If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in 1 Corinthians chapter one. 1 Corinthians chapter
one. Now. I'm gonna begin reading in verse
26. Hopefully a very familiar passage
of scripture. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen. yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are. That no flesh
should glory in his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Grace experienced makes people
gracious. Mercy enjoyed makes them merciful. Forgiveness received makes them
forgiving, and faith bestowed makes them faithful. Any good trait we have, God gave
it to us. I want to try and tell you today
who gives grace, who gives mercy, who gives forgiveness, and who
gives faith. Please understand, I have nothing
new here. There is nothing new under the
sun. People try to package it up and sell it to something different,
but there's nothing new under the sun. And what I have is good
news. Christ's gospel. And it's as
old as Christ himself. It's eternal. It's the eternal
gospel, that's what it's called. It's the same gospel that Jesus
Christ preached to Adam and Eve in the garden. But here we have
Paul writing in Corinthians. And I love Paul's address here. Where is it? Verse two of chapter
one. Well, Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth. It tells you who
Paul's writing to, but he didn't stop there. What? To them that
are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Called to be saints with all
that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, both theirs and ours. This epistle is written to us.
If you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, This epistle
is written to you. I like that, I like that address,
I do. Because this epistle is written
to believers. Believers in Christ Jesus. And therefore, it is written
to us. Now, I'm just going to basically concentrate on verse
30 and the first eight words of Verse 30, but of him are ye
in Christ Jesus. But the first word he uses here
is that word but. And that means there's a difference
between what he's saying now and what he just said. It's a
word of contrast, but is. In verse 29 he says, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Now, I want you to read that,
that no man should glory in his presence. That's what he's talking
about. He's not talking about angels.
No, no, he's talking about us. And he's talking to believers.
Understand that, this letter is to believers. We are so bad
that we might want to try and steal some of God's glory. Whether
we do it wittingly or unwittingly, it doesn't matter, don't do it.
Don't do it. Don't try and take any credit
for anything in your life that God has done. But, ah, here we go. But of God are ye in Christ Jesus. I like that, I love that verse,
I love it. See, he started, well here, let
me point this out. In verse 29, he says, no flesh
and glory in his sight, but in verse 27, 28, he says, but God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen, and yea, things
which are not. to bring to nothing, to not,
things that are. He went from what God does, and
then he told us what not to do. And now he comes back to more
of what God does. I like that. Understand, the
foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised, and those that
are not, that's us, that's us. That's believers, that's who
he's talking to. God chose the weak. God chose
the foolish to confound the wise. I like that. God chose the weak
to confound the mighty. And God chose the base and despise
and the nothing to bring to nothing they that think they are. Something. He said it, not many mighty,
not many noble are called. There's a reason for that. This
is the way God works. When we were without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. Now, if you weren't ungodly,
that means Christ didn't die for you. Now everyone's ungodly,
but there are those who know it. There are those to whom he
has revealed it. But God, here's the thing, no
matter what you might think about it, don't ever forget this point.
God did the choosing. He didn't consent. He didn't
check with us. He didn't ask us. He chose, what? The foolish, the weak, the base,
the despised, and the nothing. Oh, I like that. Why? That no flesh should glory in
his presence, in his presence. Now, this is what I want to call
biblical self-esteem. You don't have anything. You
understand? I'm not talking about in your
workplace. Because, hey, you might be a
better worm than the worm next to you. And it doesn't hurt you
to know that you're good at your job or that you need to be better
at your job. There's nothing wrong with that.
But in his presence, you don't have a leg to stand on. I don't
have a leg to stand on. Matter of fact, I should be in
the dirt. down where worms belong. That's biblical self-esteem in
God's sight. We're nothing less than the small
dust of the balance. And no flesh, I'm gonna tell
you, no flesh is gonna glory in God's presence. I don't know
if that's good English or not. Don't care, it's true, that's
right. You're not going to, it's not
gonna happen because he won't have it. The glory, I will not
share my glory with anyone. What about Jesus? Well, he's
God. He's God. Oh, he gets glory. He gets the glory. But no flesh
is gonna glory in him. And Paul says, but of him. Now, who's of him? Look back
at verse 27, 28. God hath chosen. God hath chosen
and hath God chosen. He's talking about God. But of
God, of God. Paul is writing again, like I
said, of the work of God. Very clearly, very clearly. If
you want to, you can read it, but of God. But it says, but
of him. And he's writing of God, are
ye. Now who's the ye? I just read
it to you. The Church of God at Corinth.
Them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Them that are called saints. I like that. Called saints. With all that in every place
call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he's
talking to. That's the ye. But of him are
ye. all of Jesus Christ, the good
shepherd's found sheep. Okay, he's talking, he's writing
to found sheep here. Now there are other sheep he
has. We'll talk about that in a little bit, baby. But they're
not of this fold. Them I gotta bring in. But right
now he's talking about the ones that know him. The ones that
are, what does it say? in Christ Jesus, ye. Believers are in Christ Jesus,
their Lord. Their Lord. And guess what? I can tell you a big secret.
That's where believers wanna be. That's where I wanna be. That's where believers want to
be, in Christ Jesus. Because right here, I'm gonna
tell you something. We do this different ways. You
can put everyone in the world in one of two categories. You're
either in Christ Jesus or you're without Christ. That's it. That's the two categories. In
this instance where I'm talking, that's the two categories. You're
in Christ Jesus or you're not. Just like those two categories,
Jew and Gentile. You're either a Jew or you're
not. There's a couple, you can divide them up completely. You
can say saved and lost. You can say elect. I know another fellow that said
that the opposite of the elect was the lost, but that's wrong.
Reprobate's a good word. Reprobate's a good word. That's
the opposite. That's the opposite. But here,
this is the thing. Even believers, especially after
what we just read, okay? Believers are, as early as to
call it, a dichotomy. A dichotomy. Even in Christ Jesus,
you're a dichotomy. What's that mean? You got two
ways. You got two parts in you. There's the old man that's still
there, and there's the new man. You understand? You can be miserable and full
of joy at the same time. You're miserable in this world
and have joy in Christ Jesus. You can be empty and you can
be full. This is the way we are. And I can tell you that we have
a joy that we can't describe. and a misery that people don't
understand. Because you understand, a lot
of times, there are miseries to be considered in circumstance.
I'm not gonna make light of anybody's circumstances, but that's not
what I'm talking about here. The misery is me in this body. This misery is you in your body. I was listening to Well, that
thing you just read, Walter, about that Spurgeon read about
if he was a hermit, you're still there. You're still there. And the weakness is within. My
sin comes from within and goes out. It's not what comes into
me. Now, granted, don't go places
you don't need to go. Because there's no sense to tempt
yourself because you're already tempted of yourself. But we are
a dichotomy, even in Christ Jesus. But here's the other thing. Believers
are to know that they are in Christ Jesus. Of God, of God. But of God are ye in Christ Jesus. These are eight words written
by Paul, given to him of the Holy Spirit. and they put together
make one tremendous, miraculous statement. But of him are ye
in Christ Jesus. Ah, I like that. And here's what Paul is telling
us. Those in Christ Jesus are there because God put them in
Christ Jesus. Where it says but of him, that's
the same thing as saying but by him. You are in Christ Jesus. By him. Now, what did he say? Paul wrote in
verse nine of chapter one of Corinthians. God is faithful. God is faithful. God is faithful. What? By whom, by God, ye were
called under the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is faithful by whom you were
called. Under fellowship with the Lord.
Oh, I like that. Verse 24. but unto them which
are called, both Jew and Greeks, Christ the power of God and Christ
the wisdom of God. God is faithful. God is faithful. Oh, I like that, I do. And when
you look at that, you look at verse nine, it says, God is faithful
by whom ye were called. Then look at verse 24. And it
says, but unto them which are called. These are the same people. These are the same people. Here's the thing. If you were
called, you are called. And if you are called, it's because
you were called by God. By God, by God. Oh, I like that. What does it say? Yeah, I think I actually did, yeah.
You don't have to turn there. If you were called, you are called,
right? By God, who's faithful. I know,
this is Ecclesiastes three and verse 14. I know that whatsoever
God doeth, what? It shall be forever. Forever. Forever. And forever. There's more. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be put to it. You can't add anything to what
he's done. And nothing can be taken from
it. Oh gosh, isn't that great? Nor
anything taken from it and God does it. God doeth it. That men should fear before him. Isn't that something? What? By whom ye were called. That's forever. That's forever. What does it say? But unto them
which are called. That's now. And it's gonna be
forever. It's gonna be forever. But of
God, well, are ye in Christ Jesus? What's that mean? That's forever. If God does it, it's forever. So if you wanna take that saved
and lost and saved and lost and stuff, you can take it. Scriptures
don't talk about God that way and they never have. If God does
it, it's forever. Oh, and nothing, here, that's
the beauty. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken from it. God does it. God does it. And here's what God has done,
according to the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, but of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Now tell me
another way you can get in Christ Jesus. There isn't one. There isn't one. What's it say? God is by whom you were called
and by whom you are called. Jesus Christ calls, I'll tell
you this, and we come. We come. What do you mean? What
I mean is what he said. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. They follow me. He said, I call
them by name. I call them by name. And they
come. And they are called. And here's
the thing. He said, they follow me. They
keep coming. You keep coming. If you are in
Christ Jesus, you'll keep coming. Why? Because you are called.
Oh, I like that, I do. This is because God does the
calling. Listen, ye must be born again. Ye must be born from above. First
John said, you must be born of God. That's born by God, born of God. Oh my, John 525, I quoted it
last week. When the dead hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, shall live. Now, how is it possible that
they hear and others don't? Well somebody, He circumcised
their heart and their ears. And you'll not hear before. But
when Jesus Christ calls, you'll hear, and you'll come, and you'll
follow. And here in Corinthians, what? We preach Christ crucified. Under
the Jews, a stumbling block, and under the Greeks, foolishness.
But under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. Verse 27,
but, well, no, that's not it. My goodness, I've lost it. Here,
verse 21, I didn't go back far enough. For after that, in the
wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe, that
believe. I'd heard Henry say it, I think
I actually heard Earl say it. Henry said it came from Rolf
Barnard. If my voice is the only voice you hear, nothing of any
eternal value will be accomplished. You have to hear the voice of
the Son of God and Then you'll hear. Then you hear. Then you'll hear the gospel.
And you'll believe. You'll believe. If you are in
Christ Jesus, you believe. And you shall believe. Understand? I have believed, I believe now,
and I shall believe. Why? Because what God does, it's
forever. of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Because here it is, if God has
not put you in Christ Jesus, you are not in Christ Jesus. That's just the facts. The only
way in Christ Jesus is for God, of God, ye are in Christ Jesus,
by God. Because here's the thing, if
God doesn't call you, you won't come. If the good shepherd doesn't
call your name, you won't come. Now, understand, I'm not, I don't know how exactly to say
this. I don't wanna discourage you
because listen, When Stephen preached that message right before
he was stoned, and he told them fellas, you fellas are uncircumcised
in heart and ears, and you always resist the Holy Ghost, just like
your fathers did. Saul of Tarsus was right there.
And at that time, Saul of Tarsus was consenting unto the death
of Stephen. But God saved him later. You
know why? God didn't call Saul at that
time. He called him later. I'm preaching
the somebody, the God, who can save anybody. and he saves in
his own good time. But of God are ye in Christ Jesus. There was a time when I wasn't
in Christ Jesus. Didn't care anything for the
gospel, didn't care anything about Christ. Didn't even know
you people, so you know. Didn't care about a whole lot
sometimes. What happened? But of God am I now in Christ
Jesus. And you understand, when you're
in Christ Jesus, this is part of that dichotomy, things change. You change. If you have not had
a change, this is not works for salvation,
but if there hasn't been a change in your life, if there hasn't
been a change in your mind, if there hasn't been a change in
your heart, in the things you care about, you don't know Christ. I'm telling you, you're not in
Christ Jesus. If there's not been a change, because the things
you used to love, you might now hate. Now I'm not talking about
people, but I'm talking about things in your life. But here's
the thing, the people you used to hang out with, you don't wanna
hang out with no more. And the people you wanna hang
out with are the ones you never wanted anything to do with before.
They was church people or something. You understand, when I was lost,
I couldn't tell the difference between a true believer and a
hypocrite. All I know is I didn't like either
one of them. That's all I knew. But you understand, now I wanna
be with the people of God. Now I wanna hear the gospel of
God. Well, I never cared about it
before. If there has not been a change, you're not in Christ
Jesus. And it does. There's a new man, as well as
that old man. But that new man is new. There
will be a change. There is a truth to this saying. I read this and I thought, that's
actually pretty good. God's gospel does not need defending. God's gospel needs proclaiming. I like that. I like that. Now I do know, Paul said, I am
set for the defense of the gospel. But how did he defend it? He preached it. That's what he
did. He preached it. And here's the
thing. Paul never compromised, altered,
or watered down the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the defense
of the gospel. I like that, I do. Matter of
fact, I thought about, we used to go to a place, and you might
remember as Pamela, where somebody said, you gotta earnestly, the
Bible says you gotta earnestly contend for the faith. He said, sometimes you gotta
use your fist. No, that's not what it means. No, no, and I'm not saying that. Somebody else said it, and I
disagreed. I disagreed then, I disagree now even more. How
do you earnestly contend for the faith? Preach the gospel.
Preach the truth of Christ. Exalt his name. Say it, but of
God are ye in Christ Jesus. Tell people that. Because what? He's the one that has called
us into fellowship with Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our Lord. I have a Lord. I have good news.
Of God are ye in Christ Jesus. That's good news. Oh, I like
that. That's how you earnestly contend
for the faith. You proclaim the gospel of God's
dear son. We preach his grace and his salvation. We preach his person and his
work. And he is, right now, somewhere,
calling other sheep that he has already. Other sheep I have,
what? Them I must, what? Bring. Bring, what's that mean? Of him are ye in Christ Jesus. You understand, when he brings
you, you're gonna come. We are to come, come unto me
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Not come
unto me all you that are lighthearted and frivolous. Come unto me all
you that are laboring and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Now
take my yoke upon you. What? You are called. You're gonna keep called and
you're gonna keep coming. But my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Oh, you can come unto me, I'll
give you rest for your soul, for your soul. Oh, I like that.
Oh, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. What's that mean? Well,
we got what Paul told us here. It means we have in Christ wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. in Christ Jesus. Why? Because Christ Jesus is
made unto us. It's not by God, man. It's by
God. He is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. You understand? It's not by God and a second
working of grace. I've been dealing with a little
bit of that in my head, what some people have been talking
about. And I, you understand, what God does is forever. And
of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Oh my. Because Christ Jesus is
our wisdom. He has been made unto us wisdom.
He is our righteousness, and he is righteousness. or I put
that in the wrong order. He is righteousness and now he's
our righteousness. Christ Jesus is sanctified and
he is our sanctification. Christ Jesus is the Redeemer
and by his grace we are redeemed by his precious blood. You understand, my greatest failure is to sit under the glory of
God and remain unmoved. It happens way too often. You
know who said that? I don't know who, but Scott Richardson
wrote it down. But that's the truth. That's
how depraved we still are. That's that old man in us. You
know? But, John Newton wrote, Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. But then he turned
right around and he wrote that, tis a point I long to know. And
often it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not? That's the dichotomy of being
in Christ Jesus and being human. and being human. You understand,
there's no dichotomy with God. No, not at all. No, no, no, no,
no. There's Father, Son, and Spirit,
but these three are one. But you understand, they're not
of two binds like we are. They're not of two natures or
men like we are. God says you're in Christ, you're
in Christ. God says you have eternal life,
you have life for eternity. If God does it, it's forever. And here it says, Paul's told
us, God did it. You were there. You experienced
this. But it's not your experience,
it's God's work. You understand? Some people's
experience is a little different than others. There are some things
that will be in common. You will know your sinner. You
will know some of your sin. You'll never know it all, and
you don't want to. But, here's the thing, in all
cases, it's but of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, or you are not
in Christ Jesus. Well, that's what I wrote. I picked that psalm because of
the second verse. Oh, that my anxious mind were
free from this vile tenement of clay. It's what we are. That I might view the immortal
word and live and reign with Christ my Lord. This is what
we want now. That's something I didn't want
before. That's something I didn't know anything about before, not
in reality. If you are in Christ Jesus, you'll
be changed. You'll be changed. This gospel, his gospel, this
truth is spiritual, but I'm still carnal, fleshly, fleshly. And in my flesh, and in your
flesh, and in your flesh, right now, dwells no good thing. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. You understand? They're both
the reality. The flesh lusted against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. That's Romans 7. That's now. I don't care what
anybody says. You can say it's not victorious
living. You'd be right. It's real living. It's believing
and living. The old man's still here. But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus. I read it, God is faithful by
whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. And God is faithful, God is faithful. Understand this, the salvation
of God's elect is not according to our works or our merits, in
its commencement, in its continuance, or in its completion. None of
the above. Not at the beginning, not at
the middle, and not at the end. It has nothing to do with our
merits or our works. It has to do with God's work,
Christ's work, the Holy Spirit's work. But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus. You understand, that puts a little
more paid to that statement by Jonah. Salvation
is of the Lord. And you understand, when Jonah
said that, I don't know that he was real happy about it. I
am. But at that time Jonah was mad
because God repented against Nineveh. Salvation's of the Lord. Well it is. It is. Because but of God, but of him
are ye in Christ Jesus. And I'm only to that. And the
only thing I can say to that is amen. Amen. Excuse me, our
Heavenly Father, we're thankful thankful as much as we can for
all that you have done for us and to us and in us and giving
us to your dear son and bringing us in calling us out separating
us to where we're in the world but we are not of the world help
us Lord to understand your word, to walk in your way, and we'll
give you all the praise and the honor and the glory because it
is yours now and forever. Amen.