[0:00] In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we may read again verses 30 and 31.
[0:14] 1 Corinthians chapter 1, reading from the 30th verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, reading from the 30th verse.
[0:52] Now we believe that the whole of our salvation is bound up with the reality that is expressed in these words, Ye are in Christ Jesus.
[1:09] And the more that the faith of the people of God can take to do with that reality, the more that faith will be strengthened, and the more they will be encouraged in the ways of God.
[1:25] It is a wonderful thing to think that it is what Christ is, and what Christ has done, that determines the destiny of those who believe in him.
[1:43] Now, when it speaks of being in Christ Jesus, it is speaking, of course, on the one hand, of that eternal covenant relationship, which exists in the purpose of God between Christ and his people.
[2:06] And on the other hand, it is speaking of the vital living relationship with Christ, into which sinners are brought when they are called effectually by the Holy Spirit.
[2:22] So that all our salvation, what is out with us and what is within us, is bound up with that relationship with Christ, which is in the covenant, which is in the covenant, and which becomes a reality in the experience of the sinner who is regenerated.
[2:46] And that union with Christ is, of course, of course, of course, of course, what accounts for his coming into this world in our nature, for all the obedience, even unto death, which characterized him.
[3:05] It is that union with Christ which accounts for the sufferings which he endured. And we ought to remember that every step he took, everything he did, everything he suffered, he did and suffered because he was united with his people, and he was standing for them, and he was acting on their behalf.
[3:36] We have an intimate association with Christ in every step of his way. And it's that union with Christ, on the other hand, which accounts for every blessing which the child of God experiences.
[3:56] It's because he lives, we live. Every blessing that we receive, our justification, our adoption, our sanctification, our growth in grace, our assurance of his love, every single blessing in providence and grace comes to us through Christ because of this union which exists between his people and him.
[4:29] So this is what lies at the very foundation of every hope the Christian has, that the Christian is in Christ, and that he can never be separated from Christ in his destiny.
[4:51] And that is one avenue along which we should examine ourselves in the presence of God tonight. What place has Christ got in our hope?
[5:03] What think ye of Christ? God's people have been brought to Christ in a great variety of experience. There's probably no one Christian's experience is identical with that of any other.
[5:20] The works of God are wonderful. But there are certain things which are true wherever there is grace. Whether it's in this land or any other land.
[5:32] Whether it's in the days of the apostles or in our days. There are things which are true in Christian experience wherever a Christian is. And if they are not there, the person is not a Christian, whatever profession he may have.
[5:46] And the most basic thing, the thing that is common to everyone who has been enlightened by grace, is the view which they have of Christ.
[5:58] And the fact that Christ is fundamental to every hope they entertain. What think ye of Christ? And that is a question, that is the question, which all our other questions should be directed to helping us to answer.
[6:19] Now we notice that if we are in Christ, we are in Christ because God has put us there. That is the significance of these first words, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus.
[6:38] How did you come to be in Christ? That is a question that is answered here. Not because you were more disposed towards the gospel than other people.
[6:51] Not because someone was able to persuade you to receive the gospel. Not because you had more deserving than others had that God should look your way.
[7:05] If ye are in Christ Jesus, ye are in Christ Jesus of him. As a result of God's purpose, and as a result of God's power.
[7:20] And that is something that is brought out very clearly in this chapter. If we are in Christ, if we have been brought into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ, our Lord, it is because we have been called.
[7:38] We have been called effectively by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit within us. Why was I made to hear thy voice?
[7:49] That is a question which the Christian will raise. How is it that I am found in Christ? Considering my nature, considering my ill-deserving, considering my natural enmity against God, whether God is speaking to me in his law, or speaking to me in his gospel, how does it come about that I, who hate God by nature, are found in Christ?
[8:20] And the answer to that, on the level of our experience, is that he has called us. He accompanied his word with the power of his spirit, and we were made willing in the day of his power.
[8:34] He renewed our wills, and he persuaded us, and enabled us, to close in, to embrace Jesus Christ. And that is the testimony of those who have a good hope through grace.
[8:48] Not that they initiated this work, but that God dealt graciously with them, in his sovereign mercy, and made his word effective in their experience.
[9:00] And behind that calling, there is the election by God, in his sovereign good pleasure. That is something that is emphasized here. God has chosen the foolish things.
[9:14] God hath chosen the weak things. And the base things, and the things which are despised, hath God chosen. The choice of God.
[9:25] That's what made us Christians. Not our choice of God, but God's choice of us. That's the source, the fountain, of our salvation. Make your calling and election sure.
[9:41] These are the two things that bring the sinner into a living relationship with Christ. That God chose that sinner from all eternity as the object of his love, to bring him into this connection with the Savior.
[9:59] And in the day that he had appointed, he called that person effectually by his power. Now there is another point at which we can examine ourselves.
[10:12] What is our own reaction to the truth? That if we are Christians at all, we are Christians because he loved us with an everlasting love, and therefore he drew us with his loving kindness.
[10:28] Is it the case that we have made ourselves what we are? Or is it the case that we have been made what we are by the sovereign good pleasure and grace of God?
[10:40] And are we content to be debtors to grace? That's not so easy. It goes against the grain. And I believe that even those who have been longest in the Christian way will find, will acknowledge that they find that within them which is not willing to be indebted to sovereign grace.
[11:05] But that principle of indebtedness and gladness to be indebted is something which the Spirit has created in the souls of his people.
[11:15] of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Are we prepared to acknowledge that our interest in Christ is owing altogether to his love and to his power in our experience?
[11:32] Now we are told here what God has made Christ to be to all his people.
[11:43] Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
[11:57] God has made him unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In other words Christ is our wisdom and our righteousness and our sanctification and our redemption.
[12:20] We have no wisdom no righteousness no sanctification no redemption other than Christ. it's not just that Christ has given these things to us Christ is these things to us and that is something that is good for the faith of God's people to be exercised with that what we have are not just blessings from Christ's hand but we have Christ himself and we have everything that Christ is and we have everything that Christ has and we have everything that Christ does as ours and that's our hope for eternity.
[13:02] God has made him to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He has made him to be wisdom.
[13:16] Now isn't that something that we have discovered we are completely destitute of if grace has enlightened us. we have no wisdom in relation to God.
[13:29] We have no wisdom in relation to our performance of the purpose for which God has made us. We have no wisdom with regard to seeking the salvation of our souls.
[13:45] We do not know God. We do not know how to glorify God. God. We do not know how to enjoy God. We do not know how to be delivered from that dreadful condition.
[14:00] We are completely ignorant when it comes to spiritual and eternal and divine matters. I wonder how we learned that in our own experience.
[14:15] It is such a good thing to know the Bible to know the truths of God's word but what a tremendous difference is made in the Bible to the person who is enlightened by the grace of God and that person realizes that what he knew in his head before he did not know with any reality.
[14:45] It was not real in his experience. We don't understand. We don't know. We don't have wisdom by nature. But he has made him to be wisdom to us.
[15:01] And that is true in at least two ways. He is our wisdom in that we depend upon him in all our dealings with God in all our relationship with God.
[15:18] He knows God. He knows what God requires. He knows the provision which God has made.
[15:30] He knows the purposes of God because he is God and because he is most intimate with the Father. No one knows the Father but the Son.
[15:43] But he knows him perfectly and he is able to do everything that is necessary to secure the salvation and the eternal blessedness of the Lord's people.
[15:57] We are not left to our own wisdom for example as to how to plead and how to apply the sacrifice.
[16:09] Have you thought of how sad it would be if we had a sacrifice offered and we were left ourselves to deal with God on the basis of that sacrifice?
[16:22] sacrifice. We would not know what to do. We would not know how to approach God on the basis of that sacrifice. But we have one of whom it is said by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.
[16:40] And he has the wisdom to do everything that is required for the application to his people of the benefits for which he died. And he is our wisdom.
[16:52] We are dependent on him for our wisdom. We benefit from his wisdom. And at the same time he is the source of any wisdom which his people have.
[17:07] He makes them wise unto salvation. It's as they depend on him as they are enlightened by his spirit that they have the wisdom which cometh down from above.
[17:20] And so we ask ourselves that question also. What wisdom are we depending upon as we journey towards eternity and towards our meeting with God?
[17:34] What wisdom are we dependent upon in our lives from day to day? Is it our own natural wisdom? Or are we depending upon Christ as our wisdom?
[17:46] And are we seeking to draw wisdom for ourselves from him? And it says too that he has made unto us righteousness.
[18:00] And when we think about righteousness what we have to think of is God himself because that is the standard of righteousness.
[18:12] God is righteous. righteous. And of course that does not mean that there is some standard of righteousness to which God conforms.
[18:23] There is no standard above God. There is no such thing as righteousness to which God conforms. God is righteous.
[18:34] God's character is righteous. God's works are righteous. God is the standard of righteousness. And his law is the expression of what righteousness means for us.
[18:50] If we are going to be conformed to God then we must be conformed to his revealed will. Righteousness the righteousness that is required of us is perfect conformity in our character and in our conduct to God and to his revealed will.
[19:13] And isn't it true that this is the lesson which God's people have learned more painfully perhaps than any other that they have no righteousness at all in the presence of God.
[19:29] That they are not at all conformed to his revealed will. That they have never done anything that was according to his will. They have never thought a good thought.
[19:41] They have never spoken a good word. They have never performed a good deed. They have broken the law and they are guilty at every point.
[19:55] The only thing that allows us to think that there are aspects of the law which we have not broken is that that law has never been brought to bear upon us at that particular point.
[20:09] And you remember what the Apostle Paul said I was alive without the law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died.
[20:23] And he said that what convinced him of his sin was the law said thou shalt not covet. But when he saw sin at that particular point it let him see that his whole life was a life of unrighteousness and that is true of all who have been awakened.
[20:42] They have come to see that there is no righteousness in them and they have come to see that not because they can point to this and that particular breach of the commandment alone but because they have been taught that they are breaking it at his very heart when God says thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strength with all thy mind with all thy soul.
[21:13] And the great question is where can we find a righteousness which meets the demands of God? That is a righteousness which will make up for all our unrighteousness and a righteousness which will make us accepted in the sight of God because we need atonement for the past and present and future transgressions and we need a basis upon which God can accept us as righteous as justified in his sight.
[21:50] Where can we get that righteousness? God has made him unto us righteousness. In his person, in his character, in his works of obedience and in his death under the burden of his people's sin, Christ has wrought out a righteousness which covers all their transgressions from God's sight and which makes them as acceptable to God as Christ himself is.
[22:32] That's the righteousness we have in Christ. That's the righteousness that Christ is to his people. The relationship between Christ and them is such that God views them in him and they are accepted in him and he is well pleased with them as he is well pleased with him.
[22:55] Where is our righteousness? Christ is our righteousness. When God is looking for the righteousness of his people, when God is looking for the basis upon which to justify them and accept them, he finds that basis where he has provided it himself, he finds it in Christ.
[23:20] And that is something that becomes increasingly precious to the Lord's people. It's not that Christ gives us righteousness, but Christ is our righteousness.
[23:32] What he is, what he does, is constituting a righteousness which is imputed to each one of his believing people.
[23:46] And that is where the conscience of the awakened sinner finds rest. Because the conscience of the awakened sinner will not find rest so long as he is convinced that God must condemn him because of sin.
[24:04] It may be that there are some people who are content to have peace, no matter where that peace comes from, no matter what gives them that peace, and be very wary, be very wary if you find yourself in that condition, that you have a peace and you want to preserve it, and you don't really care what is giving it to you, as long as you can hold on to it, you want to put away from you any truth, that may disturb you, beware of being in that condition.
[24:45] We need to know that we have a foundation for our peace, and if we have been awakened by the grace of God, then we will not be satisfied with any peace, but with peace that is grounded in a righteousness which our conscience can accept because we are convinced that God can accept it, and that righteousness is Christ alone, the Lord our righteousness, and what a wonderful righteousness, when you think of him, the eternal son in our nature, positively holy, perfectly obedient, and giving himself as a sacrifice to atone for sin, and over against all your sin, there is his righteousness, an infinitely satisfying righteousness in the estimation of God, but he has also made unto us sanctification, and righteousness and sanctification always go together in reality, and they go together in the experience, and they go together in the desire of the
[26:02] Christian, Robbie Duncan used to put it in his own peculiar way that he didn't know when he got to heaven whether he would be more proud of his redness, or of his whiteness, whether he would be more taken up with the justification that he had in Christ, or with the perfection to which he was brought by the work of the Holy Spirit, but it's not really a problem, there is no tension between these things at all, they are both in the desires of God's people, and they are both in the provision of God in Christ Jesus, and sanctification we believe is holiness, it is conformity of character and conduct to God himself, and we have our sanctification in Christ, now of course, there is a great difference between the way in which we have our justification in Christ, and the way in which we have our sanctification in Christ, righteousness, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, and there is absolutely nothing in us which corresponds to that righteousness, or which contributes to that righteousness, it is an objective standing in the sight of God that is absolutely dependent upon Christ and his righteousness, but sanctification is something which does exist within the
[27:52] Christian, holiness is not something which is in Christ for us, in a sense in which it does not become our own portion, our own experience, in what sense then is Christ made unto us sanctification, sanctification, not as a substitute for the change in ourselves, not as a substitute for our own being conformed to the likeness of Christ, but he has made sanctification unto us in several senses which we might just mention, first of all that our sanctification is altogether secured by him, by his obedience, by his death, by his intercession, by his giving of his Holy
[28:53] Spirit, we are absolutely dependent upon Christ for sanctification, and our sanctification was secured on Calvary just as surely as our justification, but he has made sanctification unto us also in that he is the pattern to which we are to be conformed, what is sanctification, what is holiness, what is the pattern to which the people of God are going to be conformed, it's in Christ you find that, when we shall see him, we shall be like him, the person who is struggling with corruption and depravity and ungodliness and unbelief, and yet is resting upon the saviour, when we shall see him, we shall be like him, and that's the sanctification that God's people want, nothing less than that will please them, he is the pattern, man, but he is also the source, he is the head of the body, and the life of the head permeates the body, and every gracious thought, every gracious word, every gracious action, every gracious desire and attitude, is a flowing into the body of what is complete and uncontradicted in
[30:31] Christ the head, we're receiving of his fullness, his life in his people, is what makes them holy to the extent to which they are, by the working of his Holy Spirit, he conveys that to his people, which is in himself perfectly, it's not perfect in us, it's not uncontradicted in us, that's what's behind the conflict, that's in the experience of the Christian, and there may be a Christian, and maybe more than one Christian, here tonight, who is almost driven to distraction, because they are finding in themselves what they feel, belongs to the very pit, belongs to the devil, belongs to the world, well, remember that grace did not uproot and destroy the reality of sin in the experience of the child of
[31:46] God, God. The apostle Paul was speaking as an advanced believer, when he said, I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
[32:06] O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I delight in the law of God, but I see another law in my members.
[32:20] And the life of God in the soul of the sinner, the life of Christ in the soul of the believer, is what is creating that conflict that's in the Christian's experience.
[32:31] there's no conflict in the experience of the ungodly. Not a conflict between grace and sin. There may be a conflict between the will that wants to do what is evil and the conscience that is telling you that if you do that you will perish.
[32:49] And there's a conflict between the will and the conscience in many unregenerate sinners. But in the experience of God's people, the will and the conscience are on the same side.
[33:02] They're on the side of Christ. And the conflict is with what is there, the corrupt, depraved nature within. There's a contradiction in us.
[33:16] There's a tension in us which was never in Christ. But it's because Christ is in us, because his life is in us, because he is our sanctification that we are engaged in that inward conflict with sin.
[33:34] He is made unto us sanctification. He is the reason, the basis for it. He's the pattern of it. He's the source of it. It is from him that it all proceeds.
[33:47] The spirit is in him without measure, but in measure the spirit is given to each one of his people. And last of all, it says, he is made unto us redemption.
[34:01] Now, redemption sometimes refers to the process whereby a person is redeemed or delivered from their bondage by the payment of a ransom.
[34:18] At other times, redemption refers to the completed process or to the outcome of that purchase, that ransom.
[34:32] Sometimes redemption is used as a comprehensive term to include all the benefits secured by the death of Christ.
[34:44] And at other times, it refers particularly to out-glorification. We have redemption blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
[34:58] But we are waiting for the redemption. We are waiting for the redemption of the purchased possession. And when you take these different terms together here, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, I think redemption is being used in a particular way of the completion of the work for which Christ died.
[35:27] It is referring to the glorification of the sinner who has been given divine wisdom, who has been justified, and who has been sanctified by the grace of God.
[35:40] And Christ has been made redemption to us in that sense. He has secured glory for his people, and his presence in glory is the guarantee that they shall be there.
[35:57] And indeed his presence in glory is what is giving them the little taste they have of the world to come in their experience here and now.
[36:10] And won't it be a wonderful thing when a wonderful day, a wonderful moment, when the sinner who believes in Jesus, will know as he is known, and will be perfectly conformed to the likeness of Jesus, and will receive the full fruit of Christ's redemptive work.
[36:34] Not just a complete justification which he has here and now, but a complete sanctification glorification, being with him where he is, and being like him.
[36:51] The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory. Their body being still united to Christ, rests in the grave till the resurrection.
[37:06] What a day the resurrection is going to be, when sinners saved by grace from every age and every part of the world are going to enter together, from before the great white throne into the presence of God the Redeemer.
[37:29] Now, it's Christ that's our redemption. Glory, our glory, is all bound up with him, and is when we're with him where he is, and when we're like him, that our redemption will be complete.
[37:45] Well, aren't these things that the Christian believes are real? And aren't these the things that the Christian is desiring? And aren't these the things that the Christian finds in Christ alone?
[38:02] Where have I any wisdom, any righteousness, any sanctification, any hope of glory, unless I have Christ as the portion of my soul?
[38:15] And that's why the great question we should be asking ourselves is, what think I of Christ? What does Christ mean to me?
[38:26] What place has Christ got in my own thoughts concerning God, concerning wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption?
[38:37] Because ultimately, a Christian is a person to whom Christ is all his salvation, and all his desire.
[38:47] The covenant is bound up in Christ, and when David was dying, David had many sins to confess. My house is not so with God, it's not what it ought to be, it's not what I thought it would be, but although my house is not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow, although I had nothing else, although I'm not seeing the fruition of it as I would desire, yet I can go into eternity resting on the covenant, this is all my desire, all my salvation, and it's in Christ we have the covenant, and Christ, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption is all the salvation and all the desire of his people.
[39:44] Now, it says that God has put us in Christ, and God has made Christ to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
[40:03] Salvation is by grace, the grace of a sovereign electing God, the grace of a God who calls effectually those whom he has chosen. Salvation is in Christ, everything is in Christ.
[40:17] There's nothing out of Christ for a sinner, but everything is in Christ for the sinner. and why has God saved in that way? Because there is nothing more important than the glory of God, and God saves his people in a way that will make them glorify him and rejoice in him, enjoy him throughout eternity.
[40:45] And that is something that becomes more real to the Christian too. there was a day when if the Christian was honest, the great thing to him was that he was saved.
[41:00] And he was taken up with his own salvation, and he was happy to think of himself being saved by the grace of God. But perhaps one of the signs of growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ is that more and more what satisfies the Christian is the thought that God will be glorified eternally in his salvation.
[41:30] Because that's what a Christian wants. There's so much pride in us, so much self satisfaction, so much self righteousness, that underneath it all, there's a desire in the soul of the Christian that God would get the glory, from him, the glory of his salvation.
[41:54] And that's one of the things that makes heaven so precious in contemplation to the Lord's people, that at last they'll be able to glorify him as he ought to be glorified.
[42:07] What is it that gives you the hope, the desire to be in heaven? Is it not the hope and the desire that there you will see Christ, you'll be with Christ, you'll enjoy fellowship with Christ, and you'll be able throughout eternity to serve God, to worship him, to glorify him as he ought to be glorified.
[42:33] And that begins here in the experience of the gracious soul. Well, let a man examine himself, and let him examine himself regarding the things that are most fundamental.
[42:50] What do we think of a salvation that is by sovereign grace? What do we think of a salvation that begins and ends with Christ?
[43:02] What do we think of a salvation which will redound to the glory of God eternally? And if you are content to be saved by sovereign grace, if you are content that God, that Christ be all your salvation, and if you are content that God get all the glory, then it wasn't your own nature that produced that, but it was the grace of God, the regenerating grace of God, that a man examine himself let us pray.
[43:46] Gracious God, we pray that the things that we have glimpsed so feebly might be made real in our experience, that thou would shine upon thy word, that thou would make it living and real to each one of others, and we pray that thou would prepare us, if it be thy will, for the coming Sabbath day, and not only us who shall gather in these parts of thy vineyard, but also thy servants who shall proclaim thy word in other congregations in this Presbytery, and throughout the land, and throughout the world.
[44:33] we pray that wherever people gather under the sound of the gospel, that that gospel may come with the power that convinces of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come, and that leads sinners to glory only in the cross of Christ.
[44:54] Part us now with thy blessing, and pardon sin for Jesus' sake. Amen.