Commune With Your Own Heart

Psalm 73:25,26

“Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is

None upon earth that I desire besides thee.

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the

Strength of my heart and my portion forever”

            Psalm 73 is a psalm that I am sure that most of us know. If we do not know it by number then we, at least, most likely know it by content. It is a Psalm written by Asaph, as is indicated by the preface to the Psalm “A Psalm of Asaph”. Asaph is a man that had faced some hard times in his life, and he is faced with a problem that most of us have been faced with before. We do not know exactly what it was that was making his life hard, but when he viewed the lives of those who were ungodly he says that “my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped”. Asaph had come upon some struggles in his life. And as he viewed his life he felt that he had desired to do the will of God and live Godly but trials still came. We have all been in this place. We know what it is like to try as hard as you can for something good. You try to feed your family and you work as hard as you can and no matter how hard you try it just sometimes comes up short. Then you look at someone else, someone who has no desire for good. Their only desire is for self pleasure and self indulgence. They have no thoughts of God or anything good. But when you examine their lives they have an abundance of all they could ever need. A jealous heart rages inside of us. We can say with Asaph “my steps had well nigh slipped”. It is as if he was walking along, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and glanced over to see this dirty rotten scoundrel living a life of ease. The sight is so shocking to him that he almost trips over his feet.

            Here is Asaph, struggling and fighting for all that he can get. And there is the wicked with “more than heart could wish”. “That’s not fair!” Says Asaph. To think of this was so unbearable that it hurt Asaph to his soul. When his mind turns to the prosperity of the wicked and to his own struggles by comparison all he can say is “it was too painful for me”. It is so painful to his heart that he cannot even think of it. But when he stopped and considered the Lord God he was pricked in his reins and his heart was grieved. When he thought about what lays beyond this world for the ungodly their temporary pleasures pale in comparison to the terrors and torments that await them. Asaph cries out “how ignorant and foolish am I!” He realized that he had been jealous of the wicked when all the wicked have been gaining was an eternity of punishment. This makes Asaph think about who he is and what is important to him. He looks at his own priorities and at what is important in this life to see how what he should be living like. When he comes to his senses he cries out to God “whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth besides thee.”

            That is my challenge for all of us here tonight. I believe that it is good for all of us to look at ourselves and think about who we really are. What are passions, what are our desires? The title for my sermon is “Commune with your own heart”. I get this from a phrase in Psalm 4:4 where David says “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still”. This is an aspect of Christian life that is not present in our world today. There are not enough Christians who everyday examine their own lives. They just live their lives, and if they consider anything it is the sin of another. And all they think about that is “look how sinful they are”. As Jonathan Edwards we should say that we are “Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better.” We need to think about our lives, and what is important to us. One of the greatest philosophers to ever live is a man by the name of Socrates. While Socrates held some views and ideas that I would not believe he is known for a quote that I think everyone should know. “The unexamined life is not worth living”. According to Socrates if you are living a life but you don’t ever stop and think about what you are doing or why you are really doing something then you are living a life not worth living. I once read series of sermons by a Puritan pastor named Thomas Manton on meditation. It was a ten sermon series on the verse “and Isaac went out to the field to meditate at evening time” Gen. 24:63. I would highly recommend that series to everyone here. I would actually recommend anything he has ever written to anyone. But in one of his sermons he spoke of the importance of meditating on different things. Meditating on God Himself, or on Christ, or on Scripture, but he also stressed the importance of meditating on your own life.

            The reason I bring this up, is that he had a quote that pricked me to my heart. A quote that I thought explained my life and I think defines the world in which we live. “You would think it strange of two men that conversed every day for forty or fifty years, and all this while they did not know one another; yet this is the case between us and our souls; we live a long time in this world and are strangers to ourselves.”. I fear that we, and myself included have become strangers to ourselves. We just live our lives without even a passing glance for why we do anything. So tonight, I plan to just go over a few verses of scripture out of Psalm 73 and ask yourself “is this true of me?” Let us not be strangers to ourselves anymore.

            I would like to begin on discussion with verse 26. “my flesh and my heart faileth”. If we are all honest with ourselves then we know that this is true. This statement is true of every single one of us here tonight. We are weak and feeble creatures. Even when we feel like we are strong we are easily overcome by the smallest thing. The strongest of us all is brought down by the tiniest bacteria. Asaph responds to the weakness of himself, not by saying “but I will try harder and will succeed”. No, he correctly examines his life, finds himself weak and says “but God is the strength of my heart”. With God he is weak no more. With God all things become possible. When he views his life and all he is left to do is trust God for who He is and place no trust within himself he can say with Paul “when I am weak, then I am strong”. But how is it that Asaph says of God that He is his strength? What exactly does it mean for God to be the strength of my heart? For the next couple minutes I want to just view a couple aspects of our life in which God is our strength.

            The first manner in which God is our strength is in times of suffering. We often become sorrowful in our suffering. And it is true that it is hard not to when life becomes tough. But all we must do is trust the promises that God has given us. Do we believe that God is trustworthy? Do we truly believe that He is faithful to His word? If this is true then we know for certain that all things turn out for good. Or as George Mueller would say, God will not withhold any good thing from us. There was a day when Mueller’s wife had become deadly sick. And as they heard the diagnosis Mueller says that “My heart was nigh to be broken on account of the depth of my affection”. He cared deeply for his wife but as she passed he found comfort in the promises of God. This is how he remembers the passing of his wife. “The last portion of scripture which I read to my precious wife was this: ‘The Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.’ Now, if we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have received grace, we are partakers of grace, and to all such he will give glory also. I said to myself, with regard to the latter part, ‘no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly’—I am in myself a poor worthless sinner, but I have been saved by the blood of Christ; and I do not live in sin, I walk uprightly before God. Therefore, if it is really good for me, my darling wife will be raised up again; sick as she is. God will restore her again. But if she is not restored again, then it would not be a good thing for me. And so my heart was at rest. I was satisfied with God. And all this springs, as I have often said before, from taking God at his word, believing what he says”. That is one of the most amazing statements I have ever read. It is almost unfathomable the amount of faith he had in God. But all he had done is know that God is trustworthy and then place his trust in the promises of God.

            Not only is God strength for us in a time of suffering because of His promises but also because of His character. We know that God is all wise in all that He does. And we know that God is in control of all of our lives. Scripture tells us that God does whatsoever He pleases. God has purchased us by the blood of Christ, how can we not believe that He means us good in our lives. William Cowper is a man that is none for have deep depression in his life. From what I read and have heard our worst days are but cloudy skies to his tormenting storms. But when he brought himself to look upon Christ and His care and compassion, he wrote one of the most precious hymns of all time.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

            I truly believe that we do not even have a clue of the mountainous pains and sorrows we have been blessed enough to not go through because God saw it better for us to suffer a mole hill of woe for a day. When hard times come, we can find strength in the knowledge that God Himself controls the world. Even though life is hard now, we have no way of knowing now the blessings that are meant by are trials. The psalmist says “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” His pain and sufferings were of little comparison to the blessings he had received because of them. We may not know why trials come to our lives, but we know God and He loves us.

            Another manner in which God is our strength is against temptations. And just as with suffering God has given us promises against temptations. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” I Corinthians 10:13. God has promised us that we will never be tempted to a level that we will not be able to overcome. We know that the more we strive to live Godly the more the Devil will try to tempt us and bring us down. If he can make us sin then the world will no longer view us differently than themselves. And our fellowship with God will not be what it was. But, when temptations come, we can know in our hearts that this temptation is not more than we can bear. The promises of God are a blessing that we do not enjoy all that we should. We know so little of God’s word that the promises he has given us lay buried in mystery to us. But if we only knew all of His words for us, then would hearts be much strengthened. As Thomas Manton says “The Lord might have done us good, and given us never a promise; but love concealed would not have been so much for our comfort.” God did not have to give us promises, but He does because He loves us.

            We can also be strengthened during our times of temptation through the words of Christ. Just as we had mentioned about Satan trying to diminish or bring down those who are striving to be like God we have this discussion between Christ and Peter. Peter is a man, while he was quick to speak and slow to listen, who definitely tried his hardest to live for God. Satan had then decided to bring his attack to Peter. I truly believe that just as Peter was tempted, Satan, when he sees our lives when we are striving to live Godly asks permission to “sift us like wheat”. I do not doubt for a minute that it is true, that when I am living in a Godly manner that Satan comes to God and says “I want to test Rickie, and I want to sift him like wheat, let’s find out what he is really made of”. But I am comforted by the fact that I know that Christ can say to me just as he did to Peter so many years ago “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not”. What strength this is to my heart, that when those strong temptations come into my life and I feel that I must succumb I know that Christ Himself is praying to the Father that my faith will not fail. What a great encouragement this should be to us.

            God is also the strength of our heart when it comes to making decisions when we may not know the outcome of them. There is an idea among a lot of believers today that Christians are not risk takers. I find that statement hard to believe. Do I believe that Christians will do something that God does not know the outcome of? No, of course not, but that is not my definition of risk. My definition of risk is doing something when we do not know if the outcome will potentially harm us to some degree. If we truly looked at the history of the Christian faith we would say without a doubt that Christians have been, are and always will be risk takers. Let’s first look at an example of this with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had built himself an idol to be worshiped. And he commanded that everyone must worship and bow down to this idol. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were strong in their convictions of worshipping no God but God alone. When faced with death by the fiery furnace or bowing down to this idol they replied “if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Daniel 3:17. And we might point out that they said that they would be delivered, and that is true. But their next statement was “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”. They did not know what would happen. They had faith that God would restore them, but even if he didn’t, then they would still not bow.

            There is another similar story with Esther. I will not go into all the details, but there had been a decree against the Jews. And Esther knew that the only way that they could be spared was for her to go into the presence of the king which she was not allowed to do. But when faced with this decision her only reply was “I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish”. What amazing strength she must have had in her heart to do such a thing! She knew she was breaking the law, and by all right the king could have her killed for doing so, but she simply says “if I perish, I perish”. One other example I can think of is from a missionary by the name of Adoniram Judson. He had decided that he wanted to be a missionary and had decided that he wanted His, I believe, to be wife at the time to come with him. So he decided it would be best if he wrote her Father and asked for permission. The letter he wrote is absolutely amazing. Imagine yourself being these two young people about to embark on this mission or being her father deciding if she can go. The letter reads.

            "I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

            Reading a letter like this will instantly make us question what is important to us. Here this man has to make a decision about his daughter whom he loves with all his heart. But others may never hear the word of God if she does not go, so he says yes. But this letter is absolutely astounding. These two young people did not know what awaited them, but they knew there was a chance that something bad could happen. If they can risk so much for God can we not risk a little? We do not tell others about Christ for fear of what others might say. We do not confront each other about sins with care and compassion, we do not confession our own sins in fear of what others might think. We do not tithe even slightly more for fear that we cannot survive with a little less. If we only do those things we know without a doubt that we will have success in, where are we placing our trust? We place our trust in ourselves too often, but God is supposed to be the strength of our heart. Let us be risk takers for His glory!

            One last manner in which God is the strength of our heart is during times of facing our own death. Or we could say during times of extreme persecution. We might think it strange to say, but I do believe that Christians should never fear death. We should be able to say under any circumstances, along with Paul, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Even when on the brink of death we have strength, but why? Paul says that absolutely nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. And in Romans 8:37 says that “we are more than conquerors”. I am sure that almost all of us have heard these words before, but do we really know what it means. I believe what that phrase means is that we need not fear, because the world’s greatest enemy no longer has his greatest weapon to use against us. The worst thing that Satan had done to the world was introduce sin into it, and with sin also death. But we have become more than conquerors because Satan’s greatest weapon is our greatest gift. Satan with all his might and with all his power can only do one thing to us in the end, he can kill our bodies, and when death comes we find the culmination of our joy. God is the strength of my heart because He is our portion forever! We need not fear what man, or Satan or anyone can do to us, this life is but for a moment but God is our everlasting portion whom we will enjoy more and more for all eternity. When we treasure God as we should then we will find a strength in our heart that is without comparison in this world.

            God is to be our portion both now and forever. He is to be our portion now on Earth. I will only use two measures of expressing why this is so. God is to be our portion because of quantity. Christ tells us not to lay up our treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy but to lay them up in Heaven where it can never be taken from us. God is from everlasting to everlasting. Scripture tells us that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. We should not treasure those things of earth because we know they are finite. Even those things which we love with all our heart can leave us or change. But when we have God we gain a precious treasure that will never leave us or forsake us. When Robert Murray McCheyne had lost his brother it troubled him deeply. But he wrote 11 years later “This day, eleven years ago, I lost my loved and loving brother, and began to seek a Brother who cannot die.”We know no matter what situation ever happens or occurs we will have God with us. Christ told His church in the great commission “I am with you always”. We should listen to the words of John Paton who was a missionary to the New Hebrides. He was reflecting upon a time that the savages had turned on him and chased him through the woods until he climbed a tree. They could not find him but began shooting through the trees hoping to hit him. He wrote, “If thus thrown back upon your own soul, alone, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in the very embrace of death itself, have you a Friend that will not fail you then?” We have a friend from everlasting to everlasting, a blessed and gracious God in whom there is no shadow of turning. He is forever pure, and forever perfect and forever ours.

            But not only is God better than all earth could ever offer because He is infinite but because of His quality. God is absolutely perfect and holy in every way. One of the most thought provoking statements I have ever read is from one of the first philosophers. His name was Perminedes and his most famous quote is “Whatever is, is”. You might think that is a pretty obvious statement but when it is really considered it is absolutely amazing. When you see a tree you are not seeing some abstract idea in your mind, but you are seeing something that is in actual existence. This creation is just that, it is a creation. We are not simply abstract ideas in the mind of God. Everything, all of this around us, and we ourselves, actually exist! God was not satisfied to have this in His thoughts but wanted creation in reality. All this exist because God had a desire to display His glory and we have given the benefit of it. As Thomas Manton says of creation “God was happy enough without us, and had a fulness and sufficiency of happiness within himself, only he would have us to participate of his goodness.” God knew the greatness of His glory and had a desire to display and give us the opportunity to dwell in that glory. Before there was a creation God had a desire to give us joy in His glory. As Manton again says “His love was towards us before the world was, and we shall reap the fruits of it, when the world shall be no more."

            We often turn from God to these things of the world because we some good in them that we find pleasure in them. But as Augustine once said “he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.” The blessings that God has given us we often prefer to God Himself. How could we ever do such a thing as this, God has given us these blessings and we forget him. James tells us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” Yet we do not stop to think about it. We see a sunset and enjoy a sunset and that’s all there is. But God has given us the ability to enjoy beauty. The glory of God bursts forth all around, and God has given us this amazing ability to find this creation beautiful.  I remember growing up something that my dad always used to tell me. And if you ask any of my siblings this, my dad asked me this all the time. We would be driving down the road and we would see a deer and dad would say “who knows why God made deer”. And the answer of course was always “for our pleasure”. But now that I am older and more versed in scripture I know that God has made everything not for our pleasure but for His own glory. But the most amazing fact is this, that God has made us in such a way that the glory of God gives us the most joy! We were made to find this world absolutely amazing, and we were made to glorify God, and when we dwell in the wonderful glory of God we find the fullness of all joy.

            And how we can test ourselves to know if we are desire God as we should? We simply need to understand what Asaph means when he says “Whom have I in heaven but thee?” What do you desire most? It would not be strange for almost all Christians to agree that they look forward to Heaven more than anything. But what about Heaven do we desire? There are many blessings in Heaven. We will be reunited with all the lost loved ones who have gone on before. There are those great saints of old we will finally see. We think of David, Solomon, Peter, Paul and Moses. The beautiful streets of gold and the glassy sea. It will be a time when all will be sin free and we never have to worry about pain and suffering ever again. The blessings of heaven are endless. But what do you really desire about Heaven? I am reminded of verse of scripture that I often quote. It is from Hebrews 11 speaking about the Heroes of Faith. And Abraham was called to go to the promise land. And Abraham went, and when he got there he did the most amazing thing. Scripture tells us that he pitched a tent. If it were us we would go and build a house or even a city with walls to claim it for our own. If Abraham made it to Heaven and had those most amazing blessings we could ever fathom in this life, I believe with all my heart, that if he got there and God was not there he would have pitched a tent. Abraham longed for a city where God was, that was his hope and his desire. Only in God will we find our true satisfaction. Nothing, whether on Earth or in Heaven, will give us true and lasting joy. But in God we not only find our true happiness, but an ever increasing joy. When we see God we will truly know what Thomas Watson meant when he said “The more we enjoy God, the more we are ravished with delight”. We will forever grow in knowledge of God and will forever strive for that knowledge because it is there and only there that will find our souls satisfaction.

            If you are anything like me these stories of the amazing heroes of faith are both inspirational and discouraging. They are inspirational because it shows us how we should live our lives. But I believe we can also say with Thomas Manton when he reads the amazing stories of faith in scripture “Either these histories are not true, or our hearts are much unlike theirs”. We believe these stories are true, and it makes us ashamed at how we live our lives. Certainly their hearts are not like ours. Tonight I just ask that right now we would look to ourselves and see if we are actually living a life with God as our portion and strength. Commune with your own heart and see where God measures in the list of your priorities. The first step to cherishing God and treasuring God for who he is, is to not be strangers to ourselves. Find those things in your life that you have put before God and remove them. Let us plead and pray that we could truly say in our hearts “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”

            I would like to end tonight by singing one of my favorite hymns. I am His and He is Mine. And while we sing this song I want to think about what we have spoken about. In the first verse let us simply praise God for His wonderful salvation. In the second verse let us realize how we should find joy in the wondrous outburst of God’s glory that is revealed in creation. Also, that this creation should ultimately lead us to God Himself. The third verse let us know that we should never fear, for we are more than conquerors in God who is our strength. And last let is praise God that has given us Himself for our portion and joy forever and ever.

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

Glory In The Lord

I Corinthians 1:29-31

²⁹That no flesh should glory in his presence.
 ³⁰But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
 ³¹That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

            The focus of our lesson tonight will be in verses 29-31 of I Corinthians chapter 1 but to begin I would like to read verses 18-31 in order to better understand the context. Paul has a goal in this section of chapter 1, he is trying to show the Corinthians that the Gospel is foolishness. Corinth was a church that had a variety of problems. One problem that the Church had was that it was in the middle of a terribly sinful city. In fact, according to John Macarthur’s introduction to the book of I Corinthians, “to Corinthianize came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery”. The Church had begun to allow the city to influence them. Instead of the Church sanctifying the city as they should have been doing the city had been corrupting the Church. I know there are many Churches that derive their names from places or even directly from Churches in scripture. I have heard of Churches named Ephesus, or Berea and others. But something that I have never been able to understand is a Church that would name itself after Corinth? Why, with a Church this corrupt would a group of believers decide to name themselves after them? There were a variety of sins in the church, even some terrible sins that Paul can almost not believe. But one of the biggest problems in the Church was pride.
            It is hard to say what was the basic and root cause of the problem of the Corinthian Church, but a good guess would be their pride. A brief overlook of the book shows a glimpse at how terrible of a problem they must have had with pride. “no flesh should glory in His presence”(1:29), “let no man glory in men”(3:21), “that no one of you be puffed up for one against another”(4:6), “why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”(4:7), “charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up”(v13:4). This is not nearly all of them and this is only a list for I Corinthians, not to mention all the verses that are in II Corinthians. So what Paul does is he first introduces himself and then commends the Church for good things that they are doing. But, then he begins to describe problems they are having in the Church. The first complaint that he has is the factions in the Church. Paul says in verse 10 “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you”. And directly after speaking about the divisions he moves on to speak about pride and boasting. The pride and boasting were probably the root cause of all the factions that were disrupting the Church.
            In order to keep them from boasting Paul uses some absolutely extraordinary language to describe the salvation of the soul and the knowledge of God. Verse 21 tells us “after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God”. That is truly amazing to me. God has design us all in such a way that we cannot by our own wisdom come to a true saving knowledge of God. We often teach things that at first sound very contradictory. We as a church believe that God has made Himself known in the hearts of all men through their conscience and nature. Romans 1 makes it clear to us that men are shown God clearly so that they have no ability of saying that they are not responsible for not believing. Verse 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse”. It is obvious and clear that man is given the ability to see God and nature. But, there is a huge difference in knowing God and knowing about God. Those who know God have a true saving knowledge. They don’t simply know facts about Him but have fellowship with Him. This type of knowledge is not possible to be derived through our own wisdom.
            Why is it that we cannot come to this knowledge through our own reasoning and wisdom? Because according to man’s understanding, this is utter foolishness. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of our souls is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the gentiles foolishness. The Jews were not seeking a dying Savior, they were not wanting a Messiah that would come and cleanse them of their sins and make them right before God. They desired a Savior of their nation. They wanted a resurrection of the people of Israel so that they would have their land and power they thought they deserved. Even John the Baptist with all the amazingly wonderful statements that he made concerning Christ had to ask if He were really the Messiah or there would come another. The Greeks were those that sought after wisdom. They thought that their minds were the highest wisdom. If it could not be reasoned then it was not true. Reason was the basis of all reality. The only problem was, in their minds the cross of Christ made no sense. Saviors and God Himself does not die, let alone die for such miserable creatures as we are.
            If we are designed in such a way that it is impossible for man to come to a loving and saving knowledge of God through wisdom, than we must as the disciples did in Matthew 19. Christ had just told them that it is easier for a camel to go the through a needles eye than for someone who is wealthy to enter into Heaven. What was the disciples’ response? “They were exceedingly amazed!” This cannot not be, they thought. “Who then can be saved?” We are only left with that. If God cannot be found in our wisdom, in our understanding, in our efforts then “who then can be saved?” And Paul would respond with the same exact answer that Christ did in Matthew 19 “with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”. Salvation is absolutely impossible if were up to man to come to God. What does I Corinthians 1:30 tell us? “But ”. God took action and did not leave us where we were! How wonderful and blessed is the thought! We were hopeless, but God in His wisdom decided to make Christ Jesus our “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption”!
            I would like to look at the treasures that can be found considering Christ in these four aspects of our spiritual life. We must remember that we do not simply have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, but we have them in Christ from God! We have all our blessings not only from God, but in God. Let us now expound these great and wonderful blessing in consideration in the great Savior Jesus Christ.

                First, we have in our Lord Jesus Christ wisdom. This is the logical place to begin considering what Paul has just recently discussed. He has spent the past several verses making sure that we understand that saving knowledge is not our own. But guess what, we have saving knowledge! Therefore, the first blessing that would clearly be mentioned is wisdom. God has opened our eyes to see that Christ’s death is not weakness, or is not foolishness but is of God! Something that has occurred in our hearts is that we have come to a conclusion about ourselves and about God. Finally, we understand in all important fact, we are not God. The fatal mistake that the Greeks made was thinking that their thoughts were the final decision maker of reality. But we have come to a better conclusion, God’s words are the final determining factor of reality. We trust God above all else, and that includes ourselves. Please do not misunderstand the point I am trying to make. I am not saying that God is irrational, it cannot be so! What I am trying to say is that some things are beyond reason. Reason and faith are distinctive from one another. As Thomas Manton said “Reason and faith, when kept in their proper place, are of excellent advantage. Join faith with your study and all will be more clear, otherwise we shall stumble at truths.” And also “Reason is the great enemy of faith; and when it is sanctified it is the great servant of faith”. Salvation in Christ without faith is irrational and foolishness, but to those that are called it is the power of God and the wisdom of God! Those things that cannot be found in reason, once we are in Christ, we see as gloriously wise.

                What brings us this wisdom that others cannot understand is simply this. We know that “all things were created by Him and for Him”. Our understanding of the purpose of all things has been flipped upside down. This is the ultimate change in our reasoning from before when we were lost in a wisdom that could not find God. God has opened our eyes to see that everything was created for His glory. Why is it that people scientist have so much trouble believing in God? Because they do not understand that everything is from God and for God. We have wisdom in that we can see a tree and see that which a scientist can never derive through wisdom. As the hymn we often sing says “Heaven above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green, something lives in every hue that Christless eyes have never seen, birds with gladder songs overflow, flowers with deeper beauty shine, since I know as now I know, I am His and He is mine”. It says that Christless eyes have never seen such things. That is the ultimate truth. God shines forth to us in beauty and glory in everything because we come to it with a prior understanding that Christ is the basis for it all! This knowledge also allows us to better prioritize our life. If all things are created for Christ, then we are for Christ. We have more wisdom than the most learned of the world in knowing that this world is but a vapor compared to eternity. And that any happiness here is but a shadow of happiness to be found in Christ!

                Not only is Christ made unto us wisdom, but He is our righteousness. We were in a terrible state before God took action in our lives. Not only were we unable to find God in our wisdom but even if we were able to find God we would be utterly destroyed because we are sinful wretches. All of our righteousness is simply before Him as filthy rags. God could not simply open our eyes to see His greatness but he also must make us just before Him. There is only one for this to be done. “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God”. God has considered us righteous by simply imputing the righteousness of Christ to us. II Corinthians 5:21 “For He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” If the righteousness of Christ belongs to my account, then “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.” We are as much justified in the sight of God today as we will ever be. Even in eternity, when we have finally been rid of the presence of sin we will be no more just before God then we are right now! What a wonderful blessing this is! We never have to live with the burden and guilt of our sin, for God is been brought to peace with us. I know that we sin, even terrible sins daily, but I never have to doubt whether I am still just before God. Why? “These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. Jesus Christ THE RIGHTEOUS. Christ is forever by the Father and is forever righteous. I am reminded of a song that has been on my heart dearly of late. Before the Throne of God Above is at the moment my favorite hymn. Verse 2 says

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

                My right standing before God will never change because Christ will never change. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Amen!

                Following an exposition of righteousness let us now look at the term sanctification and the blessing that we have in Christ. Now grant it, as you all know, I am not a greek expert by any means but it appears that there is a link between the way these two words are used to show that we cannot have righteousness without sanctification. While they are separated in understanding, they are not separated in life. As Spurgeon puts it “righteousness and sanctification must always go together”. They be necessity cannot exist without the other. By sanctification Paul means a day by day separating oneself from the world and becoming more and more like Christ. We become more holy each and every day. This is not a once forever declaration by God counting us holy in His sight, but a daily cleansing us from sin. How is sanctification accomplished and what does it have to do with Christ?

                Let us look at a couple of verse to further our understanding of this subject. II Thess 2:13 “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit”. So we see that our sanctification comes from the Holy Spirit working on our hearts. John 17:17 “Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth” Now we see that our sanctification is not only through the Spirit but through the very words of God. He purifies our lives through scripture. But Christ is made unto us sanctification according to the scripture we are currently looking at. So how does that work. Here is my understanding of it. To fully grasp how this works the most explicit scripture for it is II Corinthians chapter 3. Paul has been spending his time explaining how scripture is veiled to unbelievers and only after the veil has been lifted can they see Christ glorified for who he is. And then he says an absolutely amazing thing. In verse 18 “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” When we have our veils removed we are able to see Christ for who he is in scripture. God has revealed Himself to us in Christ, and not only in Christ, but in Christ in scripture! What effect does this have on us? It says that we are changed from glory to glory. What does glory have to do with sanctification you might ask. But, glory is simply the final result of sanctification. The last stage of sanctification is glorification. That is why in Romans 8:30 Paul tells us “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” He does not exclude sanctification but puts it within glorification since it is simply the final stage of it.

                So, when Paul tells us that we are changed from glory to glory he is simply saying that we are becoming more glorious than we were before. That is sanctification. The question is why. He tells us that when we read scripture that we are able to see God glorified in Christ. And this acts like a mirror, when we see Christ we become like Christ. Have you ever been near someone that you thought was a holy person and that instantly made you not do or say certain things that you normally would? Of course we have. This is somewhat like that be more is happening. We are not simply holding back words and actions we might use otherwise, but when we see a new aspect of the glory of Christ we find it so beautiful that we instantly desire it of ourselves. The spirit reveals to us certain aspects of Christ through the word to daily bring us to be more glorious. Another hint to show this is true is found in I John 3:2, we are speaking of sanctification as the beginning of glorification. But if this is true then by necessity glorification should occur in the same way. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” When we enter Heaven we will not simply some a new glimpse of a certain aspect of Christ, but we will finally see him gloriously as he is. Then we will be glorified! Seeing Christ fully and wholly as He is will be what brings us our glorification! What an amazing Savior.

                Our final subject mentioned in this verse is our redemption. We know that to redeem something is to set something free with payment. We have been redeemed by Christ’s blood. We not only had to be made right before God but God needed payment for all of our sins. Christ is not only the payment, but he is the thing purchased for us. We have not only been set free from the power of sin but we have gained God. We now belong to God. We are His and He is ours. God has paid the price of our sins so that we might be His. What a glorious Savior is our Christ! But as wonderful and amazing as it is that we have been purchased by God I want to mention here is why redemption is place last on this list. God is become to us wisdom, sanctification, righteousness and then redemption. He places it here as if redemption is the final culmination of our blessings. Our redemption is only partial at the moment. Not that there is any payment that has yet to be paid. Christ has fully paid the price for anything that we might gain in redemption. But we await it to be completed in time.

                When will it be that we receive our final and full redemption? We often say that we receive our final stage of glory when we pass from this world and go into the presence of God. But that is not true either. Often, I fear, that we place too much thought and desire on our immediate arrival into Heaven. Don’t misconstrue what I am trying to say, we should desire to be with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior every day. But let us look at just one portion of scripture to better understand this. In I Thessalonians 4 we are told of the worries that were concerning the early church. They had a fear that if Christ would come and they were raptured then what would happen to those who have passed on before? I think in our minds today we often think that Paul’s response should have been “who cares? They are with God are they not? What else could they want?” No, Paul answers them in a different way entirely. He says “don’t worry!” In verse 16 “the dead in Christ shall rise first”. Those who are dead and remain will have their bodies resurrected. We believe not only in the spirits presence in Heaven but also the resurrected redeemed body in heaven! Think of it, these bodies that are so weak and fragile, so ready to lose energy and keep us from praising God and doing good as we should. These bodies that we suffer in daily and feel such aches and pains, will not be like this forever. Now we groan along with creation awaiting the day of our redemption. “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:23. The resurrection of the dead we are told, “it is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” I Corinthians 15:42-43. What a glorious thought it is to know that those who have gone on before will not have those old beaten bodies remain in the ground, but one day they along with us will have our bodies redeemed ultimately and fully and our body and soul together will have put on immortality and we shall praise God with everlasting strength forever!

                These verses can only end in one possible way, “let him glory in the Lord!” When we look at Christ we are left with no other option than this, we ought to praise God. God has intentionally made it so that no man would have any reason whatsoever for us to glory in ourselves. If we had any part in our salvation then we will be able to have some glory of our own in Heaven before God. We could say that, “well I will give God glory for my righteousness, but my wisdom and sanctification were all of my own power” But this cannot and will not be! When we stand before God there will be only one thing we could say “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. Praise God! That is what we will say. For all eternity we will sing the mighty saving power and wisdom of God!

                God is deserving of all praise that we could ever give Him. The fact is that there will never come a day when we have run out of praise due His name. God is so astonishing glorious that in all eternity there will never be even a moment when we have exhausted the praise that He deserves from us. We will never say that I think I have praised God enough today. The innumerable multitude of believers and angels will sing praise to our father. And with all their harps and all our redeemed souls sing forth in mighty praise for ten thousand times ten thousand times ten thousand years will have not even touched a droplet of water in the ocean of the worth of God. What a wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord! We will forever sing his praise! Let us not wait till Heaven to sing His worth, begin even now. Shout in your hearts for the amazing blessing God has wrought onto us.

                I remember a couple of years ago I took a plane ride to visit my brother in Colorado for thanksgiving. And I don’t know how many of you have been on a plane before but is an absolutely stunning experience. When you can sit on the plane and look out the window there is not much else that can make one feel so small and insignificant. You see the size of just a spec on the earth. I pulled out my laptop and opened it up to a couple of sermons that I had saved by George Whitefield. And I read His sermon on this verse. In order to appreciate the astonishing worth of our glorious Savior we must understand how insignificant we are. If would only, as verse 26 says “see your calling” or in the ESV “consider your calling”. If were honest with ourselves we would know that we have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. And we do not deserve it. But, we as small, insignificant, not wise, not noble men that are can now own Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Let us never stop giving glory to our gracious Lord!

                I would like to simply end tonight with a quote from George Whitefield. “Take heed of thinking you stand by the power of your own free will. The everlasting love of God the Father, must be your only hope and consolation; let this support you under all trials. Remember that God's gifts and callings are without repentance; that Christ having once loved you, will love you to the end. Let this constrain you to obedience, and make you long and look for that blessed time, when he shall not only be your wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, but also complete and everlasting redemption. Glory be to God in the highest!”