[0:00] All right, Galatians chapter 6 in your Bible, please join me in Galatians 6. And we're going to go to the end of the book and begin reading in verse number 12.
[0:26] It's good to see several of you back who have been out, been away. Amen. It's good to see you back. Verse number 12, the Bible says, As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
[0:45] For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. 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 I unto the world.
[1:02] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Fathers, we open up this book and we read this passage, the Apostle Paul penned to the churches of the region of Galatia.
[1:16] Lord, it's our prayer that your Spirit would take these words and apply them to our life, that this thought of glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ would be real to us.
[1:31] And Lord, may you also open our eyes to anything and any place in our heart that is glorying or is reserved for something else in this life.
[1:41] God, speak to us, help us to be conformed to this book and transformed by the renewing of our minds as you see fit. We're thankful for the cross, thankful for the opportunity to come together and to have access to you.
[1:58] And so please illuminate our minds and speak to us through your words, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen? Amen. Galatians 6, verse number 12 and 13.
[2:09] Paul is kind of ticked off about some hypocrites. And really, this whole book is really, he's just trying to set these churches straight about their doctrine, how they've been drawn back to keeping the law and works of the flesh.
[2:24] And he's really trying to clean this up with them. And he's frustrated that these legalistic hypocrites are trying to draw them back into participating in a ceremony, something God instituted with Abraham, this token of a covenant that God made, and trying to make them to this work of the flesh, circumcision.
[2:48] And they claim, in their mind, these legalists, they've claimed that what they're doing is a little more devoted than everybody else.
[2:58] These believers, well, they're believing in Christ, but they're not separated like we are. And they haven't taken the steps that we've taken. And they're just attempting to gain one more to their group and to convert one more to their form of separation, to something that they've supposedly attained to, another level of what you might call spirituality today.
[3:21] And they showed themselves to be more dedicated or devoted to what we call their faith. And Paul's frustrated with it. He's grieved by it. And his response to this misleading confusion and this emphasis on rituals and on works of the flesh is, verse 14, God forbid that I should glory in any of my deeds, in anything that I've accomplished.
[3:47] And he says those very words in Philippians chapter 3, whenever he calls who he was and what he's done in the past and works of the flesh and saying, if anybody could glory, I'm more.
[3:59] And then he kind of does boast as a fool for a little bit. But Paul says, Does any personal devotion that I have even said there, I count them but done. I've counted them but lost, that I may win Christ.
[4:09] God forbid that I should glory in any of that. And so to the Apostle Paul, and to us today, there's one thing, and there's one thing only, that we should glory in.
[4:23] And it's in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in your birth. It's not in your upbringing. It's not in your family. It's not in your citizenship.
[4:35] It's not in your friends. It's not in your possessions. Not in your wisdom. Not in your loyalties and honor and integrity and work ethic. Not in your successes.
[4:48] Not in your name. People say, Do you know my name? Do you know who I am? Not glorying in that. Not glorying in your victories, or in your alliances, or in your humility, or in your strength, or in your looks, or in your followers, or in who you know, or what you know.
[5:07] There's one thing, and one thing only, worthy to glory in. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. To glory in the cross is to realize and to affirm that exercising faith in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is bar none the greatest thing that you've ever done in your life.
[5:31] Glorying in the cross is realizing that, that there's no accomplishment known to man that has ever carried more wonder, and more power, and more victory, and more blessing than what Jesus Christ has accomplished on Calvary.
[5:45] There's nothing that has merited God's approval, God's pardon for man's sin, but the cross, the shed blood of His only begotten Son.
[5:59] If you pin anything up against the cross, up against what Jesus Christ has accomplished for your soul, what compares, what in this life could compare to what Jesus Christ accomplished for your soul?
[6:15] What even comes close to Calvary? Your career? Your company? Your family? Your net worth?
[6:27] Does that even come close? God forbid that any one of us should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest feat that's ever been accomplished and made known to the human race when the only begotten Son of God eternally satisfied the wrath of the Holy God against your sins.
[6:55] when He obtained eternal redemption for us, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to say a few things this morning about if you glory in the cross, then first of all, you'll remember the cross.
[7:12] And that's something we seek to do tonight, but let's take a look at the command in 1 Corinthians 11. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11. If you glory in the cross, then you'll remember the cross.
[7:27] Oswald Chambers said, all of heaven is interested in the cross, all of hell afraid of it, while men are the only ones that ignore its meaning.
[7:40] In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul declared the gospel, and then he said, keep in memory what I preached unto you. We have this phrase, out of sight and out of mind.
[7:55] And I want to challenge you this morning, don't ever get too far from the cross, that your eyes of faith can't look back, can't glance to be reminded of why He deserves your love, why He deserves your service, your allegiance, and your surrender.
[8:12] In 1 Corinthians 11, we'll read verse 23 through 25. The Apostle Paul writes to this church at Corinth saying, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread.
[8:26] When He had given thanks, He break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, and when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood.
[8:38] This do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Twice He declares, This is in remembrance of me. And if you glory in the cross, then you'll remember.
[8:51] You'll be reminded. You'll remember the cross. You feel frustrated in life? Look to the cross. You feel any pain?
[9:02] You feel any sorrow in life? Look to the cross. You're growing weary in well-doing? Look to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus and His infinite love and dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.
[9:30] I think it's much easier to endure suffering when the sufferings of Christ are in view, to endure reproach in this life when the reproaches of Christ are in view, to endure mockery and rejection and loneliness while you seek to obey and serve Christ when you remember the cross.
[9:51] The songwriter said, Jesus, keep me near the cross. Bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day with its shadow o'er me.
[10:04] Another songwriter said, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and sacrifice them to His blood.
[10:15] I read that wrong. Pour contempt on all my pride. I love the language, pour out contempt on my pride. Why? Well, when I look at that cross, when I survey the scene of my Savior suffering for my sins, I can't stand myself to think that I put Him through that.
[10:39] He goes on to say, 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.
[10:51] That's glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you glory in the cross, then you'll remember the cross. Also, if you glory in the cross, then you'll identify.
[11:07] You'll identify with the cross. You say, well, I wear a necklace that has a cross on it. That's not what I mean. I got a tattoo that has a cross. That's not identifying with the cross.
[11:19] The world does that. I don't know why, but they do that. I saw some pictures of some crowns a little bit ago when I was looking to make a graphic for something for Sunday school. And all of these crowns of kings, I saw these crosses at the point or on the sides.
[11:34] I thought, why? Why does a king identify with a cross? It didn't make sense to me. But if you glory in the cross, you'll identify with the cross. But what does that mean? Does it mean you'll wear a t-shirt that says three nails plus one cross equals four given?
[11:49] I'm not against that at all. I've seen that too many times. But that's not what it means. It doesn't mean that you're going to put a cross around your neck. No, Paul said in Galatians 2, I am crucified with Christ.
[12:07] That's identifying with the cross. Can you truly say that this morning? Can you say what Paul said? I, me, Toby Walski, this guy, this character right here, am crucified with Christ.
[12:22] Can you say that? That's identifying with the cross. Look at Colossians 2. Colossians 2. Colossians 2.
[12:41] Colossians 2. And here he's dealing with this church in the same way that he was dealing with those other churches of Galatia because they were trying to be subject to things.
[12:54] And he asks a question in verse 20. Colossians 2. Colossians 2. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ, that is, identifying with the cross, crucified with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances?
[13:12] And skipping the parentheses, he's saying subject to ordinances after the commandments and doctrines of men. Why? If you're dead with Christ, why do you submit yourself to these self-righteous rituals, works of the flesh, commandments of men?
[13:29] That's not identifying with the cross. That's the same problem these other guys had back in Galatians. These hypocrites, these legalists, they were trying to draw them back.
[13:43] Identifying with the cross is not wearing an emblem. It's a state of mind. It's reckoning yourself dead. Come back to Romans chapter 6 and let's look at the scripture as it declares this.
[13:57] Paul expounds this thought what it is to identify with the cross of Jesus Christ and then therefore glory in it. Romans chapter 6 and notice you'll see in verses 3 and 4 the word baptism.
[14:14] It's not a reference to being dunked into water. It's being immersed or placed into the body of Jesus Christ. It says baptized into Jesus Christ.
[14:24] It's a spiritual baptism. In verse number 2, I'll start in verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead, dead to sin, live any longer therein?
[14:40] Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
[14:55] Verse 5, For if we have been planted, that's put in a grave, together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
[15:18] Identifying the cross, with the cross, is crucifying the old man in order to destroy His works and all remaining evidence that He ever existed.
[15:32] It's putting Him off and walking in newness of life, the old man. In Colossians 3, we're told to mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. It's being dead to sins, Peter says, and living under righteousness.
[15:46] Look at verse 11, or verse 12 of this passage, Paul says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
[16:08] If you glory in the cross, then you'll identify with that cross. That is, you'll reckon yourself dead. You'll be crucified with Him.
[16:19] Your old man is crucified with Him. In verse 6, come to Ephesians, or get Galatians, I'm sorry, I can't think, Romans 12, hold that, and then go over to Ephesians 5.
[16:32] Let's look at two verses, compare them. Ephesians 5, Scripture with Scripture, let the Bible teach and speak.
[16:45] How can you mortify, or how can you reckon yourself dead unto sins? Just some different language here. Ephesians 5, verse 2, says, And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.
[17:08] So Christ did that. He gave Himself. When did He do that? Upon the cross. All right now, Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.
[17:25] Christ offered Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God, and He's calling us to offer our bodies a living sacrifice. What does He mean? Get up on the altar?
[17:35] He's not talking about the Old Testament altars where the animals were slain. He's talking about the cross where Christ, our Passover, was slain.
[17:47] Where He offered Himself a sacrifice to God. It's being crucified with Christ. It's identifying with the cross.
[17:58] It's a state of mind. It's not an emblem on your body, your skin. It's something you do. It's the way you live. It's mortifying your members. E.M. Bounds said that all God's plans have the mark of the cross on them, and all His plans have death to self in them.
[18:20] In order to glory in the cross, you're going to have to identify with that cross. And then thirdly, come to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, if you glory in the cross, as we're told to, then you're going to preach the cross.
[18:42] You'll preach the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 17, Paul said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
[18:53] Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved, notice he says, it is the power of God.
[19:06] The preaching of the cross is identified as the power of God. Look at verse 23, For we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
[19:28] Christ now, the power of God, the wisdom of God. Now check out chapter 2. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency a speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
[19:42] For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
[20:02] What is that power of God? He already told us. It's Christ. It's the preaching of the cross. In this passage, or later, I'm sorry, in Romans 1, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
[20:24] You say, what are you saying here? I'm saying, if you glory in the cross, you'll preach the cross. Because that's the message, because that's where the power's at. It's not in these intellectual arguments or apologetics.
[20:37] Paul said in these passages we read, not with wisdom of words, not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but rather he said, I came to preach the gospel.
[20:49] I preach Christ and him crucified. It's the preaching of the cross. Now I realize that in order to witness to somebody, you've got to start somewhere.
[21:00] And some missionaries went on foreign fields and they had to start with, there's a God and he created this earth. They had to start with Genesis 1. And I understand that. I understand the need to build to the cross.
[21:15] And I understand people are confused and sometimes in trying to deal with them you've got to unravel some of the confusions and religious misconceptions they have and they've been trained with and you have to give them the scripture and unravel some of that to show them the cross.
[21:30] I get all of that. But that better be where you're taking them to. That better be the message because that's the power of God. And I don't intend to be bad-mouthing men and ministries that they've built and things like that, but I have to tell you I'm somewhat weary of those that speak more about creation than they do about the cross.
[21:52] And those that speak more about the flood than they do about the blood. And those who walk around waving an American flag and speak more about the founding fathers than they do about the author and finisher of our faith.
[22:06] The power of God is in the cross and the preaching of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ. For some people it's out of the abundance of the mouth or out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
[22:18] But if you glory in the cross then you're going to preach the cross. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything at all. Just erase the whole board and put the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ there.
[22:32] That's all I'm going to preach. Come back to Galatians chapter 6 where we started. And we're going to finish the verse. Galatians chapter 6 If you're glory in the cross then you'll remember the cross and you'll identify with the cross and you'll preach the cross.
[22:59] Verse number 14 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 I unto the world.
[23:12] What incredible statements that he closes that verse with by whom the world is crucified unto me. Meaning in Paul's mind the world no longer has my attention.
[23:25] The world no longer has any of my affection. I set my affection on things above now. The world doesn't do it for me anymore. I'll neither seek its approval nor its pleasures.
[23:37] It's dead to me. The world is dead to me. I'm done with the world. And then he says at the end I unto the world by whom the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified unto the world meaning as far as the world goes I'm dead to them and they're dead to me.
[23:56] You won't find me where you once found me. I won't be speaking the way I once spoke. I won't look the way I once looked because the old man is dead.
[24:07] the world doesn't even recognize me anymore and that's fine by me because I found somebody else I can follow. Being crucified unto the world lets the world know where you stand and lets the world know whom you serve and where your allegiance lies.
[24:25] But the most important phrase or part of element of this phrase that we're reading at the end of that verse is the two words by whom. By whom? That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[24:37] It's by the Lord Jesus Christ that the world is crucified unto me. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ that I am crucified unto the world because of him.
[24:48] We can't overlook that thought thinking about just being done with the world because Paul's not saying that he's just done with the world because he's sick of it. I'm tired of the way things are.
[25:00] I'm tired of its politics. I'm tired of the way it's going or he's going to seek to find himself in some other way. No, Paul's identifying a relationship here.
[25:11] It's with the Lord Jesus Christ. He glories in the cross by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. He's identifying a relationship of one that has such benefits the world couldn't offer him.
[25:26] One that causes him to declare for to me to live is Christ. I can do all things through Christ. Paul says that he identified even introduces himself to these churches Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ.
[25:44] That's right there in the next book Ephesians and many of them. That's who I am now. It's the relationship by whom the world is crucified unto me. It's the connection to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[25:56] That's the emphasis Paul is keeping. He claimed that he was created in Christ Jesus. He sought to know Christ Jesus. He rejoiced in Christ Jesus.
[26:08] Paul lost his appetite for the world because he gained one for something else. He found someone that he said in Philippians 3 that he could follow after. And then Paul teaches the churches to follow him as he follows Christ.
[26:23] And as Paul followed after he came to say things like all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the first born from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.
[26:51] Paul made statements always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Paul said I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.
[27:11] Paul said in Philippians 3 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
[27:22] Paul you don't talk like a normal man. You say things that are foreign to most of us. You're consumed with living your life in the shadow of the cross.
[27:32] Actually living it in the victory that Christ on the cross has won for you. Glorying in the cross.
[27:46] Glorying in one thing only. Christian this morning can I point you to remembering the cross. Remembering the cross not tonight when we remember the Lord's table not that one time that we do it collectively no can you remember the cross can you keep its scenes before you as you walk day to day can you bow your head each day or can you wake up each morning can you go to bed each night thanking God for the cross thanking him for drawing you into a relationship with him because of his son and the sufferings of the cross.
[28:31] Can I point you this morning to identifying with that cross to reckoning yourself dead done with no more to get back up the old man put him behind me so that I can walk in newness of life I am crucified with Christ can you say that is that true and then can I point you to preaching that cross because it is your power it is your victory it can be your strength let it be your only glory in this life I wonder if there's anyone hurting today in some way doesn't it make you feel a little better when you can put your mind on the cross and you think about what Christ did for you and not about the pains of this life and the sorrows that you face doesn't it make you feel just a little bit better when you can kind of set that aside and just remember what Christ did for you doesn't that draw you to something else are you busy in this life are you too busy where you're just there's so much on your mind there's so much on your plate isn't it good for you to hear about the cross doesn't it kind of get you centered a little bit and bring you back to who you are and what it means to be a believer in the Lord Jesus
[29:52] Christ to glory at the cross isn't it good to just get your to wash away some of your plans and some of your the things you have to do even and just think about him and think about the cross or is there somebody here who's never experienced the power of God the power of God unto salvation you've never found it at the cross maybe seeking his acceptance and even inside longing to know how you can be forgiven how you can gain his acceptance it's at the cross the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and when you find it and when you gain his acceptance and you gain his forgiveness and you know what it's like to be at peace with God reconciled by the death of his son there's nothing else in this world that even comes close it's only someone who walks in the flesh someone who's deceived that starts to think elsewise but when somebody gets a hold of the cross you'll realize like Paul said
[31:01] God forbid that I should go in any of that because of what the cross is and what it's done I hope I can point you this morning to glorying in the cross to remembering it to identifying with it and to preach it let's bow our heads together I want to ask you this morning I asked you already I'll ask you again can you say that you're crucified with Christ do you know that feeling is the old man dead or is he telling you what to do is he calling the shots has he been speaking up this whole service telling you don't you dare you got more things to do you're not done yet you've got business to take care of there's things out there you haven't experienced don't you dare can I point you to the cross where the son of God laid down his life as an offering and a sacrifice for your sins your sins does that mean anything to you it's real to me by the grace of
[32:18] God it's real to me is there anybody here that might say I'm not sure that I've ever experienced God's forgiveness I'm trying to do my best I'm trying to do right but I don't know for sure that if I died right now if God would accept my best I don't know if I'm saved I don't know if I have forgiveness anybody in here say I'm not sure with everybody not looking would you slip your hand up just slip it up and down and say I'm not sure but I want to be sure then Christians you heard the message today what are you glorying in God forbid that there's anything in this life that has stolen your attention and stolen your affection from the Lord Jesus Christ you'll regret it one day you'll regret it when you stand before him and see him in all of his glory and you'll say
[33:22] I turned my back on serving you for that I can't even keep it now it's gone I don't even have it those pleasures that are gone boy I was so deluded I thought it was so worth it I was so excited about how I was moving and how things were going and now I see I'm such a fool because it distracted me from serving the son of God Christian are you glorying in the cross search your heart this morning this altar is open for you to pray if you need to come and pray I invite you to do that it's a great place you can lay burdens down you can make commitments you can just display your heart's gratitude for the cross for what the son of God accomplished for your sins and mine we're going to sing 243 in the hymnal I invite you to come and pray if you need to 243 let's stand together as we sing and hide go住 the
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