I Corinthians 1 and verse number 30. I Corinthians 1 verse 30. Notice the Bible says, But of him, this is God the Father, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. It was God in the wisdom of God before God ever created the world. In eternity past. It's always. Now this is where It gets really deep for us. It's always been in the heart of God. God didn't think up the plan of salvation. God didn't think it up. It's always... See, God doesn't learn. If God learned anything, He would cease to be God. God knows all things all the time. And God knew from all eternity, that it would be His will that every believer would be in Christ Jesus, that we would be in His Son. And that Christ, notice this, you're 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. The Corinthians were glorying in a lot of things. We glory in a lot of things. But here's what God says that we should glory in. We should glory in the Lord of who we are in Christ. and who Jesus is to us. Notice, if you would please, verse number 30 we learned is an ordered sequence. You find this in Scripture. It was a literary device that was even— we find it in English— but it was prominent in the Greco-Roman world of Paul's day. The Holy Spirit employs it in this particular verse, made into us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. An ordered sequence. We find that in the Declaration of Independence. We share that in the very first message, that in one of the lines that we have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In an ordered sequence, the first word is the most important word and everything that follows flows out of that first word. And so you can't have liberty and the pursuit of happiness if you don't have life. You follow me? So life is the key word. And out of life, one of the inalienable rights is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So watch this. When we see this order sequence in verse 30, wisdom is the principal word. And the whole chapter, remember, he's going to deal with wisdom all the way into chapter number 4. He's talking about a heavenly wisdom, a wisdom that we're going to learn next week that the princes of this world knew nothing of, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Had they known who Jesus was, they would have bowed before Him rather than spitting on Him and crucifying Him. But they missed it. But He's made into us wisdom. The wisdom of God. Jesus is wisdom personified. And out of God's wisdom, Christ has been made into us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And it flows out of the wisdom. God in His infinite wisdom has given to us in Christ everything we need in this life and the life to come. We are complete in Him. And it's bound up in these three words. Because it takes care of my past, my present, and my future. And we looked at the first one, the past work of righteousness. You remember? And that word righteousness, how we know what it means is you underline the word right And God in His wisdom has so ordered it that you and I as sinners who are unworthy can be made right with the God of heaven. We can live in His presence because Christ has made into us righteousness. We are righteous in Him. And that's what we learned. We learned that we're unrighteous in ourselves. The very best we can do is filthy rags in God's sight. But then through the word of the cross, the message of the cross, the work of the cross in wisdom where God transfers our unrighteousness onto His Son and transfers His righteousness onto us, the great transaction, When we by faith receive Jesus Christ as Savior, that great transaction takes place. God laid on Him the iniquities of all of our unrighteousness. He died for that. He paid for our sins. And then when we trust Him as Savior, we're made righteous in Christ. And so, we're given His righteousness. It's not my righteousness, it's His righteousness imputed to me. That's what we learn. And so, letter B, we're made righteous in Christ. And we find that Christ became sin for us and we became righteous in Him. We call that the doctrine of justification. You see, we're not righteous, but when we believe on God's Son and He gives us His righteousness, God in that moment as the righteous judge declares us righteous. And so we're declared right with God. It's a positional matter. It can't be changed. It's judicial. God is the righteous judge. The moment you're saved, the moment you believe on Christ, the moment you have His righteousness imputed to your accounts, God says you're not guilty, you're righteous. And you're right before Him. It's more than just being pardoned. It's just as if I'd never sinned. There's no record of any believer's sin in heaven. You'll never face them again. They're gone. Isn't that a blessing? And that's what God did for us in the past and it's ongoing. Then number two, we spent quite a bit of time on this present work because this is not preached on very much. We spend a lot of time talking about what Jesus has done But we don't talk a whole lot about what He is doing in our lives as believers, as our heavenly high priest, our advocate, our mediator, that Jesus is actively at work in heaven at the Father's right hand sanctifying us through His Spirit and the Word of God. All right? And so He's made into us sanctification. This is His present work. So righteousness past, sanctification is present. Righteousness saves us from the penalty of sin, sanctification from the power and pollution of sin. And it's the process because we realize there are three tenses to it, you remember? There is positional, I have been set apart into God, I'm holy unto the Lord, there's perfect, I will be set apart fully, completely, forever set apart into God, forever holy. And then watch this, in between is this progressive, that's a process, this is what God's doing right now, whereby on a practical daily basis, God, as we cooperate with Him in His sanctifying work, makes us more and more like Christ. We are more and more set apart from the world and more and more set apart unto God. And that's what's to be going on in our lives. I'm to be less of who I am by nature and more and more of who I am to be in Him. And it's God's will for every Christian to be sanctified. We learned there was a person in sanctification that is Christ. He has made into us sanctification and realized that it's Christ in us. That's it. He's living in us and through us. And that's part of this sanctification process. We're allowing the very life of Christ to be lived out in our daily lives. And that's what we're seeking to do as we yield ourselves to Him. Now, here's the problem. I don't know about you, but I've got an ugly flesh. Do you have an ugly flesh? And there's times that Jesus can't be seen because my ugly flesh rears its head up and gets in the way. Have you ever liked that? And people see more of me than they do Him. And that's not what it should be like. They ought to see Him and not us. of who we are in Him as we emulate Him in our daily lives and people see Christ living through us. Remember Paul said that I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ. liveth in me." And then what is our goal? The goal of sanctification is Christ's likeness to be made in the very image of Christ that God from eternity past had predestinated, not who's going to go to heaven and who's going to go to hell, but He's predestinated that every believer, every Christian, every person that has placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, even the carnal Corinthians, would one day be conformed to the very image of His Son that will bear His image for all eternity. Now we've learned that that doesn't mean that all of us are going to look like little Jesuses. It's not a physical likeness. And it's not a likeness in the sense of deity. We're not going to be little gods. But what it is, is we're morally like Him. in our lives. And then we talked about the process of it, Philippians 2.12, that we're to work out our own salvation. We're not to work for salvation, but to work out what God's already worked in our lives, that when it comes to this matter of sanctification, while salvation I have no responsibility, In sanctification, I do have a responsibility, and that is to be filled with the Spirit of God, to live in obedience to Christ, to yield ourselves to Him. And as we do that, we live in obedience to God. God works in us, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And so God is working in us and through us to make us who we ought to be in Christ. And we learned it was a matter of putting off the old man and putting on the new man. And then we come to number three. The future work of redemption. Notice what he says again in verse number 30, Who of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. You say, Preacher, I'm already redeemed. I know, but you're going to be redeemed. There are several different words for redemption in the New Testament. We're very familiar, it has the idea of purchasing a slave, to purchase and to set free. And so there's different words as it relates to it. And this is a particular word. Redemption means a releasing of the one purchased. It has the idea of one's final escape from bondage, to be bought, to be paid for, to be set free, to never be a slave again, to never be in bondage again. That's the idea. It's a forever transaction. And this particular word for redemption is found ten times in the New Testament and it's always in a future tense. It refers to something that will happen in the life of a believer in the future because there is a sense in which we are still in bondage. Now, I'm free in Christ. I have liberty in Jesus, but I'm still bound by my flesh. You are bound by your flesh. And one day we're going to be released from that. So I have been redeemed the moment I was saved, but I will be fully and completely redeemed at a future point in time. Let me give you a few verses. They should be in your notes. Ephesians 1.14, talking about the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance, the down payment. Not the down payment of our salvation, but the down payment of our inheritance. That the presence of the Holy Spirit is a promise that there's more to follow. We just have the firstfruits of the Spirit. There's more to follow. That's what he's saying. Until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of, say it with me church, redemption. Are these in your notes? I thought they were. Romans 8.23, let's look at that one. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, to wit, the redemption of our body. Boy, that word adoption is another wonderful word. And by the way, what the word adoption means in the New Testament is not what we think of adoption in our society. It's not the idea of being adopted out of one family into another family. I know we talk about that. That's how we think. But that's not New Testament adoption. I have the spirit of adoption, but the full adoption hasn't taken place yet. It won't take place until I'm redeemed. It's something future. That would be a great Bible word just to study one night. Or maybe you personally would study it in Scripture. So here's what I want you to get. Are you ready? As believers, we are redeemed souls living in unredeemed bodies. I'm in bondage in this body of flesh. And as long as I'm in this body of flesh and decay, I'm going to have infirmity. I'm going to have sickness. I'm going to have weakness. And yes, I'm going to sin. Not an excuse. It's not an excuse. to sin. But it's a recognition that as long as I'm living in this body, on this side of heaven, that I'm going to experience frailty and yes, even at times, failure. And God has given us a promise of final redemption in Christ, that glorious moment when we are fully, finally, and forever like Him. I John chapter 3 and verse 2, it should be in your notes, beloved, Now are we the sons of God. That's who we are right now. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, here's what we can be assured of, that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And that's what he's talking about, this adoption, when that moment that we'll be fully like Christ, we call that Romans 8 and verse number 30, the doctrine of glorification. Justification, I'm saved from the penalty of sin. Sanctification, I'm being saved from the power of sin. Glorification, I will be saved from the very presence of sin. That is the redemption of the body. That day is coming. We're waiting on that day when we'll experience the final release from this body and receive a glorious body. And it's a promise. The promise of our redemption. But then I want you to note the prospect of it. The prospect of it. Now, I'm going to hold my place here. It's already in your notes because Ms. Christian gave that one to you. But I'm going to look with you in Philippians chapter 3. And we're going to find verse number 20. And of course, I believe it's in your notes, okay? Because here's where it's going to take place. Look what he says. Philippians chapter 3 verse number 20. For our conversation... that word conversation means citizenship. We have dual citizenship. We're Americans by birth, but we're heavenly citizens because we've been born again. For our citizenship is in heaven from whence... this world's not our home. We're just a-passing through, right? "...from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Look at verse 21, "...who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things, even unto himself. And so this redemption is going to take place at the rapture, the day of Christ when He comes for our own. And listen, the time is coming when Jesus will return for us and every believer, no matter their spiritual state practically, whether they're spiritual or carnal, we're going to talk about that when we get into chapters 2 and 3. But at that moment when Jesus comes, friend, listen, we will be delivered from all bondage. Are you following me? Paul's going to talk about it in 1 Corinthians. Now you will have to turn with me here. There wasn't enough room in your notes. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. Great resurrection chapter of the Bible. And so here Paul talks to us about this time when we will be released from the bondage of this body of sin and flesh. and weakness and frailty. Notice what he says in verse number 51. I actually put 52. We're going to go to 51 for context. Behold, I show you a mystery. I'm going to share with you something that's never been shared before. It's one of God's sacred secrets. We're going to see that word for the very first time in I Corinthians next week when we get in chapter 2, if we get that far. Notice he says, We shall not all sleep. Not every Christian is going to die, but we shall all be changed. Every Christian will be changed. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." What's going to be changed? We're going to exchange bodies. I'm going to lay down...we're all going to lay down this body and we're going to be given a new a heavenly body, a body that's incorruptible. Are you following me? This body cannot inherit heaven. The Bible said flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We live in an earthly body. God's going to give us a heavenly body that doesn't know sin, doesn't know sickness, doesn't know disease, doesn't know frailty, doesn't know failure, doesn't know any of those things. Hey, I'm in bondage in this body of flesh. But Paul said we groan. What is that? I've mentioned it before, that's the point when you start getting to a certain age, you bend down and you get back up and you have the snap, crackle, pop syndrome. The Rice Krispie syndrome. The groan, the pain. The pain of this body. The suffering of this body. We know we have a house in the heavens, not made with hands, that's awaiting us. And that's what he's talking about. A body that doesn't know the pain and the suffering and the sorrow of this life. This is a corruptible body. That will be an incorruptible. We're going to be changed. The dead will be raised. A new body. The living will undergo a transformation. Look at verse 53, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal, that which can die, put on immortality and eternal body. So when this corruptible shall I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we talk about that with present victory. But verse 57, I believe, is referring to an ultimate victory. The final victory over death and sin and this body of flesh and the pain and the suffering of this life. Hey, listen. For our worldview, we live in a fallen world. We're fallen creatures. We have sinful bodies. And one day God's going to release us from this at the day of redemption and give us a body that doesn't know any of these things. Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. Therefore, my beloved brethren, here's what he's saying. That future hope of victory, of final victory, should be a motivation in our lives here. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now notice something and we're going to close up tonight. Look if you would back in verse number 52. I want to help us just for a moment. We'll come back to this in our study of 1 Corinthians when we go through this entire chapter. But I want you to notice that the Bible uses a phrase in the middle part of verse 52, at the last trump. Now don't get confused. Don't start jumping over to Revelation 7, 8, the trumpet judgments and think that somehow that we're amid in the middle part of the tribulation that this is all going to take place because that's the last trump. That is not the last trump for the church. That is the last trumpet in God's dealing with Israel. God has a plan for Israel, His earthly people. God has a plan for His church, His heavenly people. This is the last trump for the church. We will have final victory before they will. Are you following me? And so the last trump, what is unfamiliar to us would have been immediately familiar to the Corinthian believers. It's a Roman military term. The Roman army would use trumpet blasts. They would sound out signals and the troops would respond to that. And so a certain trumpet blast signaled for soldiers to strike their tents and to pack up their belongings. And then another trumpet blast would sound out the call for them to go into formation, to line up ready to march, and then the last trump was the one that meant pull out for home. And here's what Paul's saying. There's going to be a trumpet in the life of a Christian that's going to say, Hey, just head out for home. Hey, by the way, we ought to already be packed up. We ought to already be ready to go. Isn't that right? Sure, Jesus can come at any moment. So we ought to be ready at any moment for that last trump to sound and we head out for home. By the way, if He comes right now, I haven't left anything at the house that I have to go back for. And here's the good news, it can happen in a moment. We hear the last trump. It'll be redemption day for every child of God as we pull out for home. At that moment we shall be changed. This robe of flesh will drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize. We'll be saved to sin no more. Never again will I break the heart of my God. Never again will I fail. Never again will a wrong thought pass through our minds. Never again will there be a solicitation to sin. Never again will we fail and grieve the Spirit of God. No, at that moment we are forever delivered from the earthly bondage that we have known our entire lives. And we're looking forward to that day. No wonder we can sing and rejoice. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by grace, what a day, what a day that will be. Friend, that's what Jesus means to me. That's what Jesus means to you, dear child of God. He's our righteousness. He's took care of our past. He's our sanctification. He takes care of our present. And He's our future redemption. For in our future, and I'm going to mention this again Sunday night, as Adeniram Judson said, is as bright as the promises of God. Now, as long as you're in this body of flesh, there's going to be struggle. There just is. The Bible said through much tribulation we'll enter into the kingdom of God. We have no idea what we'll go through from here to there. We don't. We don't know what trials, what hardship. That is part of living in a fallen world. But one day we're going to experience final redemption. This earth will experience final redemption at the millennial reign of Christ. Friend, can I tell you there's a bright future ahead and we can look forward. And every generation of saints has looked forward to this day and lived in its hope. surrounded by God and circled with love, His arms are beneath, His eyes above, a rearward behind me, that's a guard, a leader before me, He dwelleth within me, so what need I more? Jesus is our everything. Amen. He's all we need tonight. Aren't you glad we have the Lord? I may not have much of this life, we may not have much of this life, but we've got everything in Him, don't we? You are rich spiritually, dear child of God. Let's rejoice in who we are in Jesus tonight and who He is to us.