Let's take our Bible tonight to Galatians chapter number six as we're finally I say this repeatedly, but we're here. We're at the end We're at the last hurrah the last emphasis and really you'll find that Oftentimes the beginning of a book and the end of a book are important. They call it the bookends They're important to the book as a whole and really what we're going to look at tonight is the great summary the great thrust the great power of The entire book of Galatians and I hope that it's a great help this place been a help to me Galatians 6 verse number 12 will begin reading there 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. I For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. Verse 14 tonight. 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. With the help of the Lord tonight, I'd love to preach the message titled this, Credit to the Cross. credit to the cross. A great summary, really, of Galatians 6 can be found here, and we'll look here in a moment to see what God's Word says. Let's pray. God, thank you for such a good day that we've had so far. Thank you for our people and their heart for you. Lord, we're thankful for a wonderful opportunity to preach your Word. Father, help us to see it clearly. Give us the understanding of your Word that we may interpret it correctly and apply it right. We want to see what you have to say, whether we like it or not. Tell us the truth. Give it to us. Father help us as we try to look tonight. We love you and thank you in Christ's name. Amen Here's the grand summary at the Galatian issue the grand summary of the Galatian issue is this if You add unto or take away from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ You are an enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause. I What the Galatian issue is is there were legalists. These are ones who added rules. They added regulations. They added things that have to be done to be saved. They say, all right, it's Christ plus works that you must do or Christ plus more to be saved. Alright, so the great issue is they love to glory in their flesh And now I've you've I've probably said this every sermon for the last 100 some we've been in Galatians But I'll repeat it here because you won't be hearing it very soon after we're done with the book But remember a proud man's religion is a false man's religion or vice versa all false doctrine is based on the pride of man of man being glorified a man getting glory of You'll find their religions where they will they will cross stone paths to bleed and to show their worth There are people who will cut and dismember themselves to show and get honor from the gods There are so many things that people will do to get the glory you remember. I when Christ dealt with the Pharisees that they would dismember themselves or they would show themselves to be sad or sorry or Starving to see they wanted the glory of man They wanted everyone to look at them that they were God's special chosen people and the nation of Israel has always had that issue they while they because they're God's people now what Israel was supposed to do was to represent God to the whole world and Instead what they've done is they think that they're God's they're the greatest gift to God instead Christian if you're not careful, you'll fall into the same trap to where instead of you being God's gift to the world you think that you're the gift to God himself and You we think that we come to service one night and we come to church and we're the biggest whoo-hoo And haha that we're doing some God some honorable favor by being here. We're not doing such a thing It's an honor and a favor that he allows us to even be here together We get down here and we just know the last few weeks Paul's dealing with glorying in the flesh. How people love to make a fair show, how they love to flaunt it, they love to show it. You know what I found is, is that, here's a good illustration for you. You learn that most of the noise comes from the shallow end of the swimming pool. And that's where a lot of the shallowness comes from. I found the greatest people of God, the greatest servants of Christ, are the ones who don't get the most glory. The ones behind the scenes, the ones that don't get the pomp and show and the rewards and all the fame and glory. And you'll find this true here. It talks about how these people, you must understand in our American context, the cross, when we talk about the cross, it's not that big a deal here. When we see a cross, it's no big deal. But to this generation, to these Galatian churches, to say that you align yourself with the cross would have saying you aligned yourself with the most heinous crime, heinous punishment, the most Evil thing imaginable in their eyes. They hated the cross. They thought it was disgusting They thought it was something vile and something they should throw away and get rid of they wanted nothing to do with it That's why when they said verse number 12 that they didn't want to suffer persecution for the cross of Christ They didn't want to have anything to do with it. And that's why Paul said I'm not ashamed of the gospel But is the power of God unto salvation. I That's the gospel. These people were ashamed of Christ. They were embarrassed to be His. You know, you ever had one of those friends that's kind of annoying and you don't like hanging around with them, but your mom used to make them, all right, you gotta tag along with us and you gotta come along with us, but you didn't really want them to? That's how they felt about the cross. They thought that it was embarrassing to be associated with. They didn't want to get their honor up. They didn't want to give their glory up. Listen, you understand these people, prestige was everything. Fame was everything. What you were, what people said about you was everything in this culture. So when you aligned yourself with the lowest thing possible, That was completely opposite of what the world wanted for you. You know, I was speaking with some pastor friends and pastor family the other day, and they said something very convicting, and I want to paraphrase it for you. They had missionaries over to their house, and they're all eating there in the living room, and they're all talking, some missionaries from other countries in the world, and they asked a question. They said, what do you think about churches here in America? And one of them said, and this is my paraphrasing, I want to remember it correctly for you. He said this, he said, the America Christianity costs you nothing. It's cost nothing. You don't have to do anything for it. You don't have to give anything up for it. He said, but in my country, I have to give up. If I'm going to be a Christian, I must give up everything. This man's church had been burned his house his name. He had lost everything in this culture once you aligned yourself with Christ You are giving up everything for him and we don't even give up at anything at all here So it's hard for our mind and our context to understand what they gave up when they aligned themselves with the cross When they said I am faithful to Christ who died on the cross They are saying they're faithful to the lowest thing that they could imagine in their culture Now, I'm going to tell you tonight, the great credit of our salvation is due to that cross. We owe everything to what Christ did on that cross. We can say unashamedly that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We are not ashamed of the cross. Friends, I'm gonna tell you this. Here's the great summary of Galatians all the credit to our salvation All of it is due to that cross Not to the wood Not to the blood specifically from the physical part that drips down it or anything physical about it But what it paid for Now don't get me wrong, the physical blood, I don't wanna take that, don't take that incorrectly. But I'm trying to say it's not the wood, it's not the nails, it's not the physical part, it's not the cross itself, but what was done upon it, that is of the most importance. What that cross is and what it means to us and them it is free justification for man It is salvation unto all it's the great equalizer and the Jews hated it They hated it wanted nothing to do with it and they couldn't imagine how this could be such free Marvelous grace of their loving Lord. They couldn't imagine such marvelous grace. They couldn't picture it in their minds and The great summary is this that Paul wants to get across to us and the Galatian church is this all credit for our salvation Goes to that cross all of it Look with me again at first 14. It says this 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 I want to give you three things tonight on how you can give credit to the cross, because there's going to be a temptation within you, sir, within you, lady, that causes you to want to boast in yourselves. Now, you may not audibly, now the Christians not so bold oftentimes to boast of themselves audibly, but the way you walk around in your arrogance, and your tall chin up in the air, and your snout just snarling at people, the way you behave yourself in prayerlessness, and the way you lean on yourself so often, those are the ways, my friends, you are glorying in your flesh, that you are all that and a bag of chips, and that you think that you're the greatest thing that's ever been here. Friends, I watched a video the other day and I tend to agree with it One of the most dangerous things that Americans have ever been taught is self-esteem You aren't as important as you think you aren't as great as you think you are the grug the greatest gift to this earth We are all lowly beggars. We're all sinful man. The Bible shows us as wretched sinners and But it is Christ. It is him. The credit goes to the cross. I want to give you three ways tonight, just the way Paul did, that we can give credit to that cross and not unto our flesh. Number one, reject human boasting. Reject it. The Bible says here in verse 14, it says, God forbid that I should glory. But he said, I will only glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that for people who knew what the crucifixion was all about in this day, the words cross and glory would never have been in the same sentence. They would have never been paired together. They were direct opposites because there was not a more humiliating, a more shameful way to be executed and killed than the cross. So to say glory and the cross would be completely opposite. It'd be like in America saying sewer and glory. Whoa, we're not gonna say, why would they be in the same sentence as all? And I'm not making a mockery of what Christ did. Please don't think that. I'm just showing you in our culture what this kind of humiliation would look like, what kind of that disgust it would bring upon them. Those who wanted to show their flesh, they wanted the glory in their flesh, the cross was the opposite of that because people hated it. Your flesh automatically, friends, is not like the cross. The cross says you're not good enough. The cross says you can't save yourself. The cross says you can't do it to your flesh. And so your flesh snarls its little rotten head, it pokes up like a prairie dog, starts barking, and it thinks that it is the wonderful thing that saves itself. These people loved boasting of themselves. They loved showing how good they are. Don't think it's any different than it is today. Don't think that it's any different whatsoever. It is the exact same way today. The flesh loves to boast of himself. You know, the general rule you'll find in the book of Proverbs talks about, let another man praise thee, not your own lips. Here's a good rule for you young people. It's going to help you your whole life. Die to criticism. Die to praise. Die to both. A dead man isn't affected by the opinions of others. Don't let the flattery get to you, young man or woman. Don't let the flattery, people give you a lot of kind words they wouldn't say behind your back. Don't let all the criticism come to you. There's a lot of naysayers, a lot of negative things that's gonna come your way, and if you give heed to it, it'll just ruin and wreck you. Die to criticism, die to praise. There's a temptation within all of ourselves to give glory to ourselves for everything that we do. Ooh, I've read my Bible. Ooh, and ah, I am the greatest person ever. Ooh, I've prayed today. I am excellent. I'm just wonderful. I've done everything that I ought to do. I'm just doing excellent. I'm wonderful. But friends, I'm telling you, we've got to get past this. I have to get past it too. That success in God's eyes is not dependent on what we do. It's about how faithful we are to Him. Remember, what's the first? We've taught our people this. If you're new around here, what is a servant's number one job to do? It's not to serve. A servant's number one job is to obey. To obey. You know, the Bible shows here, it says, but God forbid that you should glory in anything else but the cross. You know, I think about that shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid. This is the strongest language of forbidding something Possible in our English language. There is nothing stronger than this saying God forbid. I mean God saying no No That you should glory in anything but the cross Here's the rule for you, especially if you're young if there's anything good about you blame Christ and If there's anything bad about you, blame yourself. No glory goes to you, sir or lady. Take the compliments, let them roll off. I'm not saying everything, all compliments aren't wrong. I ask my wife to give me words of affirmation all the time. But as far as it goes to the greatest things about us, it's all glory goes to Him. All glory goes to Him. Let me read some things to you. Romans 7, 18 says this. It says, For I know that in me, that is, my flesh, Dwelleth no good thing Your flesh naturally is not good doesn't the Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. There are none that are good There are none to seek if good there none that do it good Everything that is good about us is God and Christ and the Holy Spirit through us Romans 8 8 says this says they that are in the flesh cannot please God and Romans 13, 14, it says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Do you know that if anyone in our life had some way to boast, it would be Paul? Paul had all the things he could boast about you remember in the book of Corinthians 2nd Corinthians that He was dealing with the boastings how they wanted to boast about their flesh and their glory and their spiritual gifts Well, Paul said listen, he's talking as a sinners as a sinful man He's saying I'm not saying this as a Christian, but if I had room to boast here's what he says He says, are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they at the seat of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? He says, I speak as a fool. He said, I am more, in laborers more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes, save one. Thrice, three times, I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and day I have been in the deep, 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 the wilderness, in the sea among false brethren. He says, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, he says, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, he says, besides those things that are without, He said who is weak. Am I not weak who is not offended? Am I not offended and burn not he says ultimately to sum it up if anyone had room to glory and to boast Paul did a Hebrew of the Hebrews a Benjamite the man above all men a Pharisee if he wanted to be of the Pharisees Remember he left that group He had all the glory. I mean this man was the top stock. It's like if we had a 6-8 super athletic Muscular man in here. I mean he's top breed. It's like little fella. Whoa, fella. Whoa, you're dunking now Oh boy, you're top breed around Jeremy's top of the line So Paul says I he had all hey listen He's better than we all are and we think we should boast if he doesn't then you all have no reason to either He says I God forbid that I should glory. This is Paul saying that we esteem Maybe one of if not the greatest Christian ever lived. He said I God forbid that I should glory in my flesh in me He says I want the glory that word saved means only only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ He gave all credit to the cross If Paul was in modern America today, he would stand up here and tell all of his accolades that he'd done for the Lord. You know what Americans do? They'll get behind here, they'll stand up and they'll say, I've done such and such, I've done this and that, I've done children's church and nursery, I've done Bible teaching, I've done this and that. And then they'll give all their accolades, all their glory, and then they'll end it in three words. God be glorified. They think that that gives God glory. That's what Christians do They'll sit here and boast about themselves left and right left and right and they'll say thank the Lord They'll get up and we'll have a testimony time on Sunday night and they'll say well I did this I got more salary. I did this. I'm so popular. I got this many followers, etc, etc They'll say well, thank the Lord those athletes on the on the Internet or on sports will sit there and say I've done this and that I've ran around on my wife and all this but thank the Lord and They'll end in those words and they feel that that gives God glory. My friend, you're just a fool. That gives God no glory. You make him look like a mockery. You make him look like a fool. Just because you end your saying with thank the Lord or glory to God doesn't mean you just gave glory to him. Sometimes we as Christians like to sneak it in that way to make ourselves feel better. You like to mix the two. My friend, that's not how it's going to work. If we're not, if we're going to give credit to the cross, you don't get any of it. Zero. Zilch. You only get the credit to the sin that put him on it. That's all you get. You can take that credit if you want. So how do you give credit to the cross? Number one, you reject human boasting. He says, God forbid that I should glory. Number two, remember Christ and His death. Those people, these people who did this, who preached another gospel, who went with false doctrine, who did this, you know what they did? They forgot exactly what Christ came to do and what He did. They completely forgot it. They missed what they say, what do we say, the forest for the trees? They missed it. They missed the whole picture. They missed the whole thing, the reason why He came. Remember, Christ said, I have come to seek and to save that which is lost. The cross to those who opposed Paul was one of embarrassment. They couldn't imagine associating themselves with they could imagine having anything to do with it friends. Listen to me There are Christians the same way today or there are other lost people the same way They won't come because they don't want to be associated with Christ Listen, if you won't tell people at work You're a Christian you won't tell people on Facebook that you are and you keep it hush-hush the secret secret friend You are ashamed you ashamed. I'm ashamed of you. I And Christ says the same thing. Don't think I'm being crazy up here. Christ says, if you will not bring me before your brothers and your friends, and you say that you're ashamed of me, friends, I'm ashamed of you too. And this is the mindset here that they thought it was shameful for Christ to die on the cross. They wanted nothing to do with it. The word crux, C-R-U-X, talking about crucifixion, it was unmentionable in polite Roman society. Even when one was condemned to be crucified in Roman culture, The sentence was used in an archaic formula, which they didn't say you were going to be crucified. They would actually say this. They would say, hang him on the unlucky tree. They wouldn't say the word. It was such a dirty, rotten word in their culture and language that they wouldn't say to be crucified. They would say, hang him on the unlucky tree. What does Paul mean here by the cross? Of course he didn't care about the particular wood or the piece of wood to which those blessed hands and feet were nailed. He's talking about that glorious doctrine of free justification through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They're not justified by their works. They're not justified by their actions. They are justified by free grace. Grace, grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. That's what the cross showed to these people and the Jews they still to this day hate it Because they want to be saved by their actions and by their works. They live that way today You may hate this cross, but it is the Gospels cross You may hate this cross, but it is our Lord's cross and we are not ashamed of The cross go ahead Judaizer scowl and look down upon us. We are not ashamed to be lowly like he was We are not ashamed to take on the form of a servant Listen when you die to self and live unto Christ you care not to be associated with the Lord Jesus Christ the reason why we're not great soul winners and we don't share Christ and we're not committed all in with him is because we still hold on to our glory and We still want people to look at us the right way. We don't want to be the weird Christian. We don't want to be the weird one out. We don't want to adapt. There are people who dress a certain way because they don't want to be weird or they keep their kids in public school because they don't want to be weird or they watch certain TV shows that are sinful because they don't want to be seen as weird. Friends, if you're going to be a true Christian, you're going to be a weirdo. Just true. If you can't handle that, then Christianity is not for you. Because watch what the world talks about you. Go look online at what they say about you. They already think you're weird just for coming to church. But if you truly live like a Christian, you will be completely different from the world. They'll know, and you'll know. That's why Paul says, listen, in verse 14, he says, Whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world. You've got to get the reputation you want with people out of your mind and life. You've got to stop living to have this excellent, wonderful, prestigious reputation with everyone you know, because you're too chicken to be associated with Christ. It's not going to work. You are just like what Paul says in verse number 12. They don't want to be associated because they don't want to suffer for it. Listen, in America, just about the worst thing you're going to suffer is being made fun of. And if you can't handle that, you think you're going to be able to handle persecution for real? If you can't handle just being made fun of? I mean, listen, I've been made fun of for being a Christian. I've been reamed through just for being a pastor. People at my job don't like me as their boss just because of my Christian values. They hate it. I've been called a misogynistic evangelist. I've been called all sorts of words, and hey, I've been called all sorts of things. Not because I hate women or because I'm some kind of crazy nut job jerk Christian. They hate what the cross stands for. You, friend, you love it. It is what brought us to salvation, was what Christ did on that cross. But to the world, they hate it. They look at this and they think it's the biggest joke. The Bible says the Greeks, they laugh at it. They just think it's a mockery. The Hebrews think it's a joke. It's all just a joke. But to the cross, all credit goes to that cross. And you may wear a necklace around your neck that has a cross. You may have a tattoo on your back and you can have a cover photo on your Facebook all you want, but that does not mean that you're associating yourself with Christ. When you're his, you're his. You're dead to the world and the world's dead to you. Listen, once you choose Christ, you don't need to worry about dying to the world, they'll die to you. They won't want nothing to do with you. You know, when I started living for Christ, I stopped getting invited places. When I started living for the Lord, I stopped getting invited to hang around with certain people. You know what, I like it now because I don't wanna be invited by certain people. If they invite me, I think that's offensive. They know better to invite me to things. They know. Everyone at my job knows I'm one of the only people that doesn't drink or touch alcohol. They know better than to invite me to that junk. They know. They know about their cussin' around me. They know I don't cuss. They know I won't drink. You know I won't touch alcohol with a 10-foot pole. I'll hit that too. You need to get rid of alcohol if you got it. What a snare, a temptation. It's the fool who has alcohol in his room, or his house, or his bed, wherever you have it. Get rid of it right away. Friends, we will boast of our cross, we're not ashamed, we will love the cross. Remember, Christ had told Peter, he said, listen, if you love my sheep, feed my lambs. If you love me, feed my people. And then at the end of John, in the book of John, he tells Peter, he says, listen, you're gonna die a tough death, but you're gonna glorify me through it. You know, sometimes God gets the most glory through your suffering. I don't like saying that out loud, because it's a tough pill to swallow. But God got glory by making His Son suffer. He did. Christ suffered, and God got glory, because now we glorify Him for Christ's suffering. All credit goes where? To the cross. So what do we do to give credit? We reject human boasting. We remember Christ and His death. And third, we refuse worldly motivations. We refuse it. You want to know how to give credit to the cross? You're going to have to say goodbye to the world, and you're going to have to live under Christ. The Bible says here, Paul says, by whom the world is crucified unto me. They're dead to me. You ever told someone that? You're dead to me? That's what Paul's saying to the world. You're dead to me, and I'm dead to you. We're not friends anymore. We're not allies. But friends, this workspace system, this fleshly system, dear friend, that's worldliness. That's what Paul's saying is worldliness. Workspace salvation is worldliness. That is worldliness. If I had a brother, which I don't, I'm an only child, sadly, who had been murdered, what do you think of me if I daily hung out with the assassin that killed my brother or my mother, and I hung out with him all the time and loved him, we were best friends after that? But think about this. Why are you so friendly with the world and sin when they're the ones who killed your beloved Savior and you just hang out and flirt and kiss like you're best buddies? Do you like hanging out with the assassin that killed your Lord? Do you like being buddies that way? This world is the world that is in rebellion to God. It's not that you hate the world and you don't go to Lowe's or Walmart. Some Christians go, I'm not saying that. It's the world system, the world rebellion against God. You're not a part of that rebellion any longer. And I'm sure many, a few of us in here tonight are a part of that rebellion. There is nothing more worldly than trying to make a good showing of the flesh. When we live for the glory that comes from fame, from riches, from status, or from power among men, we are very alive to the world. You want to know if you're living unto the world? Are you living for their glory and their fame? Are you living for them to give you all the applause and glory? Ooh, go you! Are you living for the fortunes and for things like that? You're living unto the world. You're living unto worldliness that way. Paul said, I'm crucified to the world. The world's crucified to me. We're not best buddies anymore, because I give all credit to the cross, not the world. Paul, we would say he weaned from the world. He weaned from the world. Here's one thing I'd say to you very boldly, very politely to you, you need to get over yourself and get over public opinion about you. You gotta get over yourself because you are your biggest hindrance to the Lord's work in your life because you're afraid of what people are just gonna say about you. Anyone else suffer with that? I'll raise my hand, yes. We are faithful to Christ, and He is faithful to us. So stop letting your friends, family, associates make you ashamed of the cross. You're a Christian. We owe everything to that cross, and we're not going to be ashamed of it. No shame. 1 John 2.15 says this, and we'll close. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. There's just a few more verses in Galatians, but verse 14 sums it up. It sums up everything. He rebukes everything that they were trying to teach. No to workspace salvation, no to legalism, no to all this junk. All glory goes to the cross. And when he says that he glories in the cross, he's saying that he's only saved by what the Lord did on that cross. And that is the greatest nail. Paul's been beating a nail into their coffin. This is the final blow that seals that coffin to those legalists and the ones teaching false doctrine. All credit goes to that cross. Again, if there's anything good about me, blame God. If there's anything bad about me, blame me. When you have it that way, you'll stop taking credit, because then you'll just be taking credit for bad things. Let's pray tonight, shall we?