1st Corinthians chapter 1 be
looking verse 29 through verse 31 this morning I'm entitled this message the
man abasing and God exalting gospel The man abasing and God exalting
gospel Verse 29, Paul says that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. I will remind you
again the cause of this discourse was that the church of Corinth
were exalting men who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ rather
than exalting God whom they preached. This is all earthly wisdom to
do so. To exalt the man by which God
used to save them, they exalted the man rather than giving glory
to God. And so Paul in this first chapter
testifies of the necessity of preaching the gospel. Some thought
that they didn't even need the gospel preachers. And Paul said,
no, I am sent to preach the gospel, not to baptize, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ be made none effect. I'm here
to preach the gospel. That's what Christ sent us to
do. And he told us this, that when the gospel is preached,
there's always a division. Those, there will be some who
count what we do foolishness. Paul said they are perishing.
Those who count this foolishness, those who do not have any interest
in this gospel, have any love for this gospel, they're perishing. But us, who believe, we have
an interest in this gospel. This gospel surely interests
our soul because we were saved by it. To us, it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And when this
gospel is preached, then we cherish it. But why then did God choose
preaching? Well, first thing he says, destroy
wisdom, man's wisdom. Man's wisdom of works religion. That's what it does. It destroys
all man's wisdom as to how to please God. That's God's design. And so if it destroys wisdom,
Paul says, where's the wise in the church? You, you who are
in the church. Who among you is wise? No, we
confess ourselves to be fools. We confess God to be wise. His
wisdom is found in this gospel. This gospel is chosen as a means,
the only means to save the elect because it pleased God. That's
the reason God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.
That's the reason why we preach. We preach because God chose it,
because God was pleased with it, to use it. In verse 22 through
25, Paul says this gospel does something. It causes the self-righteous
to stumble and it causes the self-wise to mock. Now listen,
this morning when men, self-righteous men, they kick at the gospel
of God's grace, I want you to know that's on purpose. God's
doing that on purpose. And when men mock this gospel,
when men hate this gospel, that's on purpose too. But I love this
one. When we believe the gospel, that's
on purpose too. The gospel shows the power that
Christ is the power and the wisdom of God in saving people and saving
sinners. I know that. I know Christ is
the power of God and the wisdom of God because of the effect
it had on my soul and the effect it had on your soul. And verse
26 to 28, the preaching of the gospel is chosen in order to
humble men. He said, look among yourselves. Not many wise here are there. Not many noble in this group.
Not many mighty or influential people. Not in this group. Not many in
the whole church. Why? Because God has chosen the
weak things. Things that are nothing he chose
no bodies and nothings to carry forth his gospel. That's why
he chose preaching This gospel then is designed by God to abase
man and exalt God That's what he said in our text there. He
said that no flesh should glory in his presence This gospel is designed not to
exalt man. The gospel is purposed of God
to reveal the weakness, the foolishness, the uselessness, and the totally
depraved condition of man so as to exalt Christ as the only
means by which that useless, worthless individual might be
saved. That's what the gospel does.
It tells the truth about us. And the truth is not pretty.
Truth is not something you wrap a bow on, and it's not something
that gives you any excitement about yourself. Christ came not to call the righteous,
but what? Sinners to repentance. Sinners. He came not to call the living,
but the dead to life. He came not to call those that
see, but those that are blind, that they may see. He came not
to call those who could come to Christ on their own free will.
He came to call those who could not come on their will. I tell you this morning, if you're
dead, that's good. Pay attention. If you're dead,
that's good. There's hope for dead people.
There's hope for blind people. You can't see this. If you can't
see this, you got hope. If you can't come to Christ this
morning, that's good because you've got hope because Christ
came to call people like that. He didn't call those who are
good or worthy. He came to call the base, the
weak, the lowly, the meek. He came to call the lowest and
vilest of men. That's who he came to save. This message brings us constantly
to our knees, doesn't it? Constantly to our knees before
Christ this gospel. We preach is design We preach
may be despised by men and counted foolish by millions, but I'll
tell you this. I'm blessed to be weak It's a blessing to be base it's
a blessing to be nothing because God had chosen the weak things
of the world, the base things of the world to confound those
things that are mighty. He has chose nobodies, people
of nothing to bring to nothing, those who think they're somebody.
One day I thought I was somebody until God showed me I was nobody.
And he showed me I was nobody by using a nobody. That's all
that God's gonna use. He's not gonna use somebody's. And so look around and what do
you see? Look among yourselves. What do you see? I see weakness. You suppose if anybody walked
in and just looked at this little group that somebody say, well,
man, God's gonna use this place. You suppose that's gonna happen?
No. Because they're using earthly
wisdom. But God chooses the base things. And so as we look now
in our text, we begin to see the greatest of reasons. Paul,
you see, Paul is stacking building blocks. I like the way Paul argues
because he puts building blocks. He just sets a block down, preaching
is necessary. Now I'm going to tell you why
it's necessary. He begins to build it. Now that he's come to the crescendo,
he's come to the height of all reason. The reason among all
reasons as to why preaching the gospel is God's chosen means. Here it is verse 29 that no flesh
should glory in his presence and verse 31 He that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord He does this by preaching By debasing man and exalting
God This is the gospel we preach That no flesh should glory. Now
in order to show this, he preaches now the gospel in verse 30. Now
that's the gospel. One man said if there was a smallest
capsule that would capsulate the whole of scripture, this
would be it. The whole of salvation is contained in this one verse. Here it is. But of him are you
in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now, the first
thing I want you to notice, those two little words, in Christ.
But of God are you in Christ. I believe these two words are
vital. Absolutely vital. Without these
two words, there is no salvation of men in Christ. Let me tell you this, that there
is nothing more important than being in Christ. Make a list in your mind and
tell me what is most important. Our Lord says, what would a man
give in exchange for his soul? What does it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? This is the most important thing,
to be in Christ. John said this of Jesus, in him
was life. And there is no light of life
outside of him. I want to tell you this morning,
according to this gospel that I am preaching to you, according
to this scripture, that God has chosen to call his elect by this
gospel. Unless you are in Christ Jesus,
you are dead in your sins and without hope. Our Lord Jesus plainly said it,
abide in me and I in you. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can you except
you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, what
can you do? You can do nothing. A branch
apart from the vine can do nothing. It cannot live. It cannot exist. It withers. It dies. It has no
life except its union with the vine. So it is with Christ except
you be in Christ. You have no life, no union, no
hope, nothing except you be in Christ. This is most important.
This is most important. We all know this man is religious
By nature man is very religious creature. He's a social creature.
He's a physical creature, but he is a religious creature You can't go anywhere in the
world and not see these things an altar a temple and a God you
cannot go anywhere without seeing those in societies and And those who claim to be atheists,
they've set themselves up as God. They've set their government
up as God. So there is a God, it's themselves. So man is religious. Remember
when Paul went to Athens? Now, you think those Greeks were
not religious? They didn't know anything at
all about Judaism. They didn't know anything at all about the law
of Moses, but they were religious. They had hundreds of gods lined
up. And Paul said, look, I went through
your gods and I know this, you're very religious. You're very religious. I'm gonna talk about the unknown
God you got. You got one God just in case
you missed it. So you set up a shrine. I'm gonna
talk to you about that God, the God. This is a very personal question.
Is there anything more fearful than to be religious but not
in Christ? Is there not anything that would
strike you with fear more than that? To be outward religious,
but have no union whatsoever with the Son of God. I tell you,
that's my greatest fear. That's my greatest fear, is to
have all the right doctrine, all the right words, to have
all the zeal of worshiping God, but not be in Christ Jesus. You say, well preacher, I believe
in God. So what? Satan believes in God and he
does something better than you. He trembles. Preacher, I believe Jesus died
and rose again from the dead. So do devils and they saw it. I believe this book is the word
of God. Satan used this book to tempt the Lord. And so there's nothing worse
than this, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
Ever learning and never being able to come to the truth. Our Lord Jesus, when he was 12,
you know, he was teaching in the temple. He was teaching in
the temple. And his parents went one day,
they walked the whole day, the whole day's journey they went
thinking Jesus was with them. And they got to the end of that
journey and they said, well, Mary, where's Jesus? Well, I
thought he was with you. I thought he was with you. They'd
walked that whole way thinking he was there, but he wasn't.
Listen, I don't want to walk this life's journey and come
to the end and find out he wasn't with me. Do you? Is there anything more fearful?
Is there anything more gripping to your soul than to find out
all my life was a sham and a lie? Oh, what peril! What grief! Are you in Christ Jesus? The word of God tells us of a
great day, great judgment. There be many in that day saying,
Lord, Lord, have we not done this in thy name and that? Have
we not preached? Have we not cast out devils in
thy name? Did we not impact the culture
for you? Did we not build church buildings
for you? Did we not feed the poor? Did
we not take care of the sick in your name? You know, Christ
doesn't rebuke them at all for any of those good things they've
done. But this one thing they will be cast out for, depart
from me you that work iniquity. I never knew you. They weren't in Christ and they
were cast out. These people were sincere. They
sincerely believed that these things and religious works and
knowledge and ceremonies would somehow commend them to God. And so this morning, I want you
to know this. You may have a religious refuge. You may be in something this
morning. You may be in your religious
You may be harboring all these works and knowledge that you've
built up over the years. You may have a refuge of works
and morality, but these are refuge of lies and they must be destroyed. Do you want to know the difference
between a form of godliness and godliness? You want to know the
difference between knowing about Christ and being saved by Christ?
It is this, are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? Now my text
says this, it does not say, but of the law are you in Christ?
But of your merits are you in Christ? But if you're joining
the church, are you in Christ? Or your obedience to God, are
you in Christ? Listen to me, this morning, you
who believe in the doctrines of grace, you are not in Christ
because you believe the doctrines of grace. It was not the doctrines
of grace that put you in Christ. There's only one way a man is
put in Christ. Now, this is the most man-abasing,
God-honoring gospel But of God are you in Christ
Jesus? Listen, doctrine is vital to
salvation. You can't know Christ without
doctrine. I'm not putting down doctrine
because it's necessary. I'm preaching doctrine to you
this morning. What I'm preaching is doctrine. You can't know God
without doctrine. But none of these things ever
put you in Christ. Your knowledge of God's doctrine
did not put you in Christ. Paul said, I have a desire to
win Christ and be found in him. But how is one to be in Christ? By what means are we to be in
union with the Son of God? Here it is, but of God are you
in Christ, Jesus. And let us know that all manner
of earnestness with all manner of earnestness
and truth, ask ourself, am I in Christ? Because there's no spiritual
life, no heaven, no eternal life or peace with God outside of
Christ. This is what God's word tells us about the origin of
our union with Christ. But of God, are you in Christ? If any man's in Christ, it's
not because of anything he's ever done or anything he could
perform. to put him in that position. In fact, all who are in Christ
are there because God in sovereign will put you in Christ before
the foundation of the world. God purposed that Christ should
be your surety, your savior, your redeemer, and he gave you
to Christ. What could you have done to put
yourself in Christ in? By what merits could you have
put yourself in Christ? None. Do you not see that this
strips you of every ability, every power, even because it
was done before you? It was done before there was
anything. So then there is no claim of
merit of putting yourself in Christ. The gospel strips us
of all this. Now as for me, nothing else will
do but to know that I'm in Christ. I know this, God has an elect
people, doesn't he? He gave them to Christ. And we're
going to see some of these things that Christ has done for these
elect people and all the blessings and benefits that are in Christ
Jesus. But listen, I need to know if I am in Christ now. I
need to know if I have a vital living union with the Son of
God right now. If he's divine, I want to know
if I'm the branch in union with him. Because outside of him, I can't
be saved. Now, my text tells us of this union is an act of
God's will, a sovereign decree. Any man could be religious or
get baptized, but only God could put a man in Christ. I mean, you're not getting the
sense of how low this puts us? Jesus said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do mine own will, but the will of him has sent me. And this
is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all he has given
me, all he has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. If you are in Christ, it is because
you were given to Christ, chosen by the Father, and that Christ
should save you. But how did you come into this
world? You didn't come into this world with a vital union with
Christ, did you? Now that union was settled, that union was already
made before you knew it. But you had no proof, you had
no evidence, there was no experimental union with Christ when we were
born into this world. We were like all other men, dead
in sins, lost in ourselves. But God, who put you in Christ,
also determined a day that you should be vitally linked to him
experimentally. You know, that's what he told
Nicodemus. He wasn't telling Nicodemus something he must do.
He wasn't telling Nicodemus, you need to go out of here and
do this to be born again. He was saying this, you must
be born again. You know why he must? Because
he was already in union with Christ. There was no way around
it. Nicodemus must be born again.
It was necessity. The death and resurrection of
Christ determined that necessity be fulfilled. And so it is with
us. There was no chance we were gonna
miss this. Because you were already in union.
Now then is the fulfillment of that union when the Holy Spirit
comes in power through the preaching of the gospel and life is given. He gives us a new heart. At the appointed time, the election
is now made manifest. Through the salvation and new
birth by the experience of the Holy Spirit, we're put into union
with Christ. In John it says, but as many
as received him, to them gave he the right, the power to become
the sons of God, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God
you were born. Now, you who are in doubt of your
union with Christ this morning, You see the vitalness of this,
don't you? You see the necessity of your union with Christ. Do
you not see that? Is it not plainly clear? You
must be in Christ or you have no life. And so your soul begins
to cry, am I in Christ? Here is the evidence of our union. As many as received him, to them gave he the right. to be called the sons of God. The manifestation is this, do
you believe on the son of God? Do you believe on the son of
God? You see, all who are made to
see their sinners know their need of his blood and righteousness. Therefore, we abandon all hope
of self-righteousness. We forfeit it. Paul says, I count
it but done that I may win Christ and be found in him. I count
it all lost. It's nothing to me. My religion
was nothing. My morality was nothing. My education
was nothing. My knowledge is nothing. My understanding
of doctrine is nothing. Christ is all. Christ is all. I must have Christ. And if I
have Him, I have everything. I believe on Him. As many as
received Him. These are the ones who are in
Christ Jesus. One day our Lord asked His disciples,
who do men say that I am? They said, well, some say you're
Elijah, some a prophet. Who do you say I am? Immediately, Simon Peter, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the confession of everyone
who is in Christ Jesus. Now then, Who revealed that to
Simon? Jesus said, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this
to you, but my Father which is in heaven. But of God are you
in Christ Jesus. Listen, God will never believe
for you. You must believe. but you will
never believe except God give you faith to believe. And once a person believes, I
want you to know this, once you are in Christ, Because it is
of God you're in Christ. Now, that's the that's a secret.
That's the key Ingredient isn't if you are of God based on any
if you were in Christ based on anything else You should have
no surety that you should stay in Christ How many times have
you chosen one thing and immediately that's gone you just leave it
and you go to something else See if it's based on your choice,
how often do you change your choice? I If it's based on your knowledge,
how often do you forget? If it's based on your morality,
oh my, how horrible, there would be no assurance at all, would
there? What if it was based on circumstance or providence? But
of providence I am in Christ, or good providence, or no, nothing. Here is my hope. My standing
that abases me and exalts God, but of God, I am in Christ Jesus. But of God, I am in Christ Jesus. Therefore, you who are in Christ
Jesus, you who trust in the Lord, Psalm 125, we just went over
this past week. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed. Now, if it's of God,
you can't remove it. Isn't that good? Isn't that a
blessing? Because my salvation's of God, I'm in Christ, no one
can undo that. No one can remove that. Not even
me. And all my sin could not remove
me from him. Why? It's of God. And not only is it of God, it
is done in holy righteousness. He said, I will betroth thee
unto me in what? In righteousness. You know, if a man's convicted
of a crime and he gets off somehow, technicality, you know, Just
a fluke, an error in the computer system and he's set free. How
much hope does that man have? How much confidence do you suppose
in his freedom? That man's always going to be
looking over his shoulder because he's out on some technicality.
No, God didn't let us out on technicality. He let us out in
righteousness. Why? Here it is. Because Christ
of God is made unto you something. First of all, He's made wisdom.
Wisdom. These are the blessings that
flow to you who are in Christ Jesus. These are yours. Christ
is made unto you something. Wisdom. You know how much wisdom
we had? None. We could not find God,
we could not know God, we could not serve God, we could not please
God. We didn't know how. Until God made Christ to be wisdom
for us. Isn't that how you know God?
You can't know God except Christ. Through Christ you can't know
God. You know what, I know something
about salvation. I know little, but I know something. I know this, that only by Christ
God can be just and still justify me. That's wisdom that the world
can't give you. And Christ is that wisdom. He's
made unto us righteousness. Oh, this is a blessing. Friends,
you are righteous. You know what righteousness is?
Righteous is passive and active, perfect obedience. That's what
it is to God. Righteousness is passive and
active obedience. When Christ came into the world,
that's what he was doing. He surrendered all. He surrendered
all his will, all his power. When Satan tempted him with the
stone and the bread, he said, make this stone into bread. Do you realize he could not make
that stone into bread and save you? He had to surrender his power
to the will of God. in order to obtain your righteousness
because you and I never did that. But he did it in our stead. He
has made us righteousness. Sanctification, you know what
sanctification, difference between sanctification and righteousness
is this. Righteousness is action. Sanctification is a nature. Holiness
is a nature. He gave us his holy nature. with His righteous garments on. I am holy as the Holy One. You're sanctified. And listen, you're redeemed.
You're redeemed. All of the sins that come to
your mind, all of the thoughts, all of the deeds, all of the
actions, Christ has paid every single one of them by his blood
and left none for you. None of them. He redeemed you
out of all your sins. That's what God made Christ to
be for us. Wisdom. You know that word and
is in the middle of every one of those? He didn't just put
commas. He said wisdom. and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption so as to separate every one of
them. Christ is all of those things
to us. Why? God made him to be so. You see, Christ's not that because
I willed him to be so. He's that because God willed
him to be so. Do you not now see how this gospel
abases man and exalts God? This is the height of reason
as to why we preach the gospel. As it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in who? The Lord. Why? Because of God
are you in Christ Jesus. because God had made him to be
righteousness, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So what is left for you to do? You who are in Christ, what is left for you to do? Simply
this, glory in the Lord. How about offering the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and praise? How about being content? We have enough to do, isn't that
right? I beseech you by the mercies
of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy
and acceptable unto the Lord, which is just your one reasonable
service. Why? Because of God are you in
Christ Jesus. Who of God has made unto you
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? Let us then glory
not in men, but in God. I'm thankful for this gospel.
I'm so thankful. I'm thankful that salvation's
of God. Because it's only sure if it's of God. I'm thankful
to be in Christ Jesus. Man, there's peace. There's serenity. I pray that God would even now
put you in Christ Jesus. I pray He will.