What Do You Think Of The Cross Of Christ

People have written to me saying
that they like to follow my message in the Bible So I'm giving you
the text now. It's found in Galatians 6 verse
14 Galatians the 6th chapter verse 14 Paul said God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
Now that's our text. I'll be coming back to it. So
just hold it open there before you The question that I'd like
to ask you today is this. What do you think of the cross
of Jesus Christ? Now, you live in a Christian
nation or called a Christian nation, and many of you worship
in a Christian church. You go to church on Sunday or
occasionally. Many of you have been baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ. You have respect for the Bible.
You call yourself a Christian. And this is all good. And it's
more than can be said about millions of people in this world. But
the question that I'm asking you today is this, not do you
live in a Christian nation? Do you have respect for the Bible?
Do you go to church on Sunday? Have you been baptized? Have
you made a profession of faith? Those are not my questions. My
question is this. What do you personally think
and feel about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the preaching of the cross
is to them who are perishing foolishness, sheer nonsense. But unto us who are saved, it
is the power of God. That's the reason Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. What do you personally think
about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you personally
feel about his cross. Now this is the question. It's
one of the most important questions that you'll ever face. A man
must be right on this question or be separated, the scripture
says, forever and ever from God Almighty. In other words, heaven
and hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessings or cursing
in that day, all hinged on the answer to this question. The
cross What do you personally feel about the cross of Jesus
Christ? Now, Paul was very emphatic about
his feelings and his thoughts in regard to that cross. Very
emphatic. He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and he'll crucify me.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now here are three things that
I'm going to bring forth to develop this message. First of all, what
Paul did not glory in. And secondly, what do we mean? What did he mean by the cross?
Gloring in the cross. And then thirdly, why do all
true believers glory in the cross? Now first of all, what Paul did
not glory in. There were many things in which
this unusual man might have glory. He said, if any man thinketh
he hath whereof to glory, if any man thinketh he hath whereof
to glory, I more. That's what Paul said. If you
think you have something in which to glory, I more than you. And yet he didn't glory in anything
but the cross. He didn't glory in his nationality. Turn to Philippians 3. Verse
4 through 8. And here Paul talks about his
nationality, his background, his heritage. He said, I was
born of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Jew. Born a Jew. Pharisee
of Pharisees. Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching
the law of Pharisee. Far above many my equals. Touching the law, blameless.
He might have said with his brethren, I have Abraham for my father.
Why, I'm a member of the favored people. I'm a member of the covenant
tribe. But pride in nationality was
not that in which Paul gloried. Pride in nationality, my friend,
is not of God. I'm glad I'm an American. I'm
glad I live in this country. I've visited countries all over
this world. You just name one, almost, and
I've been there. And there's no country like America.
But pride of nationality and pride of race is not of God.
Paul said, I count all these things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ my Lord. And he worded it stronger
than that. When he talked about his nationality
and his religious heritage, he said, I count it but done that
I may win Christ and be found in him, or that I may know him. So Paul didn't glory in his nationality,
and then he didn't glory in his works. If you'll read 2 Corinthians
11, this is an interesting verse, 2 Corinthians 11, 23. He says,
are they ministers of Christ? These men who boast themselves
against me, these men who take pride in all of their successes
and their fame and their good fortune and their accomplishments,
are they ministers of Christ? I am more. Listen to him. In
labors, more abundant. In stripes, persecution. above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in death more often. No man worked as hard as Paul
did for the kingdom of Christ. No man suffered like Paul suffered
for the kingdom of Christ. No man preached more than Paul
preached in the kingdom of Christ. No man traveled more than he
traveled. He said these men who boast and
brag of their accomplishments, are they ministers of Christ?
I am more than them. more frequent, in stripes above
measure, in prison much more, in death often. And yet he did
not glory in these things. And then Paul did not glory in
his revelations. I hear people talking about their
dreams and their visions and their revelations and boasting
about what they've seen and what they've accomplished, but Paul
didn't glory in that. He saw Christ, not in some Superstitious
dream or vision he saw him on the road to Damascus Christ met
with this man and talked with him We have serious scriptural
proof of that fact. The Apostle Paul was taught by
Christ Personally, he said the gospel. I preached I didn't learn
it from Peter and James and John. I was taught it by God The Apostle
Paul was taken up to the third heaven on one occasion He came
back and said, I saw things I can't even tell you about. The Apostle
Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament. A man who
certainly had more room to boast than any all of us put together
would not take any glory whatsoever in his revelations. He wouldn't
even talk about it. And then he would not boast in
his gifts and in his knowledge. He was a man of unusual, natural
gifts. He was a man of abundant education. In fact, one of the rulers looked
at him and said, why, you've studied so much, you've gone
crazy. Everybody knew he was one of the greatest scholars
of his day. He never called himself Dr. Paul. Never required anyone
else to call him that. We've named him Saint Paul, but
nobody called him that then. They knew better to call him
Paul. The Apostle Paul was a preacher, an apostle, a writer. He's a
prophet. He had supernatural gifts from
the Holy Spirit. He never gloried in these things.
Never. The Apostle Paul did not glory
in his churchmanship either. He was the founder of churches.
He was the ordainer of ministers. He was the first foreign missionary.
He set up the rules and government of the early churches. Even the
apostles of Christ, Peter, James, and John, looked to Paul for
leadership. But you won't find him glory in any of these things.
My friends, we need to beware of self-righteousness. If anything
needs to be said about us, let somebody else say it. We need
to beware of fleshly glory. Someone said open sin kills its
thousands. But self-righteousness destroys
its tens of thousands. Let's not rest till we can say
with the Apostle Paul, God forbid that I should glory, that I should
take any pride, that I should boast, except in the cross of
my Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, here's an important
question. What do we mean by the cross? Paul said I preached
the cross Paul said I'm determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ
in him crucified the preaching of the cross Is to them that
are perishing God forbid that I should glory save in the cross.
Now, what do we mean by the cross the preaching of the cross? Well,
the cross is a word that has more than one meaning in the
Bible That's right the cross in the scripture sometimes means
that tree of wood on which Christ died. Sometimes. For example,
in Philippians 2.8, the scripture says, and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. You follow the scripture? Even
the death of the cross. Now there, talking about the
tree of wood on which Christ died. death by crucifixion on
a tree of wood. Paul didn't glory in that block
of wood. Paul didn't glory in that tree
of wood. Paul would have shrunk with horror
from the very suggestion or idea that he glory in a piece of wood
crossed. And I'm sure the apostle Paul
would have denounced what we call the crucifix. That's not
what he gloried in. When he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross, He wasn't talking about this.
That wasn't what he was talking about at all. And then the cross
in the scripture sometimes means the afflictions and the trials
through which believers go for the glory of Christ. Now listen
to this scripture. In Matthew 10, 38, the master
said, and he that taketh not up his cross. Now that's not
a block of wood because I don't have a the cross to carry on
my back. He that taketh not up his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. What's it talking
about? Well, the cross here is persecution, or trouble, or trial,
or affliction, or suffering for the sake of the gospel. It's
something I willingly take up. It's something I won't refuse.
It's something I don't try to avoid. It's something, all right,
if it's coming, I'll take it for the sake of Christ, for the
sake of the gospel. If this is what it's going to
cost, all right, I'm willing to pay it. But I'm not leaving
Christ. I'm not denying Christ. To whom
shall I go? He has the words of eternal life.
If preaching the truth to you is going to make you my enemy,
then that's a cross I'll have to bear. I won't like it. I don't
want to be disliked. But if telling you the truth
as it is in God's word makes you forsake me or turn against
me or anybody, my friends, my family, my loved ones, he that
loveth father, mother more than me is not worthy of me, Christ
said. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me. And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth after
me cannot be my disciple. So the cross here is not what
the man was bearing down the street in New York City not long
ago, dressed in a white robe, dragging a heavy 250 pound block
of wood on his back, that's not taking up the cross. It's daring
to believe his word and daring to stand for it even when you
have to stand alone. Now that's how the cross is written
here in Matthew 10, but the cross in which Paul glory is not the
block of wood on which Christ died. He's not glorying in that
wood, that atrocious place of atrocity He's not glorying in
his infirmities and his afflictions, but the cross in which Paul gloryed,
the cross which he preached, he said, I preach the cross.
He's saying, I preach, listen to me, the whole work of redemption,
the all-sufficient, satisfactory, substitutionary atonement which
Christ the Lord made On the cross for our salvation the preaching
of the cross is the preaching of christ And all that he has
done and is doing and will do to redeem our souls Now my friends
when we preach the cross We preach the eternal covenant of grace
Because christ was the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world if i'm going to preach the cross I've got to go back
further Father than 2,000 years ago, I've got to go back in the
council halls of eternity when the scripture says his blood
was the blood of the eternal covenant, that he's the surety
of the eternal covenant, that he's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. God has always regarded us in
Christ under the blood. Without the blood, God would
destroy us. Sin can't live in God's sight.
Just like when Satan fell, God immediately destroyed the world
that was then present. And when Adam fell, because Satan
had no Redeemer, when Adam fell, sinned against God. The only
reason God didn't totally annihilate the world right then was because
Christ was the Lamb slain in the purpose and plan of the Father
before the world began. And God considered fallen Adam
in Christ. Our sins were already under the
blood. So when you preach the cross,
you've got to go back further than Calvary, Golgotha. You've
got to go back to God's eternal covenant. For the scripture says,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you crucify him. You did what God's determined
before to be done. Then when we preach the cross,
we preach the fall of man. Christ died for sinners. If you
don't preach the fall of man, you don't preach the reason for
Christ dying. When the angel announced the
birth of the master, he said to Joseph, thou shall call his
name Jesus, or he shall save his people from what? From their
sins. You've got to have a sinner before
you have a savior. You've got to have a a disease
before you have a remedy. Remedies are for diseases. Saviors
are for sinners. Substitutes are for those who
are helpless. And call his name Jesus, he shall save. This is
a fateful saying. He came into the world to save
sinners. That's why he came. So the first
thing we need to preach is that man's lost. A man's got to see
he's lost before he'll look to Christ to save him. Gotta have
grace, gotta have guilt before grace. And then when we preach
the cross, we preach the Old Testament. Somebody said, I'm
a New Testament Christian. Well, I don't know whether that's
scriptural or not. I just don't care for that term
too much, because the scripture says Moses wrote of me. Christ
said to the Pharisees in his day, you search the scriptures.
He was talking about the Old Testament scriptures. They are
they which testify of me. To him give all the prophets
witness, Luke wrote in the book of Acts. Every type, every sacrifice,
every priest. These are all types of Christ.
Christ is our Passover. The blood on the door in Egypt,
that's Christ. Christ is that rock which followed
them, the smitten rock, that's Christ. Christ is the serpent
lifted up on the pole. Christ is the ark riding on the
waters of the flood. That's Christ. And when we preach
the cross, we preach the Old Testament. He was wounded for
our transgression, bruised for our iniquities. Isaiah wrote
in chapter 53. Who is that? That's Christ, the Christ of
the cross. When we preach the cross of Christ, we preach the
love of God. For God so loved the world that
he gave his Son. When we preach the cross of Christ,
we preach the love of God. It says, but God commended his
love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You can't preach the love of
God without preaching the cross. That's where the love of God
revealed. That's where the love of God is manifest. In the cross,
Christ loved us and gave himself for us. When we preach the cross,
we preach the atonement. The life of the flesh is in the
blood, God said. I have given the blood upon the
altar to make an atonement for your soul. Whose blood? By the
blood of Christ, for the scripture says, by him we have received
the atonement. When we preach the cross, we
preach the church. Paul said, feed the church of
God, which he purchased with his own blood. Husbands, love
your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. You can't preach the church without
the cross. Without the cross, there is no
church. The church was purchased with his own blood. The church
was saved by the cross of Christ. When we preach the cross, we
preach justification. We're justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justified,
the scripture says, by the blood of Christ. When we preach the
cross, we preach the Passover. We preach the communion table.
Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. When we preach the cross,
we preach baptism. That's right, baptism. For as
many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death. There's no reason for baptism
except the cross. When a man goes beneath the waters
of baptism, he's showing the death of Christ, the burial of
Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. And if Christ be not
crucified, buried, and risen, there's no cause for the ceremony
of baptism. When we preach the cross, we
preach sanctification. How are we sanctified? We're
not sanctified by the laying on of someone's hands. The scripture
says we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. I was sanctified at Calvary,
set apart, made holy, declared holy, regarded as holy, accepted
as holy. When we preach the cross, we
preach resurrection. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
you believe, by which you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."
That's what it's all about. That's the central theme of the
whole Bible, beginning at Genesis 3.15, the bruising of the serpent's
head and the bruising of the sun's heel, all the way to the
book of Revelation, when those people say, who are these and
whence came they? These are they that have washed
their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white as snow."
My friend, the cross is our message. The cross is our ministry. It
doesn't matter whether you're preaching the eternal covenant
of grace or whether you're preaching the eternal happiness of God's
people or whether you're preaching baptism or church membership
or confession of faith or sanctification or imputation or Justification
of whatever you're preaching. You don't preach the cross. You
can't preach it accurately When the Apostle Paul talked about
giving you know the example he used Christ loved us and gave
himself for us The cross is our ministry without it the preachers
like a soldier without a gun He's a messenger without a message. He's like an artist without a
pencil. He's like a pilot without a compass. He's like a laborer
without tools. So I say let others preach the
law, morality and good deeds. Let others hold forth the terrors
of hell, yea, even the joys of heaven. Let others drench their
congregations with social and civil reforms. Let others hold
forth the rules and regulations of religion. Give me the cross. I can preach the whole Bible
if you give me the cross. I can find for you the answer
to every prophecy, every promise, and every type in the cross.
Give me the cross. This is the center truth of the
whole Bible. It's the cross of Jesus Christ. Now the last question, and I
close. Why do all believers finally
learn to glory in the cross? Well, first of all, because all
of his sufferings on that cross of Calvary were foreordained
and purposed by the Father. His sufferings on Calvary's cross
didn't come upon him by accident or chance. All of his sufferings
were plain. They were counseled, purposed,
and determined by the Father. In the purpose of God, the cross
was set up from all eternity. So I want the glory in something
that is not new. Something that is old as the
plan and purpose of God. I want the glory in something
that is permanent. Something that's lasting. And
the scripture says, He on being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you with wicked hands have
crucified and slain. It says in Isaiah 53, 10, it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. It was God's pleasure and God's
purpose. Our glory in the cross because
all of his sufferings were planned and purposed for the Father from
all eternity. Secondly, all Christians' glory
in his cross because his sufferings were necessary for our salvation. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. No remission. He doesn't say
it'd be hard to forgive you. He says you won't be forgiven
without the shedding of blood. He had to bear our sins. Our only hope, the only payment
that the Father could or would accept was the blood of the Son,
Jesus Christ. Without the cross, we are without
hope, without help, and without God. It's the cross that saves. And then the reason all believers
glory in the cross is because his sufferings are the true motivation
for holiness. Now, brethren, listen to the
Bible. I know preacher can take one of two directions here. He
can stand before his congregation and exhort them to honesty, holiness,
godliness, and righteous living by warning them of the terrors
of hell By warning them of being excommunicated from the church,
or looked down upon, or censured by a disciplinary committee,
or he can take this direction, he can preach the cross. And
that's the direction the Bible takes. It says, we are bought
with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, which is his. The scripture says, he bore our
sins in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness. The scripture says, the love
of Christ constraineth us that if he died for us, we ought to
live for him. That's our motivation. All of
his sufferings motivate me to holiness. We're to live honestly
and godly in this present world because we're sons of the king
and because God loved us and because Christ died for us. And
then last of all, all of his sufferings are my confidence
that I'll never be cast away. Romans 8 says, if God spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us all things? Who can separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?

What Do You Think Of The Cross Of Christ

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What Do You Think Of The Cross Of Christ

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