Back here in 1 Corinthians chapter
1, our text will be verse 30. The title of my message is, In
Christ Jesus. Those three words are in the
text. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Sounds like Sounds like anybody
that's in Christ Jesus lacks nothing at all. One time years
ago I was visiting a friend in the hospital and I went in about
the time they brought him his lunch tray and I said if you
don't mind I'll just visit with you while you eat. It won't bother
me if it doesn't bother you. So he said okay. So he was eating
and Finally, he said, Larry, I declare, the longer I chew
this piece of meat, the bigger it gets. So he just pushed the
tray aside. And I thought about that as I
thought about these words in our text. In Christ Jesus, that's
a piece of meat bigger than you and I can chew at one setting. But pray for me that we'll endeavor
to take a portion of it anyway. The Apostle Peter wrote in his
first epistle, in chapter 2, verse 6, he said, wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, and this is God speaking, this
is what God says, behold I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, that's God's estimation of his son, precious,
chosen. elect precious, and he that believes
on him shall not be confounded, will never be put to shame. And then in verse 7 Peter wrote,
unto you therefore which believe he is precious. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, precious
to God the Father, precious to every believer. A lady asked
her young Bible class one Sunday morning concerning this text,
the Lord is precious. What does that mean, she asked.
What does precious mean? And one little girl raised her
hand and said, well, Father has told me concerning my mother
that she's precious because what would we do without her? That's pretty good, isn't it?
Where would we be without the Lord Jesus Christ? Unto you that
believe he is precious." Old John Newton. He was a good preacher. He's known, I think, more for
his hymn writing, especially the most familiar one to just
about everybody, Amazing Grace. But in that famous hymn that
most people know, that they can recite, but they have no idea
what he was talking about, For example, when he said, "'Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear.'" Hmm. "'It was grace that
taught my heart to fear.'" That sounds strange to most people
today, most religious people, most people sitting in churches
this morning. Why would they fear God? I mean,
the God they hear about is rather to be pitied than feared. because
he's a God that can't have his way. He's a God that wants to
do something, but his hands are tied. Why should I fear such
a God as that? Again, I say he's rather to be
pitied. Oh, but, but, when grace, as
old Newton said, when grace teaches a man who he is, that is who
God is, who God really is, I'm not like you imagined. God said,
you thought I was just like you. Isn't it amazing when you talk
to people? Your neighbors, I mean, they're
just as lost as can be. And you try to witness to them
and talk to them, tell them about God, tell them about Christ.
They tell you what they think. Well, I think God is this. And
they imagine, they imagine that whatever God they want Him to
be, that's what He must be. God said, no, no, no. I'm not like you imagine. I'm
not such a one as yourself. Or when God in grace, teaches
someone who he is, is something about himself. And then goes
on by that same grace to teach them who they are, then, then,
as old Newton wrote, then they'll fear. It was grace that taught
my heart to fear, but remember, Newton didn't stop there, and
God doesn't stop there. If God ever strips a sinner,
he's not going to leave him naked. He's going to clothe him. If
God ever brings a sinner down, it's so that he can raise him
up and plant his feet up on the solid rock of his own dear son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It was grace that relieved my
fears, Newton said, and grace my fears relieved. Can you imagine
what a relief it must have been to that leper that came to the
Lord Jesus Christ, that outcast, the law had condemned that man.
The law had pronounced that man unclean. According to God's own
law, he was an outcast. He couldn't live any longer in
society. If a stranger approached him
who wasn't aware of God's law, that leper would have to shout
out, I'm unclean! Unclean! Can you imagine what
a relief it was to that leper when he came to the Lord Jesus
Christ and begged Him. Begged Him. Didn't say, well,
I think I'll do you a favor. No, he begged Him. He fell into
dust before Him in His proper place as a beggar and it said,
if you will, If you will, you don't owe it to me. You don't
have to do it. You don't have to do it. But
if you will, you can make me clean. Can you imagine the relief
that must have filled his heart when Jesus Christ reached out
his hand to touch him and said, I will? I will be thou clean. Or can you imagine? Can you imagine
the relief that dying thief must have felt in his soul as he looked
upon the Son of God on that middle cross and God had granted him
faith to know who that was. And he said, Lord, remember me. He'd already confessed just a
moment before to the other thief. Man, we're guilty. We're guilty. We don't have an excuse for this.
We're getting just exactly what we deserve. I can't find fault
with anyone. I'm getting what I deserve. I've
earned this. The wages of sin is death. We've earned that. Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Really? Really? He's going to remember that dying
thief? He's trotting the winepress alone.
He's obtaining eternal redemption for His people. He at that very
moment is putting away sin. You think He's got time for you?
Oh yes. Can you imagine again, I ask,
the relief? When that sinner heard the words
from that one who was able to save to the uttermost, even that
dying thief, even in that hour, when he heard these words, barely,
our Lord said, barely, you can count on this. You can rest on
this verily, assuredly, very truly, absolutely, verily, I'm
saying to you that today you're gonna be with me in paradise. Wow, what a relief. It must have been to that dying
thief. Newton went on to say in that
second verse of his famous hymn, how precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed. Because it's then, it's then,
children of God, that we learn in our experience of grace about
the purpose of God's grace. It's then that we learn that
we're in Christ Jesus. My soul, who could do that? Who could do that? How do we
get in Christ Jesus? Again, look at the text. But
of Him. That's God. Of Him. Nobody else,
but of God. God did that. I could never put
myself into Christ. I could put myself in a church.
I can put myself in the baptistry. I can put myself in doctrine.
But I can't put myself in Jesus Christ. God's people were put
in Christ in eternal election. Thou art my first elect, God
said concerning his son, and then chose us in Christ our head. Oh yes, there is such a thing
that's called God's everlasting covenant of grace. God saves
his people on purpose. Now I sometimes ask you, and
I would like to ask this religious world, Do you think God has a
new idea? Do you really think God just
some way or other just thinks of something that he never thought
of before, that he does something today that he didn't intend to
do, that he didn't purpose to do? Oh no, that's a God likened
to ourselves. No, our God chose us in Christ. And then in regeneration, in
time, he comes to the center and puts us in Christ. by his
sweet grace. No wonder Paul tells us not the
glory in the flesh. We've got no reason to, but the
glory in the Lord. Great things he has taught us.
Great things he has done. To God be the glory. If I could
put myself in Christ, I could take myself out. Somebody asked
Brother Henry, you know the story. Brother Henry, you think once
a sinner is saved, he's saved forever? Henry said, well, it
depends on who does the saving. If the sinner saves himself,
no. No, it won't be forever. It won't
be for very long at all. But if God Almighty saves him,
if God Almighty opens his heart and drops in his grace, then
he has eternal life and he'll never ever perish. Yes, if it's God's work, it'll
be forever. He that's begun a good work in
you, Paul told the Philippians, shall complete it, shall carry
it on, shall continue it till the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our being in Christ is altogether
God's work. And I'll tell you what, only
a self-righteous Pharisee has a problem with that. The only
person that has a problem with that is somebody that thinks
they're working their way to heaven. Only those that Paul
spoke of trying to work out their own righteousness have a problem
with that. Oh, but when a sinner hears,
a needy sinner, a sinner who's been taught by God's grace to
fear, when they hear that salvation is all of God's work, that's
good news to them. That's sweet music to their ears.
Our conversion Our saving union with Christ is not the result
of something we have done. We are not in Christ because
we were wiser than anybody else, better than anybody else, or
made a better choice than anybody else. We're in Christ Jesus because
God put us in Christ Jesus. In other words, salvation is
of the Lord. This old hymn, I know I've quoted
it to you many times, But it says it better than what I'm
trying to do. In the Beloved, the hymn writer
said, in the Beloved accepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated
on high, saved from all sin through his infinite grace, with the
redeemed ones accorded a place. In the Beloved, how safe my retreats. In the Beloved, accounted complete.
Who can condemn me, in him I am free. Savior and Keeper forever
is He. In the Beloved, God's marvelous
grace calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my
Savior and then He sees me. Oh, in the Beloved, accepted
and free. James writing in his epistle,
chapter 4, he asked this question, he says, go to now ye that say
today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know
not what shall be on tomorrow, for what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth
away, for ye ought to say If the Lord will, we shall live
and do this or do that. What is your life? All the changes,
the great changes that can take place in our life, and they can
take place so quickly. So quickly, a few weeks ago,
I did just what James said not to do. Made plans as I passed
through Kentucky to stop and see my dear, dear friends. Dave
Coleman. But before I got there, God called
him home. A few days later, he called another
dear friend, Brother Henry Mahan, home to be with him forever.
Oh, change and decay all around I see. But there's one thing,
this that never changes. Jesus Christ says, I'm the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. And my purpose will never change.
My grace will never change. My love will never change. If
you're in Christ Jesus now, you'll always be in Christ Jesus. You'll
never not be in Christ Jesus. Now let's just look at these
four things briefly that Paul mentions, that we have in him,
that God has made Christ to be to us. And the first one we see
here is wisdom. God has made Christ to be unto
us wisdom, meaning this, that our highest wisdom is knowing
Him. Christ is the head of His body,
the church, and all the wisdom of the body is in the head. And
Jesus Christ is the head and all wisdom is in Him. Jeremiah
chapter 9, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory
in this. This is worth glorying in. You have permission to glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. I revealed myself
to you, that I am the Lord which exerciseth lovingkindness and
judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, saith the Lord, our wisdom, Christ himself. Who can answer this question?
Who can solve this dilemma? How can a man be just with God? You ever thought about that?
You ever consider that question? How you, a guilty sinner, can
be just before a holy God? What an infinite gap between
God Almighty and my sinful soul, who, what, how can I ever be
brought together with peace in Him? What about it Moses? Can you answer that question?
The law giver, and Moses would say, oh I can't tell you how
a man can be just with God, I can tell you this, by the deeds of
the law, no flesh shall be justified before God. Because by the law
is the knowledge of sin. It exposes our sin, it reveals
our sin, but it does absolutely nothing to remove our sin. For
that we must look elsewhere. What about you, Solomon? You're
a wise man. You are the wisest man of your
day. Can you answer this question? How can God justify a sinner? And Solomon would answer, well,
I know much. I know much, that's true, but I don't know that.
I can't solve that. I can't answer that. Oh, but
glory to God, there is one. There is one that answers that
question. There is one that solved that. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ
and His infinite grace and power and wisdom. Paul tells us this
in Romans chapter 3, verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Is there no hope for sinners
then? Is there no hope? Being justified, and here it
is. Yes, there's hope. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption, that is, there's the words again,
in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Don't you just
love the sound of that? Does that not make you feel secure? Or just the very thought, the
reality rather, of knowing that I'm in Christ Jesus. Who shall
condemn me? Who shall separate me from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus, being justified freely
by His grace, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say this time, he is righteous. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say, let me tell you something. Scott would say, before God Almighty
does anything for you, he's got to do something for himself.
God's got to be just in forgiving the sinner. God doesn't set aside
His law when He forgives a sinner. He doesn't lower His righteous
character in forgiving a sinner or becomes less than the holy
God that He is. Oh no, He maintains every attribute
in forgiving the sinner. He does so on the grounds of
satisfied justice, glory to His name, mercy. Mercy always comes
to the sinner on the wings of satisfied. justice and Jesus
Christ is the one that rendered that satisfaction to God. To
declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be
just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Acts
chapter 13 Paul is preaching and he says be it known unto
you therefore men and brethren that through this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. The same blessed truth in Hebrews
chapter 7 verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. by the which we draw
nigh unto God. Isaiah chapter 53 again, verse
11. He shall see of the rebel of
his soul, and he shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many. How many? As many as God gave
him to justify. How many? As many as he shed
his blood for. How many? As many that he'll
gather around the throne of God in glory and it will be his boast,
it will be his claim, deservedly so, Father I've lost none glory
to his name and there won't be anybody arguing about that. There
won't be anybody that wants to divide and take any credit from
he that sits upon the throne. Everybody will in perfect agreement
cast their crowns at his feet and say, man, isn't he worthy? He's worthy. He has redeemed
us with his own blood. He didn't try to do it. He did
it. He got the job done. Glory to
his name. He is the embodiment of wisdom. The rebuilder of wisdom. The
very word of wisdom, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Him. So all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are His, and by Him alone are men made to know
God. All true spiritual knowledge
is derived from Christ. It doesn't come any other way.
Only those who are taught by Him are made wise unto salvation. And He says to every believing
soul, He says to you and I this morning, if we know Him, if we
bow to Him, if we believe on Him, He says, I say unto thee, all things are delivered to me
of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Father is save the Son.
But the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and to whom the
Son will reveal Him. And He turned to His disciples
and said privately, and He turns to you this morning, may God
give us grace to believe it. Blessed are your eyes. Why? Because
they see. They see. Oh, I once was blind,
but now I see. I see Jesus Christ. I see Him as my all in all. I
see that in Him I lack nothing. I'm complete. You remember when
that rich young ruler, that self-righteous young man came to the Lord, and
hourly it looked so good. But our Lord put the fanger on
his sore spot, his riches, his riches. And he went away sorrowful. But before that he asked the
Lord when he claimed to keep the law, which he didn't, and
our Lord proved that he didn't. He said, oh, I've done all that.
That's not been a problem for me. I've done that since I was
a little tot. What do I like yet? What do I
like yet? He liked everything. He liked
everything, because He liked the one thing needful. He liked the Lord Jesus Christ,
but all for every sinner who by faith embraces the Son of
God, they don't like anything. They have everything that God
can give to a sinner through the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
the second thing. God has made Him to be unto us
righteousness. Righteousness. Righteous, you
know what that means? Righteousness. It means to be
right before God's law. To be accounted and declared
right in the eyes of God's law. Remember Christ said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. I didn't come to destroy the
law or set it aside or make it void. I came to fulfill the law. And that's exactly what he did.
When he rendered to the law, perfect obedience. If we have
righteousness before God, it must be through and in and because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is made unto us by God righteousness. And for each of those he represented
in the perfect life that he lived, magnifying God's holy law, he
says to God on their behalf, he represented us in doing so. And he says what Paul said to
Philemon concerning Onesimus. If he has wronged you and owes
you anything, put it on my account. Put it on my account. I, Paul,
have written with my own hand. I will repay you. And that's
exactly what Jesus Christ rendered to God. Every debt we owe to
God's holy law, Jesus Christ paid it. Put it on my account. That's why we sing. Jesus paid
it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, but glory to his name, he washed it white
as snow. This is the blessed doctrine
of the gospel revealed in God's word. The Son of God came into
this world in human flesh. that he might magnify God's law
and make it honorable as the representative of his people
and in doing so he brought in an everlasting righteousness.
Now God's demand is plain and clear. He says walk before me
and be thou perfect. He said it must be perfect to
be accepted. It must be perfect to be accepted. And just as we were made sinners
by the disobedience of the first man, Adam, we are made righteous
by the obedience of the second man, the second Adam, Jesus Christ
himself. That means that every sinner
for whom Christ lived and died and rose again is right. He's righteous before the law
of God. The law of God declares him justified. What's that mean? Right? Righteous. justified. Remember what the
father said concerning their returning prodigal? Bring forth
the best robe. Why? We're going to put it on
him. Going to put it on him. Him? Man, he still stinks. He's still
got the smell of the pigsty on him. You want to put it on him?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because with the robe of
that perfect righteousness of Christ, can't see any sin. No evidence of it, no trace of
it. With His holy garments on, we're
righteous as God's own Son. How about that? Oh yeah, that's
the best road. Paul in Romans 5 verse 17 wrote,
For if by one's man's offense death reigned by one, much more
they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, As by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men, all those in Christ, unto justification. For as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 16,
in those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith she, the
church, shall be called the Lord our righteousness." And brothers
and sisters in Christ, it's a righteousness that can never be lost, can never
be lost, can never be forfeited, can never cease to be accepted
by God Himself. It's everlastingly perfect. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
has eternal merit. His very presence before God
Almighty is evidence of God's satisfaction with the sacrifice
of His Son. If it wasn't, He wouldn't be
there. Glory to His name. When he cried
from the cross, it is finished, God Almighty three days later
said, Amen, my son, it is finished. I can demand no more. There is the righteousness with
which we shall be fully and everlastingly rewarded in heavenly glory, the
righteousness of Jesus Christ himself. And then Paul says that
God has made him, the third word here, to be for us sanctification. Sanctification. Now, there's
a lot of confusion in our day about sanctification, isn't there? When the Spirit of God declares
that Christ is made of God unto us, sanctification, He is telling
us that our sanctification, like our righteousness, our redemption,
the wisdom, is altogether the work of God. It is not in any
way or any degree dependent upon you and I. It's not a progressive
thing. Oh, no. No, Christ is our sanctification. accomplished by God the Holy
Spirit forming Christ in you, the hope of glory. Sanctification
is ours from eternity in virtue of our union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. But, in time, when God calls
us to His Son, it's ours by virtue of our union with Him. We become
aware of it. Oh, I am His. I've always been
His, but I didn't know it. I had no way of knowing that
I was one of those sinners blessed in heavenly places in Christ.
I didn't know that I was one of those chosen in Christ before
the world began. I didn't know that until I was
called to Christ as one of His sheep revealed in time to be
so. Oh, to have Him. Paul says the
believer's new nature is perfect because it is Christ in you. their sanctification, Christ
in you, the hope of glory, the new man created in righteousness
and true holiness. This new nature formed in us
as a result of the new birth, John tells us, does not sin. It cannot sin. That's what John
said in 1 John chapter 3 verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. Most people, when they hear the
word sanctification, most religious folks, they think it means this.
Well, I can't touch that. I can't taste that. I can't wear
that. I can't go there. I can't smile. I can't enjoy. I've got to look
like I'm miserable all the time. That's holiness. Oh, no, no,
no, no, no. No, that's legalism. That's bondage. Oh, real holiness is within and
is put there when we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're given the very nature of
Christ. And here's the last thing, the
last word. God has made Christ Jesus to
be unto us redemption. Oh, there's a good word. Redemption.
The word translated redemption means complete deliverance by
ransom. Complete deliverance. It is,
it's used to declare that God's elect are completely delivered
from sin and all the consequences of sin. By the ransom priced
of Christ's sin atoning blood poured out at Calvary, complete
atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost farthing paid all
that thy people owed." Of all the words used to describe God's
grace, none is so full, so rich, so complete, so assuring as this
word, redemption. Christ is made of God unto us,
redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
redemption, unto us, his chosen in eternity, before the foundation
of the world, and he's made redemption to us when he bore our sins in
his own body on the tree. This is what Paul said. God had
made him sin, sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, you know
it well. God had made him sin for us.
And what's the outcome of that? What's the fruit of that? What's
the purpose of that? What was all that for? What did
that produce? Did it just make something possible?
Or did it accomplish something? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh, the bliss of this glorious
thought. My sins, not in part but the
whole, were nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. Oh, praise the Lord. Praise the
Lord, oh my soul. I love Bunyan's old allegory. Pilgrim's Progress. Oh, you know
the story, huh? Man, he's got that burden on
his back and he can't get rid of it. Nothing he can do shakes
it off. It's pressing him down and he
feels he must go to hell. If God is just, there's no other
alternative. He must go to hell. God must
send him there. And then one day, He said, I
came up a hill. I came up to the cross. And he
said, at the sight of the cross, the burden fell off my back.
And it rolled away and just kept rolling until it rolled into
the sacrifice of the Lord. And I saw it again. No more. No more. My sins are gone. My sin, where are they? Jesus
took them away. He bore them all away in his
own body on the sin. He did it so completely, so thoroughly,
so successfully that they'll never be found again. He will
purge me from the very consequence of all my sins so that in that
day, redeemed body, soul, and spirit. He'll present me before
His Holy Father without a spot, without a blemish. I'll be just
like Him. How about that? But of Him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now, here's the reason Paul tells
us that God saves sinners in that way, that according as it
is written, He that glorious, let him glory in the Lord, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. And if Christ is all
that to me, and God has made him to be so to me, then this
is so. How loved I must be in Christ
Jesus. How accepted I must be by God
in Christ Jesus. How secure and safe I must be
in Christ Jesus. Paul begins Romans 8 by declaring
that in Christ Jesus there's no condemnation. And then he
closes the chapter by saying, in Christ Jesus there's no separation. Never can be. Old John Kent,
he expressed it this way in a hymn. Let me just quote it to you and
we'll close. It says, betwixt Jesus and the
chosen race subsists the bond of sovereign grace that hail
with its infernal train. shall never dissolve nor ran
in vain. Hail sacred union firm and strong,
how great the grace, how sweet the song, that worms of earth
should ever be one with incarnate deity. One in the tomb when he
arose, one when he triumphed over his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat, while seraphs sang all hell's defeat. This sacred tie forbids our fears,
for all he is and has is ours. With Christ our head, we stand
or fall, our life, our surety, our all. In Christ Jesus. What a blessed, blessed place
to be. God bless you.