All right, if you take your Bibles
now and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter
1. You're looking at verse 30 and 31. I don't realize how often I'm drawn
to this passage of Scripture. I'm sure that I have preached
this to you many times. But I believe that this small
section of Scripture is so powerful, this small section of Scripture
is a microcosm of the whole counsel of God. And so you can read this,
and as we read this, and as I declare this unto you, it expounds forth
the truth of God's sovereignty, of God's election, of Christ's
redemption, of His righteousness, of His sanctification. It expounds
unto us the whole purpose of God's saving grace, and that
is His own glory, that none should glory save in God. Let's read these together. Read this. See if you can't pull
this out really quickly. The apostle says this in verse
30, but of Him, who is He speaking of, God, but of God, Are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption? That, here's the reason, that
according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. As we look at this verse and
we see these two little words, but of God are you, what? in Christ. Now listen to me very
carefully. There is nothing more important
than this. There is no question more important
than this. Are you in Christ? Outside of Christ there is no
hope. Outside of Christ there is no
life. Outside of Christ there is only
death. There is only hell. There is
only justice. There is no mercy outside of
Christ. In Christ. I want by God's grace and power
this morning to speak to you concerning the union we have
with Christ. The union we have, I pray that
God by His grace would instill this in our hearts, this union
with Christ. The necessity of it. The necessity
of it. Consider Noah and the ark. How necessary was it for Noah
to be in the ark? Outside the ark was nothing but
death. In the ark was life. It's a picture
of Christ. That's a picture of our union
with Christ. I pray that God would instill
this in us, the necessity of this union. And I want you to
be comforted. You who are believers in Christ,
if you are believers in Christ, born again of the Spirit, you
are in Christ. You are in union with Him. And we who are in union, is there
any other thing we desire to glory in save the cross of Jesus
Christ? What Paul said, In Galatians,
he said, we do not glory in anything save the cross of Jesus Christ.
That is, we glory in the person and work of Christ upon the cross
as all our acceptance with God. So then, if you are in Christ,
Paul says in Galatians again, if you are in Christ, neither
circumcision available to anything, nor uncircumcision, but what?
A new creation. If you are in Christ, you have
a new creation. You're a new creature. And what
this means is that none of our works, none of our merits, none
of our obedience to the law has anything to do with our union
with Christ. You got that? None, neither circumcision,
rebellion, or uncertainty. It doesn't matter. None of our
works have anything to do with this union. I know this when
we sin, we feel as though we are out of union. That has nothing to do with it.
Sometimes we feel as if we are in obedience that we are mooring,
you know, has nothing to do with your union. Nothing at all. But
I want you to understand this. Our union with Christ is only
by an act of God's sovereign will. Are you in Christ? Now why in
the world are you in Christ? By the sovereign will of God,
you are in Christ Jesus. Isn't that what our text said?
But of God are you in Christ Jesus. It is a sovereign act
of God's will and omnipotent power. Now the sovereignty of
God is a vast subject, it is a deep subject, and it is a subject
that man by nature cannot understand and in fact does not like. A man by nature is unable and
unwilling to believe or comprehend the sovereignty of God in salvation. So then men deny it. They strive
to remove it, the scepter of omnipotence from the hand of
God. And yet, no matter how they strive, they can't do it. God
says, I declared again from the beginning, from ancient times
of things that were not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. Man by nature is ignorant, depraved,
and incapable of knowing God. In the book of Job, one rightly
asks, canst thou by searching find out God? Can you, by all
your diligent study, understand or know God? No, the scripture
said there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
understand it. There's none that seek it after
God. This vain religious generation,
countless millions have set themselves against this doctrine of God's
sovereignty. They would reject it the doctrine
of God's sovereignty for the doctrine of man's will. They hate it. They hate the doctrine
of God's sovereignty because it cuts to the root of their
false religion. Instead of God ruling sovereignly
over all things, instead of God having sovereignly determined
all things after the counsel of his own will, they would rather
have blind fate, luck, or chance to rule over all things. so that
they may have some part in their salvation. That's the reason
why they deny the sovereignty of God, because they desire to
have their will supersede the will of God. That's why they
do it. It doesn't matter what men think. It doesn't matter how much they
deny it or fight against it. Listen. Our God is in the heavens
and hath done whatsoever he preached. It doesn't matter how men feel
or think about this matter of God's sovereignty. God is sovereign. He's not just sovereign over
providence. He's not just sovereign over things that are good. He's
sovereign over everything. He is sovereignly ruling over
all things for this purpose, to save His people from their
sin. That is what He is doing. All power is given unto me, in
heaven and earth, for what purpose? That he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him." In John 17, verse 3. His purpose is to give eternal
life to who? As many as the Father had given
him. So when I declare to you this,
that the free will of man has no place in salvation. The will
of man has no place, no part in salvation. Now listen, you
who believe, are you willing? Well, of course you are. But you're willing because you
were made with it. Scripture says that in Psalm 110, doesn't
it? Thy people shall be willing, when? In the day of thy power. You see, it's a sovereign act
of the hand of God. Now in our text, I want to see
three things. I wanted to see, first of all, the source of our
duty. You that are in Christ. You that
are in Christ. What is the source? What is the
cause? What is the root reason that
you are in Christ? And second of all, I wanted to
see the blessings that we have who are in Christ. You are in
Christ. These are summed up in this text. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. These are your blessings. And
thirdly, I want to see that our union always yields praise to
God. Always. First of all, what is the source
of our union? Look at your text. These are
not complicated words, are they? The source is what? God. God are you in Christ Jesus this
verse in this verse it is in this verse we see clearly
the sovereignty of God concerning our union with Christ behold
this and see the foundation and source then of all blessings
all salvation is rooted in our union So that all who are not
in union have no hope of spiritual blessings, no salvation. And
so then you are in Christ. Trace it out. Trace out this
union and see where it began, how it came to be that sinners
are made one with the Son of God. The root is the sovereignty
of God. The source of our union is God,
but of Him and Him alone. Him and Him alone are you in
Christ Jesus. And so we were put into union
with Christ Jesus by the purpose of God. You were not accidentally
put into union with Christ, were you? No, you were put in on purpose. Not your purpose, God's purpose,
of God's purpose. You go to Ephesians 1, Ephesians
1. I don't believe we should ever
get tired of reading this or hearing it. Because this is the
source of our salvation. This is the root. This is where
it began. It began in eternity. Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Paul here is
going to show us that that salvation is all of God. Salvation is of
the Father, salvation is of the Son, and salvation is of the
Spirit. That's what these first two chapters
are testifying to. He says this of the Father. This
is the work of the Father. But of the blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, God the Father,
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
where? In Christ. That's where all the
blessings are. And God determined that we should
have all spiritual blessings there, only in Christ. According, as He had chosen us
in Christ. The Father had chosen us in Christ. When? When did He choose you? shows you before the foundation
of the Word. And this is the purpose that
you should be holy. That you should be without blame
before Him. Here's His motivation. In love. Why would God do that? Love. Love. In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children. We who were sons of Adam were
predestinated to become the sons of God. Purpose to become the
sons of God. Now how should he do this? Only
by the person and work of Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ himself
and the whole purpose of this according to the good pleasure
of his will. according to the good pleasure of His will. Now,
why are you in Christ? Because God loved you. Because
God willed you to be in Christ. That's why you're in Christ. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. Believer,
you are in union with Christ according to the good pleasure
of the sovereign will of God the Father. He who moves all
things out to the counsel of his will has decreed that all
his elect, all his chosen people be in union with his Son. Now then, who shall oppose his
will? When he did this, who was there
to oppose his will? Were there any, anyone created? No one was yet created when he
did this. There was none to oppose his
will. Who in heaven or earth can say
to the omnipotent God, what do is that? I like that hymn. Who shall in
thy presence stand and match omnipotence? Unfold the grasp
of thy right hand and pluck the sinner. That's who? Who? Behold then the sure foundation
of our union is this. It is the sovereign will of God
that you are in Christ. The sovereign will of God that
you are in Christ. Secondly, this union of God's
people is not just an act of sovereign will, but an act of
sovereign love. It's not just a cold will. It is a will of love. In love,
having predestinated us under the adoption of Son. God didn't
coldly and blindly choose you. He did so because His heart of
love was set on you. It was set on you. Jesus tells us plainly the greatness
of the depth of the Father's love. Go to John 17. How much
does God love those who are to be put in Christ? How much does
God love His elect? Go to John chapter 17 and look
at verse 22. Jesus tells us how much God loves
you. You and Christ? Listen, how much God loves you. Verse 22, it says, And the glory,
the glory of Christ bestowed on him by the Father which thou
gavest me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as
we are one. Again, union. We are one. even as they are one. He says,
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
them, how much? As thou has loved me. How much does God love his son?
How much does God love his son? That's how much he loves his
people. How long has he loved his son?
That's how long he has loved you. He says, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. I have loved thee John says,
what manner of love is this? Oh my soul, what manner of love
is this? We don't have any idea what kind
of love this is. Have you ever loved anyone like
this? You and I love people because
of what they are to us. we could offer him nothing, and
yet he's loved us. He loved his children as he loved
his own son. And God's love is eternal. God's love is immutable as his
character, as his person. How high does God love his people? How broad is his love? How deep
is his love? And consider this, how constant
Is His love. Does God's love change? Does
it fluctuate like yours? No. All those the Father put in Christ,
He loved them. He did it because He loved them. Here it is love, John says. Not
that we love God, but that He loved us. And what is the manifestation
of this love? He sent his only son to be the
propitiation for our sin. To shed his blood in the stead
of his people is how much he loved us. Behold the love that drew salvation's
plan. Behold the grace that brought
it down to man. The mighty gulf that God did
span. Sovereign will and sovereign
love are the reason, the source of all union with Christ. And
thirdly, the sovereign union which is will to God from eternity
and which was accomplished by Jesus Christ. This will of God
was accomplished by Christ. Christ came into the world, John
says, to be the propitiation for our sins. And we're going
to see this in more detail concerning the blessing because that's where
all the blessings of God's people are. They're in Christ. And Christ
actually did come into this world and He did accomplish for the
elect all that God purposed. And so this sovereign union,
willed of God from eternity, accomplished by Christ, will be manifest to all the elect
by the holy calling of God. You see, though we were in union
with Christ from eternity in love, though Christ had accomplished
all our salvation, yet we had no experience of it from birth,
did we? Matter of fact, we were born
dead in sins. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that
we were without Christ. We were without Christ. from
the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of Rome, having
no hope, and without God in the world. That's how we came into
this world. Not in union with Christ. In another place, Paul says,
you were darkness. You were darkness. We were without
Christ in our hearts. We were without his presence
of the Spirit of God. And by nature, we were children
of wrath, even as others, haters of God. Look at Ephesians 2.
Flip over there to Ephesians 2. Look at verse 4. I'm sorry, look. He says, and you
hath be quickened. You were dead in trespasses and
sin, wherein time passed. You walked according to the course
of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air,
the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
among whom we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead and sin. Now what in the world does your
will or your works have to do with his love? As a matter of
fact, he loved you when you were haters of God. When you were
lost and dead in your sins. He says that even when you were
dead, hath he quickened us together with Christ. And hath raised
us, by grace you were saved, and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places. Where? In Christ. See all that union? You were
in Christ when He came into the world. You were in Christ when
He obtained righteousness. You were in Christ when He died.
You were in Christ when He rose again. Alright, who experienced
that? Were you there? Physically? Did
you see this? Did you feel this? Did you know
this? You had no knowledge of this. This was something that
took place outside of you. But at the appointed time, God
also purposed that you should experience this union. Every
one of his elect will experience this union. Look what he says,
that in the ages to come, he did all this, that in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. How does he do that? or by grace
this is how he does it by grace you are saved experimentally
saved how through faith and that faith is not of yourself
you get no glory for faith It, faith, is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? We would brag about it.
We would boast of it. Let's invention fools. Everyone that God put in Christ
in love from eternity, everyone that was in union with Christ
when He lived and died, God will manifest this to them by quickening
them. And you have to be quickened. And this is all of who? Who did
this? But of God. Are you experimentally
in Christ? Now, you were in Christ of God. You were in Christ from eternity.
Of God, you were in Christ when Christ died and rose again. And of God, you were in Christ
when He called you by the power of His Spirit. We were in Him, of God. Now, experimentally, a man can know all about the
sovereign will of God, election, predestination, a man can know
all of it. But unless you have experienced
the grace of God in the new birth, you have no right
to claim union with Christ. unless God has given you a new
nature. What is then the evidence of this? Well, Paul says in Romans
8, 9, he says, But you are not in the flesh, but of the Spirit.
If so, be the Spirit of God well in you. If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is what? None of his. The evidence of
our union is what? That the Spirit of God dwells
in you. Well, there's a lot of people
claiming to have the Spirit of God, right? People hopping over pews
and people dancing and people jumping up and down and screaming
and spouting out all sorts of nonsensical words. They say,
I've got the Spirit. Well, that's not the evidence
of the Spirit. There were many lost people that
experienced speaking in tongues and healing. Judas did that and
he was lost. What's the evidence? How do I
know if I'm born again of God? How do I know if I'm in Christ?
I wasn't there when God elected His people. I wasn't there when
Christ died. How do I know I'm in Christ? Faith. Faith alone is the evidence
of the new birth. Faith alone. Do you trust in
Christ alone? Do you believe Him as all your
hope of salvation? Faith is the true evidence of
the new birth, and love is always the true evidence of faith. Love
is the evidence of faith. Do you love Him? Now, why in
the world do you love Him? Why do you believe in Him? By
grace you are saved through faith, and that faith, not in yourself,
is a gift of God, not of works. So then all who believe in Christ,
you have this hope that you are in Christ. And now let's look
closer at this union. I'm going to give you just a
couple of illustrations for the time sake. I'm going to give
you a couple of illustrations of the union. Our Lord gave us this
one I am the vine, and you are the branches. Without me, you
can do nothing. Outside of me, like a branch,
if a branch is cut off from the vine, what could a branch do
outside the vine? It can do nothing. It has no
life in it. Jesus Christ said this union
is so vital with me. It is though I am the vine, and
you are the branches. Now if you look at a vine growing
up on the wall, That vine starts out as a single vine, doesn't
it? It comes up the wall, it's just
a single, it's all by himself. That's Christ. In that vine is
programmed all the branches that's going to come out of it. All
the fruit that's going to come out is already programmed in.
And as it grows, those branches start out as a little bud, and
then they blossom out, they extend out from the vine, and they produce
lots of fruit. Lots of grapes on this vine.
this vibe. We know those branches, no matter
how much fruit they have, no matter how good they look, no
matter how thick they are, they cannot exist independently from
the vine. And so it is with us. So it is
with our union with Christ. It's so vital that without Him,
I have nothing. Without Him, there is no life. This is true of every believer.
We know and feel this in our soul that Christ is our life.
And all we do in the service of God flows from Him. And outside of Him, I would die.
He is the source and strength of my life. He is all my faith,
all my love, and all the grace of God flows from Him to me. Jesus Christ is divine, we are the branches.
Now, the second figure, Peter says that he's like a spiritual
building. Scripture says that Christ is the foundation. You
look at this building, you see all the weight of this building
is on the foundation. Christ is the foundation of God's
elect. Just as much as this building
is in union with this foundation, and without it, it couldn't stand.
So it is with us. We are built on Christ. We are in union with Christ and
all the weight of our salvation is on Him. This is one of my favorite verses
to show that. Go to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah
chapter 9. And look at verse 6. Scripture says, for unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given. Shows the humanity and the eternal
sonship of Christ right there. Son is given. He was a son before
he became a child. He was the eternal son of God. And what was the reason for his
coming? The government! shall be upon his shoulder."
Now, truly, I know this, that all governments are under his
direct control. That's not what this is talking
about. This is talking about his government, his kingdom,
his people. The responsibility for the salvation
of the elect is solely and completely the responsibility of Jesus Christ. You got that? Just as the sole
responsibility of the weight of this building is this foundation.
Are you holding up this building by standing on it? You holding
up this foundation by standing on it? No, it's holding you up.
So is Christ. When Jesus Christ, in love, purposed
to be our surety, to be our high priest, He took on Himself all the responsibility. And that's pictured when Judah
took responsibility for the life of Benjamin. He said to his father,
if I bring him not again, let me bear him. Can you hear Christ
say that? Father, all that you've given
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise catch that. This is the Father's will that
has sent me. I should lose nothing. Father, if I lose one, let me
bear the blame. Do you suppose He'll lose one? No, He said He would not lose
one. You don't see the blasphemy of that false free will work
religion in that? That they believe He redeemed people that are being
held? They contradict His Word. I will
lose nothing. Why? I'M RESPONSIBLE! And so sure, He said, I'm not
going to lose one. And if I do, He'll bear the blame. So then all of our salvation
rests on our union with Him. He is totally responsible. Now,
you who are in Christ, you have been called to believe on Christ,
to rest on Christ, to trust in Christ. Now I'm going to show
you the benefits. The benefits that Christ himself
has accomplished for all God's elect. Look at your text again.
Go back there. We see the source then of our
union with Christ, but of God. It is sovereign will and sovereign
power that we are in union with Christ. Sovereign will from eternity
put us in Christ and Christ accomplished it, and the Spirit in power experimentally
puts us in union with Him. Now, what are the benefits? But
of God are you in Christ Jesus, manifest by the power of the
Holy Spirit through faith, who, Christ, of God, is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. I like that word and in the middle
of all those because they distinguish each one of them as not all one
thing. They're each individual things
we can rejoice in. First of all, you that are in
Christ. God has made Christ for you to
be wisdom. Wisdom. When Adam sinned, he lost all
wisdom. Matter of fact, he became a fool.
Can you imagine a man thinking that he could cover his sins
by fig leaves as though God would not see? God would not know. I will cover my nakedness and
God himself cannot see it. And this is exactly what false
religion does. False religion takes the fig
leaves of their works and tries to cover their nakedness with
it. He became a fool. We all became fools. When Adam died, we all died. We all were ignorant of the righteousness
of God and how to be accepted of God. But see, God has made
Christ to be our wisdom. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of
God. Look at verse 23 of this same
chapter. He says, we preach Christ crucified.
To the Jews, a stumbling block. To the Greeks, foolishness. But
to them which are called, to them which have experienced this
union with Christ, to you that are called to faith, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ, what do we know about Him? Well, He's the
power of God. He's the power of God. And He is the wisdom of God.
Jesus is to this world foolishness, His gospel of free grace. Without
the will and works of man, to them is nonsense. But to us who
are in union, we know the power of God and we know the wisdom
of God. We know it's Christ. The only way I'm in union with
God is because of Christ. The only way I'm in union with
God is because Christ is the wisdom of God in how God could
be just and justify the ungodly. There is no other way God could
be just and justify the ungodly. No other way. We know that we could never be
made righteous except by a representative man. You know that? You understand
that? That my whole salvation is dependent
upon a representative man. That's something the world doesn't
know. Man by nature is still trying to find works, something
he can do to bridge the gap between him and God. Well, Christ brought
this 99.9% of the way, and you know what? In my own wisdom,
I'm going to figure out that other point one percent. They don't know Christ is the
wisdom of God. But to us, Christ is the wisdom of God. He's made
our substitute. He has provided all that God
requires in our stead. And I know this, we who are in
Christ, we know that His wisdom is guiding and ruling all things
to bring me to itself. We know, Paul said, that all
things work together for good to them that love God. To them
who are to call according to His purpose. I tell you what, in my own wisdom,
I can't figure anything out. I can't see how this is going
to work out. Can you? I can't see how this
is going to be good. Something devastating happens
to us and we are all perplexed. You know why? We seek to look
to Christ as our wisdom. Christ is the wisdom that's going
to work this out. Christ is the wisdom that's going
to bring us to God. We don't have to figure it out. We just believe on Christ. He's
wisdom. Second of all, Christ is our
righteousness. God made Christ to be all our
righteousness. Now we by nature are unrighteous. In ourselves we are unrighteous,
therefore we can never merit the righteousness of God. But
behold, that God has made Christ our representative to be our
righteousness. You know how you became unrighteous?
You became unrighteous by a representative man. Didn't you? When Adam sinned and died as
your representative. You sinned and you died in that
representative. And it was manifest when you
were born. When you came to this world, you came speaking lies.
You came with the same nature of Adam. For by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. Well, how should we be righteous?
Well, we should be righteous by the obedience of one. He said,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made something they're
not. Righteous. What we were by nature
was unrighteous, but this is my hope that God made Him to
be all my righteousness. Let us who are in Christ rejoice
that He alone is all our righteousness. Read this with me in Romans 3.
Romans 3, verse 22. We read verse 21. It says, But now the righteousness
of God without the law, righteousness of God without works, righteousness
of God without your obedience, without your hail, the righteousness
of God without you, without you, is manifest. And it was witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. You see how it was made? How
your righteousness was made? It was made by the faithfulness
of Christ. He made it. He earned it. And notice how this righteousness
of God is distributed unto all and upon all them that believe. To you that believe, this righteousness
is both imparted to you, it's credited to your account, and
it is imputed, it's imparted, it's imputed to you, to your
charge, and it is imparted to you by the new nature. When God came in and made you
a new creation, That righteousness of God is in you. Unto all and upon all them that
believe. Do you believe? Do you believe
on the Son of God alone? Well you have the righteousness
of God. Now why in the world should you, why in the world
are you going to have, you have the righteousness of God? Why
do you get to boast of that? Because God made him to be my
righteousness, be your righteousness, that's it. God made him to be
our righteousness. And sanctification. Look at this
word. Sanctification means holiness. Holiness. Without holiness, no
man would see the Lord. Scripture says that. Now Christ is our righteousness
in that all his obedience is imputed to us as our own actions
of perfect obedience to God. And now look and see that Christ
is all our sanctification or holiness. That is he by being
our mediator and taking our nature. He has by his work fulfilled
the eternal purpose of God in making us holy. Righteousness,
you see, has to do with action. When a person does something,
he is, if he does something righteous, it's because he is righteous.
But holiness has to do with nature. You know, God doesn't have to
do anything to be holy, because He's naturally holy. And because
He is holy, all He does is righteous. So God not only made you righteous
in all your actions, He made you, in your very nature, holy. You see, that's what takes place
in the new birth, is that God creates in us A HOLY NATURE! Holy nature. In that same passage
in Ephesians 2 it says we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. When God makes that nature, I
want you to know this, that is His sanctifying power of the
Holy Spirit. in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It says, We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Listen,
through sanctification of the Spirit. Who made you holy? It was the sanctification of
the Spirit. The Spirit gave you this holy
nature. Therefore, we can rightly sing, I am holy as the holy one. You see how you can be accepted
with God. Now you look in the mirror, do you see it? When you
look in the mirror, you say, man, look how holy. Is that what
you see? That's not what you see. What you see is seer. Because that old nature still
remains. There is a constant warfare within
the heart and body of every believer because of these two opposing
natures. The holy nature created by God
and that old man of sin that is still in your breast. We wrestle,
we struggle. So how then are you to understand
your sanctification? The same way you understand your
righteousness. faith. You believe simply because God
declares it to be so. Are you sanctified? If you are
in Christ, God hath made him to be all your sanctification,
all your holiness. And lastly, redemption. By nature,
we were captives to sin, we were under a just condemnation of
God, but because of Christ, Because He has come and redeemed us,
we are now free. It's like Egypt, like Israel
and Egypt. They were in bondage. And they
were held captive until when? Until the blood of the Lamb was
shed. Until that Passover. The moment
that Passover Lamb was... They were set free. And so it
is with Christ. God hath made Him to be all your
redemption Christ. You see, sin was not just put
under the rug. It was actually paid for. It
was actually redeemed. When Christ died, did he redeem
his people? Scripture says absolutely. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. It says that
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, he sat
down. Why he sat down? Because it's done. The work is
finished. He sat down at the right hand
of God from henceforth expecting. Because of his victory, he expects
something. He expects his enemies be made
his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever. All of our sins have been paid
for in full. Why? Because God has made Him
to be all your redemption price. Christ is as a lamb slain in the foundation
of the world. And His blood actually redeemed
His people. And so what then is the result?
All you are in Christ. The source is God put you in
Christ. According to his own sovereign
will, according to his own sovereign power, he made you to experience
his union. And you by faith received Christ.
You were born again, you received Christ. And what does Christ
do? He is all your wisdom. Why? God made him all your wisdom.
He's all your sanctification. Why? God made Him all your sanctification.
He's all your righteousness. Why? God made Him all your righteousness. He's all your redemption. Why?
God made Him all your redemption. And what's the result of this?
Verse 31 of your text, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. If God the Father chose you,
put you in Christ. If God the Son accomplished all
your salvation, if God the Holy Spirit called you, quickened
you, gave you faith, and sustained your faith until you die, and
you go into the presence of God rejoicing, who gets the glory? You see the difference between
false religion and true religion is that. I'm telling you. Who
gets the glory? If you have any measure of glory
to take for yourself, that religion is false. God's salvation was
purposed this way so that God should get all, all the glory. And man should be abased and
sanctified. You know what you are? Are you
thankful you're in Christ? What in the world do you have
to do with that? Well, I made a decision. You
ain't in Christ. If that's how you got in Christ,
you ain't in Christ. I'm in Christ because God put
me in Christ. I'm in Christ because Christ The Spirit put me in Christ.
And I'm still in Christ because the Spirit keeps me in Christ. Therefore he that glorieth, let
him give all the glory to God. And that's what those who are
in Christ do. We give all the glory to God. And we need nothing
for ourselves. I tell you, the more I learn
of this, the more my experience as I go through this life, I
am more dependent on Him right now than I've ever been before.
If anything's left up to me, there's no hope. If I had to
sustain myself or keep myself for one minute, I'd be lost. But I'm thankful that, oh God,
am I Of God it made him to be all my salvation. And I glory in God. Salvation
is of the Lord. That's the gospel. See how much
you can get out of one small text? And we still have a tendency
to know the fullness of that text. I pray God teach us. Instruct us in these things.
that Sandy is missing.