Glorying In the Cross

The Galatians 6.14. I want you to be much in prayer
about this message this evening. There's some things that I feel
like that God is going to enable me to present. I hope I can present
them in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, not in my
own natural wisdom. that if I am enabled by the Holy
Spirit to get across what I have in my heart and in my head, I
think it will be of great benefit to every one of us. Now before
I read the text, let me make one or two comments. You can
go out in the woods and listen to the birds. This is something
that I didn't do and couldn't do in my younger days because
I couldn't hear them. I lost a lot of my hearing, and
until recently when I secured a hearing aid, I'd never heard
the birds sing. But I do hear them now. And I
note one thing about the birds singing, every bird has his own
song. I can't identify them. I don't
know. I know some of them. The mockingbird
has his special song. The whippoorwill has his special
song. And all the rest of them have
their own message in song. They sing a different song. And even so, every minister of
God has his own message, his own song, which God has given
him to sing. And when you hear the whippoorwill,
you hear his song, and when you hear a certain minister of the
gospel, you hear his message, you hear his song. The one God
gave him, the one that he must sing, he must preach. In our
text tonight, we have the Apostle Paul sounding his note. This
is his song. He says, But God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and unto the world. That's
my message, he said. I am determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Now Paul, the
apostle, had a rich choice of things in which he might have
gloried. He didn't sing this song because
he didn't know any other tune. He didn't glory in this particular
message because he didn't know anything else. Actually, Paul
might have gloried in his birth, in his education, in his religious
heritage. Turn with me to the book of Philippians. Let's look at the background
of this unusual man. In Philippians chapter 3, verse
4, now listen to him carefully. though I might have confidence
in the flesh." Philippians 3, 4. If any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,"
that's David's tribe, and Hebrew, of the 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, I counted lost for Christ." He could have gloried in his
birth, in his education, in his religious heritage, but we hear
him saying, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. And then Paul might have glowed
in his sufferings. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
11, verse 23. Paul might have glowed in his
sufferings for Christ's sake. Paul, someone said, was a living
martyr. You talk about scars and stripes
and wounds and bruises for Christ's sake. Well, Paul might have glowed
in these things. He was a perpetual sufferer. I get books from people and they're
entitled, Tormented for Jesus, and I'm sure that these men have
been tortured for Christ and tormented for Christ, but not
anything like this man, and yet he didn't glory in these things.
He says in 2 Corinthians 11.23, are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I am more. Now he said, this
is foolish, but I'm going to show you some things. in labors
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent,
in deaths often. Of the Jews, five times received
our forty stripes, save one. He wasn't scourged one time,
but five times. That's thirty-nine stripes every
time he was scourged, and that happened five times. Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned and that time he was left for dead. These
fellows were experts at stoning and they left Paul for dead. Three times I suffered shipwreck,
I spent a night and a day in the ocean. in journeyings often,
in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine
own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watching
often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting, cold and nakedness."
You talk about somebody who's suffering, you ought to write
a book on suffering. But he didn't glory in those
things. He says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of Christ. He might have gloried in his
visions and in his revelations. Paul, God spoke to him. God sent angels to talk to him. Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. Here's
an astounding scripture. 2 Corinthians 12. Besides his
Damascus road experience, when the Lord spoke to him personally,
why, he had angels of the Lord appear to him, he had people
appear to him in dreams and visions, telling him where to go and preach
and where not to preach. The Holy Spirit of God led him
to write fourteen books of the twenty-seven books in the New
Testament. His Arabian experience All of these things, look at
2 Corinthians 12, and here's an astounding experience, beginning
with verse 2. I knew a man in Christ, talking
about himself, above fourteen years ago, whether in the body
I don't know, or whether out of the body I don't know, I can't
tell, God knows, but such a one was called up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know, God knoweth, He
was caught up in the paradise and heard unspeakable words which
it is not possible for a man to utter. Paul might have glory
in that experience. He was taken into the very presence
of God in the paradise. But he didn't choose to glory
in those things. He says, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross. Notice another thing in this
text. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is one
of those points I want you to really listen to real carefully. Paul doesn't say he gloried in
Christ. He did, but he said, I glory
in the cross of Christ. In the cross of Christ. which
is in the eyes of men, both religious and non-religious, the most inglorious
part of Christ's work, the cross. The lowest and most inglorious
part of the Lord's work. Paul said, this is what I glory
in. Now, he might have gloried in the incarnation of our Lord.
There's plenty of glory there. The angels appeared to the shepherds
out yonder on that hillside, and they said, Glory to God in
the highest. Glory to God. Unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. He
might have gloried in the incarnation of our Lord. Wise men came from
many, many miles to behold that glorious occurrence. But he didn't. He gloried in the cross. He might
have gloried in the life of Christ. There was never one like it before,
never one like it since. It was a blameless life. It was
a holy life that even had the Father saying, this is my son
in whom I'm well pleased. Men all over the world of all
religions speak reverently of the perfect life of Jesus Christ. And a lot of people spend their
time glorying in his life. and in his example, and in his
ministry, and in his healing power, and preaching power. But
Paul didn't. He said, God forbid that I should
glow save in the cross of our Lord. Not in his incarnation,
not in his perfect life, in his cross. He might have glowed in
the resurrection of Christ. He'd have had a lot of company
there, he'd have had more company. Where is the man who's not interested
in the resurrection? Where is the man or woman who
is not interested in life after death? All men are. You can get
a big crowd if you talk about the resurrection. You get a smaller
crowd if you talk about the cross. But Paul said, God forbid that
I should glow or save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not in his resurrection. He might
have glowed in the Lord's second coming. He will come again, that's
a fact. Scripture says the voice of the
archangel, the trump of God's going to sound, the clouds are
going to roll back, and this same Jesus is coming back again. Oh, glorious day. There will
be a new heaven and a new earth. Behold, I make all things new. And if Paul would spend his time
talking about the second coming, he'd have the world for an audience. Men want to know not what happened
yesterday, but what's going to happen tomorrow. But you can't tell it like it
is if you don't know how it was. But the Apostle Paul selects
one point in Christ's work in which to glory, that most hated
part, that part which is bitterly assailed to the Jew a stumbling
block. to the great nonsense, foolishness,
a scandal. And he said, this, this is it,
this is that in which I glory. The most inglorious part of his
life, his suffering, his bitter anguish, I glory in that. Charles
Spurgeon wrote this, the highest glory of our holy religion is
none other than the cross of Jesus Christ. The history of
God's grace begins before the world began, and God's grace
will continue on through eternity. But in the middle of it all,
and rising on the highest point, stands the cross. Of two eternities, the cross
is the hinge of past decrees and future glories. The cross
is the pivot. And a man knows nothing of the decrees of the past or the
glory of the future who is not acquainted with the cross. I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," said Paul, though
he were crucified. This is that in which I glory,
the cross, the cross. Now here's the second thing that
I want you to listen to very carefully. What did Paul mean
by the cross? Now this is so important, I think
this is where the world is missing the message right here. God forbid
that I should glory, say, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Try to stay with me. Turn to
1 Corinthians 1. Let's read this scripture here.
1 Corinthians 1. This is where the world misses
it. Paul does not say, I glory in the fact of the cross. That's
not what he's talking about. He does not mean, when he says,
I glory in the cross, the fact of the cross, but he means the
doctrine of the cross. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 17.
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, for the preaching of the cross is to them who are
perishing foolishness, but unto us who are being saved the preaching
of the cross is the power of God." What is he talking about?
What does he mean by the preaching of the cross? Well, he doesn't
only mean the fact of it. It's a fact that the Lord of
glory became a man. That's a fact. It's a fact that
Jesus Christ was identified and numbered with the transgressors,
that he bore our lightness in our flesh and our
bones and our blood. It's a fact that he was nailed
to a shameful cross, and there he died. It's a fact that he
was crucified between two thieves. It's a fact that he bore that
heavy wooden cross up Golgotha's mountain, and there he died on
that cross. It's a fact he was taken down
from that cross and buried. Is that what Paul means by the
preaching of the cross? But the message of the cross,
the glory of the cross, is the doctrine of the cross. This is
the foolishness. It's not foolishness that a man
died on the cross. That's not foolishness to the
Greek. It's what is included in his
death on the cross. A stumbling block to the Jew?
It's not a stumbling block to the Jew, the fact that a man
died on a cross. They wanted him to die on that
cross. They watched him die on that
cross. That's not the stumbling block. It's what's included in
that death on the cross. It's what God is saying in the
preaching of that death on the cross. And here's what it is.
This is what is offensive. This is what is a stumbling block.
This is what is called foolishness. It's the doctrine of the cross,
and that is, it's the doctrine of the atonement. Turn to Romans
chapter 5. This is what Paul is talking
about when he says, God forbid that I should glory, Romans 5.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's not glorying in that piece
of wood. I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." He's not just
going to get up and tell the gory details of Christ's death. The preaching of the cross is
to them who are perishing foolishness. He's not talking about the fact
that a man died on a cross as foolishness. He's talking about
the doctrine of the cross. In Romans 5, look at it. Verse
6. When we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. The doctrine of substitution. He took our place on that cross. The doctrine of substitution.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure
for a good man some would even dare to die, but God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. That was my cross. Those crimes
under which he suffered were my crimes. Those sins which he
bore in his body were my sins. That's what the cross is preaching. That's the doctrine of the cross.
He is my substitute. I ought to be on that cross. I'm the one who should die. Read
on. 9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,"
not friends of God, enemies of God, enemies by birth, enemies
by identification with Adam, enemies by nature, enemies by
choice, if when we were enemies Here it is, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son, not by baptism, not by church
membership, not by good works, not by morality, not by these
ordinances, but by the death of His Son. That's how we were
reconciled to God. The enemy was made a friend.
The peace treaty was signed. The ransom price was paid. Redemption's price was paid. We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. Much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life, the life of His Son. And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement." It's the doctrine
of the cross. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. He did not die as an example. He died as a substitute. He did
not die as a martyr. He died as a sin offering. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, the world was already
condemned, but that the world through him might be saved by
his death." That's what Paul's talking about here in Galatians
6, verse 14, God forbid, that I should glory, save in the doctrine
of the cross. And the doctrine of the cross
is the doctrine of atonement, of substitution, of a sin offering,
of a sacrifice, of reconciliation, of a ransom, of redemption through
the blood of another. That's the message of the cross. Now watch this carefully. Paul
gloried in the cross. He preached the cross. And when
we say he gloried in the cross, he gloried in the doctrine of
the cross, the doctrine of atonement. the doctrine of substitution,
but he gloried also in the cross of the doctrine. He gloried in
the doctrine of the cross, that substitution and atonement. He
gloried also in the cross that goes with that doctrine. And
here's what I'm saying. If a man preaches the doctrine
of the cross and effectual atonement, substitution, redemption not
by works but by blood, not just the fact of the cross but the
doctrine of the cross, not just the fact that Jesus Christ died
on the cross but why he died on that cross and what he did
when he died on that cross and the sufficiency of what he did,
That man is going to have to bear the consequences of believing
that, standing for that, preaching that. In other words, he's going
to have to bear a cross himself. The Jews will not have a crucified
Messiah. The philosophical Greeks are
insulted when you speak of redemption in the blood. And the religionists
want something else to do other than trust in Christ. Paul said
over here in Galatians 5, verse 11, look back here. Brethren,
if I preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? Then
is the offense of the cross ceased. When Jesus Christ took that cross
to Golgotha's mountain, he went there to accomplish a purpose.
He went there to redeem a people. He went there to bear our sins. He went there to reconcile us
to God. When Jesus Christ went to that
cross on Golgotha's mountain, he went there bearing our sins
in his body, and there he was wounded for our transgressions,
and there he paid the debt. We are justified. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them who in Christ Jesus. He did not die
as a martyr. He did not die as an example.
He died as a sacrifice for our sins. Now, the person who takes
up that cross in his message and proclaims it and preaches
it, plus nothing, minus nothing, is going to bear an offense,
and he's going to, as Paul said here, suffer persecution. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God, all the vain things that
charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. So what Paul meant
here by glowing in the cross, he meant two things. He glowed
first of all in the doctrine of that cross, and then he glowed
in the consequences, or the cross of that doctrine. He bore it
willingly, he rejoiced in the afflictions, he rejoiced in the
infirmities, and he determined to know nothing among them save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And whatever came as a result
of that message, he was willing to bear it, and he counted it
an honor to suffer for the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, second
thing, why did Paul glory in this doctrine of the cross? Let
me give you just a few reasons. First of all, turn to Romans
3. Why did Paul glory in the cross? First of all, in Romans
3, and this is very important, he saw in that cross, in the
death of the Son of God, he saw in the death of the Son of God
the satisfaction of divine justice. That's what he saw. In Romans
3, verse 25, The Scripture says, whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins of the past through the
forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that God might be just and justify the ungodly. that God might be just, and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." In 1954, 21 years
ago, I went down to Brother Clarence Walker's church in Lexington,
Kentucky, Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. They had a school down
there. And we were helping to support that school. And he invited
me to come down and preach in a Bible conference. And I went
down and preached in the Bible conference, and I preached on
this subject, the just and justifier of those that believe in Jesus.
And you know, I ran into a number of preacher, we call them preacher
boys, but preacher students, Bible students, men who were
going out into the ministry. who had never heard this message,
who didn't know what the scripture meant by just and justified. Do you know what the scripture
means here by just? That God might be just and justified. That God might be just and justified. That's important. The only thing
that's important to most people is that God might be the justifier.
They're not interested whether or not God's just. Just so he's
justifier. But God can't be justifier and
not be just. God Almighty cannot demonstrate
one attribute at the expense of another. The Scripture tells
us that God is holy. It tells us God is merciful.
The Scripture tells us God is righteous. The Scripture tells
us God is gracious. The Scripture tells us God is
just. The Scripture tells us God is
love. He cannot be one of these at the expense of another. In
order for Almighty God to take a sinner to heaven, he's also
got to be, he's got to be true to his attribute
of righteousness. If God's going to show love on
a sinner, he's got to also deal with him in righteousness and
holiness. If God's going to deal with a
man in mercy, he's got to deal with him in truth. In other words,
here is a man, here is God on his throne of righteousness and
holiness and justice and truth, saying, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die, saying, I will in no wise clear the guilty.
Be sure your sins will find you out. That's God's justice, God's
holiness, God's righteousness. And yet here standing before
God is a guilty sinner who's fallen and depraved and wretched,
a criminal who's broken God's law. God's going to show love
and mercy to him, and yet God's got to be holy and just. How's
he going to do both? How's he going to punish that
man and let him go free? How's he going to love that man
and make him pay for his sin? How's he going to send that man
to hell and take him to heaven? How's he going to be just and
yet justify? How's he going to be righteous
and yet forgive? How's he going to be holy and
yet be gracious? How's he going to punish a man
and let him go at the same time? That's what this is talking about.
I'll tell you how. By putting Christ in that man's
place. That's what the cross, that's
what Paul saw in the cross of Christ. He saw Christ, he saw
us guilty. sentenced to die under the wrath
of God, under the judgment of God. And he saw Christ come down
here, a perfect, holy person who had no sin, and he saw Christ
take my place and take my sins. and take my guilt and go to the
cross and die under God's justice and die under God's wrath. He
saw Christ take my place and his place, and he saw the justice
of God satisfied, and he saw how that God might be just and
justified. Where did peace and righteousness
kiss each other? At the cross. Where did truth
and mercy meet? At the cross. And that's what
Paul saw in the cross, and that's the reason he gloried in it.
Now then, God can take me to heaven in love and mercy, because
God in the person of his Son has punished my sins. And Paul
saw in the cross not only the satisfaction of divine justice,
he saw God doesn't counsel our debt, he pays it. God doesn't
do away with the punishment, He bears it, you see that? God doesn't just forgive the
sin, He forgives the sin because the debt is paid. He has a basis
on which to forgive it. And Paul saw in the cross a display
of divine love. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, God loved the unlovely.
Paul called the cross the greatest display of love the universe
has ever seen. He said back in Romans 5, for
scarcely for a righteous man will one die, for adventure for
a good man some would even dare to die. But God, he commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He saw in the cross not only
the satisfaction of divine justice and a display of divine love,
but he saw in the cross the removal of all guilt. He says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin.
All who by faith are in Christ have no sins. He saw in the cross
a door of hope for all who would enter in. Come ye sinners poor
and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need of him." That's why he glowed
in the cross. Now the third thing, turn back
to the text. We've seen two very important
things. What Paul meant by the not just
talking about a block of wood or a way a man died. He's talking about what is implied
in that death, what is taught in that, the doctrine of that
cross, the preaching of the doctrine of the cross. And then he saw some things in
that cross that made him glory in the cross. He saw a display
of God's love and he saw the satisfaction of divine justice
He saw hope and peace and the forgiveness of sin. Now, last
of all, what effect did it have on him? God forbid that I should
glow with faith in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Paul
is saying here that when Christ died on that cross, as far as
this world is concerned, I died with him. I died to the world's
fame. I died to the world's pursuits. I died to the world's approval.
I died to the world's cares. I died to the world's criticisms. There was a young man who was
in the seminary studying to be a preacher. Years and years and years ago,
he was reading this text. He came to his seminary professor,
a wise old man, up in years, and he said to him, What does
that mean? What does that mean, by whom
the world is crucified unto me and unto the world? And the old
gentleman looked at him and said, Young man, a few months ago our
brother Philip, who was one of your companions In class, studying
for the ministry, died. The young man said, yes sir,
I know. He said, well son, Philip is
buried out in the churchyard not far from here. I want you
to go out there where Philip is buried and find his grave.
And I want you to sit down by Philip's grave and I want you
to tell Philip how no good he was. I want you to tell him how
much better off we are without him. I want you to tell Philip
that he never would have made a preacher anyhow. It's a good
thing he died. The young man in horror stepped
back and said, I can't do that. He said, son, you do what I told
you to do. You go out there to the grave
of Philip and you tell him how much you disliked him and always
did. And you tell him how much better
off we are here in the seminary without him, how done he was
in class, and how he never would have made a preacher. Tell him
exactly what I told you. And do it right now." So the
young man left. He went out in the cemetery,
and he sat down by Philip's grave, and he said all those things
that the old professor told him to say, and after a while he
came back. And the old man said, did you do what I told you to
do? And the boy said, I did. I didn't want to, but I did. The old man said, what did Philip
say? The boy raised his head and raised his eyebrow and he
said, what did Philip say? He said, that's right son, when
you said all those unkind cruel things to Philip, what did Philip
say to you? The young man said, he didn't
say anything sir, Philip's dead. Philip's dead. The old man said,
son, won't you do me one more favor? He said, all right. He
said, you go out there to where Philip's buried, just like you
did. And this time you sit down by the grave and you tell Philip
how important he was. And you tell Philip how much
we loved him. And you tell Philip that he might
have been the greatest preacher in all the world, had he lived.
You tell Philip how much his professors thought of him. You
tell him that the seminary is not the same place without him,
that we just can't get along without him. Go on out there
and tell him what I told you. The young man kept looking back
at the old man, shaking his head, and he said, All right, sir.
So he went out and sat down by Philip's grave again, and this
time he didn't criticize him. This time he told Philip all
these beautiful, lovely things that the professor said about
him. And then he returned, and the old man said to him when
he came back, Did you do what I told you to do? The young man
said, Yes, sir. He said, What did Philip say? He said, sir,
when I told Philip how much better off we were without him, he didn't
say anything, sir, he did. When I told Philip how we couldn't
get along without him, he didn't say anything, sir, he did. And
the old professor said, and son, that's what this scripture means.
As far as this world is concerned, it's criticism or it's popularity. Its approval or its censorship,
its pursuits or its cares, its sorrows or its joys matter very
little to the man who is dead with Christ. He's dead with Christ. And all these things aren't important. His goal and his glory and his
pursuit is to see his Lord and be like him. And these things
just aren't important to us. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by whom
this world is crucified unto me and out of this world. Our Father, bless the word. Use
it tonight for our growth and for thy glory. Use it to exalt
and lift up and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. May each of us
depart from this place knowing the meaning of the cross, the
doctrine of the cross, and being made willing to bear the cross
of that doctrine. and seeing a display of thy love,
and the satisfaction of thy divine justice, and that glorious door
of hope which is open to all who will enter in, and wean us
from the world. Turn our eyes upon Christ, let
us look full into his wonderful face, and then the things of
this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory
and his grace. In his name we pray, amen.

Glorying In the Cross

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