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. He doesn't
say none are, but he says not many. Verse 27, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God
has 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 are you 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 glorious, let him glory in the Lord. Our text shall be
verse 30. Verse 30. Where we find these sweet words,
but of him are you in Christ Jesus. That tells us where the
believer is, Not where he'll be in the future, but where he
is right now. Right now. It also tells us why he's there. Who did this? But of Him being
God. But of Him, are you in Christ
Jesus? This is the reason verse 29 tells
us this. that no flesh should glory in
his presence. What cause, what reason does
flesh have the glory? And you may be thinking, well,
men glory in the flesh all the time? Exactly. Carol, as we came in the door
this morning, mentioned a weed growing Outside there next to
the flowers and said man weeds will grow anywhere And I'll tell
you what and they don't need any attention to that pride pride
Glorying in the flesh is a wicked weed that'll grow anywhere Anywhere
and it flourishes flourishes in religion But what caused us
flesh have the glory? Did you read anything there that
you can attribute to the flesh that man is the cause of? God
put him in Christ. He didn't do that himself. God
made Christ to be to him wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. What cause does flesh have the
glory? Notice how we're described previous
to verse 29. Not wise. not mighty, not noble, but the
very opposite. Foolish, weak, base, despised. What other reason could there
be that any fallen son of Adam could be put in this blessed,
blessed, glorious place in Christ Jesus but this. The only reason
is, but of Him, that is, God. God did this. This is God's work. It's beyond the ability of fallen
man. Look at verse 31. In light of
that, that this is all God's work, and the flesh can't glory
because he had no part in it. Verse 31 says, then, or rather
that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Glory in the Lord. Glory in what
God has done. As we sing, and oh may God give
us grace not just to stand and repeat it with our lips, but
from our hearts exclaim, To God be the glory. To God be the glory. Great things He hath done. If
salvation is of the Lord, then why would we glory in anyone
else? If we would, we would be robbing
God, would we not? And this is the very message
of the Gospel. That salvation, real salvation,
Salvation from sin. Salvation to the uttermost. Salvation to the uttermost. How
much is that? As much as you need. As much
as is necessary. Grace, salvation that gets the
job done. that takes a sinner out of the
depths, out of the depths, out of the pit of his depravity,
his helplessness, his spiritual death. That's how the Bible describes
our condition by nature. Dead. You don't get much more
helpless than that, do you? Dead. And the salvation of God
that's in Christ Jesus brings those sinners from the depths
of their depravity all the way to glory. All the way to heaven. If it stops short of that, then
it's not God's salvation. And it's all God's work. Every bit of it. Louis Cates,
that's alright with me. That's fine with me. That's good
news to this helpless sinner. Why wouldn't it be? Why wouldn't
it be? Lazarus, you were dead. I watched you die. I saw your lifeless body placed
in the tomb. I saw your grieving, broken-hearted
sisters. But their tears couldn't raise
you. Their prayers couldn't reach
you. They called your name but you
couldn't hear them. You couldn't feel. You couldn't
see. And now here you sit in John
12 at the table with Jesus Christ. How did that happen? How did
it happen? Lazarus, did you do that yourself? Oh no, Lazarus would say. I heard
the voice of the Son of God. I heard the voice of Him who
said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that heareth the
voice of the Son of God shall live. Not the preacher's voice. Not the church. Oh, but when
they hear the voice of the Son of God, and with that command
goes the very life entering into their soul, then they live. Lazarus, was that a problem for
you? And he would say, are you kidding?
Are you kidding? I wouldn't be here otherwise.
Bartimaeus, the fact that salvation is of the Lord, do you have an
issue with that? Do you want to argue about man's
rights and man's contribution? And you know what Bartimaeus
would say. Man, I was a poor blind beggar every day of my
life. Every day since I was old enough,
because I was born in this darkness, I would find my way to the city
gate where the crowds were most likely to pass by. And I would
sit there, and every time I would hear a footstep, I would cry
out, will you give me an alms? Would you help a poor blind beggar? And one day, one day, I heard
a greater crowd than usual. I heard a great commotion and
I asked, what is this about? What's happening? And someone
said to me, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Jesus of Nazareth, God's salvation
at that moment is passing by. And you know what Bartimaeus
did? He didn't say, well, I wonder
if I should cry for mercy. I wonder if I'm elect. I wonder
if I'm chosen. I wonder if it's in the decree
of God Almighty that I should call upon Jesus as he passes
by, or should I hold my peace? Nonsense. The only thing Bartimaeus
knew is he was blind. And he'd heard what Christ had
done for others. And he did what any awakened
sinner will do. He did what you would do this
morning. If you're blinded in sin, and
God makes it known to you, Bartimaeus did what you should do. Jesus,
have mercy on me. Jesus, don't pass me by. Jesus, will you stop? Will you
pause? Will you grant me mercy? And what a blessed, blessed picture
it is. We're told, Jesus, that quick,
that quick. And it was not long before that
time that he would be made sin. It wasn't many, many days prior
to that. He's on his way to Jerusalem
to obtain eternal redemption for his people. He's on his way
to trod the winepress alone. He's on his way to accomplish
all of his father's will. But he hears that blind beggar
and he stops. Bartimaeus Do you have a problem
with that? Oh, no. Oh, no. You know, you
see, I once was blind, but now I see. I was lost, and now I'm
found. And he did it all. Why would
I have a problem with it? This great salvation is brought
about not by man's will, Now you're touching the golden calf,
aren't you? Of man's religion. God's salvation
is not brought about by man's will, but God's will. This is
the very thing. This is the very thing that gives
a sinner everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.
I'm so thankful. I thank God, not nearly as much
as I should, and not like I will, but I thank God that my salvation
is not of my will, or I would have never been saved, would
never been saved. The very foundation of our comfort
and good hope is because of God's grace. Unmerited, unrestrained,
reigning, abounding grace. That's exactly what this sinner
needs. Nothing less than that will do
me any good. Grace, so-called grace. that
requires my assistance to be successful, that needs me to
take the first step, or it can't help me, that is not grace. That's not grace. God's grace
pardons and cleanses within. God's grace is greater than all
my sin. Oh child of God. Do you get tired
of hearing that? Brother Lord, does that get old
to you? Does that get old to you? Oh
no. I know it doesn't. To be told
Be reminded of this sweet, sweet truth that this is the true grace
of God wherein we stand. So comforting. Turn for a moment,
then we'll come back to 1 Corinthians 1. Look in Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem. He calls for the elders of the
churches of Ephesus. He tells them, you'll never see
my face again. And as the faithful servant of
God that he is, he warns them in verse 28. He says, take heed
therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. to feed the church of God which
he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that
after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also of your own self shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them. Therefore watch, and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears." Well, Paul, if that's the case, what
will become of the church at Ephesus? If they stand in such
danger, What shall become of them? What's their hope? Paul
didn't stop, did he? Look what he says in verse 22.
And now brethren, now brethren, what Paul says here, I find great
comfort in. When I see you suffer, And I
often feel at a loss as to what to say, what to do, to help you,
to comfort you. I fall back on this. And now,
brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace,
which is able to build you up. and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified." That's true of you. I commend
you to God and the Word of His grace and the hope we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist said, many, not
occasionally, not now and then, oh no, but many are the afflictions
of the righteous. One hymn writer expressed it
like this, the path of sorrow and that path alone leads to
the land where sorrow is unknown. No traveler ever reached that
blessed abode who found not thorns and briars on the road. Yes, many are the affliction
of the righteous, but the psalmist went on to say, but, but the
Lord delivereth him out of them all. All your trials, though
severe, though painful and long, will never change this. No, it makes it even more sweeter. Are ye in Christ Jesus? Nothing you went through last
week touched that. Nothing you'll wake up to tomorrow
Nothing you'll face, no matter how severe, no matter how painful,
no matter how it rends your heart in two, nothing can change this. Nothing can even phase this. Ye are in Christ Jesus. Oh, isn't that sweet? What a
precious, precious word. What a precious place to be in.
In Christ Jesus, three or four things concerning that. There
are so many more, but just three or four. In Christ Jesus, that's
the place of choice, isn't it? Oh, what a choice place to be. In Him. Why? As we read here, it was due to
God's choice. God put us there. Not your choice. God's choice. You weren't old
enough to vote. Cause this choice might took
place. Oh, wonder of wonders. Wonder of wonders. This blessed
choice of God choosing sinners and giving them to his son to
redeem. took place before the world was
ever created. That's the language of Scripture. God had chosen you in Him, Ephesians
1, in Him before the foundation of the world. Three times here
in 1 Corinthians. Verse 27 and 28. But had God
chosen, God chose. God chose us in Christ. There's the beauty of election.
Isn't it, John? That's the beauty of every blessed
doctrine of God's Word. It finds its beauty in Him. In Him. God help us never to
think of election as just a word, as just a doctrine that we can
debate free willers about. No, no, no. Don't do that. Don't
do that. Oh, election is this. Election
is this. God Almighty saying to His Son,
Thou art my first elect, God said, and then chose us in Christ
our head. Isn't He glorious? No place that
I would rather be. No place. I say that now rather
easily. Oh, but when that time arrives,
which is swiftly approaching, when God says time shall be no
more, when Christ calls to himself the last sheep that God gave
him to redeem, And this earth is about to be
dissolved. And men, mighty men we're told,
even kings and the great of the earth, you see them running into
the mountains and praying, fall on us, hide us from the face
of Him that sets upon the throne. For the great day of His wrath
is come, and who shall be able to stand?" Oh, how every redeemed sinner,
in light of that, will rejoice like they never have before to
know that they are found in Him, their glorious substitute. Who
shall stand, they ask? Who shall be able to stand? I
can answer that. I can answer that. I'll borrow
the words again of the old hymn writer. Bold shall I stand in
that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while
through thy blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous curse and
shame. We made mention of this a few
weeks ago in the Sunday evening service. God willing, I'll prepare
a message on this sometime. But just as we read in Genesis
that Eve was in Adam, was a part of him. And from him, God created
the woman and brought her to the man. And Adam said, Wow! This is flesh of my flesh. This
is bone of my bones. She was taken out of me. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, Paul
says, that's a picture of Christ and His church. God loved us
and chose us in our blessed head. were flesh of His flesh and bone
of His bones. We were given to Christ as His
bride, loved, chosen, redeemed, and called. And Christ one day
will present us back to His Father without a spot, without a blemish,
or any such thing. O ye are in Him, loved with an
everlasting love, brought in time that love to know. You remember the book of Hosea
is a picture of Christ's love for his church. God spoke to
Hosea and said, go love a woman. Take a woman of whoredoms. Take her to be your wife. And Hosea obeyed. He went and
took Gomer, and she didn't change a lick. After they were married,
she was just as unfaithful to him as she had been before. Hosea still loved her. Hosea
still loved her. While she was sneaking off to
be with her lovers, Hosea would take a bag of groceries and set
it at the door so she wouldn't be without. She didn't even know
it. Behold, behold what matter of
love the Father had bestowed upon us. In chapter 3, after Gomer has
been used up, abused, passed around, she's on the auction
block. And nobody wants her. Nobody
wants her except Hosea. He says, I'll take her. I'll take her. Then said the
Lord unto me, go yet. Yet. Love a woman. Beloved of her friend, yet an
adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children
of Israel, God's true Israel, who looked to other gods and
loved legions of wine. So I bought her two meat for
15 pieces of silver and for a homer of barley and a half homer of
barley. And I said unto her, Can you
see this? Can you picture this? I said
unto her, thou shalt abide for me many days, thou shalt not
play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man, so will
I also be for thee. And Gomer puts her arm in his,
and there they go, going home, going home. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. He took that bride, that adulterous,
unfaithful bride, and promised to do everything God required. And now we are accepted in to
be loved. That's the next thought. In Christ
Jesus. Look, if you will, in Ephesians
chapter 1. You know the verse I'm referring
to, don't you? Now are ye in Christ Jesus. Look
what Paul says at verse 6 of Ephesians 1. Speaking of our
God, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he has made
us accepted in the beloved. In the beloved. Accepted by God
Almighty. I thought God demanded and only
would accept perfection. You're exactly right. You're
exactly right. God Himself says it must be perfect
to be accepted. God Almighty, very nature, will
not allow him to accept anything that's less than perfect, holy,
pure. Now where does that leave you
and I? You compare what God demands
to what your hands can produce. And unless you're blind, you'll
say like Isaiah, all of my righteousnesses, plural, not my sins, not my bad
deeds, but all my very best deeds are filthy rags in the sight
of such a holy God. And yet, we're told we're accepted. On what grounds can a sinner
found acceptance with God? Not by the deeds of the law,
no flesh will be justified. To be accepted by a perfect God,
I must be perfect. And where can that be? On what
grounds? You know where it's at? You know
where it's at? I stand where Jesus Christ himself stands in
relation to God Almighty. I stand upon that foundation
that God himself has laid that no other can lay, and that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. I stand upon that holy place,
that foundation, that when God shakes this religious world,
and everything that's not founded upon Jesus Christ alone, everything,
every religion, everything that doesn't have as its grounds,
it's hope. In Christ Jesus, upon this solid
rock, everything that's not there is going to fall into hell. Everything
and everyone. Everyone. Oh, but for everyone
that's in Him, they're accepted in the Beloved. In the Beloved. It's an eternal, immutable, unchanging
acceptance. A very real acceptance. One with Christ. Substitution. One with Christ. What He did,
everything He did, in life, in death, everything He did, He
did as the substitute of His people. Everything. And everything
He did, is put on the account of His people as though they
did it. Isn't that something? When God
says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, I
was in Him. What He did, I did in Him. And God speaks those words to
me. This is my beloved Son in whom?
In whom? In Christ. He's well pleased
with me. One when he died, one when he
rose, one when he triumphed over his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat and Sarah sang all hell's defeat. Another thing,
in Christ Jesus, believers now have no condemnation. Turn if
you will to Romans chapter 8. You know the verse and we could
quote it. But let's look at it together. Feast your eyes upon
this blessed truth. Look what Paul says here. And
he has just confessed. Just confessed. O wretched man
that I am. He's just confessed. He's admitted. He's cried out, the things that
I would do, I do not. And the things that I would not
do, I do. And he cries out, O wretched man that I am. And at the same
time, he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are where? In Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Just like Noah was in that ark. We read in Genesis 7 that Noah
went into the ark and the Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him
in. And all the wrath that fell fell
upon the ark. It didn't touch Noah. He was perfectly safe. And this
is what Paul's telling us here in verse 1 of Romans 8. God in
strict justice pronounces each for whom Christ suffered and
bore the full penalty of their sins, this is what God says. Here's the verdict from the ports
of heaven. Here's the verdict of the triune
God. For every sinner for whom Christ
suffered and died, God says, not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. They're free. I'm
satisfied. I can't demand payment twice
for the same sins. free from God's law, free from
its demands, free from its curse. They've all been satisfied by
my substitute. In Christ, no condemnation, not
now, not tomorrow, not ever. And then last of all, turn with
me to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. This
blessed place, of being in Christ Jesus is also the place, the
only place, of perfect righteousness. Perfect righteousness. In Philippians 3, the apostle
says in verse 8, Yea, doubtless I count all things as lost, but
lost. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." This rope, of perfect righteousness is not
produced by man's works. There's not a thread in it that's
man's doing. It's all God's work. It's the
robe of His Son's righteousness. You can't find it in religion.
You can't find it in a church. This robe of pure, complete righteousness
can only be found in Him. Paul said God had made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us. Was that real? Christ being made
sin, was that a pretense, a sham? No, no, no, no. I can't explain
it. I can't comprehend it, how that happened. But God made
His Son sin. Sin. It was no pretense. It was real. But Paul said, God
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. One is as true as the
other. If God really made him to be
sin, then this sinner is really, really made the righteousness
of God in him. You see this sinner standing
before you right now. You don't see it. You don't see
it. But God does. God sees this sinner
with Christ's spotless garments on as holy as God's own Son. Oh, no wonder Paul said, I want
to be found in him. Are you? Are you? Are you found in Him? We'll be found. We'll all be
found. Oh, but to be found in Him. As
old Toplady wrote, when I soared the world's unknown, and behold
thee on thy throne, O rock of ages, O rock of ages, cleft for
me. Let me hide myself in thee. That little five-year-old girl
that may leave this world through cancer, she'll be found in him. She'll be found in him. shall be clothed in His righteousness.
Faultless to stand before the throne. And so will everyone,
so will everyone that God has made Christ to be under them,
wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Oh, now are ye
in Christ Jesus. God bless you. Thank you.