Well, will you take your bibles and turn to First Corinthians, chapter one. If you have not been with us, we go through the word of God verse-by-verse to very carefully glean from it all that the Spirit of God has revealed. And we come now to the third part of a series on "Wisdom - God's Verses Man's" and we will be looking this morning at verses 26 through 31.

Before I read the text, let me say that this particular section of scripture has always had a profound impact on me personally, because it describes me. It describes what God has done for me, and to me and in me, and like perhaps no other passage in scripture, it humbles me to the very core. I have to confess, it stirs within me a deep spring of tears that tend to flow whenever I ponder the fact that God must have chosen me for salvation. For had he not done so, I would have never chosen him. Like no other doctrine in all of Scripture, God’s sovereignty and salvation drives me to my knees in humble thanksgiving. Yea, it drives me to my face as I contemplate what he has done to think that in eternity past, before I was even born, before he created anything, before he created time and space, the Word of God says that he set his love upon wretches like me and like you. In Revelation, we read how he did this before the foundation of the world. He wrote our names in the Lamb's book of life, and then ultimately to think that he drew me unto himself with his irresistible grace; he caused me to see my sin and the reality of the Savior and my need for him. And then to think that he saved me and we could all share that testimony, all of us that know Christ, amen? It leaves me speechless, just lost in the sheer wonder of it all.

And with the same humbling purpose in mind for the saints in Corinth, here's what the Apostle Paul says to them in First Corinthians, one beginning in verse 26,

"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

so that no man may boast before God.

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

so that just as it is written, 'LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.'"

Now it's important for us to understand from verse 18 of chapter one to verse five of chapter two, the inspired apostle is contrasting the wisdom of God with the wisdom of man, all in an effort to exhort a group of very proud, but immature, Christians in the church of Corinth to stop dividing themselves along philosophical lines and forming cliques, because, as you will recall from our previous studies, that was indicative of their culture; they were in love with the wisdom of man - "philosophia," the love of wisdom. And that was their form of entertainment; to hear great orators, great philosophers, expound upon ontology, expound upon who we are. Why we are here? Where did we come from? Where are we going when we die? How should we relate to our gods and all of this? And so they then attach themselves to their favorite philosophers, the skilled orators that could move an audience with their lofty rhetoric. And naturally, this all bled into the church, and they developed very divisive infatuations with their favorite spiritual leader, which only caused further polarization within the church. And soeveryone had their own little take on the truth. They had brought in some of the philosophical reasoning, the wisdom of man, they kind of mixed it with scripture, and evidently. That's what Paul is dealing with here. And whenever you mix man's wisdom with God, it's like taking a little bit of poison and putting it in pure water.

Now the key that unlocks this entire section in verses 26 through 31, is found in verse 30. Let me read that to you again. He says, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." Now technically in the original language the grammar of this particular text indicates that the three nouns of "righteousness," "sanctification" and "redemption" are what he refers to as "wisdom."

In other words, it could be translated this way - but by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, which consists of righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now, folks, in this one sentence, we see God summarizing the entire section of scripture here by answering the most fundamental questions that philosophers labor to answer but are never able to do so. Shall we say, the who, what, how, why and where of life. And if you ask the most imminent philosophers, the most imminent scientists, the most imminent scholars, you will hear numerous conflicting answers. I've been there in academia. I've heard from some of these people, and you have as well. In fact, I was curious what Einstein said about some of this. Einstein did not believe in a personal God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings, a view which he described as naive, but rather he believed in pantheism, that all things compose an all encompassing, imminent God. And in terms of life after death, he didn't believe in any of that. Adding quote, "One life is enough for me."

Now, folks, the key to understanding these things, of course, is the word of God. You have toask, what is my spiritual authority? Is it the word of men, or is it the word of God? And if it's the word of God, then he gives us the answers, as long as we know him, as long as we have been born again. If you have never been truly born again, then you do not have the indwelling Spirit of God, and therefore you are unable to be convicted of sin and instruction of righteousness. And the scriptures will be just kind of bizarre and meaningless to you. In fact, Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, John 16:8. And then also in First Corinthians two and verse 14, remember the Apostle Paul said, "...but a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him." He went on to say, and "he cannot," not that he will not, "he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised." The Greek term "anakrinō" a judicial term. It was a term that meant a person is incapable of rendering a decision in a court of law because they simply cannot recognize the facts. We know in Scripture that the unsaved are spiritually dead. They just don't get it when it comes to spiritual things, two plus two will always equal five or maybe six or sometimes seven, and on and on it goes, but it will never equal four.

So what are implied here are some questions, and certainly some answers. Let me give them to you in bullet form, and then I will expand upon them, and we will apply them to our lives. First of all, with the question, who is God? The answer is the holy and sovereign creator. Secondly, what does he do? Well, he calls his elect and unites them to Christ by grace alone. How does he do it? He gives wisdom to the weak, base and despised concerning righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Why does he do this? To save sinners and put his glory on display. And where does man go when he dies? Either heaven or hell, dependent upon what a person believes about the cross.

Now, young people, I want you to listen to me. What you have just heard is more valuable than your college education; everything that you will ever learn in life, Solomon tells us, is vanity when compared to these divine realities. And why are they so important? Because the eternal destiny of your soul rests upon how you answer those questions. Will you answer them God's way or man's way? Now remember, Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to abandon any latent love for man's wisdom, "philosophia," once again, because it was causing disunity and division in the church, but also, it was robbing them of the blessings that are available to those who know and love the word of God and apply it to their life.

So notice the first of the philosophical questions that are implied here, and how God answers them. The first one would be, "Who is God?" And I've given you the answer, it's he's the sovereign...he's the holy and sovereign creator, not one of many gods like you Greeks are worshiping. That's the idea. You will remember from our past studies, that he is the Holy One who has a judicial loathing of everything that is evil. He absolutely has a hatred of sin because of the misery and the death that it brings to the world.

And for this reason, what did he do? He provided a remedy. He sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the propitiation of our sin, the payment of the legal penalty of sin that eliminates a sinner’s debt to the justice of God. And it is this, according to verse 18, "word of the cross, that is foolishness to those who are perishing, but those who are being saved it is the power of God." Indeed, he is the sovereign ruler of his universe, the one who says in verse 19, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." He is the one according to verses 20 and 21 who makes "foolish the wisdom of the world" by his wisdom. He goes on to say that in the world, "through its wisdom, it did not come to know God," instead, he says, "God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe," referring to the content of the message of the gospel. He is the one who has given us the proclamation of Christ crucified, which, according to verses 23 through 24 is, "the power of God and the wisdom of God."

So in essence, what he's saying in this whole section is, Corinthian, you Corinthian saints, and I might add, you saints at Calvary Bible Church, you need to remember this, and you need to bow down and worship the Lord your God, because, indeed, he is holy and he is the sovereign creator.

Now the second question, well, "What does this God do?" Well, he calls his elect, and he unites them to Christ by his grace alone. Notice, in verse 23 he describes how the message of Christ is the message of "Christ crucified..." It's a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. But in verse 24, "but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks," it is "...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Then in verse 26 he says, "For consider your calling, brethren..." and you will recall this is a reference to the efficacious, or the effective call of God, that calling of God which certainly results in the salvation of God's elect. And of course, this is an inscrutable mystery, when you think about it, one that that harmonizes God's sovereignty with man's freedom. We know it's salvation. Both of them are in operation, but it is God who initiates salvation and works with a human will so that it will freely and voluntarily choose to believe in Christ and come to saving faith in him. And we know biblically that the instrument of this special call is the word of God, and the agent is the Holy Spirit. It is God who must draw, who must teach. You will recall in John 6:44, Jesus said, "'No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." And then in verse 45, "'It is written to the prophets, "AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD," Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.'"

And so naturally, the drawing and the learning require God's sovereign work. And dear friends, a soon as you try to explain or try to object to these biblical doctrines, you cease to be biblical. You will recall, in Acts 16:14, there was a woman named Lydia. Remember she was from Thyatira, it said; "a seller of purple fabrics," and she was listening, and then the text says, "...and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul." Folks, you remember that day when you were listening, when God finally got your attention when you really listened and the Lord opened your heart and you trusted in Christ as Savior, you responded to the gospel. What a miracle that was.

Now, that God calls his elect is found throughout the New Testament. For example, in Second Peter 1:10 he says, "...make certain about His calling and choosing you."  You will recall as well, Paul told the Thessalonian believers in First Thessalonians one, beginning in verse four, he said, to remember brethren, "...beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." In fact, the church is commonly called the "elect" in the New Testament. And throughout Scripture, we see clearly that it is God who initiates salvation, not man. But by his regenerating grace and power, he causes man to participate in responding to God's promptings, so that that man will receive the word; he says that later on in verse six of First Thessalonians one, and also "to turn to God from idols," as he says in verse nine.

So back to the text here, Paul is saying to the Corinthian believers, "consider your calling." "Consider" means, look closely folks. Look at your calling. And then he goes on to remind them in verse 27 that God "has chosen"...notice he says that two times "God has chosen." "God has chosen" verse 28 "God has chosen." Verse 30, "But by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus." God is the one initiating this so that we can be in Christ Jesus. I love that phrase "in Christ Jesus." It describes our union with Christ. And bear in mind now, biblically, this speaks of the supernatural, vital, living union by which Christ's life becomes our life.

You'll recall in Galatians two and verse 20, Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and God and gave Himself up for me."  Folks, this is a miracle that we never want to take for granted. God redeems us that he might inhabit us, and when he inhabits us, he begins to conform us more and more into the likeness of Christ. Bear in mind that it is our union with Christ that is the result of justification, justification meaning that legal act whereby God declares us to be righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is the basis of salvation and all of our blessings. Because of this, God doesn't see our sin, but he sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We're hidden in Christ. We become sharers of his life, which also finds expression in our shared life, in his body, which is the church.

Now mind you, this isn't speaking of belonging to some religious country club but this is, rather, the idea of being a limb or an organ in this mystical organism of which Christ is head the body of Christ, and this union constitutes a oneness whereby we co-labor and we co-suffer with Christ and with one another. One theologian named Strong says this quote, "Christ does not work upon us from without, as one separated from us, but from within, as the very heart from which the life blood of our spirit flows." I want to dwell upon this for a moment, because it's so precious.

The Spirit helps us grasp this unfathomable mystery by describing it through various figures in Scripture. You will remember in Ephesians one, he gives us the figure of the head and the body. And the body of Christ that I just mentioned is pictured in First Corinthians 12. You remember in verse 27 he says, "Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it." When we come to Christ, we are in Christ. We are in this mystical organism, his body. And we cannot function, therefore, outside of the body, independent as independent organs, but we all must respond to the head of the body, which is Christ, and together we serve his purposes. We see as well, and in chapter seven and verse four, that we're married to Christ. And again, in Ephesians five and the description of the bride and the bridegroom. In other words, we belong to him, and we enjoy this spiritual oneness of relationship, and everything that belongs to him belongs to us. Because of this, he will, one day, according to Ephesians 5:27, "present to Himself the church," that's his bride, "present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless."

And then you will remember John 15, and the figure of the vine and the branches that pictures that life-giving, that organic bond that we have in Christ. There is, there is a likeness of nature. There is the eternal impartation of spiritual life. There's the ability to bear spiritual fruit and so forth. And then there's another figure in John six, you will recall how he speaks of the body and food. In other words, we have life by partaking of Christ, even as Christ had life by partaking of the Father, as he describes. And then John 17, he speaks of God the Father and God the Son, and how we are to have oneness and sharing with them that the triune Godhead dwells within us and we within them.

So folks, because of our union with Christ, the Scriptures tell us that there is "no condemnation in Christ." Right? In Christ, we are free from the law. We possess the righteousness of God in him. We are complete in him; the dead in Christ will what? Rise first, and on and on it goes. What a magnificent truth.

So dear saints in Corinth, those of you that are still infatuated with human wisdom, I want to remind you of that which none of your philosophers have ever dreamed, things that they would consider to be foolish. First of all, who is God? Well, he is the holy and sovereign creator. What does he do? Well he calls his elect, and he unites them to Christ by his uninfluenced sovereign grace alone. The third question that's implied here, well, how does he do it? Well, he gives wisdom to the weak, based and despised, concerning righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Notice verse 26 again, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh..." Wise could be translated, clever, like the philosophers that they listen to all the time. Then he says, "...not many mighty," in other words, those who have great influence and power, "...not many noble," those of high status in society, or of royal nobility. By the way, those are three categories that the world absolutely praises, right? But they're totally unimpressive to God. And so basically, what he's saying is, folks, I want you to look around and by the way, we can do the same thing. Folks, I want you to look around. God did not choose to save those that the world esteems right? He didn't choose the elite of the world so that the gospel would be fashionable, so that it would be cool, so that it would be dignified. No. God's wisdom and his standards are very different from man's.

When I was thinking about this, my mind went to some scenarios when I was a little boy. God saved me when I was nine years old and you know, when he saves us, he begins to work in us, and you don't even realize it, but I look back and I remember some of this. When I was a little boy and growing up, athletics came very, very easy to me, and on the playground or in the gym, wherever it was, I was always the captain, or I would be the first one picked. You remember that? You know, when you pick up teams, you do all that type of thing. And if I was the captain, I would always love to pick the little nerdy guy standing in the back with his head down, knowing that he would probably be the last one picked, if anybody picked him at all. And if I'd already picked some guys and I picked that guy, the other guys, oh no, not him. Oh no. You're laughing, because we've all kind of been there, right? We know what that's like. By the way, I had lots of nerdy friends when I was growing up. But folks, the point is, that's exactly what God does.

It's interesting. The Roman catacombs are a series of underground burials that span from the early second century to about the fifth century ad, and many 1000s of Christians were buried there. And what's fascinating is that, almost without exception, the inscriptions in the catacombs, that were written by Christians, have very bad grammar, and you see a lot of misspelled words, which indicates that they were poor, they were illiterate people, many of them were slaves that had come to Christ. But isn't it fascinating to realize that, by God's grace, they were children of the living God, that they were heirs to the kingdom of God; joint heirs with Jesus. Absolutely astounding that they were men and women who possessed an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, one that is reserved in heaven by the power of God.

So Paul's words are so powerful. It's as if he's saying how sad to see some of you hang on to the very same standards of the world that would cause a person to exalt himself and others, and then, as you do this, you bring division and disunity into the church. It's as if he's saying, Folks, you need to take a breath. You need to calm down, you need to sit back and consider your calling. Get off your high horse, as we might say.

Verse 27 he says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world..." Base things referring to people of low origin. "...And the despised God has chosen," despised translates a term that that refers to the nobodies of the world. He's chosen the nobodies of the world. Then he says, "...the things that are not." which speaks of people that the world chooses to ignore, as if they don't even exist. He's chosen those things. Why? "So that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God."

By the way, it's interesting, that if you study totalitarian regimes, you will see that their greatest enemy throughout history has been and always will be, biblical Christianity. That's why they want to do away with it. That's why they want to get rid of Christians. That's why they don't want Bibles. I saw it when I was in Russia, and I still, as I stay in contact with friends in Russia, pastor friends, especially in Siberia. I hear about it all the time. In Muslim countries, you see the same thing, because what happens is biblical Christianity confounds the wisdom of man. And by the way, that's why you see such growing animosity towards Christians, even here in our country. He does this so that he, " may nullify the things that are so that no man may boast before God." John Calvin says, quote, "Here then we see that God, by confounding the mighty, and the wise and the great, does not design to elate with pride the weak and the illiterate and the abject, but brings down all of them together to one level." End quote.

Folks think about the original 12 disciples. Think about those guys. You know, their only remarkable qualifications were that they had no remarkable qualifications, right? It's really interesting when you think about it. In fact, if you would have looked at their yearbook, it would have said, you know, least likely to succeed. I mean, that's kind of what these guys were. And even after they were saved, I mean, they were still prejudiced. They were impetuous and hardheaded. We know that they were uneducated, they were proud, cowardly, unreliable, spiritually immature. They were the most unlikely candidates. And yet this is exactly the kind of people that God loves to come upon and save by his grace. 12 very ordinary men. John MacArthur wrote a great book on that, "Twelve Ordinary Men." And think about it, only 12. Not the religious elite, not the celebrities, not the politicians, not people with clout, but fishermen, a tax collector, a Jewish terrorist that hated Rome and other nondescript nobodies. What was God thinking? I mean, this is so counterintuitive, but folks, this should be an encouragement to all of us, because God seeks our availability, not our ability, and he saves us by his grace, and he's going to always give us all that we need to accomplish the task that he sets before us. He empowers us by his Holy Spirit. He gifts us to do more for his glory and for our joy than we could ever possibly imagine. Beloved, never underestimate your capacity to be used by God, your lot in life, your your education, your experience, your gender, your socio-economic situation, whatever it is, all of those things are utterly meaningless when it comes to your usefulness for the kingdom. What God looks for is a person who's contrite of heart and who trembles at his word. Isaiah 66:2.

Now back to answering the question, how does he call his elect and unite them to Christ? By His unaffluent sovereign grace alone? Well, he gives wisdom to the weak base and despise concerning righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Notice this again in verse 30, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God," which consists of, I might add, "righteousness and sanctification and redemption." Now folks, think about what he is saying here, because this is absolutely astounding. The reason we are in Christ is solely because God made it happen. And the first thing that he does is he gives us wisdom. You might say that suddenly Proverbs nine and verse 10 becomes a life changing reality. Remember he says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." You might also remember in verse seven of chapter one, he said, "Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

So when we come to Christ, when God causes this to happen,  suddenly, an ignorant nobody of the world becomes among the wisest of the world, among the most noble people on the planet, even though the world does not see it, and instantly that person knows the who, what, how, why and where, of life truths that the world considers to be utterly moronic. I mean, after all, they still think that we are sophisticated germs that crawl out of some primordial swamp and eventually turned into matter and then into mammals and then into apes. And now here we are. And some of them will say, "Well, if there is a god or gods, we're certainly all good enough to make the cut and to be in his or her good graces." And of course, in our culture, everyone goes to heaven if they believe in God. You see all of this silliness all the time. Most people are what I would call clueless existentialists; they have no idea about any of this. An existentialist believes that we live in an unfathomable universe, and the plight of the individual is to assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right and wrong, or good or bad. And you wonder why people go into a school and shoot up a bunch of kids. Most people just live for themselves, right? They're ruled by the lust of their flesh, the lusts of their heart. They live their life chasing every dream in their culture and in our culture, it's the American dream, whatever that is. They chase every dream. They chase after every pleasure, and then they gradually begin to get old and sick, and they die. Encouraging, isn't it? Without Christ, it's horribly discouraging, because they will die and stand before a holy and a sovereign God, guilty and condemned to an eternal death and separation from God, the very God that they ignored and rebelled against. But not so the nobodies that God has chosen.

And notice the essential, foundational elements of this instant wisdom that is imparted to us, this wisdom that is unattainable through the wisdom of man and through any mode of seeking, again verse 30, "Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God," which consists of "righteousness and sanctification and redemption." And by the way, this reminds me of what Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," John 14:6.

Now first, this wisdom consists of an understanding of number one, righteousness. Now the original language righteousness carries the idea of conformity to a standard. In this case, conformity to a holy standard. And its most simple terms, when we come to faith in Christ, God suddenly helps us understand that he is infinitely holy, and we are not; that He is God, and we are not; that we exist for him, he does not exist for us.

And we understand that we are separated, that we are alienated from God. We stand guilty and condemned before his holy bar of justice that demands that all sin be punished. And we know biblically that he demands holiness and righteousness of people who would be rightly related to him. Suddenly, we understand righteousness in these terms. We understand that we must have a righteousness foreign to our own, that we have nothing to bring but our sin. We need the righteousness of Christ. We understand Second Corinthians 5:21, that "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." Why? "That we might become the righteousness of God..." catch it, "in Him."  In the salvation of sinners, we see that God effectively judges sin and he imputes righteousness to those who trust in Christ. Why? So that God can accept us as holy, without in any way compromising his essential holiness and righteousness. We suddenly understand that we are justified as Romans, three says, "by His grace, as a gift to be received by faith, that we are justified by faith apart from works of the law,"

And folks again, this is that great doctrine of justification, a legal declaration of righteousness, whereby God declares one to be righteous. It's that instantaneous change in one's status before a holy God, which will result in a gradual transformation that takes place within the inner man of the one who is justified. In fact, the very essence of the gospel is summarized by Paul, by casting it as, quote, ".... the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe..." Romans 3:22.  

So this wisdom that we are given not only includes righteousness, but secondly, sanctification. Now this is closely connected with holiness. In fact, in many passages in the New Testament, the word means salvation. Sanctification means to be set apart from sin unto God; to set be set apart for Christian living. It not only includes the immediate act and fact of salvation, but it also includes this progressive or growing experience of greater holiness and less sinfulness in the life of a believer. Sanctification helps us understand this idea of loving what God loves and hating what he hates, and we begin to express God's will and fulfill his purposes in our life. In fact, it is pictured in Scripture as a body growing into adulthood in Hebrews five. It's also pictured as a tree bearing fruit in Psalm one three, in John 15.

And this sanctification will naturally result in a person who will manifest it by having a greater love for God's people, a concern for personal holiness, a love for the word of God, a desire to live for the glory of God, a desire to worship God. You will see that person persevering in the midst of great trials and longing to have fellowship with God's people. This sanctification that we suddenly understand and have a passion for would include a desire for God's glory in our life and for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. It will include a burden for the lost, a longing for Christ's return and on and on and goes.

But folks, thirdly, this wisdom also consists of redemption - the idea that Christ has redeemed us out of the slavery of sin by paying the ransom price by his very blood. In fact, Jesus characterized the mission of his incarnation as a work of ransom, of which his life was the ransom price that would be given quote "in our stead," that many sinners would be brought to freedom. It's interesting, in the Old Testament economy, when an Israelite had become so poor that they couldn't pay their bills, they eventually had to sell themselves into slavery. But it's fascinating that God made provision in his law for that person's family to redeem that person out of slavery by paying a price. Folks, that is what Christ has done for us, and it's for this reason that Paul can exhort believers to glorify God in your body, "...For you were bought with a price," First Corinthians 6:20.

So beloved when we come to Christ, this is the wisdom that he gives us. Suddenly, these things become alive. Now, we may not be able to articulate them as a skilled theologian might articulate, but we understand the basics, and then we begin to grow in the grace and the knowledge of God. So let this passage sink into your heart.

Verse 30, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, 'LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.'" And by the way, the wisdom of God is readily apparent in every saint. People won't be able to miss it. Remember James three and verse 17, he says, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." I'll just leave that there for you to study on your own.

So again, Paul is reminding these Corinthian believers that God has called his elect. He's united you to Christ, by his uninfluenced, sovereign grace alone. And how does he do it? Well, he gave wisdom to you, people that that are weak and base and despise, wisdom concerning righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Well, the next question is, why would he do this? And the answer is to save sinners and put his glory on display. And folks, that is also why we exist, to put his glory on display. Again, remember in verse 23 he says, "...but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentile’s foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Later on in Second Corinthians, chapter four and verse six, he's going to say, "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Ephesians one and verse nine, "He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him." Then he went on to say how he prayed for them, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, beginning in verse 17, "...that the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

Folks, we all know that the sun is the exclusive source of light in our particular realm of the universe, and so God also is the sole source of his glory. And the moon, we know, reflects the glorious light of the sun, and so too, we as believers are to reflect God's glory. But it's interesting as we study scripture, and even as we see alluded to it here in this text, God's image in man was fractured in the fall, and therefore sinful human beings refract God's glory, but they don't reflect it back to him. Therefore, they need to be saved. And when they are saved, when they are transformed, they no longer just refract the glory of God, they begin to reflect the glory of God.

And finally, the question, "Where does man go when he dies?" Well, the answer is even haveeither heaven or hell, dependent upon what they believe about the cross. Again, notice verse 18, "...the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Remember, the whole world can be divided into these two groups of people: one group are those who are perishing, which carries the idea of a continuing process of destruction and separation from God that will never end. And then there's the other group, those who are being saved, a process that that will be completed when we ultimately receive our glorified bodies. And the first group, those who are perishing, believe that what Christ did on the cross is complete foolishness. It has no bearing on their life, no bearing on eternity. But those who were being saved find it to be the power of God. What an amazing reminder, an admonition to all those early saints in Corinth of the who, what, how, why and where of life.

I want to close with an illustration that I hope will bring this home. It's so sad to see those who are perishing scoff at the wisdom of God and the cross. I was reading an article this week about the diagnosis of clinical depression, also known as major depression, and how it has risen 33% since 2013 according to a new report from the health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield, let me just read a little of this. The report, which was based on insurance claims filed by 41 million privately insured Blue Cross Blue Shield members calls depression, the quote, "second most impactful condition on overall health for commercially insured Americans." End quote. Behind only high blood pressure. That's because people with depression also tend to have other health issues, such as chronic illnesses, substance abuse, and as a result, may have more significant health care needs and experience worse health outcomes over time, some of the literature is already starting to predict that by 2030, "...depression will be the number one cause for loss of longevity of life, says Dr Trent Hayward, Chief Medical Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.  "Women and men with depression may, on average, lose up to 9.7 years of healthy life." The report says. Depression diagnoses were found to be rising in every demographic, but the uptick has been especially dramatic among young people. Since 2013 rates have spiked by 47% among millennials by 65% among adolescent girls and by 47% amongst adolescent boys. The report says women of any age are also more likely than men to be not diagnosed with clinical depression, and then it went on to refer to record numbers of college. Students are seeking treatment and depression and anxiety, and I'll not take time to give all of the illustrations, but it was so sad. They've included millions of dollars to bring on more counselors for more therapy and to provide things like breathing exercises and to give people a playlist to cheer them up that they can click on their little phones and have freer access to clinics for emergency. Pennsylvania State University allocated roughly $700,000 in additional funding for Counseling and Psychological Services in 2017 citing, quote, "a dramatic increase in the demand for care over the past 10 years." And it gave a list of everything from yoga to you name it, and the sad thing is, the result is, it's not helping. Things are getting worse rather than better. You compare the problems of college students, for example, with the list of Paul's persecutions you could read about in Second Corinthians 11 - no comparison whatsoever. And yet Paul said, "...momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

You think, my goodness, how could a guy be so foolish to believe such a thing? The reason is because God, by his grace, set his love upon him, as he has me, and most of you, and gave him wisdom to understand all of these great truths - the who, the what, the how, the why and the where of life. And folks, all I can do is challenge you to consider these things and to apply them to your lives. And if you don't know Christ, I plead with you that today will be the day that you acknowledge your sin and confess it and run to the cross and give your life to him ask for that forgiveness that he will give so readily, and not only will you be forgiven, but you will receive the righteousness of Christ, and you will be placed in Christ to enjoy all of the blessings that are available to the redeemed in this life, and especially in the life to come. Amen, let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our lives. We commit it all to you in Jesus' name, amen.