taken from Galatians chapter 6, Galatians chapter 6, starting at verse 1 and reading all of the chapter. Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one. In the spirit of meekness consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bury one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if any man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaching in a good thing, in all good things. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, he shall also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall reap of the flesh, reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have said, therefore, Therefore, opportunities let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. See how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only least they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 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. For if Jesus Christ neither circumcised availeth, anything, nor uncircumcised, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to the rule, peace be on them, and mercy unto the Israel of God. From henceforth, let no man 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. And we know that the Lord will indeed add his blessing to the reading of his word in the congregation of his people. Just before we come to the word of God, we would ask you just to close your eyes and bow in prayer again. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word which we have in our hands. We thank you, Lord, for the word that we can freely open at any time, in any place, wherever we go. We thank you for the freedom that we have, Lord, concerning your scripture. It is a precious thing that we have. It is the way to our life, Lord, and how to live. It tells us, Lord, what we need and what we don't need. And Lord, we ask now as we come to open it up, we ask for your help. We have no strength of our own, Lord, and we need to go to you again and ask, Lord, that you will strengthen us. We pray for the Holy Spirit that he would make it plain to our ears. We pray that we know and understand what is being said. We actually ask, Lord, that you would forget about the speaker and be, Lord, that they would hear thee, hear thee from thy word. May there be a word in season this day for all that are gathered in this room. We pray, Heavenly Father, for those that are taking outreach to these fairs, Lord. We pray that you would go before them even today, Lord, and prepare the hearts of people that will receive the message in those bags that are beginning the night. We pray that they will just not be taken put down, but they will be used wisely, that they'll be lifted and read, and that some will realize the need of the Lord Jesus Christ for their soul. Father, we ask for your help in that matter too. We ask you to be with us now, and through your word, may you receive honor and glory. Amen. Amen. Nobody minds if I remove my jacket? We'll open our service, our sermon this evening by asking a question. What do you think and feel about the cross of Christ? We live in a so-called Christian land. We probably attend the worship of Christian church. We have most of us been baptized in the name of Christ. We profess and call ourselves Christian. I know all this is well and very good. It is more than we can say for millions of people in our own country here in Australia, where they do not recognize Christ at all. But they have to ask the question, what do you think and feel about the cross of Christ? I want to examine what one of the greatest Christians that ever lived thought of the cross of Christ. He has written down his opinion. He has given his judgment in word that cannot be mistaken. The man I mean is the Apostle Paul. The place where you will find his opinions is in his letters with the Holy Ghost inspired him to write to the Galatians. In Galatians chapter 6 we find it in the passage that we read. that the words in which his judgment is set down are these, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. Now, what did Paul mean by these sayings? He meant to declare strongly that he trusted in nothing but Jesus Christ crucified for his pardon and for his sins and the salvation of his soul. The Apostle was indeed determined to rest on nothing, lean on nothing, build his hope on nothing, place confidence in nothing, glory in nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ. Believe me, the subject is one of great importance. This is no mere question of controversy. It is not one of those points of scripture in which men agree to differ and feel that the difference will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject or he will be forever lost. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, Blessing or cursing in the last day all hinges on the answer that you would give to this question. What do you think about the cross of Christ? Let me show you, first of all, what the Apostle Paul did not glory in. There are many things, of course, that Paul might have gloried in. if he had thought, as some people think today, and heaped glory upon themselves. If ever there was one on earth who had something to boost in himself, that man was the great apostle of the Gentiles, Paul. Now, if he did not dare to glory in other things, who shall? He never glorified in his national privilege, he says, He tells himself a Hebrew of Hebrews, Philippians 3, 5. He might have said, like many of his brethren, I have Abram for a forefather. I am one of the favored people of God. I have been admitted to the covenant of God by circumcision. I am far better than any Gentile. But he never said so. He never gloried in anything of that kind. Never for one moment. He never gloried in his own work. None would ever work so hard for God as he did. He was more abundant as labor than any of the apostles. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23. No man ever preached so much, traveled so much, endured so much hardship for Christ's cause. None was ever made the means of converting so many souls, did so much good to the world, and made himself so useful to mankind, even today, because that's who we're talking about, Paul. No father of the early church, no reformer, no Puritan, no missionary, no minister, no layman, No man could ever be named who did so many good works as the Apostle Paul. But did he ever glory in them? He never gloried in them. What about his knowledge? He was a man of great natural gifts. And after he was converted, the Holy Spirit actually gave him greater gifts still. He was a mighty preacher, a mighty speaker, a mighty writer. He was great with the pen as he was with his tongue. He could reason equally well with a Jew or with a Gentile. He could argue with the infidels at Corinth or the Pharisees at Jerusalem or the self-righteous here in Galatia. He knew many deep things. He had been to the third heaven and heard unspeakable words that had yet to come. 2 Corinthians 12, 4. He had received the spirit of prophecy and could foretell things to come. But did he ever glory in all that knowledge as if he could justify himself before an almighty God? Never, not for a moment. He never gloried in his graces. If ever there was one who abound in graces, surely it was Paul. He was full of love. You see how tenderly, you can see how affectionately he used to write. He could feel for souls like a mother or a nurse could feel for a child. He was a bold man. He dared not whom he opposed when the truth of God was at stake. He cared not what risk he ran when a soul had to be won. He was a self-righteous man, self-denying man, sorry, in hunger and thirst. Often it tells us in cold and in nakedness, in watching and in fasting. He was a humble man. He thought himself less than the least of all the saints and called himself the chief of all sinners. I don't know where that leaves us. He was a prayerful man. See how he comes out at the beginning of all his epistles. He was a thankful man. His thanksgiving was always in prayer walks side by side. He never gloried in all that, never valued himself in all that, never rested his soul's hope in all that. No, not ever for one moment. He could have glorified himself in his churchmanship. If ever there was a good churchman, surely it would have to be Paul. He was himself a chosen apostle. He was the founders of churches and the ordainers of ministers. Timothy and Titus and many elders received their first commission at the very hand of Paul. He was the beginning, he was the beginner of the services of sacraments in many dark places where he went. Many, one did receive off the Lord's table, many's a meeting for prayer and praise and preaching Did he begin and he carried them through? He was a setter up of discipline in many young churches. Wherever ordinance and rules and ceremonies were to be observed in many churches, they were first recommended by Paul himself. But did he ever glory in his office of his church standing? Does he ever speak as if this churchmanship would save him? Did he ever speak that this would justify him, put away his sins and make him acceptable before Almighty God? Never for a moment. Now, if the Apostle Paul never gloried in any of these things, who in all the world from one eye of the other, who has any right to glory in them? in our day and in our time. If Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the cross, who shall dare to say, I have something else to glory in? I am better than Paul. Who is there resting on their own amendments, their own mortality, their own churchmanship, their own works, performance of any kind? Who is there that is leaning the weight of his soul on anything whatsoever, on what he has done, even to the slightest degree? I would have to tell you, if you're doing this, if you're leaning on something else, you're very, very unlike Paul the Apostle. The religion, whatever it is you worship, is not the apostolic religion. Who is there that trusts his religion profession for salvation? Who is there that is valuing himself in baptism or the attendance of the church, the Lord's table? His church going on a Sunday or his daily service during the week and saying to himself, like the young rich man. What lack I? I'm not saying that any of those things that I have mentioned above are wrong. Indeed, they are right. They are right and proper and we should be doing them, but we're not to glory in them. So if anyone is glorying in any of those things, I have to say again, you're very, very unlike Paul. Your Christianity is not Christianity. What we find in the New Testament Paul would not glory in anything but the cross, and neither ought any of us. Let us be aware of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness destroys and kills many. Go and study humility with the great Apostle Paul of the Gentiles. Go and sit with the Apostle at the foot of the cross. Give up your secret pride. Cast away your vain ideas of your own goodness. Be thankful if you have grace, but never glory in it for one moment. Work for God and Christ with heart and soul and mind and strength, but never dream for a second of placing confidence in any of your own work. You can take comfort in some fancy idea of your own goodness. You can wrap yourself up in some notion that, oh, I am all right if I keep to my church. Think for a moment what a sandy foundation you're building on. Think how miserable, defective your hopes and pleas will look at the hour of death and in the day of judgment. Whatever men say of their own goodness, while they're strong and healthy, they will find but little to say when they're sick and dying. Whatever merits they may see in their own works here in this world, they will discover that none of them will stand before the great bar for Lord Jesus Christ. The light of that great day of assizes will make a wonderful difference in the appearance of all our doings. It will strip away the tinsel, shrivel up the complex, expose the rottenness of many deeds that we thought were called good. Their wheat will prove nothing but chaff. Their gold will be found nothing but doors. Millions of so-called Christian action will turn out to be utterly defective and graceless. Once more, I have to say, let us beware of self-righteousness in every possible shape or form in which it may come. Some people get as much harm from their fancy virtues as others do from their sin. I tell you, rest not, rest not till you can say with him, God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross. In the second place, let me explain what we understand by Paul here in the cross of Christ. Cross is of course expressed more than one meaning as you read through your Bible. What did Saint Paul mean then when he said, I glory in the cross of Christ in this epistle of the Galatians? Well, some parts of the Bible, the cross sometimes means simply a wooden cross. on which the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed and put to death on Calvary. This is what Paul had in his mind eye when he told the Philippians that Christ became obedient unto death, even to the death on the cross. He was talking about the wooden cross, Philippians 2.8. But this is not the cross in which Paul gloried. He would have shrunk in horror from the idea of glorying in a mere piece of wood. I have no doubt he would have denounced the Roman Catholic Church, adoration of crucifix as profane, blasphemous and idolatrous. The cross sometimes means also affliction and trials. which believers in Christ have to go through if they follow Christ faithfully. This is a sense in which the Lord used when he talked about the cross, when he said, he that taketh not the cross, his cross and follows after me cannot be my disciples. Matthew 10, 38. This also is not the sense in which Paul used the word when he writes to the Galatians. He knew that cross well. He had suffered plenty. He had carried it patiently. But he's not speaking of that particular cross here. But the cross also means in some places the doctrine of Christ dying for sinners upon the cross. the atonement which he made for sinners by his suffering for them on the cross, the complete and perfect sacrifice for sin which he offered up when he gave up his own body to be crucified. In short, the one word, the cross stands for Christ crucified, the only saviour. This is the meaning in which Paul used the expression when he tells the Corinthians, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1.18. This is the meaning in which he wrote to the Galatians, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. He simply meant I glory in nothing, but Christ crucified. as the salvation of my soul. Jesus Christ crucified was a joy, it was a delight, it was a comfort, it was his peace, it was his hope, and it was his confidence. It was the foundation and the resting place, the ark of refuge for Paul's precious soul. He did not think of what he had done himself, suffered himself. He did not meditate upon his own goodness, his own righteousness. He loved to think of what Christ had done. Righteousness of Christ, the atonement of Christ, the blood of Christ, the finished work of Christ. And this is what he did glory. This is the subject he loved to preach about. He was a man that went to and fro around, proclaiming to sinners that the Son of God had shed their blood, his own heart's blood, to save their souls. He walked up and down the country telling people that Jesus Christ had lived them and died for them and their sins upon the cross at Calvary. He said, which also I have received. that Jesus died for our sins. 1 Corinthians 15, 3. I am determined to know nothing, to know anything among except the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Remember who we're speaking about here? We're speaking about Paul. Remember what he was? He was a blasphemer. He was a persecutor, he was a Pharisee, but he had been washed in the precious blood of Christ. He could not hold his peace about it. He never, never wearied of telling the story of the cross. This was the subject in which he loved to dwell upon when he wrote to believers. It is wonderful just to observe how full his epistles generally are with the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. How they run over with thoughts the breadth and the length of his words about Christ's dying love and Christ's power. His heart, it seems, was full of this subject. He enlarged on it constantly. He returned to it continually. It is a golden thread that runs through all of his doctrine, teaching and practice and exhortations. He seemed to think that the most advanced Christian can never hear too much about the cross. This is what he lived upon all his life. From the time of his conversion, he tells the Galatians, a life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20. What made him so strong in his labor? What made Paul so willing to go on with his work? What made him so unwary and so endeavoring to save some souls? What made him so persevering and patient? Well, I'll tell you the secret to all of that. He was always feeding by faith on Christ's body and Christ's blood. Christ crucified was meat and drink to his very soul. And may we rest assured that Paul was right. Depend upon it. The cross of Christ The death of Christ on the cross to make atonement for sinners is a central theme of the whole Bible. This is the truth we begin with when we open Genesis. The seed of the woman bruised the serpent's head is nothing else but a prophecy of Christ's crucified. This is also the truth that shines Shines out, though it's failed, all of the laws of Moses, the history of the Jews, the daily sacrifice, the Passover lamb, the continual shedding of blood in the tabernacles and temple. All these were elements, but they were all pointing to the crucified Christ. This is the truth that we see honored, even in the vision of heaven, Before we close the book at Revelation, in the midst of the throne and the four beasts, we are told, in the midst of the elders stood a lamb that had been slain. Revelations 5 and verse 6. Even in the midst of heavenly glory, we can set a view of Christ crucified. If you take away the cross of Christ, well, the Bible becomes a very dark book. You may know a good deal about the Bible. You may know the outlines of the history it contains and the dates and the events that it describes. Just as a man knows the history of our country, you may know the names of the men and women mentioned in it. You may know several precepts of the Bible and admire them. But if you've not yet found out that Christ crucified is the foundation of the whole volume from beginning to end, you have read your Bible to very little profit. You may know a good deal about Christ by head knowledge. You may also know who he is and what he was, where he was born, what he did. You may know about his miracles, his sayings, his prophecies. His ordinance, you may know how He lived and how He suffered and how He died, but unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within the bloodshed on that cross has washed away your very own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work of Christ did upon the cross. Unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing. The mere knowing of Christ's name will never save you. You must know his cross, his blood, or else you will die in your sins. As long as you live, beware of a religion in which there's not much preached about the cross. There are hundreds of places of worship scattered throughout this land, even in this day, where almost anything and everything will go, but there's very little about the cross. Oh, there's carved oaks and sculptured stones, stained glass windows, there's brilliant paintings, there's solemn services, and there's constant round of ordinance, but the real cross of Christ is not there. Christ crucified is not even proclaimed from their pulpits. The Lamb of God is not lifted up. The salvation by faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. That would not have satisfied Paul. Paul gloried in nothing but the cross, strived to be like Paul, sat Jesus crucified fully before your eyes of your soul. Listen of no teaching which would impose anything, anything between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, don't fall into this old Galatian era. Think not that anyone in this day is a better guide than the apostle. My friends, do not be ashamed of the old paths in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Church ministers and sacraments are all useful in their own way, but they're not Christ's crucified. Do not give Christ's honor to anything or any other. He that glorified He that glorifieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 1. My friends, I have led these few thoughts before you today. What you personally think about the cross of Christ, I cannot tell. No minister can tell, only God himself reads hearts. But I leave you with this. I can wish nothing better than this, that you will be able to say with the Apostle Paul, before you die or meet your Lord, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.