That I may know him, it starts
there, doesn't it? Knowing him, though, according
to this verse, has to do with knowing what he accomplished. Even in his death, now, what
did they talk about on the Mount of Transfiguration? The death
that he should accomplish. And here, We're talking about
the power of his resurrection, which includes death. He's raised
from the dead. The death that he accomplished,
the resurrection that he accomplished, because the sacrifice that he
offered for our sins on Calvary was acceptable to God, and therefore
sin had no dominion over him. The grave had no power over him. That's why we preach Christ and
Him crucified. That's why we come to the table
where we see His body and His precious blood. We see who He
is and what He did because knowing Him is integral to knowing what
He accomplished. If you know what happened on
Calvary, you know who did it. Because only God can give life.
Only God can forgive sins. Even those that didn't know Him
knew that. So we preach Him and what He
accomplished because God is glorified and known by what He did for
sinners. Moses said, show me your glory.
And how does God express His glory to a sinner? Mercy. I'll have mercy. and the mercy
of God is sovereign. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. How is mercy obtained from God? What did Moses see when the Lord
placed him on a rock and hid him in the cleft of the rock
that showed forth the mercy of God? Mercy is obtained at the mercy
seat. And what we know about the mercy
seat is that that's where the blood was applied. God said,
I'll meet you at the mercy seat and commune with you. How does
God and the sinner come together in communion? Atonement means
atonement. How can God commune with the
sinner without throwing him in hell? Atonement. That's the blood. When the publican cried, God
be merciful to me, that word merciful means to be propitious. And propitiation was made by
the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. But also consider this. Christ
dying and rising again does not mean salvation for everybody.
And I say that from our text, not just as a religious talking
point, not just as a Calvinistic talking point. I say that from
our text. The Son of God did not die for
everybody. Paul said, I want to have an
interest in that. I want to be included in that.
Hence our text this morning, the fellowship of his sufferings.
I get in on it that way. It is a fellowship, an exclusive and inclusive fellowship,
a distinguishing fellowship. He clearly and plainly said that
he died for his sheep and they shall never perish. So if somebody that he died for
does perish, then he's an imposter. He said, if I gave my life for
you, it's because you're one of my sheep and you're not gonna
perish. Those he died for are saved in
every way that a person can be saved. All of them. He said,
I'm not gonna lose a single one. Not complicated. And so we see
Paul here right of knowing Christ crucified and risen. but not just knowing about him,
not just agreeing with facts or using his name in my self-righteous
religion. I want in on who he is and what
he did. I want in on the savior and what
he accomplished. I want to be part and parcel
to Christ crucified. That's where the word fellowship
comes in. I want to know what it is
to be included in it. I wanna know what it is to be
a participant of his sufferings and his glorified life. I wanna be a partaker. I wanna
have an interest, a stake in his accomplishments. I wanna
be a joint heir with him and be a beneficiary in his glory. So I must thank God for all of
his benefits. Those benefits come with the
blood. And Paul said, I want to be part.
I want to be included in that. I want to be one with those for whom he died and
with the one who died, particularly in his redemptive glory, because
that's the context, isn't it? The fellowship of his, what? I want to be in on his redemptive
glory, that which he accomplished by his sufferings. Remember that
it was as Christ went to the cross, John chapter 17, where
he said, father, he lifted up his eyes toward heaven and said,
father, glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee.
That's the high priestly prayer of Christ. That's the incense
that went up in the most holy place in the Old Testament. That's
the intercession of Christ for his people. And what, as he went to the cross, he prayed as he went to the cross,
and what did he pray? Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that's all who believe on the Son of God this morning, that they all may be one. that there may be a fellowship, that there's a oneness as thou
father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in
us. That's the fellowship. One body,
one head, one savior, one birth, one faith, one life, one baptism. Fellowship Lord Jesus and what
he did for his people. As he went and began to suffer
for our sins, he included us in the fellowship
of those sufferings. That they also may be one in
us. It is that oneness with God in
Christ that makes us partakers partakers of his divine nature,
partakers of his sufferings. Those who physically suffered
for Christ's sake, and I want to distinguish something here
because you'll see this in the scriptures. There were those,
and we may have in some small way in our life, suffered for
the fact that we're believers. I believe I've been passed over
and My own family has abandoned me. Those aren't small things,
I know, for y'all, if you've experienced that. And I don't
wanna make light of it. But you talk about finding out
where you stand, if you'd have lived in those days and went
through what the apostle went through. But those who were partakers
of his sufferings in a physical sense, that they counted themselves
partakers of his sufferings and rightly in the sense that it
was for Christ's sake that they suffered. In that sense, they're
partakers of his sufferings. Because the Lord said, they're
gonna hate you because they hate me. That's a fellowship too. That's being a partaker of his
physical sufferings. But don't mistake that for the
fellowship that our text is talking about. There's no saving quality
whatsoever to being afflicted for Christ's sake. to have tribulation
for Christ's sake in the flesh. There's no saving efficacy in
that at all. But to be a partaker in his sufferings on Calvary
in a spiritual sense is a whole other thing. Here's what this, and let me
distinguish him in scripture. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1, verse
three, please. Paul's talking about tribulation.
He's talking about the people of God suffering physically for
what they preach, for what they confess before men. 2 Corinthians
1.3, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comfort
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble. by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, we suffer, but so our consolation also aboundeth
by Christ. And whether we be afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation. God's purpose in it
is one of saving. It says that he sent Joseph. Joseph went through all that
suffering for what? That much people would be saved
alive. And so, well we, if we, that's
God's purpose in it, salvation. Which is effectual in the enduring
of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we
be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And
our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers
of the sufferings. In other words, Christ suffered
because people hated him. And that's exactly why his people
suffered, because they hate him. So you're partakers of his sufferings
in that sense, but so shall you also be of the consolation. But
what our text is talking about is the oneness, the oneness that
saves us. The oneness that Paul longed
to be included in is that when Christ Jesus died and rose again,
we died and rose again. We died to self, we died to sin,
to our old self righteous, Old man, we died and rotten. That
is when he paid our sin debt, that was us paying our sin debt,
those who know him. We're responsible to God, but
he paid it for us. That's our sin debt being paid.
He didn't have a debt to pay. He paid a debt he didn't know,
and I owed a debt I couldn't pay. And he stood in my place
and gave himself for my sins. And when he rose victorious over
death, he's the firstborn from the dead. We rose in him. We're seated together in heavenly
places. We're in him. In the purpose
and mind of God and all that's real, we're seated already in
glory, in our Savior. God reckons us that way, victorious
already over death. He paid our sin debt. We paid
our sin debt. He rose victorious. We are alive
under God. The grave and eternal hell have
no claim upon us. It can't hold us. We rose in
Him and this is what's pictured by baptism. It's what we confess
in baptism. that when Christ died, that was
me. That was my death. That was what
I deserve. That was the wages of my sin
paid by my surety. And when he rose again, that's
me rising in newness of life in Christ. Turn with me to Romans chapter
six. We have in this passage in Romans
6 the particulars of believers' baptism, of immersion in water
and raising up from the water. But also we have the spiritual
truth that that represents. So let's look at it carefully.
Verse three, Romans 6, three. Know ye not that so many of us,
as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death,
partakers of his sufferings, the fellowship of it. Therefore,
we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. That water didn't do
anything. That just pictured the Savior's
sufferings and his victory over sin, death, the grave, and hell
for us. Verse five, for if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also
in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him. You see that? When he died, his
sufferings took place unto death. We were in on that. We were included in that. It
was a fellowship. between us and him and each other. That the body of sin might be
destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. Verse seven,
for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath
no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God likewise. That word fellowship and this
word likewise go together real good, likewise. Wherein reckon you also yourselves
to be what he is, dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. through him, through Jesus Christ,
our Lord, and what he accomplished by that death and that life. Now, this fellowship with Christ
and his sufferings is expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew
3.13. Let me read this one to you.
It's brief, but listen carefully. Matthew 3.13. Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. John was
out there baptizing people that repented and believed on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here comes the son of God
himself. And it says in the next verse,
verse 14, but John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized
of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us. to fulfill
all righteousness. And then he suffered it. Then he suffered it. It becometh us. Did the Lord Jesus Christ and
John fulfill all righteousness? What did John contribute to the
righteousness fulfilled by Christ? in his offering of his very soul
for our sins. What hand did John put to the
weaving of that pure white robe that the saints in glory will
wear, that we're taught there, that is washed in the precious
blood of God's lamb? What hand did John have in that?
Absolutely none. Absolutely nothing. This is a
righteousness fulfilled and perfected by Christ. and Christ alone. So why did the Lord say us? Why
did he say it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness? The
Lord was not saying to John, help me fulfill all righteousness.
He's telling John that what I'm accomplishing, you're in on it.
You're included in it by virtue of relationship with me, by virtue
of grace through faith in me, you're in on it. You're part
of the fellowship of my sufferings. And this is that yoke that we
put on. Think of it this way, another
allegory in scriptures. That yoke that our Lord Jesus
Christ said would result in what for us? Rest. Rest. And that's not talking about
rest in this life. That's not talking about physical
rest. Rest under your souls. Your souls can cease from their
labor. Your souls being yoked to Christ,
we rest and he accomplishes the work. A yoke is for work. What
are we doing resting in? Why would you put on a rest and
not a yoke and not do anything? Because you're yoked to the savior
who did everything. We stand still and see his salvation
of us. We fall asleep in the garden
while he bears our sins and is broken and bleeds for our transgressions. Though we cannot even watch with
him for one hour, it's enough because he's enough. Simon Peter Bragg, you remember
saying, I will, I will, I will die with you. But the Lord said, Simon, what
you are gonna do is the problem. You're gonna betray and deny
me, but I will go and prepare a place for you anyway. That's
the fellowship of his suffering. That's us getting in on the fact
that he went to Calvary for me. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Simon, you're a miserable, cowardly,
evil failure, but don't worry about it. Don't worry. I'm gonna go and accomplish salvation,
redemption, atonement for your soul. That's the fellowship of
his sufferings. That's what he did when he died
for us. Notice that the fellowship of
his suffering is not a club that we join. It's not a voluntary
organization. We're in on it. Our Christ's
love for us and his sufferings for us or
not. First Corinthians 127, that God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world.
Is that you? And things which are despised hath God chosen.
Yea, and things which are not. Things which are nothing. He
chose people who are nothing to bring to nothing all the somebodies. That no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him. He chose, he chose, he chose,
and it's of him that you're in Christ. It's of him that you're a partaker
of the fellowship of his sufferings. who of God, Christ is of God,
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let's pray.