Spiritual wealth in Christ Jesus (Quality: Good)

[0:00] Will you turn this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 to the 30th verse.

[0:11] 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and to the 30th verse. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

[0:33] Now it is from this verse that I hope to speak this morning. May the Lord enable me so to do. It's a favourite verse of mine as you probably know.

[0:46] One that I often quote. But as far as I can remember I've never preached from this verse before. If I have done it must have been a very long time ago.

[1:03] But I cannot recollect ever preaching from this verse. And I desire to do so this morning. Now if you look at this first chapter from which this verse is taken.

[1:18] You see that Paul the Apostle is writing to the Church of God which is at Corinth. He tells us that at the beginning of the chapter.

[1:31] And though he is writing this letter to the Church at Corinth. It is not just written for them. Indeed we believe that all the scripture goes beyond those to whom it was written.

[1:47] And their particular circumstance. And it belongs to the people of God in every generation. But this is especially told us in chapter 1 and the second verse.

[1:59] That this is to the Church of God which is at Corinth. With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Both theirs and ours.

[2:11] And we would certainly come within the second part of that second verse. Those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

[2:25] Both theirs and ours. And then there is the benediction in the third verse. Grace be unto you and peace. And peace always follows grace.

[2:38] You won't get peace with God. And then grace. Because the peace of God is established in the heart by grace. And then there is thanksgiving in the chapter.

[2:50] I thank my God. The apostle says always on your behalf. For the grace of God which is given you. And we are reminded that grace is that which is given.

[3:01] Grace is never earned. Grace is never merited. Grace is always given. God gives grace to his people. And here then is a church which is in everything enriched.

[3:19] And Paul gives thanks for them. And for the charismatic gifts which have been granted in profusion to this Corinthian church.

[3:31] Particularly the gifts of utterance. The tongues speaking. And the interpretation of tongues. He gives thanks to God for these gifts.

[3:44] And you see in the sixth verse the purpose of the charismatic gifts is confirmation of the testimony of Christ. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

[3:59] These signs evidenced the work of grace. And the planting of a gospel church through the apostolic labor.

[4:11] The signs of an apostle had been wrought in the midst. You see the purpose of these gifts were to confirm the church.

[4:22] Confirm the day of the gospel. When the day of the gospel was confirmed. And when the churches of the apostles were established. Then the gifts began to cease until they passed away.

[4:36] That of course is challenged by those in the present day. And they would say these things continue. Well if these things which are undoubtedly extraordinary in the New Testament were meant to continue.

[4:49] They would be ordinary. They would be such things as deserve no particular mention. But of course they are extraordinary. They are mentioned as unusual things even in that day.

[5:03] Because they were intended like all the signs in the Old Testament. To confirm the present situation under God. They were never intended to be the norm.

[5:16] To be the continuing pattern for the people of God. And the thing that does abide. And the thing that we must look in our own hearts to find confirmed. Is that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is there.

[5:31] So that ye come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall also confirm you unto the end.

[5:43] That ye may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can have all the gifts as the Corinthians had. And yet not be particularly godly. Not particularly gracious.

[5:54] Indeed there are those even that can speak in tongues. That by that give no evidence that they are born again at all. And this is the important thing.

[6:07] That we are those that are waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that we are those that will be confirmed in him in that day. By a work that is within.

[6:17] Not just by those things that are without. But by a work of the Spirit of God within the heart. That is what counts. That is what matters. And there must then be a looking to Christ.

[6:29] And then Paul begins in the chapter to speak of the divisions. That he has learned are in this church. And the party spirit that has got in.

[6:41] I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. I am of Christ. They were those that they were putting themselves under. Now it is perfectly ordinary and appropriate to enjoy certain ministries.

[6:56] And indeed to prefer certain ministers when they make their visits. But we are not to put them to the place that we will not hear anybody else than these men.

[7:10] And we must seek to not be of a party spirit. The party spirit is not of the essence of the gospel. Whether it be to view ministers as the ones that we put ourselves under.

[7:27] And to speak more highly of some than of others. Or whether it be to speak of one another in a way that exalts some and disparages others. This party spirit is a curse and not a blessing in any church.

[7:40] God delivers from anything of it. And so he begins to speak of the gospel. The party spirit seems to have been maintained by some by reason of who it was performed the baptizing.

[7:56] This person was of prominence. And it is you know in some of our causes of the same order. Especially those places of course where there is no settled minister.

[8:08] No pastor. And there is that exercise comes upon a soul for baptism. And he or she desires to be baptized. Then who will do it?

[8:20] And they have their favorites. Perhaps the person under whose ministry the word was fastened upon their conscience. Perhaps another under whose ministry they were specially blessed.

[8:30] And they are baptized by that person. And I have known it even in these days to be the case that they won't be baptized. Unless they get their own favorite minister to do the baptizing. It seems to take away from the whole nature and case of the ordinance to be in a disposition like that.

[8:48] It is not the person. And Paul says he thanked God that he did not baptize very many in Corinth. Because of this that had become a very contentious issue among them.

[9:01] And what's an awful thing when we are looking more to the fleshly aspects. Even of a godly ordinance. And looking to the ordinance itself. And looking to Christ.

[9:12] It is Christ Paul says. Was Paul crucified for you? It isn't that any of those that are your ministers have died to save you. Why be following me a man then and making so much of me a man.

[9:27] It is Christ. I'm Christ crucified. And then he goes into the matter of Christ crucified. And how that is the great stumbling block to the Jews as he had once known in his own case.

[9:40] And then it is the foolishness to the Greek. The Greek questing after knowledge and wisdom could not see in a crucified redeemer.

[9:51] That which is philosophic. That doesn't pander to the intellect of men. But that's God's way. That's the power of God unto salvation.

[10:02] It is by Christ and him crucified. That men are saved. And the thing that is foolish with men is the wisdom of God.

[10:13] And so he speaks of how there are those that know this in their own case. Not the sort of ones that men would choose. If we were choosing the church we would choose very different people I'm sure to make up its numbers.

[10:28] We would look for the persons that are in the high places. And the persons that we get along very well with. And we would choose them. But you see you are calling brethren not many wise men after the flesh.

[10:43] I was thinking on the meditation on this text of how we used to as children play games. And we had to pick teams. And if you were the person that had the choice.

[10:55] You were looking in turn to choose all those that would be the best players. All those that you felt would do well for you. You chose them.

[11:05] And you were tailed down to those you didn't regard to be of any worth whatsoever. And in the mercy of God he's chosen those that hadn't any worth whatsoever. Chosen me.

[11:17] Chosen you this morning. Who had no merit. Who would never have been chosen by men. We would have been entirely cut out of their reckoning.

[11:27] We would never have been entered into their books. But God hath chosen us. And oh we see that this is because he would be glorified.

[11:38] Verse 29. That no flesh should glory in his presence. That according as it is written he that glorieth. Let him glory in the Lord.

[11:50] Now this then is the setting. This is the scaffolding. That brings us to a consideration of this 30th verse. Here is the one who is made a blessing to his people.

[12:03] Here is the one by whose sufferings even unto the death of the cross our salvation has been accomplished. Here is the one in whom we meet.

[12:13] Here is the one that should make us turn from everything that's of the flesh. That we might be taken up with him. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus.

[12:26] Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Well look at the one who has made these great things for us.

[12:41] There he is named for us Christ Jesus. The Messiah Jesus. The one who is the anointed of God.

[12:52] The one who has come to perform all the Father's will. The one who was given that name at his birth. Jesus. Who shall save his people from their sins.

[13:06] The one who is the creator of the ends of the earth. For things visible and invisible. Things in heaven and in earth. They have been brought into being by him.

[13:17] And by him all things consist. And yet he is that one that came and took our nature upon himself. That he might bless us.

[13:28] That he might bless us with all spiritual blessings. In Christ Jesus. Come to seek and to save.

[13:40] That which was lost. Now one could speak of Christ Jesus and the names and the implications. But we know these things. And we should know them. But the thing that I ask you to particularly notice is that in Christ Jesus is in the verse.

[13:56] And it seems only a few weeks ago. A couple of months ago at the most. That I spoke on this as the New Testament description of a Christian. In Christ.

[14:07] In Christ. A man in Christ. A man or a woman who is a Christian is in Christ. And when we think of Christ Jesus what we want to consider here is that we are in Christ Jesus.

[14:22] That God the Father has put us in Christ Jesus. That we are those that have been brought into union. And it expresses union this phrase. We are those that have union with the church's living head.

[14:37] The Spirit of God has brought us into Christ Jesus. And this is the ground of our spiritual life. If we have the Son.

[14:48] John says we have life. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. We are dead in Adam.

[15:00] We are dead in sin. But we are alive and only spiritually alive in Christ. Are you in Christ? In Christ Jesus. Pause my soul and ask the question.

[15:13] Art thou ready to meet God? Am I made a real Christian? Washed in the Redeemer's blood. Have I union with the church's living head?

[15:25] So we are brought to see that the one that we must be in is the church's living head. In Christ Jesus. Well then what are we in Christ Jesus to discover?

[15:41] He is made, says this verse. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

[15:51] Spurgeon says concerning this verse that we have a spiritual existence in Christ Jesus. But we have also a spiritual wealth through Christ Jesus.

[16:07] If we have a spiritual existence because we are in Christ Jesus we are spiritually wealthy. And in these four respects.

[16:18] In wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now we are in Christ Jesus who was made or who is made unto us.

[16:33] And yet the one who is Christ Jesus was not made. We confess Christ as the Son of God uncreate.

[16:45] Not made. He is the only begotten of the Father. He is a Son by an eternal generation. But we are told here that he is made.

[16:57] We know that in the doctrine of the Son he is not created. He is not made by any. He is equal with the Father and the Spirit.

[17:10] In power and in glory. He is the maker. For by him all things that have come into being have been made as we just said.

[17:21] But he is described for us here as made. And it shows then that the burden of this verse is not what he is.

[17:31] But what he is for us. What he has been made for our sins. He is made unto us.

[17:42] Wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Well then let us see what he has made. First of all as wisdom.

[17:53] He is made for us wisdom. The Greeks seek wisdom. We are in this very chapter told in the 22nd verse.

[18:05] The Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block. And unto the Greeks foolishness.

[18:16] Apart from Christ and in crucified there is no wisdom. If we would be wise then we have got to be in Christ Jesus. And the great ones of the earth that are always telling us how wise they are.

[18:30] If they are outside of Christ Jesus. Whatever knowledge they may have. And whoever prudently God in his general providence may permit them to exercise that knowledge.

[18:41] And there are a few it seem to me that are wise in that sense. But whatever there be of wise men in the world. They are not wise in any real sense.

[18:54] Except they know Christ and him crucified. This is the true wisdom. All true knowledge must be the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[19:05] The man is wise that knows Jesus Christ as his savior. A man is a fool that denies that Jesus Christ is God. The fool has said in his heart there is no God.

[19:16] And remember this. That if there is a denial of the deity of Christ. It's the same as saying that there is no God. When we are thinking of Christ. We must know that he is God.

[19:27] Acknowledge him as Thomas. My Lord and my God. But if we deny his deity we are as the atheist. The fool in his perversity that says in his heart there is no God.

[19:40] So Christ is made the wisdom that we need. Man is made to think. Man is given the power of thought.

[19:53] Made in the image and likeness of God above the creatures. Man is able to think. Man is able to reason. Man is to make use of the knowledge that he has got.

[20:07] And in Adam's innocency you see the great wisdom that Adam was given. And I'll give you an example of the great wisdom of Adam from Genesis chapter 2.

[20:19] Before Adam sinned. Here is man made in the image and likeness of God. And in the second chapter of Genesis and at the 19th verse we are told that out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.

[20:40] And whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. There is the original wisdom of Adam.

[20:53] He was there an original innocency before God possessed of such a wisdom that he gave the names to all that is created. He gave them their names out of his wisdom.

[21:08] But then sin entered. You go on a chapter into the third chapter and you learn of the serpent and the serpent's tempting of Eve. And then how Eve gave the fruit to Adam.

[21:21] And Adam did eat thereof. And the entrance of sin. And the devil's lie was this. Ye shall be as gods knowing good.

[21:31] And they sinned.

[21:42] Do you know what the first thing was that they knew after they had sinned? After they had sinned there was a difference. This original righteousness was lost. This perfect wisdom was no more as it had been.

[21:55] They had knowledge. But they had knowledge indeed of good and evil. Knowledge of the good that now they had forsaken. Knowledge of the evil that now would be upon them. And as a curse to them.

[22:06] And upon their posterity after them. But the first thing we are told. The first thing that they knew after they had sought the knowledge. That was like to the knowledge of God himself.

[22:20] Well we are told what it is. They knew that they were naked. Chapter 3 and the 7th verse. The eyes of them both were opened.

[22:31] And they knew that they were naked. That is they knew that they were as sinners before God. That's the force of it. It's not just that to one another they realized that they were without clothing.

[22:44] But it was they realized a nakedness before God. They had the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

[22:58] And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and was afraid because I was naked. And I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?

[23:10] There was a loss of that perfect wisdom that had been implanted in Adam by his creator in the beginning. And now with this knowledge of the good that was left and the evil that was upon them.

[23:28] They knew that they were naked. And they knew that there was a separation. They knew that they were not as they were. And all man's knowledge and all man's wisdom, when it leaves Christ out, is that which leaves him short of God, without a Savior.

[23:50] And it is then the first thing that must happen to a man, to be shown that he is naked, that he is bereft, that he cannot by his searching find out God, that he needs that God should show him concerning himself, and show him the way by which he must come, that he might live before God.

[24:12] And Christ was made wisdom. Christ was made wisdom. Came to teach us. Came to tell us. Came as that word, to declare the way to God.

[24:23] To declare even to those who were dead in trespasses and sins, through Adam's transgression, whose foolish hearts were darkened, whose minds were closed against the truth of the gospel.

[24:36] Christ was made wisdom. He was made that prophet. He is prophet, priest, and king. You will see that this verse brings before us the three great offices of Christ.

[24:49] Prophet, priest, and king. And if you say, but there are four parts in this verse, and yet you're saying that there are these that complement prophet, priest, and king, I'll try to show you that in a moment or two.

[25:04] But Christ made wisdom. Is Christ coming as a prophet, declaring the will of God to poor, sinful men, declaring the way of salvation, through faith in his work.

[25:18] The Old Testament coming, and coming in an individual way, coming short of an enfleshment, coming not as he would come when he took our nature upon him, but nonetheless coming to address individuals, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets.

[25:41] He addressed them in the Old Testament. The word of the Lord came to such. And then the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

[25:51] And God last of all sent his son, and said, they will hear him, they will reverence my son. But they took him, and by wicked hands he was crucified and slain, and yet in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

[26:07] Thus it was appointed that sinners might be saved. That's why there must be the preaching of the cross. That's why there must be the preaching of Christ and him crucified.

[26:19] Whatever the Jews think, whatever the Greeks may say, this must be the message preached, because this is the power and the wisdom of God. As Paul had come himself to know it in his own heart, he knew the power of God that on the Damascus road brought him to salvation.

[26:38] and he knew the wisdom of God as Christ addressed them, and he was made to answer the word of Christ. Who art thou, Lord, he asked? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

[26:52] He made wisdom to know my Jesus crucified. For by far excels all things beside us. He made wisdom to you of you being brought to the wisdom that is in Christ Jesus.

[27:08] And God bringing you to that wisdom will show you that every other wisdom is as foolish. And that you are as foolish yourself without this wisdom.

[27:21] And it's when you come to an end of yourself and own that you don't know how you can make yourself just before God. And then you're brought to see God's way in Christ and know the power and the wisdom of God in your experience.

[27:33] He is made unto us wisdom. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.

[27:48] May we be those that know the wisdom of God. Christ is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God dwelling in us because Christ dwells in us.

[27:59] Now the righteousness is the second of these treasures. For those with a spiritual existence there is spiritual wealth there is wisdom there is also righteousness.

[28:15] When Adam knew his nakedness before God he lost as we've said his original righteousness. By one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin by one man's disobedience many were made sinners.

[28:31] Romans 5 Because of Adam's sin we are those born into a fallen world and by original sin we are all as Adam sinners in our own case.

[28:45] Men are without a righteousness. They cannot work to produce a righteousness. They are as naked before God with nothing to cover them from the absolute standard and holiness of God and the coming certain coming of the day of judgment.

[29:02] They are without a righteousness. And even when we try to make a righteousness as I said on Thursday from Hebrews 6 one dead works man seeks by dead works to come before the living God and thinks that his dead works will do.

[29:16] But we are all undone says Isaiah all our righteousness is there as a non clean thing before God's sight. They have got no worth they've got no merit they're dead works.

[29:31] And we need the righteousness which is made over to us. We need the righteousness of Christ. He is the righteous one. He is the one that stands for his people.

[29:44] He's the one that came to secure a righteousness by his law keeping. He stood in the sinner's law place Thomas Boston puts it. He stood in your place he took your obligations to keep the law and provide a righteousness for acceptance with God.

[30:00] He took that upon himself. And then he took the penalty of those that have sinned. He took upon him the consequence of unrighteousness.

[30:11] He took our place and condemned he was not only by men but he was brought under the sentence of God. And he was made to be sin for us who knew no sin.

[30:24] That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And this is that we might have the robe about us. When we are being dealt with and wisdom comes to us and God is showing us now because the spirit has been brought into our hearts and we're beginning to be turned and brought to saving repentance and saving faith.

[30:50] We are shown our want of righteousness, our need of righteousness. We're shown that without righteousness we cannot appear before God.

[31:01] We're shown our nakedness. We're shown what Adam was shown. We're shown in our own experience the ruin of Adam's transgression. And as he felt his unrighteousness to be as a nakedness, he hid from God because he said I was naked.

[31:16] So we are brought to that place when God is at work upon us. And then we're shown that there is that robe of a perfect righteousness. And that Christ is our righteousness, made unto us wisdom and righteousness.

[31:31] And that righteousness of Christ, his perfect obedience and his dying in the place of the transgressors, that is put to our account. And we are clothed in his righteousness.

[31:44] righteousness. And there are those that sometimes say in the fashions of this world that I like that dress, how much did it cost? And the answer may be given or it may not be given.

[31:55] But if the believer is asked concerning the robe of Christ's righteousness upon him, he can only say that it cost him nothing, but it cost Christ everything. And we are redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

[32:11] as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the robe of his righteousness. And we want to be more concerned that we've got that righteousness about us than anything that this world may consider attractive.

[32:24] This is glorious dress. This is the only dress that we can stand in in the day of judgment. We are not clad in the robe of his righteousness, we are as Adam in his nakedness.

[32:38] We will seek in that day to hide ourselves from the face, of God and the Lamb, and cry to the mountains and the rocks to fall upon us and cover us from the wrath of the Lamb.

[32:50] We need the robe of his righteousness, and that will never grow old, that will never grow outmoded. I was thinking of the lines of the hymn, Adam when the tempter foiled him, his bright robes were quickly gone, but this righteousness of Jesus once applied, tis always on.

[33:10] Dear friends, if you have Christ made unto your wisdom, he's made unto your righteousness, you are that robe that is always on, and in that glorious dress you will stand bold in the great day to come.

[33:26] And it's the only way that we can possibly be upheld. The spotless robe, the same appears when ruined nature sinks in years, no age, nor change, its glorious hue, the robe of Christ.

[33:41] is ever new. Are you in Christ? Then you have that robe of his righteousness about you. Not the robe of your own righteousnesses, which are as filthy rags and unclean things.

[33:55] The robe of his perfect righteousness. Jehovah said king you, the Lord my righteousness, the Lord my righteousness. He hath finished, Daniel is told, he hath finished transgression, made an end of sin and brought in everlasting righteousness.

[34:17] And sanctification. Now this is where I try to show you that the four becomes three. And this came out of noticing the Greek text.

[34:31] It doesn't come out in the translation, but whereas there are in the translation simple ands, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

[34:42] In the Greek there is another little word, a two-lettered word, which is added to the and before sanctification.

[34:54] It is the Greek particle te. T-E. And let me tell you according to the lexicon, I would smith what this means.

[35:05] an enclitic particle such as te denotes a closer affinity than chi, the normal word for and, between words and sentences which it connects.

[35:17] Now what that means is this, it's not a lesson in Greek, but it's to show you that there is something here, that there is a difference made by God the Holy Spirit inspiring the apostles' language at this point, so that he doesn't just simply use the connecting word and, but he uses another, so that it is the force of and also.

[35:37] It is righteousness and also sanctification. And the little enclitic T means that these two are never to be separated. What God adjoined that no man put asunder.

[35:49] You are not to separate the imputed righteousness with the imparted righteousness. There is an imputed righteousness in the righteousness of Christ that is put upon us.

[36:00] It is covering our sins as a role. but there is an imparted righteousness for those who are so covered by the robe of righteousness are made new creatures in Christ Jesus.

[36:13] And it is not for us that have the imputation of his righteousness to be indifferent to the way that we live. We are to live righteously. He that doeth righteously is righteous, John says in his epistle.

[36:26] We are to be looking not just to an imputed righteousness but to the imparted righteousness of Christ in our lives. The imputed righteousness of Christ is something that cannot be controverted.

[36:40] It's an act of God. He declares his people to be righteous in his son. He declares them righteous. It isn't that they become righteous but he declares them to be righteous.

[36:51] It's the act of God the theologians say. It cannot be controverted. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. It is Christ who died.

[37:04] He rather who was risen again who was even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us. It is Christ's work that secures the ground of this righteousness being made over to us.

[37:15] He is made unto us righteousness and also he is made unto us sanctification and this sanctification this imparted righteousness is a work of God God.

[37:28] An act of God is that which is in a moment he declares us to be righteous. The work of God is that whereby he makes us righteous by the working of his spirit by the subduing of the lusts that are within our hearts and this is contradicted.

[37:44] If the imputed righteousness is an act of God that cannot be controverted the imparted righteousness is a work of God that is always contradicted.

[37:55] The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary. That is why we have the struggle. That is why we've got the fight. This is why some of us feel that we cannot be under the robe of his righteousness because we find us so sinful still.

[38:12] But this is part of the Christian's struggle. This is continuing warfare against the flesh and against the world and against the devil. And this is the work that is within us.

[38:24] This is continuing. But you see Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our sanctification. We start from the victor's position. We are not seeking to obtain a sanctification, a holiness that will qualify us from heaven.

[38:40] We have been given a righteousness. We have been made new creatures under the work that has been wrought for us. The Christ who has been made over to us will see us through to glory itself.

[38:56] And without holiness no man shall see the Lord we are told in Hebrews. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. There has got to be that difference. If we have got the imputed righteousness of Christ reckoned to us then there will be a concern for actual righteousness.

[39:15] Because only the Lord's people have the imputation of righteousness. And only the Lord's people are those that know the mighty regeneration of the spirit of God in their hearts.

[39:26] They are a new creation. They were darkness but now they are light in the Lord. They are not what they were. That's why we cannot come to terms with our sinfulness and say it doesn't matter how we live.

[39:38] And even though we try to do it. And I think that the Christian day by day is seeking to come to terms with sin but we can never come to terms with sin. We must also regard it as that sinning sin which is the thing that God hates and we cannot have any affinity to it even though we are plagued by it.

[40:00] But if we have got the righteousness of Christ upon us by imputation then the work of God is continuing within us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[40:14] To yield our members not as instruments of unrighteousness and sin as once we did when we could do no else but that we might yield our members instruments of righteousness unto God.

[40:26] But when you feel that you are unable to come before God with a holiness and yet without holiness no man shall see the Lord the thing to look to dear friends oh God enable you to look to this that it's Christ who has your sanctification even as he is your righteousness and the two are inextricable he who is your righteousness is your sanctification.

[40:48] Now that's the comfort that the child of God will never be lost the child of God will never be rejected in the day of judgment. Though our sins condemn us our hearts condemn us though we feel desperate at times because we are so far from what we should be yet Christ is both our righteousness and our sanctification he is the ground of our being accepted but also he is the very holiness that we need.

[41:22] He is that Christ that Paul to the Colossians says Christ in you the hope of glory the fact that we will be in glory and not excluded from the eternal blessings.

[41:34] Christ in you because he has made wisdom he has made righteousness and also sanctification these two together. So you see he is prophet and he is priest this is the priestly work of Christ you will see it more in Hebrews as we get in again in the 7th chapter and through to the 18th verse and the 10th chapter you will see it developing.

[41:57] You will see the priestly work of Christ is to procure for us a righteousness and that we might be those whose consciences are purged from dead works by the blood of Christ that we are a righteous people a godly people a people that are seeking that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

[42:18] So Christ is prophet and he is priest in this that he has made unto us righteousness and also sanctification. You see you cannot separate what God has put together.

[42:31] The tendency has been in the last hundred years to make a separation between Christ as Savior and Christ as Lord. You know that that's the teaching of some sections of evangelical people they say that you can have Christ as Savior that's what really matters but we would like you to have Christ as Lord that's something that we exhort you to take seriously but even if you don't it doesn't really matter because you've still got him as a Savior no if we've got him as a Savior with the imputation of his righteousness about us as a rogue then we are those who also acknowledge him as Lord you don't have him as a Savior but your desire is that you might be under his lordship and it's as simple as this if you wonder are you a child of God then let me ask you are you concerned to please him do you desire to please him or do you seek to please yourself is your religion a self-pleasing religion or is your religion a desire that Christ in all things should have the preeminence and you lament your lack of growth in grace and knowledge of him and you lack that reproduction of likeness to him that we are predestinated unto and you're lamenting that you're not yet what you ought to be and what you should be but your desire is that he will not let you go your desire is that you might yet be kept and brought into the heavenly state that's that's the essence of it if you long for him if you desire above all else one thing have I desired of the

[44:06] Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in that secret place that there might be that abiding presence of the almighty forever as my portion if that is your longing and that is your desire then there is no doubt he's made unto you made unto your wisdom and righteousness and also sanctification he's prophet and priest unto you and then he's king he's king also and redemption it says and redemption now when I was newly saved or even beyond that in the in the early days of Christian experience and beginning to learn for the work of the ministry when one thinks you've got all the answers to all the questions and it's going to take many years before you realize you haven't even begun to ask a lot of the questions and many of the answers to the questions you've asked you need to rethink and redefine them because they're inadequate but in these days I thought that Paul had made a mistake

[45:16] I thought he's speaking of redemption he should have put the redemption before the righteousness and the sanctification wisdom and redemption because I thought of redemption simply as the blood of Jesus the price that he paid for us upon the cross and then as time passed and the Lord showed me the meaning of the verse it isn't this at all this redemption is the future redemption this is the redemption of the final state when the Lord comes again this is the redemption of the body when Christ comes at the end of the age Romans 8 and 23 Romans 8 and 23 we ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wait the redemption of our body

[46:19] Paul hasn't got it all wrong Paul has put the redemption last because in this consideration this is the last thing this is the triumph of the kingly work of the Redeemer made unto us prophet and priest made unto us wisdom and righteousness and also sanctification that he will bring us to glory this is the burden of his prayer and he will see that the prayer is fulfilled because he is the one in whom the father always takes pleasure his will is that where he is we might be also he's gone to prepare a place for us and this is speaking then of the certainty of the last things we have the spirit as no a pledge of what will be we have the first fruits of the spirit now you got the same thing in Ephesians concerning the first fruits of the spirit the first chapter and in the 13th and 14th verses ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption there it is again until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Ephesians and in the fourth chapter and there at the 30th verse

[47:36] Ephesians 4 30 grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption we have the spirit of God we have that sealing work of the grace of God whereby the spirit of God has impressed upon us that we are the Lord's and he has made his mark upon us and he causes us to to feel the weight of his presence at times we know that the spirit of God is there the spirit of liberty and thus we cry Abba Father you know the earlier verses in Romans but we have that desire that when we die that it won't be the end and for the believer we have this great certainty announced in the gospel that Christ will bring us to glory the head in heaven will never be separated from the body he will bring us where he is he's gone before to prepare that place for us and he will come again and receive us unto himself but what of death we think of the souls of the redeemed at death passing to be in the into the presence of Christ where are the spirits of just man made perfect but we've left something behind we've left our bodies behind but the very bodies of the Lord's people are redeemed never forget it they that are the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to it the redemption of the body now there's one thing that I don't like to be over emphasized at a funeral and that is what you sometimes hear the bereaved person say and one is very sympathetic to them when they say there's nothing there anymore that's just the shell the loved one isn't there anymore well that's true the loved one is if in Christ absent from the body present with the

[49:35] Lord in the paradise of God in the third heaven but that shell as you've described it that shell is precious in God's sight and that will be consigned to the earth and that will know the worms upon it and it will crumble into dust but it belongs to Christ it is that which he has purchased in the blood that was shed he has bought our redemption body and soul he's he's paying for both and when he comes at the end he will come in such an act of kingly power that the dead will be raised and that which is sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption and that which has known mortality will be brought to partake of immortality and that which has been in shame will be raised to honor and this will be at the coming of the Lord and we that are the first fruits of the spirit and the more we're brought into a hope in Christ and more to contemplate our mortality and these bodies will speak of our mortality they're weary bodies as you get older the least little thing begins to be a burdensome thing and we know what it is when pain comes and pain increases and there's that gradual taking down of this earthly tabernacle this body of our humiliation until it will eventually be brought to an end there will be the parting of spirit and body the soul will go to be with Christ and the body to the ground to be portioned for the worms until that day of resurrection but there will be that day and this is the great comfort to us that our bodies will be raised and our souls and bodies together know forevermore in

[51:24] Christ made by that mighty act of his power in coming there will be that raising again and this body this vile body shall be made like unto his glorious body now don't just say it's the soul that matters and the body's got no consequence the body is the shell in a sense but the shell is precious in God's sight that's why we can't commit it to the flames of cremation that body that the savior has shed his blood to possess will be treated as something that is to be put on the refuse tip and put to the incinerator the theology of of cremation is contrary to all that is spiritual and all that is of God however it is advanced however people say that it doesn't matter didn't matter for the the martyrs that were burned God is able to raise them up it doesn't matter in that sense if in in folly there have been those that have been cremated or the unbelieving loved ones of some have demanded that they be cremated that they're dying God will raise them up again God will not be unable to do it he will raise them from the ashes just as from the dust but how can we take that which is the made in the image and likeness of God the the bodies that are there as the frame in which the soul is put how can we take that for which

[52:45] Christ has shed his blood and cast it into the fire as if it were of no more value or consequence just to be rid of it when we realize this and the more it comes to us we groan within ourselves because we're we're wanting that redemption of the body we want to be in glory and Christ made unto us wisdom he announces to us concerning righteousness and sanctification a righteousness and a holiness which is ours in him so that we shall go to heaven nothing will prevent the work of Christ from its most full and final consummation when we shall be body and soul forever with the Lord to sing his praise through endless ages this is the Christian hope this is the blessed hope this is the confidence of the Lord's people we're looking for the redemption to win the redemption of the body ourselves body and soul in the presence of

[53:45] Christ forever more but it is the earnest of it the Holy Spirit is the pledge if he's in our hearts and showing us the things of Christ and the word of Christ dwelling in us richly in all wisdom through the Spirit's application through the word as the Spirit of God is the earnest of these things so they will be brought to pass so there is something from this verse who has designed it it is of God of him are ye in Christ Jesus it is of God it is of God that these things are so and the eleventh chapter of Romans the end of it sums it up for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen salvation isn't the will of the flesh it isn't of the flesh it isn't of the will of man it isn't of blood it is of God it is the salvation of God that we're treating we're preaching the salvation that is of God it is of God that Christ is made unto us it's the father has given up his son spared him not given him to die for us given him to be all that we should need in this life given us that hope of glory in him it is of God it is the father has willed it it is the father has purposed it and for whom is it purposed it is of God it is of God for ye says the apostle who are in

[55:21] Christ Jesus for of him are ye in Christ Jesus it's for the elect it's for the people of God it's for the church it's for you and me these things that we've been treating in this verse they are of God for you and for me who are in Christ Jesus even though we feel to be exactly as those that are in the 26 verses and 27 not many mighty not many noble the weak things the base things the things which are despised that's what we feel to be but these are for us the wisdom the righteousness and also the sanctification the redemption it is for us though we be as base as that and even viler and even in our own eyes we join in the apostles description of himself the chief of sinners the chief of sinners though that we feel pertains exactly to us it's for us in Christ Jesus and what we have lost in

[56:24] Adam oh it has been gloriously retrieved in Christ and he's given us to no more blessings than our father lost in Christ Jesus made of God for ye unto us wisdom righteousness and sanctification also and redemption and the only thing then is that there be the giving of the glory Kelly in the hymn says being of the favored number in Christ Jesus being of the favored number whom the Savior calls his own tis not meet that we should slumber nothing should be left undone this should be his people's aim still to glorify his name but according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord or that we might have such interest in Christ Jesus and that we might know we have all things in him he is all I need all I shall ever need for time and for eternity full Christ all Christ in you the hope of glory God bless his word for his namesake amen