I'd like for you to open your
Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I plan to preach mainly on the
last few verses of this chapter where it says, In verse 29, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. And then it says, but
of him that is of God, are you that is believers 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 gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. And this is the
subject, glorying in the Lord. Someone once said that if you
want to learn to worship, and if you want to learn to pray,
read the Psalms. And when I was preparing this
message, I could pick out just about any of the Psalms, but
that Psalm 96 is one of the classic ones concerning what it means
to glory in the Lord, to worship God, to praise God, to honor
Him. And so that's what I want to
talk about this morning. As a young preacher, I learned
early on that every message, when I sat down to prepare a
message from the Word of God, prayerfully, that I ought to
have in mind four desires for every message that I preach.
Four main desires. Number one is to glorify God. That means I want to tell the
truth on God. I don't want to hold anything
back. I'm not up here to apologize for God. I'm not here to make
excuses. I'm here to just preach the truth
about God as it is in his word. And if anybody who hears it has
trouble with it, that's their problem. I pray for them. I pray
that Lord will give them a new heart. But whatever this book
says about God, that's what I want to preach. I want to glorify
him, I want to honor him. The second desire is I want to
exalt Christ. I want to exalt the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior. I want to represent Him aright.
I want to speak the truth of who He is, His glorious person. That's what preaching's all about.
It's not about who I am. It's not about who you are. It's
about who Christ is. And when it comes to who we are,
well, we're the sinners. We're either lost in our sins.
We're either saved by the grace of God. I don't wanna talk about
His glorious person. I wanna talk about His finished
work. I don't wanna talk about what I've done for God or what
you've done for God. I wanna talk about what Christ
did for us towards God. The gospel's about a finished
work. Speaks of Christ crucified, as Paul said here, the preaching
of the cross, the preaching of the gospel. So I want to exalt
Christ. The third desire is this. I want
to see lost sinners saved. I want to preach the message
that the Holy Spirit, if he's pleased, if God is pleased, that
he will use to bring a lost sinner to find Christ, to believe in
Christ, to repentance of dead works and idolatry. I know what
we are by nature. I know what I was before God
saved me. I know what you were before God
saved you. And if you're still in that state,
it's my desire that God will take this very message and empower
it to your salvation. And that's my desire. Now, I
can't save you. I don't have any power to save
anybody, not even myself. But I know where the power is,
and I know he uses his truth The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it. And then the fourth
desire is I want for you who know Christ, for you who are
sinners saved by grace, I want to build you up in the faith,
not build you up in your ego, but I want to edify you. I don't
want to tear you down. I don't want you to go out of
here hanging your head about you haven't done enough. Because
I'll just tell you right now, you haven't. I haven't done enough. I've preached for almost 40 years
now, thousands of, but I still haven't done enough. What is
enough? Well, what Psalm 96 tells us, God's gonna judge this world
in what? Righteousness. And where am I gonna find, is
there anybody who ever did do enough? Yes, Christ. So you look
to him. That's what builds us up, isn't
it? looking unto Him, resting in Him. And the more I talk about
Him, the more you're encouraged and the more you're built up
and the more you grow in grace and knowledge. I don't want to
confuse you. I've heard some messages in the past few years
that just confuse the heck out of me. I don't want to make you
doubt. I'll tell you this, if you're
looking to yourself, you ought to be doubting because That's
the only way to go, the only place to go. I want to encourage
you in Christ. Those are my four desires. Well,
those desires go together. You can't have one without the
other. If you're gonna glorify God, you gotta preach Christ.
You gotta exalt him because the glory of God is in Jesus Christ. The glory of his person, the
glory of his finished work. And if sinners are gonna be saved,
you gotta preach Christ. Preaching of the cross, that's
the finished work of Christ, that's the blood that he shed
to put away the sins of his people, that's the righteousness that
he established by which God justifies the ungodly. And if you're gonna
encourage God's people, you gotta preach Christ, you gotta glorify
God, you gotta preach the gospel, because that's the foundation
of our faith, that's the motivation of our obedience, that's the
goal of our worship. Right there. Now, in what do
men glory? This word glory is an interesting
word. As you read through the New Testament,
you'll see the word glory in our English versions. And by
all practical purposes, you don't see any difference as far as
what they mean. But this word glory here, he
says that no flesh should glory in his presence. Sometimes the
word glory is the word that we get our English word doxology
from. You know the doxology, praise
God from whom all blessings flow. It's just a statement of praise
and worship and it's a good word. We wanna glorify God, we wanna
praise him, we wanna worship him. But in this case, and in
a few other cases, the word glory means something else. And you
know what it actually means? It means to boast. Boast. In the sense of having confidence. That's what it means. And I ask
this question, when you see that word like this, you say, think
about how in the world Can we who are such a sinful people
glory? How can we boast? Well, think
about the things in what the natural man boasts in. You know,
over here in 1 Corinthians 2.14, I quote this verse all the time,
quoted just about every message I preach on TV. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. But I'll tell you something about man by nature,
myself included, Man by nature is going to glory, boast, have
confidence in something. And what is he gonna have confidence
in? The flesh. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. Think about it, and what do unregenerate, unbelieving
people boast? What do they have confidence?
When it comes to salvation, when it comes to a right relationship
with God. And behind this truth here, that
God is in his word relaying to our minds, stands what the Lord
told the Pharisees over in Luke 16 and verse 15. You know what
he told them? He said this, he said, you are
they which justify yourselves before men. Now what that literally
means is you care about what men say more than what God says.
And you justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. Now listen to this line here.
This is important. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. Pretty harsh words. Abomination? You know what an abomination
is? Oh my goodness. You ever heard of the abomination
of desolation? It's something that God actually
hates, rejects. And he says God hates and rejects
what men naturally highly esteem. What they boast in. As I said,
to glory here is to boast with confidence. And man is going
to glory. Think about what men glory in.
They glory in human achievement. That's what being glory in. In
religious achievement. They glory in moral performance. They boast in intellectual achievement. You remember he said the Greeks
seek after wisdom. The Jews seek after a son. Spiritual
transcendence. Somebody who is long in prayer. Meditation. They glory and boast
in personal sacrifice. You ever heard of the gospel
of the flag? Anybody who goes to war and dies for their country,
they've gotta be in heaven. Well, that's not what the Bible
says. Listen, I appreciate anybody who sacrifices themselves for
the cause of freedom, I do. But I'm sorry, that's not the
gospel. They glory in making right choices. Decisional regeneration. Decisional
salvation. And some glory in atheistic denial. They deny the glory of God. They
glory in works. They glory in decisions and experiences. They glory in what we call graces
and gifts, what they believe God has enabled them to do. You
remember the Pharisee in Luke 18 in verse 9 and 10, where he
talked about all that he did not do and all that he did do,
and the first words that came out of his mouth was, I thank
God. I thank God that I'm not like
other men. I thank God that I do this. I
thank God that I do that. I thank God that I've stopped
doing this. He's glorying in in what he feels like God has
enabled him to do. And because he gives credit to
God, he thinks he's glorifying God. Well, my friend, listen
to me. I've often said it this way,
be careful what you give God credit for. He may not want credit
for that. You remember over in Matthew
chapter seven, verse 21, when he said, not everyone that says,
Lord, Lord, will come to me and believe in me and rest in me?
He says, no. He says, many will say in that
day, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Lord, haven't we
cast out demons? Lord, haven't we done many wonderful
works? They believed they were given
credit to God, and they were. But he said, depart from me,
you that work iniquity. I never knew you. What was their
problem? Well, they were glorying in everything
except that which truly glorifies God. And what is that which truly
glorifies God? Look at verse 30. Now he says
in verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. No flesh
should boast in his presence. Well, here's what we glory in.
Here's what God says we boast in if we know Christ, if we're
sinners saved by grace. Look at it, but of him, of God. Salvation's of the Lord. Are
you in Christ Jesus? That's salvation, to be in Christ.
That in Christ Jesus has eternal applications, doesn't it? If
you're a believer, if you're a sinner saved by grace, when
did God, let's say it this way, put you in Christ Jesus, you
know what he says in his word? And this glorifies him, he said,
before the foundation of the world. Paul wrote to Timothy
about that in 2 Timothy 1. He said, this salvation, oh,
what a great salvation we're part of if we're sinners saved
by grace. I mean, this is something now. This ought to put you on your
knees glorifying God. This was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Oh, well that means God looked
down through a telescope of time and foresaw what you would know.
No, you better not boast in that. No. To be in Christ Jesus, you
know what that means? That means he's your surety. You know what that means? That
means he paid your debt by his death on the cross. And it means
the only assurance that you can have of salvation is him. Looking to Him, resting in Him,
that's it. Nothing else will make you sure
to be saved. You say, well, God enabled me
to do that. Well, what on days if He doesn't
enable you to do that? That means our salvation is made
sure in Christ. David prayed that on his deathbed.
He said that God has given me salvation that is ordered in
all things and sure And he said, that's my whole salvation. That's not just part of my salvation.
It's not me and Jesus got a good thing going. No, that's all my
salvation and that's all my joy. And here we could say it's all
our boast. To be in Christ Jesus means that he died for your sins. That means he put them away.
as far as the east is from the west, in the depths of the sea.
It means God cannot and will not impute sin to you because
He imputed it to Christ, charged it to Christ. He took my debt.
It means He brought forth an everlasting righteousness. Look
at it in verse 30. In Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, the only wisdom that I have of how God
saves sinners, of how God makes things right with him, between
him and his people, is what God has revealed to me in the person
and work of Christ. That's the wisdom. Man's wisdom
will not do. Look back here at verse 21, or
verse, yeah, verse 24, I'm sorry. Now understanding these verses,
what Paul is doing here, he's not putting down those whom God
says as if they're nobodies and all of that. We are nobodies
in God's eyes. But he's showing the difference
of how God sees things as to how the natural man sees things.
And he says in verse 24, unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Christ is the wisdom of God. Proverbs 8 talks about the embodiment
of wisdom, that's Christ. And he says in verse 25, because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Well, there is no foolishness
with God, but the natural man sees it that way. And so what
the natural man calls foolish, Oh, that's so much wiser than
what they call wisdom. And the weakness of God is stronger
than man. Well, God has no weakness. He's
omnipotent. He's all powerful. Now people
get silly over that. Somebody asked the stupid question,
can God make a rock that he can't move? The answer is yes, he can
make a rock that he can't move. Is there any rock that God can
make that he can't move? The answer's no, he can move
anything he makes. You say, well, how do you reconcile
those two? I don't, I just leave the pot
shards of the earth to strive with the pot shards of the earth.
God's omnipotent. There's no weakness with God,
but what, look, think about it. A man dying on a cross, beat up, bleeding like a massive,
Flesh, that's weakness to men, but it's the power of God unto
salvation. And so he says in verse 26, for
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now that's
how the world views it. You know, you think about men
like in the Old Testament, for example, like Abraham. Men like
David, men like Solomon, they say Solomon was the wisest man
that ever lived. But the wisdom of God that's
revealed in the gospel, well that's foolishness to the world. He said it up there, he said
the preaching of the cross, the preaching of the cross is to
them that are perishing, foolishness. But God has chosen, verse 27,
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Now this
is how God does things. This is why he does it. He does
it his way because he confounds the fleshly wise. He says, the
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
that are mighty and base things of the world and things which
are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are
not to bring to nothing things that are. What he's saying here
is God just doesn't see and do things the way the world thinks.
I'll never forget, years ago, there was a false preacher who
used to come on the Phil Donahue Show. You remember Phil Donahue?
Now some of you young people won't know that. He was a talk
show host. And this preacher, he'd have
him on about every three or four months. He was out of New Orleans. And this preacher had his most
wanted list. And he had a list of 10 celebrities
on that list. And he said this. He said, if
I could get these celebrities saved, I could convert the world. I think Muhammad Ali was one
of them. People like that. Well, that's the way the world
thinks. Oh, if I could just get so-and-so to do it, that would
influence it. No, that's not godly wisdom. That's men glorying in the flesh. That's what it is. Now why has
God done it this way? Verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. Well, what is he talking about?
He's talking about anything that men by nature esteem as recommending
a sinner unto God. Or being influential in the kingdom
of God to get others saved. That's sinful. Here's what we
glory in, but of him are you in Christ who of God has made
into us wisdom and righteousness. We boast in whose righteousness? Not our own, not what we do,
not what we don't do. When I was in false religion,
most people measured righteousness by what they don't do. We don't smoke, we don't chew. That's not the way it is. We
glory in the righteousness of Christ. Look over at Philippians
chapter three with me. Philippians chapter three. Listen to what the Holy Spirit
inspired Paul to write here. In Philippians 3, he said, we
are the circumcision. Now what kind of circumcision
is Paul talking about? Well, he's talking to believing
Jews and believing Gentiles who had not been physically circumcised. He's talking about spiritual
circumcision here. He's talking about the new birth.
Circumcision of the heart. And he says, we are the circumcision
which worship God, glorify God in the spirit. I believe the
spirit there should be capitalized, but it's okay. He's talking about
as the Holy Spirit guides us in the truth, but we also worship
God from our spirits, sincerely in truth. And he says, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice there is
the same word that's translated glory in our text. Now sometimes
the word rejoice means just that, it means to be happy, it means
to joy, but here it means to boast. We boast in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence, no boast, no glory in the flesh. Now what brought Paul to that
conclusion? Look down at verse seven. But
what things were gained to me, now he's talking about in false
religion before he was converted. the things that he highly esteemed.
Those I counted loss for Christ. Now they're an abomination. Yea,
doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency and
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may
win Christ. You see, that's faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works. That's glorying in the Lord.
And he says in verse nine, be found in him not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of or faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith. You see that? We glory in Christ
the Lord, our righteousness. Look back at Galatians chapter
six. Galatians chapter six and verse
14. Here's the conclusion. Now, the
Galatian church was being invaded by false preachers who sought
to get them to glory in their works, in their law keeping,
keeping a feast day, being circumcised, and they gave credit to God.
Now here's what Paul wrote in verse 14 of Galatians 6. He says,
but God forbid that I should glory. Now that word glory there
is the same word of glory in our text. Boast, have confidence. Save or accept in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me
and I unto the world. See, this is opposed to the world's
view. I look at the world as being
cursed. Because without Christ, that's what you are, you're cursed.
And so he says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation.
And as many as walk according to this rule, what rule? God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Peace be on them, they're at peace with God. Christ has
made peace by the blood of his cross. Mercy, God's being compassionate,
merciful towards those who walk by that rule. And upon the Israel
of God, that spiritual Israel who walk by that rule, God forbid
that I should boast. Now go back to our text. We boast
in his wisdom, we boast in his righteousness, sanctification.
That means to be set apart. You know, a lot of people, they
take pride in what they think is sets them
apart from the world. How you dress, how you wear your
hair, you don't watch this, you don't do that. It's taste not
touch not handle not. Remember Paul spoke of that in
Colossians chapter two? And he told those who were being seduced away from looking to
Christ alone to bragging their not doing this and not doing
that and their feast days and all that. And he said that religion
of taste not touched not handled. Now listen. There are things
that believers should stay away from. There are things that believers
should do. But we don't boast in them. We don't glory in them. That's not what sets us apart. Paul said that's worldly. That's worldly religion. What
sets us apart? Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation
is based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. How many people are
preaching that today? Salvation is by a sovereign God
who saves whom he will according to his sovereign choice. He said,
I'll be merciful to whom I'll be merciful. I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
What sets us apart? Christ. And then redemption. Redeemed by the blood of the
cross, but we'll be redeemed bodily when Christ comes back
again to receive us unto himself. And so he looks at, look at verse
31 of 1 Corinthians. He said that according as it
is written, he that glorieth, he that boasteth, let him glory
in the Lord. We boast in Christ. Now that's
taken from Jeremiah 9, if you want to look at it. The book
of Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesying to a rebellious
Jerusalem, a rebellious people. And here's what he says, this
is Jeremiah 9.23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. That's human wisdom. Neither
let the mighty man glory in his might. His power. Let not the rich man glory or
boast in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory
in this. Now here's what we boast in.
How can we glorify the Lord? glorifying the Lord, that he
understandeth and knoweth me. We know who God is. We know the
reality. We know his attributes. We're
not ashamed of any of them. We don't have to apologize to
sinners for any of God's attributes. God chose the people whom he
would save. Why would I apologize for that?
That's my salvation. Somebody says, well, if that's
the case, then if He didn't choose me, I won't seek Him. That's
true, but you're commanded to seek Him, because He commanded
you to do so, and you're not God. Know with Him, a just God and
a Savior. Think about that. I didn't even
know that issue was even an issue before I heard the gospel. I
grew up in religion. I was a second-year seminary
student and never even confronted these things. Oh, I was studying
Greek and Hebrew and biblical criticism and church history. But how can God be just and justify
an ungodly sin? That's the question of questions.
That's what the gospel is all about. A righteousness imputed
never even heard the word. And there it was in Romans four
right there and in other passages. You know him, that I am the Lord
which exercise loving kindness, that's his grace and mercy. Judgment,
grace and mercy based on justice and righteousness. Grace and
mercy based on justice which equals unto righteousness, the
obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness
of God. And he did it in the earth. He
sent his son into this world. made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them were under the law. And he said, for in
these things I delight, saith the Lord. You want to glorify
God? Look to, rest in, and speak of
those things in whom he delights. Tell the truth. Glorify God,
exalt Christ. Pray for the salvation of sinners.
Edify the brethren. He that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord. Amen. Okay.