1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,720 This month has gone fast, hasn't it? 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:03,640 Let's pray together. 3 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:05,640 Father, we stand amazed 4 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,780 in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,120 and wonder how he could love us sinners, 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,400 condemned, unclean. 7 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,900 How amazing is your love and your grace. 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,840 I pray, fathers, we look into your word today. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,000 Our hearts will be open. 10 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,000 May the Holy Spirit be mightily present to be our teacher. 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,160 We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus, amen. 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,560 My wife and I were privileged to be in Minnesota 13 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,560 for a few days this week, 14 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:47,960 and the reason for that is going to be 15 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,640 on the screen right there in the lower right-hand corner. 16 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:53,240 Her name is Taylor Genay, 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,720 and she was born a couple of weeks ago, 18 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,040 so we were able to hold her in our arms 19 00:00:58,040 --> 00:00:59,840 and enjoy her a little bit this week. 20 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,960 And my grandson, Jordan, demanded equal time 21 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,600 because he wasn't put on the screen last November. 22 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,240 And so we were giving that to him, 23 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,440 and he and his folks are with us this weekend, 24 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,860 and we're excited to have them here. 25 00:01:13,860 --> 00:01:18,860 He came to celebrate the first birthday of his cousin. 26 00:01:18,860 --> 00:01:21,880 And so we've had a great time with our family this weekend. 27 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,240 While we were in Minnesota, 28 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:30,240 by the way, the North Pole and Minnesota are not the same. 29 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:31,920 Did you know that? 30 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,940 You can see the North Pole from there, 31 00:01:34,940 --> 00:01:37,280 but it's a little south. 32 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,000 But anyway, my cousin, my grandson, Connor, 33 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,080 was trailing behind me as I was headed off 34 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:45,800 to the restroom to get myself cleaned up 35 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:46,920 for the day this week. 36 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:49,400 And so I turned around and I said, 37 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,680 Connor, you wanna see a picture of a monkey in my mirror? 38 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,920 He says, yeah, so I showed it to him. 39 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,480 Great old grandparent trick, right? 40 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,760 He was not happy about that. 41 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:02,960 He didn't like it. 42 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,200 So I looked and I wasn't happy either. 43 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,680 I wasn't happy either because mirrors, you see, 44 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:10,820 show us what needs to be adjusted. 45 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,200 A mirror for a messy face is a good thing, 46 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,480 but what do we have when our attitudes 47 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,720 or our thinking are messy? 48 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:25,720 Well, the answer is God has given us a mirror in His word. 49 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,240 In your notes, you have a text from James chapter one. 50 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,760 It says, do not merely listen to the word. 51 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:39,800 Listening is good, but do not merely listen to the word. 52 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,240 And so deceive yourselves. 53 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,400 Do what it says. 54 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,560 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says 55 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,560 is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 56 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:54,760 and after looking at himself goes away 57 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,080 and immediately forgets what he looks like. 58 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,800 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law 59 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,860 that gives freedom and continues to do this, 60 00:03:04,860 --> 00:03:08,240 not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, 61 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:10,480 he will be blessed in what he does. 62 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,160 Paul gets out a mirror now for the Corinthian church 63 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,260 because you see, this church was messy. 64 00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:20,800 There was quarreling going on. 65 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:22,480 They were spiritually immature. 66 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:23,720 It was showing. 67 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:25,780 They were harboring some bad attitudes. 68 00:03:25,780 --> 00:03:28,300 Things were ugly in Corinth. 69 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,520 They remain locked in the wisdom and the way of thinking 70 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,880 of their culture, their pagan culture, 71 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,880 out of which they had been called to faith in Christ. 72 00:03:40,220 --> 00:03:41,480 Even though they were believers, 73 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,280 they were still focused a lot on themselves 74 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,620 and their fleshly desires. 75 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,040 They still had evidence of subtle pride in their lives. 76 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,160 What's the middle letter of the word pride? 77 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:57,680 It's I. 78 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,160 Pride is when I am in the center. 79 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,720 Instead of dividing around the preferences of human leaders, 80 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,720 they should have been united and connected 81 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,480 with God and focused on God alone. 82 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,560 And so Paul holds up a mirror for them 83 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,160 so that they can take a closer look. 84 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,700 He reminds them again of their calling. 85 00:04:25,700 --> 00:04:28,400 Paul has mentioned the fact that they've been called 86 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,320 several times already. 87 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,480 I invite you to open your Bible and look with me 88 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,480 as we begin in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians chapter one. 89 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,240 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. 90 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:47,120 The word think there is literally see. 91 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,560 He's using a word that means more than a quick glance. 92 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,960 He says, I want you to see by meditating, 93 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,040 by contemplating what you're looking at. 94 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,400 Take a look in this mirror and don't quickly glance away. 95 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,580 Think of what you were when you were called. 96 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,720 Not many of you were wise by human standards. 97 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,360 Not many were influential. 98 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,040 Not many were of noble birth, 99 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,320 but God chose the foolish things of the world 100 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,020 to shame the wise. 101 00:05:20,020 --> 00:05:23,680 God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 102 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,880 He chose the lowly things of this world 103 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,320 and the despised things. 104 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,680 And the things that are not, 105 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:33,760 the things that are nothing, 106 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:37,160 to nullify the things that are, 107 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,400 so that no one may boast before him. 108 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,840 It is because of him, God, 109 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,640 that you are in Christ Jesus, 110 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,280 who has become for us wisdom from God. 111 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:56,280 That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. 112 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:57,880 Therefore, as it is written, 113 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,920 let him who boasts boast in the Lord. 114 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,680 Paul reminds them of their calling in Christ Jesus. 115 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,760 Now, that is a theme that Paul uses here. 116 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,760 What does he mean by this calling? 117 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:13,400 Here's how I would define it. 118 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,600 The calling is God's sovereign action. 119 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,120 You may want to fill in the blanks in your notes. 120 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:24,120 The calling is God's sovereign action, 121 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,560 whereby he summons a sinner 122 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,320 to respond in faith to the gospel, 123 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,940 enabling him by grace to believe on Christ. 124 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,000 That is the calling that we receive. 125 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,200 When the gospel is preached to us 126 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,640 and we respond in faith to Jesus. 127 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,960 Paul further emphasizes this whole idea 128 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,120 of God's calling of us by three times 129 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,440 in the text I've just read saying, God chose. 130 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,060 God chose, he chose. 131 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:04,040 What if God had not called? 132 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,080 Well, the result might be what John Allen, 133 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,880 who used to minister for the Salvation Army 134 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,880 and another generation said on his deathbed. 135 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,960 He said, I deserve to be damned. 136 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,500 I deserve to be in hell, but God interfered. 137 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,680 Folks, I want to tell you something. 138 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,160 If God's calling had not been extended to you and me, 139 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,000 if he had not interfered in the direction we were heading, 140 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,800 we would never have turned around and believed on Christ. 141 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,200 Paul says, I want you to remember God's calling. 142 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:46,200 There is no room for human pride at the cross of Jesus. 143 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,160 None of us can say that our salvation 144 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:51,840 is because of something we did. 145 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,460 It is God who is the initiator of our salvation. 146 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,760 Paul says, I want you to look in the mirror 147 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,560 and think more carefully about your calling. 148 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,000 He wants us to have a closer look at our calling. 149 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,080 And I'll warn you this, I'll warn you about this, 150 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:10,640 that a closer look at your calling 151 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,400 to follow Christ may result in an attitude adjustment. 152 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,000 Just as looking in a mirror may call for an adjustment 153 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,560 in how you've combed your hair, 154 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,720 or it may call for you to remove something from your face. 155 00:08:27,260 --> 00:08:28,920 I don't know what it is about getting older, 156 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,680 but I'll be sitting across the table from my wife 157 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:33,120 during a meal and she will go, 158 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,120 why can't you feel crumbs on your cheek anymore? 159 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:41,680 You understand this? 160 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:43,320 I don't understand this. 161 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:44,960 You look in the mirror and you see things, 162 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:46,640 oh my, look at that. 163 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,120 This camera gets too close as far as I'm concerned. 164 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,520 When you and I take a closer look. 165 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:59,520 Don't tell anybody you went to the terror movies this weekend. 166 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,600 Anyway, a closer look at your calling. 167 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,480 In Jesus Christ may result in some adjustments 168 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,240 needing to be made in your attitudes. 169 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,880 Paul says, I want you to take a close look in the mirror. 170 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,280 And first of all, consider us whom God chooses. 171 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,880 He talks about this in verses 26 to 28. 172 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,600 And he frankly says, those who receive God's calling 173 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,200 and who inherit salvation are not those 174 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,200 whom the world's wisdom would have selected. 175 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,240 The world has a certain way of evaluating people. 176 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,880 Have you noticed this? 177 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:43,320 The beautiful people. 178 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,000 The A list. 179 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,320 The talented people. 180 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:52,680 The people who are worthy. 181 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:55,840 If the world were going to select the people 182 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,120 who should get the gift of salvation, who would they pick? 183 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:01,760 They would pick the wise. 184 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,920 They would pick the mighty. 185 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:07,560 They would pick the noble. 186 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:08,800 The ones Paul points out here. 187 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,440 The intellectual elite, the educated. 188 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:13,440 They would pick the mighty. 189 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,520 That is those who are the political elite. 190 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,240 The powerful, the influential. 191 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:19,520 They would pick the noble. 192 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,120 Those who are the well-born. 193 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,920 Those who went to an Ivy League school. 194 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,760 Those who are on the A list, the A social list. 195 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,560 The ones who are the most admired people in the world. 196 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:37,240 Those who are the most listened to, the most honored. 197 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:42,640 And it's these people who often boast of themselves as well. 198 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,000 Paul says, not many. 199 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:51,880 And that whole category has God called, not many. 200 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,080 Lady Huntington, who lived in another generation 201 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,040 and was a friend of the Wesley brothers, 202 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,840 said that she was saved by an M. 203 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:04,840 Because she said the verse says that God did not call many. 204 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,120 Thankfully, it doesn't say God didn't call any. 205 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:13,800 Because she was elite, she was wealthy. 206 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,840 She was one of the aristocracy in Britain. 207 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,040 But God had called her to faith. 208 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:20,480 Saved by an M. 209 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,560 Then who does God choose? 210 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,880 Those who receive God's calling are those 211 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,280 whom the world discards and discounts. 212 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:32,600 Who are they? 213 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,440 The foolish, Paul says. 214 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,520 The weak things, the lowly things, 215 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,680 that is those who are low-born, probably meaning slaves. 216 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,220 Many slaves came to faith in Christ in the Roman Empire. 217 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,120 He says God calls the despised things. 218 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,240 Those are not thought very well of. 219 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,520 He calls the things that are nothing. 220 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:01,120 The nobodies, the zeros in society, the outcasts. 221 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,600 God calls those who are below the bottom rung 222 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,240 of the social ladder. 223 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,920 Those include the Dalits of India. 224 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,960 They include the hillbillies of the mountains. 225 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,320 They include the illegal immigrants. 226 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,080 They include the orphans of the world. 227 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,000 The lonely, the poor, the oppressed, the desperate, 228 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:35,000 the hungry, those who often have no hope in this world 229 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:39,080 and are looking for something. 230 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,040 God's calling goes to them. 231 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:44,440 Aren't you glad for that? 232 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,440 Because what that means is that God's calling has come to us. 233 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,320 There are not many of us who would fit into that category 234 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,000 of the well-educated and the social elite 235 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,040 and the politically powerful. 236 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:01,560 Some may, and I will say to you, if that's you, 237 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,040 then you of all people should be thankful 238 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:08,480 for the grace of God, because God has not called many of you. 239 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,080 God's calling primarily goes to those in the world 240 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,120 who the whom the world discards and despises. 241 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,600 May I say to you, welcome to the family of God? 242 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:27,560 Where do you fit in? To anyone who begins to feel heady 243 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:30,520 about his status with God. 244 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,840 Paul says in essence, get over yourself. 245 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,440 It's not about you. 246 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,240 Look at those whom God has purposely called out of this 247 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:44,040 world to belong to him. 248 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:49,040 Consider those like us who've been called by God. 249 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,080 Look at that in the mirror. 250 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,280 Does it fit you? Have you been called? 251 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,000 Then there's really no reason for pride, he says, 252 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,120 because this calling comes from God. 253 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,640 God chose us. It wasn't something we did. 254 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,040 It humbles us. 255 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:09,320 It causes us to say great is the mercy and the love of God. 256 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:10,960 Amazing grace. 257 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:13,920 Paul says, I want you to look in the mirror 258 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,560 and consider those whom God chooses. 259 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:17,800 But he says, secondly, I want you to look in the mirror 260 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:22,440 and consider why God chooses people like us. 261 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:24,760 There are three reasons why God chooses the poor 262 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,280 and those who are despised. 263 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,240 Why God chooses the outcasts of the world 264 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,080 to shower his grace upon. 265 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,880 Why God chooses people like you and me 266 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:36,520 to be his people in the world. 267 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:38,080 There are three reasons. 268 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,040 In the first place, God wants to shame the thinking 269 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,640 or the wisdom, the way of looking at things of the world. 270 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,520 Verses 27 and 28. 271 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:51,520 The wise, the strong, the some bodies of this world 272 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,520 are put to shame by what God does. 273 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,040 They're disgraced. 274 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,640 Their wisdom, their way of thinking is nullified. 275 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,920 It's reduced to absolute nonsense. 276 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:08,960 What God can do through an unlettered, insignificant, 277 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,960 nobody upsets the world's evaluation of who's important 278 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,000 and who can succeed. 279 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,760 The world, frankly, would look at most of us and say, 280 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:24,720 you don't have what it takes. 281 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:32,280 God looks at us and he says, let me show them. 282 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,800 And so, God and his grace looks down 283 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,880 on a little street boy in Korea. 284 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:50,120 Born of an American serviceman in a Korean prostitute, 285 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,740 perhaps, cast out onto the streets. 286 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:59,520 No shoes, no food, he begs, steals, 287 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:01,040 does whatever he can to survive. 288 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,680 One day, he's picked off the streets, put into a home, 289 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:10,680 and a couple from Minnesota adopt this little boy. 290 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,880 And they're Christians, and they raise him 291 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,400 to know Christ as his savior. 292 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:33,400 And this little boy grows up to be a good athlete, 293 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,080 goes to college, decides to drop out for a while, 294 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,680 never gets back to school, doesn't have a degree 295 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:52,680 even to this day, but God has used him and his testimony. 296 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,360 He had nothing going for him. 297 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,120 And yet today, without a degree, 298 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:58,840 he's an executive in the company, 299 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,960 and people with master's degrees are answering to him. 300 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,680 God says, I'll show you what I can do. 301 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:17,680 God looks down upon a family that is very poor, 302 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:22,680 they have nothing, absolutely nothing, except a little boy. 303 00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:31,000 And from the time he's seven years old until he's 13, 304 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,080 he's often left in the care of a neighbor, 305 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,280 a man who sexually abuses him. 306 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,520 He complains about this to his parents, 307 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:44,520 they don't believe him. 308 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,120 They can't imagine their friend would ever do this. 309 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:51,120 And so whenever they leave him with the neighbor, 310 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:53,520 they say, now you do whatever he tells you to do. 311 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,920 Until he was 13, he was able to stand up for himself. 312 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,520 And then in high school, he came to faith in Christ. 313 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,520 God called him. 314 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,520 This little guy who was a nobody, 315 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,520 he was a little guy who was a little guy. 316 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:17,520 Who was a nobody, somebody's toy. 317 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:20,600 God calls him to himself. 318 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,220 And this little guy has the ability to speak. 319 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:31,640 And he grows in his faith and when he gets into college, 320 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,920 he begins to debate communists and atheists on his campus, 321 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,520 in the public forums of his university. 322 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,520 He goes on in life to write books. 323 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:43,520 And most of us here have read his books, 324 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,520 helped us to understand the foundation of our faith. 325 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,520 He doesn't have an advanced degree, 326 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,520 but God's given him a mind of a researcher 327 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:55,520 and a photographic memory. 328 00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,520 I have one too, but unfortunately the film 329 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,520 never got put in the camera. 330 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:04,520 But he's got the real thing. 331 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,520 Never forgets anything he reads. 332 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,520 Today he speaks all over the world. 333 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:14,520 He's written books that have been sold to millions of people. 334 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,520 Now the world's wisdom would have said, 335 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,520 here's a victim, he can never amount to anything 336 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:22,520 because of the terrible abuse in his life. 337 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:28,520 God says, oh yeah, let me show you my wisdom. 338 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,520 Let me show you what I can do. 339 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,520 You see, God's wisdom takes the nobodies of this world 340 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,520 and makes them somebody. 341 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,520 And in doing that, he shames the world and its wisdom. 342 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:48,520 Secondly, God does this in order to stop boasting before him. 343 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:52,520 God says, there's going to be no boasting before me. 344 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:56,520 The story is told of a proud woodpecker 345 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,520 who was tapping away one day at a tree, 346 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,520 an old dead tree in a forest. 347 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:04,520 And while he was tapping away, 348 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,520 the clouds roiled up and a thunderstorm moved in. 349 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,520 He kept on working and it wasn't long before a lightning bolt 350 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,520 came down out of those clouds 351 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,520 and shattered that tree into a hundred pieces. 352 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,520 And that slightly scarred and scorched woodpecker flying away, 353 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:23,520 yelled to his feathered friends, 354 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,520 look what I've done, look what I've done. 355 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,520 And that's just how we are. 356 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,520 So often, look what I've done. 357 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:37,520 But the truth is that anything good that happens through us 358 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:39,520 is the doing of God, right? 359 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,520 Can you say amen to that? 360 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,520 It's God doing it. 361 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,520 You see, God chooses people like us so that when good things happen, 362 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,520 no one can boast before him. 363 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,520 We can't say, look what I did. 364 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:59,520 We have to say, oh God, I am amazed at what you're doing. 365 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,520 A third reason that he chooses people like us 366 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,520 is to show the glory of God. 367 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,520 The fact is that if anything meaningful is accomplished, 368 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,520 it is God, it's not us. 369 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,520 Paul quotes this verse from Jeremiah chapter 9. 370 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,520 It's verse 31 here in 1 Corinthians. 371 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,520 Therefore, as it is written in Jeremiah, 372 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,520 let him who boasts boast in the Lord. 373 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:28,520 If we're going to boast in anything, it needs to be in our God. 374 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:33,520 The one who has saved us, who has called people like us 375 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,520 into his family and says, 376 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,520 I'm going to take you with all of the hardship 377 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,520 and all of the difficulty and all the brokenness of your life, 378 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,520 and I'm going to make something of you. 379 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,520 You're going to be my poem, my work piece, 380 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,520 my masterpiece in the world. 381 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,520 And we look up and we say, oh God, to you be the glory. 382 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,520 Great things you have done. 383 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,520 Paul says, look in the mirror. 384 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,520 Before you get stuck on yourself, look in the mirror 385 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,520 and see those whom God has chosen out of this world 386 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,520 and understand why God chooses people like us. 387 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:15,520 Paul says, I want you to look in the mirror 388 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:20,520 and consider also what God's choice of us means, 389 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,520 what it means to us. 390 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,520 The ramifications of it in our life, we find this in verse 30, 391 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:32,520 where he says, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, 392 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,520 who has become for us wisdom from God, 393 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,520 that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. 394 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,520 Literally he says of him, you are in Christ Jesus. 395 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:50,520 Again, he emphasizes the fact you are in Christ, 396 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,520 not because of something you've done to gain that, 397 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,520 but because of God and his choice. 398 00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,520 That's the only reason. 399 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:05,520 But because of him, you are in Christ Jesus 400 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:12,520 and you have God's wisdom in Christ in your life. 401 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,520 You see, the Corinthians were still playing around 402 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,520 with the wisdom of their age. 403 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,520 They were still allowing themselves to be conformed 404 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,520 to the thinking of the world around them, 405 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,520 out of which they had been called. 406 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:34,520 Its values, its belief system was still impacting them, 407 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,520 even though they were believers. 408 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,520 And that's why they were in the trouble, 409 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,520 that's why they were in the mess they were in. 410 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,520 That's why Paul is calling them to look in the mirror. 411 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,520 He says, I want you to put away the world's wisdom 412 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,520 that is causing all of these problems, 413 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:59,520 and I want you to understand that you have the wisdom of Christ. 414 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:04,520 All of God's wisdom is yours in him. 415 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:10,520 The sum of it is this, Christ himself is all we need. 416 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,520 Christ himself is all we need for anything, 417 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,520 in this life or in the life to come. 418 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,520 There's a paragraph I've put down for you. 419 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,520 I think it's in your notes, it's also on the screen. 420 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,520 I'd like you to read it out loud with me. 421 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,520 It says, God's wisdom in Christ is more than cognitive truth. 422 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:34,520 It means possessing all that is needed to live life well as his child. 423 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,520 It is having the mindset, the worldview, 424 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,520 that provides understanding of who we are, 425 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:46,520 the world we live in, and what the future holds. 426 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:48,520 Think about that. 427 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,520 You see, the wisdom of God is more than cognitive truth, 428 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,520 it's more than theology. 429 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,520 It's understanding that comes from that. 430 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,520 It's understanding who we are, the world we live in, 431 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,520 and what the future holds. 432 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,520 In other words, God's wisdom basically answers, 433 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,520 fundamentally answers, the very questions that the world wisdom 434 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:17,520 has searched for millennia to answer. 435 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,520 Who am I? 436 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,520 Why am I here? What is my purpose? 437 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:28,520 And where am I going? What comes after life? 438 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,520 Is there anything after life? 439 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:38,520 We gain three life-changing benefits from our union with Jesus Christ. 440 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:45,520 These benefits essentially parallel and answer the three questions I've just mentioned. 441 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,520 He says, you have the wisdom of God in Christ. 442 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,520 He says, that is, number one, righteousness. 443 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,520 Righteousness. Christ has made righteousness for us. 444 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:01,520 Now the word righteousness reminds us of our past justification. 445 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,520 The fact that when we came to Christ as Savior, 446 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,520 God declared us righteous in His sight. 447 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:15,520 It is a legal benefit that we have as His people. 448 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:20,520 Our standing with God has been revolutionized. 449 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,520 It's been entirely changed. 450 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,520 You say, well, how does that relate to any of those questions? 451 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,520 Well, the world is asking, who am I? 452 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,520 Wrapped up in this word righteousness is the answer to that. 453 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:34,520 Let me tell you how. 454 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,520 If I am declared righteous with God, 455 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,520 it must mean that before that I was what? 456 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:40,520 I was unrighteous. 457 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,520 So I asked myself, why was I unrighteous? 458 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,520 Where did that come from? 459 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,520 Well, it came from the deeds of my life. 460 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,520 Why do I do what I do? 461 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,520 Because I'm a part of the human race. 462 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,520 Why is the human race in the mess it's in? 463 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,520 Because the human race is descended from Adam and Eve. 464 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,520 And you see it takes us all the way back to the beginning 465 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,520 in the book of Genesis. 466 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,520 And it begins to help us understand who we are. 467 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:05,520 Who am I? 468 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,520 I am a descendant of Adam and Eve, 469 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,520 a member of the human race, marred by sin. 470 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,520 And that sin causes me to be separated from God. 471 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,520 I am unrighteous. 472 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,520 I am hostile toward God. 473 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,520 And because of that, I bear guilt and shame in my life. 474 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,520 How can I be rid of my shame? 475 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,520 How can I get this guilt off of me? 476 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,520 And the world's wisdom comes along and it says, 477 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,520 oh, don't pay attention to that. 478 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,520 That guilt and that shame is just self-induced. 479 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,520 Or it says, well, you're a victim. 480 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,520 You were abused as a child. 481 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,520 You were born that way. 482 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,520 It's part of your genetic makeup. 483 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,520 It's because of this or it's because of that. 484 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,520 You can't blame yourself. 485 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,520 Don't feel guilty. 486 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,520 God's wisdom says, I can fix your guilt. 487 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,520 Because I can give you a whole new standing with myself. 488 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,520 My son, Jesus Christ, is my wisdom. 489 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,520 He's my way of thinking. 490 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,520 He's the way I look at things. 491 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,520 And through him, I can make you righteous in my eyes. 492 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,520 I can remove your guilt of sin. 493 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:25,520 That's God's wisdom. 494 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,520 Is that better than an excuse for what we do? 495 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,520 It's to have a right relationship with God 496 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,520 and to know that as far as God sees me, 497 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,520 He sees me as righteous as His Son. 498 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:43,520 Because you see, God took all of my unrighteousness 499 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,520 and He put it on His Son at the cross. 500 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,520 And He paid the price for it. 501 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,520 And then God took all of His righteousness 502 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,520 and He put it on me. 503 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,520 It's as though one night, 504 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,520 I owed the bank a billion dollars 505 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,520 and I earned the salary of $10,000 a year 506 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:08,520 with absolutely no hope of ever paying that back. 507 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,520 And in one moment, someone comes into my life 508 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,520 and he says, I'm going to absolutely eliminate your debt. 509 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,520 Oh my goodness, my debt's gone, absolutely. 510 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,520 But that's not all. 511 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,520 I'm going to put a billion dollars in your account too. 512 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,520 Is that good? 513 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,520 That's a good deal. 514 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,520 That's what righteousness means. 515 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:35,520 And I have no reason anymore for shame. 516 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:40,520 I don't have to walk stooped and shamed as a man. 517 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,520 Because God sees me righteous in His Son. 518 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,520 That's God's wisdom, folks. 519 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,520 That's a benefit. 520 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:49,520 You say, well, yeah. 521 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:56,520 But I still do things in my life that I wish I didn't do. 522 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,520 God says, I'll take care of that. 523 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,520 Let me help you with that. 524 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,520 He says, my wisdom is not only righteousness. 525 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:08,520 He says, my wisdom is holiness or sanctification. 526 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,520 And here's the second benefit of our union with Christ. 527 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,520 It goes to our present and the present transformation 528 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,520 that God is making in our lives. 529 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,520 This is the empirical benefit. 530 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,520 The other was legal. 531 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:22,520 It's a legal standing. 532 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,520 Here's something I experience. 533 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,520 The fact is that none of us are perfect yet. 534 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,520 God has called us saints. 535 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,520 He's called us holy people. 536 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:37,520 But we know that we're not living up to that yet. 537 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,520 We still have sin that lives in us. 538 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:44,520 We're not perfect. 539 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,520 God says, let my wisdom take care of that. 540 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:52,520 Because through my wisdom, I'm going to give you a new nature, number one. 541 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,520 The world's wisdom says, let's clean up your old nature. 542 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,520 Let's either make excuses for it or let's counsel it 543 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,520 or let's give it shock therapy or let's drug it 544 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,520 or let's dose it with alcohol 545 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:13,520 or let's anesthetize your old nature with substances of some sort. 546 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,520 We'll take care of what you're facing that way. 547 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,520 God says, no, no, let my wisdom take care of it. 548 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:22,520 Because my wisdom gives you a new nature. 549 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:28,520 It gives you the Holy Spirit who begins to work from the inside out 550 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,520 to make you a new person. 551 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,520 My wisdom gives you victory over satanic powers in your life 552 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:40,520 so that when Satan comes to you with temptations or lying voices in your mind, 553 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:45,520 you're able to deal with those voices and silence them. 554 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:48,520 He says, let me make you what I want you to be. 555 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:55,520 Because he says, my purpose in my wisdom is to make you like my son, 556 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,520 to reflect his image. 557 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:00,520 That's God's wisdom. 558 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:05,520 So the world is struggling with this question, what's my purpose in life? 559 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,520 What's my purpose? 560 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:08,520 Why am I here? 561 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,520 God says, I'll tell you why you're here. 562 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:15,520 I have made you to love me so that I could love you. 563 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,520 And my purpose is to change your life from the inside out. 564 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:25,520 If you want to be an engineer or a teacher or a maid or a cook or a preacher, 565 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,520 then whatever you choose is fine. 566 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:34,520 But my real purpose for your life is to make you like my son. 567 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,520 And I'm going to transform you little bit by little bit 568 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,520 over the course of your life to be like him. 569 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,520 That's your purpose. 570 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:50,520 Progressive change from old patterns, the creation of new patterns in our life. 571 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,520 But it doesn't stop there. 572 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:59,520 God's purpose for us, God's wisdom for us in Christ embraces a third benefit 573 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,520 and that is what he calls here redemption. 574 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,520 Redemption. 575 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:10,520 And I understand this to be a future expectation. 576 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,520 He's dealing here with a hopeful benefit. 577 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,520 He's looking to the future. 578 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:18,520 The world is struggling with this question. 579 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,520 What happens after I die? 580 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,520 Is there anything beyond this life? 581 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:30,520 And it basically answers the question in our day by saying, no. 582 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:32,520 When you check out, that's it. 583 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,520 There's nothing more. 584 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:35,520 You just cease to exist. 585 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:36,520 You don't remember anything. 586 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,520 You're not even in existence. 587 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,520 God says, let me give you the real story. 588 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:45,520 Here's my wisdom. 589 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,520 Here's where I'm giving you in Christ. 590 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,520 It is a future hope. 591 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:54,520 Because I want you to know that not only have I forgiven all of your sins 592 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,520 and given you Christ's righteousness, 593 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:01,520 not only have I given you the Holy Spirit and a new nature 594 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,520 and I'm making you a new person little by little 595 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,520 so that you'll be like my son. 596 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,520 But I'm giving you something to look forward to. 597 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,520 That's what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 8, 598 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:21,520 when he talks about the redemption of our bodies when Christ comes. 599 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:28,520 He says, someday I am going to resurrect even your body from the grave. 600 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:32,520 What I have given you in the wisdom of my son is not only for this life, 601 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,520 it's forever. 602 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:36,520 There is hope in the future. 603 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:42,520 You can expect that to take place. 604 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,520 The world says you're an accident. 605 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,520 That what you are is by chance 606 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,520 and your life has no purpose whatsoever. 607 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,520 And when it's over, that's it. 608 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,520 Oh, what despair that is. 609 00:34:55,520 --> 00:35:01,520 What despair that leads to. 610 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:07,520 This last week, we had another teenager in our community 611 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:12,520 who committed suicide. 612 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:17,520 That's because the world has no answers. 613 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:23,520 But for those of us whom God has called, there's redemption. 614 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,520 A week ago, yesterday, I went to visit Gail Barnes. 615 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,520 Gail has been a member of our church 616 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,520 and the last five years has battled against cancer, 617 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,520 bravely, courageously, with wonderful faith. 618 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:41,520 But it was very clear that she was getting close. 619 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,520 I said, Gail, it looks like the Lord's going to call you home soon. 620 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:52,520 And she said, yes, and I can hardly wait. 621 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,520 Friends, that's God's wisdom. 622 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,520 Later in the evening, I went to see Al Cheney. 623 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,520 By the way, a service for Gail is going to be held this Friday night 624 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,520 at 7 o'clock at Central Christian Church. 625 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,520 And so you can mark that down if you know her and her family. 626 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,520 But I went to see Al Cheney, who's also dying of cancer, 627 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,520 a longtime member of our church. 628 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,520 I walked in the room and Al said, well, Pastor, 629 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,520 it looks like this is final. 630 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:22,520 I had heard that. 631 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,520 I said, well, Al, how do you feel about that? 632 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,520 He said, I am so excited. 633 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:31,520 Can you imagine anything better than going to be with Jesus? 634 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,520 Folks, that is God's wisdom. 635 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,520 That's the redemption Paul is talking about here. 636 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,520 It's the hope of the future, 637 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:43,520 that there's something beyond this painful, brief life, 638 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,520 and it brings joy to us. 639 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:52,520 I picked up a book for my wife last fall as part of a present. 640 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,520 It's by John Ortberg. 641 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,520 It's called The Life You Always Wanted. 642 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,520 And we like it so much, we got it for our kids. 643 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,520 And I would urge you to get the book, 644 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:03,520 The Life You've Always Wanted. 645 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,520 John Ortberg preaches up on the peninsula these days 646 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,520 at Meninal Park Presbyterian. 647 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:11,520 There's a paragraph in the book, 648 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,520 as I was reading it this week, that captured my attention. 649 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:20,520 He says, to a large extent, joy overflows from a certain kind of thinking. 650 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,520 That's what Paul is saying. 651 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:24,520 Thinking like God does. 652 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,520 Thinking about God's wisdom. 653 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,520 It goes on to say, the New Testament writers were engaged 654 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:34,520 not so much with some form of positive thinking 655 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,520 as in what might be called eschatological thinking. 656 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,520 That is, they viewed all events in light of the resurrection 657 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,520 and the ultimate triumph of the risen Christ. 658 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,520 That is God's wisdom. 659 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,520 Are you looking at your life that way? 660 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:54,520 Let's title this together. 661 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,520 I began by saying, we need to look in the mirror. 662 00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:02,520 When we look in the mirror, it often requires some adjustment in our lives. 663 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:04,520 This morning, we've been looking into God's mirror 664 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:08,520 and what His Word says about our calling as the followers of Jesus. 665 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:10,520 Who we are. 666 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:11,520 Why we're here. 667 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,520 What God's purpose is and what the end of all things is. 668 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:21,520 If you haven't looked at your calling in Christ for a while, 669 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,520 your life can become untidy. 670 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,520 It can become messy and disorderly. 671 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,520 Your behavior can get in disarray 672 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:36,520 because we're living by one wisdom or the other. 673 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,520 Paul says, I want you to think like God thinks. 674 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:46,520 I want you to see your life through God's wisdom. 675 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:51,520 The fact is that just like the Corinthians, all of us can be divisive 676 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,520 and get ourselves out of balance. 677 00:38:54,520 --> 00:39:00,520 Like them, we can become proud and think that things are all about us. 678 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:08,520 Like them, we can act out wrong thinking and ways, behaviors and patterns 679 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:11,520 that dishonor the Lord and destroy others. 680 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:16,520 We can also get discouraged with sin in our lives. 681 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:20,520 We can think that life is about having fun or getting things. 682 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:26,520 We can even fall into depression and despair about the aging process 683 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,520 or the end of our lives. 684 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:32,520 What does God want us to do? 685 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,520 It is to turn away from the world's wisdom 686 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,520 and turn to God's wisdom for our lives. 687 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,520 When you and I do that, our lives will be changed. 688 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,520 We will build others up, not destroy them. 689 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,520 We will avoid disaster. 690 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:51,520 We will experience the abundance of life that God wants us to know. 691 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,520 That's why Paul writes as he does. 692 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,520 The bottom line in the message is this. 693 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:04,520 I need to know who I am so that I can become who he wants me to be. 694 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,520 Paul says, you have gotten it all messed up, Corinthians. 695 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:10,520 Look in the mirror. 696 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,520 See who you are. 697 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:17,520 See the benefits you have in Christ. 698 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:21,520 And then become who God's called you to become. 699 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:23,520 In doing that, you will save your own life 700 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:28,520 and you will save the lives of others and be a blessing to the world. 701 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,520 Folks, that's the life that God calls us to live. 702 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:37,520 Christ is all we need. 703 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:43,520 Let's not depend upon the things of the world, only upon Christ. 704 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:53,520 Father God, show us where any of us have begun to think and thus behave like the world. 705 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:58,520 Help us to see that in Christ we have everything we need. 706 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:06,520 And to begin viewing life through your wisdom, not our own, not the world's. 707 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:12,520 Oh Father, I pray that you'll help us to turn away from the world's wisdom. 708 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,520 And to follow after the wisdom you give us. 709 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:23,520 Help us to see who we are in Christ that we might become who you've called us to become. 710 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:27,520 And this I pray in Jesus' name. 711 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:37,520 I'm going to sing a closing quote.