Now, it is my goal and hope that
by the end of this message, you and I will understand what it
means to glory in the Lord. But I've got a greater hope than
that, too. I hope that you and I will not only understand what
it means to glory in the Lord, my prayer is that we will actually
glory in the Lord. And wouldn't that be a blessing
if you and I are enabled by God's Spirit to actually glory in the
Lord. Now, Paul had just exposed human
wisdom for what it is. Look in verse 19. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? And then in verses 21 through
25, he tells us what true wisdom is. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but. We preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. And then Paul makes this observation
after talking about man's wisdom and God's wisdom. He says in
verses 26 through 29, 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 has chosen the foolish things of the world. to confound the
wise. And God hath 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 the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Now we see from these verses
how much human distinctions mean to the Lord. By that I mean the things that
men consider to be valuable and advantageous. We see how much
they mean to the Lord absolutely nothing. He didn't choose the
rich of this world, the mighty, the powerful, the influential,
that which humanity craves after, and that which humanity highly
esteems, the Lord doesn't esteem it at all. That's what men desire,
what men think is so valuable. How much thought does the Lord
put in that? Absolutely nothing. You know, there's another scripture
in Luke chapter 16, verse 15, that says, that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. Now
he gives us some idea as to what he thinks of human distinctions. You know, God never did intend
to make his gospel appealing to the flesh. He never did. You know, I see
how religion tries to mark up what they call the gospel in
a way that makes it appealing and desirable to the flesh. That's
what the secret churches are all about. We need to make this
more appealing to the flesh, to make men want to believe what
we have to say and make them want what we have. But, you know,
God does things in a way that would guarantee failure by the
world's standards. In verses 26 through 29, those
three, four verses I just read, I want to bring out four things
that show this. I want us to consider in these
three or four verses, the elector, the election, the elected, and
the reason behind all this. Now, the first thing that I would
notice is the elector. Three times in these four verses,
we read, God hath chosen, God hath chosen, God hath Now, man's
wisdom and man's religion begins with man and his needs and how
God can meet those needs. Now, can't you see where that's
really the driving force behind man's religion? Man, his needs,
his wants, and how God can meet those needs for you. After all, if you're trying to
quote, get men saved and the product you're promoting is salvation,
surely you need to appeal to man to get them to choose your
product. But the gospel doesn't begin
with man's choice, does it? The gospel begins with God's
choice. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. Now, in reality,
If I would preach the gospel scripturally, I must begin not
with man and his needs or man and his choice, but with God
and his choice. You see, salvation doesn't begin
with men. Salvation begins with God himself. Salvation is of the Lord. I love that passage of scripture
in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 13, where Paul says, But
we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. Because God has, from the beginning,
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. And you don't do that in the
Scriptures. Everything begins with God's choice. Let's take
the angels. You know, sometime in between
Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2, we had the fall of the angels.
I don't understand much about it. We're not getting a lot of
information about it, but I know this. The angels that did not
fall are called in Timothy the elect angels. The difference
between the fallen and the ones who didn't fall were God's election. God made the difference. What
about the fact that there are fallen angels and fallen men?
God chose to provide a savior for fallen men. He chose not
to provide a savior for fallen angels. You know, I've never
heard anybody complain about that. I've never heard anybody
say, that's not fair, how is it that he chose men and didn't
choose angels. But that's the truth. He chose
to save men and didn't choose to save the fallen angels. He
chose Israel as a nation, the seed of Abraham, Abraham's descendants,
and he did not choose the other nations. And he elected which
individual men he would save before time began. And he chose
to pass by the rest He elected them as an act of His own free
and sovereign grace. You know, there's something in
God's election of His people that moves me. It humbles me. It rejoices my heart. I mean,
I love the fact that God chose who He would save before time
began. I love it. I love Him. I love the Elector.
Salvation begins with God, the Elector. And then there's the
election. And once again, his way of electing
is the opposite of the way man would do it. Look who he chooses. He says, verse 26, You see your
calling, brethren, having not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now, his way of election
is the opposite of the way we would do it. Now, here's a very
simple illustration. If I, and I want to be honest,
if I choose my mate, I didn't choose my mate, I chose the best
looking woman I could get. I chose one who I'm happy with,
who helps me in every way. I mean, that's, when I choose
somebody, I choose somebody that I think will benefit me. You're
all like that too, you know it. We've got, you know, people talk
about unconditional love. There is no such thing. Even
God's love is not unconditional. It's in Christ. He views us in
Christ. We choose who we think will benefit
us the most, who we can be the happiest with and so on. But
you know, God didn't choose that way, did he? What if he only
chose the best people, the righteous people, the people that the flesh
would appeal to? Why would that make any difference? Where would that leave me? But
that's not the way God chooses. He chose the poorest, the ones
who could not possibly be thought to add anything to him. Now,
let's consider the elected for just a moment. Look at the ones
he elected. We see who he didn't choose in verse 26, but look
who he chose in 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 the base things, the lowborn things of the world,
and the things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea? And the
things which are nothing. Nothing. What's nothing? You know, you can't even give
a definition to it. What do you got when you got nothing? You
got nothing. It's hard to even... I don't even know how to define
nothing. But that's what he's chosen. He chose the nothings,
to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. Now you see, He chose not the
wise, but the foolish. Not the mighty, powerful and
influential, but the weak. Not the noble and high-born,
but the base and the lowly. The things that men despise had
God chosen, yea, the things that are not. That no flesh should
glory in His presence. Now here's why God does what
He does. He chooses the way He chooses. The elector elects the
elected for this reason. That no flesh should glory in
His presence. And I love the way He says this.
He doesn't even say that no man should glory in His presence.
He doesn't even give us that nickname. He says that no flesh.
Flesh, that's what we are. Flesh, the weakness, the simpleness
of flesh. No flesh is going to glory in
His presence. Now, to glory means to boast. To have confidence in. The elector
elected the nothings over the somethings for this reason. That no flesh should glory in
His presence. But, verse 30, This is one of
the very special words of the scripture. I'm thankful for this
word, but. But. But God. Who is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he left us, even when we were dead in
sin, that quickeneth together with Christ. It's a good word,
isn't it? But. You know, God looked down from
heaven. He saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart
was only evil continually, but no. found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Aren't you thankful for this
word, but this is where you and I are included, but God, he says,
but of him, are you in Christ Jesus? Now he speaks to these
nothings, these nobodies, these people who have no power, who
have no righteousness, who have no merit. You look at our congregation
right now. How many influential, rich, Famous
people are here tonight. I don't believe I see any. I know we're all rich in Christ.
I realize that. But I'm talking about by the
world's standards. How many rich, influential, famous people are
here? How many mighty people? How many? They don't seem to have much
interest in the gospel, do they? And the Lord's made it that way.
He said not many wise men enter the flesh. Not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But of Him are you. You who are
base born, you who are nothings, is what he calls us. And you
know, when the Lord calls me that, are you offended? When
the Lord says that to you? You know, I think what our Lord
said to his disciples, when he said to, and he's talking to
his disciples now, and he says, if you, being equal, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more should your husband
and father give good things to them that ask him? Are you offended
when he says, if you mean evil, you say, yeah, that's me. That's
me. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus? Now, what is this thing about
being in Christ Jesus all about? What is this, being in Christ
Jesus? Well, being in Christ Jesus has
to do with union. with the Lord Jesus Christ. If
I'm in Him, I'm in union with Him. Now, this union is understood
in three different ways. I've been talking about this
a lot here lately, but it's been on my mind a lot lately. It seems like
it keeps coming up in the Scriptures, this thing of union with Christ.
I love this. It's something that makes me
feel good to know I'm in union with Him. This is what gives
me peace and joy and confidence. Now, this union with Christ,
it's understood in three ways. First, it's understood union
with Christ by representation. And what that means is when we're
talking about union with Christ, that means what he did, everybody
he's in union with, they did too. We're one of them. When he kept God's holy law,
there's somebody else who kept it. You see, he did what he did
as a representative. And everybody he represented
when he kept God's law, they did too. That means I did. That's what excites me about
this. I did. I kept the law. When he died
on Calvary Street, I did too. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Was he really? Yes, he really
was. Because of union with Christ, he really was crucified with
Christ. When Christ was raised from the dead, every single person
that's in union with him was raised from the dead. He did
what he did as a representative. That means everything he did,
I did too. And that's my hope. That is all
my hope. And I can't even understand any
doctrine of the gospel apart from this thing of union with
Christ. First, there's union by representation. And then,
secondly, when we talk about union with Christ, There's the
union of, it's a vital union, a living union like the vine
and the branch. Life comes through that union. There's the union of the head
and the body. What is the body without the
head? What is the head without the body? There's a union, a
life-giving union, a vital union. That's where my spiritual life
comes from. It's the union with Christ. Thirdly, now first there's
the union of representation. Secondly, there's a life-giving
union, this vital union we're speaking of. But thirdly, and
this is something I like to think about, there was a time when
Lynn and I were married. Henry Mayhem married us, 1982,
September 11th. Can't hardly forget that, David,
9-11, that's my anniversary. But he asked this question. Now this is what these two people,
Len and Todd, are going to become one. And you know marriage is
given to represent Christ in the church. Scripture says that. I remember Brother Mahan said,
Do you take this woman who holds you by the right hand to be your
lawful wedded wife? You know what I said? I do. Consciously. Voluntarily. Very happy about it. Thinking
I'm the most blessed person to ever live. I do. Now, this is what we do in this
union with Christ. It was accomplished. We didn't
have anything to do with it in Christ. God put us in Christ. And our life comes from Him.
But it's true, too. When you hear of this union,
you say, I do. That's the union of faith. Yes,
we believe on Him. We ourselves believe on Him,
and we love being saved by Him. We love Him. We follow Him willingly,
don't we? Yes, I know it's because He made
me willing, but I'm following Him willingly, wholeheartedly. He's my Lord. He's my Savior.
I do. I do. This is a voluntary, conscious
union. I am my beloved's And He is mine. Now that's how that union works.
Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. We're in Him by representation.
We're in Him by a vital living union as the head and the body.
That's where our life comes from. And we're in union with Him voluntarily. We say, I do. And He said, I
do to us in the covenant of grace. When God the Father said, are
you going to take Him and represent Him? He said, I'll do it. I delight
to do Thy will. Oh, God, now in this verse, but
of him, are you in Christ Jesus? We see what in Christ Jesus means. It means we're in union with
him. But notice the scripture makes an issue of this. But of
him, are you in Christ Jesus? It tells us of the origin of
this union. Of him, are you in Christ Jesus? Now, this is an all-important
issue in the scripture. How does one come to be in him? Well, he tells us of him. In
other words, this is a work of his grace. The reason you're
in Christ Jesus, the reason you enjoy this blessed union of being
in him, is because he put you there. That's how you got there.
1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, Paul said, Who makes you different
from somebody else? Ask yourself that question. Do
you have a hope in Christ? Do you believe on Christ right
now? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe his gospel? How come? You know if you do,
it's because he caused you to. There was a time when you didn't.
And now you do. And you know, as sure as you're
listening to me, you know it's because he caused you to. Of
him are you in Christ Jesus? He's the one who made you different.
What do you have that you didn't receive? It's not something you
came up with, it's something He gave to you. Of Him are you
in Christ Jesus? Now that is the origin of this
union. Somebody says, well, how do you
go about getting in Christ? All I can say is God has to put you
there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? And then we read of the
effects of this union. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus? who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now, the first thing I want us
to consider when we consider this point is how Christ is made
unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, he's made to us. And the best
way I know how to illustrate It's from that passage of Scripture
in John chapter 2. We looked at it a month or two
ago about the water being made wine. It was water. H2O. That's all it was. It was water
and it was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. It was not water that tasted
like wine. It was not water that looked
like wine. It was wine. That's what it was. It was made wine. It wasn't just
as if it were wine. It was wine. That water became
wine. Now Christ Jesus the Lord is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now He is made unto us wisdom. Now how wise is Jesus Christ? You know some wise men. You know
some men who you deem to be wise, don't you? What are they in comparison
with Jesus Christ himself? They don't seem very wise, do
they? Like him. How wise is the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, for God to have fellowship
with somebody They're going to have to be on His level, on His
plane. For the God of glory, you think
of the all-knowing, unlimited God. You think of His infinite
wisdom. How can He have fellowship and
communion with somebody like me or you? I mean, you think
of how minuscule we are, how little we know, how dumb we are, just not a lot to us. In that
sense, for God to have communion with somebody like me, how can
he do it? There's a greater stretch of
God having communion with me than there is me having communion
with a monkey. Now that's something. The difference is infinitely
greater. Like I couldn't have communion with a monkey. I couldn't
have communion with a dog or with a cat or with some kind
of animal. We're not on the same level.
So how could a holy God who's so infinitely wise and glorious,
how can He actually have communion with me and actually be friends
with me and embrace me and rejoice in me and have fellowship with
me? How can God have fellowship with me? There's only one way. Christ is my wisdom before God. You know, in Christ, I'm one
with Him. In Christ, I am fit for communion with, and fellowship
with, and a relationship with God. Now, in and of myself, I've
got no fit. I can't see it. I'm lost. But in Christ, This one talking
to you and every believer, this is not talking about some special
few. This is talking about every believer, every one of God's
elect, everybody who believes on Christ. Every one of us are
actually fit for fellowship and communion with God because Christ
is our wisdom. Do you know that you cannot be
separated from Jesus Christ? Now, how wise is Jesus Christ? That's how wise you are. That's
how God views you. God finds every believer desirable
for community and fellowship. Christ Jesus himself is my wisdom. He's my ground of fellowship. Now, next he says, but of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification. Now, what is the difference between
righteousness and sanctification? You ever wondered why it says
that sanctification, sanctification is not a word for holiness, that's
what it means. He's made unto me righteousness, he's made unto
me holiness. Now, the two seem to me so closely
weighted together, why are they even spoken of differently? What
is the difference? Well, They're always together.
They're two different things. Righteousness and sanctification.
Righteousness and holiness. They're two different things,
but they're always together. You can't separate them like
two sides of the same coin. Like two sides of the same sheet
of paper. They're always together. Righteousness
and sanctification. Christ is made unto us. Righteousness
is made unto us. Sanctification. Now, what this
is a reference to, Christ's righteousness imputed to me. and His holy nature
given to me in the new birth. And that's why these two go together.
First, Christ's righteousness, Christ's obedience imputed, charged
to me. Remember, Christ did what He
did for somebody. When He kept the law, everybody
He represented, that perfect obedience of Christ, that perfect
righteousness of Christ, His merits, is actually charged to
every single believer. That really is my righteousness
before God. You know, for many years, I would
say our righteousness is based upon His righteousness. And you
know, when I said that, really, I wasn't saying the right thing,
was I? My righteousness is not based upon His righteousness. My righteousness is His righteousness. That's my righteousness before
God. His perfect obedience. And that's where my confidence
comes from. That's where my joy comes from. To Him that worketh
not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith
is counted for righteousness. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. That's what Paul meant when he
said in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8, Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness.
I don't want to stand before God in any way based on something
that has something to do with me, my obedience or my preaching
or my love or my repentance or my faith. No, Paul said, Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ. righteousness which is of God
by faith. Now that's how I want to be found,
simply in Him. He's made unto us, God's made
unto us righteousness. And not only is His obedience
my righteousness before God, the scripture also says He's
made unto us sanctification. He's made unto us holiness. You know, I can look at you and
say, holy brother. Holy brother. And it's not just
a figure of speech. Every believer as a holy nature
given to them in the new birth. That's what regeneration is.
It's a holy nature given to you. You see, understand this. This
is important for us to understand. Every believer has two natures. He has a holy nature and he has
the one he was born with, the sinful nature. A holy nature
that cannot sin. And let me say this before I
go on. Somebody may be thinking, well,
if I had that holy nature, I sure never sinned. Well, I understand that. I feel
the same way. But the reason I know I have
a holy nature is because the Word of God says I do. That's
why I believe it. Now, if I don't have a holy nature
that doesn't sin, you know what that means? If I believe it's
the old nature. as is helped by the Holy Spirit
that believes. No, it's not the old. The old
nature is corrupt. It's evil. It can do nothing
but sin. It's the new nature that sins. But listen to this. Christ, when we're talking about
holiness, it's still Christ in it. He's made unto me holiness. He is my holiness before God.
He's made that unto me. And something that has helped
me, I brought this out two or three times before, but it's
helped me to understand this. When Adam sinned, his sin was
imputed to all men. It was charged to us. We became
responsible for what he did. It was charged to us. But not
only was his sin charged to us, When we were born into this world,
His sinful nature was passed on to us. And that's why we have
a sinful nature. It was passed on to us. Now,
in the same manner, when somebody's saved, it's because Christ's
obedience is charged to their accounts. But not only is His
obedience charged to their accounts, when they're born from above,
when they're born again, they're given His righteous nature. It's
called in II Peter 1.4, partakers of the divine nature. So He's
made unto us wisdom, He's made unto us righteousness, and He's
made unto us holiness. It still is holiness. He's made
these things to us. And then finally He says, He's
made unto us redemption. That is deliverance from all
evil, from sin, from death, from hell, From Satan, final deliverance. He himself is that deliverance. Complete deliverance. Being justified. Paul said in
Romans 3.24, freely. Don't you love that word? Freely. That means without a cause in
you. God didn't have to find a reason in you to do anything
for you. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. He's made unto me deliverance
from all things, sin, death, hell, judgment, Satan. He is
our deliverance. Now, let's read verses 30 and
31 together. 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. Now, I love the way Paul always
goes back to the Old Testament scriptures. This is what the
scripture has always taught. Paul is saying this is no new
doctrine. This is the doctrine of the Old Testament. For as
it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Now
I want to close by looking at two scriptures. Turn to Jeremiah
9. This is a quotation from Jeremiah
chapter 9. Verse 23. 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. that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, that is grace, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Now would you turn to Galatians
6. Paul says in verse 11. You see
how large a letter I've written unto you with my own hand. As
many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised.
They try to get you to keep the law. And really, the reason they
put this emphasis on your law keeping is lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law. They tell you to keep the
law, but they don't keep it. But they desire to have you circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh. Look at this person I've influenced
for good. Paul says, but God forbid that I should glory. Now, remember
who Paul is. He's the chief apostle. I believe he's probably the man
that God used more than any other man. And that's who Paul is. And he says, God forbid that
I should glory, that I should have confidence in, that I should
rest in, that I should rejoice in, that I should trust. God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I think this is so interesting,
he says, by whom? He doesn't say by which. But
by whom? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
is life. Spoken of as a person because he is a person. By whom? The world. is a crucified thing
unto me. In light of the cross of Christ,
I see this world as nothing. And he said, the world views
me the same way, too, and I unto the world. And those united to Christ, they glory. We have a boast. We have confidence
there's something we boast in. We boast in the Lord. And according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, you're going
to glory in something. I'm going to glory in something.
May every one of us actually leave this place boasting in,
glorying in, This isn't just giving people
doctrine straight. This is life. Glorying in the Lord. Let's pray.