All underlining mine.
“So says Jehovah, Do not let the wise glory in his wisdom, and do not let the mighty glory in his might. Do not let the rich glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that [he] understands and knows Me, that I [am] Jehovah, doing kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth; for I delight in these, says Jehovah” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to announce the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect. For the Word of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, [it] is [the] power of God. For it has been written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the understanding ones. Where [is the] wise? Where [the] scribe? Where [the] lawyer of this world? Did God not make the wisdom of this world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world [by] wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save the ones believing. And since Jews ask for a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom, we, on the other hand, preach Christ crucified (truly an offense to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks), but to the called out ones, both to Jews and to Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God; because the foolish thing of God is wiser [than] men, and the weak thing of God is stronger [than] men. For you see your calling, brothers, that [there are] not many wise according to flesh, nor many powerful, not many wellborn. But God chose the foolish things of the world that the wise might be put to shame, and God chose the weak things of the world so that He might put to shame the strong things. And God chose the low-born of the world, and the despised, and the things that are not, so that He might bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh might glory in His presence. But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that even as it has been written, He that glories, let him glory in [the] Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:17-31).
The statements in Scripture nullifying man’s boast are powerful and pervasive — from the presumptuous boast of tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1; James 4:13-16), to the pusillanimous boast in the “saving strength” of breathless idols (Jeremiah 50:38; Psalm 97:7); from the boast of one’s wealth (Psalm 49:6), to the boast in the skillful ability to commit and control one’s own specific evil actions (Psalm 52:1, 75:4; Isaiah 10:5-15). All of these boasts are completely and utterly obliterated by the Sovereign Triune God of Scripture.
Not only will the regenerate man NOT boast and glory in vanities as the unregenerate do (e.g., tolerant Calvinist, Arminians), but he will boast solely in the cross of Jesus Christ; exclusively in the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 1:31; Galatians 6:14).
“Then the Jews murmured about Him, because He said, I am the Bread coming down out of Heaven. And they said, Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, of whom we know the father and the mother? How does this One now say, I have come down out of Heaven? Then Jesus answered and said to them, Do not murmur with one another. No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:41-44).
“Then the Jews encircled Him, and said to Him, Until when do You lift up our soul? If You are the Christ, tell us publicly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you did not believe. The works which I do in the name of My Father, these bear witness about Me. But you do not believe for you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give eternal life to them, and they shall not perish to the age, never! And not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand. My Father who has given [them] to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:24-29).
Jesus Christ did not die for the reprobate (non-sheep) in any sense, and they do not benefit in any sense from His death (cf. CCF). The reprobate will NOT have a boast, even in their wretched unbelief. The regenerate sheep saved by grace alone, boast ONLY in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 1:31).
In the unconditional election and salvation of His people, and in the unconditional and active hardening of His reprobate enemies, God UTTERLY VITIATES the final boast of unbelief (see John 10:26; Romans 9:16-18; cf. Isaiah 10:5-15). God will receive ALL the glory in salvation and in damnation. To Him be the glory forever (Romans 11:36)!
“But if God, desiring to demonstrate His wrath, and to make His power known, endured in much long-suffering vessels of wrath having been fitted out for destruction, and that He make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy which He before prepared for glory, whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also out of nations. As also He says in Hosea, I will call those Not My people, My people! And those not beloved, Beloved! And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there they will be called, Sons of the Living God. But Isaiah cries on behalf of Israel, If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For [He is] bringing [the] matter to an end, and having been cut short in righteousness, because [the] Lord will do a thing cut short on the earth. And as Isaiah has said before, Except [the] Lord of hosts left a seed to us, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have become as Gomorrah” (Romans 9:22-30).
“The burden of the Word of Jehovah to Israel by the hand of Malachi: I have loved you, says Jehovah. But you say, In what way have You loved us? [Was] not Esau the brother to Jacob? Yet Jehovah declares, I loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau and have made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance [to be] for the jackals of the wilderness” (Malachi 1:1-3; cf. Romans 9:9-13).
“But now so says Jehovah who formed you, O Jacob; and He who made you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I called [you] by your name; you [are] Mine. When you pass through the waters, I [will be] with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk in the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame kindle on you. For I [am] Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt [for] your atonement; Ethiopia and Seba instead of you. Since you were precious in My eyes, you are honored, and I love you; and I give men instead of you; and peoples instead of your soul. Fear not, for I [am] with you; I will bring your seed from the east, and I will gather you from the west. I will say to the north, Give up! And to the south, Do not hold back! Bring My sons from afar, and bring My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My name, and I have created him for My glory; I have formed him; yea, [I have] made him” (Isaiah 43:1-7).
“By faith he made the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, that the [one] destroying the first-born might not touch them” (Hebrews 11:28).
And other precious accompanying truths such as unconditional and active hardening, DO INDEED show true Christians that God puts a humbling and trembling difference between the Egyptians and Israel (cf. Exodus 11:1-7).
May we as true believers fall on our faces and tremble and quake over this. And pray and cry out to God to give us the grace and strength to set our faces like flint, and to take up our cross and follow our crucified and risen Lord! Death to our own will!
“But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the house of Israel [are] strong of forehead and hard of heart. Behold, I have made your face strong over against their faces, and your forehead strong over against their foreheads. I have made your forehead as an adamant harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be frightened by their faces, though they are a house of rebellion. And He said to me, Son of man, all My Words which I speak to you, receive into your heart, and hear with your ears” (Ezekiel 3:7-10).
“Therefore, Christ having suffered for us in [the] flesh, also you arm yourselves [with] the same thought, because he having suffered in [the] flesh has been made to rest from sin, for [him] no longer to live in [the] lusts of men, but [to live] the remaining time in [the] flesh in [the] will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2).
“So, then, my beloved, even as you always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much rather in my absence, cultivate your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work for the sake of [His] good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; [yet] no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the [life] I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, the [One] loving me and giving Himself over on my behalf” (Galatians 2:20).
“…and He died for all, that the living ones may live no more to themselves, but to the [One] having died for them and having been raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
Agrammatos 