1 Corinthians chapter 1. I actually thought I might preach
this six weeks ago, but the Lord had other plans. I was going to read the Amplified
Version, but I don't think I will. I'll just read it. The Amplified Version does have
a few extra expanded thoughts, I think we're really good. But
let's just look at this together. 1 Corinthians 1, and we'll start
in verse 26 to the end of the chapter. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. but God hath chosen, and that
in the Greek is deliberately chosen, the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, and God hath deliberately chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him, that is of God, are
you in Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us, wisdom, of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. I just have two main outline
points. One, I want us to view ourselves
as in the Scriptures and as the Scriptures teach and reveal to
us. And secondly, to view our lovely
and adorable Redeemer as He has made known to us, His children."
So, the first one, us. Verses 26 through 28. This is
a picture of us. Not many wise, not many mighty,
not many noble, foolish. weak, base, despised, things that are not. That's us. We have here a clear description
of those for whom Christ came to save, those who call, for
you see your calling, brethren, not many mighty are called, And
these are the list of those whom He has come to redeem. Now I
ask myself this, and I ask you this. Do you, do I, do we see
ourselves present in the text, in this roll call, or this inventory
of depravity? Basically, do we meet the qualifications? If we want to claim the promises,
the beautiful promises, later on in the verse, specifically
verse 30, which we're going to get there eventually, but you've
got to meet the qualifications of the text. Do you, do I see
ourselves present when Paul And Paul, when he was writing as
a believer, he said, I am the least. I'm not I was. You know,
when I had a heart that I didn't understand, and wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He's writing that as a believer. And that's the believer never
gets over his sinnerhood, if I can put it that way. He never
gets away, the Scriptures don't allow him to, more than what
we should. If a man thinks more than what
the scripture says, he deceives himself. So do we see ourselves
in here? Now let's just look at this.
Not wise. Not many wise. That means truly
intellectual. Not many mighty. That means influential. Now you may be influential in
your job, but this is just a little pond. You know, big fish in a little
pond, so to speak. But when you step back and see that as God
sees us, we're not very influential. Not many, not noble, that's of
high or noble birth. So I would say the conclusion
of these three characteristics here is that we're common. We're
common. Just simple, mostly simple folk. But turn with me to Acts chapter
4. Acts chapter 4. What a comfort to see what is
said regarding those who follow Christ. Acts 4 and verse 13. Now, when the Pharisees and Sadducees,
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived
that they were unlearned and ignorant men. Now, that's unlearned
as far as the letter, the law, the Pharisees, because they prided
themselves their knowledge of Scripture. They perceived that they were
unlearned and ignorant men. They marveled. But they also
took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. You know what? If that's what
you want to be put on my epitaph, that's fine. Here lies an ignorant
and an unlearned man. I didn't go to school for Greek
or Hebrew. I didn't go to a seminary. I don't have a seminary degree.
I don't know of any seminaries that really teach the doctrines
of grace, so I don't care. Here lies an ignorant and unlearned
man, but he'd been with Christ. That's good enough for me. That's
good enough for me. But let's move on. Look at verse
27. Back to our text in 1 Corinthians.
chapter 1, verse 27. But God had deliberately chosen
the foolish. Now, this is not going to get
any less offensive, but pay attention to me. The foolish. That means
dull or stupid. Now, back in the day when I was
a kid, we'd call one another stupid all the time. Mom would
say something occasionally, but nowadays, oh, you don't dare.
It's not politically, it's not social, it's not correct. The
Scriptures does not play those rules. The Scriptures, it lays
everybody naked and open and exposed before a thrice holy
God. So the word foolish, He hath
chosen the foolish things. That's dull or stupid. And He
says He's chosen the weak things. That is strengthless, feeble,
or sick. When you're sick, you can't do
much. And when you're feeble, you don't have the capacity to
do a whole lot. How insulting, right? Not to
those who know themselves through the grace of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We don't go out of our way to
be offensive, but we dare not bend the truth to make others
comfortable. We just don't say anything. If
you can't say anything, you know, as mom and dad used to say, if
you can't say anything profitable, don't speak. But let's go to
verse 28. Let's see if we meet these qualifications. Now this is highly, to the flesh
and to the sinful man, this is highly insulting. This is the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I say once again, if you
don't meet the qualifications here, you get nothing in the
promises in verse 30. He says in verse 28, and the
base things, that word base means ignoble or dishonorable. of the world and the things that
are despised. That word is despised means contemptible
and least esteemed. And look at this, things which
are not. That's an absolute negative.
Nothing. That's what it means. Now, who
else has this been spoken of? Well, you think of Jacob. His
name was Trickster. You know, he did what he did.
But this is what the religious people of the day thought and
said of our Lord. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Well, his mother, his brethren
are right here with us in his own country and they rejected
what he said. These are these things, base,
despise, not. These are the thoughts and the
words said regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. And did you notice that these
qualities, they kept getting worse and worse, more offensive
to the flesh and to the natural man? Well, I ask myself and I
ask us once more, do we fit, do we find ourselves here in
this humanly dishonorable character list? We must take our place
in the dust before God will raise us up. He'll empty us before
He fills us. And I remember, it was in 1980,
We got married in 1982, so it was 1981 or 1982, the first time
we had Henry preach. Can't come down here to preach.
The first meeting, the first night, the first meeting, he
stood up there and was preaching, and he just stopped and he said,
are there any sinners here? Are there any sinners here? He
said, if so, Christ died for you. And he said the same thing years
ago. He said he was preaching a meeting and one man held up
his hand and he said, Christ, I pray for you. Everybody else,
you just pack up and leave. Sinners, this is what we are.
This is an expanded list, an inventory of what we are. But look at verse 30. And this is said that no flesh
should glory in His presence, verse 29. But look at verse 30.
But, let's just stop right there. But. Oh, blessed but. There's infinitely more here
in our text. Oh, joy beyond compare. Humility
expresses itself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. My
oh my, was there ever any love like this in Christ revealed
to the lost sons and daughters of Adam's race? Of Him. Not us. But of Him. Of who? This is God. But of God. Not us. We didn't initiate this
thing of salvation. But of Him. Of God. The Sovereign. The Majestic. The Almighty. The One whose counsel
stands and shall not fail. This is what follows after this
connecting conjunction. break, but of Him, of God, outside
of ourselves. God has placed us solely and
on purpose, with full intent, in Christ Jesus, but of Him,
of God, are you in? Who's ye? The base, the despised,
the things which are not, the foolish, the weak, These are
the ones in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. And this is
all through faith. It's not of ourselves. Faith
in His blood. After we heard the Word of Truth
says Ephesians 1 verse 3. After you heard the Word of Truth
and belief of this truth. But I really want to emphasize
these four characteristics, these four qualities that we have in
Christ. If we're believers, we have this
in Christ. Whether you're a believer one day old, two days old, or
fifty years, you have this. And I want us to take advantage
of these promises. This is a promise. This is a
promise. So as Spurgeon says, if it's
for you, just write on the side, and then come back to it and
say, I'm thus, thus, and thus, but thankfully, you're made unto
me these things. You're made unto me these things.
Christ is made, that is He became, or He becomes, or caused to be
wisdom. And I want us to see that in
the Christ being made unto the believer, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, everything is provided for the
sheep. There's nothing that He's given
us that has not been provided freely, and there's no more that
we need. There's not a single blessing
withheld. First, let's look at these individually. Christ has
made unto the believer wisdom. View our Lord as infinite wisdom,
and view ourselves as foolish, ignorant, unable to see the way,
puzzled, perplexed by a thousand difficulties, harassed by sin,
tempted by Satan, out of Jehovah's way. How can we understand this
truth? How can we understand this Gospel
when it's being preached? Some of us have sat here and
listened and listened and still it doesn't affect. How can we
believe? How can I understand? How can
I understand this mysterious Gospel, this everlasting hope
that we have in the Beloved? Plead His wisdom. Plead His wisdom. He's made unto us the very wisdom
of God. He has made unto us wisdom. So
we shall not miss the road to glory. So I'm not very smart. I'm one of these weak ones. I'm
one of these despised ones. No, in and of yourself, you can't. You won't. But plead Christ,
your wisdom. The road, He'll reveal the road.
So He will reveal, we will not be utterly lost as to our heavenly
calling. He is our wisdom so as to let,
we will be where we need to be. We will all need to, we will
be where we finally need to end up in glory. He is made unto us earthly as
well as heavenly wisdom. We need the wisdom of God because
we have none. We have no spiritual wisdom.
But why do we not ask for wisdom today? One of the passages of
Scriptures I love more and more because of my weakness is James. If any man, any man, any woman
lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally. and
upbraideth not." And their situation, go to work. To the spiritual
man, all things are spiritual. You go to work, well this is,
it's not spiritual. Yes, if you're a believer, all
these things, whether you're retired or you work. You go and you're confronted
with a situation. I don't know how to deal with
it. He's our wisdom. Ask and you shall receive. I
don't understand this gospel. You talk to your parents. I don't
understand what the preacher is saying. Go over it with them. Ask for wisdom. your wisdom. Christ is our wisdom.
Ask wisdom now, as well as heavenly wisdom. Wisdom is needed now,
lest we fail and falter. He opens up the way, plain and
clear, to us along our journey and illuminates the pages of
this book He opens the mind and heart to receive the proclaimed
Word, to act wisely to its commands, demands, and promises. That's
why in the book of Proverbs there's so much about wisdom, which wisdom
is Christ. And he says, get wisdom in all
you're getting. Get wisdom. And that pearl of
great price? That's Christ. You find that
pearl of great price, and so you're going to hang on to this
other stuff? No. You're going to get rid of it
and hang on to that which is most precious. You have to work
in this world. You have to pay taxes. You do
those things honorably. You go to school. You learn.
We're not saying you don't be a slack. No, you do everything
to the glory and honor of Christ. But in all your seeking, don't
seek riches, don't seek wealth, don't seek intellectualism. Seek
Christ. He'll never fail you. He will
not fail you. Wisdom. Wisdom. And what happens
when we wander? And we all will. I do. We all
will. He's with us. And with His lovingly
insight, which is another word for wisdom, He brings us back
to Himself. If we stumble, He picks us up.
Whatever our trouble, our issues, our circumstances warrant, He
has made our wisdom for our everyday security, our peace, and our
health. Turn to Isaiah 35. I really like this. Isaiah 35. Because this is me. You just
have to chuckle and then weep because it's so true. It's us.
It's us all over the place. Isaiah 35 and verse 8. This is the provision of the
Lord. He's made unto us wisdom. But look at this. Isaiah 35,
8, And a highway shall be there, a way, and it shall be called
the way of holiness." That's the gospel, that's Christ, that's
truth, a way of wisdom. The unclean shall not pass over,
but it shall be for those the wayfaring man, wayfaring woman,
though fools, foolish, shall not err therein. I'm just not
very smart, that's okay. You don't have to keep yourself.
You don't have to keep yourself. They shall find this way. How? Because Christ is their wisdom.
It's the way of holiness. It's the way of heavenly wisdom. Though fools shall not err therein. Shall not err therein. Wisdom. Ask now and you shall receive.
There's no issue too small or insignificant. I used to think
that, well, you know, I've got a problem with the money or whatever,
now bring everything. Lay it all before Him. There's
nothing too small or too insignificant. He is our wisdom as He has revealed
His divine decree of salvation through the blood and even the
forgiveness of sins. That's the first wisdom we need.
But there's more. Look back in our text. Christ
is of God, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness. That simply means He has placed
us in Christ, thereby we have right standing, right standing
with God. And He's given us His own righteousness
evermore, actually and truly giving us uprightness before
Him and His holiness. In Jeremiah 23, verse 6, what
does it say? Jehovah said, kidney. What's
that mean? That's fancy. The Lord our righteousness. You
plead His wisdom. I'm blind and I can't see, but
I need to see. You're like that prodigal son.
You spend all your living and you spend all your inheritance
and you're eating swine. You're eating the husks the swines
did eat. And then God's grace and wisdom opens your eyes and
you go right back to the Father. And you plead. You say, I'm not
worthy. I'm foolish. I was base. I was not. But He
don't want to hear that. He just hugs you and He puts
the best robe on you and the ring. You've got His righteousness. You have it all. And thirdly,
there's more. Look at this. Not only is He
our wisdom, He allows us to find Him. Like those cities of refuge. There were arrows pointing. This
is the way. Find it. This is the way. Walk
therein. And He is our righteousness. He's our sanctification. Do you
ever have any trouble with sin? Do you ever have any trouble
with the flesh? Do you ever have trouble with
the influences of sin? Daily corruptions within? But
He still sets you apart. You're still sanctified in His
sight. You can truly acknowledge, He
is my sanctification. Or you can say as John Newton,
I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not
what I hope to be. But thank God, I'm not what I
used to be. And by the grace of God, I am
what I am. I'm sanctified. Or you could
say, better yet, as Paul in Ephesians 1, I'm accepted in the Beloved. Or you could say, as Paul told
Timothy, you're made meat for the Master's use. All these because
you're sanctified. Past tense in Christ. Lastly,
there's a fourth quality, a fourth characteristic. Sanctification
and redemption. He by Himself When He had purchased
our redemption, that word is ransom, when He was ransomed
for us, He sat down on high, signifying the work is completed,
it's finished, and He sealed to us our exceeding good hope. The penalty of sin is gone. The curse of the law, gone. The wrath of the Father, settled,
and we are free. This word redemption, I love,
and our folks know this because I use this illustration all the
time, when you women redeem coupons, what are you doing? You're taking
and you cut out the coupons, you're giving that coupon, in
order to redeem it, you give it back to where, whose it is,
it's the store's. If it's a McDonald's coupon,
it's McDonald's originated, they printed it up, it's theirs. When
we're redeemed, he's buying back his own people. We are His before
the foundation of the world. He has ransomed. He has redeemed
us. He has paid the penalty. All
of it. Stem to Sturm. Alpha to Omega.
The prison doors are open. The chains fell off. And we are
free. That is why I love it in Galatians.
He says, in Galatians, Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Don't let a preacher,
don't let a friend put you under bondage. You're free in Christ. Now, you're
free, and some people will abuse that. Don't use your liberty,
your cloak for maliciousness. No, we don't do things because
we're free in Christ. We had this one guy years ago,
He said, how much sin can I get away with and still be? You don't
do that. We grieve the Holy Spirit, we
do what we do because we love, the love of Christ constrains
us. But it's still, the fact of the
matter is, we are in Christ because God has placed us there. And
Christ of God is made unto us. the very wisdom of God, God's
righteousness, we need to have holiness and He's supplied that,
we need to have sanctification, He's done so, and redemption,
and He's made all these things to us. Now, I pause and I ask
myself, why is salvation or why the way to glory, why is it this
way? Why is it this one way? Very specific, very narrow, narrow
path. Why is it this way? Why is it
all of grace? That he that glorieth may glory
in the Lord. Because I know you and you know
me and I know myself. If we can steal just a little
glory and say, I walked that aisle. I exercised my free will. I worked my way. Only one man
ever in the history of the universe worked His way to glory. That's
Christ. He's the only one that worked His way to glory. We are
in Him. So, that's why, according as
it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now
I close with this. Let us therefore then be about
glorifying our Master, Lord and Savior above all things And above
all else, let us be about glorifying Him in our work, in our stay,
in our home, outside of home, raising our children. Let us
glorify the Lord in all that we do. Now, I want to close with
Isaiah 22, 23. I had to get this verse in here,
so I stuck it at the end. Isaiah 22, And I've said this before, if
you talk to a financial advisor, work on a portfolio, if you have
all that stuff, which you probably should, they're going to tell
you to diversify. The gospel says, put all your
eggs in one basket. Don't you dare. Don't you dare
diversify. Don't you dare take your eyes
off of me, Christ. Don't you dare seek other gods. Don't you dare. Here we are,
Isaiah 22, verse 23. And I, says God, will fasten
Him. Who's Him? It's Christ. Isaiah
22, verse 23. And I, God, will fasten Him,
Christ, as a nail in a sure place. God has fixed His Son as a nail. in a sure place, may we hang
everything on Him. Because that nail, it's a sure
place. I should have looked up that
word sure. I like looking up words. You know what it is. It's
a sure, it's not going anywhere. It's steadfast, it's stable.
Let us hang our all in all on that nail, on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because He isn't going anywhere.
And He has satisfied every jot and tittle that the Father threw
His way for us. Who of God is made us? Who? The worst? The lowest? The feeblest? The foolish? How simple-minded
can we be? Come in Sunday after Sunday,
Wednesday after Wednesday, and hear the same old message. Like Maurice made a comment years
ago, if somebody begins to tire of the Gospel, he wonders if
they ever really loved the Gospel as Christ. Hang everything. He's that nail. He's in a sure
place, set there by God, foreordained, predestinated before time was. As he says in Proverbs 8, He
was with the Father when the mountains were, you remember
that passage? He was with the Father when the Father was creating
all these different things. I was there with Him as one by
Him. And then He says, My delights, this is Christ speaking in Proverbs,
My delights were with the sons of men. Who could have thought or written
such a story? Only God Himself. So let us trust
whom God has trusted to put everything in His hands And then we're safe. And everything that comes by,
we're not saying life's going to be easy. It's going to be
tough. But you're in Him. You're safe. You're safe. And sound. May the Lord honor
the preaching of His Word. Bruce, would you close us please?