Grosey's Messages

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

the strains of the beautiful hymn, When I survey, nearly melted me to tears before the waiting workers. Think about these words.
"When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died, "
I seem to see before the eyes of my heart the very dying form of One who suffered there for me.
The Prince Of Glory. Lord. Creator. Second person of the Trinity! God incarnate.
Sometimes I have wondered, "How Could God ever forgive those men that nailed His Son to the cross?"
The Lord Jesus prayed for them "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
His prayer was answered, we read in Acts 6 where many of the jewish priests became obedient to the faith Acts 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
How could God forgive those men who nailed His Son to the cross?
How could God forgive men for whose sins His Son was nailed to the cross?
See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown.
How could God forgive me?
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
My riches gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.
The cross speaks of God's grace. This communion table with bread and grape juice speaks of God's grace. 

1. The Condition Which Grace Meets.

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

Boast in the Priority of the cross

Boast in the centrality of the cross

Boat in the Mercy of the cross 

s this not the very condition in which God's Amazing grace found us?
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found was blind but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.
It was right that we should fear God because of our sins. It was our sins that were so grievous to God.
We were away from God. We were Afraid of God. We were Antagonistic towards God!
And how the devil blinded us to the fact of God's great love and purpose towards us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
"And grace my fears relieved.. how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed."
Romans 5:8 says. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 2 Cor 4:4 says But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2. The Salvation Which Grace Ministers.

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

It was a mark of acceptance 
Romans 5:9 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
It was also a mark of assurance.

We come only by invitation: his invita­tion.

We do not come because we are pure. We come because we want to be pure. We do not come because we are innocent. We come because we want to be innocent. It is a measure of our acceptance that in spite of our spiritual awkwardness and our great limitations, he invites us still. In that ac­ceptance, there is the blessed assurance that Jesus is ours.
There is also a sense of abasement here.

3. The Response Which Grace Merits.

Boast in the victory of the cross 

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

Just two hundred years ago, Stenberg at Dusseldorf painted his Gipsy Girl. As his model posed upon the dais, her black eyes wandered round the studio. They were arrested by an altarpiece painted for Father Hugo of the Church of Saint Jerome – a representation of the thorn-crowned face of Jesus. When the gipsy stepped down from her platform, she begged the artist to explain the picture to her. He tried, but found it difficult; for the thought of Christ stirred no profound emotion within him. When he had finished, the girl remarked simply: 'You must love Him very much, Signor, when He has done all that for you!'

The artless words pierced the painter's soul. They filled him with shame, for, in point of fact, he did not love Christ at all. But he soon did. And, when he did, he painted another picture – a picture of the Christ he now adored. Underneath the thorn-crowned face on the new canvas he inscribed the words:

All this I did for thee;

What hast thou done for Me?

He then presented it to the public gallery at Dusseldorf. And one day Count Zinzendorf was among the visitors who stood before it. Young, rich, gay and impressionable, the picture powerfully appealed to him, whilst the question beneath it rang through his soul like a challenge. It was a challenge, and he accepted it. He went out to serve his Saviour. He became the founder of Moravian Missions. Within a few months missionaries were sent to the Esquimaux and to the people of the West Indies. In a year or two, evangelists of the Cross were dispatched to all parts of the world. The Moravian Brethren became, in 1738, the means of the conversion of John Wesley, and thus the amazing revival of the eighteenth century was initiated. The Cross had shattered the indolent monotony of Zinzendorf's life. He became a new man; the Church became a new Church; the world became a New World! The soul-stirring challenge had been accepted: the great escape had been made: and, as long as the world endures, men will rejoice in the sensational developments that followed.

F W. Ballroom, 'The Squirrel's Dream,' A Witch's Brewing (London: The Epworth Press, 1932), 98 to 99.