The Foundation of the Church

Course: The Cross

Lesson 8

Lesson Title:  The Glory of the Cross

 

Text:  Galatians 6:14-15  '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 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.'

 

Introduction:  The message of the book of Galatians.

·        The Galatian believers had been led away from the gospel that Paul preached into the teaching of the Judaisers who taught that salvation was by faith in Christ and by keeping the law. 

Teaching of the Judaisers - salvation is by faith + the law. 

Paul condemned this teaching (Galatians 1:8-9).

 

·        What was the gospel Paul preached?  It was the gospel of the cross (Galatians 6:14). The gospel of the cross is that salvation is by faith in Christ alone.  That Jesus died in our place (substitutionary atonement) so that through His death we are freed from our sin and the condemnation of the law; through His resurrection we are raised to new life in Him; through His ascension we seated in heavenly places in Him.

 

Introductory  Story:  Personal Testimony – Stand Fast

 

Exposition:

1.      New life in Christ – Becoming a new creation.  The cross puts an end to the old man. Galatians 2:20 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.' 

·        Keeping the law does not change the heart.  A person can keep the law outwardly and be inwardly corrupt. Jesus taught his disciples that the outward righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not acceptable to God. Matthew 5:20  'For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

 

·        Holiness concerns the heart.  We must not only be holy in outward actions we must be holy in our thoughts and desires.  Matthew 5:27-28  'You have heard that it was said by them of old time, you shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.' 

 

·        When Moses records the giving of the law in the book of Deuteronomy, he also records the words of the Lord to him at that time.  Deuteronomy 5:29  'O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!'   The Lord longed for the day when the hearts of His people would be changed so that they would always be holy.  He desires His people to be blessed.

 

When I was teaching at Bible school in Peterhead, Scotland in 1980,  the principal of Lee College in the USA, Dr. Charles Conn, came to teach.  He explained the liberty of Christ by telling us that at Lee College the students were told that for those who wanted to attend the morning devotion, it was voluntary, but for those who did not want to attend, it was compulsory.

This is the difference between the Old and New Covenant.  Those who wanted to attend the devotion came willingly and cheerfully, but those who did not want to attend were forced to attend.
There is no need for the law when the heart seeks after holiness.

 

2.      Standing in the new life – the liberty of Christ.  Galatians 5:1 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.'

·        The liberty of Christ stands in contrast to the bondage of the law.  The liberty of Christ is the freedom in Christ to be holy. It is not the freedom to sin - that is not freedom it is bondage.  The believer in Christ is not under the Old Testament law that is bondage, he or she is under the law of Christ that is freedom.  The law of Christ is the life of Christ in control in the life of the believer (Colossians 3:1-4).

 

·        The liberty of Christ stands in contrast to legalism and moralism.  Many Christians are legalistic but this is not Christianity.  The liberty of Christ is the freedom to be who we are.  If anyone is in Christ he or she becomes a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) - the believer in Christ must learn to let the new life be in control of his or her life.  This means to walk in the Spirit.  The fear of falling produces a desire for something to hold on to (the law), but New Testament Christianity is the message that Christ lives in the believer (new life).

 

3.      Walking in new life - the fruit of new life.  Galatians 5:16  'This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.'  Holiness is the product of the believer walking in the Spirit. 

·        The fruit of the Spirit comes through the growth of the life of Christ in the believer.  Galatians 5:22-23.  Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh.  The law does not produce fruit only the life of Christ in us can produce fruit.  Galatians 5:19-21.  When we produce the fruit of the Spirit we obey the law without being under the law.

 

·        The fruit of holiness is fulfilled by love.  Galatians 5:14  'For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'  The characteristic of the disciples of Christ is love.

 

Summary:

Paul gloried in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

1)     The believer is a new creation in Christ.  The believer is raised in newness of life in Christ.

2)     The believer is dead to the law and must stand in the liberty of Christ.   

3)     The believer is free from the demands of the law and has freedom in Christ.  We must walk in the Spirit and bring forth the fruit of holiness.

 

 

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