The Apostle Paul said the Lord
made him a minister of the gospel, that he might preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ to the Gentile. Unsearchable. That's where that
came from. Fanny Crosby, a blind woman,
wrote many great hymns. Colossians 2, the book of Colossians
chapter 2. Let's read the first four verses. Paul the Apostle writes this,
but it's God's Word. He says, I would that you knew
what great conflict, fear, and care I have for you and for them
at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh, that their hearts might be comforted. be knit together
in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words. Paul said, I wish I could express to you,
he said, the fears, the concerns, the worries, the care that I
have for you. And I understand a little bit
about it, I believe. When the Lord makes a man, and
He promised this, The Lord makes a man a pastor after his own
heart. He gives that man a heart for
God's people, a special love and care and concern for the
sheep. That's what the word pastor means. And I realize there are
a lot of false ones out there, more false than true. But the
word pastor or bishop means under-shepherd. He's not the great shepherd,
but he is an under-shepherd who's been given charge or watch care
over the sheep, the feed. Number one, feed my sheep. He
said, feed my lamb. Feed my sheep. And watch as a
watchman. Watch for the wolves. And I thought
about, after Sunday's message, am I my brother's keeper? Well,
I started thinking, am I a keeper of the sheep? Am I a feeder of
the sheep? Am I? I hope so. I want to be. And I thought about
this. Paul said, I wish you knew what
fear and concern I have for you. And I thought about this. What kind of shepherd would it
be who was not concerned when the sheep were missing? Even one was missing. Didn't
our Lord leave the ninety and nine to go after just one? Well,
His pastors are concerned about just one. So please do not be
defensive or offended if I ask of your whereabouts if you're
not here. That's love. That's concern. It's not being
nosy or even critical, but concern. Concern. Because all of these
messages are for you. These messages are for you. hopefully
to feed you, to comfort you, that you may grow. And I am happy
when you are fed. That's what Paul said. What is
my reward? It's the preaching of the gospel. And the reward
is seeing people rejoice, seeing people get peace from them. That's
the reward. Just like a woman would prepare
food And what kind of cook or mother
would she be if she didn't care about the response? If she didn't
care that they ate or didn't care if they liked it or not? All of my judgment of people is in their response
to God's Word. It's the savor of life to life.
Death to death. And if people don't respond,
I'm very concerned. Like our Lord said of the children
of this generation, He said, We have piped to you and you
haven't danced. He said, We have mourned and
you haven't lamented. So, do you remember Hebrews 3, 6 where
He said, Hold fast the beginning of our confidence and rejoice
in it. And rejoice in it. I hope that
we will rejoice over the same message all the way to the end. That's why it's called good news.
If it continues to be good news to you, then you've heard it. When someone quits eating, their
appetite wanes. It's a bad sign. It's a bad sign. No sooner buried my old dog of
15 years, buried an old cat of 14 years, but I was given the
care of my neighbor's dog and had been caring for that little
Lucky. Lucky is his name. Call him Lucky,
but he's blind and has diabetes. Wasn't very lucky, was he? That's what they called him.
But I got attached to that old dog. Real attack. I'd give him a shot every morning,
every evening, feed him. We buried him tonight. You know. The whole creation
groaneth in it. But the point is, yesterday morning
I noticed he was off his feed. He used to, he'd just run to
get fed. But he wouldn't eat. Just a little
bit. Last night, nothing. This morning, nothing. He's dead. So I get concerned. Paul said that. I wish you knew.
I wish you knew. And I've got to know. I've got
to know. If you're getting anything out
of this, I've got to know. I wish you knew what concern
I had. That you might be comforted, he said. We talked about them
at Laodicea. You remember, we looked at that
over in Revelation, that Laodicea was rich and increased with goods.
And that's generally the cause of a person growing lukewarm
with the gospel. Verse 2, he said, I wish you
knew how concerned I have for you that your hearts might be
comforted. The Lord said that. Comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.
Most of these messages, if not all of them, are directed at
God's people. God has very little to say to
the unbelievers of this world except repent, bow, believe. But to God's people are many
exceeding great and precious promises whereby we might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in this world. Precious promises. Promises after
promises after promises. Warnings, yes, lest we presume.
Chastening, yes, but promise after promise after promise for
our comfort, for our peace. And these are direct, especially
Wednesday night. That's just the way it is. Wednesday night is generally
the church meeting, and people make a special effort to get
here, and so I direct it at believers. And it's for our comfort. Our
comfort. Didn't Paul say, what is my comfort? But the same comfort wherewith
I comfort you. Spurgeon said this, he said,
he shall best meet the wants of God's people as a preacher
who has had those wants himself, or those needs. He said, he shall
best comfort God's Israel who has needed that same comfort.
He shall best preach salvation who himself has felt his need
for that salvation. I know your frame. I know what
you need. I know something of the troubles you go through,
the trials, the temptations, the worries, the fears and the
doubts, the needs and the wants because I have them. And I know
what comforts me. This is the one thing that truly
comforts God's people. Our Lord said this. He said,
In this world ye shall have tribulation. A man that is born of woman is
a few days. and full of trouble. But our
Lord said this, for our comfort, be of good cheer. Be comforted. I have overcome
the world. The gospel is the good news of
God's sovereign, electing love, mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. It's all good for God's people.
God predetermined that before the world began. ordered everything
concerning them. All ordered and sure. This is
all our salvation and our comfort. The gospel of a full, free, eternal
redemption, forgiveness of sin, complete forgiveness of sin,
the handwriting of ordinances that are against us blotted out
and mailed to His cross. Past is past. That's good news, isn't it? The
gospel of eternal rest, peace, and joy through our Lord Jesus
Christ is not up to you, it's totally up to Him, and He did
it. That's the good news of the gospel. That ought to comfort
our hearts. The gospel of the good news,
gospel means good news, and the soul still, and the only thing
that will comfort our hearts in a seemingly chaotic world
is that by God reigneth. that no one and nothing has any
control over anything. The devil is not equal, man is
certainly not equal, but thy God reigneth over all. And He is all-wise, all-powerful,
all-loving, merciful, gracious, reigning and ruling, and nothing
moves or nothing harms Him except what He determines. Go to sleep. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. He said, be of good cheer. Comfort
your heart with these words, thy God reigneth. And so he said,
I would that you knew what care and concern I have for you, that
your heart might be comforted, that you would be knit together
in love. Knit together, inseparably united
in love with one another. Like a body, like a family. Love
as brethren. You can't quit being your brother's
brother. You're born flesh and blood,
bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And he said that your
hearts might be knit together in love. One reason our Lord
commanded us to love one another. One of the last things He said
before He went to the cross. And He told John to write a whole
book about it. One of the reasons he commanded that is we need
each other so badly in these last days and perilous times. When men are such lovers of themselves
and traitors, truce breakers, violent and so forth, we need
each other. God's family, church family,
how would we get through sometimes the trials and tribulations we've
had? Many of you have been through
severe trials and the church has rallied around you, hasn't
it? It's at those times when your
true friends and family make themselves known. And that's
God through them, is what that is. Brother Don Bell called while
I was preparing this message when I needed to call. And if
you're thinking about somebody, you pick up that phone. You go
ahead and call them right then. Don't wait or you won't do it.
And he called when I needed to call. And we talked of that little
girl, Riley. I told you about the little girl
there in the church that was near death. And we talked about
her. She's now home. doing fine. And he began to talk about the
church's fears. What if that was Lily? What if it was Isabella? You
know what we'd be going through. And we are going through that.
Not to the same extent with Jane, but we are. And he talked about
the church's fears and worries and tears. You know, tears were
shed. Prayers, strong crying and tears
and prayers unto the Lord for that child. Huh? You know how
they must have felt. They would not give the Lord
rest. And then the Lord answered their
prayer. He said, you know what joy the church is going through
right now? He said, you know how people
that weren't You know, we're lukewarm for a while. We're just
in booze now. And God said that. And I said to him, well, and
I told him about James, I said, now you all start praying for
our little James. That your hearts might be knit
together. Lovers of self aren't God's people. that your hearts might be knit
together, he said, under the full assurance of the richest. How enriching. All riches of
the full assurance. I know I've already gone over
this, but the half wasn't told. Under the full assurance of understanding. Not just head knowledge, you
know. Knowing facts or knowing something in your head won't
give you any comfort or peace when the time comes. understanding
comes through God's Word, through experience in that Word. Now
I understand. Not until you experience something
do you understand. I believe that. I believe that.
But then when you go through something that validates or testifies
to God's Word, proves that through affliction or trial, you say,
now I understand. Now I understand. that you might
have this full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the
mystery. It's a mystery to the world.
I didn't read all of it in 1 Corinthians 2, but he went on to say, The
natural man receiveth not the things of God. Neither can he
know. Neither can he know. Can a man
by searching find out God? No. That's what God said. They
are revealed. We read that. God hath revealed
them unto us. How? By us digging and searching,
by our intellect, by our wisdom? No, by His Spirit. Our Lord said
that to Peter. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, Peter, but my Father which is in heaven. It's a mystery.
It's kept head to mouth. He's hid these things from the
wise and the prudent and revealed them. One of the few times it
said that the Lord rejoiced, I believe He laughed out loud
walking along. The Pharisees, you know, didn't
receive His simple parable. They couldn't understand it.
They were offended. The disciples believed. And it says He rejoiced in spirit. And He said, I thank You, Father,
that You've hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and revealed it unto babe. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in Your sight. That proves it's a revelation,
not an attainment. Well, it's a mystery. The mystery, the secret. Somebody wrote a book. They're
always writing a book. Somebody from California. They've
got all the answers in California. That's another planet out there.
The secret, and everybody bought it, millions of copies. They
still don't know the mystery. I looked at it. I browsed through
it. I couldn't find Jesus Christ's name in it anywhere. I say they know nothing. I say
it's foolishness. The secret of the Lord, Psalm
25 says, is with them that fear him. He makes known his covenant
to them. What's his covenant? Jesus Christ. The mystery. The mystery. It's been kept hid, he said.
We don't. He said the mystery of God, the Father, and Christ.
That's the Trinity there. That's the Holy Spirit. That's
the Father. That's the Son. Triune God. This is not a doctrine. These are persons. Three persons
of the Godhead. Engaged. That have engaged themselves
in the salvation of God's people. And he's talking about comfort.
They've engaged themselves. The Father purposed it. Dictum, actum. Right? That's all the Latin you need
to know. Said, done. When God said it, good is done.
Said, I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass. I said it, I'll do
it. God the Son came here to fulfill
that purpose. Did He do it? He's hanging on
that cross and he said, it's finished. Before that, he said,
I've finished the work you've given me to do. He said, I've
given your words to those that you've given me. Of all that
thou has given me, I've lost nothing. I've kept them all. He dropped the job down. His
name is Savior. His name is Redeemer. His name
is Shepherd. Good Shepherd. Chief Shepherd. He's never lost a sheep, never
will. His glory is at stake. We're not arguing doctrine here.
We're talking about the glory of Jesus Christ. Alright? And God the Father, God the Holy
Spirit, God the Holy Spirit. Invincible. Sovereign. Like the Father and the Son.
Whoever He's sent to quicken, buddy, they're raised. Whoever
He's sent to call, they're called. God doesn't try to speak to anybody.
He calls them. Like He said to the Son, let
there be light. He didn't ask it. He said, let
there be light. Was there light? When He said, come, what did
Peter do? What did James do? What did John do? They came.
Why? Sovereign. The Holy Spirit is
still calling His people out. He's not trying to do anything.
He's doing what He was sent to do. And so they're engaged. to the salvation of God's people. That ought to give us comfort.
It ought to give us comfort. He leads and guides and teaches
and directs and restrains and constrains. That's the Holy Spirit. He takes the things of Christ. This generation doesn't have
a clue about the Holy Spirit. What they think He does is make
people talk like blooming idiots. He actually makes them talk He
closes them and puts them in their right mind and gives them
the knowledge of Christ's faith and they begin to talk right
from then on. Not some stupid gibberish, but
heavenly language. That is, not something we don't
understand, but the language of Scripture. You know, before,
I've got to go on. Let's go on. In verse 3, he says, In whom? Well, in Christ. Well, yes, in God the Father,
in God the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity, in the Triune Godhead,
in all of them. Our Head, all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. Would you go with me to Proverbs
13? You know, there's much, much,
much, much said in Scripture about wisdom, isn't there? Much
said. Let me just ask one question. Who is wisdom? And I use my words carefully. It's not what? Proverbs 3, 4, Proverbs 8, on
and on it goes. Christ is described as wisdom. In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge? Treasure. Treasure is a thing
of great value, isn't it? Treasure is a thing, things,
riches of great value, and treasure is always hidden. If it be treasure
in a true sense, it's always hidden. and must be revealed,
right? It's hidden until it's been revealed. Treasure. Mindy and I stop every
now and then at a little shop down here in Farrum, across the
street from the post office. You know what the name of it
is? Hidden Treasures. That's the name of it. And that's
enticing, you know. So we've been in there like the
great fools that we are. Early, we go in there. We've
been in there two or three times. And I have yet to find my treasure.
It's still hidden. They're still hidden. Fact of
the matter is, it's a bunch of junk. You can burn the building
down, nobody misses a thing. You know the old saying, one
man's treasure is another man's junk? Let me add to that. One
man's treasure is another man's junk. No, wait a minute. No one's
man's junk is another man's treasure, soon to be his junk again. Right? Most of those treasures, where
are they, men? In our attic. And they're junk. And we wish
somebody would come get them. It's just a fact, isn't it? Fact
of the matter is, everything on the top side of this earth
is just that. You look at Proverbs 13. It says
in verse 7, Proverbs 13, there is he that maketh himself rich,
yet he hath nothing. He can have everything. He can
have anything and everything. But you have nothing. What do
you have? Well, mobs can corrupt it. Fine as clothing. Rust will
rust it. I know your cars are guaranteed
not to rust for life. We'll see about that. Thieves
will break through and steal. You won't do it. So, you're not rich, you
can lose it. There is he, though, verse 7,
there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches."
Now, remember that. Look at chapter 15, verse 16.
Here's wisdom. This is God's Word. Better is little, verse 16. Chapter 15, better is little
with fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Did not our Lord say, where your treasure is, that's where your
heart will be? The more you have, and everybody
in here can attest to the fact that you started out with very
little, so you had very little worry, didn't you? And the more
you accumulate, the more your worries go up. The more you have,
the more you have to worry about. That's just the fact of it. Well,
the sad fact is, too, when you have wives and children and husbands
and children, that you have to have some things, and it's just
a fact of the matter. But our Lord said it's better
to have little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure
and trouble therewith, dinner of herbs where love is, and a
stalled ox. Chapter 23. Run over there quickly.
Chapter 23, verses 4 and 5. Now, here's wisdom. Look at this. Verses 4 and 5, "...labor not
to be rich, cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine
eyes upon that which is not? For riches make themselves wings."
They fly away, fly away. Verse 23, here you go, buy the
truth, sell it not. Buy it at any cost, don't sell
it for any cost. What's the truth? One more time,
it's not a what. Christ said, I'm the truth. He
said, forsake all that you have and follow me. Also, wisdom and
instruction and understanding. Would you turn to one more? Ecclesiastes
1. The next book over. Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes 1. One of the brethren really likes
these verses. He quotes it to me all the time. Ecclesiastes
1. Look at it. Verse 7 and 8. It
says, "...all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is
not full. Unto the place from which the rivers come, they thither
they return again. All things are full of labor,
man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." He cannot satisfy this
flesh. And back in our text, Colossians
chapter 2, in verse 4, he says, This I say, I say this, in him
and Christ are he and all the treasures. Not just some of them,
all the treasures. God never exaggerates. It's the
truth. All riches. All the treasures. of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, verse 4, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words." What man? Any
man, especially that man of perdition, that adversary of ours who beguiles,
whose wiles most are unable to resist. Right? Satan beguiles,
and what does he use? What does he tempt the Lord with?
The things of this world. Things of this world. They were
no temptation to him. He had wisdom. He is wisdom. But they
are to us, aren't they? So that's what he tempts us with.
And his ministers beguile people with this health and wealth gospel.
More about that in a minute. But riches are called deceitful,
aren't they? The deceitfulness of riches.
Because they promise what they cannot deliver. Everyone is looking
basically for a couple of things. A few things. And they think
money will bring it. Happiness. By happiness, we mean
contentment. That if you have enough, you'll
be content. You won't want for anything. Our Lord said the water of this
world will leave you thirsty. A man that has a million needs
two. A man that has two needs four. There are 5.2 millionaires
in this country today. 5.2. And now there are increasingly
more billionaires. And I told you how much money
you could spend every day, $60,000 a day for 40 years if you had
a million dollars. How much do you need? The fact
is, the point is, it's never enough. It's never enough. Never content. I always want
more. We are beguiled with the promise of joy. Joy. Tell me, when you get something
new, I'm going to confess something
to you. I'm getting a new truck, a new
old truck. Seven years old. It's an old
four. It needs work. All my trucks do. But it's new
to me. Well, it consumed me for a few
days. He really did. And I hadn't even
got it yet. I'm waiting on it. And I'm already
sick of that thing. Hadn't even got it yet. That
as soon as you get something, tell me, as soon as you get something,
it loses its luster. And in this little while, you'll
realize, you know something? It's just an old truck. Sammy
and I between us have had 104. It's just a truck. But we get
so excited. Oh, this brings me joy. Well,
it sure won't last, will it? It sure won't last long. Peace. That man said, Now I can take
your rest, old soul. We've got your barns full and
all of this. You've got a little nest egg.
You've got your good health. You're retired now. Now take
your rest. What did the Lord say? You fool. How foolish can you get? Tonight,
you're going to die. What was it all for? Nothing. You leave your riches to a fool,
and he'll squander what you've spent your life saving. That's
right. How foolish. This health and
wealth gospel that is a lie of Satan that his ministers use,
to entice, and they're filling up the coffers and filling up
the buildings. God wants you to be healthy and
wealthy. God doesn't want you to be sick. God wants you to
have everything that He has. Just claim it. It's yours. Be
healthy and wealthy. That's a lie. It's a lie. It's not necessarily the Lord's
blessings. In fact, most of God's saints
will attest to the fact that their times of illness have been
the greatest blessings of their lives. We knew a man whom the Lord gave
muscular dystrophy to. Multiple sclerosis. He was a colonel in the army,
an architect of airplanes. had everything going for him,
a wife and a young daughter, moving up, soon to be general,
and he was struck down with multiple sclerosis. God did that. The Lord said, I wound. I heal. Deuteronomy 32, 39. I do this. I kill. I make a lot. The Lord
does it. He struck him down with multiple sclerosis. Why? Well, after he was sitting for
several years and he began to decline and sat in his house
watching TV, his wife left him, took his daughter and didn't
see his daughter for about 15 years. And he was sitting there and
he heard Henry Mahan on the TV. He heard the gospel. The Lord
saved his soul. He moved everything to where
that gospel was and he sat there until the day he died, didn't
he? And he told us, he said, the best thing that ever happened
to me was to get multiple sclerosis. Now you tell me what's a blessing.
Health? Elisha died of sickness. Elisha died. Didn't he have enough
faith? See, that's a lie out of hell
that false prophets are telling people. Elisha died. Timothy
was constantly sick. Epaphroditus, the preacher at
Philippi, almost died. Lazarus did die. He whom thou
lovest is sick. Boy, you know what a blessing
came out of that. He died. Hallelujah. That's the blessings of the Lord.
We've got it all backwards. This is wisdom that men don't
know anything about. Health. Boy, I'm trying my best. Fifty-six
years old and I'm trying my best to maintain what is falling down
rapidly. Several years ago I didn't have
to worry about it. It's a losing battle. Irritating. Wealth. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
have a place to lay His hand. God's the Son. Now you tell me,
does God want everybody to be wealthy? He could have made every
human being He came into contact with. All the gold and the silver
in the mines is Him. He could have made every single
person he came into contact with haplessly wealthy. He never gave
a dime to anybody. Why? Because it's fool's gold. You don't need that to be rich.
There is he that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There
is he that is poor. He who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor, has everything that we want. Happiness? Contentment? Joy? He said, I have joy that
no man can take from me. He is sleeping in a boat during
a raging storm. Come what may, peace, joy. That's
what we want, isn't it? He has it. Wealth. Wealth. True riches. Oh, my. True riches. James says, being rich toward
God. Riches in glory. The Lord said, lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven where neither moth or thieves or rust Rust
can corrupt or thieves break through and steal. And inheritance,
it fadeth not away. No lawyer can swindle you out
of it. It's there waiting, reserved in heaven for you. What is it?
The unsearchable riches of Christ. That's what we're talking about.
Peace. Joy that no man can take from you. You know, we preach Christ. We
say that. It's more than a slogan. It's what we do here. It's all
we do here. People don't come here for entertainment,
you won't find it. You want to know the truth, that's
what we do. We preach Him who is the truth. He said, I am the truth. I am
the way, not a way, the way, the truth, the light. There is
no way other than Jesus Christ. There is no truth. Everything
else is a lie outside of Jesus Christ. Ask Him something, and
you'll find the answer in Jesus Christ. All the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. Origin of the universe. Let's
ask about the origin of the universe. Brother Cody said, men are sending
spaceships up into space to try to find out the origin of the
universe. You don't have to go up there. Scripture says, don't
you have to go up to heaven? He came down. He came down. Who? God. All things were created
by Him, made by Him, for Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. He came on his own, that is,
those he made, but they received him not. He said, you can't be
God, you're a man. That's because he disguised himself. He hid himself, but he revealed
himself to his disciples, didn't he? They clearly had bowed to
him. Thomas hid his knees and said, you're my God, you're the
one that created me. I believe that too, don't you? Revealed unto us and our children.
We preach Christ, the wisdom and power of God, in hope. that
God, in hope that God will turn away our eyes from beholding
vanity. That's why we hope he'll turn
away our eyes from beholding vanity, to behold him and him
only. We sing that hymn, Riches I heed
not, no man's empty ways. Thou mine inheritance, now and
always. We need to keep seeing Him high
and lifted up. We preach Christ to keep us from
falling for fool's gold. It's all fool's gold. I remember
when I first moved to Franklin County. I was out in the backyard
digging. And I struck gold, Charles. I did. Honestly, I struck gold. I went and showed it to somebody
and said, that's fool's gold. I've never seen it before. Iron
pyrite. Good for nothing. I didn't know. Men don't know either. Will and
vigor. Keep us from falling for fools.
Go and fall for Him. We preach Christ to keep us from
following fools. Paul said, we suffer fools gladly. There's a new one born every
day and people follow them by the thousands and the millions,
don't they? He's made a man stand up and just preach what Christ
said. But he said, my sheep will hear
my voice. Yes, they will. All that the
Father giveth may come to them. And they'll hear my voice, and
after they hear that, after they see my glory, they won't want
to listen to anything or anyone else. Is that right? We preach
Christ because Christ is all. We preach Christ in hopes that
eventually, after life, after youth, after life, after sickness,
right before death, we'll finally come to the conclusion, you know,
Christ is all, isn't He? He really is. He's all there
is. He's all there is. That's it. All this is going
to be dissolved away. And then what? Christ, the solid
rock. There he sits. There he sits. We preach Christ. The more we
see His glory, the less we'll see glory in anything or anyone
else. We preach Christ because the more we see His wisdom and
hear His wisdom, the less we'll believe anybody and trust anybody
else. You need wisdom? He said, ask. Oh my, there's so much I want
to deal with. What is wisdom? In Christ are
hid all the treasures of wisdom. In the wisdom of God, God made
Jesus Christ salvation. He said He's made unto us. We
read that in 1 Corinthians 1.3. Of God are you in Christ. He
talks about the world and all their wisdom and all this foolishness
and the perishing and all that. And He said, but God, do you
see your calling? How that God hath chosen, who
God hath chosen, and put you in Christ. You see the wisdom
of God in this federal head? In God making one man our salvation? See the wisdom of God in that?
It's all up to Him. It's all up to Him. The salvation
of every one of His people is up to Him. We're in good hands. He's made unto us wisdom. All
we need to know is Him. The wisdom of God. He knows the
law. He knows the Father. He knows us. He knows our adversary. He knows what to do. Wisdom. He's made unto us wisdom. Wisdom. He did it all. He's doing it
all. And He will do it all. We just need to trust Him. That's
it. Just trust Him. Oh, God was so wise, so loving,
so kind to put the salvation of His people in the hands of
His Son. See the wisdom of God? Righteousness. He's made unto
us righteousness. The man who thinks he has a righteousness
that he can impress God with is a fool. A fool! Paul thought that, didn't he?
Saul of Tarsus, didn't he? He said, I thought I was blameless.
He said, it slew me. He said, I realize it's spiritual.
It's not outward. It's spiritual. That God requires
perfection of thought. He said, it just killed me. I
died. He said, he died that he might
live. Oh my. He's made unto us righteous.
Aren't you glad? In the wisdom of God, He put
it all in one man. He put you in him. He's made
unto you righteous. Sanctification. Holiness. If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? If God will
mark iniquity, if we're found with one spot on us, who shall
stand in His holy presence? Who shall ascend unto the holy
hill of the Lord? Psalm 24 said. Nobody but Christ. But there's a lot of people going
in with Him. He's their holiness. They're
covered. We stand in Him. God put us in
Him, covered us. You're dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. Isn't that wisdom? Redemption. Redemption. Well, Christ has what we need,
wisdom, and He is what we need, wisdom. He said, And I'll be
your peace. I'll be your comfort. I'll be
your wisdom. I'll give you peace. I'll give you comfort. I'll give
you wisdom. Give it to you. And the fact
of the matter is, glory to God, and all that the Father giveth
Him shall come to pass. And He's made unto them wisdom.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him. And we
didn't even scratch the surface. We didn't even scratch the surface.
It's an ocean of His fullness. And we put our toe in. But if
we can just see this one thing. Jesus Christ is all in it. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. Thank You for the possession
of it. Thank You for writing it. Thank
You for maintaining it and saving it all these years that we might
have it. Thank you, Lord, for the reading of it and the hearing
of it. Thank you that you bring us to
hear the blessed Word of God when many turn away their ears
from the truth, the fables. Most of all, Lord, thank you
that some are blessed to receive it and believe it. It is all
by your grace. It is all according to your mercy.
and your love and your kindness in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord.
We believe. Help our unbelief. Oh, Lord,
be unto us wisdom. Let us see more and more every
day that Thou art all wisdom and knowledge. May we grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make Him
truly all in all. Let that be more than a creed
or a doctrine. Let it be our hearts felt faith
and desire. Christ is all and in all. Bless your Word, I pray. We pray
for your glory and your people's good. It's in Christ's name we
meet here tonight. Amen.