and it's a blessing to be able to come and be immersed in the things of God, isn't it? Put aside the other things of life and just immerse our hearts and minds in sacred music and the Word of God, truths of the Word of God. Turn with me please to 1 Corinthians in chapter 1. 1 Corinthians and chapter 1. as we continue in our Sunday evening series and you should have a fill-in sheet there if you wish to take the outline down as we go tonight. If you don't yet have one and would like one you could just raise your hand over here and our ushers will bring you one now. If you don't want to use it that's fine but it may be helpful to you. Sister Tina back there as well. Thank you. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and last week we began to deal with this theme of man's wisdom versus God's wisdom and we're going to pick up our reading in verse 18 and we'll read down to the end of the chapter and we will then continue with the theme tonight. So last week we got up to verse 24 so we'll just reread some of those verses and then God willing tonight verse 25 to 31 will be our main focus. Reading from verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which 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, there are not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, Not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And tonight we're going to deal with the theme, the notable nobodies the notable nobodies for you see your calling brethren that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but god hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise let's pray father we ask for your blessing upon your word tonight we thank you for its power lord to transform and to edify we thank you for its sanctifying work Lord Jesus, we are reminded of your prayer to the Heavenly Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. And so Lord, we pray that your word might have a sanctifying and purifying effect upon us tonight. Help me as the speaker to be empty of self, may it be not I, but Christ. And Lord, help each one here tonight to receive what is needed, to receive your word with an open heart. And we pray that you'd meet the needs now in Jesus' name. Amen. this section the Apostle Paul is tackling another major problem in the Corinthian church and the Corinthian church was a church full of problems and guess what? Where there are sinners saved by grace there are going to be problems. Even the best of churches, even the most mature churches will face problems but the Corinthian church sure had its fair share of problems. So the Apostle Paul here in chapter 1 tackled the issue of their disunity and that was a major problem in the church. They were divided up into factions. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ and the church was just being ripped apart by carnal disputes and carnal attitudes. But Paul is now dealing with another major issue that was going on in the Corinthian church and that was their infatuation with worldly wisdom. And so you see this comparison, this running comparison through these verses between the wisdom of God on the one hand versus the wisdom of man on the other hand. And this carries on into chapter 2 as we will see in our studies. So what I want us to do tonight though, in our last message we looked at the Apostle's comparison between divine and human wisdom and now you will notice that he points to the Corinthian believers themselves as an illustration of the wisdom of God. As an illustration of what he has just been speaking about. So he goes through and he shows the foolishness of man's wisdom and then he gives He gives an example here by referring to the Corinthian believers themselves, for ye see your calling brethren, verse 26. And so Paul is really clinching his argument here by causing the Corinthian believers to reflect on their own salvation and how God in his wisdom had drawn them to himself. And so we've called this, or entitled the message, The Notable Nobodies. Because the Corinthian church was made up primarily of people who were considered to be nobodies as far as the world was concerned and yet they were notable to God. People who were loved of God and people who were special to God. And folks, this is really the New Testament church. God's New Testament churches are made up primarily of notable nobodies. Nobody's as far as the world is concerned but somebody's in the eyes of God. So tonight we're going to look at four truths concerning God's calling of the Corinthian believers and I want to draw your attention firstly to what I would call the power of God's calling. The power of God's calling and we'll just recap briefly on verse 23 and 24 And the Bible reads, But unto them which 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. And so we see the power of God's calling, the power that drew the Corinthian believers to salvation. Aren't you thankful for that power that brought you to salvation? And it was the power of Christ being preached, Christ crucified. The power of the Word of God there, the power of the gospel to draw your heart to Jesus Christ. Oh, let us never underestimate the power of Christ proclaimed. Jesus Christ, we preach Christ and Him crucified. He is the centerpiece of our faith. He is the focus of our faith. He is the grand theme of the Word of God, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so the power that brings salvation is, if you're taking notes, letter A there, convicting power. The power that brings salvation is convicting power. Now, it's a power that does not operate through human philosophy. We've seen that in the passage. That is not the power of God. In fact, injecting human philosophy and human wisdom into our preaching of the gospel actually robs the gospel of its power. And so we are not to try and dilute the gospel, we're not to try and water down the gospel, but we are to preach the gospel in its undiluted form, in its pure form, in the Word of God. And when we preach the gospel and Christ crucified in that way, there is great power to convict. And so Paul, that's a major theme there. He mentions the preaching of the gospel, verse 17, the preaching of the cross, verse 18, and then Christ crucified, verse 23. So the gospel, the power, sorry, that brings salvation is convicting power. The convicting power of the gospel as it is preached to bring men and women to an understanding of their sin and of their need of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the power that brings salvation is also, number two there under that heading, converting power. It's converting power, verse 24, but under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. And so we're reminded that the gospel call is for all men, both Jew and Gentile, and those who respond positively to the call of the gospel experience its life-transforming power. And really what you see in the passage before us is the two responses to the wisdom of God, the two responses to the salvation message. You have the negative response on one hand where people consider Christ crucified to be a foolish thing according to their view, but then those who respond positively to the message find it to be the very power and wisdom of God. And if you've been saved tonight, you've experienced that converting power. Have you been converted? you need conversion, you need to be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God and liberty and freedom and salvation is found not in your religious efforts, not in your Christian upbringing, but it is found in the message of the gospel and the gospel is Jesus Christ died for our sins, 1 Corinthians 15. He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That is the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation. The power of God and the wisdom of God. Christ is the power of God because He possesses all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Colossians 2 and 9. And when the sinner repents, believes and receives Christ as Savior, he enters their lives in the person of the Holy Spirit, cleansing, converting and transforming. So Christ is the power of God, but he's also called here the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ is wisdom in incarnate he's the embodiment of wisdom in Christ Colossians 2 3 I hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and so to know Christ is to know true wisdom to reject Christ is to live a dark and a foolish life so the power of their calling is Converting power, then confounding power, verse 25, confounding power because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now you say, hang on a minute, God is neither foolish nor is he weak. And Paul is giving two very startling, ironical statements here to make a point. Now in reality, God is neither weak nor is He foolish. But Paul is taking man's perception. Man thinks God is foolish. Man thinks God is weak. And Paul is showing that actually, He is the opposite. God is all-powerful and God is all-wise. The foolishness of God is wise than men. So what man deems to be foolish is actually wisdom. And what man deems to be wisdom is actually foolish. So it's the complete reverse, isn't it? The weakness of God is stronger than men. What man deems as weakness is actually power. And what man deems as power is actually weakness. like the way one writer puts it, the lowest manifestation of divine wisdom exceeds the highest results of the wisdom of men. The lowest exercise of God's power is more effectual than all human strength. That's a great way of thinking of it. So even the lowest manifestation of divine wisdom, the simplest of God's wisdom, so to speak, is still infinitely higher than all of man's wisdom. And even the smallest exercise of God's power is just so much more powerful than all of human strength. And so there's confounding power. It confounds those who consider themselves to be wise, but in fact are fools. So that's the power of God's calling. Look number two, at the people of God's calling. The people of God's calling. Who are the people whom God calls? For you see, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, Now Paul speaks here about the minority in God's calling and the majority. So we have firstly there the minority in God's calling. see how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now it doesn't say not any and if you are an individual who's maybe achieved some measure of wealth as far as the world is concerned or even some level of academic training and you've been converted you should be very thankful. that your wealth or your wisdom, according to the world, didn't stop you from getting saved. But it says, not many. So we have the minority in God's calling. There are some, but there are not many in this category or in these categories that respond positively to the gospel. So we could say, number one, not many of the world's professionals. Not many of the world's professionals. You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men the flesh. Now, all you have to do is read the book of Proverbs and you'll know that God is interested in wisdom and so when God is talking here about not many wise people getting saved, he's talking about people who are wise in a worldly sense and that's true! People achieve, I was sharing with someone this morning, people achieve a high level of worldly wisdom and that can actually become a terrible barrier to them humbling themselves and becoming a Christian. Why? Because they think that knowledge tends to puff up, doesn't it? And this is the problem, you see, not many of the world's intellectuals, not many of the world's academics are called. Now, there are some, praise the Lord for that, but they're in the minority, they're very few because they're so puffed up in worldly wisdom that it makes them unreceptive to the truth of God's Word. But praise God, there are some. was a dear sister in Christ who lived in the 1700s from 1707 to 1791 and she was the Countess of Huntingdon and she said that she thanked God for the letter M in the word many. She said, I'm getting to heaven on the letter M and people would say, what do you mean? She said, it says not many, it doesn't say not any. she was a very wealthy woman who was converted I think through the early Methodists, she was a personal friend of John Wesley and men like George Whitefield and she became a very influential figure in early Methodism, contributing somewhere in the order of a hundred thousand pounds to the spread of the gospel through the early Methodist movement. Now 100,000 pounds doesn't sound like a lot to us today but in the early 1700s that's a phenomenal sum of money. I mean we're talking in today's language millions and millions of dollars and when you consider that a family of four could live on 31 pounds a year that's a lot of money for that time. It'd be nice if we could live on that today. Won't be easy under our one easy. Okay. And she was also a friend of the great hymn writer Isaac Watts. And so we're not saying tonight that no one can be saved from this category and praise God there are people who get saved. Thank God for those with the PhDs who get converted and thank God for those who have great wealth who get converted but the Bible is just telling us very plainly that they are in the minority as far as the people of God are concerned. So we could say not many of the world's professionals respond to the words to the gospel. Number two, not many of the world's powerful, the word mighty, the word mighty means powerful or capable, it refers to those who occupy positions of power and influence in the world, we call them the elites, well that's what they're often referred to, people who have maybe hold positions of political power, high office in the world, that becomes a barrier to them getting saved, why? Because they feel so powerful? I mean, do you know many sports stars or pop stars or movie stars that are Christians? Not many. Why? Because their popularity and their power just inflates their pride to where they will not consider the gospel message. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them. Why would they humble themselves when in their minds they're movers and shakers? Now there are some. There are some Christians I believe in Canberra, but they're in the tiny... sorry, some Christian politicians in Canberra, probably not many Christians in Canberra, full stop, but anyway, I'm sure there's some humble believers there, there are some, I know some, so I better be careful what I say. But you think of even our own Parliament, there's not many in political office who know Christ, I think there are a few, but the tiny minority. Why? Because people just get drunk on their power and they think, well I don't need Christ, and so we can see the wisdom of God here and you can see God's wisdom in overall in this because if in a sense if the majority of the church was made up of the of the world's elites then it would tend to cause people to think that their own power or their wisdom really made them deserving of that. And then we could say not many of the world's privileged, verse 26, not many wise men after flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. And the word noble literally means well-born, it's the aristocrat class. those who are born into positions of privilege and power, the wealthy and the famous, the royal family, these sorts of positions tend to make people unreceptive to the gospel. Matthew 19, 24 to 26, the Lord Jesus said, and again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. the disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed at saying who then can be saved but Jesus beheld them and said unto them with men this is impossible But with God, all things are possible. So God is able to do the impossible and bring a rich person to himself. So the rich still need the gospel. The politicians still need the gospel. And we need to give them the gospel because we trust that some, even though it will be a minority, will come to faith in Jesus Christ. So it's not impossible. Paul is not saying not any, but he is saying not many. So that's the minority in God's calling. Now look at the majority of God's calling in verse 27 and 28. And we see here that the majority of the saints are not notable so far as the world is concerned. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, excuse me, to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Guess what? Most of us fall into one of those categories there. We're just nobodies as far as the world is concerned but we're precious to the Lord. And so this is the reality in this New Testament church age, there are some in the church that have great power or wealth and that's fine, that can even be a blessing if they use their wealth and their influence for the Lord's glory, like the Countess of Huntingdon there, who's a funder of God's work, can be a great blessing. But the majority of the church is made up of humble, ordinary, people, you and me. Not me, you don't know about my ancestry and you know way back there we had someone related to the royal family, we always like to find just someone famous in our lineage and forget all the scumbags that were there as well you know, man is an omnibus in which all his ancestors ride, that's a bit of a thought isn't it but anyway God, in his wisdom, has chosen that it be this way, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God's not going to have people standing in his presence saying, yeah, I deserve salvation, after all I was born into the royal family, I deserve salvation, I was a multimillionaire. No, no, no, God will not have anyone standing in his presence on that basis, whether you're rich or poor, we all have to come by the way of the cross, we all have to come low, we all have to bow at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Isn't the church a great leveller of men? The world goes on and on and on about equality. The only place you get really close to any kind of equality is in the local New Testament church, where everybody shares in a common salvation and the common faith and we all bow before the one Lord Jesus Christ and all bow to the truth of the Word of God where there's humility. I tell you what, there's wonderful, in the true sense of the word, equality of standing before the Lord there, no matter what your station of life is. you can have in the one local church, a believer who may be very wealthy sitting next to a blue-collar worker and it's not even an issue, there's no competition or shouldn't be, no snobbery, why? Because we're all sinners saved by grace and we just humble ourselves on that basis. So Paul lists five categories here and I want you to notice that they move in a declining order of importance From foolish, to base, to despise, to things which are not. So Paul basically takes us right down to the bottom rung of society, so to speak, to those who are not even considered to be anything. Okay, and it's from these groups of people that the majority of the church, of the saints, of the believers are called from. So, we could summarize. Let's just go through and look at these five categories. We have number one, what I call the laughed at people. The foolish things. The foolish things. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Those who are wise in their own eyes. Those who are wise in a worldly sense. And we think of the Sanhedrin, for example, and how they sneered at the apostles because they counted them to be unlearned and ignorant men. From their perspective, they were fishermen, they were men from humble walks of life, they didn't have perhaps the training and the scholastic achievements of the religious hierarchy of their day, and yet they were men who were mightily used of God. So these are the kinds of people that God calls. Then we could say, number two, the little people, the weak things, the weak ones, the weak things are the opposite to the mighty and those who occupy positions of power in the world system. You know, God even uses people who are weak physically, literally weak people, to do mighty things for him. And guess who gets the glory? The Lord. Don't despise weakness. if I could just be a strong person I could do more for the Lord. Maybe you're too strong for God to use. That's something my dad used to always say, often we are too strong for God to use and God has to break us and God has to weaken us so that then he might work through us. And so power through weakness and brokenness is God's way. Then number three, the low people, the base things. The word base literally means of low birth And he represents those who are of no repute in the world's estimation, says Vine. So you've got the noble, literally means well-born. Then you have the base, literally means no-born. That's the literal kind of sense in the Greek there. So it's that contrast going on there, those who are born from the lower walks of life. So for the Corinthian church, there were many, no doubt, who were probably converted slaves. who had no rights in the Roman world and yet they were elevated as sons and daughters of God. And other people, tradesmen and others from the lower walks of life, so to speak, as far as the world is concerned. And these are the sort of people that the Lord delights to save. Number four, the loathed people, the despised things. The word despised here means to regard as nothing, to despise utterly, to treat with contempt. And this would include slaves, the poor, and other looked down upon groups. That happens in the world, doesn't it? People achieve what they feel is some sort of status in society, and without God, what's the natural inclination? To despise, poor, to despise the little people and you know the government's like to say we're for the little people, we're actually there for themselves. God is for the little man, God is for the little person and God loves little people and loathed people, people who the world despises are precious to God. Then number five, we could call these the least people, the no things. Give me just a little bit more volume there, Mark, please. The low things, the no things. It says there, confound the things which are mighty, verse 28, and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Again, it's referring to people, things that are not. People who are, as far as the world is concerned, non-entities in the estimation of the world. Hodge writes, it refers to those who are entirely overlooked as though they had no existence. There is a climax here, God has even chosen those who are below contempt, too insignificant to be noticed at all. These and such as these does God choose to make kings and priests unto himself. So, Paul points to the Corinthians and themselves as an illustration of the wisdom of God, that God had drawn to himself, not many of the mighty and the powerful. Now there were some, like Crispus who was converted, he was the leader of the synagogue, I think Sosthenes was the leader of the synagogue and I think there was Gaius as well, so there were some notable names in the Corinthian church, but Paul said before you get all caught up in fleshly human wisdom, just look at your own conversion and remember the low place that God brought you out of and just be humble. don't get caught up in the world's wisdom and the world's foolishness there. So the people of God's calling. Then look number three at the position of God's calling, verse 30. And I'll come back to verse 29 in a moment. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord and so we have now the position that we are called to as believers but of him that is God ie in Christ Jesus wonderful position we have in the Lord Jesus Christ consider the placement into our position the placement into our position letter a there of him ye in Christ Jesus?' We're reminded that our placement in Christ is not of ourselves, it's not through works, it's the work of God the Father on our behalf. God has placed us into his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. our position in Christ is a gift from God. It's not something you can earn, it's not something you can work for, you've got to come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, believing the Gospel, receiving Him as your Lord and Saviour and God does that work of placing you into His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. It's the work of God our behalf, to place us into Christ. Then notice secondly, the person of our position. Who have we been placed into? We've been placed into a Jesus Christ. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus. That's a wonderful place to be isn't it? A Christian is one who is in Christ. In fact, the Bible tells us that when we're saved that Christ dwells in us, the hope of glory, and it tells us repeatedly that we are in Christ and both are true. Christ dwells in us and we are in Christ. That's a very... how do you even describe how close that union is? That's a wonderful union, isn't it? Between the believer and Christ. Christ in us and we in Christ. Are you in Christ? Did you know that every single person is either in Adam, in sin, or in Christ? Every single person in the world, you're either in Adam or in Christ. Now, we're born into this world in Adam. Then look at the privileges of our position. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, and look at these blessings, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So Christ has been made unto us, number one, wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom, true wisdom, as we've been seeing, is found only in Christ and the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. The wisdom of the world promises light but ultimately brings darkness but we came, if we're saved, to that place where our eyes were opened to the wisdom of God in Christ. And so true wisdom is found in the written word, the Bible, and in Christ, the living word. So Christ has made unto us wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness. Righteousness, true righteousness is found only in Christ. The word righteousness here means the quality of being right or just. Now we know that in our natural sinful state we are not righteous before God. Romans 3 verse 10 says, Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God in fact even our good works are tainted because the Bible says in Isaiah 64 verse 6 that all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags and so we have to come to the place where we realize that we are unrighteous because of our sin we We've broken the law of God, that is our state before God, before we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, before we receive salvation. We are unrighteous, we have no righteousness of our own, even our good works are as filthy rags before God. Being converted, becoming a Christian, being saved involves turning from my own sin and my own unrighteousness, my own works, and turning to Jesus Christ. And when we get saved, when we reach out the hands of faith and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, God places His righteousness upon us. That's imputed righteousness. he clothes us in his righteousness. So when you get saved, God not only washes your sin away, cleanses you from your sin record, he also clothes you in his perfect righteousness. And Paul spoke about this in Philippians 3, read Philippians 3 sometime and see Paul's impressive religious credentials. he lists them off, you know, circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of lameless, concerning zeal, persecuting the church and he goes through all his credentials, I mean, if you could line up the most religious people in the world and put Paul in that line he would have stood head and shoulders, so to speak, above everybody else. far as religious achievements were concerned. I mean Paul was the most religious man there was and yet he came to realize that he could not get to heaven through religion, that his own righteousness was worthless and And he came to this place, yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, verse eight through nine, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him. Be found in who? Be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Lord, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. so you need not a righteousness that is produced by your own works, you need a righteousness that is received. You've got to receive God's righteousness as a gift because you don't have any righteousness of your own and you've got to come to God and reach out the hands of faith and receive his gift of salvation and when you receive his salvation he not only forgives you of sin and cleanses you, he places his righteousness on you. So Christ is our righteousness, there's no righteousness outside of Christ but when we're in Christ, when we stand before God he sees the righteousness of his Son, God the Father sees the righteousness of his Son on our account and we can stand in his presence. Then the third blessing, sanctification. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification. You know you're never going to know sanctification as a believer outside of Christ. And you think about it, there's no salvation outside of Christ, neither is there any sanctification outside of Christ. You say, what's sanctification? Well, sanctification comes after salvation. It's a positional aspect. Yes, we understand through salvation we've been set apart to God, but sanctification primarily has to do with that ongoing growth process. I am saved, I'm now a child of God, but I need to grow in Christ. And it's that process whereby we become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ, and less and less like the world, and less and less like the flesh. And so that's a wonderful thing, we need to embrace that wholeheartedly, Lord sanctify me, make me more like Christ. But it's so encouraging and such a blessing to understand that all of our sanctification is found in Christ. And it's about Christ sanctifying us through his power and him doing the work in us and through us. need to get a hold of that because sometimes Christians get into this trap of trying to sanctify themselves in their own strength and that is destined to failure. you have no power to sanctify yourself. Now we understand there's the active side of the Christian life but we've got to be looking to the Lord in faith and trusting him to do the sanctifying work in us. Jesus Christ is our sanctification and so we need a Christ-centric view of salvation but also a Christ-centric view of sanctification. John 15 verse 4, Jesus said, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me.' So we need to come back to that place, Lord Jesus, I'm looking to you, you are my sanctification, I'm trusting your life, that your life will be lived through me, to make me the Christian I need to be. Some Christians wrongly think that a list of rules will sanctify them. Now we're not against having godly standards but those standards in and of themselves are not going to sanctify you. You know in many ways these things are the outworking of sanctification in practical areas of our lives but when we come back to the heart of sanctification it's just like the heart of salvation it's Christ and what Christ does in us and through us. Then, number four, the fourth blessing, Christ is made unto us, redemption. True redemption is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's redemption past, that has to do with my salvation, I'm redeemed, set free from the slave market of sin and Satan. But there's also redemption future and that has to do with our bodies. One day we'll get a new body, that'll be good, won't it? We won't make mistakes about the calendar anymore, 2004 instead of 2024. Romans 8, 23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. looking forward to that day and as you get further down the track in the Christian life surely you would look forward to that more and more, the new body aspect. That's the future aspect of your redemption, your soul's redeemed, you've been redeemed from sin, praise God for that, you have that position in Christ but there's still that future aspect of redemption. You see salvation, it's so amazing it covers our past, present and it covers our future. Justification, that deals with our past, we're saved from the penalty of sin. Sanctification, that's God's work in the present, we're saved continually as it were from the power of sin, by the power of Christ working in us and then the future aspect is our glorification where we will be delivered forever from even the presence of sin, we'll have a new body that no longer desires any sin and desires only to serve the Lord. Now, Think of all those eternal indescribable blessings, they're all available in Christ. They're all available in Christ and I want to ask you tonight, have you received Christ as your Saviour? Because if you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, he'll be made unto you wisdom. righteousness and sanctification and redemption. But you can't have those blessings outside of Christ, it's not in a religious system, it's not in a church system, as important as church is, it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is in a person, not in a religious system of man. Now we look fourthly and lastly at the purpose of God's calling. What was the grand purpose of God's all-wise plan? Well, we can see it clearly in the text. God's purpose was for there to be, firstly, no glory for self. Verse 29. reading back from verse 28... So why is it that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise? And base things... the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty. Why has God done all of this? Well, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God is working to his own glory. The word glory here means to vaunt or to boast and Isaiah reminds us, Isaiah 42, 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another. You think about it, if salvation was to those who thought themselves worthy of it, by virtue of their status in society, then man would get the glory. Think about it, if you can get to heaven through your own works, who gets the glory? If you can get to heaven because of your status or your position, who gets the glory? You get the glory and God is not going to give his glory to anybody else and God desires to be glorified in our salvation. Oh the glory that is due to his name, oh the glory that God receives through the salvation of the sinner. So God's purpose in this calling was no glory for self. Then, number two, all glory for the Savior. So no glory for self, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence, and all glory for the Savior, verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. So if you want to brag about someone, brag about the Lord in the right sense of the word. we don't deserve any glory. Who are we to think we deserve any glory? We are sinners saved by grace, we deserve hell. We deserve God's judgment. We deserve damnation. We didn't deserve salvation. It doesn't matter what station of life you came from. It doesn't matter what your lineage was. It doesn't matter whether you were born rich or poor, wealthy or famous. It doesn't matter. None of us deserved God's grace and yet God had mercy on us and God had pity and compassion upon us and so this should be the response of our hearts that God would receive the glory that is due to him for our salvation. according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So, the source of the quotation, where does it come from? Paul says it is written, it's a summary quotation from Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24 which reads, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. That's the source of the quotation. Then the sense of the quotation, what does it mean? What's its primary focus? The exhortation is for us to glory in the Lord. Psalm 34 2 reads, My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. So our response to God's salvation, the fact that he drew us and chose us, should be to glory in the Lord. Romans 16, 27, to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever, amen. 1 Timothy 1, 17, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever, amen. Jude 1, 25, to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, amen. And so as we reflect on our own salvation, And God worked in our lives in such a way that he would be glorified, that no flesh would glory in his presence, but that we would glory in the Lord. So as we think about man's wisdom versus God's wisdom, I wonder, what are you building your life on? The wisdom of man, that's really foolishness with God, or the wisdom of God as found in the Word of God? And then if you've been saved tonight, you have something to brag about, not yourself, but you can testify. God's saving grace in your life and glorify Him. Are you saved? Have you received Christ? Doesn't matter what your background is, doesn't matter what your vocation is, your level of education, your wealth or lack thereof, you need the Lord Jesus, whoever you are, you need the Lord Jesus Christ and you need to turn to Him in repentance and receive His gift of eternal life salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's bow for prayer as we close. Lord Jesus indeed we do thank you and glorify you that you are made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We thank you for all these blessings and many more that have come to us through salvation. Lord we did not deserve your salvation Lord, no matter what family we were born into, our heritage, Lord, no matter what status we may or may not have attained in society, Lord, we thank you that for each one we must come by the way of the cross, we must humble ourselves before you. And Lord, we're just thankful for your mercy to us. Lord, any one of us could be out wandering in the paths of sin tonight, but you had mercy on us, you drew us to yourself, that you might be glorified help us to remember Lord that you saved us yes because you loved us but let us never forget you saved us for your glory that you might be honoured and that you might be praised so we thank you tonight for our salvation we bless your name in Jesus Christ's name we ask these things amen