All right, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We'll be looking at three of my favorite
passages, verses of Scripture. I think these are, I've mentioned
these, I don't know if it's been every time I've preached this
last few months I've mentioned this text. I want to bring it
out tonight. Audrey, matter of fact, Audrey
had to memorize this in school, and she had asked me about this
text, and I explained it to her a little bit, but I want to expound
on this text to you tonight. And I've entitled this message,
The Most Man-abasing and God-exalting Gospel. The most man-abasing. and God-exalting gospel. The Scripture says that no flesh,
that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him, of
God, are you in Christ Jesus, who, speaking of Christ Jesus,
of God, is made unto us wisdom. Notice these ands, because these
are very important. It distinguishes each one of
these so that we may study them individually. He has made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Here's the reason, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Now, let us be reminded of the
first sin that the apostle mentions of this church. Now, there were
many sins in this church. There were many problems in this
church. But the first problem the apostle mentions is that
of exalting preachers. Exalting preachers. These Corinthians. They exalted men who preached
the gospel. Men by whom they heard and believed
the gospel. They were exalting men. One said,
I'm of Apollos. Another said, I'm of Cephas.
I'm of Paul. Another said, well, I'm of Jesus
Christ. I don't even go to church. I don't need to listen to these
men. I'm of Christ. They were exalting men. But Paul in this
first chapter, he testifies of this. Yes, it is most necessary,
most necessary that men should preach to you the gospel of Jesus
Christ. It is necessary that you have
those who are sin of God to preach the gospel. What is wrong is
exalting them, because the gospel does not give room to exalt men. Does it matter if he is one in
the congregation or one standing here preaching the gospel to
you? The gospel abases men. It gives no glory to men. Even though God has chosen, this
means by which to convey His salvation through preaching the
gospel. Now, Paul, he gives several reasons
as to why God chose this. Several reasons as to why God
chose preaching the gospel. First of all, look at verse 17.
The first reason is, Christ told me to. Look at that. For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to what? Preach the gospel. How, Paul? Not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect. So preaching
the gospel, we preach this because Christ sent us to. Don't exalt
preachers. They're just sent. They're just
men sent of God to declare the truth to you. Declare God's gospel
to you. Not in our own wisdom, but in
the wisdom of Holy Scripture. And now when this gospel is preached,
something happens. Something happens. A division
is made. A division is made. Look at this
in verse 18. For the preaching of the cross,
first of all, is to them that perish... What? Foolishness. But, here's the division, unto
us. What is this gospel? Unto us
which are saved, we recognize the preaching of the gospel as
what? The power of God, the power of God unto salvation. We recognize
this division. There are many who believe that
the gospel is foolishness. Preaching is not necessary. Why do you think they spend about
10 or 15 minutes preaching and 40 minutes singing? Why do you
suppose they spend so much time watching movies and videos and
entertaining people? Because they believe preaching
is useless. It's boring. Nobody wants to
hear a preacher. I don't want to hear them anyway.
If that's what's happening in there, I don't want to hear them
either. They believe the preaching is
foolishness. They count preaching of the cross
foolishness. Now, they preach a bunch of stuff.
They preach on how to live and how to do this and how to do
that, but the preaching of the cross is foolishness. To them,
who? To them that are perishing. But to us who are saved, we cherish
preaching. We have to have preaching. Now, as you sit there, I know
your flesh is fighting against the inner man. The Spirit, you
that believe, you need this, you want this, you desire this. This is how we worship God. This
is how we honor God. It's through the proclamation
of the Gospel. The simple declaration. of Jesus Christ. We love this. We cherish this.
We feed on this. But let me ask you, why did God
choose such a means? Why did God choose what men consider
to be foolishness? Look at verse 19. As it is written,
here's the reason. Here's one reason. I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. What is He going to do? He's
going to bring to nothing the wisdom of this world. What men
call foolishness is what God calls the power of God unto salvation. And He destroys earthly wisdom. So where is the wise? He says
this in verse 20. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of the
world? Hath God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? He's
asking this of us. Among the sons of God, who among
you confesses to be wise? None of us. We confess no wisdom
in ourselves. We desire no earthly wisdom. We confess that none of us are
wise. We don't care to use the wisdom
of the world. I don't care what men think about
preaching, do you? I don't care what the wisdom
of the world says. If the world were to come in
here and watch, observe us, they would call us foolish, wouldn't
they? Well, look, there's not many come to that place. What
are you? You've got to be foolish. You
need to go where there's a big crowd. No, I'm going to go where
Christ is preached. I'm going to go where the gospel
is preached, where Christ is honored, God is magnified. And
look at this in verse 21. Preaching is chosen because it
is the wisdom and pleasure of God. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. What men call foolishness, God
said this. God was pleased to use, to save
them that believe. Just as God does all things that
please Himself, He chose this means because it was pleasing
Him. Is there any other reason you need than that? It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. This
is why preaching is used, because it pleased God. It's the wisdom
of God. In verse 22 to 25, he says, God
chose preaching of the gospel as the only means to call His
elect, because by this means the self-righteous stumble. By this means the self-wise mock
the gospel. But when the gospel of God is
preached, God's chosen people, we know this, that this message is the power
of God, that Christ, the object of the message, is both the power
and the wisdom of God. When we preach, that's what we're
telling you. We're telling you Christ is the wisdom of God.
Christ is the power of God. Christ is the Savior. We are
exalting Christ, honoring, magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 26 through verse
28, the preaching of the gospel is chosen to humble the church,
for seeing your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. For God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things that are mighty, the base things of the world, and the
things which despise hath God chosen. Yea, and the things that
are not, for this purpose to bring to nothing the things that
are. The preaching of the gospel is
chosen to humble the church. When this gospel is preached,
it does not give any glory to us who believe. It does not give
any glory to us. Now, free will works religion,
the whole purpose of free will works religion is to exalt man.
The whole purpose of free will works religion, regardless of
what they say, regardless of what they confess, their doctrine
abases God and exalts man. Puts them on an equal playing
field, rather unequal, man has the ability to either choose
or reject God. based on his own free will. So
God then is dependent upon man. Their gospel exalts the dignity
of man so as to give him some hope to merit favor with God. They are made to feel that they
have served God or helped God to accomplish what He desires
to do. I was a man asked me about our
church and I told him we were nice building we were thankful
to have it and he said well what are you doing to impact the community
I'm just the question just throws me just kind of I just got I
wasn't I wasn't expecting that question I said so I didn't I
didn't even have an answer at that moment just like I don't
know why the Lord just made tied my tongue but the answer is simple
We preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. How
else do you reach the community? Preach the gospel. Preach to
where? I know what he was asking. Do we have any food drives? Do
we have anything to help the homeless, help the poor, get
your name out there, make yourself known to people? Yeah, we do. It's called the gospel. It's
called the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the gospel is designed
of God to abase man, though, not to exalt him. The gospel
has a purpose of God to reveal to man the true nature that he
is weak and foolish and useless and totally depraved. The gospel declares Christ came
into the world not to call the righteous, but who? Sinners,
to repent. Jesus came not for the living,
but for the dead. Jesus came to give sight to the
blind, not the seeing. He came to give the ability to
come to those who are lame, not to those who have the ability
to come. I tell you this evening, if you
are dead, there's hope. If I ever find a dead sinner,
there's hope. If I ever find a blind sinner,
there's hope. Someone who can't come, find
me someone who can't come to Christ and I'll give him hope.
Because that's exactly who Christ came to save. Not those that
have ability, those who have no strength, no ability. Jesus said, He told those Pharisees,
He said, if you were blind, what? You would see. But because you
say, we see, therefore your sin remains. As long as you have
ability, your sin remains. As long as you have something
to give, your sin remains. But if you have nothing, there's
hope. There's hope in this gospel.
Now you that believe on Jesus Christ, you do so because you
can see. You see that Christ is all your
salvation. We believe on Jesus Christ who
came. We believe on Him to give us
life and faith to come to Him. And it is the message that brings
us constantly to our knees. The gospel we preach may be despised
of men, counted foolish by millions, But I'm so blessed in that we
preach to the weak. We preach to the base. We preach
to the foolish. For these are the ones God has
chosen to give His gospel to. Look around you. Do you see many
mighty here? Any noble? Any strong people here? No, because God has chosen the
base things of the world, the weak things. Weak. Weak. Base. Nothing. For what purpose? To bring to nothing those that
believe they are something. I remember preaching a message
at God's church full of nobodies. full of nobody. That's who we
are, nobody. But I tell you this, we praise
somebody. We praise Jesus Christ, our Savior. So now let us look at the greatest
reason. Now, I'm getting bound to the greatest reason why preaching
is necessary. Look at verse 29. Here it is. Here's the greatest reason why
God chose preaching, that no flesh should glory in His presence. This is the greatest of all reasons. See, Paul was building on this.
You know, if you'll notice in the Apostle Paul's preaching,
he starts with something low and he just starts building on
it, building on it. And this is the crescendo. This
is the main reason why God chose preaching, to save His people.
Why? That man should be abased. That man should come to nothing.
so that God should receive all of the glory for His salvation. All of the glory. No flesh should
glory in the presence of God. And in order to show this, what
does Paul do in verse 30? He preaches the gospel. He preaches
the gospel. That which he is sent to do,
that which God is pleased by which to save men, he now simply
declares the gospel. Look at this in verse 30. Here's
the gospel we preach. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Let me first of all tell you
there's nothing more important than this, to be in Christ Jesus. But of God are you what? in Christ Jesus. There is nothing more important,
because in Christ is life, and everything outside of Christ
is death. John says, In Him was life. Life. I want to tell you this evening,
according to the Gospel, that God has chosen to call His people
His elect by this gospel. And the gospel declares to us,
unless you are in Christ, unless you are in Christ, you are dead
in your sins. Unless you are in Christ, there
is no hope of eternal life. You must be in Christ. Jesus,
using the analogy of the vine and the branches, He said this
in John 15, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. It's a
simple analogy. It's a simple principle. You
have a vine. In the vine is all the nourishment,
all the life, and the branches extend out of the vine. If you
cut off the branch from the vine, you kill the branch. There is
no life in the branch except it's in the vine. And so Jesus
says plainly, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him, the same is alive. The same brings
forth much fruit. I know this, man by nature is
a religious creature. He's a religious creature. Man's
a social creature, a physical creature, but he is a religious
creature. You won't go anywhere in the
world without finding some temple or some altar that has been erected
to worship gods. You can't go anywhere. Not anywhere
in the world. Remember those Athenians? Paul
went there on Mars Hill and he said, I believe you're too religious. The word superstitious means
religious. You're just too religious. You've got a temple here of the
unknown God. Well, let me tell you about that unknown God. They're
too religious. Man's superstitious. Man's a very religious creature.
But just because somebody's religious does not mean they're in Christ.
If you think you're in Christ just because you're religious,
that doesn't mean you're in Christ. I'm going to ask this question
to you. Is there anything more fearful than to be religious
and not be in Christ? Can you think of anything more
fearful, more horrific, to be religious and not be in Christ? I tell you, this is always my
greatest fear. To have the right doctrine, the right words, have
all the zeal in worshiping God, but not be in Christ. Some say, well, preacher, I believe
in God, so does Satan. And he trembles. Well, I believe
Jesus died on the cross, so do devils. They saw him do it. They were witnesses of it. Well,
I believe this book is the word of God. Satan himself used this
book against Christ. So then, there is nothing worse
than having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
There's nothing worse than ever learning and never able to come
to the truth. You know, when Jesus was 12 and
His parents, they went a day or so journey, and then they
thought He was with the cousins or somebody else, and they turned
around and He was gone. Can you imagine how they felt?
You imagine how their heart fell to the floor. Where is he? Where did he go? They lost their
son. And he was with the teacher.
He was with them teaching the doctors. How much more fearful,
though, is it to spend your whole life thinking you're saved and
in the end realize that you were lost? Is there anything more
dreadful? I don't want you to come to the
end of your life and find that Jesus was not in you. I don't want to trust in my theology,
my knowledge of doctrine, my morality, my works or my deeds,
all the while not being in Christ. What does it matter? The Word of God tells us in that
great day of judgment that many will say, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils,
and in Thy name done many wonderful works? Did we not speak in tongues?
Did we not impact this culture? Did we not reach out to our communities? He will say to them, Depart from
me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. So this evening, if you have
religious refuge of works and morality and your knowledge of
doctrine, if that's what you're holding on to, you are not in
Christ. You're not in Christ. If you
think what you do puts you in Christ, I'm telling you plainly,
according to this gospel, you are not in Christ. So what's the difference between
having a form of godliness and having godliness? Do you know what the difference
is between knowing Christ, knowing about Christ, and being saved
by Christ? It is simply this. It is being
in Christ. There's the difference. Only
those who are in Christ are godly. Only those who are in Christ
are saved. So then the question is, are
you in Christ? Are you in Christ? Well, how in the world does one
get in Christ? I'm telling you, this is the
most man-abasing gospel. It does not say, But of the law
are you in Christ? But of your obedience and religious
zeal are you in Christ? But of your religious works are
you in Christ? Because you were baptized, you
are in Christ. Because you took the Lord's Supper,
are you in Christ? That's not what the gospel says.
The gospel says this plainly. But of God are you in Christ. If you are in Christ, God puts
you in Christ. Nothing you did put you in Christ. Nothing you could do could ever
put you in Christ. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. That was Paul's desire, wasn't
it? He said, I count all things but dung that I may win Christ
and be what? Found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but of the righteousness of God which is
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Let us now with all manner of
earnestness and truth ask ourselves, Am I in Christ? There is no spiritual
life, there is no heaven, there is no eternal life or peace with
God outside of Christ. And this is what God's Word tells
us is the origin, the origin of being in Christ. The origin
is who? God. Of God are you in Christ
Jesus. So if any man is in Christ, it
is not because of anything he has done or anything he could
have performed or obtained for this position. In fact, all who
are in Christ are there because God the Father put us there before
the foundation of the world. What could you have done? You
weren't even existing. What could you have done to put
yourself in Christ? What could you have done to earn
your place in Christ? Nothing. We know this from Ephesians
1 very plainly. Blessed be the Godfather, Ephesians
1 verse 3, blessed be the Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he had chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. But of God are you in Christ?
When? Before the foundation of the
world. This is the gospel we preach. It was a sovereign will and wisdom
of the Father that put all the elect into union with Christ
and that He should be their Redeemer, their Savior. The Apostle says in that Ephesians
1 that we should be holy. This is his purpose, that we
should be holy and without blame. that we should be before Him
in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children.
How? By Jesus Christ. God purposed
it would be by Christ. And it was only these that the
Father put in Christ. It was only these He had made
us accepted in the Beloved. Only these were put into union
with Christ by the love of God. And listen, they will never be
separated from His love. Who God has put into union with
Christ, they shall never be separated from Him. Nothing shall separate
them. They will never fail to be saved. They will all be received and
receive all spiritual blessing that God purposed for them. Now,
for me, nothing else will do but to be in Christ. Nothing
else will do. I'm not satisfied with my profession,
my denomination, my knowledge of doctrine, my zeal. I find
no assurance in my constantly fluctuating emotions and circumstances. Do you? I find no peace in those
things, no comfort, no assurance in those things. I want to know,
am I in Christ? Do I have a living, vital union
with Him? If He is divine, then my only
hope as a branch is to be in union with Him, because I cannot
please God in myself. I cannot save myself. Are you in a living, vital union
with Christ? Now, my text tells us that this
union is only an act of the will of God. But of God, are you in
Christ Jesus? If I am in union with the Son
of God, it is only because God willed it so. Any man can be religious and
join a church and get baptized, but only God could put a man
in Christ. Religion is telling you, you
could put yourself in Christ. My text tells me, God put them
in Christ. Now, let God be true and every
man a liar. of God are you in Christ Jesus?
You see how this abases man? You see how it takes all power
from men, all glory from men? There's only life in Christ,
but only God could put you there. You can't put yourself there. All of these who are put into
union They had no ability in themselves to do this, but this
union was done by God even before the world began. Now, all of
those that put into union, I want you to know this, all that were
put into union with Christ were given to Christ. He says, But of God are you in
Christ, who of God is made unto them, what? Salvation. Salvation. Christ was made their
surety. This is why Christ could say
this in John chapter 6. He could say this boldly. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And listen, when
they come, I'm not going to cast them out. Why? The Father chose
them. The Father put them in me. I am their surety. And when
they come to me, I will not cast them out. Why? Because I came
down to do the will of my Father, which was to save them. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that of all He had given
me, I would lose nothing. Lose nothing. Christ became their
surety. And if you are in Christ, it's
because you were given to Him of God, you were chosen of the
Father for this purpose, that Christ should save you. And you should come to him. That
was God's purpose from eternity. That Christ should save you and
that you who are in him should come to him. When you were born in this world.
In what state did you come in? How did you come into this world?
Did you come into this world having union with Christ? Were
you born in union with Christ? No, the scriptures are very plain,
that we were without Christ. Ephesians 2 and verse 12, you
were without Christ, aliens and strangers from the commonwealth
of Israel, without God in the world. We did not have union
with Christ when we were born in this world. We had no vital
union with the Son of God. We were dead in sins. Our hearts
were said to do evil. But God who put us in Christ,
in an eternal union with Christ, at God's appointed time, all
who were in Christ by election, all who were in Christ as He
represented and accomplished their salvation, they will experience
a vital union with Him. Everyone who God put in Christ,
who Christ saved, They will all experience a vital union. Go to John chapter 1 and see
this. See this. This is the experience of everyone
who is in Christ. Everyone God chose in Christ.
Look at John chapter 1 and verse 12. This is our experience. When
the gospel is preached to us and God abases us and exposes
our sin, look what happens. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He the right to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name. You see, receiving Him and believing
on Him are the synonymous in this text. What is it to receive
Him? It is to believe. on Him. Well, who believes on Him? Well,
those that are born again. Look, which were born. He's not
talking of physical birth. He's talking of a spiritual birth.
Which were born, not of blood, does away with all kinly, fleshly
relations. You were born not because of
your fleshly line, nor of the will of the flesh. Not because
you willed it. nor of the will of some other
man. You were born again of the will of God. Now listen, tonight
are you in doubt of your union? I'm telling you there's nothing
more important than to be in Christ. Are you in Christ? How do I know if I'm in Christ? Have you received Have you believed on the Son
of God? Have you been exposed to be helpless? Have you realized that you can't
put yourself in Christ? Have you been seeing that all
of your religion is vain? We preach to sinners, Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, come to the waters, Come, buy wine and milk without
money, without price, because you're bankrupt. He said, Hear the Lord, incline
your ear unto me, and live. And God will make with you an
everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of Christ. And all
who are sinners, who know their need of the blood and righteousness
of Christ. All sinners born of God abandon
their vain mixture of works and Christ, their religious works
and the works of Christ. Why? Because we seek Him to be
all our salvation. You believe He's all your salvation?
Our Lord, He said, who do the men say that I am? And they said,
well, some think you're Elijah or one of the prophets. Jesus
said, Who do you say that I am? Who do you say it? And the confession
of Peter was this, Thou art the Christ. You are the only Savior. And this is who you are. You're
the son of the living God. He knew his person and his work.
He confessed his person and his work is all his hope. He said, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood, not revealed this to thee, but my
Father, which is in heaven. So then you who believe on Christ,
to whom belongs the glory? If you are in Christ, who gets
all the glory for you being in Christ? But of God am I in Christ. Totally. absolutely the will
and power of God that I am in Christ. And what glory do I get? None. What difference? Who made the difference? Who
maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou, if not received? Don't you see that this is the
most man-abasing gospel? That there is nothing you can
do to put yourself in Christ. That God must put you in Christ.
You come into this world without Christ. And if you are ever made
a vital union, God himself must give you life and faith to believe. Faith in Christ is the only evidence
of our union. If thou will confess with thy
mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believe in thine
heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Listen, God doesn't believe for you. He gives you faith to believe. And by His power and grace, we
believe. Now you that believe, Is it hard for you to believe? No. No, I believe. Lord, help my unbelief. Yes,
but I believe. What could take that from you? I didn't earn it. I didn't even
give it to myself. God gave me that. God gave me
that faith. Nothing can remove us from Christ.
David said, They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion,
which cannot be removed. You know, if you go to Mount
Zion today, guess what? You'll see it. They removed all
the buildings. They removed all the tabernacle. They destroyed all that. Mount
Zion is still right there. Who's going to take that away?
No one. Who's going to take you away
from Christ? No one. God puts you in Christ. But of
God are you in Christ Jesus. Now, then, you that are in Christ
Jesus, I want you to know what kind of blessings you have in
Christ Jesus. Now, you have all spiritual blessings,
but there are four named here that are specifically yours.
Specifically, what God made Christ to be for you. Now, here's why all who are in union
with Christ by the will and power of God cannot be removed. But
of God are you in Christ by election and regeneration. But here's
the reason you cannot be lost or moved from your union with
Christ, because God made Christ to be all your salvation. all your salvation. These four
things are a summation of all our salvation, of all our salvation. Here's four things in this text
you've been blessed with. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Behold now that Jesus Christ
in whom God has placed us, He is the eternal Son of God, eternally
righteous and holy. Yet God, in agreement and a covenant,
made him to be surety, so that whatever Christ was, He did it
for you." When Christ became a man in this world, did He gain
wisdom? He knew everything. He was wise.
But yet, for your sakes, He learned obedience. For your sakes. Not for His,
for your sakes. Jesus Christ came into the world
as a man, as a servant, and emptied Himself of all His rights as
deity. He is God, very God. Yet when
He became a man, He subjected Himself completely to God. When Satan tempted Him to eat
the bread, He could have made the bread out of stones, but
He refused. because he must have trusted
God for everything. He did this because he was representing
us before God. He was honoring God's law by
his obedience. And the greatest act of his love
and obedience was his sacrifice for our sins. Scripture says that he was made
sin for us. Why was he made sin? For us.
who knew no sin, he knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness
of God of him. And Christ, our representative,
having accomplished our salvation, He is made of God, what? Our
wisdom. By wisdom, man could never know
God. By earthly wisdom. What is the wisdom that all men
by nature lack? Here it is. how God could be
just and justify the ungodly. That question eludes every religion. Because every religion must abase
God in order for man to earn his acceptance. So they can't
answer that question. The only one who could answer
that question is someone who understands it is by a representative
man. Do you know that? Do you know
you are saved completely and totally by the work of another? That I'm accepted with God based
solely on the work of another. This is what Christ is to us.
He is wisdom. You have wisdom that no man could
ever come up with. Christ is the wisdom of God,
isn't he? As to how God can be just. and
still justify the ungodly. Second, Christ has made unto
us righteousness, wisdom and righteousness. When the Spirit
of God opens our eyes to see, first thing we see is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Isn't that the first thing you
saw? That in myself is no righteousness. Yet, by the grace of God, what
do we see in Christ? We see that Christ, by His obedience,
is all my righteousness. Consider that if it was 99.999999%
righteousness of Christ, and .000000001% yours, you'd go to
hell. Why? We don't have any! It would be lacking! We would be lacking the total
righteousness of God. This is why Paul says in Romans
chapter 3 and verse 22, he says that, but now the righteousness
of God without the law, without our works, without our obedience
is manifest, witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.
It is though Christ himself sewed the garment of righteousness
with his own hands and gives it to you who believe. Unto all
and upon all them that believe. What kind of righteousness? The
righteousness of God. God made him to be all our righteous. Sanctification. Christ is all
our sanctification. This word is holiness. That is,
Jesus Christ was appointed to God to be all my holiness. Now,
righteousness has to do with active and passive obedience,
but holiness is something separate. It has to do with nature. Holiness has to do with the nature. Surely someone who is holy does
righteousness. But listen, what God does for
us is He gives us a holy nature. Ephesians 4, verse 24, it says
this, put on the new man. What is He talking about? He's
talking about that new nature. Remember, every believer is born
with a sin nature, but when God gives us, we're born again, we
have a new nature. Paul says, put on the new nature. Let me tell you about this new
nature. which is after God is created. Wasn't there before,
was it? It's created. After God in true,
what? Holiness. Joseph Hart wrote that hymn,
With His Holy Garments On, I'm as holy as the Holy One. Why? Because if you're not, you
won't be accepted. He made us, Christ is made all,
listen, all our sanctification. Again, when I say Christ is all
your righteousness, how much part of that is yours? How much
would you claim should be your righteousness? And yet when we
come to sanctification, people say, well, you know, Christ is
my sanctification, but I have to sanctify myself. Well, you
wouldn't say that about righteousness, would you? You wouldn't say that
about your redemption, would you, or your wisdom? Why would
you dare say it about your sanctification? No, Christ is all my sanctification.
He's all of it. Just as much as He's my righteousness
and redemption, He is all my sanctification. Why? God made
Him so. And Christ is all my redemption.
Redemption has to do with buying back those that have sold themselves
into slavery. Isn't that what we did? We sold ourselves into sin. What Paul says, sold under sin. What Christ had to do, He had
to buy us back. What was the cost? It was His own blood. He has redeemed us with His own
blood. God having put us in Christ,
He made Jesus to come and redeem us with His blood. Now listen,
I know your sin troubles you as it does me. God gave us a
new nature, but He didn't destroy the old one. So when sin, no
matter how black we sin, no matter how black it is, no matter how
deep the stain of guilt and the violence of our sins, listen,
God hath made Christ to be all your redemption. He said this, I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions as a thick cloud. God hath pardoned us because
payment has been received. Payment for all your sins. So then, why does God choose
the preaching of this gospel? Simply this, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. Remember, who put you in Christ? God put you in Christ. When Christ
came, who is all your salvation? Christ saved you. He is your
wisdom, your righteousness, sanctification and redemption. When you were
called and that vital union with Christ was given to you, was
that by you or of God? And this tonight, you that believe,
you're still here. Why are you still here? Why do
you still believe? Peter says, because you are kept
by the power of God. So how much glory belongs to
us? Why were you saved and not someone
else? Why do you believe and millions
perish? But of God am I in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. This is the message God uses
to save His people. the most man-abasing, God-exalting
gospel. And you that are in Christ, what
can you say but praise God, thank God, thank God, that I'm in Christ,
safe, safe. Let's be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Father, we give
Thank you for taking such unworthy nobodies and putting us in Christ. Thank
you for sending him to be all our salvation. Thank you for
calling us and giving us faith to believe. Thank you for keeping
us so that we will not be removed from your love. I pray that you'd
bless your people with this, that you'd even call sinners
now to believe. I pray this in Christ's name,
amen.