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.
Introduction
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.
Overview of Three Points
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.
Source of Spiritual Blessings
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.
Union with Christ by God's Sovereign Grace
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.
The Glory of Union with Christ
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.
Identification of 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.
Christ Our 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.
Christ Our Sanctification
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.
Christ Our 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.
Result of Spiritual Blessings
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.
Old Testament Ground: Jeremiah 9
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."
Jeremiah's Temple Sermon in Context
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.
Closing Prayer
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.