Boast in the Cross Alone: A 2-Point Bible Study on Galatians 6:14

Galatians 6:14KJV
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.

1.  Christians ought to boast in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  That is where our sins are pardon, forgiven and cleansed.  It is where punishment, vile sin and reprobative wrath is placed on Christ alone at His Cross.  It is where hell is placed on Jesus.  No one could endure the Cross except the God-man.  A mere sinner could never endure the Cross because it was the very redemptive wrath of God.  In no uncertain terms it was the very fury and outright punishment of God.  Jesus endured this wrath of God in our place.  He willingly took our place and suffered what we would suffer in eternity in hell.  That is, Jesus suffered hell in all its darkness and cruelty and fury because it was placed on Jesus at His Cross in behalf of hell-deserving sinners.  We may boast in the Cross of Jesus because it is where we get our divine righteousness alone by faith alone.  Reformed theology is so awesome in light of the Divine Word because we cannot glory in our faith.  The faith of a Christian did not come from our personal decision or human wills.  Rather it came from the divine regeneration of a sinner by the Spirit and the Word.  That is, the Spirit and the Word bring Christ to us through a changed heart by faith alone.   We receive the holy gift of faith through God the Spirit and the written Word.  It is able to change our hearts.  Man-made religion may bring outward reform in some way but it cannot radically change the heart like the Spirit and the Word.  Religions of men make the hearts of men spiritual fat.  The Christian ought to have a baby-skin heart by God's invisible handiwork in progressive sanctification. 

2.  We may boat that our sins are forgiven because of the Cross of Jesus alone.  We did not do the redemptive work.  No, He did!  We did not add to His redemptive sufferings.  No, He did it!  We did not contribute to His unified merit in our behalf.  No, it was Him all the way!  Boast in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  Do not glory in anything else.  Good works are filthy rages.  We are corrupt from birth.  There is no hope except for the Cross of Jesus alone.  The Cross of Jesus provides a way of spiritual escape.  We need sufficient atonement made by some who is God and man.  Jesus has two natures; God and man in One Person.  He is the only One who could die for the sins of God's people in obedience to His Father.  Who really killed Jesus Christ?  Was it the Jews?  Was it the Romans?  Was it His people?  The Person who determined to crush Jesus according to His foreordained counsel was God the Father.  It was the Father's perfect will and good pleasure to put His Son to death.  The divine Son was plainly humiliated in openness and in public in behalf of God's people.  People never think of the Father's love because they see a wrathful God.  It is true, however, that there is a wrath of the Father but it was placed on His dear Son as the Lamb of sacrifice!  This must show us the extreme and eternal and incomprehensible love of the Father.  We must understand that it was the Father's design or plan to have His Son bear the full and entire and max of the sins of God's people.  It is was where sin was punished and where sin is forgiven.  It is where justice is satisfied and where righteousness is provided.  That is why no one has the right to glory in His presence when all of our deeds are worthless.  The only deed that is good is through the person and work of Jesus alone.  If God calls someone 'good' it is not because we are 'good' by nature but because we possess the 'goodness of Jesus' by faith alone!  The Cross is the profound  and eternal reason why we stand before God.