Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that, as it is written, he who glories, let
him glory in the Lord. We all, as Adam's children, have
learnt A wisdom. We learnt a wisdom in the fall
and we've lived in that wisdom since the fall. It's called in
verse 19, the wisdom of the wise. In verse 21, it's the wisdom
of this world. This wisdom produces all manner
of earthly achievements. but it especially produces religious
activity. And we see that in that awful
event in Cain and Abel after the fall. There were two men
well taught by Adam. They come at a time. They come to a place. They come to a sacrifice and
bringing a sacrifice They come at a God-appointed time of worship
and they bring an offering and there is a result, there is a
reward for doing these things. It's righteousness. brought the Lord Jesus to his
father. He brought a blood sacrifice. Cain brought what he wanted to
bring. He came in a sense proud of his
achievements and thinking the things that he had produced with
his own hands was satisfactory to God. See, at the end of the
day, all flesh wants to be able to glory in the presence of God. All flesh wants to have a wisdom. All flesh wants to have a religious
wisdom before God. Everyone is a person of faith.
They are a person of some sort of faith. They believe ultimately
in their own righteousness and their own wisdom. This wisdom
of the world, this wisdom of the wise. We have to go back to the garden
again and again and see what those questions did and what
that deal was, did God really say? You will not die, says Satan. You will not face the judgment
of God. You can doubt God's word, you
can doubt his judgment, and the reward, the reward for you is
that you will be like God. You see, we want that glory. We want to have the things which
are God's. That's our flesh, isn't it? That
which is born of flesh is flesh. It's come from Adam. It's come
by natural generation and it's how we are. The flesh wants to
glory, it wants to boast in, it wants to brag about, it wants
to even be proud of its humility, but ultimately it wants self-gratification
and self-glorification. All human beings are born spiritually
dead and we desire the praise that belongs to God. Natural
man wants to have something, anything, anything of his salvation,
something to do with his relationship with God attributed to himself. That's just how we are, all of
us. "'I am the Lord,' says the Lord through Isaiah 42.8. "'I
am the Lord, that is my name, "'and my glory I will not give
to another, "'neither my praise to graven images.'" You see,
these wonderful verses that we have here at the end of 1 Corinthians
provide us with the only antidote to the religion of man. And the
antidote is God. Just look at it. Yet the beginning
of the chapter talks about the Church of God, which is at Corinth,
are those who are sanctified, finished, completed work. Sanctified, not because of their
activities, they're sanctified in Christ Jesus. They are called
to be saints. Who's doing all of this activity?
He's our Lord, He's both the Lord of Paul and He's the Lord
of all the saints. We call on Him as Lord because
we are sanctified, we are called. And this is all in verse 4, an
act of grace. It was the grace of God, and
just to make sure that we understand what grace is again, it was given
to you, not because of anything we did, it was given by Christ
Jesus. You see, it's a sanctifying grace,
it's a calling grace. and it's a preserving grace,
verse 8, who will also confirm you to the end. And it's a glorifying
grace, blameless. You may be blameless in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I went again to a funeral yesterday
and we're going to a funeral today. signs of the judgment
of God, those people who have died, whatever their state will,
one day, one day, there is a judgment coming. Despite what our flesh
says, you see, our flesh continually says, you will not die. Did God really say? But this
is a tragic tragic situation Simon and I said several times
when these people used to come in for lunch one day we'll be
going to the funerals of these guys and it's remarkable isn't
it how often as people get closer to the judgment, as all of us
are growing closer day by day, it seems as if Satan's deceptive
snares tend to push judgment further and further away. our old friend of the family
whose funeral was yesterday, the number of times I went to
see him, not a lot in the last few years, because it got harder
and harder to talk to him, just to open any door to talk about
eternity, to talk about his soul, to talk about God. And the door
was shut. and we would shut that door if
it wasn't for these things that we've just read about here. Who's done this? The grace of
God has done it all, given to us in Christ Jesus. To be presented
blameless on that day, to be there blameless on that day,
God's children look forward to the Day of Judgment because it's
the vindication and the glorification in a manifest way of the Lord
Jesus and all His people. Verse 9 is a great description
of our God. God is faithful. by whom you
were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. No wonder, down further, at the
end of this chapter, Paul wants to squash the natural boasting
of the flesh of all of us. Verse 26, See your calling, brethren,
Not many wise, according to the fleet. It's not a matter of your
wisdom. Not many mighty. It's not a matter
of your power and the things you've established. Not many
noble. Not a matter of birth, born into
nobility. Not many of them are called.
Fortunately, there are some. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which
are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised. God has chosen. It's a description, in large
measure, of how the world viewed our Lord Jesus. In Mark's Gospel,
we've been following Him to the cross. He wasn't mighty. He didn't appear to be wise.
He certainly wasn't considered noble. He was seen to be weak. He was seen to be a base man
of this world. He was certainly seen to be despised. God has chosen His saints, in
large measure, to reflect the humility of His Son in this world,
and He's chosen a path for his saints to reflect and honour
the path that his son walked. Verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. One of the challenges for us
who hold with passion the doctrines which are commonly called Calvinism
is that throughout the last 400 years or so, these very doctrines
which I just outlined there in brief form in this chapter of
1 Corinthians, have actually been the basis for men to be
proud, to be proud of their wisdom, to be proud of the fact that
they know and understand these things. You see, God's work in
the lives of His people is not to make us proud, not to raise
us up above others, but to humble us. God has chosen the base things
of the world, the things which are despised, things which are
not to bring to nothing the things which are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. It's probably the most succinct
description of Christians in the Scriptures, isn't it, in
Philippians 3. We are the circumcision, circumcised
in Christ Jesus, who worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in your fleshly
activities. What a blessing it is to know
that it's not about us and it's not about what we do. It's grace. You see, it's grace. always about the glory of God
in the grace that He shows us. But of Him are we in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us our wisdom. We don't boast about wisdom. We don't boast about the wisdom
that we have. The reference that Paul is leading
his people to is back in Jeremiah verse 9, verse 23. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him who glories, glories in this. that he understands
and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight. We've just been reading about
the activities of God. his faithfulness. I am the Lord
exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth.
That word exercise means I accomplish, I perform, I do it all. Mercy and truth on the earth
in my people, for my people with the result of saving my people. It's all on the basis of what
our Lord promises and what He performs. You may now well remember
that verse that I often quote in Romans 4, my most favourite
definition of faith. Abraham was strengthened in faith.
He gave glory to God. There's nothing in Abraham's
flesh that he could boast about. A weak old man being fully convinced,
fully persuaded that what he had promised, what God had promised,
he was also able. The word is power. God has the
power to perform. That's why the cross of the Lord
Jesus, the doctrine of the cross, the doctrine of the success of
the Lord Jesus on the cross, the finished work that he's done,
is offensive. Because God gets all the glory. All false religion gives man
something to do in salvation because all false religion starts
in some sense with a God who does not perform, who does not
accomplish who just makes a way open, a God who just opens doors. And therefore, as we heard yesterday
at the funeral service, God has made salvation possible. The
door's open. He loves everyone. His death
is for everyone. All you have to do is walk through
the door. Grace glories in the true and
living God, who saves completely, He saves to the uttermost, and
He saves helpless sinners. And we cannot mix the two. And if by grace, then it is no
longer by works, Otherwise, grace is no longer
grace. It's a great definition of grace,
isn't it? It absolutely, perfectly, completely
and for all time excludes human activity. Otherwise, grace is
no longer grace. But it is of works. It is no
longer grace. Otherwise work is no longer work. They cannot be mixed together. So it's not of him who wills,
and it's not of him who runs, but it is of God who shows mercy. God is now our wisdom. God's wisdom is the delight of
our wisdom now. He's made unto us, but of Him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us righteousness. Righteousness just is to have
done. perfectly and in a holy way,
in body, mind and spirit, everything required by the law of God. By one man's disobedience, just
one transgression, all were made sinners. And therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But the gospel talks of
one who is faithful, by the obedience of one, Christ Jesus and all
who he represented are made the righteousness of God. Remarkable,
isn't it, to think that on that day we will be blameless, on
that day of our Lord Jesus, because we will be the righteousness
of God. Not a pasted on righteousness,
but a real righteousness. He loved God, and he loved his
fellow man, and he loved them to death. And he did it because
of an eternal union. Our communion now, represented
in baptism, represented in the Lord's Supper, Our communion
now is a result of a union, an indissolvable union. He will confirm you to the end. And Jesus Christ of God has made
unto us our sanctification. He is our holiness. He is the one that separates
us. The holiness with which you cannot
see God is Christ Jesus. See, they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Now, if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, The
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. That's why we continue to encourage
our brothers and sisters to look to Jesus. Why look to flesh that
God says is dead? Why are we looking to flesh for
signs of life? Why are people encouraged to
look to dead flesh for works of merit? We look to the Lord
Jesus. We follow the Lord Jesus. Jeremiah 9 has a beautiful description
of what the Lord is to His people. If you turn there, Jeremiah 9,
31. I'll read it to you. He says,
I will satiate, I will satisfy the soul of the
priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Colossians 1 says that we give
thanks to God the Father who has qualified us, made us fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Christ Jesus has been made unto
us redemption. It's interesting, isn't it? Redemption
is at the end of the list and you would think that the very
first activity of God on the list would be redemption. But I think redemption in the
context here is that redemption that is coming soon. Redemption
that the Lord Jesus has won for us. We have been delivered from
sin because a price has been paid, a ransom has been paid. and we now belong to our rightful
owner and creator again. But He is our resurrection. He is the redemption of our bodies. We are saved by God in body and
soul. We are saved completely and perfectly
and everlastingly. And as verse 8 in 1 Corinthians
says, He will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus. God's children will have bodies,
real souls, real spirits, real bodies, and it will be a blameless
body. We will be like Jesus. When He comes, we will be able
to see Him as He is, because we will be like Him. This is how David died, isn't
he? God has made with me an everlasting covenant. This is how Moses died. Underneath me are everlasting
arms. And he goes back and he looks
at who God is. There is no one like the God
of Jeshurun, who rides to heavens to help you, and in his excellency
on the clouds, The eternal God is your refuge and underneath
are the everlasting arms. He will thrust out the enemy
from before you and will say, destroy. It's a wonderful gospel of a
glorious savior that we proclaim. and the psalmist should echo
our thoughts. In God we burst all day long,
and praise your name forever. Amen.