If you take your Bibles, again,
start with me in Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. The text again is going to be found
in verse 15. The apostle says, For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
for what avails? In Christ this avails a new creation."
A new creation. Now the last couple of messages
we've been talking about, we've been preaching to you what it
is to be in Christ. That was the first message. Paul
says, for in Christ Jesus. Neither your obedience to the
law nor your disobedience to the law has anything to do with
your salvation, but rather this, that God has given you a new
nature. God has created in you a new
creation. We'll talk about that in just
a minute, but we discussed this, what it is to be in Christ. We
know this, that if any man is in Christ, it's of God. Go to
1 Corinthians, and this is where we're going to spend the rest
of our time. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30 because Paul is
talking about the same thing, talking about being in Christ,
being in Christ. Paul says, but of God are you
in Christ Jesus? And we know this, that we are
in Christ Jesus, you who are believers. Listen, this is speaking
to you, you who are in Christ Jesus. This is a glorious truth
that neither your obedience has anything to do with your salvation,
nor your disobedience has anything to bar you from salvation, but
rather this, because you are in Christ, God has made you a
new creature, a new creation. And we studied this, that our
union is of God. The Apostle mentions this very
clearly in Ephesians 1. He says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Now where are they? In Christ.
Where are all the spiritual blessings? They're in Christ. So if we're
to have any of these spiritual blessings, they are in Christ. Now listen, according, I'm praising
God according to this, according as He had chosen us in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world. That's when He chose
us, in Christ. for the purpose that we should
be made holy and without blame before him. That's the reason. In love, having predestinated
us, in love is the motivation and the predestinated, all is
predestinated in love so that we should be adopted sons. Now
how is all this going to take place? By Jesus Christ, that's
how it's going to take place. So we see this, that God has
purposed that we should be in Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus,
being our surety, has accomplished all that the Father has given
him to do. Which was what? Make us holy,
without blame before him. That was the purpose, the will
of God. And by the grace and power of God, we experienced
this union, didn't we? We experienced it in the new
creation, the new birth. You remember he told Nicodemus,
he said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. So what is this? This new creation
then is a product of God's will, of God's power, of God's grace,
in that he effectually made us literally in union with his son
in this new nature. And so that's what it means to
be in Christ. And you remember last time I
went over four pictures, four pictures of our union with Christ.
Now the first picture I showed you was that of the vine and
the branches. You that are in Christ, you that believe in Christ,
you are in Christ just as much as a branch is in the vine. And by that picture we see where
all the life comes from. You see the branch, it's growing
out of the vine. You see the fruit on it. Where
does that come from? It comes from the vine. And you cut off
the branch, where's the fruit? Where's the growth? It dies.
And so we see our union with Christ is vital. It's vital. You cannot live without
Him. Except you abide in me, you can
do nothing. I showed you the second picture
of the building and Christ being the chief cornerstone. And so
you are in union with Him. Listen, He is the ground and
foundation by which you are made acceptable with God. What's my
ground of praying? We just prayed. We just asked
God for things. What is my ground to come before
God? How can I approach before a holy
God and be accepted? On what grounds do you come here?
I think of that Esther, you remember Esther,
how she approached, she was to approach before the Xerxes. And you remember the law was,
except he extend the scepter, she would die. And she came in
there very fearful. But as soon as he saw her, what'd
he do? Yielded the scepter. Why? He
loved her. Every time you approach before
God, He yields a scepter. Come and welcome. Come and welcome.
And so we approach before God on what grounds? Jesus Christ
is our foundation, isn't he? And we saw that another picture
was the head and the body. So we are in Christ just as much
as the head and the body are connected, so are we in union
with Christ. And this speaks of his lordship
over the church, over his people. And so he is the head and we
are his body and we move according to his will. We function according
to his will in the church. And the last one was the marriage
union. Remember, that's a picture of love, isn't it? That shows
us that our union with Christ, yes, it's vital that we are in
Christ. Yes, he is the grounds by which we are saved. Yes, he
is the head by which he rules us. But he is our husband who
loves us and cares for us and redeemed us and saved us. You
see, these are pictures of you. You see what great care God showed
these pictures of your relationship with his son? And there are many
others, but these are blessed. Now then, I want us to see tonight,
what is the benefits? What are the benefits of being
in Christ? You that are in Christ, what
are the benefits that should cause you to rejoice in the middle
of your sufferings and trials? Because you have many. You have
many. We have many troubles. But what
is the joy that we are to receive in these troubles? Well, the
benefits of our union are very joyful things. They're great
things. Why? Because they're not temporal.
God gives us temporal things all the time. And then we forget. How many things has God given
you, you forgot? How many things that you wanted so badly, And
over the years, and God gave them to you, and about 15 minutes
later, just like a kid, you done forgot the toy that you got.
You don't even care about it. These things are greater in these. These benefits are eternal. Everything I'm going to tell
you is yours forever. It can never be taken from you. You see, in order to take it
from you, they'd have to take it from Christ, because you're
in Christ. So let's see these together.
Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. It says, But
of God are you in Christ Jesus by His sovereign grace and by
His sovereign power. You have now experienced the
grace of God. You are in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto
us? God made Christ something unto
us who are in Him. What is it? Wisdom. righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Four benefits. Four benefits
of being in Christ Jesus. Look yonder as God in eternity
past puts you in there. He puts you and nestled you into
the very arms of Jesus Christ, His Son. And in an act, a sovereign
act and covenant of grace, in a covenant of grace, God made
Christ all your salvation, all of it. All the salvation of the elect
from eternity was totally, absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ. I just read that in Ephesians
1, by Jesus Christ. Very important words. How is
this going to be done? By Jesus Christ. Lord, I know
you chose me. I know you purposed me to be
holy. It don't appear that everything is going well. Everything seems
to be going opposite. I seem to be getting worse. I
don't seem to be getting holier. Well, don't worry, I'm not depending
on you. It's by Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. He made Christ
to be all our salvation in a covenant. I like this, unto us a child
is born. When Mary had that kid, that
was a child born. She held him in her arms, a child
born. but he was also a son given.
He was a son before he was a child. You got it? He was the eternal
son of God. His deity and his humanity was
spoken of. And listen to this, and the government,
the kingdom, shall be upon his shoulders. In other words, the
weight and responsibility of the salvation and protection
of his government is totally resting on his shoulders. And Isaiah 28, you remember,
he's the foundation upon which the whole church is built. Behold,
I lay inside a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. Now, how sure is the church? It's as sure as Christ. It's
as sure as Christ. Why? because God hath made him
to be all our salvation, all of it. And so let's see these four things
tonight, the Lord willing. First of all, Christ, the wisdom
of God. Now, when Adam was made, he was
wise. You know who named all the animals, right? Adam didn't
start out as an idiot, like evolution teaches. A man starts out as
an idiot and becomes smarter. You can't look at this society
and tell me to become smarter. Adam was wise. Adam was upright, but as soon
as he sinned, our father became a fool. Consider this. This is the definition of foolishness.
When God came, Adam hid himself. Can you hide from God? Adam believed
he could hide from God, and so does every man. This is the wisdom
of the world, that if I just stick my head in the sand and
ignore it, it'll all be okay. That's the wisdom of man. Ask
him. They'll tell you, yeah, God, I don't care. They believe they can hide from
me. And even more foolish than that, he believed he could hide
his sin by leaves, big leaves. His nakedness. He believed when
God saw him in that, he believed this. Now, when he sewed those
fig leaves together, he did such a great job that he thought,
as soon as God came down, that he wouldn't notice. That's how men, that's what men
think of God's wisdom. They think he's a fool. But who's really the fool? Anybody
who believes they can hide their sin from God is a fool. Adam did. And so the problem
is this, that that foolishness has passed down to us. The foolishness of Adam has passed
down to his whole race. This is the natural wisdom of
every son of Adam, that he believes he can either hide from God or
cover his sin by his works. That's the wisdom of the world.
This is the wisdom of churches. Jesus Christ has a portion, he
had a purpose, he had a work in this, but the rest of this
is up to us. That's the wisdom of the world.
Go ask them, they'll tell you. They really believe they can
become a better person. If I just determine within myself to be
a better person, I'll be a better person. Well, you can before
everybody else, but you can't before God. But see, God has shown us something. You who believe, God has shown
us this, that my wisdom is foolishness. I couldn't hide from God. When
God opened our eyes, we knew this, I could not hide my sin
from God. I could not cover myself. I could
not earn what God demanded. We were ignorant of God and how
sinners are made acceptable to God. But see that God has made Christ
to be our wisdom. The wisdom of all who are in
Christ. We know this, that He's the wisdom
of God. Look back at your text. Look
back in 1 Corinthians. I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter
1. Look at this in verse 21. Well, verse 20, God calls him out,
doesn't He? He said, Where's the wise? Where
is he? Point him out to me. Where's
the scribe? Where's the disputer? Anybody
want to dispute with me? Where is he? Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of the world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world, by wisdom, what? Knew not God. You can't
know God by earthly wisdom. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after foolishness, But we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but
to them that are called." Here's a contrast, isn't it? To the world, what we preach
is what? Foolishness. Otherwise, wouldn't
this place be full? Wouldn't it? If this were really
Wisdom. If people were seeking wisdom,
and they saw this as wisdom, they'd be here. They don't want
it. They don't care for it. But to us who are called, why
are you here? Both Jews and Greeks. Why? Christ,
the power of God, and what? The wisdom of God. the wisdom
of God. Christ to the world is foolishness. The gospel of God's free grace
is foolishness. I'm here to tell you that there's
salvation without you doing anything. No part. Matter of fact, the
only way to mess it up is to put your hand to it. I'm talking about a salvation
that's perfect. That's without sin. It's accepted of God. Jesus Christ has accomplished
salvation. Scripture says that you should
believe on Him. And everyone who believes on
Him, the Scriptures are clear that they're saved. It's amazing. But anyone who would add anything
to it defiles it. I don't like that. I got to have
something. Well, you think what the gospel
is is foolish. But to us who are saved, we know this. Christ
is the power of God and Christ, the wisdom of God. Man, hate inspires the gospel,
but we who are in union with Christ, we see it as wisdom.
We know that the only that a man could be made righteous is through
a representative. That's the only way I can be
made righteous. The only way I can be made acceptable with
God is through a representative, a substitute. Herein is the wisdom
of God. Listen to this. If you can answer
this question, then you understand the wisdom of God. How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? It's a conundrum that the world
cannot solve. It is. You have a judge and he sees
the man before him as his son and his son is guilty. If the
judge releases him based on his affection, then the judge ceases
to be just. If the judge condemns him, how
could it be mercy? Can't do it. It can't be just
and justify the ungodly. Can't do it. Yet God does. God is just and justifies the
ungodly. How does he do it? Well, here's
the wisdom. Jesus Christ. That's how he does
it. Substitution is the wisdom of
God. The only answer is that Jesus
Christ was made our substitute. He was made our high priest.
He was made our offering for sin. He was made to be all our
righteousness and sanctification. And Jesus Christ alone provided
what the justice of God required. What did the justice of God require
of you? In order for God to be just,
what did he have to do? He has to punish sin. He has
to punish sin. If he doesn't punish sin, God
is not just. Yet here's the wonderful news,
is that Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body, and God
was just to punish him. God justly punished Jesus Christ
so that he might justify us who are in Christ. So what's the
wisdom of God? What's the answer to this question?
Jesus Christ is the only answer to this question. Consider his wisdom in saving
us. Consider that Christ is the wisdom
of God in providence and circumstances, isn't it? In time. Isn't he our
wisdom? How do we navigate through all
the trials and difficulties that we face in this life? You as
a believer are surrounded by enemies. Everything seems to
be opposed to the promises of God. Everything we touch and
we feel, it seems to contradict what God promised to give us.
He promised peace and joy and life. And what do we see? We
see we suffer. We see grief, we see sorrow,
we see death. It seems opposite. Yet I know this, that because
Christ is the wisdom of God, that all things, no matter how
it appears, are working together for our good. That's wisdom. That's wisdom
that you can use, isn't it? That's wisdom you can constantly
use. and you constantly have need
of. Remember in Romans 8, 28, He said, For all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. God purposed to make us in the
image of His Son, didn't He? Is that what He purposed? He
called us, He justified us, and He glorified us. Where? In His Son. In His Son. So then he says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Listen, I lay things to the charge
of God's elect every day. My conscience does, doesn't it?
I charge myself every day. You know, God says, who are you
to charge you? It's God that justified you.
Now if God justified me, what do I care what I think or what
men think? You don't look justified. What
does that matter? God justified me. Who is he that
condemneth? I like that. If you can't accuse
somebody, how can you condemn them? God said you can't even
accuse them. Yet are you still trying to condemn
them? Listen. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that
died. Christ has died, yea rather has
risen again. Ever liveth at the right hand
of God to make intercession for us. This is wisdom we can use. You are in Christ, this is a
benefit. Christ is the wisdom of God. And so when I got things
I can't explain, who do I look to? I look to Christ. I look
to Christ who rules over all things. and has promised to bring
me." So what's the conclusion of that Romans 8? He said, who
then shall separate us from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus? Who or what? Anybody. He said, nothing can
separate us from the love of God. That's wisdom you can use,
isn't it? Now secondly, Christ is our righteousness. God made him to be our righteousness.
Now by nature we are what? Unrighteous. The scripture says,
as it is written, there is none Righteous, no, not one. That's who we are by nature.
Therefore, we could never merit righteousness. This is against
the wisdom of the world, isn't it? The wisdom of the world believes
that you can merit some measure of righteousness. By your obedience
to the law or the church ordinances or your outward goodness and
kindness to others, you can somehow achieve a righteous standard.
that God will accept. But the scripture says there
is none righteous. So if you don't have any righteousness
at all, how can you ever get any? You're unrighteous. Therefore, he says, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh, no flesh, I don't care who you are,
no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God. He said that
in Galatians 3. We've been over that and over
that and over that again. It's the whole purpose of the book
of Galatians to show you that the law is by no means makes
us acceptable to God. That we are free from the law.
But behold, God has made Christ our representative, listen, to
be all our righteousness. All of it. How did he do that? How did Christ Become all my
righteousness. Well, first of all, God made
him that. That's just a simple answer that you should believe,
but the scriptures are very clear as to how. Go to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5. How has Christ made our righteousness? As we used this word before,
by representation. Look at chapter 5 and verse 19. How did you become a sinner?
Well, the apostle says in verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience
many were made what? Sinners. How did you become a
sinner? By one man's disobedience. That's how we all became sinners.
Well, how then shall I be made righteous? So, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. God made Christ to be my righteousness. I tell you, He did that in eternity.
I tell you, He did that in eternity when He put me in Christ. But
know this, that Jesus Christ, when He came into the world,
that's when He made our righteousness. He made our righteousness. Jesus
Christ, my friend, is the author of our righteousness. Go to Romans
3. Look at Romans 3. As he said,
there's none righteous, no, not one. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Verse
21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest. That's good, because I couldn't
obey that thing. I'm glad that it's manifest, but how? It's
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the what? By what? Read those words very
carefully, the faith of Jesus Christ. I've read many commentaries
on this and a few of them have stated that that should be translated
in Jesus Christ. But I guarantee you this, they
cannot answer the question, how in the world does your faith
merit the righteousness of God? What does your faith have to
do with the righteousness of God? Your faith simply receives the
righteousness of God. It doesn't make it. The righteousness
of God is made by the faith of Jesus Christ. By the faith of
Jesus Christ. Go to Galatians chapter 2. Look
at this same thing here. The apostle mentions it again. Look at Galatians chapter 2 and
verse 16. He said, knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, well, how's a man justified? By the faith of Jesus Christ. And now then, the second thing
he mentions is what? Your faith. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ. You see, those two are of necessity The one by the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ, by the obedience of Jesus Christ, he made our
righteousness. And by the faith of the Holy,
given to us by the Holy Spirit, we now receive that righteousness. But our faith had nothing to
do with the righteousness. So when he says by the faith of
Jesus Christ, that's exactly the best translation of that.
By the faith of Jesus Christ. So what does this mean? It means
he's the author of my righteousness. He made it. It's as though He
sewed together the robe of righteousness with His own hands. A righteousness that is so pleasing
to God, the Scripture calls it the righteousness of God. You
know, there's really no other kind of righteousness but that.
There's no other kind of righteousness but the righteousness of God.
Anything less is not righteous, is it? You see, the Lord Jesus has made
for you the righteousness of God. Scripture says you are made
the righteousness of God, where? In Him. In Him. In Him. So listen to this. He's not only my wisdom as to
know how God saves sinners. He's also all my righteousness
to stand before God. All my righteousness. And so let us see who are in
Christ. We should rejoice. He's all our righteousness. So
what righteousness do you need to provide? What of your wisdom do you need
to provide? How much righteousness should
you add to this? Nothing. See, isn't this wonderful? Isn't
this a burden that's lifted off that we are free to know that
he is all my righteous Now thirdly, let's look at this.
He is all our sanctification. He says, God hath made him to
be our wisdom, our righteousness, and our sanctification. Now the word of God is very clear
that without holiness, no man can see the Lord. Except you be holy as God, you
cannot see the Lord. Now Christ is our righteousness.
in that all his obedience is imputed to us as our own. All of his righteous, passive,
and active obedience to God is now mine. It's mine. But look and see that Christ
is all our holiness as well. Now as all our holiness, because
this is the fulfillment of God's eternal will, isn't it? That
you should be holy. We just read that. This is the
reason you were put into Christ. That you should be holy. Now
listen, I want you to see the distinction between righteousness
and holiness. There is a distinction. Righteousness has to do with
our actions, whether passive or active actions. But holiness has to do with the
state of being. All that God does is righteous. Why? Because he is holy. Because he is holy, therefore
all he does is righteous. So when he's talking about sanctification,
He's talking about our state of being, holy, holy. That's what sanctification is,
it's holiness. And so we who are in Christ are
not only righteous, we are made holy. The works of Christ are counted
as ours, but so is the nature of Christ, ours. Now how is this? We who are sanctified, we who
are sanctified, we were sanctified by the will of God, weren't we? We were set apart and declared
to be holy from eternity. We read it again in Ephesians
1 that God had purposed to make us holy, but let's read it in
Hebrews. Go to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10. and see that we were sanctified
by the will of God. Made holy by the will of God.
Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse 9. He said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. The will of God was to what?
Make you holy. That he may take away the first,
that he may establish the second. By the witch will, by the will
of God, we are sanctified. So how are you sanctified? How
are you made holy? By the will of God. Well, how
do you do that? Through. Here's the means. Here's
the means by which He who decreed you to be holy made you holy.
Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times
were you sanctified? Once. You were made holy once. You were made holy once. He said, For every priest standeth
daily ministering, often the same sacrifice, to never take
away sin. But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for
sin, what did he do? He sat down. It's done. Your
holiness has been made, just as much as your righteousness
has been made. Your holiness, your sanctification has been
made by his offering. He sat down, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected." Isn't that what a holiness is? Perfected. How long are you perfect? How long are you perfected? Forever. Isn't this a great benefit? Isn't this a glorious benefit?
Do you want to take part in this? Do you want to help? God out
in this matter of sanctification. A lot of churches do. A lot of
people want to help Him out in sanctification. I need to sanctify
myself. I need to become holier. You
know, the only time holier is used in Scripture is for evil
men, haters of God. I am holier than thou. The only
time the word holier is used. So how then are we sanctified?
We are sanctified by the will of God, putting us in Christ.
We are sanctified by the offering of Jesus Christ, once forever
perfected by Jesus Christ, who all of his elect. Now, wait a
second. We weren't born like that. We
weren't born like that, were we? Although it was done before
we were born. Listen, we were born unholy. Yet by the grace and power of
God, what did He do? He created in us a holy nature. You that believe, listen to me.
You have in you the very nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. What the scripture calls a new
man. Why is it new? It wasn't there
before. Now it is. It's new. Created, Paul says
in Ephesians chapter five. He says, created after God. Listen to these words, in true
holiness. You that believe, listen to me.
God has, it's exactly what our text is saying. You that are
in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but what? A new creation. God has made in us a new nature. He has sanctified us and made
us holy by imparting to us a holy nature. It's what Peter calls
in 2 Peter 1 verse 4, the divine nature. We are made partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the lust. Where? In this world. You've escaped
it. Wait a second, man, my heart
is full of lust and sin and all kinds of... Friends, that's the
nature you were born with. Now, because God created a new
nature in you, He did not destroy the old. That's why Paul said
in that same chapter in Ephesians, put off the old man and his deeds. How long are you going to do
that? Until he dies. You got to keep doing that because
he don't get any better. You have to mortify the deeds
of the body. You can't toy with them. You can't just passively
go along. You have to actually crucify
them. You've got to put them out. Why? Because they're constantly
coming up. Why? Because the old nature didn't
do anything. God didn't do anything with the
old nature. But in sanctification, God has made us holy. I'm going
to look at this and see if it doesn't prove it. 1 John chapter
3. 1 John chapter 3. Look at verse 9. People who believe in just one
nature, I don't see how you get over this text. This is just
astounding. Listen to this. Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin. Can you look me in the eye and
tell me you don't commit sin? No, matter of fact, in the first
chapter of this, didn't he cover that? He that says he's without
sin has made God a liar and the truth's not in him. There's a
sect of people that believe that once you're saved that you are
literally, completely, 100% holy and you don't sin no more. We know that's not true. We know
in us is sin. What does he mean, whosoever
is born of God? He's talking about the nature
that is created in us doesn't sin. The new nature that God
creates. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin, because he's born of God. That which is born
of God cannot sin. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
a blessing of being in Christ? Is that we have a nature that
cannot sin. We have another nature that can't do anything but sin. Oh, that is, yeah, when we do
sin we have forgiveness, we have pardon. Why? Because of Christ. We have Christ. So consider the
blessing of our union with Christ is that this holy nature is now
imparted to us. And the old man does no longer
reign within the heart of the new. The old man doesn't reign. Why? Because we've been sanctified.
sanctified, made holy by the will of God, made holy by the
blood of Christ, made holy by the Spirit of God. And I could
give you these scriptures, but in 1 Corinthians 6, 11, he says,
you that are, you are washed, you are sanctified. So what do you have to do with
your sanctification? The same thing you have to do
with your righteousness and wisdom. Nothing. God made Christ to be our wisdom,
our righteousness, and our sanctification, and lastly, our redemption. Christ
has made our redemption. We, by nature, were born captives
of sin under the just sentence of God's law. We were like Israel
in bondage to Egypt. But God, you remember what happened
in Egypt, God redeemed them from bondage. Now how did God redeem
them from bondage? By the Passover lamb. By the
Passover lamb. This is how God has always intended
to redeem us. Sin must be paid for. Sin must be paid for. And so God made Christ to be
the only offering for sin. He is the Passover lamb. And I'm going to close with this
vivid picture of John's revelation. Go to Revelation chapter 5. Go
to Revelation chapter 5. And we'll see the vivid picture
of our Redeemer. John here standing, and he sees
at the right hand, chapter 5 and verse 1, he saw at the right
hand of him that sat on the throne. A book written within and on
the backside sealed with seven seals. What is that? That's salvation. Salvation is sealed. Nobody can
earn it. Nobody can grab it from God.
Nobody can merit it. Look, an angel, a strong angel
proclaimed with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book
and loose the seals thereof? And what? No man in heaven or
on earth or under the earth was able to open or even look on
it. Can't do it. Who can save themselves? Who's worthy? What did John say? He said, I
wept. I'll tell you, if there is a
sinner who sees the hopelessness of saving himself, John saw the hopelessness of
saving himself. And he knew this, that if somebody
didn't open that book, he couldn't be saved. And he wept much, because
no man was worthy to open the book, or read the book, neither
to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
him, Don't cry, don't weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and loose the seals thereof. And I beheld, and low in the
midst of the throne, and the four beasts in the midst of the
elders, stood a lamb. He said, The lion of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed. the root of David, God and man
hath prevailed. The God-man hath prevailed. And
he looked and he saw what? A lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns, that's perfect power, seven eyes full of omniscience
of God, and seven spirits of God. The perfect measure of the
spirit of God was given to him. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. I like
the picture of that, don't you? Jesus Christ got their salvation,
and Jesus Christ earned it. He went up there and he took
it from the hand of God. And God, smiling, gave it to him. Took the book. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, every one of them having harps
and golden vials of odors that are the prayers of the saints,
and they sung a new song, saying what? Thou art worthy to take
the book and open the seals thereof. Why? For thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us to God. You are in Christ, listen to
me. Your sins have been justly sentenced and paid for by the
Lamb of God. Every one of them. Every one that you can account
for. Can you account for all your sins? I'm thankful God can. You know why? Because there He
laid them on Christ. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that you might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He has redeemed us. You need a Redeemer. You need
one to buy you out of the slave market of sin. Listen, Christ
has already paid the price. And what do we do? We bow down
before the Lamb. And say what? Thou art worthy.
You have redeemed us. Who redeemed me? Jesus Christ
alone redeemed me. I like what the psalmist said,
in thee is plenteous redemption. You know why I need plenteous
redemption? I don't need him to pay half and me pay the other
half. I have nothing to pay. And he paid it all. He paid it
all. These four benefits of you that
are in Christ, listen, he's your wisdom. How can God be just and
justify you? Jesus Christ, He's my wisdom.
Why? God made Him my wisdom. He's
my righteousness. He earned all the righteousness
of God for me. He's my sanctification. He made
me holy and then by the power of His Spirit imparted that nature
to me. He perfected us forever who are
sanctified. and then he redeemed us. You
have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus,
as of a lamb without spot and without blemish. Let me ask you
this, after seeing all of these things that God put you in Christ,
sovereign will, Christ accomplished all your salvation according
to the will of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit,
the will of God was applied to your heart and mind, and you
believe, and you are now kept by the power of God unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last time. Let me ask you this. Who
gets the glory? Is there any glory left for you? There's not, is there? Do you
want any of it? The flesh does. We have put him
away. He gets no glory, none whatsoever. All my salvation is in Jesus
Christ. Can you say that? Is that true
of you? Then you, my friend, are in Christ
and you are made a new creation. So then what? Your obedience
has nothing to do with your salvation. and your disobedience cannot
bar you from it. It's all in Christ. Isn't this glorious? I'll tell you this, I love to
obey him, I don't want to disobey him. But I know this, my disobedience,
I fail all the time, cannot bar me. It's all in Christ, secure. I pray God will bless this to
your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy, and I pray you bless the message according
to your will. Forgive us our sins, and bring us back again
to worship and praise you for the work of Jesus Christ, our
Savior. In his holy name we pray. Amen.