The Cross: Crucified with Christ, and Christ Alive in Me

by J.C. Ryle

I will look at the cross of Christ. There I see the love of Christ that constrains me to live not unto myself, but unto Him. There I see that I am not my own; I am bought with a price. As Paul told the Corinthians, Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20). I am bound by the most solemn obligations to glorify Jesus with body and spirit, which are His. At the cross I see that Jesus gave Himself for me, not only to redeem me from all iniquity, but also to purify me and make me one of a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He bore my sins in His own body on the tree so that I, being dead unto sin, should live unto righteousness. There is nothing so sanctifying as a clear view of the cross of Christ. It crucifies the world unto us, and us unto the world, for those that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). How can we love sin when we remember that because of our sins Jesus died? Surely, no one could be so holy as the disciples of a crucified Lord.