Sermon: Good Friday 2026 - The Glory of the Cross (Galatians 6:14-18)

The Glory of the Cross Good Friday, April 3rd, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Galatians 6:14–18 Prayer Father, we thank you for the cross of Christ, through which we may die to this world, and the world may die to us, grant us to walk more faithfully according to this rule, that we may enjoy the peace and mercy of Thy Holy Spirit, we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction That text that you just heard is how the Apostle Paul ends his letter to the Galatians. And if you’ve ever read Galatians, you know that the churches in Galatia are in danger of sliding into heresy. Paul begins his letter by saying to them in chapter 1, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not [actually] another [gospel]; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9). So Galatians is that letter where Paul comes out swinging, he pronounces anathemas on anyone who preaches a different gospel than what he had already preached to them. And so the main message of Galatians is: Don’t forget the gospel of grace. Don’t forget how you were justified. Don’t forget that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. [Heirs of the whole world!] (Galatians 3:26-29). Your salvation depends upon you not abandoning this truth. You must cling to God’s grace. And thus, Paul dedicates six whole chapters in this letter to comparing, contrasting, and defending the true gospel, over against the heresy of the Judaizers. Who were the Judaizers? We are told in Acts 15:1 that, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren [saying], “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” So the Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians, who taught that the ceremonial law of Moses, especially circumcision, was necessary for salvation. And therefore, if a Gentile was converted and baptized and believed in Jesus, he also needed to be circumcised. He needed to become a Jew according to the flesh, if he would be saved. For the Judaizers, circumcision was just as necessary as faith for salvation. Faith is good, faith is important, but you also need to observe the Jewish rites and ceremonies as well. We see in Galatians 2 that even the Apostle Peter stumbled on this point, not by teaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation, but by living as if Jews and Gentiles were not equally one and holy through faith in Christ, apart from the law. How did he do this? Paul writes in Galatians 2:11-14, Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? And so Paul teaches that it is not only heretical to make circumcision and Jewish observances necessary for salvation, it is also hypocritical to try to make Gentiles live like Jews, especially given that the Jews themselves cannot keep their own law. As Paul says in Galatians 6:13, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. And in Galatians 2:21 he says, I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And so assuming that Galatians was written prior to Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council (which is the chronology I take), The Apostle Peter stood corrected by Paul. And we are told that at the Jerusalem council, which was called to settle this question about circumcision, And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe [think of Cornelius in Acts 10]. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” (Acts 15:7-11) If laws and ceremonies and circumcision could make us righteous, then Christ died in vain. But we believe that God is no respecter of persons, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that God in his mercy, purifies Jew and Gentile alike through the grace of living faith. Well, this brings us to our text, and how Paul ends Galatians with a contrast between two kinds of glory. The Judaizers are those who glory in the flesh. They boast in their fleshly descendance from Abraham. They boast in keeping the law of circumcision which Moses gave them. They boast in keeping the Jewish festivals and laws for what you can and cannot eat. They boast in observing days, and months, and times, and years (Galatians 4:10), as if those observances are what make them righteous. Whereas Paul says in verse 14, 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. And so tonight, on this Good Friday, I want us to consider what makes the cross glorious. Why should you, like Paul, glory in the cross to the exclusion of all the other things you could glory in? What makes the cross of Jesus Christ so glorious? To answer that question let us consider verses 14 and 15 of our text. Verse 14a 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… First we should ask, What does it mean to glory in something? Some translations have boast. To glory in something means to esteem or regard something as making us great. We glory in that which gives us greatness (or at least in what we think will give us greatness). Boasting then (in its most proper sense) is when we use our words to exalt what makes us great. In its sinful form, boasting is to lift oneself above oneself. But in its righteous form, as Paul is doing here, to boast in the cross, this is to lift up God who lifts us up. And so we learn from this passage and many other places of Scripture that glorying can be good, boasting can be good, but only if the object of your glorying is God and His grace. It says in Jeremiah 9:24, But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. This is favorite verse of Paul because he quotes it in both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and repeats this theme in many letters. In 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 he says, But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” For [it is] not he who commends himself [that] is approved, but whom the Lord commends. And then he goes on for two more chapters boasting/glorying in his sufferings and weaknesses and persecutions to show the Corinthians that Christ is more glorified in our weakness than in our strength. For Jesus said to Paul about his thorn in the flesh which God would not remove, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. So this is the logic of Christian boasting: We boast in what God’s grace has wrought in us, for us, and through us. In ourselves we are nothing but dusty broken images of God, but by grace we are remade. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. And so the cross becomes for Paul and the church the supreme symbol of Christian glory. It is the banner of our triumph. Because by the cross, we confess to the world that any good or greatness we have is ALL OF GRACE. Righteousness comes by grace. Faith comes by grace. Election is by grace. Predestination is by grace. Effectual calling is by grace. Sanctification is by grace. Even our perseverance to the end and our good works on the way are all a work of grace. This is what it means to glory in the cross. While the Judaizers boast that keeping the law makes them great. The Christian boasts in Christ and him crucified. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God…And then he goes on to say in verses 29-30 that God has done all of this so, That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: [so] That, according as it is written (again in Jeremiah 9), He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. God hates boasting in the flesh. And God loves boasting in the Lord, in the cross, in the grace of Christ. Well if we boast in what makes us great, what greatness does the cross secure for us? Many things. First, we see in verses 14-15 that by the cross we are able to die to the old world and become a new creation. Verse 14-15 14But 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. 15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Paul glories in that our faith unites us to Jesus. And because Jesus is great, even the Greatest, those connected to Jesus now share and participate in His greatness. The glory of our head redounds to the whole body, and we are the body of Christ. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:17-18, he says we are joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The sufferings of this present time are all the ways that the world, the flesh, and the devil tries to seduce you, persecute you, shame you, and harm you. That old world does not like to be crucified, it wants to go on living and boasting in the flesh. The sin of the devil was to exalt himself above himself, to dethrone God and take his place, and that is the sin that our world incites humanity to commit. It is the sin our first parents committed. It says in 1 John 2:16-17, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Why do we glory in the cross? Because by the cross our flesh is crucified, our heart becomes dead to the things that are temporary, and alive to love the things that are eternal. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. The cross gives us new eyes to see beyond the grave. To see that Jesus died to this world, and then received the world as his inheritance. The cross makes us to see through the bait of sin so that we can shun the Devil’s hooks. We can see through the fear of pain, and the intimidation of death, and we believe that after the cross, we shall rise again. The cross is our glory, because Jesus was glorified on the cross. He says in John 12:32, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Jesus turned the cross, an instrument of death, into His instrument for destroying death. What men used to kill the Son of God, the Son of God now uses to save mankind. What men esteemed as the most shameful way to die, Christ selected/chose to be His monument of love. From the cross Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We glory in the cross, because we glory in being forgiven. So what do you consider glorious? What are you tempted to boast in? Most of us here are not Judaizers, but we are all tempted to glory in things other than the cross. Or, like the Judaizers, we are all tempted to add things to the cross to boast in, and to try to distinguish ourselves from others so that we can stand out, or look better than him or her. Where are you tempted to, what the Bible calls, vainglory? As we close, I want to highlight a few commonplaces where men and women are tempted to glory, and then I want you to show you how Christ offers you something better. First, it is common for people to glory in riches, in wealth, in status, in what their hard work has produced. But God says in 1 Timothy 6:6, We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And so why would you glory in what you cannot take with you, especially when the true riches, everlasting riches are offered freely upon the cross of Christ. Jesus not only forgives our sins, he also makes us citizens and heirs of an everlasting kingdom, a new heavens and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, where the gates are made of pearls and the streets are made of gold. What men treasure down here, we walk on up there. To glory in the cross is to glory in the true riches. Second, some people glory in their appearance, in their health, or in their diet and exercise routine, in how they avoid seed oils or processed food, or in how they don’t avoid anything. The Bible says, Men glory in their strength, and women glory in their beauty. But as we all find out, if you haven’t already, Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall (Isaiah 40:30).And Proverbs 31:30 says, Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. And so again, why glory in what is temporary and fleeting, beauty, strength, vitamins, a diet? When the cross is the Christian’s wellness program. Death is our end regardless of how long we live. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8, For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.  It is good for young men to be strong. It is good for women to be beautiful. But it is infinitely better to be godly. So exercise yourself accordingly. Moreover, because the cross is not the end of the story. Good Friday is not the end of the story. We await a glorious resurrection of this body, where every sickness is healed, every allergy and inflammation and gut problem removed, every blemish and scar made beautiful, every disability reversed. Whatever you don’t like about your present self, when you die in Christ, he promises to raise you up far more radiant, strong, and beautiful than your heart dare imagine.Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2:9). If only you could see now by faith, what one day you will become, then you could say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:17, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is the glory the cross works for us. Third, some people glory in having great power and influence, in being a leader and not a follower. But what is all that power and influence compared to sitting with Christ in heavenly places, ruling the world by having our wills united to God’s will? This is what the cross offers us, not only in the future, but here and now. Jesus says, the kingdom of God is within you. Our prayers are heard and Christ shall answer. It says in Revelation 1:5-6, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And in Revelation 5:9-10 it says, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Whose power do you glory in? Fourth and finally, some people glory in their connections, in their friendships with famous people, geniuses, billionaires, they glory in who they know. But what does the cross of Christ offer? It offers the most intimate friendship with God, communion with all the saints, and myriads of angels as ministers for your salvation. By the cross of Christ you are welcomed into the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. And there is no glory or fellowship greater than that. And so I close with the words of Jesus and his high-priestly prayer before his arrest. He says in John 17:20-26, “I do not pray for these [my disciples] alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Let us pray.