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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (25-10-1998 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
Additional Reading: Jeremiah 9:23-24
Paul continues with the same theme, and is concerned to
lift God high and put man in his place – the dust. We need to be God-centred,
not man-centred. The whole emphasis is never mind self, take eyes off self, look
at God, and see what God has done. There is no place to be confident and sure of
self. Put confidence in God. Find all in all in Christ.
Now from looking at the way of salvation as that which exalts God, Paul turns to the people who are saved. God chooses and calls a people. The very people that God chooses exalts God, shows His greatness and glory.
Remember Paul’s argument was to magnify God and His
greatness and glory. Totally indebted to Him. He demonstrated that Christians
are where they are and have what they have thanks to God alone.
The human side of conversion is
repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But now here is
God’s side. The sovereign and powerful call of God Himself, through Christ.
The point is that God has gone out of His way to choose the nonentities.
Think of what you were when
you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were
influential; not many were of noble birth (1 Corinthians 1:26). With few
exceptions, noblemen, philosophers, business executives, gentry, people in
corridors of power, were all absent from this and every other church. But God
chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak
things of the world to shame the strong; he chose the lowly things of this world
and the despised things and the things that are not – to nullify the things
that are (1 Corinthians 1:27,28). It is the scum of the earth He has chosen,
and made His priests and kings. He has completely reversed human values. The
world has put on a pedestal the high and the great. And God has turned the whole
situation upside down and exalted and chosen sheer nobodies. This is true in
every age.
Few people in the New Testament
church were of social importance. The proconsul, Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:7),
Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus (Acts 17:34), prominent women of
Thessalonica (Acts 17:4,12), Erastus, the city treasurer of Corinth (Acts 19:22;
Romans 16:23), and Paul himself, were of massive intellect. In the time of Nero,
Pomponia Graecina, wife of Aulus Plautius (conqueror of Britain) was martyred
for her Christianity. But by and large, slaves made up the bulk of church
membership. Celsus (178AD) sneered at Christians because they were ignorant,
uncultured, wool dressers, cobblers, fullers, and uneducated and vulgar persons.
During the eighteenth century
revival, one of the leaders was Countess of Huntingdon, a woman of great wealth
who built churches and a college at Trefeca near Brecon. She opened her drawing
room to London society, including the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland,
and Lord North, to hear the Gospel. She said she was always glad of the letter
“m” in Paul’s statement here, “Not many wise, mighty and
noble…”, i.e. she was glad he did not say “Not any wise, mighty and
noble..” But the revival was mainly among the poorest and most degraded and
immoral, the Bristol colliers and slum-dwellers, Cornish smugglers, London
drunkards, Liverpool dockers and sailors, and wild starving blasphemers of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
So it is today in every place.
God, in doing so, upsets the estimation and opinion of the world. He does not
bow the knee to men. Intent on breaking empty human pride, He reverses men’s
judgement. Turns the whole reckoning of the world on its head. He works miracles
with hopeless materials. And shows that if men are saved it is because of His
power and wisdom alone. Human position, intellect, power, merit and works count
for nothing with Him. So that no one may boast before Him (1 Corinthians
1:29). No flesh, no human being should boast and glory and preen himself in the
presence of God.
By nature we are very proud. We
are quick to assert self and insist on being recognised. God snaps His fingers
at it all. It is not till we face the fact that we only deserve judgment and
hell, that we are utterly helpless and weak, and that if we are saved it is
because of grace and mercy alone, that the real Christian experience begins.
That is a step lower than most men are prepared to take. But it is the only way.
God’s choosing the weak and
foolish and helpless is a platform to display His grace and power. We contribute
nothing to salvation except sins, from which we need to be saved.
Two contrasting positions – self-sufficiency of the self-made self-righteous man of the world, or salvation which is wholly of God. His choosing in eternity past, His gift of His Son to do all that was necessary, new birth by His Spirit, called by His grace, kept by the His power till we are brought safely to heaven and home at the end. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30), i.e. God is the source of everything in your life through Christ Jesus. At the end of the day, it is not my choice of Him, but His choice of me which is at the root of it.
You are in Christ Jesus, who
has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and
redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). God’s wisdom in Christ has given us,
firstly, righteousness to justify us. Through Christ’s atoning death, and with
His righteousness imputed and credited to us, we are justified, freed from
condemnation, and in right relationship with God.
Secondly, He gives us holiness
to sanctify us. Not just outwardly reformed but totally renovated. Spiritually
alive. Our understanding is given light in the Lord, our will is at one with
God’s will, our affections are on things above, our conscience is enlightened.
We have holiness in heart and life. We partake of the divine nature. Christ is
formed within. The old has passed away and all things are new.
And thirdly, the redemption of
our bodies to glorify us. When Christ comes again our bodies are to be redeemed
and changed (Romans 8:23). You were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians
4:30). When He appears we shall be like Him in complete perfection. Have a body
like His resurrection body. Completion of God’s saving purposes.
There is wonderful provision for
us in Christ. It covers past sin, present helplessness, and future fear. Complete
in Him (Colossians 2:10).
“My never failing treasury filled
With boundless stores of grace”
(John
Newton)
We have all we need in Christ Jesus. What folly to rely
on human wisdom and schemes and devices. Where else can we be accepted with God,
changed in heart, and safe for eternity? What fools we are to look to ourselves
when we have such a rich and sufficient provision for us in Christ Jesus.
A.B.Simpson went to New York to
hear D.L.Moody preach. He put his hat under his seat and waited. The crowds came
in, and half an hour before the start of the service, hymn singing began.
Simpson got restless, time was passing so slowly, and he had come on a long
journey to hear D.L.Moody, not for all this hymn singing. Then the person
leading the singing announced yet another hymn, the first three words of which
were “Jesus is enough”. This hit Simpson between the eyes. Stunned, he
picked up his hat and walked out. He never heard D.L.Moody, but his life was
completely revolutionized. He became a mighty vessel in God’s hands. He had
found the secret in those three words.
Have you made this personal discovery of the truth? That Jesus is enough. Are you filled with all the fullness of God? Have you found Jesus is enough – your everything and your all, for time and eternity? Have you made that discovery? Then see how all self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-glorification and self-reliance of the man of the world is an utter abomination before the Almighty God, and total nonsense. But note that the reverse of self-glorification is not man-centred negative grovelling, but positive boasting in the Lord.
All this has happened and all
blessings are showered on us so that if anyone is going to boast and glory, Let
him who boasts boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31, quoting Jeremiah
9:24). This is one thing which satisfies the Christian – to boast in the Lord.
Unbelievers try to find satisfaction in self – what I’ve done, how important
and valuable I am, what God owes me… But the Christian wants to boast in the
Lord. He owes all to God. There we were, helpless, under condemnation, and God
has done everything for us – provided a saviour, given new birth, enriched us
with His power and wisdom and strength, given us dignity and status, and freedom
in His Son. We can hold our head up in the world and walk without fear, all
because of God’s dealing with us in Christ.
May I never boast except in
the cross of Christ of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). When we boast
in Christ, we can never exaggerate. We can never exceed His worth, never go too
far.
On the first anniversary of his conversion, May 1739, Charles Wesley penned the hymn
“Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My
great Redeemer’s praise”
inspired by the words of Peter
Bohler, “If I had a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all”.
Then there are the words of
Joseph Grigg’s hymn, Jesus and shall it ever be, which goes on to say
“Ashamed
of Jesus – yes I may
When
I’ve no guilt to wash away,
No
tear to wipe, no good to crave,
No
fears to quell, no soul to save.
Till
then, nor is my boasting vain,
Till
then I’ll boast a Saviour slain,
And
o may this my glory be
That
Christ is not ashamed of me”
We are all natural boasters,
but in whom do we boast? Ourselves, or the Lord? Whom do we rely on and depend
on? Have you discovered yet that you are empty and unworthy and useless? Full
provision has been made for us in Christ. Complete turning away from self and
finding all in Christ.
Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God’s almighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (1
Peter 5:6). Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near
(Isaiah 55:6). The requirements – to humbles selves, seek the Lord and
call on Him. This is so alien to proud, strong men who are wise in their own
eyes. But be clear that this is the only way to be saved and to be a Christian
and right with God.
