We're going to be in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians
again this morning. The last several lessons that
I brought didn't get past a particular
verse that we'll look at again. I'd like to read to start with
in 1 Corinthians and the first chapter. And I'd like to read
before a little bit, but start with verse 27 and down just a
bit before we have a word of prayer. It says, but God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world,
and the things which are despised hath he chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are ye 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 a glory in the Lord. And let's have a word of prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning and that
you have brought us together. We pray that you would be with
those that are traveling, that are away from us, that are in
other places that you'd watch over and be with them. pray that
you would be with us as we open the word this morning, that you
would open our eyes to what the scripture has to say and that
you would reveal yourself to us. Again, we thank you for this
time in Jesus' name. Amen. And the verse that I looked
at several other times now, this will be the third different time.
We've looked at it in verse 30, 1 Corinthians 1.30 that says,
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Those four things. And we looked at in a couple
other lessons that he is made unto us wisdom and he is made
unto us righteousness. And these four things, sanctification,
we're going to look at this morning and redemption. They're so, they're
so tied together. They're so close. And so, part
of the same that it's hard to slice one off and say that this
is either more important or more critical or more crucial than
another part or a better part, but they're all part of the whole. It's like His names where it
says what Christ's names were to us with hyphens between them,
not commas. He doesn't have different names
and is different God or characters, but has many different facets
as we see. And the same thing to our salvation
and to what Christ has made unto us. And as it says here, these
things in particular. And we're going to look at this
morning, sanctification. these four different things it
speaks about here and he's much more than than those items obviously
to us as our Redeemer and as as God Almighty but these things
and we have to kind of take them in small bites because they're
pretty big pretty big ideas pretty these are the people want to
see the deeper things of the scripture you don't have to go
very far to find deeper things and for our minds these are these
are hard things to fathom sometimes or to put down in words and just
define what this is talking about. It means so many different things
so much. First of all, the definition
of the word, and it's used in several different ways and manners,
and we'll see that hopefully somewhat. As it's defined, And as the scripture
somewhat defines these and as a word, it's defined as in four
different things here that I found generally. One of them, it means
set apart to a sacred purpose. And the second one, it means
to be free from sin and to purify. And the third thought is to impute
or impart sacredness or inviolability or respect. The fourth one was heat and glow
from the fire. It doesn't seem like it fits
exactly those other things, but we'll see that I think it probably
does. to be set apart to sacred purpose. And we're going to see that what
God says about that, what the scripture says, or to be free
from sin, to purify. That's objects, or we're going
to look at it particularly as the church, how he has made these
things to us and how we fit into this. And the third one, impute
or impart sacredness or inviolability or respect. He has made to us those different
things and we'll see by looking in the scriptures what one of
these thoughts might come to mind. We have to remember too, and
I've read it a couple of times, recently in both the bulletin
thoughts, Norman has mentioned this thought, and in what I read
in some of the contemplations and things that Hawker has to
say about things in general, not just this particular passage,
but that the scriptures were given and are given by God to
his people for the purpose of the Gospel being preached and
the Spirit applying that to His people and redeeming them. The
purpose is not to perchance save the world. It's for purpose indeed to reveal
Himself through the Spirit by His Word to His people for their
redemption. It's not a, well, perhaps they'll
be redeemed from it. It's a sure thing. God has a people that we'll see
that has been set aside, a people that were determined to be his
people, to be determined to be redeemed by the Son, by our Savior,
by Christ himself, and set aside for our redemption in his honor and glory
as it says that through all of this that any glory that is there
that's talked about or thought about would be to God for his
having a people to start with and the different things we'll
look at. Those things in verse 30 of Corinthians
chapter one, those four things that he's made to us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
as we'll get into today and redemption. These are Christ made unto us
by God. It's not and reveal to us these
are three things, four things and others that we must have,
but we don't have unless God has done things. All things are done by him for
his people. Another thought towards this
of sanctification of setting aside to our sacred purpose and
sacred end is another thought that I came up that Hawker did
use this phrase, distinguishing mercy, mercy shown only to his
people. Now there's mercy shown to the
world at large day by day and that God doesn't turning to cinders,
turns all to cinders, only by his mercy that that doesn't take
place. Only by his mercy that he has those that are hewers
of wood and bearers of water for the church that's in the
world. And it's only of his mercy that
all these things take place. They're only shown to his sanctified
ones. These things are only revealed
as that he has made that to us. Religious people can use words
and know words of things, but that's all they know. Again,
as Mike had pointed out, as Norman's used several times, and it's
a great analogy of the code talkers that were the Navajos in World
War II. that the Japanese could not understand,
or anybody else could not understand what they were talking about.
They could just speak their plain language, and it was plain to
each other that we're doing that, but it had to be translated to
anybody else, and the same as the scriptures. It is only to his people, and
we We only understand in part as he reveals that to us. It's
not our natural language either of the scripture, but he makes
that and reveals himself to us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and
the second verse in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians. It says, unto
the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place,
call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. And then not just this book of
Paul's, but the whole of the scriptures, this covers and says
the same thing. All those places are given unto
the church, God, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.
That's the only sanctification that God's people have, and it's
not a start with a glimmer and end up sanctified and holy without
blame and things down the road something because of where we've
attained to in salvation. And when he has made that unto
us, his people, it's there. The sanctification, the wisdom,
the righteousness, and the redemption are completed. things. They are not something that are
goals to attain. He has attained those things
and has become those for us. Sanctification is one of them,
is part of them and set aside in Him and for Him. The church of God is set aside
or set to purpose in Christ alone. That's the only reason we have
a purpose or a sanctification or set aside as anything special
was that God gave a people to the Son. In the covenant of grace, he
was to redeem that church and he did that. In Romans chapter
9, Romans, well all of Scripture,
but Romans is very plain in dealing with some of the things that
are talked about here today in this passage in Corinthians.
But in Romans chapter 9, starting with verse 22, verse 9-22, and down for a bit. It says, What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory? Even us, whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith
also in Osea, I will call them my people, which were not my
people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall
come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them,
ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of
the living God. In this passage here, speaking
above, that God has a people separate from people as a whole,
the whole world. And they says here, the two groups
that he's talking about, and from the beginning we saw there
was two groups of people, sinners and those determined and predetermined
and set aside to be saved sinners. And here it says in verse 22,
willing to show his wrath and make his power known endured
with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. There are those that are just
going, and has been said before, just downstream. They're not
working to be in that situation. They're just going downstream.
And the difference is that God has a people, and that he might,
in verse 23, make the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory. He has a people that
are set out before the foundation of the world, it says, the Lamb's Book of Life was written,
that the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world for
a people, for a particular people, and for those that were sanctified
ones, those that were set apart. The setting apart And all these
different things that we've looked at, a definition of this, are
things that are provided to those that are sanctified. It's not
a self-gotten position or something that's attained to or something
that is started and begun and worked
on that we worked on. There are those that have a thought
that's called progressive sanctification, that you start with a little
of it, and depending on how much bowling, dancing, and drinking
you don't do, that you might gain a notch or two. That has nothing to do with it.
That is not reality of what the scripture says. Either in Christ
we have all these things or we have none of these things. Like
I say, it's not a glory to us that we are sanctified other
than the fact that we thank God that he has a people. If we are
his people, we thank God and glory to God for that, not for
anything that we can or have done. We didn't set ourselves
apart. We didn't wake up one day and
say, The world's going to heck in a handbasket, and I'm going
to be apart from that. We just didn't do that. God is
the one that reveals to us both that we are lost, that we, what
our nature is, and that he is the only one that can get us
out of the pit, and has gotten us out of the pit. In 1 Thessalonians, and I used
to do kind of like Brother Rupert did and keep my notes on the
back of something, you know, or whatever. I actually have
a spiral book now that put it in. But I almost have to use
a thought on part of a page and leave a big gap because there's
going to probably come back and be something in there. And some
of these I've scrunched in. So in 1 Thessalonians, in chapter
5, A couple of spots, starting with
verse 9, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, it says, For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And then
down a little bit farther in chapter 5, verse 23 and 24, that
says, verse 23, it says, And the very
God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it. And you notice it doesn't tell
him to take care of business and make sure that you are okay
in the end. It says, thanks be unto God that
he does this and will do this. And faithful is he that called
you, who also will do it. And in the thought of called
here and and other places is not that he does call us. The Spirit calls us in time,
but some of this was done before the foundation of the world.
It wasn't in time that he saw that we were headed, or I was
headed down a good path, so what the heck, we might as well take
care of him too. No. This was done in time past,
and just like it talks about the twins that Paul talks about,
before anybody had done anything, these things were long before
determined, that God may be the one that does what he wills with
all of his creation. And here, as it said up here in verse 9 and 10, for God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ who died for us. Whether we wake or sleep, we
should live together with him. And up here at nine where it
says, he hath not appointed us to wrath, and you could put in
parentheses and it doesn't do any harm to the thought, but,
or on the other hand, he has appointed us to salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ. And if he had not appointed us
to that and had those that he sanctified and set aside, there
would be none. We see in the Psalms and other
places, God looked down as it were, looked down to see if there
were any that sought after righteousness and holiness. And he said, not
one, not one. So we see that we were appointed
to salvation in Christ. We were set aside to that. We
were, we were given to him. We were, In that rite of the
set apart to a sacred purpose, we were set aside to salvation,
to the glory of God, and before the foundation of the world.
In John 17, and there's a lot in John, chapter 17, and others
in John about what the Lord himself says about him and his people
and the connection with God the Father, and just there's a lot
in these passages that we'll never fully grasp, I'm sure. But in John 17, starting with verse 15, and not to slight
the rest of that chapter by any means, but for time and for the
thought here. Verse 15, John 17 says, I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, speaking
of the church, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. And for thy sakes I sanctify
myself, that they might also be sanctified through the church."
And he's speaking of the apostles here. But as it goes on and speaks
about, not for them also to preach or pray, but for them which shall
believe through the word that's preached also. And that would
be down to us and all of God's people through time before and
after that. sanctified by the truth and sanctified
in him. And then it says, I sanctify
myself that they might also be sanctified through the truth.
And Christ did not need to be imparted
any holiness or righteousness to that, but sanctified himself
as part as being set aside to do this and to redeem his people
and be the one that is the Redeemer. And by his being truly the lamb
that was slain before the foundation of the world, carry that part
and carry that out for the church. And also in John 17, starting with verse 20, which
is just down. And he said, it goes on to say,
the Lord speaking, it says, neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also, what shall believe on me through their word that
they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee. And they also may be one in us
that the world may believe that thou has sent me. Um, And the
glory which thou gavest me, I giveth them, that they may be one, even
as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, verse 24, I will that
they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, what thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known thee, that thou hast sent me. And I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. And this
is another one of the passages of several speaks that God, the
Father, God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. And as He,
as they are one, that we be one with Him. And what, and by, by
relationship, one with God, the Father, obviously. And, but here
that, that those that will by His word that are that the Spirit
will reveal himself to them. It said that they may be made
perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent
me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. And that these
things, as it says in 1 Corinthians 1.30, he has made unto us those
things. He is made unto us both in position
that He did and accomplished and purchased for the church,
but He is made in our eyes somewhat. He reveals these things to us
that He is those things to us. He is not made by us those things,
but But by the Spirit and by the Scripture, it is revealed
to us that we have none of those things. We need those things.
He is those things to us and are those things to us, has provided
what those things all mean to us. that is not accomplished
or there's none of it that is any room for the works of men. None of this is speaking about
the works of men. Whether in Corinthians there
that talks about his main interest or here what John is talking
about, there's none of it that has to do with us. It's all given
to us and provided to us and to the rest of the church, the
rest of the redeemed ones. As it says in verse 19, it says
of this passage through here, it said, for their sakes, I sanctify
myself that they might be sanctified through the truth and indeed
through him. Before we move on from this particular
thought, let's turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter
1. And again, the book of Ephesians
doesn't start with chapter two as a lot of folks may think, but it starts well
before that and with some very, very good things that we need
to to grasp and as he teaches us those things. But Book of
Ephesians chapter 1, first few verses, it says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, where in he hath made us accepted in the beloved." You could just about take that
text and stuff that over there, pencil that in under that verse
we're looking at in Corinthians and it says it right here. Word is easy to understand as
it says, but that says here in those verses that the church
was sanctified before the foundation of the world was set apart before
then. And even using the P word there,
predestinated, having means before determined, it doesn't it seems
in Baptist circles that you can't use that word some. And it's
a wonderful word because it tells that these things were done beforehand. And it further reinforces the
thought that Christ has made these things to us beforehand,
not that they handed to him and then in time we worked and get
this stuff accomplished. This was, it was either done
and is done in him or it's not done. And, uh, and this introduction,
people take those things in, um, in, in chapter two, verse
eight or nine through that area there by grace, are you saved? And we are, we are saved by grace,
but, back up a little bit, and these are very important words
here in the first part of Ephesians and they're foundation words
to what we believe. And if what Paul was saying there
in 1 Corinthians 1.30, if he's made those things to us, they
weren't made yesterday. They weren't made back when. And as that This part here, my
other Bible, I'm using a Bible that pages are still stuck on
some of them. I almost can't read some of this
because they're underlined so much and they're really important
thoughts and critical thoughts to us. That it was done before
the foundation of the world and that it was fully done. In time,
he did have to go die as the Lamb of God, and that blood had
to be spilt for the redemption of his people. And in the time
it was done, in before time, it was seen as done. It was considered
as done in God's mind, in God's acting and doing. In fact, in 1 Corinthians, go
back to 1 Corinthians chapter six, chapter six, and the book
of 1 and 2 Corinthians is used a lot for pointing out people's
problems. And indeed the Corinthians had
problems, but they were common as we see in Ezra and we see
in Zechariah, we see in Luke, wherever. The problems it speaks
of are common problems that man has and that man is because of
his nature. But Paul, in several instances,
it talks about things that shouldn't be or things that are not a good
thing, but he points them to Christ as the touchstone as to where to go
to look to this. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, it's talks about things having to
do with issues against each other or whatever. Different problems
they have in the life. And then it says, verse 11, after their quite a
list of things that are no-nos to do and that they may have
been guilty of. But it says here in verse 11,
and such were some of you, but you're washed, you're sanctified,
you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. And here, sanctified or set apart or imparted
that righteousness and that justification by him and through him. And it's
not saying as he says another place, we don't use this for
a reason to go out and do what we want to do because we're special,
but that We're not to do those things
and God will reveal those things that need to be taken care of
and work in us and our body best. I mean, as Paul says, never going
to get there. We have problems and it's not
a each day a step closer to being fully sanctified. We are that
in Him. But as it says here, we have
this, and it says, such were some of you, and I think probably,
and I didn't go word by word, but it probably could have been
written down, and such were you. probably could have left the
sum out. But anyhow, you're just sanctified. You're justified
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're set aside again
in him and those other things are not, those other things are
not what God sees when he sees, when he sees us, he sees his
son. And then, um, um, in, we're not going to go to
it, but in Norma's been in Zechariah. In chapter three, he talks about
the, he talks about, uh, the high priest with the filthy garments
and Satan was accusing him before God and God, uh, uh, uh, told,
you know, put Satan in his place and told him he reviled him and
Satan had no more to say. And, and it says in verse, um,
Chapter three, verse two, the last part of this, it said, is
this not a brand plucked from the fire? Or those are redeemed as from the fire
or all of God's people are redeemed as from the fire or as from the
penalty of sin that we stand under and stood under. Ezra,
it talks about those that are not forsaken. that have problems,
that God is still their God. We still have those things in
Christ, but we're still, we're in the flesh and those, that's
the problems that we see, but spiritual problems, and he's
given us all blessings in heavenly places in him, spiritual blessings.
Physical blessings, he gives us a lot of. Physical problems,
we have those too, but that is not, That's not where the blind man,
that's not because where those come from is not because of some
thing we did. A lot of those things we have
is because of what we are. We're of the flesh and sin ravages
the flesh. In Hebrews chapter 2, go to the book of Hebrews and
we have a few minutes. As this outline for an introduction
grew into quite a bit, this may be continued at a later time. Hebrews chapter 2. We are going
to be in a couple of spots in Hebrews. But in chapter 2, Let's read verse 11. It says, for both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto thee. But here, again, to reinforce
it, to state again what 1 Corinthians said, that says, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. And above this, it talks about
Christ and the sufferings he went through. And he said he
was made like under his brother in those things, without sin,
but it behooved him to do those things. And then it goes on here
when it says, both he that sanctifyeth, the Lord himself, and those that
are sanctified, the church, are all one. And I believe that in what's there
in Corinthians where it speaks about that, that Christ has made
unto us all wisdom and all sanctification and all redemption. and all righteousness. We have in him, we have what
he has. We don't see it. We have the
down payment of it, or we have the earnest money of it, but
we don't have the full realization of it yet, with the flesh at least. But
in spirit we do. We have all blessings, spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in him. Not part of it, and we
get more later down the way, we have all that he has given
us in sanctification. And in chapter 10, and really
we're just going to look at a couple of spots quickly. And then in
chapter 10 of Hebrews, and you could put particular
redemption by this or whatever. Also, chapter 10 and verse 14, It says, Hebrews 10 and 14, it says, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those that
are set apart that have had the righteousness and the holiness
imparted to them, those, as it says here, he hath perfected
forever. That's It perfected forever, it says. That's pretty good verse to add to that. And then
in chapter 13, one more thought, and we'll wrap it up for today. Hebrews
13 and verse 12. It says, wherefore Jesus also
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without
the gate. Let us therefore, let us go therefore
unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come by him. Therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That
is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Um, And the last thing I will say
on this today in the book of Jude, book of Jude verse one. It says, Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by
God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called, mercy
unto you and peace and love be multiplied. And here again, it
says, them that are sanctified by God. the Father, and preserved
in Jesus Christ, and called. Mercy and peace unto you." And
this scratches the surface of the thought of what he has made
to his people, but we thank God that all that we need for our,
for our redemption is in him and him alone. And that's what
we, that's what we will stand on. And as brother Mike, the other says about this
time, be free. Thank you. Square button. Right by the one you pushed that
started it, right underneath that's the one that started it.