Made in the Likeness of Man
A Sermon on Galatians 6:14
Scripture
14But 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.
Sermon Description
In this sermon on Galatians 6:14 titled “Made in the Likeness of Man,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains the importance of the cross to the birth of Jesus. He argues that one cannot understand the birth and incarnation of Christ—the reason Christmas is celebrated—without the cross. First, the Messiah’s sufferings are prophesied throughout the entire Old Testament in passages such as Isaiah 53 and Genesis 3. Second, the cross was the real object of Jesus’s incarnation. Jesus was born for the express purpose of being the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. In this way He was born to die, and this makes Him unique among any other person who has been born. Third, only the cross explains some of the audacious things that Jesus claimed and were recorded in the gospels as being said about Him. Additionally, the cross was the lowest point for the Son of God. He was enthroned in Heaven, yet He left His rightful place to come to earth and live the life that no one else has—a perfect one. He did all of this with the knowledge that one day He would die an unjust death for the sins of the world so that those who accepted His sacrifice could have forgiveness from their sins. This is the reason Christmas is celebrated and as Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds, why the cross is central to correctly understanding Jesus’s birth.
Sermon Breakdown
- The apostle Paul glories in the cross of Christ, not His birth. The world likes Christmas but hates Good Friday.
- The cross is the center of everything - our understanding of ourselves, God, the world, the future, etc. Without it, we understand nothing.
- We can't understand Christmas without understanding the cross. The cross explains the incarnation.
- Before Christ came, His coming was prophesied in the Old Testament, and every prophecy focused on His death.
- The cross was the real object of the incarnation. Christ came to die, to taste death for every man.
- We can't understand Christ's life or teaching without the cross. It explains everything that happened to Him and everything He did.
- The cross is the lowest point of Christ's journey - from heaven to earth to death to resurrection and ascension. That's why Paul glories in it.
- Christ was born to die. He came to go to the depths of the cross, then rise again. The cross touches the lowest depth and highest glory.
- We can't understand Christmas without seeing that Christ came to suffer and die. The cross is central.
Other Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.