WWUTT 1437 By His Doing You Are In Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:29-30)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. It is not by our works that we have come to salvation in Christ, but by His doing.

00:09

And not only that you have come to faith, but that you are growing in this faith when we understand the text.

00:25

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

00:34

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher,

00:39

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Continuing with our study of First Corinthians chapter one,

00:44

I'll begin reading once again in verse 26 and we'll go through verse 31. This is in the

00:50

Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.

01:05

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong and the base things of the world and the despised.

01:20

God has chosen the things that are not so that he may abolish the things that are so that no flesh may boast before God.

01:33

But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the

01:50

Lord. So yesterday, looking primarily at verse 28, and that was a continuation of verse 27.

01:57

Today, we're in verse 29, which is a continuation of verse 28, so that no flesh may boast before God.

02:05

Now, I mentioned this yesterday, also quoting from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it is by grace you are saved through faith.

02:12

And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

02:19

It is not by our work that we've come to know God, but by the work that God has accomplished through his son,

02:28

Jesus Christ, who was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, who lived a sinless life, who died on the cross, a sinner's death, who rose from the dead, a righteous resurrection,

02:44

God showing that he received this sacrifice, this atonement for sins by raising him from the dead and raising him up with him, seating him in the heavenly places at the right hand of the throne of God.

02:57

And we have the promise that Jesus is going to return again to judge the living and the dead.

03:05

All of this God has done. He has accomplished through his son, Jesus Christ, so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God that is to come.

03:15

But we will have everlasting life by faith in Jesus. You are forgiven your sins.

03:21

You are given eternal life fellowship with God, which you have even now the promise of his forever kingdom.

03:31

And you will even sit with Christ on his throne. All of this we have by faith in Jesus Christ.

03:38

Now, the world calls all of this foolish. How utterly ridiculous is this? You believe in a virgin birth.

03:46

You believe that Jesus is God and that God was crucified on a cross, that the dead came back to life and that he even ascended before his disciples very eyes into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

04:01

You believe all of this. And the answer to this question is, of course, yes, yes,

04:08

I believe in this. Duh. Why don't you? Right. Why do we believe this, though?

04:14

Because God has quickened our heart to believe it. The Holy Spirit has opened us to hear the message of the gospel and believe it's absurd to believe those things from a worldly perspective.

04:28

It's absurd. And to and to us at one point, we thought it was absurd until the Holy Spirit opened us up to believe this.

04:34

And now we can't we can't understand how anybody cannot believe this, for it is only by faith in Jesus Christ, the person and work of Christ and all that he has accomplished.

04:44

It is only by faith in him that we come to salvation. Now, Paul is saying here.

04:51

That this is not by our doing, it is by God, by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, no flesh may boast before God, but by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus.

05:03

He's not going to expound upon that, though, until the next chapter. So he will say,

05:10

I'm going to go ahead and skip ahead. First Corinthians chapter two, starting in verse nine, as it is written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.

05:30

But to us, God revealed them through the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God, for who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him, even so the depths of God, no one knows except the spirit of God.

05:52

Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

06:16

But a natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined.

06:29

But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one.

06:35

Talk about the the spiritual man here, lowercase H, not capital

06:41

H, but the person who thinks spiritually because we have been given the spirit of God. Verse 16, for who has known the mind of the

06:48

Lord that he will direct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

06:55

Again, all of this to show that this is a work of God that has been done in our hearts, we have come to salvation, we have come to faith in God, we have come to faith in the

07:06

Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in something absurd like the virgin birth. Like Jesus rising again from the dead, like him being seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and he's coming back to judge the living and the dead, we believe these things the world calls absurd because the

07:22

Holy Spirit has given us a heart that we may understand it and rejoice in it and long to see it face to face.

07:32

For now we believe by faith, but soon we will know clearly just as we are clearly known, fully known, as it says later on in First Corinthians 13.

07:43

In Titus 2, 14, we read that Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

07:59

Later on in chapter three, verse five, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

08:11

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our

08:17

Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

08:29

And this all began with God, not with us, not because we made a choice and then

08:35

God takes it from here, but it is because God chose us that we may hear the gospel and know it and believe it and so be saved, that no man may boast before God, no flesh may boast that they did this thing and therefore they have come to salvation.

08:56

It is completely from beginning to end the work of God, even by the pouring out of his

09:01

Holy Spirit on us that our hearts may be regenerated to not just hear the gospel, but believe what it is that we have heard the gospel of Christ, which

09:12

I've articulated to you. It's the whole story of him being given by God to die as a sacrifice for sins that whoever believes in him is justified.

09:24

We are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by our works, but because we believe.

09:31

So this is the gospel message. It is not by our doing, but by God's grace, by his mercy that we have come to salvation.

09:39

Believing in the gospel is more than giving mental assent to the gospel. It's not just you've heard it and you're like,

09:47

OK, well, I agree that that's true, that those things happen. All that you articulated,

09:53

Gabe. Yeah, that which is in the Bible. I believe that all of that took place. OK, that would just simply be giving mental assent to the gospel.

10:01

But faith in the gospel is more than that. Because believing this message requires that a change has to happen.

10:10

There's obedience there. Now, I know there are some that they hate to hear obedience paired with the gospel because the gospel's faith, it's not obedience.

10:21

Obedience is law. The gospel requires obedience. The response that you give to the gospel is a response in obedience.

10:30

And we do have obey the gospel put in the New Testament. Romans 10, 16.

10:36

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?

10:43

Second Thessalonians one eight talking about the judgment of God coming in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know

10:51

God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our

10:57

Lord Jesus. First Peter 4, 17. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

11:03

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

11:10

So there is this expectation when the gospel is given that you must obey it.

11:16

You don't just give mental assent to the gospel. You respond to it by obeying the gospel that you repent.

11:22

You turn from sin and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a command. And God has changed the heart of a person who hears the gospel to not just hear it, but believe it.

11:36

Obey it. Believing it is a commandment. And those who are the sheep of God will obey the voice of the shepherd.

11:46

When the shepherd says, repent and believe, this isn't just an invitation. It's a commandment that you would turn from sin and believe in the

11:54

Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are his sheep will follow it. Those who are not his sheep will not follow the voice of the shepherd, will not obey his commandments.

12:07

So the evidence that we are truly his is going to be in the fact that we do obey the gospel when it is proclaimed to us, that we repent and believe the gospel.

12:17

But it's still, it's not by our work. It is because God has worked in us through his spirit to respond in such a way so that no flesh may boast before God.

12:28

But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

12:38

Let's go through each one of these one at a time. Christ became to us wisdom from God.

12:46

We know God through Christ. Jesus shows to us the father.

12:53

As it says in John 1 18, no one has seen God at any time.

12:59

The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the father, he has explained him.

13:07

Jesus talked about this also in a prayer that he prayed in the presence of the disciples in Matthew chapter 11.

13:15

I'm still turning there. I have, I'm using the legacy standard Bible. It's the little New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs and have not been through this enough times for my pages not to stick together.

13:26

Not only this, but there's only one bookmark in this thing. I wish they had put two, two ribbons.

13:32

How hard is that? It would cost you like what? Two or three cents more. Just put another ribbon in there. Every Bible needs to have more than one ribbon.

13:40

Anyway, so Matthew chapter 11 beginning in verse 25. At that time,

13:45

Jesus said, I praise you, father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent.

13:53

Again, we're talking about the wise and intelligent by the world standards, and you have revealed them to infants, those that would be foolish by the world standards.

14:05

Yes, father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight.

14:11

All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

14:28

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

14:34

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

14:49

But once again, emphasizing that statement there in verse 27, that no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

14:59

You have come to know God through faith in Jesus Christ, and you have come to this faith through the

15:05

Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is quick in your heart to believe the gospel of Christ. It is your faith in Christ that is revealed to you, the father.

15:14

It is through this faith that you have come to know father, son, and Holy Spirit. All of this has been revealed to us by the working of God.

15:24

By his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. You know

15:29

God through Jesus Christ, who reveals to us the father. As I said yesterday, opening up the lesson yesterday, if you know

15:38

Jesus, you have the greatest wisdom that there is to know in the entire universe. And even children, as Jesus talked about here in Matthew 11, even children can know

15:48

God by faith. Even children can know. Did Jesus not say, let the little children come unto me?

15:56

And did he not stand a child among his disciples and say to them, unless you become like this child, you cannot enter the kingdom of God, that we may know our father who is in heaven, that it's only by his love and his care, by his benevolence, that we enter the kingdom of God.

16:17

And so we cling to our father as helpless children, knowing we need him in order to live.

16:23

Just as a child can't live without their parents, so we cannot live without our father who is in heaven.

16:29

That's what it means to come into the kingdom of God as a child, with faith like a child. But nevertheless, the statement is there by Christ that even even children receive the kingdom of God.

16:41

If you know my testimony, you know, at a very young age, I gave my life to Christ. Now, I did not have some in -depth knowledge of my own sin.

16:49

I would come into understanding that later on as my dad would teach me the scriptures and share with me the depths of the gospel.

16:57

I would come to recognize my own depravity and the holiness of God. And I'm still growing in the knowledge of that.

17:03

But I gave my life to Christ at the age of four. I wasn't baptized until I was a teenager, but I still remember that prayer that I prayed and I was sincere in it and continued my whole life long, though there were occasions when

17:18

I went after the passions of my own flesh. God did not let me perish in that sin, but brought me to repentance that I may seek the forgiveness of Christ and continue to grow in sanctification as I could give my life to Christ at a young age.

17:35

So I hope that God would save my children early and they would grow up to know the

17:40

Lord Jesus Christ. There are people in this world that are fools by the world's standards. And I'm talking people that, you know, they're intellectually, they're just not there.

17:49

They're idiots, right? But haven't you ever met somebody that the world would call an idiot who had faith in Jesus?

17:56

I have. I have known people who are very dear to me who had

18:02

Down syndrome and yet fully believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

18:08

This is by the power of God in that person's soul that they can come to faith in Jesus in this way.

18:15

It is all by the mercy of God. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have the greatest wisdom that there is to possess.

18:23

And even those that the world would call fools can possess this knowledge and have salvation.

18:30

It is through faith in Jesus Christ that we have righteousness. As it says here in 1

18:35

Corinthians 1 30, he became to us wisdom from God and righteousness.

18:41

We wear the righteousness of Christ. Second Corinthians 5 21.

18:47

For our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

18:55

We have been given the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith. And we demonstrate that righteousness in that we live as Jesus lived as he has called us to live following after the ways of our savior.

19:11

So we desire. We desire righteousness because we're clothed in his righteousness and sanctification from him.

19:18

We've been given sanctification. In other words, growing in holiness. We are being made more holy as we become partakers of Christ and his righteousness as we share in his sufferings as we go through even grief and loss and yet continue to place faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

19:41

We learn to rely more on him who raises the dead, not on ourselves, but on him who raises the dead.

19:48

We have received from him redemption. We are redeemed.

19:54

We are rescued from the power of sin and death, which no man can escape except by faith in Christ, for he breaks those bonds that every single person is born into as a descendant from Adam.

20:10

We're all born in slave to our sin. I quoted to you a little bit ago from Titus 3.

20:17

It's in verse 3 where it says, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

20:33

That's who we were before we came to Christ. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

20:50

And then on it goes, as I read to you earlier. So before coming to Christ, we were slaves.

20:56

But in Christ, we've been redeemed. The bonds of slavery broken from us, and we are no longer enslaved to sin that we may follow after the passions of our flesh unto death, which had a hold on us.

21:11

But it is now unto life that we live in the righteousness of God through faith in him who purchased us by his blood.

21:22

We are not slaves to sin anymore. We are slaves to Christ, but we delight in that slavery. Once again, going back to Matthew chapter 11, where Jesus says, take my yoke upon you.

21:33

A yoke is something that you put on oxen to pull a plow. And yet we take the yoke of Christ on us, which demonstrates that there is indeed work for us to do, works that were prepared for us beforehand, as it says in Ephesians 2 10.

21:50

But this work, we don't groan to do it. We delight to do it. His yoke is easy and his burden is light because we know that the works of righteousness that we do now are unto an eternal glory that we will share with in Christ Jesus in eternity when we pass from this life into the next.

22:08

Christ has become to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, promises that we have now in the life that we live in Christ Jesus.

22:23

As the apostle Paul said in Galatians 2 20, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer

22:33

I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which

22:38

I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me by his doing.

22:50

You are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

22:59

Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

23:09

You can find a link to the blog through our website www .utt .com Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's when we understand the text.