This morning we will be looking
at a passage of Scripture from 1 Corinthians 1. Now, once again, I remind us
who the Apostle is writing to. As with all the epistles, this
one was written to believers, God's people, the church. Look
at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. He writes, Unto the church of
God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, their Lord and our
Lord. And so he's writing to the church,
he said, sanctified or set apart in Christ, called to be saints. That is, called by our gospel,
he said, in another place. Called to be saints, not only
in Corinth, but in every place, those who call upon the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the church, sanctified, to call. All right? Verse 26, he calls
them brethren. Verse 26, he says, You see your
calling, brethren. Now, I labor this point about
to whom the Word of God is written. I labor this point constantly
because the Word of God is being so misused and misapplied in
our day. It is being applied to everyone
without exception when, in fact, God's promises are to God's people. And he calls them brethren here
in verse 26. He says, Brethren, you see your
calling. Brethren, or that is those fellowship
of believers, or sons and daughters of God, members of the same family,
the church of God. He says, Brethren, you see your
calling. They all see, all brethren, all
of God's people see their calling. That is, they see that God called
them first. That His call is what made them
call on Him. They see, verse 26, how that
not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called. But 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 which are mighty,
and base things of the world, things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things
that are." So all believers, Paul says, all the brethren,
they clearly see God does the choosing. God does the calling. And all believers They see their
own calling here. They see their own worthlessness
or foolishness or sinfulness, their own weakness and inability,
that is, spiritually speaking. And they know, they see that
salvation is 100% of the Lord. Verse 29 says, "...that no flesh
should glory in his presence." the church of God, believers,
sanctified saints, all brethren, they see clearly that God must
get all the glory in salvation. No flesh should glory in his
presence. But you know, tragically and
unbelievably, some people, yea, many will say in that great day
of the judgment, I'm reading from Matthew 7, Verses 22 and
23. The Lord says that many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
or preached in thy name? That is, in the name of Jesus
and in thy name, the name of Jesus have cast out devil and
in thy name done many wonderful works. While Jesus, we served
you, we worked for you. Verse 23, Christ says, Then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. Now, why does he call their works
iniquity? Workers of iniquity? When it
says that they preached in the name of Jesus, they cast out
devils in the name of Jesus, did wonderful works in the name
of Jesus, yet he says they work iniquity. Why? Because they were
glorying in themselves. They were taking credit for things
in themselves. They were getting glory to themselves. Their works for Him, not His
work for them. So, those true believers are
those who glory in Christ. They glory in Him choosing them. Him loving them. Him calling
them. Him saving them. Him keeping
them, not vice versa. Right here in the next verse,
verse 30, is a concise or clear, short declaration of the gospel. It tells us here what salvation
is, what Jesus Christ is and does to save His people. Look at it, verse 30. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30 says, Him. That is, no flesh is going
to glory in His presence, but of Him, of God, that is, of God
are ye in Christ Jesus. Now, remember, he's talking to
the church, and he says, you, of God are you, that is, the
church, believers, sanctified, called. Of God are you in Christ
Jesus. Of God. No one just up and puts themselves
in God's family, in the body of Christ. No one by a silly
little decision made one day at the front of the church house
or being dunked in a in a tub of water, no one puts themselves
in the purpose, the love, the favor, the eternal family of
God Almighty who is Spirit by some such silly little decision
or water baptism. No, of God, he says, are you,
that is, believers, in Christ. Look at it again, verse 27, God
hath chosen. God hath chosen. Verse 28. God hath chosen. That's why they are in Christ.
That's why anyone is found in Christ in that great day, in
the body of Christ, in the church of God, in God's heaven. Self-righteous goats like to
talk about how they choose God. Beloved sheep only talk of God
choosing them. Now again, verse 29 says, the
reason is that no flesh should glory in His presence. No sir, no flesh. Verse 31 says,
according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in
the Lord. All right. Now verse 30, here
is that concise declaration of the gospel, or all that Christ
is and does for his people. Verse 30. Of God are you, that
is, the believer, in Christ Jesus, that is, found in him, hidden
in him, covered by him, crucified with him, born from him, dwelling
in him. Of God are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto us, who? Who's the us? The church. And
then he gives four things that Christ is and does for his people. The first thing he said, of God
are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us, that is, believers. Christ is made unto us Wisdom. Wisdom. Now Romans chapter 1
verse 22, speaking of this world, and it's a clear description
of our present day intellectual world. A world or our society
which prides itself in its education. Our society which thinks education
is going to be the savior of this society, when in fact Jesus
Christ is the Savior. Well, of this intellectual and
self, that is, self-wise, wise in its own conceit world, it
says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. And then it goes on to say, in
their foolishness they made up all sorts of ideas and images
about God, all sorts of thoughts about God. Professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools. But now, the believer who professes
that he is a fool, he becomes wise. He professes that he doesn't
know God, all there is to know about God. And he wants to know
God, but he can't know God unless God reveals Himself to him. So Christ becomes that man, that
woman's wisdom. And they then know God in Jesus
Christ. They see all the purposes, the
will, yes, the Word of God bound up in Jesus Christ, His person
and His Word. They see Christ as all and in
all, all their wisdom. And then he says Christ is made
unto them righteousness. Oh, the scripture says so much
of righteousness. In fact, people, I hear very
little of this word in our present day. I hear very few preachers
ever even mention this word. Righteousness, what is it speaking
of? He says Christ is made unto believers righteousness. Well,
Paul lamented the Jews in his days, his Jewish brethren, his
kinsmen according to the flesh. He lamented that they were going
about to establish their own righteousness. This is Romans
10. He said they're trying to be holy, or that is, unworldly,
accepted by God for their goodness, when it's not good enough. Believers
wisely see in Christ. Christ taught them. He becomes
their wisdom. And they wisely see that God
is too holy to accept merely the best that man can do, man's
best attempts at keeping God's law. No, Christ becomes that
man, that woman, that believer's righteousness. He, by his holy
life, becomes their righteousness. God accepts the believer because
of what Christ did, the life he lived for them, not the life
they live for him. Do you understand that? Christ
is made unto them righteousness. The next thing is sanctification.
He's made unto them sanctification, which means set apart, separation
from the world, if you will. Believers know it's not their
hair and their clothes or meat or drink that sets them apart
from the world, but it is Christ who sets them apart from the
world. Christ is who makes them unworldly. When Christ, in His prayer to
God in John 17, He said, I sanctify myself that they also might be
sanctified. He said, They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. Christ is their sanctification. Not what they do or are, but
Christ. The last thing he says Christ
has made unto the believer is redemption. He's made unto them
redemption. The believer knows that nothing
he or she has done or ever will do can atone for one of their
sins, let alone all of them. And only the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross will put away their sin. And
it did indeed do just that. It put away all of their sins,
past, present, and future. He is made unto them wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I pray that God
will put you in Christ by faith. and that you will see him as
your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Until next Sunday,
may God make it so.