---

I. PAUL GLORIED IN THE CROSS AS A MAN GLORIES IN A GREAT AND WIDE-REACHING TRUTH.

1. There were truths in Judaism in which Paul once gloried, which possessed vast breadth and stimulating power.

2. But they all paled before this.

II. Paul gloried in the CROSS AS A MAN GLORIES IN A GREAT TRUTH WHICH HE HAS MADE HIS OWN.

1. Paul not merely possessed the truth.

2. It possessed him.

III. Paul gloried in the Cross BECAUSE IT WAS A GREAT PARADOX.

1. He had a peculiar affinity for paradoxes (2 Corinthians 6:9; 2 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Corinthians 4:8).

2. This being Paul's tendency, the central paradox of Christianity was the very thing for him.

(1)  It was the triumph of weakness.

(2)  This weak and despised Cross was to destroy the world without, and

(3)  to conquer the world within.In conclusion:

1. There are four stages of assent which we can give to any truth like that of Christ's Cross.

(1)  Understanding it.

(2)  Accepting it.

(3)  Comforting ourselves by it.

(4)  Glorying in it.

2. Ii is impossible to understand the cross fully until we glory in it.

3. It is impossible to glory in it unless we are willing that the world should be crucified to us and we to the world.

(A. F. Ewing.)It is not safe to judge by first appearances, otherwise we shall deem the Cross repulsive.

I. ST. PAUL'S JUDGMENT ON THE CROSS.

1. The Cross was not a thing to be tolerated, but to be exulted in.

2. The Cross exceeded all things within his knowledge.

(1)  He knew the philosophy of the day.

(2)  He had seen the achievements of its art,

(3)  and the military force of Rome.

(4)  He had been a Pharisee.

3. He chose the Cross in preference to them all.

II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH IT RESTED.

1. Not merely the supernatural manifestations which invested it with grandeur.

2. But mainly its spiritual significance.

(1) The Cross is a revelation of the glory of God. God's glory does not lie in His power or possessions, but

(a)  in His righteousness;

(b)  His love. The Cross sets this forth.

(2) The Cross displays the true greatness of man — Love for God and man.

(3) The Cross is adapted to the chief exigency and other needs of men.

(a)  Guilt;

(b)  the need of a redeeming fact;

(c)  the need of fellowship with a living person.

(4) Its actual results.

(a)  Its first function in the apostolic age.

(b)  Its ameliorating influence on the race at large.

(J. C. Galloway, M. A.)

I. ALMOST ALL MEN HAVE SOMETHING WHEREIN TO GLORY.

1. Men glory so as to become boastful and full of vainglory.

2. Men are ruined by their glory.

3. Men glory in their shame.

4. Some glory —

(1)  in physical strength, in which the ox excels them;

(2)  in gold, which is only clay;

(3)  in gifts, which are only talents which have been entrusted to them, and so glory in the transient and the trifling.

5. Men rob God of His glory.

II. Paul had a rich choice of things in which he could have gloried.

1. Amongst the Jews he

(1)  might have been an honoured rabbi;

(2)  might have gloried in his genius, religious attainment.

2. As a Christian he might have gloried in

(1)  his sufferings;

(2)  his zeal;

(3)  his work for Christ.

III. PAUL GLORIED IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST. He does not here say he gloried in Christ, though he did with all his heart. He might have gloried in —

1. The Incarnation.

2. Life.

3. Ascension.

4. Second advent.Yet he selected the Cross as the centre of the Christian system. Learn:

1. The highest glory of our religion is the Cross.

2. To think of it till by the power of the Spirit we can say, "God forbid," etc.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THE CROSS IS THE TRUE SYMBOL OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

1. What it seemed to the Jew. A symbol

(1)  of failure;

(2)  of servitude.

2. What is it to the Christian?

(1)  The culmination of the Incarnation;

(2)  a means of partaking of the Divine love.

II. GLORYING IN THE CROSS IS A SIGN OF TRUE RELIGION. It is —

1. To believe that religion centres round a person.

2. To feel that Christ has entirely changed our relations to God.

(1)  It has abolished circumcision.

(2)  It has made the new nature the desideratum.

III. GLORYING IN THE CROSS IS AN EVIDENCE OF PRACTICAL RELIGION.

1. By it the Christian is crucified to the world and the world to the Christian.

2. By it the believer obtains deep and lasting satisfaction.

3. By it is evolved the love which is the inspiration of self-sacrifice.

(S. Pearson, M. A.)

---

---

KJV: 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.

WEB: 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.