A Final Gospel Appeal

Part 2

Text: Galatians 6:11-18

Introduction/Review:

I.     Paul reiterates his authenticity and authority as an apostle. vv. 11, 17

II.    Paul reiterates the sufficiency of the cross. vv. 12-14

What does it look like for God to obligate Himself?

A.    Circumcision, vv. 12-13

B.    Cross, v. 14

“If you want to judge how well a person understands the gospel, ask him what he makes of the death of Christ, and what the message of the cross is. The real Christian answers that while the message of the cross is foolishness to some and a stumbling block to others, to Christians it is the saving wisdom and power of God (1 Cor. 18-24). The confession of the real Christian is, ‘Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world’ (Gal. 6:14)” (Sinclair Ferguson in Jerry Bridges, The Great Exchange, p. 12).

Why would Paul boast in such a repugnant, horror-filled, foolish symbol?

Lesson:

I.     Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus gave Himself for our sins. 1:4

Why did Jesus come to die on the cross?

“If you take away the cross as an atoning act, you take away Christianity” (R.C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross, p. 15).

“Wherever the realism of the biblical account of the human condition is taken seriously, the gospel is seen more clearly and embraced more deeply” (Michael Horton, For Calvinism, p. 50).

“Why the cross?” we must say God’s holiness demanded it as punishment for our sins, and God’s love provided it to save us from our sins. We cannot begin to understand the true significance of the cross unless we understand something of the holiness of God and the depth of our sin. And it is a continuing sense of the imperfection of our obedience, arising from the constant presence and remaining power of indwelling sin, that drives us more and more as believers to an absolute dependence on the grace of God given to us through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ…For it is only against the dark backdrop of our sinfulness that we can see the glory of the cross shining forth in all its brilliance and splendor” (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, p. 30).

II.    Paul boasted only in the cross because it granted him a right standing with God. 2:21

III.   Paul boasted only in the cross because it assured him of his right standing with God. 2:20

“Paul did what we should do. He renounced any confidence in his own performance or, for that matter, any dismay over his lack of performance. Instead, by faith he looked to Jesus Christ and His righteousness for his sense (assurance-J.F.) of being in right standing with God today and tomorrow, and throughout eternity” (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, p. 111).

IV.   Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus’ death on the cross redeemed us from the curse of the law. 3:13

V.    Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus’ death on the cross brings freedom from legalistic superstition and demonic domination. 4:3-5, 8

VI.   Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus’ death on the cross is the means of adoption. 4:5

VII.  Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus’ death on the cross serves as the believer’s crucifixion of his flesh. 5:24

VIII. Paul boasted only in the cross because Jesus’ death on the cross brings freedom from the enslavement to the world. 6:14

“I believe the human morality, rather than flagrant sin, is the greatest obstacle to the gospel today” (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel For Real Life, p. 121).

“…the more religious a person is, the more difficult it is for that person to realize his or her need for the righteousness of Jesus Christ” (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel For Real Life, p. 121).

“…the very thing which was so disturbing for those who sought to maintain distinctive Jewish identity, was the very thing in which Paul boasted” (James Dunn, Galatians, p. 340).

“Like his fellow Jews, he had sought to establish his own righteousness through keeping the Law…But there came a time, possibly during his three days of blindness and fasting in Damascus (Acts 9:7-9), when he realized that his efforts to become righteous through law-keeping were going nowhere. They keep him from the only means of salvation God has provided. As he realized more clearly the perfect righteousness that God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ, he saw his own efforts to be righteous as no more than garbage to be dumped overboard” (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, p. 119).

Reflection:

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size” (John Stott, Galatians, p. 179).

© John Fonville

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