1. _First_, CHRIST is made to them _wisdom_; but wherein does true wisdom consist? Was I to ask some of you, perhaps you would say, in indulging the lust of the flesh, and saying to your souls, eat, drink, and be merry; but this is only the wisdom of brutes; they have as good a gust and relish for sensual pleasures, as the greatest epicure on earth. Others would tell me, true wisdom consisted in adding house to house, and field to field, and calling lands after their own names; but this cannot be true wisdom; for riches often take to themselves wings, and fly away, like an eagle towards heaven. Even wisdom itself assures us, “that a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses;” vanity, vanity, all these things are vanity; for, if riches leave not the owner, the owners must soon leave them; “for rich men must also die, and leave their riches for others;” their riches cannot procure them redemption from the grave, whither we are all hastening apace.
But perhaps you despise riches and pleasure, and therefore place wisdom in the knowledge of books: but it is possible for you to tell the numbers of the stars, and call them all by their names, and yet be mere fools; learned men are not always wise; nay, our common learning, so much cried up, makes men only so many accomplished fools; to keep you therefore no longer in suspense, and withal to humble you, I will send you to an heathen to school, to learn what true wisdom is: “Know thyself,” was a saying of one of the wise men of _Greece_; this is certainly true wisdom, and this is that wisdom spoken of in the text, and which JESUS CHRIST is made to all elect sinners; they are made to know themselves, so as not to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Before they were darkness, now they are light in the LORD; and in that light they see their own darkness; they now bewail themselves as fallen creatures by nature, dead in trespasses and sins, sons and heirs of hell, and children of wrath; they now see that all their righteousnesses are but as filthy rags; that there is no health in their souls; that they are poor and miserable, blind and naked; and that there is no name given under heaven, whereby they can be saved, but that of JESUS CHRIST. They see the necessity of closing with a Saviour; and behold the wisdom of GOD in appointing him to be a Saviour; they are also made willing to accept of salvation upon our LORD’s own terms, and to receive him as their all in all: thus CHRIST is made to them wisdom.
2. _Secondly_, _Righteousness_. “Who of GOD is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness;” CHRIST’s whole personal righteousness is made over to, and accounted theirs. Being enabled to lay hold on CHRIST by faith, GOD the Father blots out their transgressions, as with a thick cloud; their sins, and their iniquities he remembers no more; they are made the righteousness of GOD in CHRIST JESUS, “who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” In one sense, GOD now sees no sin in them; the whole covenant of works is fulfilled in them; they are actually justified, acquitted, and looked upon as righteous in the sight of GOD; they are perfectly accepted in the beloved; they are compleat in him; the flaming sword of GOD’s wrath, which before moved every way, is now removed, and free access given to the tree of life; they are enabled to reach out the arm of faith, and pluck, and live for evermore. Hence it is that the apostle, under a sense of this blessed privilege, breaks out into this triumphant language; “It is CHRIST that justifies, who is he that condemns?” Does sin condemn? CHRIST’s righteousness delivers believers from the guilt of it: CHRIST is their Saviour, and is become a propitiation for their sins: who therefore shall lay any thing to the charge of GOD’s elect? Does the law condemn? By having CHRIST’s righteousness imputed to them, they are dead to the law, as a covenant of works; CHRIST has fulfilled it for them, and in their stead. Does death threaten them? they need not fear: the sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law; but GOD has given them the victory, by imputing to them the righteousness of the LORD JESUS.