Galatians 6:14


"WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS"


INTRODUCTION


1. Off the coast of South China, on a high hill overlooking the
harbor of Macao, is a huge wall. This wall is the only thing
that remains from a massive cathedral that Portuguese settlers
built on that hill hundreds of years ago.


2. A typhoon hit that cathedral, literally reducing it to
ruins. Everything except this front wall was totally leveled.
High on top of that wall stands a huge bronze cross.


3. In 1825 Sir John Bowring was sailing a ship off this same
coast when a terrible storm hit, breaking his ship apart and
throwing him into the water. He was holding on to a board for
dear life thinking he was going to be pickled in that China sea,
believing that all had been lost, including his own life, when
all of a sudden, through the storm, he caught sight of this
bronze cross atop this cathedral wall. In that moment God spoke
to him, and he knew in his heart that his life would be spared
and that God would deliver him, and he was miraculously rescued.


4. John Bowring was so moved by how God had spared his life
that he wrote a poem that years later was put to music, and for
over a hundred and fifty years God's people have sung this song
over and over:

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Tow'ring o'er the wrecks of time;

All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.1


5. That song could have been Paul's theme song. Paul had much
that he could have boasted about. In his day he was the
church's greatest preacher, greatest missionary, greatest
apologist, greatest theologian, a prolific author who wrote more
books than anyone else in the Bible, almost one-half of the New
Testament.


6. Furthermore, he was a religious thoroughbred, a full-blooded
circumcised Jew. His pedigree was the Tribe of Benjamin. He
had been selected as a Pharisee. He was, to put it bluntly, "a
big cog in the synagogue." Yet Paul said, "I glory, I boast, I
brag on one thing - the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ."


7. Paul's pride was limited to the cross of Christ. Paul's
preaching was limited to the cross of Christ. He said, "We
preach Christ crucified." (I Cor. 1:23) Paul's praise was

limited to the cross of Christ. He said, "For I determined not
to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." (I Cor. 2:2)


8. Now it was not the cross itself that Paul was so enamored
with. It was not those blood-soaked beams of wood which once

stood on a hill called Calvary that had so gripped the heart of
Paul. It was the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.


9. You see, the cross was nothing to glory about 2,000 years
ago. Today we have turned the cross into a "kindlier, gentler"
piece of gold jewelry that we wear to enhance our looks. You
mention the cross today you think of a jeweler. But if you
mentioned the cross in Paul's day you would think of a jailer.
It was an instrument of death. Crucifixion on a cross was one
of the cruelest forms of execution ever devised by man.


10. Today I am afraid the church suffers under the "curse of
crossless Christianity." In pulpits all over America we are
being told that man's problem is a lack of self esteem, and what
he needs is positive thinking. Others say man's problem is
ignorance, and what he needs is education. Some say that man's
problem is poverty, and what he needs is money. Others say
man's problem is environment, and what he needs is equal
opportunity. The Bible says his problem is sin, and what he
needs is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.


11. We will never influence a lost humanistic secular apathetic
uncaring world, until we get back to glorying in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to share with you today how and
why we can glory in the cross.


I. We Are To Glory In The Person
Who Died On The Cross


1. "But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ." (v.14a) I want to emphasize it is not
the cross which makes Christ so special. It is Christ who makes
the cross so special.


2. Dr. Harry Reimer was a great Christian scientist who lived
years ago. He was lecturing in a college one day and he allowed
the class to ask questions.


3. Well a young Jew said, "What did Jesus Christ do that no one
else ever did?" Dr. Reimer replied, "Son, I understand that you
are a Jew. I take it that you know the early history of your
people, and you know that Titus and Pilate and the old Roman
emperors crucified some 30,000 young Jews." The Jewish student
said, "That is correct. There were some 30,000 young Jews put
to death."


4. Dr. Reimer said, "Well, I'm going to name one of those Jews
and you name another. I name Jesus Christ. Now young man, you
name one of the 30,000 whom they crucified." The Jewish man
said, "Well, I don't know the name of another one."



5. Do you know why he couldn't call the name of one out of
30,000? Why do we remember one name when we can't remember the
other 29,999? Because Jesus is the only one who died for our
sins and was raised from the dead.


6. You see, Jesus turned the cross from a symbol of guilt into
a symbol of glory, from a beam of execution into a balm of
salvation. It is not the cross that is so wonderful, it is
Christ on the cross that is so marvelous.


7. That is why Paul emphasizes it was the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. First of all, it is the cross of the Lord. That
tells us He is our Master. The word Lord in the New Testament
means God. This refers to his sovereign authority. Jesus knew
the manner of his death. He predicted it would be by
crucifixion. He knew the motive of his death. He came
specifically to die for the sins of the world. He knew the
moment of his death. For he did not die until he said, "Father
into Your hands I commend My Spirit."


8. But it is also the cross of the Lord Jesus. This tells us
He is our mediator. The New Testament name Jesus is the
equivalent of the Old Testament name Joshua which literally
means "Jehovah is Salvation." When Jesus was born, his mother
was told, "You shall call his name Jesus, for He shall save his
people from their sins." (Mt. 1:21) This refers to his saving
ability.


9. But it is also the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
refers to him as our Messiah. The name Christ means "anointed
one." Only three people were anointed in the Old Testament: the
prophet, the priest, and the king. As our prophet, Jesus is the
Word of God. As our priest, Jesus finished the work of God. As
our King, he is the wisdom of God. This refers to his
sufficient authenticity.


10. We could never know salvation from the penalty of sin,
release from the power of sin, or freedom from the presence of
sin if the Lord Jesus Christ had not died on that cross.


11. Do you understand that all of the confession,
repentance, faith, tears, and remorse that you could humanly
muster, would be absolutely useless without the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no way out of hell, and no way into
heaven, except through the cross.

12, You will not glory in the cross until you glory in the
Christ who died on that cross. Paul did not glory in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "I glory in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ."


II. We Are To Glory In The Purpose
Declared By The Cross


1. God had some specific purposes in mind when he sent Jesus to
die on that cross for you and for me.



A. Through The Cross
The Love Of God Is Expressed


1. So many people look at the newspaper, read the magazines,
listen to their television, and they see earthquakes, murders,
rapes, stabbings, killings, assassinations, bombings, thievery,
and they say, "Where is the love of God? If God is a God of
love, why does He allow all of these terrible things to happen?"
Do you know why they can't find the love of God? Because they
are looking in the wrong place.


2. We are never told that we would find the love of God in
Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, or "60 Minutes." Where will
you find the love of God? In the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ.


3. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
(I Jn. 4:10) Again we are
told in Rom. 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."


4. A little girl was looking up on the communion table in
her church, and she saw the cross up there. This little girl
who had just started to school, said, "Mommy, what's that "plus
sign" doing up there on the table?" Well, she got it right.
The cross is God's plus sign telling you and me that God is for
us, that God loves us, that He loves us so much He sent his Son
to die for us that we might be saved.


5. Someone has well said that it was at the cross that man
did his worst to God, but God did his best for man.


B. Through The Cross
The Law Of God Is Expiated


1. The word expiate literally means to satisfy. You see,
the law of God says in Ezek. 18:20, "The soul who sins shall
die." Rom. 3:23 goes on to tell us, "All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." Now if the soul that sins has to
die, and if every soul has sinned, that means every soul must
die.


2. In other words, there are only two options: either all
have to die for their sins, or someone has to die for the sins
of us all. That's where Christ and the cross comes in.


3. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, He not only died to
pay for our sins, He died to
fulfill the law of God. Romans 6:23 says "the wages of sin is
death." I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did
not owe.


4. You talk about a bargain. Because of his death I have
life. Because He took my sin I can take his righteousness.

Because He died for my sin I can now die to my sin and live with
Him forever.


C. Through The Cross
The Life Of God Is Experienced


1. Do you understand that it is through the death of Jesus
that we can experience the life of God? It is through His
physical death that we can receive His eternal life.


2. You see, Jesus died that we might live through Him. "In
this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
Him." (I Jn. 4:9) Jesus died that we might live for Him. "And
He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for
themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (II
Cor. 5:15) Jesus died that we might live with Him. "Who died
for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together
with Him." (I Thess. 5:10)

3. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead comes into
your life and mine when we come to the cross and accept His
death for us.



III. We Are To Glory In The Power
Demonstrated By The Cross

1. Before Jesus died on the cross, that cross was a symbol of
shame, weakness, and defeat. But ever since our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ died on that cross and came forth victoriously from
the dead, that cross has been a symbol of glory, power, and
victory.


2. The Christian has three enemies: we have an internal foe
called the flesh; we have an external foe called the world; we
have an infernal foe called the devil. But through the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ we have victory over all three.


3. Through the cross we have victory over the flesh. "And
those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires." (5:24) We can nail the lust of the flesh
to the cross of Christ every day. We can live in victory
because of the cross. Because not one of the fleshly physical
sensual temptations we ever face can defeat through the power of
God's Holy Spirit. That's why Paul said, "I say then, 'Walk in
the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.'"
(5:16)


4. Through the cross we have victory over the world. "But God
forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world. (v.14) Listen carefully. Not only do we have salvation
through the cross, but we have sanctification through the cross.
Jesus not only died that we might live happily in heaven. He
died that we might live holy on earth.


5. Jesus died to deliver us from worldly Christianity. I don't

even like that term. It really is a contradiction. Billy
Sunday said, "You might as well talk about a heavenly devil as
to talk about a worldly christian."


6. Paul says that through the cross "the world has been
crucified to me." Now Paul does not mean here by the word
world, the physical world in which we live. He's referring to
the social world, the intellectual world, the philosophical
world, the moral world. He's referring to the world's way of
living, thinking, talking, walking.


7. Have you ever stopped to think what this world did to Jesus?
It crucified Him. That's why you need to crucify the world.
You need to understand as a child of God this world has nothing
to offer to you. The best that this world can offer you is a
sick shallow substitute for what Jesus can offer you.


8. There was an old holiness preacher named "Uncle Buddy"
Robinson. He went to see New York City one time and was shown
all the sights and sounds by some friends of his. That night he
got back to his hotel room, turned on the light, went over to
his bed, kneeled beside it and said, "Thank you Lord, for
letting me see New York City, and most of all I thank you that I
didn't see anything that I wanted!" That's your attitude toward
the world when you realize the world's been crucified to you.


9. But through the cross we also have victory over the devil.
Speaking of his crucifixion, Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of
this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." (John
12:31) Ever since Calvary Satan has been a defeated foe. He
sails a sinking ship.


10. But Paul also went on to say, "I have been crucified
to the world." Now crucifixion is one form of death that you
cannot inflict upon yourself. I mean you can shoot yourself,
drown yourself, hang yourself, stab yourself, poison yourself,
but you cannot crucify yourself. Crucifixion is something you
must surrender to. Every day if you will surrender afresh and
anew to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and take death to
self, you can find victory in any situation.


11. Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a great Christian. For many
years he was a prisoner in Soviet Concentration Camps. He
worked in the fields. For years all he had to look forward to
were days of backbreaking labor and slow starvation.


12. One day he literally gave up living. He felt no
purpose in fighting on. He felt as if his life would make no
ultimate difference. Laying his shovel down he walked over to a
bench and sat down. Now he knew the penalty for sitting down
was death. He knew at any moment that a guard would order him
to get up, and when he failed to respond the guard would
probably take his own shovel and beat him to death, for he had
seen it happen many times.


13. As he was sitting there waiting for the death that he
knew was coming to come, his head down, he felt a presence over
him. He thought it was the guard. Slowly he lifted his eyes.

Standing over him was an old man with a wrinkled utterly
expressionless face. This man had been in the prison many
years. He was hunched over from the back-breaking labor and
work he was forced to do. They had never communicated even a
word because they were not allowed to talk. Well this old man
took a stick, and at the sand of Solzhenitsyn's feet, he traced
out the sign of the cross.

14. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that as he stared at that
sign his entire perspective shifted. He knew that even though
he was only one man against the all powerful Soviet Empire in
that moment, he also knew that the hope of all mankind was
represented by that simple cross. That it truly represented the
greatest power in the universe. He slowly got, picked up the
shovel, and went back to work under the sign of the cross.


15. The only hope for a hurting, hateful, horrible, lost
world is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to anchor
our churches again to that old rugged cross and say with Paul,
"God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ."