LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON, OKLAHOMA

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59 GLORYING IN THE CROSS

TEXT: 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. Galatians 6:14 .

“In the cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o’er the wrecks of time,

All the light of sacred story,

Gathers ‘round its head sublime.’”

The cross is mentioned in three different senses in the Bible. It is important to distinguish them. First, it is used to signify the wooden cross, upon which the Lord Jesus was crucified. Second, it is used to signify the way of salvation by Jesus Christ crucified. Third, it is used to signify the sufferings that come to us in following Christ.

I. THE WOODEN CROSS

As an instrument of death, the cross was of Roman invention and was used only in case of slaves, or very notorious criminals, and malefactors of the basest sort. This was the death to which Jesus stooped.

“He endured the cross, despising the shame.” In the cross we see the stern, unrelenting hand of justice exacting the penalty of the law for sin, and also the unfathomable love of God for a lost world. The cross speaks to us of substitution, of reconciliation, of peace with God, and of life eternal.

II. THE CROSS, THE WAY OF SALVATION

This is the sense in which the word is used in the text. It is the name given to the whole plan of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. As in 1 Corinthians 1:18 : “The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.” Glorying in the cross means the renunciation of all self-righteousness, and of all the law and an entire reliance upon and acceptance of the finished work of Calvary as the only hope for a sinner. Glorying in the cross means not only that we endure the cross but that we delight in it, and go with Him to the cross until we can say, “I am crucified with Christ” and so are “made conformable unto His death.” Crucifixion is the divine method for the self life, the carnal mind which we inherited.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him.” Romans 6:6 . This is the “second blessing, properly so called.” In justification our spiritual sensibilities are quickened and made alive; in sanctification our carnal sensibilities are crucified and deadened.

III. THE CROSS TO BE BORNE

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” In following Christ a man may meet with scorn and ridicule and persecution and adversity. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Obeying God should not be a question of expediency or of personal pleasure but a fixed and settled purpose of the heart, though it means suffering, and the loss of all things. A true Christian will do his or her duty even if they don’t feel like it. “He that taketh not up the cross and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” No cross, no crown.