We are delighted this morning
to have our friend and our brother Paul Pendleton here. He's been
preaching both messages this morning. He and his wife Paula
traveled up from Crow, West Virginia. If you haven't gotten a chance
to speak to him or if you have, be sure to catch him after services
and introduce yourself and talk with him. Paul, you come preach
the message the Lord's laid on your heart. Good morning again. For this message I have combined
four messages that I've preached over the last four, about the
last four Sundays or so. Frank told me the first message
is 30 minutes and he said the second message is as long as
I want. So we've got four messages. Now I promise It'll be less than
two hours. If you would, please be turning
to 1 Corinthians 1. And that was a good hymn to lead
into my message too. Perfect hymn for this. 1 Corinthians 1. And I'm going to read the last
three verses. 1 Corinthians 1. 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 him glory
in the Lord. My title is Christ is All. I know I kind of started in the
middle of a thought here with this passage, and I did this
because I want to point out what surrounds verse 30. What do we
see there in those two surrounding verses? No flesh should glory. The word glory means to boast.
So no flesh should be boasting. And that boasting in the flesh,
that is boasting in the flesh or about the flesh. The last
verse tells us where we should boast though. In the Lord. We have this same type of statement
in Philippians 3. And if you want to turn there,
you can turn with me, but Philippians 3. If not, I'm just going to
read it here. And I want to notice there's a word there in the passage
in Philippians 3, verses 1 through 3. The word is rejoice, but here,
Philippians 3, verses 1 through 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, For
we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. The first time
the word rejoice is used, finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord.
This word means to be calmly happy or well off. We can be
calmly happy and well off in the Lord. especially as we hear
these same things that are familiar to us over and over again. But
the second time the word rejoice is used, it is the same word
glory used in our text. To boast. Our boasting is to
be done in the Lord. In our flesh, we have no confidence. And this is where I am going
this morning. I want to go through each of these things briefly
where it says Christ is made unto us these things. Christ
is caused to be these things unto us, unto his people. And
I want to be clear here, it does not say that God is making us
these things because of Christ. It's not saying anything about
us being made these things here. In other places it does say those
kind of things were made this in Christ. It's not saying Christ
has made anything here. He has just made unto us these
things. My hope is by God's grace and
his spirit, we will see what God tells us about Jesus Christ
in this passage. So I have one, wisdom, two, righteousness,
three, sanctification, and four, redemption. So number one, wisdom. Supreme intelligence. There's
only one supreme being. 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
and he holds all things together. They were all created for him.
Jesus Christ has wisdom to always know what to say and when to
say it, what to do and when to do it. There's 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's no surprises
with God or to God. God is the first cause of all
things. Now there is a wisdom in this world. There are some
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 call true wisdom, or it's not a saving wisdom. We can just
look close at our text or surrounding our text to see this. The world
by wisdom knew not God. By this worldly wisdom, no man
will ever know God. We must know Him and believe
Him if we are to be saved. But our wisdom will not bring
us there. We read in 1 Corinthians 1 verse
21, it says that the world by wisdom, that is by man's own
figuring out, he will never know God. We are told in Romans, there
is none that seeketh after God. None are trying to figure out
who God is. Man by nature does not care who
God is. We are told in scripture that
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. Scripture says so. God says so. Not only is fearing God wisdom,
but it is in fact and in truth the right thing to do. Psalm
19, 9 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? You don't have
to turn there. A true witness deliver 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. What are some of the deceitful
witnesses we hear today? Telling men and women, repeat
after me. Repeating something before men
never saved anyone and will never save anyone. You must know and
fear him. This is not wisdom. Accept Jesus
as your personal savior. Jesus does not need acceptance.
He is accepted of the father who is well pleased with him.
This is not wisdom. 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. We do not and cannot fear God
on our own or by our own power. If God and His power allows you
to hear what God's Word says about who you are and who He
is, that starts to bring a little
bit of fear of God, doesn't it? but also fearing God brings strong
confidence, it says. You know God will do what He
says He will do. In knowing this and knowing who
you are, but also knowing that He came into the world to save
sinners, you know it is Him that is your refuge. So you know you
have a place of refuge. You know He has the right and
the might to carry all things out. What else? The fear of the
Lord is a fountain of life, it said. Fearing God and knowing
He does as He pleases, and knowing that He has done, and what He
has done is to the saving of the soul. It is a fountain of
life to the believer, of which death will have no power over
you. What Jesus Christ did was to give me life in Him. Knowing
this and hearing this, it is life to me every time I hear
it. What else are 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. The fear of God is to hate what
he hates. I am all these things as I am
born in earth. This flesh is still all that
it ever was. I have pride wreaking all in
me and out of me. I am arrogant in this flesh and
will continue to rebel against God as I am born in Adam in this
flesh. My ways are evil. My mouth is
fraud, that is perverse. I say or think I can do some
good thing before him of myself, that is perverse. To think I
can do something acceptable before him That is perverse. So to fear God is to hate myself
and to repent in dust and ashes. This world hates this. It gives
them nothing they can do for God. There is no fear of God
before their eyes. We are all like this by nature.
We do not get this wisdom on our own. That is the fear of
God. Scripture says we are all the
children of wrath, even as others. We hate God just like everyone
else as we are born in that. Isaiah 47 10, we read, for thou
has trusted in thy wickedness. Thou has said, none saith me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge,
it hath perverted thee. And thou has said in thy 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. That is his righteousness. So
what about his righteousness that we just read in Romans 3.26? He has made unto us righteousness. So number two, righteousness.
Righteousness, which is equity of character, justification. Man has a righteousness. Man,
as we are born, are righteous in our own eyes. So there is
a righteousness we have unto ourselves, but it is not the
righteousness of God. Even if you put all our righteousnesses
together, what are they? Isaiah 64, 6 we read. But we
are all as an unclean thing. And all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. We do this because we have
this old wicked heart. And this heart will deceive us
into thinking we are doing righteousness before him. Jeremiah 17, nine,
we read, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? It deceives
us into thinking we somehow have a God righteousness, a righteousness
that God will accept. Our righteousnesses are actually
iniquities before God. That's what we read here in 64.6.
We read that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and it goes
on to say our iniquities. What iniquities? In the context,
our iniquities are our righteousnesses. Those things we think to be righteous
before God are iniquities, and we fade as a leaf, it says. Our
iniquities, like the wind, it says, carries us away from God. So much so that our own selves,
we will not call on his name or lay hold of him. Because of
our iniquities, God has hid his face from us. What do we read
in Romans, Romans 10.3? For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousnesses,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Our problem is we do not know God's righteousness as we are
born in Adam. We will not submit ourselves
to his righteousness as it says there in Romans 10 verse 3. But
God be thanked, our iniquities would not be seen. His people's
iniquities, their righteousnesses, will not be seen by God the Father
in vain because of what the Son would do. So now we come to the
righteousness of God. Jesus Christ is made unto us
righteousness. By the gospel and His Spirit,
we come to know that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. We were
at one time going about to establish our own righteousness. What do
we read about righteousness in Romans 1, verses 16 through 18?
We read, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. To us is revealed the righteousness
of God through this blessed gospel which his people come to love.
This we do as we are enabled by God through faith given us
and also that faith proclaimed to us. This is how we live. This is how we live, it says,
but to say it another way, this is how we breathe among the living. It is our way of life, in other
words. So we see this righteousness
is not a what. It is not what that we can somehow
work to gain. This righteousness is a who.
If you want to know what righteousness is, you should be asking, who
is the righteousness of God? Scripture gives us the answer.
As we have read, there is a righteousness which we must submit to, and
that righteousness is a who. If you would, turn with me to
Romans 3. So I want to go through these two verses here, Romans
3 and verse 21. Romans 3 and verse 21. And I'm going to read and say
some things about these verses as we're going through it here. Romans 3 verses 21. But now the
righteousness of God. So we are about to hear what
or who the righteousness of God is. But then we have a declaration
of God that is a clarification, if you will. But now the righteousness
of God without the law. So the righteousness, righteousness
we are about to hear about is totally apart from the law. It
is righteousness without the law. That is any law, including
the 10 commandments. It goes on to say is manifested. So we have, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. That is, it is rendered apparent
or appears This is where it appears, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. The law and the prophets both
give testimony to this righteousness. Verse 22, even the righteousness. This word righteousness is the
same Greek word as in our text. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Here's one of those places where
a little word can make a big difference. It says faith of
Jesus Christ, not faith in Jesus Christ. Of denotes ownership
or possession, and that is just what this is telling us. As it
goes on to say in this text, we see the righteousness of God
in the faith which is owned, that is authored and perfected
by Jesus Christ himself. This is not worked up by us.
It is given to us. We have even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, his faith
unto all and upon all them that believe. You believe God, it
will be by the faith of Christ given to you. This faith is unto
you and upon you. Righteousness is come to you. or there is no difference, it
finishes out. It is Christ and His faith which
is the righteousness of God without the law. This faith is given
to His people. Faith enables us to believe,
but not just believe anything we want. Faith does not cause
us to start looking at ourselves to figure out what we can do
or cannot do, or what we should or should not do. And I just wanted to mention
this. We listened to a message by Carol Poole. I don't know
if you all know Carol Poole or not, but he made this statement,
and I really like this statement. You do not exercise faith. Faith exercises you. Faith enables us to look to and
believe that Jesus Christ is our righteousness before God
without the law, based on who he is and what he has done. It was the total and complete
purpose of the Godhead to do it this way. His wisdom made
it so. So much so, the whole of the
book speaks of Christ. Even the law and the prophets
testify to this. That is it, it testifies to the
righteousness of God being Jesus Christ and his faith without
the law. It has been manifested to all,
but there are those who cannot see it. But God be thanked, he
was pleased to choose a people for his name to this end. Second
Corinthians 521 says, for he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He has made unto us these things. Righteousness we are talking
about today. In him, we are made these things. By his righteousness,
we are set apart by him. So now we have made unto us sanctification. Number three, sanctification.
The meaning of the word here is holiness, purification, purifier. Jesus Christ is our purifier. I really like the sound of that.
It is he that makes me clean. It is he that sets me apart for
his use. It is he that makes me whole.
I need clean. Who can bring a clean from an
unclean? Not one, Scripture says. Turn
with me to Hebrews 10, if you would. Hebrews 10. I turn to
a lot of passages, so, you know, I think the scripture says a
lot of things better than I can say them. Hebrews 10, verses
9. We'll read verses 9 and 10. Hebrews 10, verse 9. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. He taketh away the first, it
says. What did he take away? Do this
and live, the Ten Commandments. that he may establish the second.
What is the second? He has done it all, now live. It goes on to say by the witch
will we are sanctified. Not that we have begun to be
sanctified and now it needs to be finished or completed, but
we are sanctified, complete, finished. How? Through the offering of the body
of Christ Once. The for all was put in there,
but you can take it out. It reads better without it really. Once Christ died. Only once and
no more. What did he accomplish in that
one time offering of his body for his people? Sanctification. He made us holy and it only took
one time for him to offer up himself to accomplish this. He
is my sanctification. Hebrews 10.14 says, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The word ever there means perpetually. This is something that was done
that is continuing and will never end. There is nothing about it
that is changing. It's just continuing on. What
Jesus Christ has done has set me apart unto God. It has cleansed
me and made me holy before God, all based on the work he did
and nothing at all to do with what I have done or will do.
This was done before you and I were ever even born. What else
are we told about sanctification? 2 Thessalonians 2.13, you know
this, it's very familiar. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Here's what
God is telling will bring salvation to us through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. His Spirit comes to each
of his at his own time when it pleases him. The Spirit bloweth
where it listens. But the Spirit comes and sets
his own apart. The Spirit makes them holy. Does
the Spirit of God do a job that is imperfect and must be continued
on or made better by the one who has been sanctified? Absolutely
not. But just to finish the passage,
this setting apart, this making holy is for the express purpose
of believing the truth. God does not do a partial job
of sanctification. God does not wind you up, and
then you take over in time to sanctify yourself. But don't
take my word for it. Let's see what God says. 1 Thessalonians
5, 23, and we read, 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. The word there for sanctify means
to make holy. The one who is making holy is
the very God of peace. Who is that? Jesus Christ, the
Lord. Then we have the word holy. The
word for holy there, and that is W-H-O-L-L-Y, means complete
to the end. Absolutely perfect. So the God
of peace sanctifies us, and he does this completely to the end,
preserving us until our God of peace returns. Progressive sanctification is
a lie. Sanctification is not a progressive
work, but a completed work. It is one that is a continuing
work, complete to the end. That is, the work will last as
long as it needs to, forever. If you feel you are progressively
getting better, you are deceiving yourself. So you want to sanctify
yourself? You go right ahead. My hope is
in Jesus Christ who has and shall bring me to God by himself. God
sanctifies us completely. And we are told in scripture
that we are sanctified, as I've just went through, the body of
Christ, the faith of Jesus Christ, sanctified by the Holy Ghost
and sanctified by the truth of God. Are these different sanctifications? No, what Christ did for us was
done to God the Father. What He does to us is for us
also that we might know Him. Otherwise, we would not know
Him. Jesus Christ, by His death, secured our being made holy by
His body and death, by His faith, to do what the Father said to
do. The Holy Spirit then coming down and translating those who
are His into the kingdom of His dear Son. And they are set apart
by the Holy Spirit them coming to know this by the gospel is
true, so that they might serve the true and living God. This
is where or when we begin to see he has made unto us all these
things. This gospel is simple, that is,
it's singular. It is Christ, Christ, Christ. Anything concerning the salvation
of a sinner, then it is all Christ, Christ, Christ. It's that simple,
that singular. Man's part is offending God,
and that's it. Briefly, I want to talk about
man's sanctification, and here it is. He has none of it himself. So let's move on to the next
point. Number four, redemption. Ransom in full, a releasing affected
by payment of a ransom, or liberation procured by the payment of a
ransom. So when we talk about redemption,
we have to talk about those who have been redeemed. It tells
us that Christ is made unto us redemption. So what do we need
redemption from? Turn with me to Galatians 3.
Galatians 3, please. Galatians 3 and verse 10 through
14. Galatians 3 verse 10. For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hang upon a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Redemption from the curse of
the law. The word there for works means that which anyone is occupied. It means to toil or a deed done. So anyone who is of being occupied
by the law, that is toiling in the law, performing deeds of
the law, are under the curse. Me as an example as I was born
and at. To those who are like this are
cursed under the law. That's exactly what it says here.
reading that or knowing that, then it is evident that no one
is justified by the law in the sight of God. That's exactly
what it says. Because the just, if anyone is
just, it will be faith that they live by and not the law. Faith
will be their way of life, their conversation, and not the law. If you are living or have your
way of life in the law, your conversation, then you are cursed. It is evident, Paul says. God
tells us the law is not of faith. So from God we are clear that
the law does not come from faith. It is not of faith, it says. If you are doing the law, that
is, if you are looking to the law as your way of life, even
just a little, then the scripture says you shall
live by them completely. But we cannot live by them because
there is nothing but death which comes by the law. Not because
the law was bad, but because this flesh is bad. The law is
weak through the flesh. But God never intended for the
law to be a way of life by his chosen people or a way of life
for his chosen people. We are born dead in trespasses
and in sin. We can in no way keep God's law. In fact, we break God's law continually,
constantly. Even today in this flesh, the
law lets us know this, by God's grace, if we are one of his,
whom he's opened our eyes. Before we are given life, we
do not even know that we are dead. But the scripture is clear
that we are all under sin and sin is the transgression of the
law. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin, but not for everyone. Only those whom God has chosen
will ever know this when he reveals it to them. Christ, who is our redemption,
redeemed us from that curse. That curse which killed us because
we cannot do it and live. He was made the very thing I
am so that I might be redeemed from the curse of it. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. This was done that we might receive
the Spirit of God through faith. This is that blessing which was
unto Abraham. And you can read that in Galatians
4, 4-6 sometimes. Had he not done this, there would
not have been any adoption of sons. So what else has this redemption
done for us? Turn with me to Titus 2. Titus
2. Titus 2, verses 11 through 14.
I'm going to try to speed up here a little bit. Titus 2, verses
11 through 14. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Purified from all iniquities.
Jesus Christ is the grace of God, the favor of God. God the
Father favors the Son above anything else and all else. He is higher
than we can even imagine. This grace has been manifested
in a person, the face of Jesus Christ. He does not teach us
that it is those who are His, those who are chosen in Christ
from before the foundation of the world. He does not teach
us to live the botrous life. We are not talking about hating
God's law or trying to break God's law, yet we break it all
the time. But we look by Him, we look to
live in such a way by His power, but we live in such a way that
is sober, righteous, and Godly. Him working in us both the will
and to do His good pleasure. When He does this, we do actually
do those works, all by His power. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1, 1
Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verses 18 through 21. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
So we are redeemed from our vain way of life. There is nothing
in any of the implements of the law that is those earthly implements
that we read about in the Old Testament. There's no redemption
in any of those and there is no redemption in the traditions
of the fathers passed down in Crete. This is what it all boils
down to with Jews and Gentiles. The precious blood of Christ.
Jesus Christ died for both Jews and Gentiles. And who were those
in Christ before the world began? Christ died the just for the
unjust. He was, as it says here, as a
lamb without blemish. Not a spot on Him. and no imperfections
on Him or in Him. This was the covenant made by
the three in one. God the Father chose us in Christ. Christ died to secure them to
Himself. God the Holy Spirit brings those
poor vile sinners to Himself. It is by Him that you believe
in God. He gives us life and he sends
us his gospel so that Christ might be made unto us redemption. All his doing. Romans 3.24 says,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Our justification before God
is all because of what he did on that tree. God did not have
to do this. It was his whole purpose for
creation. to save a people for His namesake. This was not a second plan for
God. Everything that has taken place
is taking place and that shall take place has been purposed
by God from the foundation of the world. Through faith in His
blood, it says here, He has set forth to us a propitiation, an
atoning victim who appeased the wrath of God. God appeased his
own wrath by dying on that tree, redeeming a people. Our acceptance
before God is because he chose us in Christ before the world
began, according to his will. He had to take our place or it
would be us in that place. And just think on this passage
here, Habakkuk 3.2. Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech
and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. He appeased the wrath of God,
and in doing so, he showed me mercy in Christ. He then raised
to life once the ransom was paid. When Christ brought forth the
blood to the Father, presented this sacrifice of himself on
our behalf, And this we could have never done, and if we could,
it would never be accepted. But Jesus Christ pleased the
Father with what he had done, and he saved us to the uttermost,
scripture says. We can in no way be any more
saved than that, to the uttermost. Saved to the full extent that
you can even imagine. Hebrews 9-12, we read, neither
by the blood of ghosts and calves, but by his own blood he entered
into once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. But we see here the uttermost
part. Here is that perpetual part of it, that never ending
part of it. Jesus Christ obtained eternal,
that is perpetual redemption. This redemption is for what?
for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament.
The transgressions were under the First Testament. The law
was where our transgressions are made manifest. Not because
there is a shortcoming in the law, but there is a total shortcoming
in us. We are all born dead in trespasses
and in sin. So I think it's clear that all
those born from Adam have transgressed against God. If you have transgressed against
God, there is forgiveness of sin in the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. If you do not feel you have transgressed,
then there is nothing for you. What need of you do you have
of us position? So then what have we seen in
all these things? We have went through all these
things Christ has made into us, wisdom. Jesus Christ in his wisdom
made a way that he could be just and justify the ungodly. Our
wisdom was to hide our faces from him, but his wisdom brought
fear before our eyes of him, that same fear giving us comfort.
Righteousness. Scripture is clear about us and
our righteousness. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags in the sight of God. We, by nature, do not submit
ourselves to the righteousness of God, which is a person. But
Jesus Christ being righteous, he has done for us what we cannot
do for ourselves. He being righteous has taken
on our sin and our sins so that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. It is the faith of Jesus Christ
which is counted for our righteousness. Romans 4, three through five.
For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Those who want to work for their
salvation to gain favor before God, their reward is one of death. That's what scripture says. It's
not my opinion, it's what God says in his word. This debt will
never be paid, so those who work for their salvation will never
be righteous before Christ's holy God. Their work will never
be done or complete. They will still owe a debt before
God. They will receive their wages, which is debt. Jesus Christ,
for those chosen in Him from the foundation of the world,
He took their wages in His righteousness on that tree on our behalf. Do
we do things that are righteous in God's sight? Yes. When He
works in us, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. I
never know what they are. And it does not do us any good
to try to figure out what they are. I have this flesh with me
and I can never tell, even standing here preaching before you. It
says to those who worketh not, But it does not just stop there
with work of not, it adds, but believe on him. Those who are
his believe him, who justifies the ungodly. And think on this
next verse, Galatians 2.21. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. This does not say if righteousness
come by the law before you are saved. It says if righteousness
come by the law, period. Then Christ is dead in vain.
He is dead without a cause is what the word means. Dead for
not if righteousness come by the law. But righteousness does
not come by the law. It does not in any way. Righteousness
comes by the faith of Jesus Christ. I look to Him for everything.
I, by nature, have no capacity to even believe Him. He must
give a new heart and that faith with which to believe. Every
good gift, every perfect gift comes from where? The Father
of lights, the Father of illumination. He must give the gifts for us
to believe Him and it is in believing Him we must do. Romans 10.10
says, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So how
do we attain unto righteousness? Believe in Jesus Christ, did
what he came to do and satisfied the Father on my behalf. Believing
him, I enter into a union with the one who is righteousness,
therefore then being clothed in his righteousness. Jesus Christ
is made unto us sanctification because He is our sanctification. Ephesians 1 verse 4, we read,
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. God, the almighty, sovereign,
holy God, calls us saints, that is, holy. We are chosen in Him
to be holy before Him, and that is God. Christ is our sanctification. We are sanctified past tense,
but it is a setting apart that continues until the day of Jesus
Christ until we are before God holy. We are set apart by God
in this life that we may give honor and glory to his name.
We have no sanctification of our own. We are separated under
God that called us by his mighty power. We are sanctified by Jesus Christ
once, not multiple times. But this sanctification which
he has wrought is a sanctification which is complete and perfect.
We are continually sanctified by him, meaning we are kept by
God. We are preserved by God. Hebrews
10.14 says, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. If we are set apart by God, how
much more setting apart can happen? Is God imperfect? Does God do
a work halfway and leave the rest up to man? A halfway work
is not a perfect work. The scripture tells us that he
perfected us who are sanctified. And we know this sanctification
is through Jesus Christ who was made unto us this by his gospel. He is this to his people. God
the Father chose us in Christ to be sanctified before him.
The Son gave himself a sacrifice to sanctify the ungodly. And
God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us by giving us life so that
we might believe. His word, his gospel sanctifies
us, making Christ unto us sanctification. Redemption. It is Christ who
hath redeemed us by his blood, the us being his creation and
his chosen people in Christ. His creation falling and being
under the law, they needed redemption from His curse. He purchased
it back for us on our behalf by His death and the shedding
of blood by the Holy One, redeeming them to Himself by this death
and resurrection. Him taking on the wrath of God
in order that we might see mercy from Him. This being done to
the uttermost, it is perpetual, never ending. Jesus Christ is
all these things to us, and we are nothing in and of ourselves.
Colossians 3.11 says, and this is my title, where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. We are told that
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. In the preaching of the gospel, it pleased God to
make Jesus Christ unto us all these things. What more could
we ask for? Knowing these things being revealed,
reveal these things, what does it do? In verse 31, this is the
culmination of all that. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Boast in Jesus Christ. He is where all blessings flow.
We have no confidence in this flesh, but Him being our all
in all, we are brought nigh unto God as children. Boast in Him. Amen. Thank you all for having
me. I appreciate it. You've been
patient with me. It was good to be here. Thank
you. Simple gospel, singular. Christ,
Paul, I appreciate you. I'm thankful that the Lord gave
you a message for us here today. Thank you both for driving here
and for your time, for your preparation. Thank you. Appreciate you. It's
been a good morning, hasn't it? Yeah. Let's pray together. Then
John will lead us to sing. Our Heavenly Father, we have
much to be thankful for. Thank you for for blessing us
with this privilege of being here and worshiping together
as a family, together today. Thank you for granting us worship,
for prayers answered, for blessing Paul. We pray that you give Paul
and Paula traveling mercies back home. Pray that you'd be with
us through the week. And again, we thank you for prayers
answered, a blessing this time of worship together today. We
pray for our pastor and for Janet and we pray for Eric that you
bring them home safely to us. Give them traveling mercies as
well. Be with us through this upcoming week. Father, bring
these things that we've heard today to our minds, to our hearts,
and continually, perpetually point us to Christ. We thank
you. We thank you in Christ's name
alone. Amen.