Let's read one verse in the beginning
here, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. Some notable preachers of
the past have called this verse the most comprehensive verse
in all the Bible. The most comprehensive verse
that declares unto us all of salvation in Christ Jesus, but
of Him, that is, of God. Are you in Him, in Christ Jesus? who of God is made to me, made
to all of God's sheep, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and He is my Redeemer. He is my Deliverer. That according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory only in the Lord. Now, these verses found in verse
23 down to the end of this chapter where we read in verse 23, we
preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which are called.
Unto them which are called. Does it matter? Jew or Gentile? Unto those who are called. Called
of God. Christ and Christ crucified,
the Lord Jesus Christ dying in our room and in our stead is
of every power of God. and the very wisdom of God in
all of our salvation. Now, these verses plainly, powerfully
declare unto us that all of our salvation is of God alone. Salvation
is always determined, accomplished, determined, dependent upon who? Dependent upon you? No. Salvation
is always determined, dependent, and accomplished by God Himself
through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's of Him. that you were in
Christ Jesus. Christ crucified is a display
and marvel of God's wisdom. We see in Christ crucified the
wisdom of God, the eternal purpose of God. What is His eternal purpose? The honor and glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He stood as a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. And we see in Christ crucified
the wisdom of God, how He can be just and holy, and remain
so, and justify the ungodly through Christ, having put away their
sin by the shedding of his blood." That's wisdom. That's the wisdom
of God. Not only that, the wisdom of
God in scheming and contriving the way of salvation through
grace, but the power of God. In Christ Jesus, we see the power
of God in accomplishing our salvation. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself, that is, the Lord Jesus. He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin. That's power. Paul said, I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes in that gospel as of
every righteousness of God revealed. How God can be just and holy. How He can be a just God and
Savior in Christ Jesus. Christ crucified is a display
of God's wisdom and power. Do you see that in the cross?
In Christ crucified? I know this. It says in verse
18, the preaching, the message, the word of the cross, salvation
by substitute to those who are perishing. It's just nonsense. It's just silliness. It's absurdity.
But to those who are called, those who are justified, those
who are saved by Christ Jesus, it is the wisdom of God, the
glory of God, and the very power of God. to everyone who believes
Christ. Now, look at verse 25 in our
text. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God
is stronger than men. Now, what is he saying there?
Well, not that there is any sort of weakness or foolishness in
our Almighty Sovereign Lord. He knows all things and does
all things sovereignly well and wise. But whatever ungodly men
esteem in the gospel to be weak and foolish is still stronger
and wiser and better and more glorious than any sinner could
produce or present. Whatever they call foolishness,
God is still wiser than any man, anything any man could produce
or present. Now look at verse 26. For you
see, you see. Now here's what a believer sees.
He knows this because he knows this by experience. You see your
calling. You see your calling. How did
God call you? God calls His people with the
preaching of the gospel. That's what it says in verse
21. It pleased God through preaching to save them that belief. Exactly
what we're doing right now. God has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to the calling out of His people. You see your
calling, brethren. You see your calling. Not many
wise men after the flesh Not many mighty, not many noble are
called. God calls His own. Consider your own salvation,
your own calling. Our merit, place, rank, and station
in life have absolutely no bearing on our salvation. God didn't
save us and choose us because we're better looking, because
we're smarter, because we have more. Salvation is all by God's
unconditional election. There's a remnant according to
the election of God's grace. You see, it's all of God's grace.
We're justified freely by His grace. We're redeemed through
His redeeming blood, and that is all according to the riches
of His grace. And our calling. Our calling
is all of God's grace. Now, hold your place there. and
find 2 Timothy 1.9. Our calling is all of God's grace.
2 Timothy 1.9 says it's God who saved us. Do you see that? Now,
who was lost? We were lost. It's God who saved
us. It's God who founded us. It's
God who chose us. Who saved us. Let's read verse
8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the affliction of the gospel of God, according
to the power of God, the gospel according to the power of God,
who saved us." You see verse 9? He saved us. He called us. He called us with a holy calling.
It's called in another place a heavenly calling, a high calling,
a holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose. Purpose and grace. Those two
words are married together. God's purpose. God's grace. Which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light
through this gospel. Through this gospel. Now, back
to the text. You see your calling, do you?
Who called you? This is a call of God. This is
not the call of the preacher. Although God does speak to his
people through his ordained means of preaching the gospel, this
is a call of God. You see your calling, brethren.
Now look at verse 27. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. Three times it says here. Now,
I know religion in our day, the religion of men, don't they emphasize
the decision of men? They call upon you to make a
decision, to make a choice, to come forward and make a decision. But that's not salvation. That's
what the religion of men say, and that's what the religion
of men do. But it says here that God hath chosen. God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath
chosen. There it is again. The weak things
of the world confound the things that are mighty. God hath chosen
the base things of the world, and the things which are despised.
You know, all the early apostles, they were despised, weren't they?
Who chose them? God chose them. Hath God chosen,
yea, and the things which are not, to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh, no flesh should glory in his presence.
God hath chosen whom He will. Now hold your place there and
find Romans 9. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. It is His sovereign choice. He says here, I will have mercy
on whom I will. Romans 9 verse 15, For He said
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Romans
9 verse 15, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
God said, I'm going to love whom I will. Sovereign, electing love. So then it's not of him that
will it, nor of him that run it, but it's God that chose mercy. Now, who chose who? I want you
to turn to another Scripture. Turn to John chapter 15. John
15, 16. Of those apostles that were with
the Lord, He chose them, did He not? Matthew. Here we're sitting. Matthew's sitting at the receipt
of customs, taking doing his job and collecting taxes of the
Jews to pay into the Romans. And the Lord walked up to his
taxation table and said, Matthew, what are you doing? Matthew,
follow me. And he left the receipt of customs
and followed the Lord. Another occasion, he saw them
out fishing and he said, Come follow me, I'll make you fishers
of men." And they threw down their nets and left their father's
house and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we're talking
about. This is God Almighty from all eternity making a choice
whom He will save by His grace. John 15, look at verse 16. You've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. That's plain, isn't it? Don't we understand what that
language is? You've not chosen me, I've chosen you. I've ordained
you that you should go forth. that you should go and bring
forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he'll give it to you. I have chosen you. I have ordained
you. God has chosen the foolish, the
weak, the base, the despised, the nobodies, that he might receive
all the honor and glory in salvation. It is God's sovereign will to
choose some and to leave others to perish in their sin. God hath made a choice. The choice is His. It's a sovereign
choice. We have a name for that. We call
it election. 2 Thessalonians 2. Turn over
there. We call that sovereign electing
love. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. We
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. We love him only because he first
loved us. He loved his people with an everlasting
love. We are bound to thank, give thanks
to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning, God has from the beginning, when
is the beginning? In the beginning, God. God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through The sanctifying
work of the Spirit of God, that's regeneration, that's the new
birth. And the fruit of that is belief of the truth. Verse
14, whereunto he called you by our gospel. I tell you, he calls
us to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Calling. We hear people today say, well,
I thought every sinner had a choice. My friend, left to ourselves,
men love darkness rather than light. Thank God He has chosen
us. We never would have chosen Him. I can make good on that. Turn
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. God has chosen. You see this, my friend? That
way it gives Him all the honor and glory in our salvation. You
see your calling. God has chosen us. Call us out
of darkness into light. John chapter 6, look at this.
John chapter 6, look at verse 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him. Draw him. Drawn with an everlasting love
and drawn with everlasting power. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ. No man. No man can come. No man has the
desire, the will, the ability to come unless God draws him.
Now turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Now look at this
carefully. John chapter 1. Look at verse
11. He came unto his own, his own
nation, his own people, and his own received him not. But as
many as received him, Them gave he power to become sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name." Now, notice the punctuation
there. There's not a period there. The
thought continues. And he gives an explanation why
those who do believe him and do receive him, which were born,
not of blood, not of general lineage, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. Born of God. That's the reason we believe
Him and love Him and receive Him. Born of God. Begotten of
God. That's what He's saying there.
Now look back to the text. 1 Corinthians 1. And the purpose in all of this,
verse 29, that you have 1 Corinthians 1, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in God's presence. God's one purpose in electing
and in choosing and calling and redeeming by grace alone is to
shut out any ground of boasting in us and to rightly give Christ
all the honor and glory. God forbid that we should glory
except in Christ and Him crucified. As we say with David, we say
with David, Lord not unto us, Not unto us, but unto thy name
do we give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Now,
let's consider verse 30 for just a few minutes. But of him are
you in Christ Jesus. How is any sinner put into Christ
Jesus? It's of God. It's a work of God. It's in God's purpose. By His
doing, by His electing, by His choosing, by His calling, it's
all of God's grace. Now hold your place there and
find Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. It is of God that we are in Christ
Jesus. That's all of our salvation.
It's not what I must do for Him. It's what God has done for us
in Christ. Philippians chapter 1, look at
verse 6. being confident of this very thing, that He, that is
God, who has begun a good work in you. Now whose work is it? It's His work. Who starts this
work and who finishes this work of salvation? It's all of God. He which has begun a good work
in you will perform it, will complete it, will perfect it
in the day the Lord Jesus Christ comes again to receive us unto
himself." The Lord Jesus, now look back at verse 30. Again,
this is the most comprehensive verse that describes to us salvation
in Christ Jesus. The Lord has made to us all that
we need. All that I need to stand before
God, perfect, accepted in the Beloved, is found in Christ Jesus. Who of God He has made to me
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. These four things.
Now let's look at these four things. The Lord Jesus Christ
has made to me wisdom. Wisdom. Now, by nature, do I
have any wisdom? Do I have any spiritual wisdom
or spiritual knowledge? I have just the opposite of wisdom. In Adam, all died. In Adam, I
don't have wisdom. Through Adam's fall and through
Adam's ruin and that nature being given to me, I'm not a wise man. By nature, I'm an ignorant fool. I'm ignorant of God. Ignorant
of the way of grace. Ignorant of my own sin. Therefore,
I go about to establish the righteousness of my own. Now, I want you to
find two Scriptures here. Turn to Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 2. The Lord Jesus Christ, He has
to be my wisdom personified. In Proverbs 8, He is called the
wisdom of God. Ephesians chapter 2, look at
this here. By nature I'm ignorant of God.
Ignorant of God. Ephesians 2 verse 12, that at
that time you were without Christ, being alien from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God. That's us by nature. Now, stay
right here in Ephesians and look at verse 17 in chapter 4. Chapter
4 of Ephesians, verse 17, This I say therefore and testify in
the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk
in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the, what's that
word? Ignorance that is in them because
of the blindness of their heart. By nature, we all are ignorant
of God, His way of grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. But my friend, by His grace,
now stay right here in these epistles and turn to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. By His
grace, and Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. In Christ Jesus, He is the wisdom
of God for me. Now look what he says here in
Colossians 2, verse 2, that their hearts might be comforted, verse
2, being knit together in love unto all riches of full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ and whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. Now turn back to Ephesians and
look at this. He has enlightened our mind,
our understanding, and in Christ we see the wisdom of God. We
see the glory of God, the purpose of God in saving sinners by His
grace. Ephesians 1, look at verse 17,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom. I want the spirit
of wisdom. And revelation in the knowledge
of Him having the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what
is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe
according to the working of His mighty power." You see that Christ
is made to me, He is my wisdom. He is my advocate. He is my mediator. In Christ Jesus, I see the wisdom
of God saving me because of Christ, because of His blood, because
of His merit. I have pardoned all my sin, and
I see the wisdom of God doing that in Christ Jesus. That gives
Him all the honor and glory. He is my mediator. He is my advocate. In Adam, what do I have? Ignorance. Ignorance. It says in Romans
10, Paul accuses those old religious Jews. Remember the Gospel we
read to those Jews at the stumbling block, the rock of offense? They
were going about to establish their own righteousness. You
know why? They were ignorant of God. They did not submit themselves unto
the righteousness of God that is in Christ Jesus. So He is
made to me. He is exactly what I need. He
is my wisdom before God. Now, secondly, in our text here,
we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, He is my wisdom. All the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are in Him. Secondly, He is my righteousness. He is my righteousness. I must
have an exceeding... Remember what the Lord said in
Matthew 5, "...Except your righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees,
you shall in no wise enter in." Matthew 5.20. I must have an
exceeding righteousness that God is well pleased with. And
I know this, because Christ has made to me wisdom. I know this,
that I can't produce a righteousness satisfying unto God. I can't
clear myself of guilt before God. But the Lord Jesus Christ
has made to me righteousness. And that's a justifying righteousness
in Christ Jesus. Now, I go back to my same analogy. What happened in Adam? Ruin. What happened in Adam? Death.
What happened in Adam? Guilt. Guilt before God. We have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We have guilt before God. I turn
to Romans 3. I can make good on that. Romans
3. Look what he says here. Guilty.
Do you ever consider yourself, and do you ever feel the weight
of guilt? The weight of guilt. Oh, I mean guilt. Guilt before
God. You ever get in some kind of
mischief and you get caught? Huh? You feel guilty, don't you? I hope you do. When it's wrong. And Dad catches it? Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Well, you think how you
feel that way, but what about being guilty before God? Being
guilty is charged with blood on your hands. With sin charged
upon you. And this is what the law of God
says in Romans chapter 3. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, verse 19, is saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty, guilty, guilty before God. To offend in one
point of God's law is to be guilty of all of God's law. Guilt, guilt,
guilt. How guilty? Guilty as charged. Guilty as charged. Turn to Galatians
chapter 3. Imagine sitting in a courtroom
being charged or accused of murder. And the jury's out. They've heard
the arguments, defense, and the prosecution. And they come back
in having weighed all the evidence. And they come back in and they
render the verdict to the judge. Here it is, judge. And he opens
it up and he says, Guilty as charged. Sentenced to hang by
the neck until dead. My friend, that makes me tremble
to think about that. But just think about being in
the court of God Almighty and being charged. Guilty before
God. And now look at Galatians 3.
Look what it says here about the law. For as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. The law of God declares
us, my friend, guilty before God. Do you see yourself that
way by nature in Adam? Guilty. Guilty. Well, what's
our hope? I can't erase my past. I can't
change the sentence. The judge has pronounced the
guilty must die. How can this sinner be justified
in the courts of God's law? Right, here's the answer. But
of Him are you in Christ Jesus who is made unto us righteousness. He is my righteousness. There
is, it says in Romans 8, there is Romans 8, 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Turn
over there to Romans 8. There are some other good verses
in there in Romans chapter 8. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is my righteousness. In Christ I have no guilt. In
Christ I'm justified. In Christ all my sin is covered
clean before God. So much so that He says this
in Romans 8, Verse 32, "...he that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect?" Now, who can do it? God said, it is
God that justifies me. Who is He that condemns? Let
Him come forward. It is Christ that died. You see,
God Almighty in His wisdom punished my sin and my substitute, Jesus
Christ. If my sin was punished in Christ,
and the wrath of God fell on my substitute, and He drank damnation
dry, how much judgment is coming to me? If He paid my debt, it's
clean. Ever wit paid. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ
has already died. He paid for my sin debt. I'm
justified by His blood. And He gives me that justifying
righteousness before God. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us. No condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. In Adam, ignorance. In Christ,
He is my wisdom. In Adam, guilt. The guilt before
God in the Lord Jesus' crime. Righteousness that justifies
us perfectly. So much so, so much so that he
says this. Turn over here to Colossians
again. Colossians chapter 1. So much so that he says this,
"...and the body of his flesh through death." Luke 19, Colossians
1, For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
dwell, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometimes alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled, so much so that in the body of his
flesh, through his death, to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. That's the good news of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called in Scripture, the Lord, our righteousness. Is that your righteousness before
God? Are you going about to establish one of your own doing, your own
making? Or are you resting in Christ
who is our righteousness before God that justifies us eternally
before Him? Now, turn back to the text again.
But of Him, of God, are you in Christ? Have you got a hold of
that? How did you get in Christ? Well,
I know what most people would say. Well, I walked the aisle. I made a decision. I went to
the moaner's bench. I went to the pool. That's not
how you get in Christ. Of Him, of God, are you in Christ? who is made to us by wisdom,
He is my righteousness. And then he says thirdly, He
is my sanctification. He is my holiness before God. He is my holiness. Now we go
back to the same analogy. In Adam what happened? In Adam
what happened? Pollution entered in. Pollution
entered in. Turn back to Romans again and
look at Romans chapter 5. Pollution entered in. Death entered
in. Romans 5, verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. Turn back to Romans 3. In Adam, we have a polluted,
rotten, defiled, sinful nature that's given to us. We're born
in sin, shapen in iniquity. Romans 3 says in verse 10, as
it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Not one. There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together. Impossible. There is none that
doeth good. No, not one. In Adam I have a
polluted, vile, wretched nature. What's our hope? We'll clean
up the old man. Do the best you can. We'll run
to the law of Sinai and do the law. Some folks are foolish enough
to think that they're justified at Calvary and sanctified at
Mount Sinai. Sanctified by the law. No, my
friend. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
my holiness before God. He is my sanctification. He is my holiness before God. And Adam, all defiled, wretched
and miserable. Paul says this in Romans 7, O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? And the answer comes back, I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind
I served the law of God. I honored the law of God. But
with the flesh, that old nature of sin. Now what I'm saying is
this, in the new birth and in regeneration, we constantly have
this battle with this old, fleshly, defiled, rotten nature that we
still drag about. When Paul says, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death, and
that some think that the analogy that he makes Some criminals
way back years ago, for punishment, they would tie a dead body, a
dead rotting corpse, to a living man and make him drag that old
dead corpse around. You think how rotten and smelly
and defiled. That's exactly what the believer
does in this life. We have that new holy nature
given of God in the new birth. that cannot sin, that we are
betakers of a divine nature, but we still have that old rotten
flesh that we drag around, that pulls us down, that weighs us
down. And we say with Paul, O wretched
man that I am. You see, I have that new holy
spotless nature given in the new birth, turned to Ephesians
chapter 4, but I still have that That old rotten nature of Adam.
That defiled nature of Adam. And there Paul says, I have a
warfare. I have a warfare against the
spirit, against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit.
And it's a constant battle. And my friend, it'll be a constant
battle until God is pleased to kill this old rotten man and
put him in the ground. And it'll be a battle. But in
that new nature, look what he says here in Ephesians. Chapter
4, verse 23, And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that
ye put on the new man. This is something totally new.
The man being Christ, he's a new creation, which after God is
created in righteousness and true, what's that word there?
Holiness. In Christ Jesus, in the new birth. And this is what sanctification
is. It's not the sanctification of the flesh. In regeneration,
the old, rotten, sinful, Adam nature is not sanctified. It's
still sinful and rotten. It is the new man in Christ Jesus
that's sanctified. Not the flesh. That new man in
Christ Jesus. I've showed you this before,
but let's turn and read it again in 2 Peter 1. I have that old, rotten nature
that I'm dragging around. Thank God I have that new nature
given in the new birth in regeneration. Hold 2 Peter right there and
let's turn to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Look what
he says right here. Verse 23. 1 Peter 1 verse 23. Being born again, not of a corruptible
seed. You see that verse 23? Corruptible
seed. Now that's the way I was born
the first time. That seed of corruption. Being born again,
but not of a corruptible seed. That's why I was born the first
time. But of an incorruptible seed. Oh, what's that? This is
the new birth. This is regeneration. An incorruptible
seed. By the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. Now, find 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter
1. Look, verse 3. According, 2 Peter 1, 3. According
as His divine power, hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises." What are these promises? They're
exceeding great and precious. What are the promises of the
gospel? All that God had promised, He's able to perform. All the
promises of God in Christ are yes, and in Him, and amen. "...that
by these ye might be partakers of a..." What is that word there?
Divine nature. having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. So I have this old rotten
nature that is not sanctified, and I have that new nature in
Christ Jesus that God says cannot sin. And that's what's sanctified
in the believer. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is my wisdom. He is my righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
my sanctification. Lastly, it says there that Christ
Jesus is my redemption. My redemption. Now, we go back
again to see what happened in Adam. What happened in Adam?
Death, sin, judgment, guilt. But also, what happened in Adam?
He was booted out. He was put out of the garden.
We call that lost. Lost. In Adam, all died. In Adam, all like He says in
Isaiah 53, all we like heath have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way. Men love darkness rather than
the light. We're lost in Adam. We see the lostness of man because
of sin that entered in. What's the way out of this lostness?
Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been out in the
woods? This happened to me one time.
Speaking naturally. I was out in the woods. And I
usually have a pretty good sense of direction. Which way is Back
home. But I got turned one day, not
too far from home, out in the woods, and I didn't know which
way was home. I'd lost. Oh, what a helpless
feeling. Didn't know which way to turn,
which way to go. That's exactly where we are by nature. Lost. Without God, without hope, without
help. Lost. Totally lost. Knowing not
what to do, where to go, where to turn to. What's the way out? Christ. The Redeemer, the Good
Shepherd who goes out seeking the sheep, finds the lost sheep
and puts them on His shoulder and takes Him home to glory.
He is our Redeemer. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He has made to me redemption. Redemption. He redeems us from
all our sin. He is our Redeemer. He is my
redemption. Now, how is sin put away? You
know, sin is difficult to put away. The blood of bulls and
goats on Jewish altars that flowed for thousands and thousands of
years never put away one's sin? How is sin put away? Well, let's
turn and read it. Back to 1 Peter. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood.
You see, He is my Redeemer. He is my Deliverer from sin. He is my Savior, my Redeemer. 1 Peter 1, look at verse 18. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
my Savior from sin. 1 Peter 1, 18, for as much as
you know that you were not redeemed. You were not redeemed. It deals
with the negative. Not redeemed with corruptible
things. Anything I can bring is corruptible. He mentions silver,
gold. He mentions morality, vain conversation. He mentions tradition. We're
not redeemed with tradition, not redeemed with ceremony, not
redeemed with morality or money. What does it say there in the
next verse? But, but, you know that little word in Scripture,
it's just a big word, B-U-T, but with the precious blood of
Christ as the lamb without blemish and without spot. He totally put away all sin by
the shedding of His blood. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. You see how comprehensive
this verse is? What do we have in Adam? Ignorance,
death, defilement, guilt. What do we have in Christ? We
have all things. All things. Let me just read
this to you. You don't need to turn. You're
familiar with it in Colossians chapter 2 again. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, Colossians 2, 9 and 10. And you are complete in him,
complete in him, which is the head of all principalities and
powers. That according as it is written,
he that glorious Let him glory in the Lord. Paul said in another place, God
forbid I should glory save in Jesus Christ. God forbid
I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. And he's talking
there about rejoicing in Christ Jesus. You see, under the Jews,
Christ crucified, the stumbling block. Under the Greeks, as foolish
as this, but under them which are called, Both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God in salvation.