IN CHRIST JESUS

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: I CORINTHIANS 1:30, 31




INTRODUCTION:


  1. The believers at Corinth were weak and carnal (cf. 3:1).  First Corinthians 3:1 tells us they were “babes in Christ.” And yet the apostle Paul wanted them, at the outset of his teaching, to know distinctly that they were in Christ Jesus (1:30; cf. 1:2).
  2. The apostle Paul uses this expression – “in Christ” – over and over. It speaks of our standing before God.
  3. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
  4. “All things are become new.”  This is a new standing before God, which takes place when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.
  5. Just yesterday, my wife and I met a man who told us he was “born a Christian.”  We told him he had to be born again.
  6. Progress in the Christian life depends on the clear consciousness of our position in Christ, and this begins with the new birth.
  7. “Of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus” (1:30). The idea here is that our union with Christ is not of our own doing.  It is the work of God Himself – “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus” (1:30).
  8. As the Holy Spirit makes this real to us, we begin to understand what a source of assurance and strength this is to us.
  9. God works in us and through us.  There is a work God does, and there is a work we have to do. And it is God who does His work by moving us to do our work.
  10. Andrew Murray said, “The work of God is hidden and silent; what we do is something distinct and tangible. Conversion and faith, prayer and obedience, are conscious acts of which we can give a clear account; while the spiritual quickening and strengthening that come from above are secret and beyond the reach of human sight.”
  11. First Corinthians 1:30 says, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
  12. These are the four key words to this epistle.  Spurgeon referred to this text as “The Fourfold Treasure.”
  13. They provide us with an easy-to-remember four-point outline this morning.

 

I. CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US WISDOM (1:30).

  1. The word “wisdom” occurs 18 times in the book of I Corinthians, and 17 out of the 18 times are in the first three chapters.
  2. First Corinthians 1:24 says, “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
  3. The Lord Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom in order to transform our minds.  Colossians 2:3 says, in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
  4. Now, if in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and we are “in Christ,” then the wisdom of God is available to us.
  5. Before we were saved, we were foolish, ignorant, and blind to the things of God, but now that we are saved Christ is made wisdom to us (I Cor. 1:30).
  6. Jesus Christ is made to me,
         All I need, all I need,
         He alone is all my plea,
         He is all I need.
     
         Wisdom, righteousness and power,
         Holiness this very hour
         My redemption full and free,
         He is all I need.
  7. If ever there was a time when Christians needed Godly wisdom, it is now.  “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).
  8. We can know what the will of the Lord is because we are in Christ Jesus, “who of God is made unto us wisdom…” (I Cor. 1:30).
  9. Andrew Murray said, “All that you can wish to know is perfectly clear to Christ. As Man, as Mediator, He has access to the counsels of Deity, to the secrets of Providence, in your interest, and on your behalf. If you will but trust Him fully, and abide in Him entirely, you can be confident of having unerring guidance.”

 

II. CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US RIGHTEOUSNESS (1:30).

  1. Romans 3:10 says, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
  2. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”
  3. But thank God, when we received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, He was “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness…”
  4. The Lord Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom in order to transform our minds, and He is made unto us righteousness to transform our morals.
  5. The world’s standards of right and wrong are declining very rapidly.  Things that were forbidden are now condoned, and even celebrated – adultery, pornography, so-called “gay marriage,” abortion, etc.
  6. Isaiah 5:20 describes America today – “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”
  7. The other day the governor of SC admitted he was committing adultery with a married woman in Argentina.
  8. A few years ago we witnessed the disgusting spectacle of the governor of NJ, standing next to his embarrassed wife, declaring that he was proud to be a “gay American.”
  9. Then more recently we had our own Governor Spitzer kicked out of office for patronizing prostitutes.
  10. Spitzer was succeeded by his lieutenant governor, who promptly admitted that both he and his wife were guilty of adultery.
  11. This is all just the tip of the iceberg.  We could go on and on.
  12. Apparently these men do not fear God.  They do not have the wisdom of God or the righteousness of God.
  13. They do not believe God’s Word, which warns, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
  14. By the way, we should pray for these men. First Timothy 2:1-3 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.”
  15. Just last night I received an email from a preacher friend upstate who spoke to the governor yesterday. Let's pray he gets saved. 
  16. Before moving on, let me emphasize that God’s standards of right and wrong are absolute and inflexible.  They are based upon His own absolute holiness.  And the Bible says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:15, 16).
  17. It is impossible for us to be holy apart from God.  That is why I Corinthians 1:30 says, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification (holiness).”

 

III. CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US SANCTIFICATION (1:30).

  1. To be sanctified is to be set apart. Righteousness precedes sanctification (holiness).  Sanctification, like justification, is to be appropriated by faith alone.
  2. Dr. AT Pierson contrasted Paul’s epistle to the Romans with his first epistle to the Corinthians.
  • Romans: Justified in Christ Jesus by His blood.
  • Corinthians: Sanctified in Christ Jesus by His Spirit.
  1. Dr. Pierson said that in I & II Corinthians, “sanctification in Christ Jesus is as prominent as justification in Christ Jesus has been found to be in the Epistle to the Romans. In the latter, the death of Christ was made the most prominent; here, it is our life in Him and His life in us. There, our thoughts were directed mainly to His cross and passion; but here, it is to His Spirit, as bestowed upon the believer and dwelling in him.”
  2. “As Romans deals largely with what we are by our entrance into God, in Corinthians we are confronted with what we are by God’s entrance into us” (Pierson).
  3. Sanctification is a lifelong process. John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”  There are other similar Scriptures, which teach us that we are to grow in sanctification.
  4. However, the expression “justify them” is never found in the Word of God.  A believer cannot be more justified then he already is. 
  5. JC Ryle said, “If there is any point on which God’s holiest agree it is this: that they see more, and know more, and feel more, and do more, and repent more, and believe more, as they get on in spiritual life, and in proportion to the closeness of their walk with God. In short, they ‘grow in grace,’ as Peter exhorts believers to do (II Peter 3:18), and ‘abound more and more,’ according the words of Paul (I Thess. 4:1).”
  6. To be sanctified is to be set apart from the sin, pollution, uncleanness, corruption, and filth that prevails in this wicked world.
  7. Second Peter 1:4 says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
  8. In John 17:17, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to God the Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
  9. Ephesians 5:25, 26 says, “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”
  10. We grow in sanctification as we allow the Word of God to cleanse us and transform us.   Andrew Murray wrote, “Abiding by faith in Christ our sanctification is the simple secret of a holy life.  The measure of sanctification will depend on the measure of abiding in Him; as the soul learns wholly to abide in Christ, the promise is increasingly fulfilled: ‘The very God of peace sanctify you wholly.’”
  11. Robert Murray McCheyne prayed, “Oh Lord, make me as holy as a forgiven sinner can be.” 

 

IV. CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US REDEMPTION (1:30).

  1. The word redemption is often applied to our deliverance from the guilt of sin, but here it refers to our complete and final deliverance from all the consequences of sin.
  2. In other words, “Christ Jesus is made unto us (complete) redemption.”
  3. The apostle Paul is referring here to the day when our Lord’s redemptive work on the cross will become fully manifest, even the redemption of the body itself.
  4. Ephesians 4:30 says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (cf. Rom. 8:21-23; Eph. 1:14).
  5. Christ is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. This points us to the highest glory to be hoped for in the future, as well as the greatest blessing to be enjoyed right now.
  6. We are justified by faith, and we are sanctified by faith. Faith exercises its sanctifying influence in the willing surrender of the sinful members of the body to be mortified and completely subjected to the dominion of the Holy Spirit, in preparation for the day when our frail bodies shall be changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body.
  7. It will be then that we shall truly understand: “Christ Jesus is made unto us (complete) redemption.” In the meantime, we must seek to enter into and appropriate this by faith as we wait “for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. I wish we had more time to develop these great truths.
  2. Before we conclude, let me quote two great preachers from the past. Matthew Henry said, “Where Christ is made righteousness to any soul, he is also made sanctification. He never discharges from the guilt of sin, without delivering from the power of it.”
  3. “We want to be purified as well as pardoned. Justification without sanctification would not be salvation at all. It would call the leper clean, and leave him to die of his disease; if would forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain an enemy to his king” (CHS).


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