What the Cross Changed – The Cross Changed Me

1. Read: Galatians 6:14 – “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.”

2. About the Text:

1) If anyone could have bragged about himself, the apostle Paul could.

2) He was a self-described Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee (Phil.3:5).

3) Yet he said “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Phil.3:7).

4) The cross changed the apostle Paul, but he isn’t the only thing that the cross has changed.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Before the cross, guilt of sin was the standard.

2. For Gentiles: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

3. For Jews: “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3).

4. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:16-18).

5. Jesus paid the price – “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

6. Those who are in Christ are no longer held guilty of sin.

1. If I am guilty of sin, then I deserve condemnation for those sins.

2. “The judgment came of one unto condemnation” (Romans 5:16).

3. The law served only to condemn, but in Christ we are saved.

4. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10).

5. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4).

6. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:9-10).

1. As a Christian, I have new life in Christ.

2. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:4-6).

3. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

4. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

1. The cross changed me – I have been transformed . . .

1) From guilt to forgiveness.

2) From condemnation to salvation.

3) From the old man to the new man.

2. Invitation