If you would, turn in your Bible
to the first chapter of the Gospel of John. John's Gospel, Chapter
1. Reading the first 14 verses in
John's Gospel chapter 1. Now before we read and try to
preach, let us speak to this God of whom
we have just sung who can do everything and us poor sinners
can't do anything. That's a good match. Lord, thank you for letting us
come to be a part of your worship in this place this day. Thank you for these that you
have brought, both near and far. Lord, thank you for the privilege True religion, if we live long
enough, may turn out to be a crime in the crazy world in which we're
in. And yet we understand that you
govern and control all things. Whatever happens in a given day
is ordained of God or it would never ever come to pass. Most folks are scared to make
that statement. But if you're not in control
who is, they will say the devil. But you have taught us through
the precious gospel of Christ that the devil is on a chain
and the end of that chain is in that pierced hand of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The devil can only do what God
lets him do. Lord, our problem is, my problem
is, there's so much in this book
that I don't understand. It is a difficult matter to preach on any given passage
in this book. But you have enabled us, though
in our view we failed time after time after time, for over 30
years you've permitted me to stand behind this pulpit. Lord, open my mind and my heart and
the heart and ears of these people in this place, that you would
speak to us, quicken us by your all powerful
grace, enable us to adore, to praise, to marvel at our precious
Redeemer. Lord, if you'd be present in
this place this day, who could ask any more than that?
We beg it in Christ's name. Amen. John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses
1 through 14. In the beginning was the Word,
all capital W. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Who is this Word? It is none
other than our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus. Of whom, in verse
2, it tells us, the same was in the beginning with God. Our
Lord was God before He came into this world, and He's still God. Verse 3, All things were made
by Him, And without Him was not anything made that was made. That makes Him our Creator. Ain't nothing made, ever, that
He didn't make it. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life. The only change I'd make in that
is in Him is life. And the life was the light of
men, a revealing life. You can just take the New Testament
alone and see what happens when Christ stands in a certain town
or on a certain road or in a certain house or in a synagogue and you
tell me if it If this isn't a true statement, this life was the
light of men. It's the revelation of God to
the souls of lost sinners. And the light shines in darkness of which we are all born into. I don't care if both your parents
have got PhDs. That's as lost more so than a
common man on the street. They already know everything.
And when it comes to the gospel, they don't know anything. And the light shines in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John. This is not the writer of this
gospel. This is another John. It is John
the Baptist. The same John the Baptist came
for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through
him, through this light, that is another name for our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, that all men through him might believe. John the Baptist was not that
light. but was sent to bear witness
of that light. That was the true light which
lights every man that comes into the world. This light, this Lord
Jesus Christ, this Redeemer was in the world and the world was
made by him and the world did not know him. Now here's a good checkup for
me and you. Do you ever remember not knowing
who Christ is? Because if you can't, you're
still in that sad condition. You can't know him and not know
it. What verse was I on? All right, I'll read that again.
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the
world knew Him not. He came unto His own, His own
world, His own people, the Jews. Everything is His own. He owns
everything that there is. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not, but as many as received Him. Now you
talk about power necessary to make a sinner who hates God to
receive God in Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, that's a miracle
of grace. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which, I prefer the word who, were born
not of blood. Salvation doesn't come by who
your kinfolks are, your granddaddy was, or your grandmother, or
anything like that. I enjoyed all of those as I was
growing up as a kid, and I thought they pretty much knew everything.
But I was sad to learn many years later when I had to find out
for myself, I didn't even know God. And they didn't either. Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. All right. Now let's see what
we can do about preaching about this one about whom we have just
read. I want you to turn to this particular
scripture, if you will. Let's see, it's Matthew chapter
7. And the only reason I'm taking
enough time here for you to find this chapter 7 of Matthew is
because the verses that we're about to read from this chapter
are 21, 22, and 23. And I want to make this point. I
won't tell you what it is until we have read it and maybe emphasized
it a little bit. Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone that
says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
that great day, that great white throne, that great day of judgment,
when all men will stand before God And our Lord Jesus Christ
will do exactly what He's doing here. Many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied? Or you could
say preached in your name, and in your name have cast out devils,
and in your name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess
unto them. You claim to know me. You claim
you did works for me. But he said, I never knew you. Now that's absolute tragedy. If the son of God on judgment
day says to me, you claim to know me, but I don't know you,
I'm telling you it's all over. It is all over. I never knew you. Depart from
me, you that work iniquity. What is the most sinful work
that we're capable of? It is a religious work that is totally dead. What a tragedy to have so much
hope. Look what I've done for God.
Look how much money I've given to the church and all this Tommy
Rutt. This is foolishness. These people dared to come before
Christ on the Day of Judgment and give Him a reminder of what
they've done while they've lived in this earth. And our Lord is
not impressed. He said, do not know me, but
the key word is I never knew you. Now he knows everybody that's
ever lived on this planet or ever will, but he does not know
them in the sense of loving them. This is vital for us to see because A bunch of you, along with myself,
we lived in a religion, I can't remember how many years, and did not even know who this
is. Thinking we knew him, preaching
a gospel that we know now to have been a false gospel. But everybody else around us
believe the same thing, we might as well believe it too. Well, I hope that won't be true of
us. We need to look carefully into
this book. My text this morning is 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 30. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. And I'll read 31 because it would
be a shame to separate them. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 beginning
at verse 30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. Christ who of God is made unto
us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
or you might say holiness, and redemption. And here's the reason that Christ
is all, that according as it is written, he that glories,
let him glory in the Lord. That's where this glory is, in
the Lord. So I want to work on that little
phrase. More especially on verse 30,
but I may have to add something about the other one as well,
but we'll see. All right, let's get down to
business. This verse, 1 Corinthians 1.30, there was a preacher in
England in the 1800s by the name of George Whitefield. He preached
in the open air, he preached in barns, in cow pastures, in
churches, wherever he had an opportunity. he preached, and
he said concerning this text, 1 Corinthians 1.30, he said he
called it the most comprehensive text in the whole Bible. Now that puts a lot on our plate
for us to examine this statement that is so wonderful and so glorious. So it will help us to understand
this verse in regard to being in true religion and in being
in Christ. The fountain of life is Christ. I didn't say it's in Christ,
I just said it is Christ. It is Christ. No more important statement in
all the Word of God than this one. And it would do well if
we studied it very carefully. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
in Christ, not in religion, not in the law, not in the church,
but in Christ. Here's you another scripture.
In Philippians, I'm not going to ask you to turn because I'm
going to read it because I don't have time to wait for you. I'll
tell you the book and the verses when I finish reading them. And I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done that I may win Christ. And it goes on to say, and be
found in him. Philippians 3 verses 8 and 9. It is imperative for you as well
as me to be found in Christ. To be found in Christ. Our first word in that 30th verse
of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the first word that strikes our attention
now is wisdom. Wisdom. The finger of God points to Christ
and says, there is true wisdom. All we need to know about God
is in Christ. It's in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, He that has seen
me has seen the Father. They certainly are one. All we
need to know of creation is this statement. All things were made
by Christ and for Him. It's His. It's His. Thirdly, all you need
to know about the truth. Just about four words. Let's
see. I am the truth. I am the truth. Christ is the
truth. All we need to know of life and
death. Our Lord said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. No man comes unto the Father,
but by me. All we need to know of justice.
Our Lord's suffering, bleeding and dying accomplishes for us I am the resurrection and the
life. Without Christ, we're dead sinners,
even though we're alive physically. We're dead spiritually. All that we need to know about
justice is found in our precious Lord Jesus Christ. He said that
God might be just and the justifier of the ungodly. Our Lord is in
the business of redeeming, regenerating, saving sinners. Bless His name. All we need to know about eternity, these simple words are found
in John's gospel They've stuck in my brain and I hope they never
leave. He said, I go and prepare a place for you. And he said, if it were not so,
if it were not true, I wouldn't have told you. That's, that's powerful language.
I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself." Second word, and that word, by
the way, was wisdom. I don't think I mentioned it.
I may have earlier. In the second place, in that
30th verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, is the word righteousness. Righteousness. Righteousness. Now, you can know the dictionary
definition, but it's far removed from what it is in this Bible. The finger of God points to Christ
and says, there is righteousness. There's a righteous man. This is our great need, for we
have none of our own. We are by nature so unrighteous,
so sinful, so guilty. Our righteousnesses are said
to be filthy rags. Who shall stand in God's presence? the disciples of Christ, the
Apostles and some other people involved as well in many places
in our Bible, but the disciples said to our Lord, the Pharisees,
You offended them! You offended Pharisees! Lord,
I'd go out of my way to do that! Except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall indeed
perish. Now we come to the third word
in that 30th verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. It is the word sanctification. Sanctification. There are many
statements about it in our Bibles. Some people say it's it's closely
aligned with the word holiness and I think it is but the finger
of God points to Christ and says there is sanctification there
is righteousness Christ is our sanctifier and he is our righteousness
as a man he lived in on this earth for some 33 years and he
did it without a single sin, not a one. The holy man, the
perfect man. Righteousness and sanctification
must always go together. They cannot be separated. Righteousness
is imputed by God the Holy Spirit, and that's the only way I know
for us to be counted righteous. Then there's a fourth word in
that 30th verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And that is, this is a really
comprehensive word. Remember what Whitfield said
about it, the most comprehensive text in all the scriptures, in
his estimation. Well, we come fourthly to the
word redemption. Christ is our Redeemer. We are
redeemed by Him or we don't have any hope or standing before God
if we seek to do something other than fall at the feet of Christ
and beg for mercy. The finger of God points to our
Lord Jesus and says there is redemption. Now redemption is
a word that takes in all of salvation virtually. Let me put it this way, in regard
to this matter of our being saved, we have been saved, we are being
saved, and we shall be saved. It continues and it grows, but
it is the grace of God in Christ that enables us to even have
any thoughts that we are, you know, somebody special. We ain't
nearly as special as we think, but Christ is special, and if
you're His, I'm telling you, that's the most precious thing
in this world. The most, without any exaggeration. Now let me work on this statement. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. So this fountain of life of which
God speaks in this book as we've covered this morning, of God have you in Christ. Our life Before God is in Christ. Now this, I don't know that there's
anybody here that this should surprise, but it might. It is in Christ, not in religion. It's not in keeping the law.
Anybody tells you they can keep the Ten Commandments, you're
looking at a bald-faced liar. And if you have to look in the
mirror to find him, you need to tell yourself that. And so
do I. It's not in religion. It's not
in the law. Now you ain't going to believe
I'm going to say this. It's not in the church. It's in a person. And that person
is our blessed savior, the Lord Jesus. Let me read you another. I've
read this one, but I want to reread it at this point. in Philippians
3. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ. That's Paul the Apostle's
words. Oh, that we might win Christ
and be found in him. We have no spiritual life except
in Christ. We're chosen in Him, redeemed
in Him, and accepted in Him. Of God are you in Christ. The
first cause is the eternal God who gave us to Christ. If we
are His before the world began, before we had any existence,
before Adam was even created, before this globe was ever made
where human beings could live on it. The new birth is not, now if
we didn't cover this in John chapter 1 a little earlier in
our reading, I don't know how you could say we missed it. Not
by our own will. This new birth is not by our
will, but His. His. John 1, 11 through 13. I think I've got it printed.
I can read it to you if you want me to. Well, I thought I could, but
somebody's already moved it. No, there it is. Our Lord Jesus is said to have
come unto His own, His own people, His own world, and His own received
Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name." Now listen, here's the same person,
we've got to change verses to verse 13, that was 12 and earlier
was 11, but here's the verse that is linked to that. "...which
were born, these people, who become the sons of God in Christ,
that is, those that believe on His name, They were born not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." As bad as you'd like to see somebody converted,
you and I can't accomplish it. We can pray for them. We can
beg God to send mercy to them. It is not of blood. It's not who we are, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man. The question is this, am I in
Christ Jesus? Are you? Are you in Christ? who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now, to conclude, I'm early. There is a matter that is of
weighty importance. I've got my notes mixed up, but
I can take care of it from this vantage point. Let us fear this above all else. to have a form of godliness and
to deny the power thereof. Ever learning and never coming
to a knowledge of the truth. We ought to avoid that like the
plague. Here's probably the most common.
of all mistakes. To learn doctrine and miss Christ. To learn doctrine and miss Christ. There's Catholic doctrine, Lutheran
doctrine, Pentecostal doctrine, Baptist doctrine, Methodist,
you know, just keep on naming. They all got little You know,
little spots where they differ and once in a while they agree,
but it's all just, it's just garbage. It's garbage. Let me speak Paul's words one
more time out of Philippians. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Paul made this statement in the
first chapter of Galatians. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace,
when it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the heathen, I conferred not with flesh and blood." I
mean, it was years before he ever went to Jerusalem. He was
down at Damascus where the Lord blinded him on the road to Damascus.
And while there, the Lord opened his eyes and saved him. And when
he left, he did not remain there. There were two, three, four years
that he went out in the backside of nowhere and meditated on what
he had found out and how wrong he had been. How on earth could
he hold such doctrines as he used to hold? Hating his fellow
men who did not agree with him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him. I'm going to stop there.