But as for me, 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.But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.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.But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
5 sermons cite this verse
"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. WITH that, "God forbid," Paul makes a clean sweep of every other ground of boasting and casts himself upon the one only chosen object of his soul's glorying. And yet, if you will think of it, Paul had, after the fashion of other men, many things in which he might have gloried. If it had so pleased him, he might have boasted of his pedigree, for he was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." He could trace his genealogy, as the pure Hebrews could, up to that great fountain of nobility—Abraham himself! If he had pleased, he might have boasted in the precision of the former ritual which he had practiced, for he could say that as touching the Law of God, he had been a Pharisee—a man observant of the minutest points of the very letter of the Law, careful for its doctrinal tittles, not allowing even the gnat to escape him, but straining after it with care. And yet the Apostle did not care to boast, either of his pedigree or of his ritualism. He casts them both aside and though he had once gloried in them, he now counted them but dross, that he might win Christ and be found in Him! Surely, if the Apostle had wished it, he might have gloried in his martyr life. He did once give a list of what he had suffered, and he added, "I have become a fool in glorying; you have compelled me." Had he not been beaten with rods, shipwrecked, subject to perils from robbers, perils from false brethren, imprisonment and stones? And yet you never hear him glory in that wonderful martyr life of his! Among the Apostles, he was no less than the chief in that which he suffered, and yet he says, "God forbid that I should glory in it." He might have gloried in the Revelation which he received. Who among us has ever seen or heard what Paul was made to see and hear when he was caught up into the third heavens to hear things which it is not lawful for a man to utter? He might, if he had chosen to boast, have boasted in this Revelation, but he did not do so. "God forbid," said he, "that I should glory," and that, "God forbid," includes even that Revelation! Among scholars Paul might have taken an eminent position. He was well qualified to speak in the Areopagus, for even there, in that profound assembly, was probably not one with greater knowledge and of more subtle mind than he, who was once called, "Saul of Tarsus." Read the Epistles, Brothers and Sisters! Why, the Apostle has the instinct of Bacon and the insight of Sir Isaac Newton! The man seems to have looked through a question, where others would have looked round about it and have seen nothing. Yet, though he must have felt a human delight in the talents which God had given him—and must have known that he possessed them—he still says concerning them, "God forbid that I should glory." He seems to take all that he had, all that he did, and all that he was, and put it all away—and come forward with no other theme upon his lips, and no greater love in his heart, except this—Jesus Crucified for the sons of men. Jesus to be great among the nations. Jesus, the slaughtered Lamb, to be made unto men their life from the dead, their salvation from going down into the Pit. "God forbid," he says—that memorable speech, that eloquent declaration, that glorious self-denying, yet exalting resolve—"God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!" We shall be brief upon each point at this time, but the first enquiry must naturally be— …
Secondly. Another virtue in which we should follow his example, is his great love to Christ. The Corinthians, who saw how the apostle acted, how he laboured, and how he suffered, and could see no worldly motive, were astonished. They wondered what it was, that so wonderfully influenced and actuated the man. The apostle says, that he was a spectacle to the world. But this was the immediate principle that moved him; his strong, his intense love to his glorious Lord and Master. This love constrained him, that he could do nothing else than strive and labour and seek for his salvation. This account he gives of it himself 2 Cor. v. 14. “The love of Christ constraineth us.” He had such a delight in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the knowledge and contemplation of him, that he tells us, he “counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. ” He speaks in very positive terms. He does not say merely, that he hopes he loves Christ, so as to despise other things in comparison of the knowledge of him; but “yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. ” And he assigns this reason why he even gloried in his sufferings for Christ’s sake; because the love of God was shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost. Rom. v. 5. This expression seems to imply that he sensibly felt that holy affection, sweetly and powerfully diffused in his soul, like some precious, fragrant ointment. And how does he triumph in his love to Christ in the midst of his sufferings! Rom. viii. 35, 36, 37. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that hath loved us.” May not this make us ashamed of our cold, dead hearts that we hear so often of Christ, and of his glorious excellencies and his wonderful love, with so little emotion, our hearts, being very commonly frozen up like a clod of earth by worldly affections. And it may be that now and then with much difficulty we persuade ourselves to do a little or expend a little for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom; and then are ready to boast of it, that we have done so nobly. Such superior examples as we have are enough to make us for ever blush for our own attainments in the love of Christ, and rouse us earnestly to follow after those who have gone so far beyond us. …
Alas! so it is; not only does the world not imitate such a temper of mind as this; but, if the truth must be spoken, it despises it. As regards, indeed, our Lord's instance itself, the force of education, habit, custom, fear of each other, and some remaining awe, keep the world from reflecting upon the notes of character which the Gospels ascribe to Him, but in His followers, it does discern them, it understands and it condemns them. We are bidden lend and give, asking for nothing again; revenge not ourselves; give our cloak when our coat is taken; offer the left cheek when the right is smitten; suffer without complaint; account persons better than they are; keep from bitter words; pray only when others would be impatient to act; deny ourselves for the sake of others; live contented with what we are; preserve an ignorance of sin and of the world: what is all this, but a character of mind which the world scorns and ridicules even more than it hates? a character which seems to court insult, because it endures it? Is not this what men of the world would say of such a one? "Such a man is unfit for life; he has no eye for any thing; he does not know the difference between good and evil; he is tame and spiritless, he is simple and dull, and a fit prey for the spoiler or defrauder; he is cowardly and narrow-minded, unmanly, feeble, superstitious, and a dreamer," with many other words more contemptuous and more familiar than would be becoming to use in Church. Yet such is the character of which Christ gave us the pattern; such was the character of Apostles; such the character which has ever conquered the world. "In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet alway rejoicing;"--these are the weapons of our warfare, "which are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." These are despised by the world, but they have subdued the world. Nay, though they seem most unmanly, they in the event have proved most heroic. For the heroical character springs out of them. He who has thrown himself out of this world, alone can overcome it; he who has cut himself loose of it, alone cannot be touched by it; he alone can be courageous, who does not fear it; he alone firm, who is not moved by it; he alone severe with it, who does not love it. Despair makes men bold, and so it is that he who has nothing to hope from the world, has nothing to fear from it. He who has really tasted of the true Cross, can taste no bitterer pain, no keener joy. …
And here I must pass on to make a distinction that will go still deeper. Jesus Christ, Himself, cannot save us apart from His blood. It is a supposition which only folly has ever made but we must refute even the hypothesis of folly when it affirms that the example of Christ can put away human sin, that the Holy life of Jesus Christ has put the race on such a good footing with God that He can now forgive its faults and its transgression. Not so! Not the holiness of Jesus! Not the life of Jesus! Not the death of Jesus, but the BLOOD of Jesus only, for, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." And I have met with some who think so much of the Second Coming of Christ, that they seem to have fixed their entire faith upon Christ in His Glory. I believe this to be the fault of Irvingism—that it holds too much before the sinner's eyes Christ on the Throne, whereas, though Christ on the Throne is ever the loved and adorable, yet we must see Christ upon the Cross, or we can never be saved! Your faith must not be placed merely in Christ Glorified, but in Christ Crucified. "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." "We preach Christ Crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness." I remember one person who was united with this Church (the dear Sister may be present now), that had been for some years a professor, and had never enjoyed peace with God, nor produced any of the fruits of the Spirit. She said, "I have been in a church where I was taught to rest upon Christ Glorified and I did so fix my confidence, such as it was, upon Him, that I neither had a sense of sin, nor a sense of pardon from Christ Crucified! I did not know and until I had seen Him as shedding His blood and making a Propitiation, I never entered into rest." Yes, we will say it again, for the text is vitally important—"Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission," not even with Christ Himself! It is the Sacrifice that He has offered for us that is the means of putting away our sin—this, and nothing else! Let us pass on a little further with the same Truth of God— …
And now note, in the second place, these people in their second stage. They are instructed—they are made to know. The text says, "By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many." That is to say—(you may read it as you have it in our version, if you like, but you will understand it better if you read it—and it will be quite as correct —thus)— "by the knowledge of Him shall My righteous Servant justify many. "That is to say, when the soul knows Christ, knows Him, believes Him, learns Him and trusts Him, then it is justified! You see there are no doingsin the process—there are no feelings in the matter. It is knowing, which is another word for believing—for we know Him when we believe Him! And we inevitably believe Him when we truly and really know Him. The heart understands Christ through hearing—and through the hearing of Him, it comes to believe Him! And when the heart knows Christ and believes Him, it is then justified. But suppose the text means this, "By His knowledge"—(that is, the knowledge which He gives)—"He justifies many." That knowledge is contained in His Word—it fell from His own lips—you have heard it tonight! We have preached it to you! It is not the knowledge Moses brought—it is the knowledge that Christ brought. "Whoever believes on Him is not condemned." May it be knowledge to your soul by His teaching it to your soul! By His Divine Spirit, He teaches to profit. But, dear Hearer, do see this—the whole way of my getting the result of Christ's Sacrifice is by knowing and believing—not by doing! We are justified by faith, and not by the works of the Law. "By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified." "By the Law is the knowledge of sin." "Grace and peace come by Jesus Christ," and they come to us through believing or through knowing—by knowing Him, by being made to know, through Him, that we are justified! …