Lloyd-Jones on Galatians 6:14

The Doctor's collection of sermons entitled The Cross (Crossway 1986) are all based on a single verse--Galatians 6:14. 'Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' In the final sermon of this collection Lloyd-Jones reflects on this exultation by Paul.

He does not say that is it just one incident in a remarkable life, a tragic one, a very regrettable one, that is not what he says at all. Neither, let us observe, does he say that it is just something at the beginning of the Christian life. There are many Christians who have said that in one way or another. You start with the cross, they say, then you go on. . . . The cross, they say, is only for conversion, the cross only deals with forgiveness of sins. It is something that marks the beginning, and then you go on and you do not come back any more to the cross. . . .

That is not what the apostle says. Here is a man writing at the full height of his maturity as a Christian, the great apostle to the gentiles. At the very height of his experience he says, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.' He has not left it to go on to some higher reaches. The cross is still everything to him. Why? Because, he has found that everything proceeds from the cross. It is the source and the fount of everything that he has as a Christian, everything that he has become, everything that he can ever hope for. (198-99)