hear. If you've got ears, you may not
have ears to hear. It takes a God-touched ear, it
takes a Spirit-created ear, it takes a holy ear to hear the
word of God, the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But if you've
got an ear, you listen to me. I warn you, beware of self-righteousness. Beware of glorying in yourself,
in your works and your deeds, and trying to find some reason
for God to accept you and to love you and to save you because
of what you've done. I warn you, open sin has destroyed
its thousands. But self-righteousness, it's
tens of thousands. It's the greatest killer of men's
souls. I'll be honest with you. I had rather stand before God
at the judgment, a murderer, than to stand before God robed
in my self-righteous religious rag. God saves murderers. God saves harlots. God saves
drunks. You know, over there in the scripture
it says, such were some of you. It lists all of these things.
It lists these awful sins and says, such were some of you,
but you've been washed. But I tell you this, no self-righteous
man has ever entered the kingdom of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
had kind words for sinners. The harshest words he ever spoke
were for religious, holier-than-thou, pious, moral, good people who
felt they had no It's deadly, it's fatal. Now you can hear
me, and you can heed me, or you can ignore me. But one of these
days, if you hear me, you'll thank God you listened. God saves
sinners. That bunch of Pharisees saw him
go to the house of a sinner to eat, and they turned to the disciples
and they said, why does your master eat with publicans and
sinners? Why doesn't he run around with
us good people? Why doesn't he run around with us church people?
Why doesn't he run around with us pious people? And our Lord
understood what they were saying and what they were thinking,
and he turned and said, the well do not need a physician, but
sick people. And I didn't come to call the
righteous, the self-righteous. I came to call sinners to repentance.
And he said this to the Pharisees. He said, you're going to find
yourselves outside the kingdom of God and the publicans and
the harlots on the inside. They'll enter heaven before you.
What did Paul not glory in? He didn't glory in anything except
the cross of Christ. What did he glory in? Look at
the text. He tells us, he defines it clearly.
Why don't we read the scripture? God forbid that I should glory,
delight in, rest in, have any confidence in anything except
the cross of Jesus Christ. Now then, what did he mean? What
is the cross of Jesus Christ? What do you mean by the cross?
Well, now listen to me. You hear me? The cross to some people
means that wooden cross made out of a tree on which Jesus
Christ died on Golgotha or Calvary's Hill. That's not the cross Paul's
talking about glorying in. Paul would never have worn a
cross around his neck. Never. He never would have worn
one in his lapel. He didn't glory in idolatrous
symbols. Now, in Philippians 2.8, it says,
Our Lord subjected himself to death, yea, even the death of
the cross. Now, that scripture is talking
about that tree. It's talking about that emblem
of shame, that cross on which he suffered and hanged and died. But that's not what we glory
in. I won't cherish the old rugged cross. That's not what I cherish. anymore I'd cherish a hangman's
noose, or an electric chair, or a guillotine. I don't cherish
that block of wood. Secondly, the cross sometimes,
you're listening, in the scripture means the afflictions and trials
of God's people. Sometimes when we talk about
the cross, we're talking about afflictions and trials. Our Lord
said, take up your cross, whatever your cross is, whatever that
is identified with you, your suffering, your afflictions,
your trials, or whatever, and follow me. That's a symbol of
your death. That's a symbol of your subjection.
That's still not the cross in which Paul didn't glory in the
fact that he suffered for Christ. He glory in the fact that he
was able to suffer for Christ, or permitted to suffer for Christ,
or counted worthy to suffer for Christ, but it isn't glory in
his cross that he bore. What does the cross mean here?
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. Let me tell
you what it means. It means the all-sufficient, substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ by which he redeemed his people. When
we talk about the cross, the preaching of the cross is to
them that are perishing foolishness, to us that are saved, it's the
wisdom of God and the power of God. We're talking about all
that Christ is. and all that Christ did in his
incarnation, in his righteousness, in his sacrifice, in his ascension,
in his mediatorial work to redeem his people. You see, the cross
just was the climax of it. The cross just was the pinnacle
of it. Everything before the cross pointed to the cross, and
everything after the cross pointed back to the cross. Our Lord died. I mean, our Lord was born to
die on the cross. That's why he came into the world.
He said, for this hour came I into the world. Everything he did
led to the cross. And everything after the cross,
all that he pleads, he pleads his wounds, he pleads his blood,
he pleads his sacrifice, he pleads his death. So when we talk about
the cross, we're talking about Christ's incarnation. He became
flesh so that he could die. He took on himself a body that
could suffer. and that could bleed. You see,
God has no body that bleeds, but God was incarnate in human
flesh. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. Paul said to the elders, feed
the church of God which he purchased with his own blood, where he
took a body in order to die. And he went to the cross and
died, and he arose again. So Paul is saying this, I glory,
my chief glory, my only glory, is in all that Christ has done
to redeem us. He died for our sins. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes
we are healed. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
entered not into the holy place made with hands, but into heaven
itself, not with the blood of an animal, but with his own precious
blood. And he put it not on a mercy seat in the tabernacle, but the
mercy seat of glory, and there he redeemed us from all our sins.
And that's the cross. In other words, when Paul says,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross, he said, I
glory in the gospel of redemption, I glory in the work of redemption,
I glory in the person of redemption, I glory in the work of redemption,
in the results of redemption, everything alpha to omega of
what Christ did. That's the cross. And my friend,
you can know a lot about the Bible. You can know its history. You can know about the lost pages. You can know about those that
were found. You can know about the dates
and characters and kings. You can know about the laws and
the precepts and the proverbs. But if you do not know Christ
and Him crucified, you have read your Bible to no avail because
that's the message of God's Word. It's the message of redemption.
You read, if you will, Luke 24, and you'll find our Lord saying
this, saying that everything written in Moses, beginning at
Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms, were concerning him,
everything written. All of these writings and prophecies
were concerning Christ. And if you read the Bible and
you do not see Christ crucified, Christ our sacrifice, Christ
our substitute, you've read the Bible to no avail. And your religious
knowledge Your knowledge of the scriptures will be a source of
great anguish to you in the day of judgment. For religion without
the cross, without the death of Christ, is like a lamp without
oil. It's useless. It is like the
earth without the sun. Useless. It is like a clock without
hands. Useless. It's like a compass
without a needle. It's useless. That's why Paul
glowed in the cross. And when he talks about the cross
and glowing in that cross, he's not talking about that emblem
like this. That's not the cross. That is
a cross. But Christ wasn't the only man
that died on a cross. A lot of people died on crosses
back under the Roman rule. But Paul glowed in the person
who suffered, in the blood that was shed, in the work that was
accomplished, in the redemption that was fulfilled. He glowed
in that. all that Christ did. He gloried
in the Redemption, and that's what he's talking about. Now,
why should you seek the glory in the cross of Christ? Why should
you seek to have confidence in this cross of Jesus Christ? Well,
let me give you four reasons, and I'll close. The death of
Christ was foreordained of God. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the Now, when Peter preached at Pentecost and
faced those people that nailed Christ to the cross, he said,
you did what God determined before to be done. See what I'm saying?
Now, God was in Christ. That's the reason you should
study this and look into it and consider it. God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself. Thirdly, everything God has for
sinners is in Christ crucified. It's the blood that makes the
atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission. No remission. And this is the only plea of
those who prior to this day have found peace. Now you go back
through the scriptures. Abraham saw my day and was glad.
Moses wrote of me. David said the Lord is my shepherd.
Job said I know my Redeemer living. You see, all of them found their
peace in the cross. And all of the old writers found
their peace in the cross. Not until this present day has
any prominent writer ever talked about finding peace in positive
mental thinking. It's always been in the cross.
Other religions have their laws and their moral precepts. Other
religions have their forms and ceremonies. Other religions have
their prophets and priests. Other religions have their rewards
and punishment, but only the gospel has a cross. That's right,
only Christ's gospel has a cross, a sacrifice, a crucified Savior,
and consequently, a hope of redemption. It's in the cross.