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

by J.C. Ryle

these: in no wise should I glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14).

He meant to declare strongly that he trusted in nothing but Jesus Christ crucified for the pardon of his sins and the salvation of his soul. Let others, if they would, look elsewhere for salvation; let others, if they were so disposed, trust in other things for pardon and peace. But for his part, the apostle was determined to rest on nothing, lean on nothing, build his hope on nothing, place confidence in nothing, and glory in nothing except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“What do you think about the cross of Christ?”

He never gloried in his national privileges.

those things which were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ (Philippians 3:7).

He never gloried in his own works.

He never gloried in his knowledge.

He never gloried in his graces.

He never gloried in his churchmanship.

Work for God and Christ with heart and soul and mind and strength, but never dream for a second of placing confidence in any work of your own.

Millions of so-called good works will turn out to have been utterly defective and graceless. They were genuine and valued among men, but they will prove light and worthless in the balance of God.

Some people receive as much harm from their fancied virtues as others do from their sins. Take heed, lest you be one. Rest not until your heart

beats in tune with Paul’s. Rest not until you can say with him, God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross.

Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).

The cross sometimes means the afflictions and trials which believers in Christ have to go through if they follow Christ faithfully for their religion’s sake.

he that does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:38; Luke 14:27).

But in some places the cross also indicates the doctrine that Christ died for sinners on the cross – the atonement that He made for sinners by His suffering for them on the cross, the complete and perfect sacrifice for sin that He offered when He gave His own body to be crucified.

the word of the cross is foolishness to those that perish (1 Corinthians 1:18).

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross.

Reader, Jesus Christ crucified was the joy and the delight, the comfort and the peace, the hope and the confidence, the foundation and the resting place, the ark and the refuge, the food and the medicine of Paul’s soul.

He loved to think of what Christ had done and what Christ had suffered – of the death of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the atonement of Christ, the blood of Christ, the finished work of Christ. In this he did glory. This was the sun of his soul.

Corinthians, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3).

judged not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

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).

What made him so strong to labor? What made him so willing to work? What made him so unwearied in endeavoring to save some? What made him so persevering and patient? I will tell you the secret. He was always feeding by faith on Christ’s body and Christ’s blood. Jesus crucified was the meat and drink of his soul.

in the midst of the throne and of the four animals, we are told, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain (Revelation 5:6).

Even in the midst of heavenly glory we get a view of Christ crucified.

But unless you know the power of Christ’s cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, and unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work that Christ did upon the cross, Christ will profit you nothing.

As long as you live, beware of a religion in which little is said of the cross.

Paul gloried in nothing but the cross. Strive to be like him. Set Jesus crucified fully before the eyes of your soul.

Don’t be ashamed of the old paths in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

it is an excellent thing for us to be continually dwelling on the cross of Christ.

For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The longer I dwell on the cross in my thoughts, the more I am satisfied that there is more to be learned at the foot of the cross than anywhere else in the world.[2]

God increased the price of his charity toward

us in that while we were yet sinners the Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

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.

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).

He who gave His own blood to procure me a home

will unquestionably supply me with all that is profitable for me along the way. There is no school for learning contentment than can be compared with the foot of the cross.

therefore I am certain that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any creature shall be able to separate us from the

charity of God, which is in Christ, Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; a horrible and ugly thing is committed in the land (Isaiah 1:2; Jeremiah 5:30).

The cross is the grand peculiarity of the Christian religion.

The cross is the strength of a minister.

The cross is the secret of the missionary success.

The cross is the foundation of a church’s prosperity. No church will ever be honored in which Christ crucified is not continually lifted up; nothing whatever can make up for the lack of the cross.

Christ crucified is God’s grand ordinance for good to men.