← Back to sermon library
Well, please turn with me in
your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, our focus
will be on verses 30 and 31, but I want to read a bit of an
extended section to put the section in the context. So I'll pick
up reading in chapter 1 at verse 18 and read to chapter 2 at verse
5. So 1 Corinthians 1 beginning
in verse 18, Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did
not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request
a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block
and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who 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.
"'For you see your calling, brethren, "'that not many wise according
to the flesh, "'not many mighty, not many noble are called. "'But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world "'to put to shame
the wise, "'and God has chosen the weak things of the world
"'to put to shame the things which are mighty, "'and the base
things of the world "'and the things which are despised God
has chosen, "'and the things which are not, "'to bring to
nothing the things that are, "'that no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of Him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, He who
glories, let him glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I
came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom,
declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words
of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the wisdom
of the cross, the power of the gospel, the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we pray now that you would
feed our minds and hearts and cause us to rejoice in what Christ
has accomplished on our behalf. Again, forgive us for all of
our sins and guide us by your Holy Spirit. We pray this through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, in this extended
section, the Apostle Paul is contrasting God's wisdom and
the world's wisdom. And he says very obviously that
what we see as the wisdom of God demonstrated in the cross,
the world looks at it and sees it as folly. They think the message
is messed up, and that's the emphasis in verses 18 to 25.
They think the recipients are messed up, and that's verses
26 to 31. And they think the preacher is
messed up, according to chapter 2, verses 1 to 5. So basically
what Paul says is that the message of the cross is wisdom. He says
the fact that God has chosen the Corinthians demonstrates
his wisdom. And the fact that the Apostle
Paul is used by God, even though he is, as he describes there,
in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling, nevertheless,
God uses Paul to demonstrate the power of the Christian message
and the glory of Christ's cross. Our focus tonight is on the spiritual
blessings that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. Notice that the
Corinthian believers were not wise, they were not mighty, nor
were they noble, but they had been blessed by God, chosen by
Him, sovereignly placed in Christ, and then the recipients of righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. So we'll note first the source
of spiritual blessings in verse 30A, secondly the identification
of spiritual blessings in verse 30B, and then finally the result
of these spiritual blessings in verse 31. As you might expect,
it's not for the glory of man, it's not for the magnifying of
man, but for the magnifying and the glorying of the great God
of heaven and earth. But note first the source of
spiritual blessings in verse 30. He describes them as being
in Christ Jesus. But He describes them as being
in Christ Jesus, not owing to themselves, not owing to their
own decisions, not owing to their own wisdom or by virtue of their
own works, but of God. Notice in verse 38, but of Him
you are in Christ Jesus. Remember, looking at verse 26,
they were not called because of their wisdom, their might,
or their nobility. The Corinthian believers were
actually foolish, they were weak, and they were base, according
to verses 27 and 28. There was nothing in them to
commend them to God. There was nothing in them that
said or suggested God owes us this great salvation. He says,
but of Him you are in Christ Jesus. And the reason why, the
purpose for this particular design, is that no flesh should glory
in His presence. Notice in verse 29. God chooses
the base, God chooses the insignificant, God chooses the weak, God chooses
the sinful so that when they are saved they cannot glory in
His presence. They cannot pat themselves on
the back. The design of God in salvation
is that man cannot boast in his own accomplishments. We saw that
in Philippians chapter 3 when Paul says, we are the true circumcision,
we worship God in the spirit, we boast in Christ Jesus having
no confidence in the flesh. Paul says as much in Galatians
6.14, God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 4, the Apostle
Paul says that if Abraham was commended to God by his own works,
then he has a reason to boast. He has a reason to sort of pat
himself on the back. But God has designed this salvation
in such a way that not only do we not have ground for boasting
in ourselves, our boast is only in the glory of God and the mercies
that he has displayed to us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
A similar thought in Ephesians 2, for by grace you are saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, lest anyone should boast. So the gospel truly understood
strips man of any ability to boast or to applaud himself.
It reduces us to humble recipients of God's mercy and grace. So
negatively, we're not in Christ Jesus based on our works, based
on our wisdom, based on our ability, but we are in Christ Jesus because
of the sovereign God. Notice again in verse 30 at the
first part, but of Him you are in Christ Jesus. Notice, in the
larger context, that which we didn't read, the Corinthians
were called to be saints, according to verse 2, those who are called,
verse 24, those who underwent calling, verse 26, and were chosen
by God, according to verses 27 and 28. The Corinthians are not
in a state of grace because of the Corinthians. The Corinthians
are in a state of grace because of God. Because of God's sovereignty,
because of God's grace, because of God's mercy in choosing them
for salvation. Turn to John chapter 1 where
we see the similar sort of emphasis in John chapter 1. Specifically
at verse 11, He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. Turn to Acts 13, that first missionary
journey, when the Apostle Paul is in Pisidian Antioch. In Acts
13, 48 it says, Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had
been appointed to eternal life believed. The order there is
very conspicuous. It's not that they believed and
then were appointed unto eternal life. No, they believed because
by God's grace they had been appointed to eternal life and
believed. As well, Romans 9, Romans 9,
a showstopper text when it comes to battling with Arminians. Romans
9, 16, so then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs,
but of God who shows mercy. The same thought is conspicuous
in 1 Corinthians 1 at verse 30, but of him you are in Christ Jesus. And that union with Christ is
glorious. According to Ephesians 1, 4,
God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. As well,
Christ is our representative. He is our federal head. He is
our high priest. We are in Him judicially, we
are justified freely by God's grace as it comes to us through
the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And believers are in Him mystically,
and I know that word mystically is a mystical word, but there
is a Christ-Church solidarity that the Bible affords or highlights
in Ephesians chapter 5. Calvin says, therefore, that
joining together of head and members, that indwelling of Christ
in our hearts, in short, that mystical union, are accorded
by us the highest degree of importance so that Christ, having been made
ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has
been endowed. We do not therefore contemplate
him outside ourselves from afar in order that his righteousness
may be imputed to us, but because we put on Christ and are engrafted
into his body, in short, because he deigns to make us one with
him. So we are by God's grace in Him,
and that's the emphasis of the Apostle Paul, and that brings
us then to the identification of these spiritual blessings.
Notice what he goes on to say in verse 30b, who became for
us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now that wisdom from God is contextually
sort of This is Paul's point in the whole section, 118 to
2.5. He is paralleling or rather contrasting the world's wisdom
and God's wisdom. And so he highlights the fact
that Christ is both the power and the wisdom of God. He says
as much in verse 24. Verse 23, he says, we preach
Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the
Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. So it
shouldn't surprise us in verse 30, as he introduces these spiritual
blessings, he does so under the context or under the framework
of wisdom from God. Now, I don't take this as four
spiritual blessings. First, wisdom. Second, righteousness. Third, sanctification. And fourth,
redemption. I don't think that's what's happening.
I think those three terms explain what it means that Christ is
the wisdom of God. In fact, we could read the text
this way. For those grammarians in our
presence, it's what's called an exegetical use of and here. We might read it this way, but
of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from
God. That is righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. So those three terms flesh out
for us or specify what He means by Christ being wisdom, the wisdom
of God. So how is Christ the wisdom of
God for us? Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So notice first
this righteousness. The Lord Jesus fulfilled all
righteousness for us. We know that in his announcement
just after the baptism when John the Baptist tries to prevent
him from being baptized and Jesus says, permit it for we must fulfill
all righteousness. The Lord Jesus fulfilled all
righteousness as our covenantal head. In Adam all died, but in
Christ all shall be made alive. Paul develops this federal or
covenant theology in great, great extent in Romans chapter 5. He shows that in Adam, because
of Adam, that transgression is imputed to us, and because of
Christ, that righteousness is imputed to us. The Lord Jesus
fulfilled all righteousness so that He could save us from our
sins. We celebrate the doctrine of
justification often in our church, and this is essentially what
he is saying here. That wisdom from God is seen
in that glorious truth that Christ is our righteousness, prophesied
thus by Jeremiah. When Jeremiah names the Lord
Jesus in Jeremiah 23 at verse 6, he calls Him the Lord our
righteousness. This is most important for us. Jesus doesn't just come to show
us a better way. Jesus fulfills all of the obligations
of the Father laid upon Him so that we might have that righteousness
imputed to us and received by faith alone. We are forgiven.
and we are cleansed and we are clothed in his blessed righteousness
such that we may enter into the presence of a holy God. Calvin
says, he says that he has made unto us righteousness by which
he means that we are on his account acceptable to God inasmuch as
he expiated our sins by his death and his obedience is imputed
to us for righteousness. That's the wisdom of God. Again,
in the context that wisdom is seen in the message of the cross,
that wisdom is seen in the recipients of this salvation, and that wisdom
is seen in the ability of the Apostle Paul. So these things which the world
scoffs at, these things which the world mocks, these things
are the actual wisdom and manifest glory of God Most High in the
saving of sinners. Gill says, this righteousness
by an act of the Father's grace is imputed, reckoned, and accounted
to them as their justifying righteousness. So when we come to this section
and we look at this concept of wisdom, we are mindful that in
Colossians 2, for instance, it says that in Christ are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And certainly in Christ,
we have the mind of Christ, according to 1 Corinthians 2.16. There's
a noetic or an intellectual effect upon us when we are born again.
It doesn't mean we can do quantum mechanics, but it certainly means
that we can think God's thoughts after him according to scripture. Prior to our conversion, the
Bible looks like a Chinese phone book. But once we get saved,
we understand. We hear the voice of Christ coming
to us in that scripture. It is most excellent. And what
we have in Christ, in terms of wisdom, is his righteousness.
That next statement is sanctification. And we usually think of sanctification
as the spirit-wrought power of Christian living. Right? When
we get justified freely by God's grace, faith alone is the instrument,
but it's not alone. It's ever accompanied by all
other saving graces and is no dead faith. We think of sanctification
as our day-in, day-out grind. We think of sanctification in
the language of the Apostle in Romans 13, put on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its
lusts. We think of Paul in Romans 6,
7, and 8, where he tells us, if by the Spirit you put to death
the deeds of the body, then you will live. We think sanctification
is our movement forward in the Christian life. And I'm not suggesting
that concept is foreign to this passage, but I think it's more
objective. I think it's more what Christ
has done for us. He is our righteousness or our
justification, but he is our sanctification as well. not our
daily progress in holiness, but one that kept the law, not only
in terms of its particular application with reference to the Ten Commandments,
but every jot and tittle in terms of holiness and right living. Gill and Hodge favor this interpretation. These, Hodge says, righteousness
and sanctification are intimately united as different aspects of
the same thing. Righteousness is that which satisfies
the demands of the law as a rule of justification. Sanctification
or holiness is that which satisfies the law as a rule of duty. Christ
is both to us, and it's on that basis or foundation that we live
the life of sanctification wrought out in us and for us by the Spirit. Again, I'm not suggesting that
sanctification subjectively is absent from the passage, but
I think the wisdom of God is seen in Christ, our righteousness,
and our sanctification. You know, we've often thought
or often said, we're not going to go to heaven based on our
sanctification. We're going to go to heaven based
on Christ's sanctification, Christ's righteousness, Christ's virtue,
Christ's impeccability, Christ's absolute obedience to every jot
and tittle of the law. Christ satisfied divine justice,
Christ obeyed perfectly, and Christ is not only our righteousness,
but our sanctification. And then he goes on to say redemption. Now, the word redemption has
the general meaning of buying back something out of, let's
say, a slave market, and it's done through a price. Redemption
isn't just the exercise of sovereign power on the part of God. It
is the exercise of sovereign power on the part of God, but
there's a price paid. When the New Testament celebrates
our redemption in Jesus Christ, it's not just the exercise of
sovereign power, though it is the exercise of sovereign power,
but it's the price paid by the Savior for us men and for our
salvation. It is that debt satisfied. It is that penalty penalized. It is that divine justice satisfied. Not averted or diverted, but
taken by the surety in our place. So redemption here is not specifically
that general meaning, but I think when it's used with these other
two terms, it probably has the idea of glorification or our
finality when we get to heaven. In fact, you can turn to Romans
chapter 8 where we see that reality facing us in the future. Notice
in Romans chapter 8 at verse 23, not only that, but we also,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption
of our body. Again, redemption, generally
speaking, is the purchase of a price to buy something out
of. But also, it has this idea that
we find here that's more cosmic in nature, the redemption of
our body. In other words, Paul sees that this current creation,
because of sin, is under bondage. It yearns for full deliverance.
And in the apostle's argument, that full deliverance comes at
the second coming of our Lord, the ushering in of the eternal
state, the redemption of our body. This is why we confess
with the Apostles Creed, I believe in the resurrection from the
dead. Brethren, we are not Gnostics. I feel at times, evangelicals
and even Reformed can fall into a bit of a Gnosticism. We talk
about God saving our souls, and that's good. We should talk about
God saving our souls, but there is a redemption of our body.
Bodies aren't bad. Nature isn't bad. Creation isn't
bad. God is not at war with creation. God is not at war with nature.
God is at war with our sin and our rebellion and our transgression,
but we confess the resurrection from the dead. We confess this
redemption of our bodies. We confess body and soul in the
presence of the triune God, world without end, amen. Brethren,
we are not Gnostics. We long for this redemption that
is on the horizon for the people of God in Jesus Christ. Notice
in Ephesians chapter 1, just to see a more specific use or
more contextual use of this idea of
redemption. Notice in 114, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
to the praise of His glory. So there's a narrow use in terms
of redeeming, price paid, get us out of the slave market of
sin. There's also this use of the future, this redemption. Notice in 430 Paul uses the same
language in a similar way. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit
by whom you were sealed. Note, for the day of redemption. And then again in Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9, specifically at verse 12. Not with the blood
of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the
most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Kind of combines both themes
there. But going back to 1 Corinthians,
the wisdom of God in this particular section is all about Jesus, his
righteousness, his sanctification, and his redemption. It's not
participatory. In a section that is to demonstrate
God's wisdom, it would seem odd to include our participation
in Jesus' work. The emphasis in 130 is on the
objectivity of the Christian gospel for the salvation of all
the elect, those whom the Father gave to the Son. For of Him you
are in Christ Jesus. And Jesus is the wisdom of God. And that wisdom of God is seen
in righteousness. That wisdom of God is seen in
sanctification. That wisdom of God is seen in
redemption. Now you're the beneficiaries
of that. You're the blessed recipients
of that. But the accent here is not our
participation in it. The accent here is on Christ
as the power and wisdom of God. Hodge says this term, redemption,
sometimes includes all the benefits received from Christ. When he
is called our Redeemer, he is presented as our deliverer from
guilt, from hell, from sin, from the power of Satan, from the
grave. But when redemption is distinguished from justification
and sanctification, it refers to the final deliverance from
evil. So all of this to say this wisdom from God is seen in what
Christ accomplishes, what Christ accomplished in His life, what
Christ accomplished in His death, what Christ accomplished in His
resurrection, what Christ has accomplished as the mediator
of the new covenant wherein God has placed us savingly in Him. He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world. In love, He predestinated us
unto adoption as sons. Everything is by virtue of our
union with Jesus. Jesus is the wisdom of God. And that brings us then, thirdly,
to consider the result of spiritual blessings. And again, it's very
simple. And this should be very simple. Why does God save His
people from their sins? Well, it's according to His own
good pleasure. It's according to His own sovereign grace. Jacob
I loved, Esau I hated. I read about that this morning
in that section on A.W. Pink's The Love of God. He highlights
the sovereignty of God's love. There's nothing in the creature
that deserves God's love, the sinful creature. There's nothing
in us that earns God's love. Everything in us to repel that
love. I love the way pink highlights
what happens in Deuteronomy. God tells the people of Israel,
I chose you, not because you were more numerous, but because
I loved you. Isn't that a great argument?
I love you because I love you. That's a great argument. Typically,
we're conditioned to say, I love you because you make a good waffle. I love you because you clean
a good garage. I love you because you're a hard
worker. None of those things are bad. The psalmist says, I
love the Lord because he heard the voice of my supplication.
That's not necessarily wrong. But when you come to the divine
love for the creature, there's no I love you because I love
you because, no, I love you because I love you. God set his affection
upon Israel not because they were more numerous or because
they were more righteous. It wasn't as if they were the
shining jewel amongst all those Canaanites that populated the
land. Basically, God takes none too
righteous Israel and raises them up to chase in less than even
none too righteous Israel, the Canaanites. But what happens
when the Israelites become like the Canaanites and engage in
the same sorts of activities in the land? Well, God raises
up Assyria, and in 722, the northern kingdoms are judged. What happens
when Judah doesn't learn that lesson? Read the prophets Jeremiah
and Ezekiel. They upbraid the southern kingdom
for not seeing and not divining and not discovering what God
did to their northern counterparts. So when they continue in penitent
and they continue in breaking covenant, well, it's Nebuchadnezzar
and the Babylonians in 586, beginning a 70-year exile. So it's God,
it's not God's some special people because they radiate goodness
and holiness. No, I love you because I love
you. I love you because I'm gracious. I love you because I'm sovereign.
So back to our text, he is the wisdom from God, that is, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, that, as it is written, he who
glories, let him glory in the Lord. So the obvious implication
is simple. If I'm saved because of my wisdom,
if I'm saved because of my nobility, if I'm saved because of my might,
I have a reason to boast. I have a reason to boast. I have
a reason to say, well, you know, I'm better than that guy. I may
not be as good as that one, but I'm better than at least a few.
And that's why I'm in the state that I'm in. The design of God
is that no flesh should glory in His presence. None of us will
ever say, I was accepted because of my wisdom, I was accepted
because of my might, I was accepted because of my nobility. No, we
can't do that. Christ is our righteousness,
Christ is our sanctification, Christ is our redemption. That,
as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Calvin
says, mark the end that God has in view in bestowing all things
upon us in Christ, that we may not claim any merit to ourselves,
but may give him all the praise. That's the design, that's the
emphasis, that's the mechanism, that's the vehicle. It has been
well said, as believers in Jesus Christ, when you do something
right, give glory to God. When you don't, confess your
sin and rebellion to God. If we do anything, it's God who
is at work in us both to will and to do according to His good
pleasure. Now notice that the Apostle grounds this in an Old
Testament text. He who glories, let him glory
in the Lord. You can turn to the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah chapter 9, specifically
at verse 23. Thus says the Lord, let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Interesting that Paul uses those
terms when he describes the Corinthians. Interesting that Paul uses this
text. It's very consistent in theology
that we are to give God glory and praise and not boast upon
our own merits. And in a moment I'll show you
why this is here in Jeremiah 9. So let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let
the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory
in this. that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord,
exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight, says the Lord." Now, in this context,
Jeremiah gives his first temple sermon in Jeremiah chapter seven. And interestingly, as Jeremiah
is preaching this temple sermon, it's not a message of self-help.
It's not a message to just buck up the people of God. It's not
a message to, you know, dote upon them and their good efforts
in serving Yahweh of Israel. No, in typical prophetic fashion,
Jeremiah is a prosecuting attorney on behalf of Yahweh. And he comes
to point his finger in their faces and call them to repentance
and call them to faith. And he highlights and he illustrates
and he demonstrates what their confidence is in. Notice in chapter
7 in verses 8 to 11. Behold you trust in lying words
that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit
adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after
other gods whom you do not know? and then come and stand before
me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered
to do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called
by my name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even
I, have seen it, says the Lord." That's the text applied by gospel
writers to our Lord Jesus Christ when he deals with the temple,
right? Well, the same thing was going
on in Jesus' day that was going on in Jeremiah's day. Do you
see what they're trusting in? The temple. As long as the temple
stand in, everything's cool. As long as the temple's here,
that's our badge of identity. As long as the temple is not
decimated, then all is good. Notice, you trust in lying words,
it cannot profit. We steal, murder, commit adultery,
swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods
whom you do not know, and then come and stand before me in this
house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered
to do all these abominations. You actually think that your
wretched, filthy, godless conduct is mitigated by the existence
of the temple? You've missed the point. But notice as well, in 21 to
29, they're trusting in sacrifice, not the God to whom they sacrifice. Verse 21, thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, add your burnt offerings to your
sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers
or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land
of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what
I commanded them, saying, obey my voice and I will be your God,
and you shall be my people, and walk in all the ways I have commanded
you, and it may be well with you. Yet they did not obey or
incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates
of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward. Since
the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until
this day, I have even sent you all my servants, the prophets,
daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey me
or incline their ear, but stiffen their neck. They did worse than
their fathers. Therefore, you shall speak all
these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall
also call to them, but they will not answer you. Again, this idea
that as long as we do the sacrifice, it doesn't matter what we're
doing. It doesn't matter about our religious life or conduct.
And then as well, the religious leaders, the religious leaders
who were deceitful, chapter 8, specifically at verses 8 to 12.
How can you say we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The
wise men are ashamed. They're dismayed and taken. Behold,
they have rejected the word of the Lord. So what wisdom do they
have? Therefore, I will give their wives to others and their
fields to those who will inherit them. Because from the least
even to the greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From
the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. For they
have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when
they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed,
nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among
those who fall. In the time of their punishment
they shall be cast down, says the Lord. Now, that's not to
say that temple is bad. It's not to say that sacrifice
is bad. It's not to say that prophet and priest is bad. That's
not what I'm saying. I'm saying they abused that.
They hid behind those things in order to commit their sins,
their idolatries, their Baal worship. So right smack dab in
the midst of this, Jeremiah comes and says, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but
let him who glories glory in the Lord. Or glory in this, that
he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these I delight, says the Lord. bit of a different context,
at least in some sense. But when Paul takes this from
the prophet Jeremiah, he is highlighting that the purpose of God in the
salvation of sinners is not the magnifying of the sinner. It
is the magnifying of the grace of God in and through our Lord
Jesus Christ, that one who is to us wisdom from God, that is
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. May the Lord
encourage our hearts and build us up in our most holy faith.
And may we walk subjectively by faith in the objective truth
of who the wisdom of God is, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Our comfort, our stability, our
security, our benefit, our consistency, steadfastness, and perseverance
in the Christian life. depends not on our view of ourselves,
but on our view of Jesus Christ the Lord. Whenever I travel,
I am mindful that planes crash. Whenever I travel, I am mindful
that cars crash. And I could crash going home
tonight, but if I happen to crash on this trip, I hope to see you
on the other side, and always be looking to that one who is
our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is no other
hope, there is no other boast, there is no other joy, there
is no other glory than Jesus Christ and Him crucified and
resurrected. Well, let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that Christ
is for us or to us, that wisdom from God, that He has satisfied
all the requirements, He has satisfied all that was necessary.
to save us from our sins, help us to constantly look to him
in faith, help us to glory in him and his cross alone, and
help us to serve and to honor you each and every day that we
live, accepting your holy word, listening to it as it speaks
to us in our lives as individuals, our lives as husbands, as wives,
as fathers, as mothers, as children. God, give us that spirit of sanctification
so that we may internalize your truth and live in a manner that
is consistent with our high calling in the gospel of our salvation.
Bless this local church, bless all the brothers and the sisters
here, those unable to be with us tonight, those traveling,
may you be glorified in this local body. And we pray this
through Christ our Lord, amen.
