Again, it's good to see those who have made it back this
afternoon. Certainly a little smaller in
number than we hope for, but that's Okay.
We'll do the best we can to glorify God in our in our
meeting this afternoon. We're going to continue in
Galatians picking up in verse 11 and we'll finish up the chapter
tonight and finish up the book of Galatians and this has been a
really encouraging. Study for me and going through
the book of Galatians and just getting a deeper knowledge of
what God is trying to teach us and and what was dealt with back
in the 1st century with some of the Judaizers and and how that
was dealt with. So I'm thankful that I was able
to to study some of these things a little more.
Picking up in in verse 11 of Galatians chapter 6 it says this
is Paul writing. See what large letters I use as
as I written to you with my own hand.
Paul most likely dictated most of his letters that he wrote to
the churches and and some of the other letters that we spoke read
in the Bible. He spoke and somebody else was
writing them down and sometimes though he would get to the end
and just like anybody who is maybe dictating a letter or or
at least you would pick up at the end and and maybe sign at
the very least their name. Maybe even write a couple of
notes and sign it. Most scholars seem to think and
debate kind of what's going on here.
Or, you know, most of them think that Paul actually takes the pin
out of the out of the scribes hand himself and writes this on
his own. He says, basically Paul saying
I'm going to write this last point, I want to make sure that
I'm writing this myself to you Galatians.
So he wants them to really understand and hear that.
And he continues. In verse 12 he says as many as
desire to take a good showing in the flesh.
These would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may
not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ, for not even
those who are circumcised keep the law.
But they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast
in your flesh. And here it is in verse 14 that
we're going to spend a lot of time on.
If you don't have this highlighted or marked in your
Bible, this is a really, really important verse, he says.
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has been crucified to me and I to the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
avails anything but a new creation.
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be
upon them, and upon the Israel of God, God of Israel.
For now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Amen. Galatians 3 showed us the
supremacy of Christ of all, the Old Testament of Abraham, Moses.
Everything pointing to Christ himself, Everything flowing from
Christ in Christ alone He is the object of our faith.
Justification by grace through faith in Christ alone means this
is. This is why we boast in the
cross alone. And it's truly remarkable,
especially in verse 14. It's really kind of a bold
statement that Paul gives here, especially being a Jew and
especially being in the 1st century.
He doesn't say that, that that the cross is one of the things
that he boasts in. There's a lot of things that you
know that that we could be proud in.
I want to boast in this, I want to boast in that.
And that word boast in in even in the original language of the
New Testament doesn't really have a comparable English
definition or translation that we know of To think.
Does it mean boasting or bragging?
It really means if we put it all to 1:00, we we boast in with
glory in we rejoice in we we're consumed by, we're obsessed
with. Our life is is consumed by that,
by that one thing, all of that in one word, boast in the cross.
And he says it's not just one thing I boast in.
He says it's the only thing that I boast in.
He doesn't want to boast in anything else.
There's no ground for boasting in anything but the cross.
Now that doesn't seem maybe very bold for us today to say
something like that, but we're 2000 years removed from what the
cross actually did, from what it was.
We have the the culture that we live in today tends to glamorize
the clock, the cross. You know, we were sometimes, you
know, we see, like we've mentioned the past, you know, we
put the cross on a necklace. Sometimes we see it on the wall
in somebody's home. You know, that's not something
that was done in the 1st century because it was such a image of
death. It was such a gruesome way, a
horrible means of execution, torture.
It was meant to humiliate and to degrade.
You know, they wouldn't take a a man and strip him, make him and
put him on a tree and put stakes in his hands and his feet and
hold him up for everybody to walk by and and spit on him and
curse and mock him. And even the worst Roman
criminal wouldn't get treated that way.
There's laws today against things like that happening.
And if you go back a couple chapters to Galatians too, I
want us to see. How we see the word crucified
and cross building up to Galatians chapter 6.
If you want to underline them in your Bible or highlight them or
however you want to do it. But if we start in Galatians 2
verse 20, it says there I have been crucified with Christ.
It says I've been crucified. He's given us this language and
it and it just kind of comes off the page when we realize what
what horror and what. What was all associated with
with a word like that? With crucified with Christ and
force. Galatians 3 verse one says You
foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before your very
eyes. Jesus Christ was clearly
portrayed as crucified. This was an embarrassment.
It wasn't good to be crucified. We're not proud of somebody
being crucified. Then we get the verse 13 It says
Christ redeemed us from. The curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us, for it is written curses, everyone who
hangs on a tree. Not the same word crucified, but
hanging on a tree is what it's referring to there And then we
come to Galatians 5 and 11, Paul writes.
And I, brethren, if I have still preached circumcision,
circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution?
Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
Paul knows that the cross is offensive and then we get the
1st 24 it says, and those who are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires.
And then we come of course to verse 12 in chapter 6.
second-half of the verse says only that they may not suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ.
And then in verse 14 what we've talked about, but God forbid
that I should boast in. Except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The book of Galatians is filled
and saturated with with grace that we can read about, and it's
centered around the cross. And this is is really big.
And when and we're going to look at reasons in Galatians 6 why we
actually want to boast in the cross, There's reasons why.
It's more important that whatever job advancement we can
get, or what salary we can make, or what house we could live in,
or or What Car you can drive the cross boasting in the cross is
so much better than all of those things.
So I want to look at a few reasons why we boast in the
cross. I've come up with four.
There's probably more, I'm sure the reason number one we We
boast in the cross because the cross confronts us.
With the reality of our sin. We've seen this all the way in
Galatians up to this point. Remember, the Judaizers were
saying you need to be circumcised in order to be
saved, not just being baptized for the remission of sins.
But now you got to Now we want to still keep circumcision
involved. You need to follow these Jewish
rules and rich rules and regulations.
And the Judaizers weren't saying that Jesus didn't die on the
cross. They weren't denying that at
all. They said Jesus did die on the
cross, but what they were doing is they were saying, OK, Jesus
died on the cross, He did his work here and now we're going to
keep doing our work over here. So we're going to finish what
Jesus started and that's not what scripture teaches us.
We understand that. So we want to think about the
realities that Paul has built up to this point In in in Galatians
6, the first reality we are slaves to sin.
At the end of Galatians 3. Talks about prisoners of sin,
Galatians 4. Eight different times in
Galatians 4 talks about slavery, slaves.
It's mentioned over and over and over again in chapter 5 of
Galatians and the first chapter. It says we are no longer slaves
to sin. We're slaves under a new we're
we're slaves to sin under the new law.
And then when we go to Romans 6-7 and eight, we can see we
were slaves to sin all over the place.
It's mentioned multiple times there.
We were slaves to sin. Second reality that Paul has
built up to this point is we are dead in sin in Galatians 3
versus 10 through 13 it says we're cursed before God,
condemned before God because of our sin and our inability to
obey the old law and if even if you look over into Ephesians
chapter 2. The the the first verse starts
off Paul talking about what we were before we came to Christ,
he says. And you were dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead to our sins.
Next we are unable to save ourselves.
Paul's been saying it over and over and over again up to this
point in Galatians, Paul says. You know, you could do all these
things you could do. You can have your circumcision.
You can do whatever other rituals you guys have been doing
for years. But all that work still doesn't
do what Christ has done for you. You still can't make the final
judgment on yourself. Jesus Christ is the one who has
done that. What slave can pay the price to
sell himself free? What dead man can bring himself
to life? What person who is dead can
choose life? And that's that's why it's so
offensive about the cross sometimes.
Because the the cross confronts us with the reality that we
can't do anything without it. We need the cross of Christ.
And that's the whole picture. You know, we can talk about
grace, you go into that, but we don't have time.
God is telling us, go to the cross and look at my son.
Look at the divine wrath, the divine weight of sin poured out
on my son. For your sin and and when we see
that we don't walk away from the cross saying thank you, we're
going to go ahead and keep living our lives now.
No. When we understand the weight of
what the cross has done for humanity, then we go about
living our lives in a completely different way.
The what the words of the hymn rider said nothing in my hand.
I bring simply to thy cross I clean.
What we need is supernatural regeneration.
The cross confronts us with the reality of our sin and offends
our pride at the core and says we need to do we need God to do
something for us that we cannot do ourselves.
We need to give our life to Him and he does it by the cross.
And what I mean by when I say the cross, I'm talking about
what Jesus accomplished at the cross with his death.
So we boast. We say yes, that's where my
glory is. That's where my joy is.
Because that leads to the second reason why we boast in the
cross, Not just because it confronts us with the reality of
our sin, but because the cross comforts us with the provision
of our Savior. When you get down into verse 12
of chapter 6, those who want to make a good impression
outwardly. We're trying to compel you to be
circumcised. They want to make a good
impression outwardly, They want to look good on the outside is
what it comes down to. The Judaizers we're focusing on
Okay, what can we do outwardly to please God and and man and
the and the cross undercuts the efforts of those Judaizers
really, really quick. So we know we're done with the
outward impressions before God and before men, Paul says.
We no longer live for the applause of man, he says here in
verse 12. As many as desired to make a
good showing in the flesh. These would compel you to be
circumcised. And then we get down to verse
13. And he says, For not even those
who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire that you
have that use, but they desire to have you circumcised.
The motive behind the Judaizers was is that that they could
boast in the flesh. That was their motivation.
They wanted to boast in the flesh they they want to boast
in, in glory. And how many guys have been
circumcised, How many have been certain, how many have done what
has been prescribed, what you know they wanted?
It's all a number count for them.
They wanted, they wanted to get as many people circumcised and
say look at what we've done. That's what it came down to.
We no longer live for the applause of man because we now
live with the pleasure of God. Paul is saying that we are free
to rest in him. We don't need the applause of
men, even religious organizations or or anything
like that. We do not look for the applause
of man. We have the pleasure of God in
us through Christ. The third reason we boast in the
cross is because the cross reminds us that our safety is
not found in this world. We saw this in a little bit in
Galatians chapter 5, verse 11. And if we look at the
second-half of verse 12, here in verse in chapter six he says
about the Judaizers, He says the only reason they do this is to
avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
And we need to understand that if you were a Jewish person in
the 1st century and you embrace the cross like Paul is teaching
us, here is saying here. That basically crosses
everything. And you say circumcision.
We don't need that anymore. If you're a Jew and you're and
you're clinging to the cross now and you're getting rid of the
old ritualistic parts of the law, then all of a sudden you
find yourself basically turning your back on the Jewish leaders,
the Jewish teachers and all the teachings.
And I think you would find yourself ostracized.
And that's what Paul is, has experienced himself.
You find yourself kicked out of the synagogue, kicked out of
your household. Probably you find yourself at a
social as a social outcast, maybe facing financial ruling or
maybe worse. And when we think about the
persecution of Christianity in the early centuries of the
church, we often think about Roman persecution.
But the reality that the New Testament teaches us is that
persecution of the church. Didn't begin by the Romans.
It actually began by the Jewish people.
Jewish people started persecuting Christians.
First we get to act seven. We can read about Steven, first
Christian martyr that we can read about stoned by Jewish
ruling council. And then of course Paul.
In Acts 8 he was a Jewish man leading Jewish people from house
to house persecuting Christians. So there was a there's a cost.
There was a cost. If you embrace a cross like
this, then there's a cost. Paul saying, Paul saying these
guys are wimps, these Judaizers. They don't want the persecution
that comes along with holding onto the cross and boasting in
the cross. There's a price that comes with
that. We get down to verse 17 and Paul
says. Kind of a play on images, he
says. From now on that no one trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
And it's a great picture here. Paul's talking to a group of
people who are saying, well, this is what you need to do to
your body to be saved. That's what the Judaize you're
saying, you got to do this to your body, to be saved in order
to please God. And Paul says, no, no, no, I'm
going to show you what it means to be a follower of Christ.
I'll show you what happens when you follow God, he says.
Let me show you the bruises on my arms and my leg from when I
was stoned in Lystra, one of the cities that was in Galatia, he
said. Let me show you the marks that
show my identification, my identification with Christ.
If we go to 2nd Corinthians 11, if you want to turn over, I'll
have it up here on the screen too. 2nd Corinthians 11 will
certain verse 23, Paul starts describing what he had been
through. As a follower of Christ, he says
there as the ministers of Christ, are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool.
I am more and labor's more abundant and stripes above
measure in prisons more frequently in deaths, often from
the Jews. Five times I received 40
stripes, minus one. Three times I was beaten with
rods, Once I was stoned, Three times I was shipwrecked a night
and a day. I have been in the deep.
In journeys often in perils of waters and perils of robbers, in
perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles.
In perils in the city, in perils of the wilderness, in perils in
the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil
and sleeplessness, sleeplessness often.
And hunger and thirst and fastings, often in cold and
nakedness. Besides the other things, what
comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the
churches who is weak and I am not weak, who is made to
stumble. And I do not burn with
indignation, Paul is saying. This is what I have gone
through, becoming the follower of Christ.
I've left my I've left the old law of.
Of the Jewish law and the traditions.
And now I'm clinging to the cross, Paul is saying here in in
Galatians 6 is a truth for all of us who identify ourselves
with Christ. He says we do not fear
suffering, we do not fear suffering.
These false brothers were teaching false doctrines in
Galatians 6 and we can tell because the way that they were
avoiding persecution. The way that they were running,
scared of identification with the cross.
Those who are identified with the cross don't fear suffering.
In fact, when we're identified with a crucified Messiah, we
expect suffering in some way or another.
Paul talking about boasting in in crucifixion saying you can
tell I'm identified with Christ because of what I've been
through. It's like what he says in.
Philippians won when he says it has been granted to you on
behalf of Christ to suffer. It's been given as a gift to
you. In the language of the New
Testament, Philippians won. It's a gift to suffer.
If you want to paraphrase it, we're not identified with a
savior who lives in a five star resort or is dressed in really
fine clothing or had a home, anything like that.
Were identified with the Savior who has been mocked and beaten
and scourged and spit upon and nailed to a cross.
If we think about it, what was God?
You know God's strategy for showing His love most clearly to
the world. His way of showing love was
giving a suffering servant to us.
In his divine wisdom, he ordained A suffering servant the
self sacrifice of his only son. To be the means by which he
would say that I love you and I'm compassionate for you and
I'm gracious towards you. We can see this through history,
of course. After the cross we see the New
Testament letters that are written to Christians who are
suffering in that time. The book of Acts, Persecution
and suffering We see Christian history tells out tells us that
10 out of the 11 disciples were martyred and.
You know, God's strategy, I don't think has necessarily
changed a whole lot. God's showing us his love most
clearly through the world. By showing us that his followers
suffered. They went through a lot.
We don't fear suffering. We do not.
We don't. Not that we look for
persecution, we don't look for suffering.
But the reality is, you know, what do we expect?
Sometimes we need to be prepared for it.
Talking about the cross and what it does for us, we don't want to
minimize that the cross keeps us from wasting our lives in this
world. When you get to verse 14, Paul
says may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I
to the world. Paul is Paul's basically saying
here I'm dead to the world and the world is dead to me.
And when he came to Christ, his entire relationship with the
world changed. He's saying this world has
nothing for me anymore, nothing for us.
If we're a Christian, all the things in this world mean
absolutely nothing. We don't live for the joy that
this world can provide us. It doesn't.
We don't have any satisfaction there.
There's no source of joy there. Philippians 3 when Paul says.
You know, he comes up, he comes up with a list of things that he
has in this world. And he says, you know, you put
all those things together and they're trash.
They're rubbish compared to one thing, compared to knowing
Christ. Paul says take everything, even
the best things of this world has to offer me.
And as long as I have Christ, I have everything that I need.
The world has nothing for us because Christ is everything to
us. One scholar said the baptized
Christian has ceased to belong to the world and is no longer
its slave. He belongs to Christ alone, and
his relationship with the world is mediated through clock
through Christ. This changes the way that we
live. We don't run now after the
pursuits of this life, the pleasures of the world.
We don't look for joy and satisfaction in the world.
We're free from those things. Christ is everything to us now.
Of course we when we say the world has nothing for us, that
that doesn't necessarily mean that everything in this world is
bad, you know, if that's the case, you know our families are
bad, our children are bad, our friends are bad, you know, we
know that's not true. That's not what it's saying.
It's not saying that's world bad, Paul said.
He's crucified of the to the world, but he's still in the
world. So what does that mean?
What does it mean? Boasting of the cross related to
everything else in this world. And it leads us to the last
reason why we boasting the cross.
Because it this is where it gets really, really good, I thought,
because the cross supplies us with every good thing that we
have. The cross supplies us with every
good thing about that we have. You know, what about our spouses
or our children? Are we allowed to be proud of
that and to boast in that? Are we allowed to find joy in
them? And what I want to try to do is
show the correlation between the cross and maybe even just a
simple parent's pride. You know what?
The cross we realize that it that.
If the cross was not there, we have nothing but condemnation
from God. If the cross is not there, a
Sinner standing before a holy God receives nothing but, of
course, judgment and condemnation.
And now we begin to realize that it's only because of the cross
that we have the opportunity to enjoy our children or our
family. That's the only source.
If the cross wasn't there, we couldn't enjoy that.
We we wouldn't want to. You know, teach those around us
or raise our children up to show that love, good things, and and
sometimes even the bad things that God uses the turn to good.
And every single one of those things is possible because of
the cross. We look at verse 15, realize
that this is a Jewish man stating for in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything
but a new creation. God has not given us better
lives because of the cross. He's not said Here's the cross
Now go on to maybe go buy some books from the Christian
bookstore and start reading those and learn how to be a
better you. That's not what he's saying.
He's not. It's not to improve our lives or
give us better lives. It's given us a new life,
completely changed and different from what we used to be because
of the cross. We've been recreated by a spirit
and are being recreated and continue being recreated as we
study the word we're ruled by the gospel, verse 16 says.
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be
upon them and upon the, I believe it's supposed to say God
of Israel. It actually says Israel of God,
finally. Paul closes the exact same way
he began in Galatians 13 Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and Lord Jesus Christ. And then we come to verse 18.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, with
your spirit. Amen.
We are all recipients of that same grace that Paul is talking
about in Galatians today. It's the same grace that we can
receive. The cross will always be our
reservoir. From which that grace comes
from, from what Christ did for us on the cross.
So that's why we boast in the cross, because of what it is
done for us, what Jesus did for us.
That's the one thing we live for.
That's the one thing we count on.
That's why we are obsessed with the cross.
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