And you'll see here that some
of the remedies are mentioned even in this verse. Paul has
been discussing the manner of preaching the gospel and the
wisdom that is therein, and finally He comes to say in verse 29 that
no flesh should glory in His presence. And in verse 30, But
of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. According as
it is written, He that glory, let him glory in the Lord. Now,
let me introduce our subject and work our way to it by this
manner of introduction. One reads the Bible, one familiar
with the Bible, one travels through the Word of God, they will find
that there are two great truths. that are very prominent and that
stand out in Scripture. And they appear again and again,
one or the other. In fact, almost all of the Scripture
might be summed up under either one or the other head. Now what are those two things
that are so prevalent and prominent in the Bible? One is the fact
of human depravity. of human sinfulness. Not only the fact that depravity
is present, but the full extent of that depravity is set out
in the Holy Scripture. And not only that, but it extends
to every member of the race. There is not one that is exempt
from depravity, the different aspects, the different ramifications
of depravity and of being a sinner before God. Now, how extensive
is depravity? And the second thing that we
meet in the Scripture is the divine remedy for the various
aspects of depravity. So that the question, how shall
the effects of depravity be solved and be overcome? How shall the
several effects of human depravity be resolved so that sinners might
be brought to salvation in and before a just and a holy God? Now there are some in Christendom
These things would seem very elementary unto them. That all
one has to do, all one needs to do, is somewhere in their
life give their heart, as we hear, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Invite the Lord, as they say,
to come into their hearts. say some simple prayer of submission
and committal unto the Savior, and they say this is an exercise
of free will, and this is all that there is to it, that any
sinner, any time, any place, can turn himself into a Christian
and give himself over unto the Lord. Thus it is well to consider
the state and the condition in which the sinner stands before
a just and a holy God. in order that we might understand
and that we might evaluate the need of a sinner. First, man's
depravity, as A.W. Pink wrote in his volume called
Man's Total Depravity, has two major points. That is that men
and women are totally depraved, and that it not only has passed
unto everyone, but it has passed through each and every member
of the human institution or the human makeup. So that there are
none that do good, there are none that seek after God, there
are none that are righteous. Then secondly, as A.W. Pinkwell
said, not only is the whole person depraved, but each one is possessed
with total inability. Now here's where a lot of people
who talk about depravity stub their toe, and that would be
at the doctrine of total inability. That means that fallen sinners
and unregenerate are impotent in spiritual matter. They cannot
in themselves begat. They are not able to save themselves.
They are not able to bring themselves to a savable state. And so therefore
they are hindered by what A.W. Pink called the spiritual heplessness
of fallen man. That he cannot bring himself
to God. He cannot force himself to God. Now such is the spiritual impotency
or inability of sinners that in their own power and in their
own ability, apart from enabling and inward grace, they cannot
believe They cannot come to Christ, they cannot turn themselves,
they cannot repent apart from a special work of the grace of
God. They cannot come to Christ apart
from an effectual call. They cannot repent in their own
resolve, only as men repent, as Judas and others have done.
Thus for a fallen sinner to be saved and brought to righteousness
before the just and holy God, let me name four things here,
and then we will look at them more extensively. Number one,
he must have been chosen in Christ. else he would not choose Christ. Men will not choose Christ. You
have not chosen me, said the Lord, but I have chosen you. That sinner and any sinner must
be infallibly redeemed. He must be infallibly redeemed
by the death, blood, and suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Thirdly, as I mentioned, he must
be effectually and infallibly called, else he would not come. The Lord is clear. You cannot
come. You cannot do that except the
Father draw you. And then fourthly, he must be
divinely preserved else he cannot keep himself in the way nor stand
in his own strength. So I come before you this evening
to discuss the divine remedy for human depravity and how God
has provided them. First, let us acknowledge. that
for some things there is no remedy, such as the fallen angel. They are without a remedy. They have none who took their
form or took their nature and suffered in their stead that
they might be reconciled unto God. No remedy for their sin
or for their fault. They are hopelessly lost in that
without a remedy. Consider what Solomon writes. Some sobering things here. Proverbs
6 and 15. He speaks there of some naughty
person, of a wicked man, and he says this, Therefore shall
his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy."
Broken without remedy. Destroyed without remedy. Proverbs 29 and verse 1. He that
being often reproved, hardens his heart, stiffens his neck,
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. In 2 Chronicles 36 and verse
16, in the time of the rain, of young King Zedediah, who did
evil in the sight of the Lord. Not only did he do evil in the
sight of the Lord, but he also disregarded the message of God
that had been sent unto him through the prophet Jeremiah. and the
leaders became corrupt. They polluted the house of God
in that day and time. And they mocked the messengers
that God sent among them until, we read this, quote, the wrath
of God arose against his people till there was no remedy. Now, the English word remedy
has sometimes a double meaning. One, in medicine, in reference
to a medicine or a treatment that cures a disease or a condition
that has arisen in the body, it relieves the pain, heals the
disease, cast it out and whatever. But secondly, remedy something
that corrects or that counteracts an evil or that compensates for
a loss. A legal redress is how it might
be spoken of in the legal court. Thus to provide or to serve a
remedy for evil and the condition of man, to satisfy a wrong and
therefore to overcome it. Hence nothing is more precious
than the divine remedy that God has afforded in behalf of His
elect, and especially when those remedies are viewed against the
need, the plight, the condition, the fall of sinners in Adam. To find what a sinner needs to
save him from his condition and save him to the uttermost is
a wonderful discovery and revelation in the Scripture. And to discover
that, we need only to examine what they are by nature. The losses that they have suffered
by reason of the fall. That which stands between them
and God as a bar to their entering into the kingdom of God. It might
be summed up by simply saying, they are sinners, they are sinful,
and certainly that's the truth. However, their sinfulness has
many parts, many aspects, and each one of them needing its
very own divine remedy. So if we might, Let us list some,
if not all, of the things that require a divine remedy. That is a remedy that only God
can supply, the only remedy that will work and reverse the situation. First of all, I name condemnation. We are under the condemnation
of our sin and of the law. How, therefore, shall we get
out from under and escape the condemnation. Secondly, we have
a corrupt nature. Yes, original sin, call it what
you will, dwells in us and as David said in Psalm 51, from
the very time of our conception or of our birth. Number three,
the wrath of God burns against transgressor and against sinner. Number four, we're alienated
from God. Not only separated from God,
but there was a time when we were actually the enemy of God. There was enmity in us against
God, against the gospel, which we thought was against the church
and the preacher only, but in reality, it was first and foremost
against God. Then again, we were in bondage
unto sin. We are likened to a slave in
the Scripture. We served or were the servants
of sin. Number six, One terrible predicament
is that we were dead in trespassing and in sin. Don't let that pass
out of our mind. And seventh, we were an unbeliever. We did not believe. We did not
believe unto the saving of our soul. Now, I say that these all
must be overcome for the sinner to be saved and brought unto
heaven, and each one of them must have its proper remedy. Let's illustrate, if we might,
by an example, by the example of sickness and of disease in
the body, of which there are several diseases and afflictions. A body is capable of having more
than one disease, even of having more than one disease at one
time. For example, one may be a diabetic
and have heart trouble or high blood pressure or arthritis or
even more so that they dwell and they need a remedy. That's
why our medicine cabinets are full to overflowing, I get. And
each needs its own medicine peculiar to that disease. It is formulated. It is designed, it is mixed to
combat the afflictions of that particular disease or sickness
or problem in the body. Now, concerning the spiritual
malady, we mentioned that each sinner has all of the symptoms
of depravity. And yet Christ is the one and
only antidote, if we may say, with a medical metaphor, Christ
is the one and only antidote for all of the symptoms of depravity. That is, his suffering, his death,
is the divine remedy for which every bar and every obstacle
to their being saved is taken away. Each is by nature. condemned. Each one has a corrupt
nature that dwells within them that can't be purified by education,
or refinement, or culture, or socials, or any of that thing.
And each one is alienated from God, in bondage to sin, dead
in trespasses and sin, and shut up in unbelief, to use Paul's
word. Thus, by speaking of divine remedy,
we mean that Christ has solved each dilemma, has, as it were,
an antidote without which none could be saved or brought unto
God. He has provided a remedy for
each effect of sin. So let us count quickly and consider
them one by one as the heart of our study today. Number one,
we mentioned condemnation. The condemnation of sin. We have sinned against God. The wages of sin is death. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things that are written in the law to do them. Now, what is the antithesis,
or the contrast, or the contrary thing unto condemnation? And the answer is justification. Justification stands opposite
unto condemnation. Such need justification, or justifying
in the sight of God. A divine sentence must be passed
in their favor, overturning the condemnation incurred by our
sin and our depravity. Justification like condemnation
is forensic, meaning it consists mostly or basically in a sentence
passed by God in connection with a solidaric union to the Savior,
even Christ. And this solidaric union of the
elect with Christ was established in the eternal covenant and the
election of grace. I tell you an interesting study,
eternal vital union, but we won't get sidetracked there. John Gill
wrote in his very large volume, Body of Divinity, to justify
never refers to an internal change or work. but to a forensic or
literally a legal sin which stands opposed to the state of condemnation."
Justification includes the pardon of sin and it includes the non-imputation
of sin. And it includes the imputation
of righteousness, and it takes its essence from the good pleasure
of God and a portion of the family of Adam, our partakers of that
wonderful, wonderful blessing. We are justified freely by His
grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, Romans 3 and
verse 4. The procuring cause, however,
is the blood and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Were there
no way for God to justify the ungodly, ever no way for God
to remove the sentence of condemnation, but to justify sinners For it
is not the righteous but sinners that are justified. There needs
to be the holiness of the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfect obedience of His life, His bloodshed, His suffering,
His death, His victory over death, His ascension and glorification
at the right hand of God. Now, why is it not unjust for
God to justify such as are personally and individually guilty and sinful
in themselves? How is it right that God justifies
those who have no righteousness of their own? So, the second
malady that we look at, alienation from God. We're cut off. We were
separate from God. Ephesians 4 and verse 18, being
alienated from the life of God through ignorance, Paul said
of the Gentiles in their former state. Colossians 1.21, that
ye were sometime alienated. at one time alienated from God. First of all, the alienation
and estrangement that entered in with and by the entrance of
sin into the world is very extensive in its scope and in its nature. For not only is man alienated
from God and become his enemy, but man is alienated also from
man. Jew from Gentile were broken
apart in heaven and earth. were in a rupture with the entrance
of sin. But the reconciliation is also
extensive. For in Christ men are reconciled
who before were estranged on account of the prejudice of religion. Jews and Gentiles are brought
together, but brought together in Christ. Through the death
of Christ, as the hymn declares, We sing sometimes, God and sinners
reconciled. They which before were alienated.
And at enmity, God and sinners reconciled by and through the
death of the Lord. Think again, those who say, there
was no enmity on God's part toward sinners. That only the sinner
had enmity toward God. that must be overcome. I think
I agree with Pink and others that the end must also lay on
God's part. For He is angry with the wicked
every day, Psalm 5 and 5, and Christ's death pacified and extinguished
the fire of God's wrath by propitiating God as He did in behalf of the
elect. And before reconciliation, can
be affected, the cause of the estrangement and the enmity must
be removed so that there can be reconciliation. When a husband
and a wife are estranged and then reconciled, those things
that estranged them, of course, must be removed. Now, God is
not like an immature child or a jilted friend who said, I'm
not going to be your friend. I'm not going to forgive you
until you say, I'm sorry that it was my fault. Rather, God
is the wholly offended sovereign against whom all sin is first
and foremost committed, and it will not be forgiven except Christ
duly endure the penalty of that sin, except that sin be fully
and completely punished. It cannot be forgiven and cannot
put away. It was in the death of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, whereby through that death we are reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death, as Colossians 1, 21 and
22 are telling us. By Him we receive the reconciliation
Romans 3 and 11. Being reconciled, we have peace
with God. Romans 5 and verse 10. It is
the case that two at enmity cannot settle their differences usually
directly, but need a mediator. And Christ is that one and only
mediator between God and men. I Timothy 2 and verse 5. And it is he, as duly appointed
mediator of the covenant, that has mediated the reconciliation
of God and sinners. Then thirdly, remember we were
in bondage unto sin. We were the servants of unrighteousness,
Paul tells us in Romans chapter 6. We were actually like slaves. in abject subjection to a very
cruel master. Think of the Jews under the foot
of Pharaoh down in the land of Egypt, a type of the New Testament
people of God in their deliverance. We could not free ourselves. A good friend or a near relative
could not set us free. Christ described the slavery
to sin in John chapter 8 and verse 34 when he said, Whosoever
commits sin, that is, does sin, practices sin, makes sin the
way of his life, is a servant, and the word I think is doulos,
a slave unto sin. Is in bondage to sin like a slave
to a master. Is sold unto sin. Is a captive. Is held fast. What then is the
remedy for sin's bondage and our enslavement? The answer is
redemption or ransom, as we call the death of our Lord. Redemption! We must be redeemed out of that
condition. What is the scriptural meaning
of redemption or of ransom? As it is said in Ephesians 1
and 7, Colossians 1 and 14, In whom we have redemption, even
the forgiveness of sin? Well, the answer is redemption
or ransom means to buy by a price out of bondage. Redemption in
its scriptural sense, a scriptural term, means to buy out of bondage,
to free by the payment of a price as seen many, many types in the
Old Testament economy. John Owen described this divine
remedy in these words that is concerning redemption. Quote,
redemption is the delivery of anyone from captivity and misery
by the intervention or the payment of a price." The price of our
redemption, the coins of the purchase, was not silver and
gold, but it was the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by which we were bought out of the slave mill, bought out from
under the power of sin and of the devil. And yet, Let us not
err. The price was not paid to the
devil. He did not collect the ransom,
though some have made this mistake. The price went to satisfy the
justice of God, who Himself had cast sinners under the condemnation
of sin. It is He, therefore, that receives
the price from Christ. that might serve to set us free. So he that gave the ransom also
received it in a sense. He gave it, he received it to
set the captives free from their burden and their slavery of sin. Now, the purchase of a slave
is a great foreshadowing of the ransom of the elect. We look
at redemption or ransoming in the Old Testament and even in
the New. The foreshadowing of the ransom
of a slave. We can see three stages there
of the redemption. Number one, the redeemer, the
one who is to pay. the one who is to ransom, goes
down into the slave market where the slaves are held in their
chains, shackles, and their bondage. The redeemer then, the ransomer,
chooses the slave or the slaves that he will and pays the price
of their redemption, pays it in full. Thirdly, He takes possession
of them as now being His own, bought by Him, and can set them
free, or He can retain them as His very own. And this is how
the Bible portrays those that are Christ. Paul said, I am a
slave of Christ. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 6, Christ
gave Himself a ransom. Matthew 20 and verse 28, the
Son of Man gave His life a ransom for many. Acts 20, He purchased
the church with His own blood. Galatians 4 and 5, to redeem
them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of Son. Titus 2 and 14, He gave Himself
for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity. It was God that set Him forth
as a propitiation for our sin, as we have said from Romans 3,
24 and 25. Then, fourthly, we notice another divine remedy involves our being
dead in trespasses and in sin. What is the remedy? Shall we
get up of ourselves? Shall we say to ourselves, live,
and it be so? The remedy is spiritual regeneration. And in Ephesians 2, When we were
dead, He quickened us. He raised us up out of our spiritual
death. This is the most necessary remedy
to put us in the possession and experience the blessing to which
we were chosen in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This divine
quickening is a must, as the Lord tells Nicodemus, and yet
it lies wholly, absolutely outside of the ability of any sinner
to raise himself or to get up out of his spiritual dead. You
must be born again. born of God, born of the Spirit,
the Lord said unto Nicodemus. It's a birth from above. It is
not a natural birth. It is not a self-energized birth. It is from God. It is a supernatural
quickening. It is the giving or the imparting
of spiritual life. Regeneration, furthermore, is
the sovereign work of God. and is accomplished by the Holy
Spirit, who in the name of the Godhead quickens the elect, the
fallen person, putting into their heart new life, new desire, giving
a new mind, a new disposition, turning in a new direction, bringing
forth that life that God has put in them. Regeneration, I
think, is the first great internal work of God in applying the spiritual
blessings to which they are chosen and blessed with in Christ. The great denial of free will
Arminianism is that sinners are dead in trespasses and sin, but
they call them sick and bruised and such like, when in fact the
word that describes them is dead, dead in sin. dead in sin, like Lazarus was
dead in body, so that only the mighty power of God can break
their tethers and bring them forth. Lazarus stunk. So too is the sinner, putrid
in the sight of God as he stands in himself. He is bound with
the grave clothes of depravity. Only God's grace can make alive
that by a sovereign act, which is the turning point, the forerunner
of those things that are to follow, faith, conversion, sanctification,
and on and on. And the sinner is at first an
unbeliever. Even the elect is at first an
unbeliever and can only believe by grace. Acts 11. And verse
16, those who have believed by grace. Interesting in Acts 13.48,
those that were ordained to eternal life believe. Now, in closing,
our text said that Christ is made unto us. He is made of God
unto us. Wisdom made wise unto salvation. Righteousness. Christ is of God
made unto us righteousness, which as Thomas Goodwin put it, is
equal to justification, the forgiveness of sin. Sanctification. both under salvation and under
piety. Christ is made unto us redemption,
both from sin, from the world system, and so forth. Conclusion? Christ provides all. We are complete
in Him, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
as Paul said to the Colossians. Every divine remedy every divine
remedy, all which is needed. to bring the elect to heaven
are concentrated and are delivered through our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. So though there are many maladies,
yet there is a particular and a special remedy for each one
of them in the saving of God's elect. So thank God for each
of the effects of depravity, there is a remedy. Thank God that for each one there
is a remedy provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is even our
life, the New Testament is teaching us. We would end by this caution. Seek no remedy. from sin other
than by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to none other,
hope in none other, expect help from none other in saving than
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That every remedy, our corrupt
nature, our deadness in sin, our unbelief, the grace of God
has provided the one and only remedy. Hear Paul again, of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Through Christ
come all of those divine remedies for our sinful maladies. Thank God for his wisdom in providing
and sending them.