Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call on you
this evening, we do thank you for the precious privilege that
we have to assemble ourselves and to hear the gospel. Lord,
would you give us a hearing ear. Lord, would you tune our heart
to truly love and appreciate. We want to help us. Help, Lord, as I preach. Help
us to hear. And forgive us, for Christ's
sake. Amen. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. 1 Corinthians, chapter
1. I'd like to deal with verses
26 to the end of the chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now, last time, I want to just
pick up and just make a couple of comments on a couple of verses
that we dealt with last time. 1 Corinthians 1.23, The Holy Spirit moved upon the
Apostle Paul to say this, but we preach Christ crucified, unto
the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, the carnal heart Though religious. Now listen,
man by nature is religious. You go anywhere and you're going
to find religion. But the carnal heart despises
because there's only two messages that's being preached. There's
only two. It's either man's work for salvation
or it's God's accomplished salvation by grace and mercy through the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only two messages
that there are. And by nature, man despises the
message of free grace, free and sovereign grace. Now when we
say Christ crucified, we preach Christ crucified. I've told you
before that does not mean that we're talking about the day of
the crucifixion. Though that is included, no doubt
about that. But Christ crucified is to proclaim
the message of God's eternal covenant of grace. That covenant
that God made with himself for a particular people. before time
was when there was God. God Almighty ordained that He
was going to show mercy and grace to a people of His choosing. He chose a people. Chose them
and put them in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And in time, the Lord Jesus Christ, the surety of the sheep, came
into this world, according to that everlasting covenant, and
came for those elect. That's all He came to save. He
came to seek and to save His people. Call His name Jesus. For He shall save, who? His people. from their sins. He lived perfectly. He lived holy before God as man. God, man, mediator. Established
righteousness. When we say the imputed righteousness
of Christ, we're talking about the obedience of Christ charged
to God's people. bore their sin at Calvary, their
absolute substitute. He was made what they are. He was made sin for us, he who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. That is Christ crucified. Now,
we preach Christ crucified. unto the Jews a stumbling block. I've told you before what that
means. They expected the Messiah to come set up a kingdom like
David had, like Solomon had, going to sit on an earthly throne. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came and was preaching Him being the Lamb The Lamb, that's what John the
Baptist, behold the Lamb of God, taketh away the sin of the world.
When he said he was going to die, and he died, they stumbled
at that. And the Greeks, this was foolishness. You can't prove this by wisdom. How do you prove by wisdom the
Trinity? Prove by wisdom God's electing
grace. Tell me how you prove that. In
the beginning, God. That ends it. But unto them which
are called, I know it's foolishness to the world, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. I know that the world considers
this preaching, the preaching of Christ crucified, to be weakness. This is weakness. You mean to
tell me that preaching is it? Yeah, that's what I mean. It
pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
God Almighty has sanctified, set apart. Foolishness to the
Greeks. As I said a moment ago, you can't
prove this. So it's foolishness, but to those
that God calls. Calls affectionately. Let's pick
up in verse 26. This is where we'll start. For
ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh Not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now I want you to notice how
the Spirit of God draws the believer's heart immediately back to God's
distinguishing grace. Oh, how precious the message
of election. Election. How glorious that God
Almighty would not leave everyone to themselves. That God would
have mercy and compassion. For ye see your calling, brethren,
your effectual calling, how merciful God has been to you that know
Him. in distinguishing grace. Listen
to this. There's not many wise after the
flesh. Now I know that there's been
some wise people born. I know there's some Einstein's
and some, you know, Aristotle's and some... I'm talking about
some brains. People that's got smarts. I understand that. But there's
not been many. Not many that God Almighty has
been pleased to call out of spiritual darkness those that have the
ability to delve into the great mysteries of this world's math
and science and all of these economic wonders. I think about
a computer. How does that work? I don't know. There's some people in here probably
could tell me a whole lot about it, but I mean think about this.
I mean I can, I've got a phone that I can touch this little
microphone. All I know, I know how to do it. I can talk it,
touch it and ask it a question and it'll answer me. If I want to see a street in
Paris I can touch this little icon in a Google world. How did you figure that out?
How did you know? But I can tell you this, there
are some smart people in this world, but not many wise. Not many wise after the flesh. Why? That it might be known that
wisdom in this world is not the way that men know God. Man by
nature can be so wise in the things of this world, wise after
the flesh, and have no idea that which is born of flesh is flesh.
It's dead. Not many mighty There's not many
that have been found to have been blessed of God because of
their athletic or their political or professional talents and influence. I heard Henry say, he said, you
don't find many, you know, like movie stars, things like that. He said, God, you just don't
find the Lord calling many out. Not many noble. You know what
that means? Well-born. That's what it means.
Blue blood. You know what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about old money. Old, old money. Noble people. Great wealth and power that holds
their finger on the pulse of this world's economic system.
Kings and queens and presidents. Now I'm not saying there hadn't
been some. God did call David. Solomon, wisest man born in Adam. No man was wiser than Solomon. Wealthy? I mean, go back and
read of the sacrifices. How many people he fed every
day. I mean, go back and just read
it. How many people he prepared meals for every day and fed them.
Just unbelievable. But I can tell you this, hadn't
been many of them. There's not many like that. Verse
27, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise. And God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things that are mighty. Now,
in verse 26 we just read, we saw what the Lord didn't choose
many of, you know, wise, mighty, noble, I know a lot of times
that people like to have, you know, we'll have a football star,
baseball star come and we'll have them visit today, you know,
in the services, maybe have them speak, something like that, you
know, flesh, flesh, flesh. But I'm talking about calling
them out of darkness. Having a senator come, come speak, you're
going to have a senator come. But God has chosen the foolish,
what the world considers foolish, and weak things of the world.
And I'll tell you this, every believer calls out of darkness,
calls out of spiritual darkness, will admit this, I know I'm weak. I know I'm a foolish one. I know
my inability to perceive the things of God But that which
the Spirit of God has taught me, I know that. But the Lord
showed mercy. He granted me grace to believe. Foolish. God has chosen the foolish
things. What the world considers foolish. Not able to possess enough knowledge
to learn the things of God. That's what they're saying. you
don't have sense enough to understand who God is. God has chosen the
weak things of the world, the feeble, the sickly, spiritually
and physically. Those who have no pedigree, no
title, no worldly substance, How often is it found in these
great religious assemblies? You find earthly prominence in
those places, but Almighty God has been pleased to call the
lowest class of life as the world sees it. That's how the world
sees it. You know, the nobodies, the nobodies. God has chosen them to be spiritual
kings and priests unto God by the Lord Jesus Christ. But I
want you to notice before we go to the next verse right here,
God has chosen the foolish things and weak things of the world
to confound the wise. To cause this world's so-called
wise to be put to shame, to blush, and to be disgraced. It was the Lord's good pleasure
to choose those that He would allow. Let me ask you this, do
you think the Lord knew before He ever chose any of His people? Do you think He knew what sociological,
what economical state they would be in? Do you think He knew what
position in life they were going to hold? Do you think that He
had to wait until after they got into this world? Do you think
that Almighty God has somehow been fooled in what state we
found ourselves in? Almighty God has allowed God's
people to be put in the state that they're in, and has allowed
others to be elevated to great positions of prominence. Great
economic, oh, they just, oh, go, go, go, go. But one day,
they're going to be put to shame. They're going to be confounded.
I'm not saying they're not religious. I'm just saying that they're
not found, to me, to be among God's people. You remember the
blind man that the Lord healed. The Lord came up to a blind man,
and what he did was he spit on the ground. He made some spittle. He put it on that man's eyes
and told him to go wash. He came seeing. And after the
Jews saw that he could see, they started to ask him repeatedly,
how did you see? And after answering them numerous
times and hearing them refute the deity, the power, of the
Lord Jesus Christ that had caused this man to see. He said, he
anointed my eyes, he put some mud, took some spit and some
mud and he put it on my eyes and I can see. And after asking
and asking and asking, he said this, if this man were not God,
he could do nothing. They answered and said it to
him. Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach
us?" And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. Here's what they were saying.
Do you realize who we are? Do you know how long we've been
going to church? Do you think this is our first
round of this kind of stuff? Who are you? to talk to us. We know who God is and you don't. God has chosen what the world
considers foolishness and weakness to shame those that think themselves
to be so. Verse 28, and base things of
the world And things that are despised hath God chosen, yea,
and things that are not, to bring to naught, to bring to nothing
things that are, the based things, those that are reckoned to be
continuing with the same thought that the Apostle Paul has been
preaching, the filth of this world, the filth of this world. Things that are despised. What do you think the natural
man's thoughts were? What do you think the rich man
that fared sumptuously every day? What do you think he thought
about Lazarus sitting right outside his door? Now let me ask you something.
Now just be honest, you don't have to raise your hands, but
just be honest with yourself. If there was somebody and they
were just, they were just a beggar, they were a blind beggar. And
they were, they scraped themselves with broken pots and they were
sitting right outside your front door. And dogs were there all
day long licking their sores and you couldn't go out. without
seeing them. You'd look outside and they're
still sitting there. They've been sitting there a long time. And
they're sitting there day after day after day. And they stink. I mean, they're ruining the value
of your property. What do you think your thought
would be? Can we call somebody and get somebody to haul them
off? What do you think when somebody
comes up to you and starts asking you if you happen to have any
money? What's your first thought? Probably the same thing I think.
God has chosen the base things of this world. Things that are
despised. Those things hath God chosen.
Things that are not. The things that this world considers
not even worthy to be looked at. If I don't have to look at
you, if I don't have to see you or smell you, I'll have a whole
lot better day. That's who God's chosen. And
He's shown us in Scripture some that He's called out of darkness.
I mean, we talk about It's Lazarus, blind Barnabas, and that woman
with the issue of blood, and she was just, she was always
sick, she's always sick, she's always around, and you're just
thinking, I wish she'd do something with herself. I wish she'd go
to a specialist, I wish she'd do something, just don't... That's who God chooses. To bring
to nothing. To bring to naught things that
are. To bring to nothing those that
think that they're something to be admired. Those that think
people want to be around me. I'm the kind that people want
to have fellowship with. People want to admit that they
know me. God has chosen the base things
of this world. to bring to nothing those that
are. Men love the admiration, praise
of other men. That's what Scripture says about
the Pharisees. They love the praises of men
more than the praises of God. And God Almighty is going to
bring them to nothing. And for what reason? Verse 29,
that no flesh should glory in His presence. No man, let me tell you, I'm
telling you, you know this, nobody's going to stand before God and
is going to have any basis in himself to claim that he has
contributed or done something for his salvation. You remember whenever there was a man named Uzzah. And you remember when the ark,
the ark of the covenant, the ark was being transported on
a cart, being pulled by some animals. And that ark was rocking. And Uzzah thought he was going
to help God. He was going to be an assistant.
He didn't want that ark to fall over, that's for sure. And he
put his hand out to steady that ark. Now let me just tell you
the picture here. That ark right there is a picture
of Christ. That's where God was pleased
to meet with His people. I'll meet you between the cherubims. That ark, that was inside the
Holy of Holies. That's what the high priest one
time, one day out of a year, came and sprinkled blood on that
ark, on that mercy seat, that covering. And Uzzah came out
and put his hand on that ark, and when he touched that ark,
God killed him. He killed him. Why? If you think that you're going
to add your effort or your power, you stand before God and try
to claim what you've done for God, We can't do anything for God.
And to stand before God and claim that we did something, I don't
care what it is. You try to put your hand in that place that is reserved
only for the Lord Jesus Christ, in satisfying God, in appeasement
to God, in reconciliation to God. You try to put your hand
on it, and God will kill you. Eternally, you're going to die.
I mean, man claims, well, I've done this, I've done this, I've
walked down this aisle, I gave Him my heart, I exercised my
free will, I joined the church, whatever, whatever. You appeal
to God based on your best. And I'm telling you, you're gone. That no flesh should glory in
His presence. Remember Paul the Apostle one
time with Saul of Tarsus, he boasted in his birth and his
lineage of his mom and daddy and his position as a Pharisee
and his zealousness for God and his ability to keep the law.
And God showed him what he actually was by the grace of God. He didn't
die in that state. But I'm telling you, man by nature
is born that way. Neil, am I right? That's right.
He's born that way. Thinking, I can. And the Lord said, no man can
come to me, except it were given unto him of my Father. The Father
is going to have to say, I give you, I give you acceptance in
myself. Verse 30, But of Him, but of
God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. but of God, but
of Him, are ye in Christ Jesus. Now here we're going to learn
that it's by the free and sovereign grace and power of the Father
without any regard. to merit on the part of the objects
of God's mercy. I'm telling you, those that Almighty
God has chosen to show mercy, it wasn't because He looked down
in time and saw that you would, because I'm telling you, you
go back and read Psalm 14.2 and tell me what God looked down
and saw. God looked and saw that there was none that did good. None. There was none righteous. Not one. Almighty God chose His
people in Christ, but of Him are ye in Christ. If any question of what authority
does a poor, helpless, self-condemned sinner, if anybody asks you,
by what authority do you claim to be able to approach God for
acceptance? You ask a believer that, by what
authority are you saying this? Here it is, right here. But of
Him, I am in Christ Jesus. It wasn't that I chose Him, He
chose me. That's what the Lord said, you've not chosen me, I
chose you. God Almighty chose to show mercy
to me. God Almighty made me what I am
by the grace of God. And He called me out of darkness
and gave me light and then told me what He did. And if He had
waited on me to do it, I would have died in my sins. Almighty God in electing grace
put me in Christ before the foundation of the world that I should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. And that's the totality
of my hope. And I believe God. I have no
confidence in my flesh. Being found in Christ is to be
united to Him by God. Christ is our federal head and
representative. That's what we're going to look
at for just a few minutes before we close. I am joined to Him
as a branch is joined to the vine. He put me there. I did not choose to be put in
Him. He put me in Him. and gave me
faith to believe it. It wasn't by anything that I
did. I didn't have the power. How was I going to put myself
in Christ before the foundation of the world? But of Him are
you in Christ Jesus. God Almighty planted me there. It wasn't because I was wiser
or mightier or nobler. wasn't because of my blood, wasn't
because of my will, it was by the grace of God. And I'm standing
here right now by grace, totally apart from any works of righteousness
on my part. being found in Him, the Apostle
Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, but of Him, are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Now this is
what the Apostle Paul, being taught by God's Spirit, said,
Christ is to His people. I've entitled this message, What
Christ is Made Unto Us. Here's what it is, right here.
He's made unto us wisdom. All men All women, by the fallen
Adam, are ignorant. We're ignorant of what we are
by nature. Sin. I'll tell you this, until
the Lord called me or you or anybody else out of spiritual
darkness, you did not know what you were by nature. Sin. No, you thought you were just
like me. I thought I wasn't that bad. I'm as good as the next guy.
Well, yeah, maybe so. But if he's nothing but scum,
that's what I am too. He has made unto us wisdom. And therefore, realizing that
He is my wisdom, now I realize that I was ignorant of God. But Christ being my wisdom, has
revealed to me and to all of His people the mystery of godliness
and spiritual truth. Every time we come, the Spirit
of God is teaching us concerning Him who is our wisdom. Christ is the author. and the cause of all that we
know and understand concerning who God is. No man knoweth the
Father, but the Son, and Him to whom the Son will reveal Him. This is what we're doing. We're
being taught by our wisdom. Secondly, he said, to be of God
made unto us righteousness. Having been our wisdom or having
been our wisdom to teach us of ourselves and to know who he
is, here's what I know about my righteousness. It's filthy
rags. Now that's what I know. I've
never thought a right thought. I've never said one thing. All I've ever done, I've broken
every commandment. Let me ask you this. Who can truthfully tell me that
you have honored and loved the Lord your God with all your heart,
With all your might, all your spirit, all your strength, you've
never deviated one second from honoring God, loving God. Now
you broke it. Let me ask you this. Who here can truthfully say,
I have never coveted one thing that wasn't mine? Who can truthfully say, I have
never ever murdered somebody in my heart and thought in your
heart, if you was dead, my life would be a lot better off. Have
you ever thought that? Who here would truthfully say,
I have never taken the Lord's name in vain? Now, I know what
everybody says. You're talking about cussing
now. Let me tell you what taking the Lord's name in vain. For
me to even mention the very name of the Father, the Son of the
Holy Spirit. And in my very utterance, to
utter that name without the absolute holy respect that is due that
name is to take His name in vain. And I'm going to tell you something,
I break that law every time I do it. Because I have never taken
His name understanding the depth of whom I speak and to say it
with such respect. He is made unto us righteousness. Righteousness is absolute obedience. That's what it is. It is that
obedience that God Almighty accepts. It is of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. You
hear Him. Paul said, I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. This is what wisdom has done
for us. He's taught us that he must be
our righteousness before God. We have no righteousness. Christ
has by His perfect obedience wrought out righteousness, and
it is imputed to everyone that He's given a heart to believe.
He is the Lord, our righteousness. Thirdly, He has made unto us
sanctification. Sanctification, it means to set
apart, Let me tell you what it's exactly talking about right here.
Holiness. Holy. Holiness. That which the law demands for
acceptance with God, what the law demands is holiness. And that is which no man can
do because man is not holy. What can I do concerning obeying
God and being holy? I can't. I'm a sinner. I'm born in sin. Christ is made
unto His people by God, but of Him. Are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of Him is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, obedience, and
sanctification, holiness, and lastly He's made unto us redemption. Now this word redemption right
here, When Christ died on the cross, He redeemed, but He paid
the debt. That's right. We talk about the
redemption. This word redemption here actually
means deliverance. Deliverance from evil. As our
Redeemer, Christ has delivered His people from the guilt and
the debt of sin. He has delivered us from the
power of Satan in the grave. And He has made in this verse
to be our redemption. And here's what this means. When
I say deliverance, in the great day of the Lord, He's keeping
us right now. But I can tell you that in that
great day, The day in which the Lord will come back and all of
the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which remain will
meet Him in the air. Christ will be our redemption
that day. And I'm going to give you a couple
of scriptures to prove it. Romans 8.23, And not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body. Ephesians 4.30, And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed, until the day
of redemption. Until that day when Almighty
God calls us unto Himself. We're changed in a moment, twinkling
of an eye. So, for those who are in Christ,
Christ being made all to them. Here's what He is, totally based
on their union with Him. Based upon that which He's taught
them. He is their wisdom. Based upon
their obedience before God that is demanded, He is their righteousness. Based upon them being found holy
and without blame in Him, He is their sanctification. And concerning their final deliverance
from sin, He is their redemption. That, last verse, in order that,
according as it is written, he that glorieth, don't glory in
what you've done. Don't glory in what you've figured
out. Don't glory in what you think
you've been able to do to please God. Don't glory in what you
think that you are being sanctified If a man's gonna glory, let him
glory in the Lord. Almighty God, making Christ to
be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And that, totally, by grace. May the Lord bless the Word to
our hearts. For Christ's sake, Amen.