Now, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me back to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30. I'm going to title
this message, The Benefits of Union with Christ. The Benefits
of Union with Christ. Now, as we've looked at this
passage of Scripture this last week, we saw this, that our union
with Christ. If you're a believer in Jesus
Christ this morning, you are in union with Christ. And we know that this union that
you and I have is a vital union, a necessary union, And this union
was not by merit, it was not by our works, it was not because
of who we are or what we've done. This union is solely based on
the sovereign love and mercy of God, the sovereign grace of
God. Look at your text. That no flesh
should glory in His presence. This is the purpose of what he's
writing here. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ
alone, and it's used by the means of the preaching of the gospel,
and that debunks all the earthly wisdom of the world for this
purpose. That no flesh should glory in His presence. You that
are in union with Christ, we have no room to boast of our
union. We did nothing to merit that
union with Christ. He says, but of God are you in
Christ. You who are in Christ. It is
of God's sovereign love and mercy that you are in Christ. Paul says, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." That's where
all salvation is. That's where all the blessings
of God are in Christ. "...according as He hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that..." This is
the purpose of you being in Christ. "...that you should be holy and
without blame before Him." Motivation. In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, the means by Jesus Christ unto
Himself. See, God's doing this all for
Himself. He's doing this for Himself to the praise of the
glory of His praise, to the good pleasure of His will. He did
this. It is by the sovereign love that you are put in union
with Christ. And we saw this, that we were
in union with Christ. When He came into this world
as our representative, we were in union with Him. He lived a
holy, righteous life, and so did we in Him. When He died on Calvary's tree,
suffering as our substitute, we died in Him. When He satisfied
the justice of God, so did all of those who were in Him. When
He rose again from the dead, so did all of us who are in Christ. We rose again from the dead in
Him. When He was seated on the throne,
we were seated in Him. You read that in Ephesians chapter
2. I don't have time to go through
that again, but we were with Him, we were one with Him. And
then we experienced this union, didn't we? Not only were we purpose
in union, not only were we in union with Christ, but now, by
the grace and power of God, we have experienced this union through
the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us life and faith. The
new birth. He's given us life and faith
in Christ. We are risen from the spiritually
dead. We're now alive. And remember,
I gave you four illustrations of this in Scripture. The union
of the vine. Jesus said, I am the vine and
you are the branches. This shows us what our vital
union. Without union with Christ, we
have no life. We have no fruit. But as long
as we are in union with Him by faith in Him, we have both life
and fruit. We saw that He is the foundation
upon which the church is built. As the building is built on the
cornerstone, even so Christ is the cornerstone of His church,
and we are in union with Him. This shows the sureness of our
foundation, our union. The building is only as sure
as the cornerstone. Your salvation is only as sure
as Jesus Christ made it. And He said, upon this rock I
will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I showed you that it was
a union of superiority. He is the head, and we are His
body. Just as the head controls the
body, even so Christ controls His church. He is the Lord and
Savior of His church. If you're in union with Him,
I know this, He is King. To you, He is King. He is Lord. And we saw this, that the marital
union was a picture of love. We are betrothed unto Him in
love and righteousness. Now, we're going to see now the benefits
of this union. You're in union with Him. It's
sure. He's our vital union. He's our
sure foundation. He is our King. He is our Lord.
He is our Savior. Now, I want you to see the benefits
According to the Word of God, the benefits of what it is to
be in union with Christ. There are many benefits here. Look back at your text. But of
God, by sovereign grace and love, are you in Christ Jesus. Who? Christ Jesus. That's the who. Of God is made unto us. Look, made what we weren't. We
weren't these things. But Christ is made these things
as our surety and our representative by God. He is made unto us wisdom. Notice the word and between all
of these because they are distinct, each one of them, and necessary
for our comfort. To be in union with Christ, Christ
must be all of these. You can't miss one of these.
He can't be your wisdom, righteousness, and you be your sanctification.
He can't be your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and you be your
redemption. He must be all of these things
to you. And if you are in Christ, I want
you to receive it, grab a hold of it, bring it in, it's yours,
He's purposed that He made him these things without your consent,
without your knowledge, without your feelings, without your emotions.
These things are sure. God did make him to be these
things for you. He made him to be wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He has made Christ to be our
surety. If you look back in eternity
past, you see that God put us in union. He made Christ to be
what? All our salvation. If you want to sum it up, that's
what you're going to sum up here. He made Him to be every part
of your salvation that nothing is left for you to do. Christ is made all of it. And this is good for sinners. This is good for people who can
offer nothing. This is good for people who have
nothing to give. He made Christ to be our mediator,
our representative, so that all Christ is, get this, all Christ
is, all that Christ would perform for our salvation is ours. It belongs to us. That's not presumption. That's
a text. God made Christ to be wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Made unto who?
Us. It's ours. He is these things
for all of His elect. First of all, wisdom. wisdom. When Adam was made upright, he
was no fool. Adam was a knowledgeable man. He understood the law that God
gave him. He understood the repercussions
of that law. He understood who God was. He
walked with God. He talked with God. He communed
with God. But as soon as he sinned, he became the greatest fool. And you could see this in his
actions. You could see it in his actions. What did he do when
God came to him? He ran. He hid himself as though
it were possible to hide oneself from God. He surely thought he
could hide himself among the trees. He surely thought the
fig leaves he sowed together would procure a righteousness
acceptable unto God. We say, how foolish. Even the
lost would say that's foolish. How can leaves govern sin? How can it possibly be? Nobody
is sowing leaves together today, are they? Nobody, no religion
whatsoever has really taken literal fig leaves and put them together.
No, they're not doing it. They'd say it's foolish. But
yet this is the wisdom of all men by nature. The wisdom of
man says this, Gay doth God know, hath God seen? Over in Ezekiel, I wrote it down
and I don't have time for it. Ezekiel chapter 8 and verse 12.
God is taking Ezekiel into the dark places. And you know what
the men are saying in these dark places? God can't see. God can't
see what we're doing in secret. Isn't that the most foolish thing
in the world? Because God is omniscient. God knows your thoughts
and intents of your heart before you say a word. God knows it already. It's foolishness
to try to hide from God. And it's much more foolish to
try to atone or cover sin by the works of your flesh. By the works of religion, it
is foolishness to cover your sin. And yet, what do men think
about it? Well, we're the wisest of men.
They think they're wise. you were to bring some of the
academic elite into this place and let them sit and hear the
gospel we preach, they would mock, because it's not academically
high enough for them. But yet, their whole wisdom is
based on their works to make themselves acceptable to God.
That's the same wisdom Adam had. The same wisdom we all have by
nature. That's what Adam did and that's
what his race does by nature. We are by nature ignorant of
the righteousness of God. Therefore, Paul said, we go about
to establish our own righteousness. We're ignorant. We're ignorant
of God and how a sinner might be made acceptable. Remember that heathen king, he
said, what am I going to do? What if I offer 10,000 rams and 10,000
rivers of oil? Is that going to be acceptable?
What if I offer my own son? Is that going to be acceptable?
The answer to that is no. What does God require of you?
He requires something that you cannot provide for yourself.
Do justly and serve your God. You can't
do that. God requires something of us
that is impossible for us to do. And even consider this, if
peradventure God was able or willing, He's able, but if He
were willing from this moment on to allow you to be perfect,
how then should you atone for the sin that has passed? Shall your righteousness going
forward atone for the sins of the past? No. No. Religion thinks it would,
but that's the wisdom of man. But I want you to see that God
has made Christ to be our wisdom. If you're in Christ this morning,
you know all of those things that I've just mentioned, the
wisdom of the world, are foolish things. You know that. You know
that because Christ has made unto us wisdom, knowledge, understanding. As God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, He has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. We see Him as all the wisdom
of God. Paul says in this chapter, 1
Corinthians 1 and verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. To the
Jews, a stumbling block. To the Greeks, foolishness. But
unto them that are called, are you called? To them that are
called by the power of God, to faith in Christ, you that are
made in union with Christ, to us who are called, Jews and Greeks,
Christ is what? Christ is not foolishness. The
cross of Christ is not foolishness to us. It is what? Christ is
the power of God and the wisdom of God. The power of God. To those Jews, The weakness of
Christ and the crucifixion of Christ was foolishness. They didn't see it as power.
They saw it as foolish. How could this be the Christ?
Look how weak He is. Look at Him. He's even dying
the most horrid death, the most cursed death. How could this
be the Christ? Yet we see this in His weakness. The Jews stumbled and unbelieved,
but to us who are called, we see the power of God in His humility. We see the power of God to save
us in the humility of Christ. We see the power of God in the
crucifixion of Christ. I don't see weakness. I see power.
I see strength. Who else could have endured bearing
all of the sins of His people, and suffering under the wrath
of God, but Christ." Who? We can't even bear our own sins. Yet He bore the weight of all
the sins of His people. He bore the weight of the justice
of God in the space of three hours. But we could not do in
eternity. for our own sin. He did for all
of His people in the space of three hours. That's power, friends. That's strength. So I see in
His weakness, what? Power. But I also see wisdom. I see the wisdom of God in His
humility, in His death. Don't you see the wisdom of God?
The wisdom of God is this. You could not procure righteousness
for yourself. You could not suffer for your
own sins. Here's the wisdom of God, that
someone who is able, do it in your stead. Representation is the wisdom
of God. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? That's the question that the
wisest of earthly men cannot answer. But you who are called,
you can answer that most simply. I know how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. By Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's how God can be just. Look,
God was just in punishing my sins. See, my sin was not swept under
the rug. My sin was not put away and turned
a blind eye to. My sin was punished. was poured out without mercy. He hung upon that tree without
mercy. He who knew no sin was made sin. So that we, here's the wisdom
of God, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I see the wisdom of God in accomplishing
salvation outside of us. I see God purposing salvation
by Himself, accomplishing salvation by Himself, and applying salvation
by Himself, and keeping salvation by Himself. That's wisdom. Why? Because if you allow us
to do any part of that, we would fail. That's wisdom. What does the world call that?
Foolishness. But to us, Christ crucified is
the power of God and what? The wisdom of God. Christ is free grace without
the will and works to man is foolishness, but to us who are
in union with Christ, we know it is the power, He is the power
and wisdom of God. We know that only by Him could
we ever be made righteous. Do you know that? Do you know that only by His
offering, only by His offering can my sins be removed, expiated,
paid only by Him. Herein is the wisdom of God.
How can God be just and justify the ungodly? Only in Christ as
our substitute that Jesus should provide all that God requires
in our stead. And I want you to consider this
wisdom of God as well. The wisdom of God in providence
and circumstance. Christ is made to be our wisdom
in salvation, but also this. He is our wisdom in every circumstance
of this life. Go to Romans chapter 8 and verse
28. Paul said, we know. We who are
called, we who are in union with Christ, we know something. What
is that? That's wisdom. You've got some
wisdom. Here's your wisdom. That all
things work together for good. To them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. Consider this
wisdom. In all the providence of time
and eternity, all things are working together according to
the will of God for our good. You who are called according
to His purpose. You who are in union with Christ.
That Christ should be all your salvation. Listen, all things
are working together. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean all things individually. We don't look at a person that
we love, or ourselves, who are sick, and we say, well, man,
that's good. Listen to this, I know this,
that may be ill for that person, but I'll tell you this, it's
going to work together with everything else, and it's going to redound
to your good. You're going to see that it's
going to work together for your good. So ultimately it is good. You may not be able to see it,
but it's going to work together for your good. Why? Because He's predestinated
us. Whom He foreknew, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom
he did predestinate. Whom he called he also justified,
and whom he justified he also glorified." What are we going
to say to these things? Here's some wisdom for you. If
God be for you, who can be against you? That's some wisdom, isn't
it? We should be able to face every
trial with this wisdom. I don't know how it's going to
work together for good, but it is. How do I know? If God's for
me, who can be against me? He said, "...he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him freely give us all things?" Is that not wisdom? If God gave
you the best, how in the world is He going to spare you the
least? He's not. He will only give you
what is good for you. This is wisdom. I pray that God give us grace
to apply this wisdom. Use this wisdom. What's our wisdom? Christ. How do you know all things
are going to work together for good? Christ. Because God made Him to be all
my salvation. Because God is just, and He justifies
this ungodly sinner through Christ. That's our wisdom. Christ is
our wisdom. Secondly, we have this benefit of righteousness.
Righteousness. He says, wisdom, in your text,
you go back, he says, who of God has made unto us wisdom and
righteousness. We who are born again of the
Spirit, we know this from the very initial state of our conversion. that we are altogether unrighteous. That in ourselves there is no
righteousness or goodness at all. Paul said that very clearly,
there is none righteous, no, not one. We have no wisdom, there's
none that understand it. We have no ability, there's none
that seeketh after God. They all together become unprofitable.
There's none that do it good. No, not one. This is the initial
stage of grace. Before you're ever called to
come to Christ, you've got to understand this. This is what
the Spirit teaches us first. This is what we learn first,
is that there is no righteousness in ourselves. We are all together
unrighteous. We were made unrighteous through a representative. That's how you and I became unrighteous.
Now, we manifest that unrighteousness by our sinning. We come forth
from the womb speaking lies. But even before you were able
to speak a lie, even before you were able to cry and be selfish
and desire only what a baby does, a baby just thinks about himself.
That's it. There's no one else in the world but himself. To
him, he is God. A little baby, he shouts, he's
God. And you better listen. I'm telling
you, give me milk, and I'm not going to stop until you do it. But before that, we were made
unrighteous in the womb. How is that so? By another, by
a representative. Romans 5, 19, for by one man's
disobedience, many were made what? Sinners. You were made
a sinner by the disobedience of one. So what's the wisdom
of God? How is it that we who are sinners
might be made the righteousness of God? How is it? By another. By another man's righteousness,
we are made righteous. So, Paul says in Romans 5.19,
so, by the obedience of one. shall many be made, what? Righteous. Who is the author of our righteousness?
Well, he is the wisdom of God. The same one who is the wisdom
of God is the author of our righteousness, Jesus Christ. He wrought out
our righteousness as a substitute. So as you're reading through,
read through the New Testament, and as you're reading through
when Christ is declaring the Gospel, when Christ is honoring
the law of God in the sight of the Pharisees, in the sight of
all that were around Him. When He said, Which of you convinceth
Me of sin? Who of you can convict Me of
one sin? No one could. Satan could not,
the Pharisees could not, the Gentiles could not. He was obtaining
righteousness by his own works, his own obedience to God. He is the author of all righteousness. He brought out the righteousness
of God and He brought in God's righteousness. He brought it in for them that
were chosen of God. He did that which was well-pleasing
in the sight of God. I went through and read each
one of those passages that said when God spoke from heaven, This
is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. In whom I am well
pleased. I am not just well pleased with
Him, I am well pleased in Him. Everything in Him is good. You know, we're well pleased
with each other when you do something outwardly, right? I mean, you
go out and you I don't know, you buy a car for someone, right?
But well-pleased with what you did outwardly, are they well-pleased
in you? No, they can't see in you. And
if they did see in you, they would not be well-pleased in
you. But God looked inside the heart of His Son and He said,
In this man I am well-pleased. His heart is pure and righteous. He is well-pleasing. And He,
in righteousness, satisfied the justice of God, magnified and
honored the law of God, which justifies us from all our sin. It discharges from all condemnation. It's everlasting righteousness. And it will answer for us in
a time to come when God comes again, Christ comes again. Let
us who are in Christ rejoice, for He alone is... Listen, I
cannot express this word emphatically enough. He is all our righteous. All of it. He is. In that passage in Romans 3,
in verse 22, Paul says, when he worked out the righteousness,
he said it's even the righteousness of God, because you can't get
any more righteous than that. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's how righteousness
was wrought. If you're ever going to be righteous before God, it
was earned by Jesus Christ. But listen to this. Unto all
and upon all them that believe. The word unto means into. You get that? Even the righteousness of God
earned by the faith of Christ into all. This is imparted righteousness. This is what we're going to talk
about in a minute in sanctification, but it's the righteousness of
God in that new nature is imparted to us. And upon all. Now this word means imparted. Imputed. Imputed to all. Them
that believe. Behold, God has made Christ to
be all our righteousness, the righteousness of God. If you
are in union with Him, listen, I want you to see this, you are
robed in His righteousness. Listen to what the Scripture
says about you. Go to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. Look at verse 8. This is speaking of His righteousness
here. He said, All thy garments smell
of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby
they have made thee glad. That's speaking of His robe.
His robe just smells good. Whatever beautiful fragrance
you can think of, That's what God has to use to describe His
righteousness. He says it made thee glad. It made God glad. And it makes
the children of God glad. Now notice what He says about
you. The king's daughters are among the honorable women. Upon
thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people,
and forget thy father's house. Adam, forget him. Forget your
own house. So shall thy king greatly desire
what? Thy beauty. For he is thy Lord,
and worship thou him. And a daughter of Tyre shall
be there with a gift. Even the daughter among the people
shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all Glorious
where? Where is she glorious? Within. And what is she without? Her
clothing is of wrought gold. Do you see? She wears the king's
garments. You who are in Christ, I want
you to see this, God sees you as righteous as His Son. Why? Because God made Him to
be righteousness. For us. For us. Righteousness. Even the righteousness of God. In Song of Solomon, chapter 4
and verse 7, it says this, Thou art fair, my love, there is no
spot in thee. How are you going to receive
this except by faith? Can you look in the mirror and
see this? Can you possibly look at your actions and see this?
You can't. Stop looking. Look to Christ. He is what? Made of God to be
your righteousness. How much? All of it. All of it. Next thing, let's see this. He
is made to be our sanctification. Sanctification. Now, the Word
of God is very clear. Except you be holy as God, you
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. And the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees
at that time was the pinnacle of righteousness among man. And
He said, you have to far exceed this. Your standard of holiness
before God is God himself. Be ye holy even as I am holy. Without this shall no man see
God. Paul tells us that. Now Christ
is our righteousness in that all his obedience is imputed
to us as our own actions are perfect before God. His actions of righteousness
were perfect before God. If you go to Romans 8. Romans
8. Look at verse 3. He said, "...for
what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." For what purpose?
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled..." Where? In us. Don't you know that you
fulfill the law? You have fulfilled the law in
every heart. How's that? Well, it's the same
way you inherited sin, it's the same way you inherit righteousness.
Through the work of another. By His righteous obedience, you
have magnified the law. You have honored the law in Christ. He has fulfilled the law in us. But now look and see that Christ
now is all our sanctification. He is all our holiness. Holiness. That is, by His being our mediator,
taking our nature, He has by His work fulfilled the eternal
purpose of God, which was what? To make you holy. Wasn't that
His eternal purpose in Christ? That you should be holy. Holy. And without blame before Him.
Now, where is righteousness? Righteousness has to do with
actions. But holiness has to do with nature. Christ did that which was righteous
because He was in Himself holy. So holiness has to do with nature. Righteousness has to do with
action. The outpouring of holiness is
what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Therefore, all who are in Christ
are not only made righteous by the works of Christ, which are
counted as our own, but now, We are made holy. How is it that we are made holy? Even by a new creation. Paul says that we are created. The new nature that is created
in you. Paul says this in Ephesians,
it is after God in what? True holiness. The new nature that is in every
believer is holy. It is a holy nature created after
God. Created after God. Now, in this
matter of sanctification, there are three ways this word sanctification
is used in Scripture. Sanctification is used as a setting
apart of something for the service of God. The first time this word
was used is when the Lord sanctified the Sabbath day. Scriptures say
He sanctified it. Now, when He sanctified the Sabbath
day, did the day change any? Was it any different than any
other day? No, it had 24 hours, just like
every other day. It could rain, it could be sunny,
just like any other day. But God sanctified that. He set
that day apart so that it might picture Christ. It had a purpose. The Sabbath day was to picture
the true Sabbath, which is Christ. So He set it apart for that one
purpose, that it should magnify the true Sabbath, Christ. I want
you to see this. You and I were sanctified in
this way in election. We were set apart by God. We were set apart and put into
Christ. In this way, we were sanctified
from the rest of humanity. We were set apart. We were vessels
of mercy, aforeprepared unto glory. We were set apart. In Christ,
when He came into this world, we were in Him. Not everyone
was in Him. We were sanctified in Him. I
believe He says that in John 17, that they were sanctified
in Me. If I'm not mistaken. It might
be a different scripture, but you can look that up. He said
they are sanctified in Me. We were sanctified. We were set
apart in Him. The other term of this sanctification
in Scripture is the declaration of holiness, the declaration
of something being sanctified. In other words, when the people
in the Old Testament were said to sanctify themselves, They
washed themselves, took a bath, they put on the appropriate clothing,
and God said, they were sanctified unto Me, unto My service. They were declared holy. Now,
did their washing really make them holy? Did their change of
clothes really make them holy? No. They were set apart to be
a picture of what God does to the saint internally. And so we were declared to be
righteous and holy even before it actually happened. Isn't that
right? When we were in Christ, we were declared to be holy in
Christ before it actually took place. But there's a third part
of the sanctification, and that's what's talked about in our text.
This matter of being sanctified is the actual making of one to
be holy. When the Spirit of God came in
power, He gave us a new nature. We were by experience sanctified
by the Spirit of God, made holy in the new nature. See this in
2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2
Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." How? Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the attaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, you are sanctified by
the Spirit of God And what's the evidence of that? Belief
of the truth. This is God's purpose. He sanctified
you through the Spirit of God. And believe over in 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4,
it says, "...whereby He hath given us exceeding great and
precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the
divine nature." The divine nature. having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." Don't you get that? You've
escaped the corruption through lust. You've escaped it. How? By the sanctification of God,
by giving you a divine nature. The divine nature. Consider the
blessing of our union with Christ is even this, that we have now
imparted to us the holy nature of our Lord and Savior. Now, why is this not so manifest
to us? Why is this so troubling to believe? Even because he has not eradicated
the old nature that is in you. The old man of sin does not and
has not changed. And the new man, the new nature,
John says, cannot sin. He said, that which is born of
God sinneth not. And then we look at it and we
go, wow, I can't be born of God. He's not talking about the old
nature. That old nature can do nothing but sin. And just as
the old nature can do nothing but sin, the new nature can do
nothing but righteousness. Thus we may sing in spite of
our sin. In spite of it. There is a struggle
in spite of Satan and the world and the flesh that are against
us, This I know, that because of
my union with Christ, I have the holy nature of God. This
is what it is to be sanctified. You are in Christ, you may sing,
with Christ's holy garments on, I'm as holy as the Holy One. And I want you to get this. Sanctification
is never in Scripture the work of man. It is always of the will
and work of God. Sanctification is always the
will and the work of God. Now I know this, that we as believers
in Christ do grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is our desire to constantly
mortify the deeds of this body. It is constantly our desire to
put away all fornication, and malice, and wrath, and envying,
and hating, and backbiting. It is our constant desire to
always put off the old man. But in putting off the old man,
you do not become more holy. But rather, because of the holiness
that God has put in you, it is therefore your desire to do those
things. Why do you want to put off the
old man? Because you have a new nature that desires that. You
have been sanctified by God. Therefore, you desire to put
off these things. Like I said, religion, they're
teaching a totally different thing that by you putting off
these things, you somehow sanctify yourself for God. You somehow
become holier. And so then one person can walk
around and see another believer fall into sin and say, ah, this
guy is not as holy as I am. Self-righteous, legalist, pharisaical,
Works religion is all it is. They can put grace on the door
if they want to. Progressive sanctification is works religion. Scriptures are very clear. God
hath made Christ to be what? Our sanctification. And just
as much as He is all my righteousness, all my wisdom, all my redemption,
He is all my sanctification. He is my holiness. And because of that, I do desire
to be holy. Don't you? I desire it. I long
for it. We struggle against the flesh
for it, but that does not sanctify us. God sanctifies us. He sanctifies
us. And the last one is this, redemption.
By nature we are captives to sin. We are under the just condemnation
of the law, but look and see what God made Christ to be. He
made Him to be our Redeemer. You know, when I think of Redeemer,
I think of the ass in the law. If you had an ass that was giving
birth to another ass, you know you had to actually redeem that
ass or kill it. Guess who the ass is? That's
us. And so when Jesus was talking
to those Pharisees, He said, which of you having an ass caught
in the ditch wouldn't go get it? He said, that's my ass over
there. That's why He healed him on the
seventh day. That was, I am sent to redeem this one. He is our
Redeemer. We were like Israel in bondage
to sin. And yet God purposed the redemption
of Israel from Egypt by the blood of the Passover Lamb. Even so,
Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. He is the Lamb of God. Go to Revelation 5 and I'll close
with this. Man, I thought I was going to
have time. I don't have time for anything. Revelation chapter
5. Scott, I'm just not getting better
at this. Just not getting better at this. Verse 1, he says, I saw in the
right him the him that sat on the throne a book written within
him on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong
angel proclaim with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book
and loose the seals thereof? That book is salvation. Who is
worthy to take the book of God and open it? Reveal to man the
salvation of God. Who is capable of redeeming Israel? who can merit it?" And the answer
came quickly. No man in heaven or earth, neither under the earth,
was able to open the book. And look, they couldn't even
look on it. They couldn't even understand
it. They couldn't even know it. They couldn't even know the book was there.
None was able to redeem it. He said, I wept much because
there was no man found worthy to open or read the book, neither
look thereon. Man, is there any sinner who's
hopeless? Is there anyone hopeless? Anyone weep because of sin? Has anyone found out that they
can't do it by themselves? Has anyone found that out? If
you ever find that out, you'll be like, John, you'll weep. You'll
weep. Because there was no hope. Despair. Depravity. But look, here's the
Gospel. Verse 5, And one of the elders
said unto me, 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 it. He's prevailed to do it. And behold, lo, in the midst
of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood
a lamb. He said, wait, there's a lion
of the tribe of Judah who's prevailed. And when he turns to look, he
doesn't see a lion, he sees what? A lamb. A lamb. As it had been slain. Having
seven horns, all power. And seven eyes, which are the
seven spirits of God. The perfect measure of the Spirit
of God was given to him. Sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and what did he do? He took the book out of the right
hand of him that sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the
four beasts and the twenty-four elders fell down to the Lamb,
having every one of them harps and golden vows full of odors
in the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof. Why? Thou was slain and hast redeemed
us to God. You pay attention. When God made
Christ to be your Redeemer, He made Him to be surety for you. He made Christ responsible to
bear all your sins and suffer to redeem you. Now, there is no worthiness in
the redeemed. You won't find a reason why,
in yourself, you won't find a reason why He redeemed you. But He did. But He did. How do I know? Because God raised
Him from the dead. There's no more sin left. No
more sin to punish. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. God hath made Christ to be your
wisdom. You know something about God?
You know something about yourself? If you do, you know this, Christ
is all the wisdom of God. He's the power of God. He's the
salvation. And you know this, He's your
righteousness, all of it. He's your sanctification, all
of it. And He is your redemption. All
of it. Are you in union with Him? These
are the benefits of being in union with Christ. And they're
yours. How long do these benefits last? They started in eternity. They took place in time. But
I know this, they will never end. They're yours. Where are they found? In Christ.
How we receive them? By looking to Him. Believing
in Him. Trusting in Him. I pray God will
bless this to you. Our gracious Father dismisses
with your blessing. Pour out your spirit to us. Give
us grace to apply these things, to see these things as they really
are ours in Christ. Help us to hold fast to him. And I ask you to do this in his
name. Amen.