Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Very familiar passage. 1 Corinthians 1 verses 30 and 31
is what I want to start off with. 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 him glory in the Lord. We see in this chapter which
culminates in, as I'm putting it, but it culminates in this
saying, Christ is made unto us. Christ is caused to be these
things, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And I want to point out, these all come together. You're not
going to have wisdom without redemption. You won't have righteousness
without sanctification. He's not made one of these to
us and not another. If He, and that is Christ, is
made unto us by God, any of these things, then he has made all
of these things unto us. And let's be clear, it's not
saying God makes us these things because of Christ. It's not saying
anything about him making us anything here. That's not what's
being said here. Other passages do talk about
us being made things, but that's not what this is talking about.
But I want to deal with this passage as it is right here.
Knowing or hearing these things, that is, Jesus Christ is made
unto us these things, does what? It certainly does not make us
feel good about ourselves. But it does make me, as a believer,
one who has had his understanding opened, it causes me to want
to honor and glorify his name, to talk about him. I want to
do messages on each of these things that this says Christ
is made unto us. So there'll be four messages,
God willing, if he's pleased, that are made unto us. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So I'm going
to try to do four messages on these. I will not exhaust any
of these subjects, but maybe I can give some glimpse of what
this is telling us here in this passage. of things that it entails
when it comes to a sinner like me. So let's start with wisdom
today. So wisdom. Supreme intelligence. There's only one supreme being.
I think that's evident to us here. I hope it is. If not, it's
God Almighty. It's Jesus Christ. Wisdom, this
kind of wisdom is wisdom in knowing all things. How they work, how
they work together, when they work, simply by his thoughts
about them. He created all things for himself,
Joe, and he holds it all together by the power of his might. Jesus
Christ is made unto us wisdom. Jesus Christ has wisdom to always
know what to say and when to say it. There is a good reason
why. He created all things. He knows
how everything works because He created them and He created
them for Himself and He holds them all together. That means
it all works as expected by God. There will be no surprises to
God. God is the first cause of all things. It says here that
of God are we in Christ Jesus. It also says who also of God
is made unto us these things. What do we read of him in Colossians
2.9? For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is where all the
fullness of the Godhead dwells. And it says bodily. He has a
body just like you and I, and in Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Fullness, completeness, perfection. Now there is wisdom in this world.
There are many smart people in this world. When man compares
himself to man, God has given them this wisdom. But that wisdom
is not what I'll call true wisdom. It is not a saving wisdom. We can just look close at our
text or surrounding our text and see this. The world by wisdom
knew not God. But this worldly wisdom, no man
will, by this worldly wisdom, no man know God. We must know
him and believe him if we are to be saved. But our wisdom will
not bring us there. So we read in 1 Corinthians 121
that the world by wisdom, that is by man's own figuring out,
he will never know God. God has destroyed that wisdom
and there is no understanding because God has brought that
worldly understanding to nothing. God in his wisdom in saving a
people for his name did this in such a way that man denies
or ignores how God did this. because God has brought their
wisdom to nothing. We've all done this. But if he
is pleased, he will send someone to you preaching the wisdom of
God and sending his son to save a people for his name. The gospel
is the wisdom of God. Christ is the gospel. Verse 24
tells us that Christ is the wisdom of God. The gospel is Christ
and him crucified, which tells us the wisdom of God, which is
Jesus Christ. Of which, that is, this wisdom,
this world knows nothing about and wants nothing to do with
it because it leaves nothing to them. Man's wisdom is, God
has to give me something to do. I'm not totally helpless. We
are told in scripture that there is none that seeketh after God. The wisdom of man does not seek
after God. What are we told in Romans? There
is none that seeketh after God. None are trying to figure out
who God is. They don't care. They just want
to know what they can do for God. They actually, in fact,
make a God out to be likened to themselves. They know who
they are, they think, so they make a God unlikened to themselves.
They are perfectly fine with letting God know just how good
they are, but care nothing about knowing who Christ is. God does
not care who you are because he knows who you are and what
you are. He tells us there is none that doeth good, no not
one. Knowing God is foolishness to
them. God is the gospel because Christ
is God and the gospel is Christ the power and wisdom of God. But we are told that the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What is wisdom when
it comes to man? Who are we told that we are told
in scripture that has wisdom in some capacity? Scripture says
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Job 28, 28 we read,
and unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is
wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. Wisdom is to fear God. There
are those in this world, and this was me at one time, but
there are those in this world who want to do something for
God, but they have no fear of God before their eyes. Why? Because they do not know God.
If you know God, you will fear God. Not only is fearing God
wisdom, but it is in fact, and in truth, the right thing to
do. Psalm 19, nine we read, the fear
of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether. So what is the fear of the Lord?
What do we read in Proverbs 14, 25 through 27? A true witness delivers souls,
but a deceitful witness speak of lies. In the fear of the Lord
is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of
refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain
of life to depart from the snares of death. First of all, telling
lies on God is being a deceitful witness, and to not tell men
and women they must fear God is telling them a lie. you are
being deceitful if you do that. Telling men and women to repeat
after me, repeating something before men never saved anyone
and will never save anyone. You must know and fear Him. Accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. Jesus does not need acceptance. He is accepted of the father
who is well pleased in him. Man is the one that must be accepted
by God and there is only acceptance in the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ. So he must accept you and I,
but you and I are not worth accepting. If you hear what God's word is
saying, that starts to bring in some fear of God, doesn't
it? What else? The fear of the Lord
is strong confidence. Fearing God, you know God will
do what he says he will do. In knowing this and knowing who
you are, but knowing that he came into the world to save sinners,
you know who it is that is your refuge, so you know you have
a place of refuge. What else? The fear of the Lord
is a fountain of life. Fearing God and knowing He does
as He pleases and knowing that what He has done is to the saving
of your soul, it is a fountain of life to the believer, of which
death will have no power over you. What Jesus did was to give
me life in Him. Knowing this and hearing this
is life to me every time I hear it. What else were we told is
the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 8, 13. The fear of the Lord is
to hate evil, pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward
mouth do I hate. To fear God is to hate what he
hates. I am all these things as I am
born in Adam. This flesh is still all that
it ever was. I have pride reeking all in me
and out of me. I am arrogant in this flesh and
will continue to rebel against God as I am born an Adam in this
flesh. My ways are evil. My mouth is
froward, that is perverse. I say or think I can do some
things before him of myself, that is perverse. To think I
can do something acceptable before him is perverse. So to fear God
is to hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. This world
hates this. And I heard Todd Nyberg say this
yesterday so I wanted to include this because I just mentioned
this previously and I want to say it a little bit clearer as
he said it. The scripture says that Jesus
Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews. They hear of Jesus
Christ and what he has done and it being the only thing needed
to save a sinner and they think Well, that's license to sin If
you think men have nothing to do with their own salvation that
Jesus Christ accomplished out their salvation without any help
from man Well, that's license to sin. I Stumble at that It
is foolishness to the Greeks. They hear of Jesus Christ saving
a people for his name without any help from man. How's that
going to help me in this life? How's that going to help me make
this world a better place? How am I going to feel good about
myself with that? There is certainly something
I can do to have part in this. It is foolishness to them. There
is no fear of God before their eyes. We are all like this by
nature. Are there wise men in this world? There certainly are. We are told
in scripture of one particular man who God gave wisdom, 1 Kings
4.30 we read, and Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the
children of the east country and all the wisdom of Egypt.
But we are told something else in scripture, Luke 11.31. The
queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with the men of
this generation and condemn them. For she came from the utmost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. There is one that is greater
than Solomon. Solomon was given wisdom. He did not get this wisdom on
his own. In fact, Solomon is the one that
wrote the Proverbs in which we have read that which he wrote
where he said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. He, of course, did this by the Holy Spirit of God and
not by himself. So wisdom, that is the fear of
the Lord, is given to some by one that is greater than Solomon. This one, none other than Jesus
Christ the Lord, who was not given wisdom, but one who is
the all-wise God in who he is. If you would turn with me to
Job 12. Job 12. I'm going to read a big portion
of that, starting in verse 12. Job 12. And that's just after
Esther. And before Psalms, I think. Job 12, verse 12. With the ancient is wisdom, and
in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength. He hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and
it cannot be built again. He shutteth up a man, and there
can be no opening. Behold, he withholdeth the waters,
and they dry up. Also, he sendeth them out, and
they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver
are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled,
and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings,
and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes
away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away
the speech of the trustee, and taketh away the understanding
of the aged. He pourth contempt upon princes,
and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. He discovereth deep
things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them. He enlargeth
the nations, and straighteneth them again. He taketh away the
heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them
to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in
the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a
drunken man. God is wise. Jesus Christ is
God. God in his wisdom knew the only
way for salvation to be accomplished, the only way for him to be just
and the justifier of them that believe, Romans 3 26, to declare
I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Man in his wisdom thinks
that salvation should include something he can do to gain his
salvation, but man has no wisdom. He does not see who he is and
that there is nothing he can do for salvation in any way and
at any time. God has been offended. God is just and must punish sin. So man being unclean cannot clean
himself. Job 14.4 says, who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one, it says. Man is unclean
because he has offended God. There is no way he can cleanse
himself or cleanse anyone else. We have to have someone who is
absolutely clean. And I say absolutely clean, but
that's kind of redundant. If you're clean, you're clean,
right? The only one that is is Jesus Christ, the God-man. Psalm
3730 says, the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue
talketh of judgment. There is but one who is righteous.
He is in fact the righteousness of God without the law. He will
speak wisdom, and it is He that we must hear if we are to begin
to have fear before God. We must be made clean, and the
only one who can bring a clean thing from an unclean is a clean
one. He is the only clean one. In
His wisdom, He designed a way, as has been said before, to touch
God and not be consumed, and to touch man and not be defiled,
bringing them both together in Himself. Where do we see all
of this? In the gospel. In the gospel,
Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom. When we hear the gospel, we see
how unclean we are. We see this when we see how absolutely,
perfectly holy and clean he is. We begin to fear him. and we
begin to see his wisdom in saving our soul, of which we cannot
do ourselves. Psalm 104, 24, we read, O Lord,
how manifold are thy works. In wisdom hast thou made them
all. The earth is full of thy riches. It is and was, and I'm not really
sure how to say this, but it is and was the purpose of God
for the whole of creation. so that he might save a people
for his name. What he would do is sure. There's
no way that what he in wisdom purposed to do for it to not
be carried out full and completely, perfectly. When we hear the gospel,
that which it pleased God to save them which believe, we in
that see the very wisdom of God. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of
God, personified, and it is he that is made unto us this wisdom. Isaiah 29, 14 we read, therefore
behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people,
even a marvelous work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. Man's thoughts and man's works
will perish. God does not accept my works
or any man's works. His works is the only wise work
that has been done. It is so wise that it accomplished
everything he purposed it to accomplish. Seeing how wise and
how high God is brings us low. It is where we belong, after
all, because we are nothing, yea, less than nothing and vanity. Proverbs 11 too we read, when
pride cometh, then cometh shame. But with the lowly is wisdom. He performs a work that will
cause our wisdom to perish and our understanding to be hid.
Not all will experience this. Not all are lowly and we certainly
do not bring ourselves to this place. He must do this. So what is it that the scripture
is telling us today that we've read in our text? The only way
you will ever know Jesus Christ is if Christ has made you clean.
Made you clean by purging your sin and sins by dying on that
tree and cleansing you in regeneration. We do not do this on our own,
we do this just as everyone else does. Isaiah 47, 10 we read,
for thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, none
seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge,
it hath perverted thee, and thou hast said in thine heart, I am
and none else beside me. What does this say? It says my
wisdom is this. I say this as I am born in Adam. I don't need God. I have myself. God does not see what I really
am. I can get myself out of this mess. I can pull myself up by
my own bootstraps. Fools, that is what we are by
nature, fools. But God be thanked for his wisdom
and his work to cause us to believe. He cleanses us in regeneration,
giving us a new heart, a new creation. He sends someone to
us with the gospel and makes Jesus Christ unto us, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All that I need
to be accepted before a thrice holy God, Christ has made that
unto me. The gospel is good news, good
news about what he has done, not just the theory, but fact
and truth. It tells of that which he has
accomplished. Him accomplishing these things,
he is this to me. But through the gospel, he has
made these things to me over and over again. Tell me it again and again of
his wisdom. Jesus Christ and the things he
has done by his wisdom, the one and the only wise God, amen. Our Lord, dear Lord, our sovereign
God, dear Lord, forgive us of our sins. Be with those who are
sick, dear Lord. It's been said already, dear
Lord, but we come to you. Comfort them, dear Lord, if they
are in pain or in discomfort, dear Lord. May it be that you
can comfort them if you're pleased, dear Lord. But dear Lord, give
them a sense of your presence and of your Son, of who you are,
dear Lord. and know what we are, dear Lord,
and that if anything is to be done, it will be done by you,
dear Lord. Be with Walter as he gets up
here to speak, and that he may speak in spirit and truth. But
dear Lord, open our hearts, minds, and ears that we may take in
and take with us, dear Lord, the news of your Son and all
these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen.