First Corinthians chapter 1.
First Corinthians chapter 1. I like to preach things that
folks know and rejoice in. And I like to preach them where
folks don't know and rejoice in. But I like to preach things
that folks know and rejoice in. I've got nothing new to say to
you tonight, but on the things you have been well taught over
the years and things that you need to remember all the time. for the joy and stability of
your own souls. If you can remember four words,
just four words, you'll remember my title and my text and my message,
four words. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 30. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But, but, what a magnificent
word that is in this place. Paul has just declared that it
is by God's purpose, design, and decree that he makes foolish
the wisdom of the world. He makes foolish the wisdom of
the world. And he does that by the use of
the most insignificant, weak, helpless, unlikely human beings
imaginable. Using such things as we are,
he confounds the wise and the mighty. And that's something.
And that's something. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Oh, wondrous, wondrous grace. In Christ Jesus. God Almighty
has put us in Christ. In Christ. Not like that finger
now is in that hand. Not like that. Not like that.
Not like these fingers are in this body. Not like that. Like
Don Fortner's in this body. Like this soul is in this body.
In Christ. And this is just a physical representation
of what I'm talking about. In Christ. All who are born of
God are in Christ Jesus. Really and truly in Christ. As truly and fully and perfectly
in Christ as He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Now,
I can't begin to think about getting my mind around that,
but I can sure get my heart in it. In Christ. I wouldn't dream of imagining
it, much less preaching it, if it weren't written right here
in this book. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. This is God's doing,
and that which God does, God does eternally. We think in terms of eternity
present, eternity past, and eternity to come. That's because we're
dumb as a box of rocks. You can't have eternity past,
eternity present, and eternity to come. Eternity is eternity.
Eternity is eternity. That which God does, he does
forever. He does forever. So that we're
in Christ from everlasting to everlasting. In Christ, immutably. In Christ, perfectly. In Christ,
accepted. In Christ, saved. In Christ,
experimentally by the grace of God. But in Christ, before ever
we knew anything about it. The hymn writer, John Kent, put
it this way. I wish every one of you could
see this. I'll tell you what, you remind
me, I'll send you a copy of it. to which Jesus and the chosen
race subsist a bond of sovereign grace, that hail with its infernal
train shall ne'er dissolve nor rend 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 eternal deity. one in the tomb when he rose,
one when he triumphed over all his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat, while Sarah sang all hell's defeat. This sacred tie forbids our fears. For all he is or has is ours. With him our head, we stand or
fall, our life, our surety, and our all. Now let's look at what
it means to be in Christ as the Spirit of God describes it. And
that's all that really matters. That's all that really matters.
What does it mean to be in Christ? Paul said, I want to be found
in Him. Found in Him. Not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. That is by the faithful
obedience of Christ. Brother Gabe Starnaker made a
tremendous statement when we were preaching down in Arkansas
last week. He said, we believe in the faith of Christ, not our
faith in Christ. Our faith is in the faith of
Christ. We're saved by the faithfulness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we are made the righteousness
of God by what he did as our substitute and mediator. Now
here, the apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, says that
if you're in Christ, you're in Christ by a work of God. You're
in Christ because God put you in Christ. And if you're in Christ,
in Christ now in the sweet experience of his grace. We were in him
from everlasting, but we didn't know anything about it until
he came to be in us. We don't know anything about
it until he makes it manifest by revealing himself in us and
giving us faith in him. Well, if we're in Christ, he
is made of God to us. We didn't make him to be this
to ourselves. He is made of God to be a dust wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption wisdom number one We are in Christ
by the rich free grace and goodness of God our Father Who put us
in him by sovereign election before the world began? In him
we were preserved accepted, justified, sanctified, and glorified according
to the language of this book before the world was made. Amen. We were accepted, justified,
sanctified, and glorified even as He is accepted, justified,
sanctified, and glorified in His humanity that was ours with
Him, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world before
ever anything here got started. By God's work, by God's work,
not by our will, not by our decision, not by our works, but because
God put us in him. And if you're in him, you're
in him who is made of God to you to be wisdom. Wisdom. What does that mean? What does that mean? You turn
to, let's look at a couple of passages. Turn back to Proverbs
chapter eight, very familiar text of scripture. If it's not,
it should be, let it become one. Though we are foolish creatures
by nature, by virtue of our union with Christ, he is made of God
unto us wisdom. Now, certainly that does mean
this. It is Christ who makes us wise
to salvation. It is Christ who gives us wisdom. And being born of God, we have
the mind of Christ and understand all things that according to
that same covenant, Brother Fred read to us in Ezekiel 36, back
in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 12, we're told plainly,
you don't need to teach every man and say to his brother, know
the Lord, because all of us here know him. And you know all things. You know, oh, my soul. A Lionel
Davis knows all things. You don't know Lionel Davis very
well. I know him pretty good. If you know Christ, you know
everything. Everything you need to know. Everything needful for
your soul. Everything that will do you good
forever. That's what John says. You have
an unction from the Holy One. You know all things. Christ is
our wisdom so that we who are born of God are understood by
no one. No one discerns us. No one, no
one, no one understands what makes us tick, what makes us
do things we do. No, the world knows us. Nothing didn't know
him, but you. have the mind of Christ. And
you understand everything. You discern everything. You know
this is God's work. This is God's doing. Doesn't
matter what folks say. Doesn't matter what other folks
say. He's made of God to us wisdom in that sense. But Christ is
also our wisdom Objectively, that is, he is the wisdom we
trust. He is the wisdom we worship,
the wisdom by which we know God and know all things. Our Lord
said in Proverbs 8, 35, he that findeth me findeth a life and
shall obtain the favor of the Lord. Now you tell me what's
more wisdom than that. Look at verse 12, Proverbs 8,
12. Our Lord Jesus is here speaking. He's speaking under the personification
of wisdom. And he says, I, wisdom, dwell
with prudence. I, wisdom, reside with skill. I, wisdom, dwell with prudence
and find out knowledge of witty inventions. Verse 14, counsel
is mine and sound wisdom I am understanding. I have strength. By me, kings reign, and princes
decree justice. By me, princes rule, and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me, and
those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are
with me. Riches and honor. I said Brother
Lionel just a little bit ago, Psalm 68, he daily loadeth us
with benefits. Riches and honor are with me.
Read on. Yea, double riches are durable
riches and righteousness. My fruit, my fruit, that's fruit
of the spirit, that's grace in you. My fruit, my fruit, the
fruit of my redemptive work, the issues of death, they're
better, that's better than gold. yea, then fine gold, and my revenue,
then choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness,
in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may cause those
that love me to inherit substance, reality, real substance, and
I will fill their treasures. Verse 22, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, What can that mean? The Lord
possessed me. Not he's saying the Lord's wisdom.
He says the Lord possessed me. Wisdom. In the beginning of his
what? But God's eternal. Who knows
where we're beginning with him? What's this talking about? This
is talking about a covenant relationship. This is talking about a God-man
surety, mediator. You see, before ever the world
was, Though our Lord's humanity was created in the womb of the
virgin in time, he stood for us in covenant grace from eternity
as the God-man, our mediator, who was trusted by the triune
Jehovah with all the will and glory of God, even the saving
of our souls, in whom ye also trusted, after that you received
the knowledge of the truth. You understand that? From everlasting,
the Lord Jesus has stood as our surety, our spokesman, our representative
before God. And the Lord God accepted him
and accepted us in him. Watch this, verse 23. I was set
up from everlasting. That's not talking about his
deity. He never was set up in his deity. He was set up from
everlasting as our surety. Well, Brother Don, what's this
saying? Can you put a time on this? Oh,
no, no, no, no. This is a shock to a lot of people.
I know it's not to you, but God's bigger than us. He really is. He's bigger than
our brains. If you can understand your God,
you need to get another one. You and I can't think in terms
of eternity and eternally comprehensible God. So when God reveals himself
to us in his word, he condescends to speak to us in terms that
we can understand. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit didn't sit down and agree on certain things
they'd do. It was done from eternity. But it's revealed to us as a
covenant work so we can get some understanding of the certainty
and the blessedness of it. Let me say something a little
straighter another way. The scripture speaks of God's eye. God doesn't have an eye. God's
spirit. The scripture speaks of the arm
of the Lord. God didn't have an arm. God's a spirit. Spirit
doesn't have a body. Spirit doesn't have parts. No,
no, no, no. God speaks to us in such a way that we can get
some idea of his wisdom, his knowledge, his care, his might,
his power, his love, his grace, his mercy. And so he speaks here
of this covenant engagement of our Lord Jesus set up before
the world was as wisdom for us. Look at verse 24. When there
were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass
his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then was I by him, as one brought up with him, one equal with him,
and I was daily his delight." What? days had been made yet
I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him now watch this
rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth but he just told
us the earth hadn't been made yet rejoicing in the habitable
part of the earth rejoicing in this ball of dirt and water on
which we live watch this and my delights were with the sons
of man. My delights with my people. My delights with my chosen. My delights with my redeemed. My delights with my elect. Delights
that never change. Can you get hold of that? Delights
that can't be changed. Here's delights with Don Fortner. cannot have anything to do with
anything Don Fortner does or knows or experiences in time,
be it good or evil, be it carnal or spiritual, because his delights
were with me before ever the world was, and he changes not. His delights with his own. For
whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the
Lord. Christ is our wisdom also in
the sense that he is the head of the body, and where the head
is, there wisdom is. He is the head of his body, the
church, is that one who represents us before God as our advocate
in heaven from everlasting to everlasting. He came down here
and dwelt in a body and obeyed God even unto death. and having
fulfilled all righteousness and having put away sin and made
an end of sin and transgression and iniquity, he arose from the
dead and ascended on high and he sat down at the right hand
of the majesty of God, taking up what he never gave up, interceding
on our behalf, our advocate with the Father, so that the Lord
Jesus constantly, constantly pleads our cause, which he undertook
before the world was, before his father, on the merit of his
obedience unto death as our substitute. Now, if you've got that much,
you've got enough to go home and rejoice for a month. Christ is made of
God unto us wisdom. Look at the next line. Righteousness. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. Wisdom and righteousness. Now, listen carefully. I'm going
to tell you something that'll help you, I promise. We tend
to think because we have been taught to think like papists.
We tend to think because we've all been taught from our youth
to think like Roman Catholics. That's the reason this place
is full of Campbellites and landmarkers and free will folks. We tend
to think that the words righteousness and holiness are synonyms. That righteousness is just another
word for holiness. That's not the case. That is
not the case. Righteousness, as it is said
before us in scripture, is primarily a legal term. It means right
before law. You are familiar with the news
going on. We've had a lot of shootings
and police folks charged indecently, indecently charged for things
that they ought not be charged with, just doing their job protecting
society. But when it comes down, that
that fellow shot this fellow. And he finally given his badge
and his gun back and put back on duty. The folks who did the
investigating, how do they call that shooting? Anybody know?
It was a righteous shooting. He did that which was right before
law. That's principally how the word
righteousness is used in this book. But doesn't it speak of
righteous acts? It does indeed. But principally,
the word has to do with that which is right before law. Holiness,
on the other hand, has to do with character. Holiness has
to do with character. A holy man, holy men of old,
spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. Holiness has to
do with character. And nowhere in the scriptures,
nowhere in this book, nowhere in this book when speaking of
a human being is righteousness used in a relative term except
negatively. And holiness is not used in a
relative term when referring to men at all. You're either
holy in character or unholy. You're either righteous or unrighteous. There's no in between ground.
Christ is made of God unto us righteousness, right before the
law. And we'll show you in just a
moment, he is also made of God unto us holiness, sanctification. Now holiness and sanctification
are synonyms. In fact, the word translated
holiness and the word translated sanctification in the New Testament
are exactly the same words. So those two words are interchangeable. Christ is made of God unto us
righteousness. How is that? The Lord God demands
plainly and clearly, walk before me and be thou perfect. Is that what God demands? God
says in his law, it shall be perfect to be accepted. The Lord
Jesus gives this command that God gave to Abraham, be ye holy
for I am holy. God Almighty demands that we
walk perfectly, righteously, holy before him. And you can't
do it. I can't do it. Well, we've tried
to be as holy as we can. That's real good, but your holiness
is like a pigsty full of manure. That's just fact. That's just
fact. Your best, your best thoughts, let alone your best deeds are
filthy. Mine too. Right? My soul. I wouldn't want my wife or my
daughter or my grandchildren for the world to know what's
going through my mind while I read this book. Would you? That's just fact. Painful, real fact. Because there's nothing in this
man by nature but corruption. and sin, and vileness, hideous,
monstrous, ugly sin. And you too. You too. That's just what we are. That's
just what we are. Well, how can one be righteous
then? Only if God makes Christ your
righteousness. Righteousness. The Lord Jesus
came into this world, according to Daniel 9, 24, to fulfill all
righteousness, to bring in everlasting righteousness. He came here to
magnify God's law and make it honorable, according to the prophet
Isaiah. When our Lord came here, he said,
as he came into his mother's womb, as God stepped into humanity
in his mother's womb, he said, Lord, I come to do thy will,
oh my God. And when he came forth from his
mother's womb, he said, Lord, I come to do thy will, oh my
God. And when he was about to leave
this world, he said, it's expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I go away,
I'll pray the Father, he'll send you another Comforter in my name.
And this is what he'll do. When he, the Spirit of truth
has come, he will reprove you. He'll convince you. He will convince
you of sin, of sin. What's he talking about? He'll
convince you that it's wrong to steal. No, you knew that when
you was a baby. He'll convince you it's wrong to commit adultery.
No, you knew that when you was a baby. You knew that I mean
first the first time you you had any lust in you you knew
is evil First time you recognize you know first time you took
someone you're you knew is wrong. That's how much on that I've
seen because They believe not on me The only sin anybody ever
committed and didn't recognize it was a sin was unbelief Yeah,
Leviticus chapter 4 God gave us laws for sins of ignorance
You never committed a sin of ignorance in your life. Everything
you ever did that was wrong, you did wrong when you did it.
Except not trusting God's Son. And he comes and convinces you,
this is your problem. You won't bow to man. You won't
trust man. Revealing himself, oh my God.
How could I rebel against you? How could I fight your goodness,
your grace, your mercy? And then he convinces you of
something else at the same time. of righteousness. Convince you
of righteousness. Convince you that you ought to
do good. You knew that. I've always known that. I was
mean as hell, but I knew I ought to do good. I knew I ought to,
but couldn't do it. Didn't often try. When I tried,
I messed up. Of righteousness, what you talking
about? Of righteousness, because I go to my father. He came down
here as Jehovah's righteous servant to fulfill all righteousness,
to bring in everlasting righteousness. He said, when God comes and gives
you faith, when God the Holy Spirit comes and teaches you
the things of God, he will convince you of righteousness because
I brought it in. I'm going back to my father.
I could not go to my father if I had not done what I came down
here to do. He that ascended first descended. He descended to perform righteousness. He ascended because it's done.
He made us righteous. How? He walked on this earth
the full age of a man, 33 years, and loved God with all his heart. and loved his neighbor as himself
perfectly, and obeyed God's will in everything. All the days of
his life, never had a vain thought or a corrupt word or a vile passion,
only purity, righteousness, holiness, and truth. But Fred, he didn't
do that for himself. There was no need for him to
do it for himself. He did it for us. As our representative,
I don't mean, yes, he's a federal representative. Yes, he's a legal
representative. But I mean more than that. I
mean more than that. Not just our representative,
like the senators from Kentucky, or our representatives in Washington.
He's more than that. He was the head of the whole
race of his elect in one body. So that everything he did, Jack,
we did in him. I don't mean it's as though we
did. I mean, we did. Watch this. Watch this head move. Did you see it move? You saw
six feet, 270 pounds move. Watch it move again. You got
it? This head doesn't move unless the body does. And we're in him. Really and truly in him. So that
when he obeyed God, you who believe God, obeyed God in him perfectly. so that God looks on his son
and twice he spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Isn't that wonderful? I have
two grandchildren. Let me brag on them a little
bit. I am very, very pleased with my granddaughter. She's
going to school in Danville now, going to Central College. Man,
she's smart, and she's pretty, and she's a worker. And my grandson,
he's just 15, but man, Sharpie's six foot three now. Man, I thought
I could drive a golf ball straight as a rifle shot 300 yards. He
is good. He's good. He's good with his
grades. I'm talking about good, good,
good. Obedient, never saw either one
of them out of sorts. Just remarkable kids, remarkable. If I were to say to you, I sure
am pleased and will, you'd say, brother Don, you mean with will,
don't you? Yep, that's what I mean. I'm pleased with it, and I'm
pleased with it. I sure am pleased in all due
grace, Hacker. You mean pleased with her, don't you? Yeah, that's
what I mean. But God didn't say, this is my beloved son with whom
I'm well pleased. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Brother Gary, we're in Christ.
We just read it. God put us in Christ, who is
made of God and to us wisdom and righteousness. And God Almighty
smiles on you all the time in his son. Oh, he outwardly frowns. Oh yes,
he outwardly frowns because we need for him to do so. But he
smiles on us all the time in his son. Always well pleased
with us in his son. Got that? Our Lord Jesus brought
in everlasting righteousness for us by his obedience unto
death. And in his death, he was made
sin for us. made sin for us. Now I'm going to tell you, this
is going to settle in. I'm going to keep telling you until I die.
I hope your pastors repeat it to you real often. God never
pretends. God never pretends. The Lord God made his son sin. He didn't just pretend his son
was sin and pour out all hell on him. You talk about a piece
of mockery, my soul, to pretend that he was sin and pour out
all hell on him. No, no, no. God made his son
sin and justice was awakened. Justice was awakened and God
said, slay him. The triune Jehovah cried, awake,
O sword, against the man that is my fellow, the man that is
my equal, my holy one, who did no sin and could not sin, my
holy one, now made sin, made sin. And in justice, God slaughtered
his son in all the fury of his wrath. until justice was satisfied.
How come? Because his son fully deserved
to die. His son fully deserved to die. Justice cannot punish where there
is no crime. The Lord Jesus lifts his heart
to heaven and says, thou knowest my guiltiness, oh God. I said, well, God treated him
as if he were saying no. That's not what the book of God
says. He was made sin by imputation. That is not what the book of
God says. In fact, you will never find the word impute, imputed,
imputing or imputation used with reference to Christ being made
sin. Nowhere in the word of God, nowhere. You see, the courts
of this land, the courts of any land cannot impute guilt to a
man. who was not already guilty. They
cannot impute a crime to you if you have no guilt of crime
before the law. You must first be found guilty
before the punishment can be sentenced upon you and the crime
imputed to you. God made his son sin. and imputed sin to his son because
he was made sin and punished his son for sin because he was
made sin. Really, now listen to this, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Really made righteous. Would you like to see a righteous
man? Would you like to see one? Look up here. Look up here. You're looking at a righteous
man. A man whose righteousness I can never mar or efface or diminish in any
way. It's called righteousness. Righteousness. So thoroughly so that when I
stand before God in judgment, the Lord God, my savior, will
look at this man and say to me, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. How come? Because I fully earned it. I
fully earned it in a representative, a substitute with whom I am one,
Jesus Christ, the Lord. His name is Jehovah Sedkinu,
the Lord, our righteousness. And he gave us a new name. He
says, your name, my name, your name is Jehovah Sedkinu, the
Lord, our righteousness, Jeremiah 33, 16. And in the last day,
He'll open the books and he'll say, let's see, Tom Hardin. I know that name. I know that
name. Let me find his iniquity. Why, there is none. Let me find his transgression. Tom Hardin. Why, there is none. Let me find his sin. Call Bridget up here. There is
none. How come? Because God, our Savior,
has by the sacrifice of himself, with his own blood, purged away
our sins. Cast them behind his back. cast them into the depths of
the sea of infinite forgetfulness and he says now Tom you've been
baptized in the name of Christ you said you lived with him and
died with him and rose again quit acting like you didn't read
it for yourself Romans chapter 6 verse 11 likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed under sin. You reckon like God reckons.
You reckon like God reckons. Don't ever forget your sin. And don't ever get comfortable
with your sin. Don't ever become at ease with
your corruption and depravity. Oh God, make it bitter to me,
so bitter I can't stomach it. Make it bitter to me every day,
but don't ever forget of him or ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God has made unto us righteousness. Really so. And sanctification. You see God
doesn't just require that we have a right record before law.
He requires that we be holy. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. God requires
holiness, perfect holiness, perfect holiness. Well, that can't be
me. No, but in Christ it is. Christ is made of God and to
us, sanctification, holiness, holiness. Now there's lots of
things could be said. In this passage, this is what
he's talking about. Christ in you, the hope of glory. You have no hope of eternal life,
no hope before God. No reason to expect God to receive
you graciously. No reason to anticipate mercy
from God until Christ is in you and you are enabled by God's
grace to look to Him as your Savior. Now, Christ in you, that's
the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Not Christ out yonder on the tree. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. When you're born again of God's
Spirit, this is what God the Holy Ghost does. He forms Christ
in you. A new man. An entirely new man,
created in righteousness and true holiness, Ephesians 4, 24.
A new man, a new man. Christ is formed in you. In the
garden, when Adam transgressed, God made Adam, made us in Adam,
body, soul, and spirit. And when Adam sinned, he died
and we died in him, but he's still walking around. He didn't
die. Yes, he did. His spirit died. He was walking around body and
soul. The Lord Jesus comes in saving
grace, and he comes to make poor, lost, dead sinners whole. Whole. Whole. When you're made whole, that
means there's nothing weak in you, nothing evil in you, nothing
prone to death in you, you're made whole, whole, whole. When God the Holy Spirit comes,
he puts spirit in you, and that spirit is Christ. It's that new
man, it's the seed of God in you, born of God, and there's
nothing wrong with it, it's holy. It's holy. It's born of God.
Read 1 John chapter 3. It cannot sin. It cannot sin. That which is born of the devil
can't do anything but sin. Well, Todd called me one day. He was
working on that passage. He said, he said, but which one am I? I said,
yeah, that's who you are. That evil thing that can't do anything
but sin. That's what we are by our father,
the devil, by nature. That holy thing that cannot sin. That's what we are. That's what
we really are. By Christ Jesus, our Redeemer.
Christ in you. Holiness. Holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. God said by the prophet Isaiah,
let me tell you who my people are. They are children who will
not lie. They're children who will not
lie. You just read Ezekiel 36. He says, I will cause you to
live a better life than you used to live. That's not what he said.
He said, I'm gonna put my spirit in you and you shall obey my
commandments. That was it, isn't it? He said,
you shall do it. How come? Because you made new
creatures in Christ. And that new man is obedient
and willing and subservient to God in all things, absolutely
all the time. The old man never is. That's
the reason we're in constant warfare between flesh and spirit. We enter into glory. God says
nothing gonna enter in, Revelation 22, nothing gonna enter in that
makes a lie or defiles or is abominable or is unclean. Well, brother Don, that means
we can't get to glory. No, we can't. We can't. except
that Christ is also made of God unto us redemption. And the word
that translated redemption there is an unusual word. He refers
to a loosing, not a buying back, not a buying out of, but a loosing. It's loosing by ransom. setting free by ransom. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us at Calvary when he cried, it's finished. And he satisfied
the justice of God in our room instead. And he redeemed us by
the power of his grace when it comes by his spirit and makes
us new creatures in the new birth. But this body, This natural body, this body
of corruption, this mortal clay, got to die. Go into the ground. Oh, thank God it is. Thank God
it is. Thank God it is. Because this
body, so natural body, can be raised to spiritual body. this
body soul and mortal body gonna be raised in immortal body this
body soul and corruptible body gonna be raised in incorruption
that because Christ is coming to raise us from the dead in
the perfection of humanity body soul and spirit and God does things this way
everything in Christ all by free grace that according As it is
written, he that glorious, let him glory in the Lord.