What Do You Think of the Cross?

What do you think and what do
you feel about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? You live in what we call a Christian
nation. You worship in what we call a
Christian church. Most of you have been baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. You call yourself a Christian. You read and have great respect
for the Word of God, and you regularly or occasionally
attend to where the gospel is preached. And this is all good. And it's more than can be said
about millions of other people in this world. But the question
I'm asking tonight is this. What do you feel and what do
you think about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now believe
me, this is the question of questions. It's the most important question
that you or I will ever face. For a man must be right on this
subject or be separated from God. A man must be right on this subject
or be eternally, the scripture says, damned. In other words, heaven or hell,
happiness or eternal misery. life or death, blessings or cursing
in the last day, all depend on the answer to this question,
what do you think and what do you feel about the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle Paul was very
emphatic in regard to his feelings about the cross. He was very
emphatic in regard to his thoughts about the cross. For he writes
in Galatians 6.14 these words, But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross Now the Apostle Paul, if any
man could have gloried in anything else, if there ever was a man
who had something in which to boast, it was the Apostle Paul. But he never boasted in his national
privileges. He was a Jew by birth. He might
have said, like many of his brethren, I have Abraham to my father.
I am of the circumcision. I am one of the covenant people,
I'm one of the favored people, but he didn't boast in his national
privileges. In fact, if you'll turn to the
book of Philippians, he does mention these privileges, but
he says about them, I count them but loss, I count them but dumb,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. Pride of race,
pride of nationalities, not of God. Philippians 3, beginning
with verse 4, Paul says, Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof,
he might trust in the flesh, glory in the flesh. You know,
I think that's one thing that happened to our missionary program
years ago. We were so proud to be Americans
And I think we ought to be glad that we're Americans. Don't misunderstand
me. I think we ought to rejoice that
we are Americans. It's the greatest country in
the world. But for being proud and seeking
to make Americans out of other people and calling them Christians
is a mistake. And I think many missionaries
left this country and went to other countries and tried to
Americanize people, tried to force upon them our customs and
our ways and our government, and they fail. And the Apostle
Paul is talking here about that very thing, boasting, bragging,
being proud of nationality. There's a lot of prejudice toward
black people, and that's not of God. I don't believe any man
can know God and hate any nation or any nationality or any people.
It doesn't matter if they're Russians or Chinese or communist
or what they are. To say I hate the communist is
to express an ignorance of God. You may hate the communist position,
you may hate the way that they do things, but you cannot hate
them and know God. To say that we hate the North
Vietnamese or we hate the North Koreans is to immediately admit
that we don't know God. Our Lord, who was nailed to the
cross of Calvary, looked down upon those who drove the nails
and said, Father, forgive them. And I'm more and more convinced
that love is the chief characteristic of the redeemed. Our Lord said,
By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you love
one another. If any man say he loved God and hate his brother,
he's a liar and the truth's not in him. There's a sense in which
all men are brothers. We're certainly all sons of Adam,
so that makes us all brothers. We cannot confine our love to
the church. We cannot confine our love to
the redeemed. We cannot confine our love to
the saved. That's just a way of getting
out from under God's law and God's commandments. You hate
black people, you don't know God. You hate people of rival
parties and nationalities, you don't know God. You hate people
of different governments, you don't know God. That's what the
scripture says. That's pride of nationality,
pride in the color of my skin. My skin may be white, my heart
black, So I'm akin to all men. And Paul would not rejoice, he
would not take pride in, he would not glory in his nationality.
He said, I was circumcised, verse 5, the eighth day of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ." Yes, I count all things but lost, all of these privileges. I count them but lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I would not deliberately and
blatantly offend anyone, but I wish to go on record and I
want to be understood tonight in this congregation and over
the radio where these messages will be preached. That what I
said about glorying in national privileges is so, whether men
like it or not. And you cannot hide in a religious
profession hatred and pride in your national privileges. The
fact that you were born in a nation with a free government is God's
gift to you. You have nothing of which to
boast. Who maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou boast as if
thou didst not receive it? Everything you've got is a gift
of God's grace, and you have nothing of which to be proud.
Grateful, yes. Proud, no. And Paul wouldn't
glory in his works. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11. He
wouldn't glory in his national privileges, and he wouldn't glory
in his works. He said in 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 23, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool." In other
words, he said, I shouldn't even be talking about these things,
but I want them to understand if they think they're ministers
of Christ, I'm more a minister of Christ than they are. In labor
is more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more
frequent, in deaths more often. The Apostle Paul is saying this,
no man ever worked as hard for God's kingdom as I worked. No
man ever preached as much as I've preached. No man ever traveled
as much as I've traveled. No man ever endured as much as
I've endured or labored as much as I've labored. That's what
he's saying. No man ever suffered any more
than I've suffered, he said. But he wouldn't glory in these
things. Not at all. Or in them. Paul didn't glory
in them, but he let people know where he stood. You say you're
a minister of Christ, he said, I'm more than you. You preach
the gospel, I preach it more than you do. You travel to tell
people about the Savior, I do it more than you do," he said.
But that's not my glory. And he didn't glory in his revelations.
He saw Christ as one born out of due time. He saw Christ on
the Damascus road. He was taught the gospel by Christ. He said, I didn't go and learn
the gospel from the Apostle Peter. I went to Arabia and was taught
it by God. He was taken to the third heaven.
He said, I saw things it wasn't lawful for man to utter. He wrote 14 of the 27 books in
the New Testament. But he never gloried in these
things. The Apostle Paul never gloried in his gifts and in his
knowledge. He was a man of great natural
gifts. He was a man of great spiritual gifts. He had gifts
from the Holy Spirit above any man in his day. He was a preacher,
a writer, an apostle, a prophet. He was a martyr, and yet he never
glowed in these things. He didn't glow in his churchmanship. He was a founder of churches.
He was an ordainer of ministers. The first foreign missionary
was the Apostle Paul. He set up the rules by the Holy
Spirit's leadership and government of the early church. But in none
of these things did he glory. He would not glory in these things.
He gloried in nothing. He said, but the cross. God forbid,
he said. Whatever my national privileges,
God forbid. Whatever my gifts of grace, God
forbid. Whatever my revelation, God forbid. Whatever my gifts and knowledge,
God forbid. Whatever the way the Lord uses
me, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and neither should I, and neither should
you. Oh, how we must beware of self-righteousness. One old Puritan
said, Open sin has killed its thousands of souls, but self-righteousness
has killed its tens of thousands. I believe more people are going
the religious road to hell than any other single road. Let us
not rest until we've been delivered from all of this pride and human
arrogancy and self-righteousness. Let us not rest until we can
say with the Apostle Paul and mean it, God forbid, that I should
glory save in the cross. In the cross be my glory ever. Well, secondly, what do we mean
by the cross? What do we mean by the cross
of Christ? Well, the cross is an expression
that has more than one meaning in the Bible. That's right, the
cross has more than one meaning in this Bible. If you'll turn
to Philippians 2, verse 8, I'll give you one meaning of the word
cross. It doesn't always mean the same thing. Paul says, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross. What was he talking
about? Well, the word cross has several
meanings in the Bible. First of all, the cross sometimes
means the wooden tree on which Christ died. That's what it means
in Philippians 2 verse 8. Listen, and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." Now this word here, the word
cross in Philippians 2.8, means that wooden tree on which Christ
died. He was found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself, he became obedient unto death, even that
awful, terrible, humiliating death of a cross. Other people
died on crosses. And that's the meaning of the
word here. But this is not what Paul gloried in. Paul would have
shrunk with horror from the idea of glorying in a piece of wood. He would have shrunk back in
horror. He would have denounced the crucifix. Paul didn't glory. in the crucifix. He didn't glory in that wooden
tree. That wasn't what he was talking
about. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. He wasn't
talking at all about that tree, about that piece of wood on which
Jesus Christ died. Then again, the cross turned
to Matthew 10. The cross sometimes in the Scripture
means the afflictions and the trials through which believers
go for Christ's sake. It's called a cross that we must
bear. We are bearing a cross. In Matthew
10, verse 38, Christ said here, Matthew 10, 37, He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he
that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy
of me." Now we're not talking about a wooden tree here, you
can see that plainly. I read in the paper where some
fellow made a cross and went walking down, wore a white robe
and went walking down the streets of a large city bearing his cross.
He was foolish. He was foolish. That's not what
Christ is talking about here. He's talking about bearing our
afflictions and our trials and our tribulations through which
we must go and which we're called upon to bear for the glory of
Christ. If in believing the gospel you
lose some friends, that's a cross. If in believing the gospel you
lose members of your family, they resent your belief, they
resent your faith, that's a cross. In standing for the gospel of
Christ, you lose your job, that's a cross. There are several crosses
that believers are called upon to bear. Persecution, mocking,
criticism, ridicule, all these things. If you be separated from
friends and companions because of what you believe, that's a
cross. And you must take it up and bear it after Christ. That's
what he's talking about. It's death to the flesh and death
to my way and following his way. But in our text, Paul said that
he gloried in the cross. Now, he's not glorying in that
block of wood. It's not going to do me any good to wear a block
of wood around my neck. It's not going to do me any good
to wear a symbol of religion on the outside that has nothing
to do with the inside. It's not going to do me any good
to go out and bear something on my shoulder, nor to rejoice
in my afflictions. But when Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross, he's talking about this.
He's talking about the whole work of redemption. He's talking
about the all-sufficient, satisfying, glorifying, sin-cleansing atonement
which Christ made for our salvation. He said, the preaching of the
cross is to them who are perishing foolishness. Now, this preaching
of the cross and this glowing in the cross and this work of
redemption, this all-sufficient and satisfactory atonement, it
takes in more than just that moment when Christ said it's
finished. When we preach the cross, we must preach the everlasting
covenant of mercy. For Christ was the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. If we preach the cross,
we preach the blood of the everlasting covenant. Turn to Acts with me,
if you will, chapter four. Acts, the fourth chapter. Here's
what I'm saying. When Paul said, I glory in the
cross, and that's my chief glory, he says, I preach the cross,
the preaching of the cross. He's saying, I glory in the work
of redemption performed by Christ. And it's a work of redemption
which was performed from eternity to eternity. And when we preach
the cross, we're not just preaching the few hours that he was hanging
on that tree, we're preaching all that led up to the cross
and all that followed the cross. In Acts chapter 4, verse 26,
listen to the scripture, Acts 4, 26. The kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together.
For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." In other words, what happened on Calvary happened
first in eternity. What happened on Calvary happened
first in the purpose of God. What happened on Calvary outside
of the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago happened in the mind
and plan and purpose of God before the world was made. So when I
preach what happened on Calvary, I have to go back and preach
what happened in eternity. That's preaching the cross. It
wasn't decided in Jerusalem, it was decided in the council
halls of glory. That's when the purpose was first
set forth. And when we preach the cross,
we preach the fall of man. Because when Christ died on the
cross, he was dying for a purpose, for a people. He died for a people
who fell in Adam. He died for the ungodly. He died
for sinners, so when I preach the cross, I have to preach the
reason for the cross, the fall of man. When I preach the cross,
I have to preach the people for whom he died, the people who,
as in Adam, all died, so in Christ they're made alive. When we preach
the cross, we preach the Old Testament. For the Scripture
says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. When we preach the cross,
we preach the Passover in Egypt. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. When we preach the cross, we
preach the smitten rock in the book of Exodus, or Numbers, for
Christ is that rock. When we preach the cross, we
preach the prophecies of the cross, which is in Isaiah 53,
by His stripes we're healed. When we preach the cross, we
preach the love of God. God so loved the world that he
gave his son. Christ didn't die to get God
in the notion of loving us, he died because God did love us. When we preach the cross, we
preach the atonement, by whom we have received the atonement.
When we preach the cross, we preach the church, feed the church
of God which he purchased with his own blood. When we preach
the cross, we preach justification, for we are justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How
are we justified? By the death of Christ. How are
we sanctified? By the blood of Christ. When
we preach the cross, we preach baptism. For as many as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death. When
we preach the cross, we preach sanctification. We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for
all. When we preach the cross, we
preach resurrection. He had to die to be buried. He
had to be buried to rise again. Yes, my brethren, when we preach
the cross, we preach God's everlasting purpose in Christ from eternity
to eternity. And that's what Paul gloried
in. He gloried in God's everlasting covenant. He gloried in God's
eternal redemption. He gloried in Christ's satisfactory,
sufficient work. He gloried in the cross. Bishop
Ryle said this, the cross is my ministry. Without it, I'm
like a soldier without a gun. Without it, I'm like an artist
without a pencil. Without it, I'm like a pilot
without a compass. Without it, I'm like a laborer
without tools. In other words, I'll let others
preach the law, morality. I'll let others hold forth the
terrors of hell, and yea, even the joys of heaven. I'll let
others drench their congregation with social and civil evils. I'll let others drench their
congregation with sacraments, church rules, and regulation.
Give me the cause. This is the center truth of the
whole Bible. This is what it's all about.
from the promise in Genesis 3.15 of the bruising of the serpent's
head and the bruising of the sun's heel to the vision in the
book of Revelations who says, who is this? A lamb that was
slain. Without the cross, the Word of
God profits you nothing. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. And we're not talking about a
block of wood. And we're not talking about trials
and afflictions which we bear. We're talking about all that
Christ is and all that Christ has done and all that Christ
is doing and all that Christ will do from eternity to eternity
in redeeming his people. And all of it centers up in and
heads up in and has its fulfillment in the day he died on that cross. And that's the reason we call
it preaching the cross. Well, in closing, why do all
believers, after they're taught, learn to glory only in the cross? It finally winds up that way.
We all have these little rabbit-chasing expeditions, and we all have
these little tangents that we get off on ever once in a while,
but all of God's people in their maturity and in their spiritual
growth will finally wind up at the cross. I'm convinced of it.
They will finally learn the glory only in the cross. Their message
will finally wind up being nothing but Jesus, nothing but Jesus. And I'll tell you why. There
are five reasons, quickly, and I'll give them to you. We realize
that all of his sufferings on that cross were foreordained. They didn't come on him by chance.
They didn't come on him by accident. They were all planned. They were
all counseled. They were all determined from
all eternity. In the purpose of God, the cross
was set up from everlasting. Infinite wisdom, infinite love,
infinite grace planned our redemption on that cross. For Peter said,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken, and by wicked hands you have crucified and
slain. And we want the glory in that
in which the Heavenly Father glories. And then secondly, all
of his sufferings were necessary for our salvation. Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission. He had to die. He
had to bear our sins. This was the one payment that
the Father would accept. If He had not died, we right
now would be without God, without help, and without hope. And then thirdly, we glory in
the cross because all of His sufferings reveal the love of
God for sinners. He said, having loved His own,
He loved them to the end. greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Christ gave
himself. And then fourthly, all of his
sufferings. We realize what it is that finally
motivates us to holiness. Oh, when we start out, we think
it's the preacher who tells us where to go and where not to
go, what to do and what not to do, what to say and not to say.
But when we get a little older, we find out that that which truly
motivates a man to righteousness and holiness is the sufferings
of Christ. Paul finally said, the love of
Christ constraineth me. Not the whip of the pulpit, not
the rules of the religious, but the love of Christ. You are bought
with a price, Paul said, therefore glorify God in your body. He
bore our sins in His body on the tree that our being dead
to sin should live unto righteousness. And when you finally get hold
of that, you'll get hold of that which will truly motivate you
to live for God's glory. And it's a waste of time to try
to live for His glory for any other reason than His love for
you and His death for you. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness. And then last of all, I want
you to turn to Romans chapter 8. In the 8th chapter of Romans,
verse 32, all of his sufferings, his agony, his death on the cross
are my confidence and my assurance that I'll never be cast away.
This is where I find assurance. In Romans chapter 8 verse 32,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemned it? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. When we grow up a little
bit in grace, we realize that the reason we're not going to
hell is not because we held out faithful to the end, but because
Christ died for us. The reason we're not going to
hear God say at the judgment, Depart from me, I never knew
you, is not because we were born of Christian parents. not because
we were baptized and joined the church, and not because we accepted
Jesus, and not because that we kept our promises and we lived
above sin. The reason we're not going to
hear him say that at the judgment is because Christ felt it on
the cross. Who is he that condemned it?
It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession
for us. And then we begin to glory in
the cross. We see that it's all that we
have. It's the only thing worthy of
glory. A man will never quit glorying
in these things of the flesh till he gets something to take
the place of these things. And when he sees that which is
worthy of glory and that which ought to be gloried in, then
he'll glory. in the cross of Christ. God forbid
that I should glory, rejoice in, worship, have confidence
in, build my hope upon anything except the cross of Christ. Our
Father, we give thanks for the Word, for it is only by the Word that we have this message of
redemption. Thou hast given us the gospel
in thy word, and thy Holy Spirit has quickened it to our understanding,
to our hearts, and we by thy grace have received it. and therein
do believe and stand in the gospel of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you, Lord, for saving our
souls. Thank you, Lord, for making us
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation, so
rich and so free. And deliver us from personal
glory and from self-righteousness, and bring us to the foot of the
cross And there let us stay till you call us home. We pray for
Christ's sake and in His name. Amen.

What Do You Think of the Cross?

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What Do You Think of the Cross?

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