We will be looking at a passage
of Scripture from 1 Corinthians, chapter 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, chapter 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. So he's writing to the church,
he says, 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, the 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 after 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. All the church of God,
the 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 devils.
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 work?
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. 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, But of 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 sanctify 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 says, 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. 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 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.