The Wonder of the Cross

we are finally this morning at our last look at the book of Galatians we are going to say a temporary farewell to a precious friend this wonderful epistle that we've been looking at for a long time so open your Bible to the sixth chapter of Galatians and the last few verses starting in verse 11 Paul collects some thoughts here from various aspects of his emphasis in this book theya seemed at first a little bit disjointed and maybe in some sense compared to his intense rational arguments that drive us through the Epistle they are a little more random but they are tied around a couple of themes that I'll mention in just a moment themes with which we have been gum familiar in Galatians but let me begin reading at verse 11 see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ for those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world for neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature and those who will walk by this rule peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God from now on let no one cause trouble for me for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brethren amen behind me you see a large cross that is the symbol of Christianity that's all the decoration that I ever wanted in this building when we built it back in 1978 just a cross the cross has been the symbol of Christianity since our Lord's death it stands atop churches around the world there are massive crosses around the globe that have in recent years become an offense more of more of them in public view being removed but the cross descends from the top of churches all the way down to people's necks beautiful little crosses become jewelry and we wear them because we believe they symbolize beauty it's an odd thing because no one has a guillotine around their neck at least not as jewelry I don't think there's any other torture instrument that's ever been invented by man that someone wears as jewelry or as some kind of adornment or conceives to be beautiful but that's what happens with the cross the cross maybe the most heinous and horrendous and horrific of all torture instruments ever devised by man should be a symbol of shame but it has become a symbol of love and joy and peace and beauty and grace and eternal salvation and that is on its face odd for a torture instrument to end up so considered fiction was originally designed by the Persians who became skillful at using it as a way to execute people in a very long drawn-out torturous way but it was really perfected by the Romans who crucified tens of thousands of people and in fact some historians tell us that as many as thirty thousand people were crucified by the Romans in and around the Land of Israel around the time of our Lord so the Jewish people were used to seeing people hanging on crosses in some part of the process of excruciating bleeding and suffocation the word excruciating actually has Latin roots and in the middle of it is Crookes which is the Latin word for cross so the very verb to excruciating has in its center the cross the cross defines what is excruciating it was not only an instrument of physical torture but it was also a tool of degradation to be suspended on high along a public highway totally naked nailed by hand and foot and left to bake in the Sun while the gawking crowds looked up to be attacked by birds and insects and end up as a kind of roadkill was about as degrading as anything that could ever be done to a human being the Romans basically quelled potential revolt by making sure the roads were lined with crucified victims the cross then was a diabolical device to torture criminals to death with the exception of one cross one cross was a divine device to deliver sinners from death and endless torture that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and we rejoice in that cross we write songs like at the cross and near the cross and the old rugged cross and the wonderful cross and hallelujah for the cross and this one we son earlier the power of the cross we heard the choir saying when I survey the wondrous cross goes back to Isaac Watts in 1707 and he wrote it after reading Galatians 6:14 and the Christian gospel cross is not mythical and it's not mystical and it's not sentimental and it's not merely artistic it is historical and it is real and the Bible gives the history of that one cross that has become a symbol of beauty the ancient Roman historian Suetonius and Tacitus both wrote that the people called Christians were followers of a criminal who was crucified by Pontius Pilate giving secular affirmation to the biblical account the cross was offensive it was offensive to the Jews because there was no way that in their messianic theology they would see their Messiah ending up on a cross crucified by unclean Gentiles in spite of Isaiah 53 in spite of Psalm 22 they didn't expect the Messiah to be crucified consequently the cross was for them a stumbling block a barrier to believing that Jesus was the Messiah to the Greeks of the Gentiles the cross was just foolishness to imagine that a crucified Jew rejected by his leaders and his nation crucified like a common criminal by Roman soldiers in that little place called Jerusalem was in fact the eternal creator god of the universe and the only savior of the world was to them the form of idiocy so the Apostle Paul writes at first Corinthians that the Cross is to those who perish foolishness to the Gentiles that is foolishness into the Jews it is a stumbling block but he adds but to those who are being saved it is the power of God and it is the wisdom of God because we see in the cross the power of God being displayed power to crush his own son with our sins to fully expel all divine wrath against all who would ever believe through human history and yet had that power resisted by the perfect power of the Sun so that it didn't destroy him but rather he came to life three days later we see the wisdom of God at the cross because in wisdom loving wisdom he put our punishment on the suffering Savior if God wanted to have a people in heaven if God wanted a bride for his son if God wanted to bring to glory a redeemed humanity who had forever praised him he had to get them to heaven they weren't going to ever be able to get there on their own their sins had to be dealt with and so he punished his son for them and then imputed his sons righteousness to us put our sins on him his righteousness on us in the cross Jesus died our death that we might live his eternal life the cross is the determiner of all destiny for everyone really listen to Philippians chapter 3 and verse 17 brother and join and following my example and observed those who walk according to the pattern you have in us for many walk of whom I often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ you either embrace the cross glory in the cross or you're an enemy of the cross the fact that many our enemies of the cross makes the Apostle Paul weep why because Philippians 3:19 says whose end is destruction what you do at the cross determines your eternal destiny embrace the cross and the death of Christ for sin embrace him as your Lord and Savior and you have eternal life reject the cross reject the one who paid for the sins of all who would believe and your end is eternal unending destruction the cross is the determiner of destiny now as we have come to look of Galatians we have learned much about the cross back in chapter 3 verse 1 we were told that Jesus was crucified there paul also unfolds the meaning of that in chapter 2 verse 20 he says that believers were crucified with him there I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live when he died we died when he came to life we came to life because we in him we learned that believers then were crucified with him there in chapter 2 verse 20 and then in chapter 5 verse 24 we learned that our flesh was crucified there go back to verse 24 of chapter 5 now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires something very dramatic happened at the cross we were there crucified with him thus paying the penalty for our sins in and through him our flesh was crucified there in other words the dominant unbreakable power of the flesh to cause us to do nothing but sin was broken and we who were servants of sin became servants of righteousness flesh was crucified there here in chapter 6 verse 14 he says the world has been crucified to me and I to the world the cross is everything Jesus was crucified there we who believe in him were crucified there with him so that our sins are completely paid for our flesh was crucified there so that we no longer have the same relation to our humaneness and the world was crucified there so that we no longer have the same relationship to the world everything happened at the cross that is in contrast to what was being taught in the Galatian churches some Jewish teachers had come from Jerusalem and said they believed in the Messiah Jesus and said they were a part of the church but they said you're not true Christians you're not real believers you're not possessors of eternal life few Galatians you're you're not forgiven you're not going to enter the kingdom you're not on your way to heaven why because Jesus Christ is not enough believing in him is part but you must be circumcised and you must follow the prescriptions of the Mosaic ceremonial law they recall Judaizers because essentially they were saying you can't just go into the realm of salvation you have to pass through Judaism and even Gentiles were required to be circumcised and adhere to the Mosaic law so they believe that you were saved by works as well as by believing in Jesus that's a false gospel in fact it's so false that Paul says in chapter 1 verse 6 I'm amazed that you're so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have freights to you he is to be a cursed or Damned as we've said before so now I say again if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received he is to be accursed anathema damned and a false gospel is saying yes to Christ but Christ is not enough it's just as false to saying no to Christ you can deny Christ or you can accept Christ and Adworks and you end up with the same damning message you can't come by the law chapter 3 Paul made that clear he said all the law does is curse you verse 10 as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse you want to come by way of the law all it does is curse you it doesn't save you cursed is everyone who doesn't abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them if you want to come by law perfect adherence to the law at all times is required therefore no one is justified by the law it's impossible the righteous man lives by faith Christ verse 13 read does from the curse of the law having become a curse for us he became the curse on the cross there are only two possible roads to heaven to God two gates two ways to religious paths one is the religion of human achievement you earn your way by your morality by your goodness by your religiosity by ceremonies rituals rites this is the religion of human achievement you have to do something and this by the way is the category in which all false religions on the planet fit they're all just different forms of religion of human achievement and since if you break one law of God one time as James says you're guilty of violating all of it and you're cursed there's no hope for those people who come that way the other is the true religion of divine accomplishment where everything is done by God and it's offered to us by grace and received by faith not works that's what Paul's been dealing with throughout this letter and in the end here as we look at verses 11 to 18 just kind of pull the pieces together I think we can see these two things contrasted one more final time verses 11 to 13 we see boasting in the flesh and in verses 14 to 16 we see boasting in the cross and I think you'll see the distinction here in just some very interesting ways let's look first of all at boasting in the flesh Paul makes reference to it in verses 11 to 13 and he he gets into it in a fascinating way verse 11 see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand very unusual for Paul to write a letter with his own hand didn't normally do that normally his letters were written by a scribe and a man you insist somebody who took down dictation the Word of God was coming from him inspired by the Holy Spirit and it was passed along to a scribe who would write down now very often Paul would sign his name at the end as you would do a letter in a letter that you may dictate to have someone a type or write down and then sign your name at the end that's what he did he he does that at the end of first Corinthians he does it at the end of Colossians he does it at the end of second Thessalonians he says I'm signing off with my own hand so this was a typical thing for him to do now remember this is the first letter of all his letters he is fired up to put it mildly he is exercised to the max he doesn't start this letter with any kind of words that are gracious and kind and and welcoming and loving and embracing he just blasts them with fury over the false gospel that's how he starts he's not about to go find a scribe somewhere he's not about to delay the writing of this letter once the influences of the Holy Spirit pour into his soul he launches in this thing and he begins to write he's not a scribe professional scribes used cursive because it was an economy of ink and it was an economy of material in which they wrote and it was also true that children were more likely to write large letters or unseals so he's writing in a language that is not his normal language although he certainly was raised in the Gentile Greek world but he writes large letters there may be another reason he writes large letters if you'll recall back in chapter 4 verse 13 back in chapter 4 verse 13 he says this but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time it literally in the in the Greek it's it's a it's a physical weakness some some physical infirmity what is it well down at verse 15 of chapter 4 he says I bear you witness that if possible you'd have plucked out your eyes and given them to me now why does he say that why is he referring to his eyes well look in the ancient world when your eyes went bad they went bad there was no way to correct that and I think Paul is saying you loved me enough to have given me your good eyes if it were possible so it may well be that not only is he not a professional scribe not only is he writing out of urgency which makes perhaps those large letters a little more scrawly as he writes them with a passion in his heart but he's got I problems which is another reason he writes largely so he's pointing them to this this document that is the book of Galatians and it's perhaps unattractive it's not professionally written it doesn't look like something a hired scribe would do it looks very amateurish and it reflects the sprawling z-- of a man with bad eyesight and like every preacher who can't resist a good illustration he sees in his own writing a metaphor and he says this in verse 12 those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised stop their concern about the looks of something concern about the professional character of it never is Paul's issue in sight at first Corinthians 2 he said I didn't come to you a superiority of speech or fancy words 2nd Corinthians 10 they said about him his speech was contemptible in a world that prized oration he was a he was a seed picker they said he was a lowlife he wasn't the professional scribe he wasn't a high sounding orator he didn't come with men's wisdom that's what enamored them Paul is looking at his letter and saying because of my poor eyesight you know how hard it is for me to write with my own hand but what I have to say is so important and so urgent and I I couldn't wait and I didn't have any help and so I went ahead and wrote and unlike the Judaizers who would care about the looks of something I don't care at all about the looks of anything I've never tried to impress you with my scholarship my personal skills superficial formalities when I came to you you accepted my message with gladness although my bodily presence was unattractive and this letter is not written in an attractive way either but it is the truth and it is the gospel and it is from God there were a lot of dangers in the ancient world one of them was forgery and Paul and his first letter may also have had that in mind in second Thessalonians 2 - he refers to someone who wrote a letter to the Thessalonians forged under his name to confuse them about the day of the Lord so for all those reasons he writes his own letter and he couldn't care less about the show that's never been important to him and with that he introduces again the Judaizers boasting in the flesh verse 12 those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh this reminds me of them those who preach the false gospel this is a fatal blow at the Judaizers he's done with doctrine he has dismantled their doctrine and now he wants to say a few things about their motives why do they do what they do motive number one is pride to make a good showing in the flesh that's what legalists do they show off I've said this sometimes through the years seems to me that the more paraphernalia they wear the more they declare their hypocrisy the more it's for show the less it's reality that make a good showing in the flesh they want to make an outward impression of being holy and virtuous this was a way of life for legalistic Jews it's a way of life for pious people in false religion with the Jews back in Matthew 6 when our Lord was giving the Sermon on the Mount he said you are full of pride your pride is seen in your giving you blow a trumpet before you put your offering in your pride is seen in your praying you make a public display of your praying your pride is even seen in your fasting as you look sickly all of this to draw some kind of attention to yourself in Luke chapter 16 several passages in Luke speak directly to these Jewish people who were caught up in proud religion the Pharisees Luke 16 14 who were lovers of money for scoffing at Jesus mocking him he said to them you are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men there it is you justify yourself in the sight of men but God knows your heart for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God your proud self-promotion is detestable to God chapter xviii two men went to the temple to pray one a Pharisee the other tax collector the Pharisee stood and was praying like this to himself god I think that I'm not like the other people swindlers unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector I fast twice a week I pay tithes of all that I get that was what first he's did in the twentieth chapter of Luke and verse 45 the people were listening jesus said to his disciples beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes love respectful greetings in the marketplaces chief seats in the synagogues places of honor at banquets who devour widows houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers these will receive greater condemnation the greater your spiritual pride the greater your eternal condemnation you'd be better off to be irreligious than to be proudly religious jesus said you have substituted the traditions of men for the commandments of God Paul in Galatians refers to this kind of religion as being engaged with weak and worthless elemental things chapter 4 verse 9 elemental things what do you mean by that ceremonies rituals circumcision foods fasts worthless elemental things any religion which is unwilling to accept Jesus Christ as the only and all sufficient Savior is an indulgence in the flesh giving in to man's sinful conceit which h-his unregenerate heart and the imagination that you can find your way to God somehow by your own goodness or religious behavior that is a damning lie and that is the lie that characterizes every false religion so the first motive for them was pride put on a show that's why they were boasting in their flesh second motive was cowardice verse 12 they try to compel you you Galatians they want you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ they had a problem they were Jewish they had come from the land of Israel and even from Jerusalem for some reason they had acknowledged at least superficially that Jesus was the Messiah so they had gained some entrance into the church and they are now showing up as if they represent the Apostles to the Galatian churches and they're telling all these believers who have already begun in the spirit that they're not really believers in they're not really God's children because they haven't been circumcised you need to be circumcised why were they doing that because they didn't want to be persecuted by the by the Jews for the cross of Christ I guess in some ways there were Jews who would sort of tolerate it if you believed in Jesus but held on to Judaism but to believe in Jesus and let go of Moses would be to become persecuted when I talk about persecution I'm talking about personal persecution but it wouldn't just be the persecution and Families and among friends we all know the Jews in Jerusalem in Israel persecuted the believers in Jesus Christ they wound up slaughtering them so there was a big price to declare you the follower of Jesus Christ trying to find some middle ground apparently they they decided that they they could follow Christ that maybe they were compelled by the realities of his miracles and his resurrection and those things but like those readers of the book of Hebrews they didn't want to let go and come all the way and so they were in that equally damning position of tried to hold on to law and works and faith and grace and what offended them was the cross a dead Messiah yes that offended them but what offended them probably more was that the cross declares that you are a sinner the cross declares that you deserve to die the cross declares that you cannot please God whoever you are the cross declares that you deserve to be punished the cross declares that you deserve to be punished but God has punished Christ in your place the cross declares you are a sinner you're a sinner you're a sinner who is both unwilling and unable to please God your righteousness says Isaiah's filthy rags there's none righteous enough no not one the cross says you're helpless hopeless embodies the whole doctrine of substitutionary atonement by the perfect sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ to believe in the cross genuinely encompasses the repentance doesn't it these Judaizers had lined up with the church somehow accepting Jesus and something about Jesus but we're still tears sown among the wheat they were emissaries of Satan they were attempting to escape persecution from the Jews who had rejected Jesus by kind of hanging on which is exactly what the readers in the book of Hebrews were doing by hourly identifying with a visible church they had become resented by their Jewish family and friends and some had thought they had certainly joined a heretical cult but if they hung on to Moses and hung on to the law maybe they could survive and additionally the Romans had actually legalized Judaism so if they continued to hang on to Judaism they wouldn't get persecuted by the Romans either whereas the Romans saw Christianity as a threat to Caesar because all Romans knew that Caesar was Lord and if you said Jesus is Lord you're an insurrectionist Christians were burned like torches and garden parties for Caesar so proud religionists are also cowardly they held on in order to escape the persecution that comes to those who abandon themselves to the gospel of the cross there's third characteristic that shows up in their boasting in the flesh and that's their hypocrisy verse 13 for those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh they want to show you off like some kind of convert when they can't even keep the law themselves they are phonies they may be super zealous they may be fastidious they may go through the rituals and the rites where all the garb and the garments and never miss an assembly of people gathered for some ceremony but they can't keep the law they want you to keep the law they can't keep the law nobody can keep the law that's why our Lord in Matthew 23 said they're white Sepulcher there they're painted white like a tomb on the outside inside they're full of dead men's bones they're complete hypocrites in Romans chapter 2 verse 17 Paul says if you bear the name Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the law and are confident that you are yourself a guide to the blind a light to those who are in darkness a corrector of the foolish the teacher of the immature having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth you therefore speaking to those Jews who felt that way you who teach another do you not teach yourself you who preach that one shall not steal do you steal you say that one should not commit adultery do you commit adultery you who have idols do you rob temples you who boast in the law through your breaking the law you dishonor God this is characteristic of all false religionists they parade their superficial morality and God knows they are lawbreakers and nothing more pride cowardice hypocrisy come together to define people in false religion Paul saying to the Galatians you don't want to be a part of that you don't want anything to do with that they don't want the cross because nothing in the history of the world cuts down human pride like the cross it pops the balloon of the inflated ego at the foot of the cross we shrink to true size and sinners don't like that so Paul says as he looks at his scrawling letters they remind me of those who have corrupted you for show boasting in the flesh on the other hand second point he will boast only in the cross verse 14 may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ this is the religion of grace he will be broken at the foot of the cross he will be made small at the foot of the cross he will be cut down by the cross the cross says you can't save yourself the cross says God had to save you by offering his own son placing your sins on him punishing him in your place you deserve hell the father gave that hell to Christ in three hours of darkness may it never be he says may Genet on the Greek which is the strongest negative idiom in the Greek language sometimes translated God forbid no no no no not possible that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ I can't boast about myself I can't boast about my righteousness I can't boast about my morality I can't boast about my goodness I can simply boast that God graciously mercifully loved me enough to put my sins on his son who died in my place the cross is everything to us the cross is where we see the glorious attributes of God coming together the cross is the means of our redemption the cross is the magnet that draws us to love the Savior the cross is part of our fellowship the fellowship of suffering the cross is our message why did he surrender to the cross reason number one cross frees us from the world's bondage verse 14 through which that is through the cross the world has been crucified to me and I to the world the world is passing away first John the world is passing away and everything in it and it was carrying me down the path of death along with it and by world we simply mean the the cosmos cosmos is the the Greek word that has as an opposite opposite word chaos chaos is disorder cosmos is order any kind of system any kind of system encompassing all the systems of theology philosophy or any other of human patterns of thought religion I was bound to the system I was bound to the world Judaism which started out as a revelation from God in the Old Testament had become a false religion but I in this system of parted company the devil is no longer my master the god of this world is no longer my god he's no longer my king the world belongs to the devil the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one so Paul says I have been freed from the the flesh I have been freed from the world by the cross just a marvelous full understanding of what the cross did the cross verse 15 as may be a new creation neither is circumcision anything or uncircumcision all that religion is gone it's meaningless the cross not only has caused me to die to the world and the world to me I'm separated from the system that is perishing but not only that I am a new creation the power of the Cross to separate me from the world the power of the Cross to enable me to do with the flesh cannot do I now am the new creation old things the passed away everything's become new second Corinthians 5:17 the frustration of religious self effort the frustration of works is gone the frustration of being in capable of getting to where I wanted to go no matter how religious is all gone I'm a new creation in the language of John I've been born again I died to the world I died to my own flesh I'm a new creation I have a new heart I have a new spirit in the language of Jeremiah 31 I'm a new creation I have new capacity to love God to fulfill his will and then he adds another thought the power of the Cross separated me from the world the power of the Cross ever made separated me from the flesh the power of the Cross brought me the blessings of salvation there implied in the words of verse 16 those who will walk by this rule this principle meaning the principle of looking at the cross the principle of grace and faith as demonstrated in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ those who walk by this rule peace and mercy be upon them though what happens is when you leave the law behind and works and you come to the cross all of a sudden your life is flooded with peace peace with God and the peace of God that's positive mercy from God that's negative peace is God giving you what you don't deserve mercy is holding back from you what you do deserve I found then that at the cross I died to the world I died to the flesh and I have been given the blessings of salvation and all their fullness my life is peace and all of its positives mercy that means the negating of all that is bad not just me Paul says but upon the Israel of God this is a direct hit at these Judy false teachers they are not the Israel of God they are the Israel of Israel but they're not the Israel of God what does he mean by the phrase the Israel of God he means Jews who are real believers Jews who really belonged to God Romans 2 said not every Jew is a true Jew Romans 2:28 and 29 the only true Jews are those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Philippians 3:3 Paul says that as explicitly as he can we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh the Israel of God our believing Jews saved Jews who are the true Jews so those of us who are the true Jews have been flooded with all heavenly blessing so if Paul makes this final contrast they boast in the flesh he boasts in the cross and then his final words verse 17 from now on let no one cause trouble for me I felt like saying that a lot particularly recently now I'll let no one cause trouble for me who's he talking to everybody talking to the people in the church or making his life miserable because they're listening to the false teachers he's talking to the false teachers who are attacking him but but on what basis Paul why should we leave you alone for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus whoa I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus what does that mean I have the scars for my service to Christ you know when 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 when he was defending his Apostleship he defends it by saying I was beaten with rods I was whipped I was thrown in prison and he goes through this whole litany of things and these are the marks of Christ these are the brand marks of Christ don't add any more suffering to me he was stoned by the way in Galatia at Lystra he had scars from that look I am branded he says with the scars of an apostle Colossians 1:20 for I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body which is the church in filling up what is lacking in Christ affliction what do you mean they can't they can't hit Christ he's not here so they hit me in his place so I bear in my body the marks of Jesus the reason I am beaten the reason I'm abused is not because of something I've done it's because of who I represent these are my apostolic credentials don't question my authority I have the marks of Jesus in the ancient world slaves were branded in the ancient world [Music] criminals were branded as a mark of identification for life in the ancient world soldiers were branded to demonstrate their allegiance religious devotees were branded and people who were hated vilified social pariahs were branded Paul says I'm all of that I'm a slave of Christ a soldier of Christ devoted to him I'm a criminal as foul as far as the world is concerned and I'm hated because I have Jesus branded on me every scar he ever got was a brand a brand for Christ these are the scars of Jesus don't trouble me I represent him and I have the scars to prove it and then a final farewell the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brother and amen and so say I let's pray it's beyond description Lord to gather together and worship you and hear your word and be with your people thank you for Grace Church thank you for the precious lives that are here from the littlest children to the most senior adults so many faithful people loving you loving with each other praying for each other serving each other thank you for all those scattered all over the world those who will go again this summer across the globe to join the missionaries and give them some temporary help we thank you for all the ministries that you raised up here and all of them are through faithful people we thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you have chosen to bless our humble efforts thank you for the cross the cross is everything to us we all stand at the foot of the cross yes small but collectively in Christ we are his body and we are powerful in the world because we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit thank you that as small as we are as frail as we are as weak as we are in the flesh in the spirit we are mighty and powerful and we have seen that come just out of this congregation as it spreads the truth of the gospel across the world thank you Lord that when we are weak we are strong in your strength and now Lord we ask that you would do a work in every heart whatever that spiritual work is that you would do it Lord brings some to the cross to bow at the cross to repent of their sin and religion and embrace only the death and resurrection of Christ for their salvation and Lord do your work in all our hearts that we might proclaim Christ more faithfully in his name we pray amen

Channel: Grace to You

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ

Id: 0J9QBWbgxHE

Length: 54min 25sec (3265 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 07 2018