Will you follow in your Bibles,
please, as I read from Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 through 14,
a portion which it is not my intention to expound, but simply
to read as an introduction to the great theme that has been
assigned to me for this conference ministry, the doctrine of union
with Jesus Christ. And I shall read the portion,
giving to certain parts of it a rather grotesque emphasis as
I read, but I do this simply to underscore in your minds how
central, how pervasive is the doctrine of union with Christ. As I'm sure many of you are aware,
this first paragraph in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians after
the introduction is a great eulogy, a hymn of praise to God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit for His great salvation. But notice how
frequently the concept of union with Christ stands in the forefront
of this hymn of praise as I read it in your hearing. I am reading
from the 1901 edition, commonly known as the American Standard
Version. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and
the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. even as He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blemish before Him, in love having foreordained
us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. in whom we have our redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to
the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of
His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in
Him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum
up all things in Christ. the things in the heavens and
the things upon the earth. In him, I say, in whom also we
were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to
the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel
of his will, to the end that we should be unto the praise
of his glory, who had before hoped in Christ. in whom ye also,
having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is in earnest of our inheritance, unto
the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory." No one with any intelligent and
believing acquaintance with the New Testament would dispute the
assertion that the salvation from sin and its consequences,
taught within the pages of the New Testament, is a salvation
which focuses upon the person and work of Jesus Christ our
Lord. Whether we consider the words
of our Lord Himself, who said, I am the way, the truth, the
light, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Or whether
we consider the apostolic statements such as are found in Acts 4 and
verse 12 and Acts 16, 31, neither is there salvation in any other. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. The pervasive emphasis of the
entire New Testament is that the salvation from sin and its
consequences taught within its pages is a salvation which focuses
upon the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now granted,
this Christ-centric, this Christ-centered salvation is not a salvation
divorced from the role of the Father and of the Spirit, both
in its plan and in its execution. Though there is This very clear
reference to the role of the Father, as we saw in verse 3
of our reading, and the activity of the Spirit, clearly delineated
in verses 13 and 14, it is proper to say that the salvation set
forth in Holy Scripture is Christocentric. It centers in the person and
work of the Son of God. Now, just as certain As this
is true, the centrality of the person and work of Christ in
the procurement of our salvation, it is equally certain that the
method by which men and women, boys and girls, come into the
benefits of that salvation is by union with Jesus Christ. In other words, no one ever enters
into personal possession of that Christ-centered salvation apart
from vital union with Christ, who is the Savior and has procured
the salvation. As one servant of Christ has
said, commenting on this very doctrine of union with Christ
in relationship to the enjoyment of saving mercy, nothing is more
central or basic than union with Christ. Union with Christ is
really the central truth in the whole doctrine of salvation. Now, I questioned the validity
of that statement when I began my studies for this series of
messages. I no longer question it. I simply
now underscore it in red and put an exclamation point after
it. Union with Christ is really the
central truth in the whole doctrine of salvation, not only in its
application, but in its once-for-all accomplishment in the finished
work of Christ. Indeed, the whole process of
salvation – and remember, salvation is a process with its roots in
eternity past and its full fruit in eternity future – and in this
process of salvation, Union with Christ is central. It has its
origin in one phase of the union, and salvation has in view the
realization of the other phases of this union. Now someone objects
and says, Mr. Martin, I can readily concur
with the first assertion that the person and work of Christ
are central in the biblical doctrine of salvation. But in my reading
of the English Bible, I've never even encountered the phrase,
union with Christ. How dare you assert that this
concept is fundamental to the whole doctrine of salvation?
Well, I will answer that mild objection by simply reminding
you that the little phrase, in Christ, in Him, and its parallel
phrases, are the words to describe this spiritual reality of union
with Christ. The Apostle Paul uses this little
phrase no fewer than approximately a hundred and fifty times in
his writings, in him, in whom, in Christ, in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Ephesians 1 verses 1 to 14
was but a random sampling of the writings of the Apostle Paul. And in this brief passage of
fourteen verses, no fewer than eleven times, in him, in whom,
in Christ, came before us, driving down this morning. My wife and
I listened to a reading of the entire book of Colossians and
1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and every time we came to an in-Christ
concept, I stopped the tape recorder and I said, there it is again,
there it is again, there it is again, there it is again, there
it is again, there it is again. All the way through, from the
opening words, he views the saints as a company of people who are
in Jesus Christ and in God. the Father. And so then it is
no understatement to say that in addressing ourselves to the
doctrine of union with Christ, we are addressing ourselves to
that which this esteemed servant of Christ calls the central truth
in the whole doctrine of salvation. And it is before this vast area
of truth that I have stood for days and weeks feeling dwarfed
by the immensity of it, feeling overcome by the magnitude and
the glory of it, and now I have to make some attempt to lay some
of those lines of truth before you. But I'm aware that there
are some of you sitting here tonight who already have said
in your minds, so what? Oh, may I remind you as we embark
upon this study that at the lowest level It is in the interest of
your own safety that you gird up the loins of your mind and
think seriously and soberly about the doctrine of union with Christ. Do you know why it is in the
interest of your own safety? For the simple reason that the
Scripture teaches that unless you are in vital union with Jesus
Christ, you are in this very moment under the canopy of the
righteous anger and wrath of God Himself. For the Scripture
says in Romans 8 in verse 1, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation no legal punishment
due to those who are united to Christ. But the reverse of that
statement is true. There is nothing but condemnation
to everyone who is not in union with Christ Jesus. And so I say
to the youngest of you children, right up through the teenagers
to the most elderly amongst us tonight, think seriously about
this doctrine. Be reflecting continually upon
your own spiritual standing in the light of the biblical truth,
for it is in the interest of your own safety. If you are not
vitally joined to Jesus Christ, there is nothing but a canopy
of wrath above you now, nothing but to feel the crushing weight
of that canopy through all eternity. If you die severed, from vital
union with the Son of God. In the second place, it is not
only in our best interest to think about this doctrine, but
it is in the interest of your own stability as a Christian
that you think and think seriously about this doctrine. If you are
in Christ, it is the growing knowledge of what that relationship
involves what it demands and what it promises that is calculated
to produce genuine growth and stability in your Christian life.
Let me give you just two illustrations from the Scriptures. When the
Apostle Paul is seeking to establish the Colossians in doctrinal stability,
what doctrine does he open up before them? It is the doctrine
of their union with Christ. When men come with doctrines
that would turn them aside from the Son of God, He says in Colossians
2, in Him ye are made full. Don't be spoiled with vain philosophy
and with the teaching of men. In Christ is your fullness. And He goes on to enlarge upon
the implications of their union with Christ as an antidote to
doctrinal deflection. It has great practical implications.
He's writing to the Christians at Corinth who've been sucked
into the orbit of the lecherous spirit of that city. And as he
writes to them, what doctrine does he use to prod them on to
moral purity? He says in chapter 6, don't you
know that you are members of Christ? Shall I take the members
of Christ and make them members of a harlot? He said, if you
Corinthians not only understand, but hold as a present spiritual
conviction the doctrine of your union with Christ, you will never
join yourself in an immoral, illicit sexual relationship. That's how practical is the doctrine
of union with Christ. from the most intense problem
of moral purity to the loftiest concepts of doctoral integrity,
and everything in between is vitally touched by the issue
of union with Christ. And so, dear child of God, it
is in your best interest to think seriously, to think soberly on
this great theme. And then our highest motive for
addressing ourselves to this theme with seriousness and sobriety
is that it is in the interest of God's own glory that we do
so. The Scripture says, Whoso offereth
praise glorifieth me. And our praise will rise no higher
than our perception of the gifts and graces that God has conferred
upon us. You and I do not praise God for
things that we do not acknowledge as having come from him. or concerning
which we have dim and indistinct views. And if our highest privileges
as Christians are bound up in the doctrine of union with Christ,
then our praise will rise no higher than our understanding
of those privileges that flow to us by virtue of our union
with Him. And I trust that as God is pleased
to bless the preaching and teaching of His Word, that even as that
Word is preached and God is pleased to give spiritual perception,
there may rise from hearts all over this auditorium the volume
of praise to our great God who has so richly endowed us by union
with His Son. Are these not sufficient motives,
then, to come to the doctrine and to come to it, recognizing,
as our Lord Himself taught us, that only the Holy Spirit can
give us understanding of it? For Jesus said in John 14, 20,
In that day, the day of the Spirit's coming, ye shall know that I
am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. In that day, he
says, you will enter into an experimental knowledge of your
union with me. And it is only the Spirit who
can give us this experimental knowledge of this great gospel
reality. It's utterly impossible to grasp
it apart from His illuminating work. As A.W. Pink has said in
an excellent book on this subject, I do not endorse everything in
it, particularly his supralapsarian views concerning which he waxes
very, very vehement, and you who are theologians will know
what I'm talking about, and a few other things that I believe are
aberrations from historic orthodoxy. But nonetheless, it is a rich
book, and he introduces the subject with these words. There are three
principal unions revealed in Scripture which are the chief
mysteries and form the foundation of our most holy faith. Three
mysteries that form the foundation of faith. First, the union of
the three divine persons in one Godhead, having distinct personalities,
being co-eternal and co-glorious, yet constituting one Jehovah. Secondly, the union of the divine
and human natures in one person, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, being
God and man. And the third union, the third
great mystery, the third great foundation stone of our holy
faith is the union of the Church to Christ, He being the Head,
they the members, constituting one mystical body. And though
we cannot form an exact idea of any one of these unions in
our imagination, because the depth of such mysteries is beyond
our comprehension. Yet it is our bounden duty to
believe them all, because they are clearly revealed in Scripture
and are necessary for the other points of Christian doctrine.
Hence it is our holy privilege, prayerfully to study the same,
looking unto the Holy Spirit graciously to guide us. I hope this has whetted your
appetite to attack the subject. If it has, let me suggest now
how I intend to approach the subject with you. Tonight, we
shall consider simply the place given to union with Christ in
the plan of salvation. What place does union with Christ
have in the overall plan of salvation? Then, God willing, tomorrow night,
the nature of this union in the application of salvation and
also the context of this union in the personal appropriation
of God's saving mercy. Tonight, then, just the place
given to union with Christ in the plan of salvation. And I
am not at all embarrassed to say that I am deeply indebted
to Professor Murray's chapter on this theme in his book, Redemption
Accomplished and Applied, for both the content and the form
in which I handle this part of our study. First of all, then,
let us consider the place of union with Christ in our election
unto holiness. The scriptures everywhere assert
that the salvation of rebel sinners by the grace and power of God
is a salvation rooted in sovereign purpose and executed according
to eternal plan. The salvation is rooted in sovereign
purpose and is executed according to eternal plan. Also, this salvation
is administered within the framework of covenant commitment, what
the theologians once called the covenant of redemption, that
inter-Trinitarian action and commitment to which our Lord
refers in the seventeenth chapter of John when He speaks of those
who were given to Him of the Father, and then the covenant
of grace, God's entering into gracious covenant with sinners
on behalf of His Son and that which He would do, and then administering
that salvation to them. The Scriptures everywhere assert
that salvation is found rooted in eternal purpose, executed
according to eternal plan, administered within the framework of covenant
commitment. The biblical words election,
predestinate, foreknow, force such concepts upon us, assuming
though not pausing to prove that this is true. Will you notice
in Ephesians chapter one, that when the Apostle is tracing
our salvation back to its fountainhead in election, that is, eternal,
gracious, sovereign selection, he says that the act of the Father
was this, Ephesians 1 and verse 4, even as He chose us in Him. In other words, the activity
of God in this sovereign, gracious selectivity of some sinners to
be the objects of mercy was not an act of naked sovereignty or
of naked love. The text says that we were chosen
in Him. And though there are mysteries
that we cannot penetrate, This much is clear, that we were never
contemplated in the mind and heart of God as the objects of
saving mercy apart from union with Jesus Christ our Lord. The text does not say we were
chosen to be placed in Him, as though the choice was set upon
us and then we were constituted as united to Christ. And certainly
it does not say we were chosen because we would choose to be
in Him when we believed. That's the traditional Arminian
perversion of the text. No, no, the text says we were
chosen in Him. In other words, the very act
of choice had reference to union with Jesus Christ our Lord. And so as we seek to trace our
salvation back as far as the Scriptures will allow, we find
ourselves at that fountainhead of salvation. God's free, sovereign
choice of undeserving sinners, and inseparably involved in that
choice, is union with Jesus Christ. How blessed must be a relationship
that has its taproots in eternity, and has such designs because
of Christ that only eternity can unveil its fully developed
fruit. Oh, dear people, if we understood
that, that would be enough to make the most reserved of us
break into shouting. whose taproots are in eternity,
and even there, union with Christ confronts us. And in the fullest
blossoming of the fruit of that salvation, it will be but another
unfolding of that which comes to us because of the virtue of
the One to whom we are united. In the words of one old writer
who thought upon this, The response of our hearts should be to Thee,
O Lord, alone is due all glory and renown. Ought to ourselves
we dare not take or rob Thee of Thy crown. Thou wast Thyself
our surety in God's redemption plan. In Thee His grace was given
us before the world began. What is the place given to union
with Christ in the plan of salvation? We have seen in election, union
with Christ is central. Now then, in the second place,
what is its place? In the accomplishment of redemption
in the saving acts of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus
carried His voluntary obedience to its climax in the death upon
the cross, And when he subsequently was raised from the dead, he
did not live, die, and rise from the dead as a private person. What he did in life and death
and resurrection, he did as the appointed surety of his people. He was doing what he did in this
framework of covenant commitment. You see, that's why these things
are all tied together, and one resists the temptation to digress
into the sister fields of biblical truth. But he was not acting
as a private person any more than he was acting in disjunction
from the will and purpose of the Father, acting then as the
head of his body. acting as the living head of
his people, acting on behalf of his own spiritual seed that
was in him and a part of him. The Scripture teaches that the
death he died was not only his death, but their death. His resurrection
was not only his, but theirs. His session was not only his,
but theirs. And all that was true of him
in his saving acts is true of his people. If you want a rich
study, then you just jot down these verses. I can only quote
them quickly to you. There are at least six acts of
Christ's redemptive work in which it is said, or of which it is
said, we were with Him in those acts. We were crucified together
with Him. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified
with Christ. Colossians 2.20 says we died
together with Him. Romans 6.4 says we were buried
together with Him. Ephesians 2.5, we were quickened
together with Him. Colossians 3.5, we were raised
together with Him. And then we read in Ephesians
2, 6, we were seated in the heavenlies together with Him. And Romans
8, 17 says we shall be glorified together with Him. And in all
but the Colossians 2 passage, Paul is careful to use a compound
verb, the verb for crucify, the verb for raise, the verb for
seat. And he puts a prefix, which means
together. And He makes the compound verbs
so intimate is our identification and union with Christ that when
He was crucified, we were crucified. When He died, we died. When He
was buried, we were buried. When He was raised, we were raised.
When He was seated, we were seated. And when He shall be manifested
in glory, we shall be manifested in Him and with Him in glory. Again, someone has sought to
put this in the more attractive and sometimes illuminating structure
of poetry. One in the tomb, one when he
rose, one when he triumphed o'er his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat while seraphs sang all hell's defeat. With
him their head they stand or fall, their life, their surety,
and their all. If ever the Lord Jesus was bound
to His people, joined to them in mysterious but real bonds
of union, and if ever His people were joined to Him, it was in
those agonizing events of Calvary and in the triumphantly liberating
events of the open tomb and in the parted heavens and glorious
session of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you think this is all abstraction,
oh, my friend, begin to think about the nature of that atonement.
Why is it that Almighty God can do anything other than send every
one of us to hell? For you say, long-suffering,
yes, that might do for all of us, as in the days of the flood
until the whole generation was blotted out except the eight.
But how could God show mercy to the eight? How can God ever accept sinners
as righteous in His sight? How can He be just and still
the justifier of sinners? The one answer is, because He
dealt with those sinners. And He dealt with them thoroughly.
He dealt with them without any relaxation of the full demands
of His law and His justice. He dealt with them when they
were joined to His Son and His Son to them. When He died, was
buried and rose and sat. at the right hand of the Father. And so if you want peace of conscience,
my friend, you begin to get a good dose of the terror of the law.
You begin to take God's holiness seriously. Take the inflexible
justice of His law seriously. Begin to contemplate something
of the character of God and the foulness of your own heart. And
you're not going to be satisfied with just some vague notion that
somehow, somewhere, in some place, Jesus did something that somewhere
or another touches me up. That will not do for a conscience
that stands under the light of God's holiness. I want to be
able to look with one eye straight in the face of that God who is
the essence of burning, glorious holiness. And the other eye fixed
upon Mount Calvary saying, You saw me in your son, and when
you raised the stroke of your righteous anger, you brought
it down upon him, and because I was in him, it fell upon me. That stroke can never be laid
upon me. In him, I died. In him, the debt
is paid." And this has great theological implications. All
discussion about the atonement, its nature and extent, must reckon
with this doctrine of union with Christ, or that discussion is
fruitless. And my dear preacher friends,
when anyone comes up to you and starts saying, what does this
verse mean? He died for all? Died for all? Don't even discuss
it with them until you ask this simple question. Whoever Christ
died for, what was his relationship to the people on whose behalf
he died? And they'll probably look at
you like you're talking double Dutch or speaking in tongues
without an interpreter. But don't you budge from that
issue. We'll not discuss little words all and every until we
discuss something far more significant and profound that undergirds
it all. What was the relationship of
Christ to those for whom he died? It was nothing less of a relation
than a relationship of intimate union. We died with Him. We were raised with Him. Now
in the third place, as we contemplate the place of union with Christ
in the plan of salvation, having seen its centrality in election,
its centrality in the saving acts of Christ, Consider, thirdly,
its place in the application of redemption when God effectually
calls a sinner out of darkness into His marvelous light. When
a sinner is seized upon by apprehending grace, he is made a new creature. Now, in what context is he made
a new creature? Turn to Ephesians 2 and verse
10. Having stated in the earlier
part of the paragraph what we were, the Apostle is magnifying
the grace of God and picking up the thread of thought in verse
8 of Ephesians 2, For by grace have ye been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works
that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, for good works which God aforeprepared that
we should walk in them. That work of making us new creatures
was carried out in the context of union with Christ. We are
His workmanship created anew in union with Christ Jesus. not only pointing to the fact
that the result of that work of a new creation was to bring
us into conscious, vital, experimental union and communion with Christ,
that would be the truth of 1 Corinthians 1.9, but the very act of His
creating us was in the framework of union with Christ. In other
words, the benefits that began to be ours consciously, experimentally,
Personally, those benefits were but the discovery in us of that
which God had purposed by virtue of that previous union established
in eternity when He chose us in Him. when in time the Son
of God died and we died in Him and rose with Him. Now when I'm
effectually called, made a new man or woman in Christ Jesus,
it's in the orbit of that union. It is the virtue of that union
which brings it all to pass. And so when a sinner is called,
he is called within the framework of union with Christ. Look at
Ephesians 1. Here is the trilogy of spiritual
experience whenever the gospel comes and is made effectual by
the Spirit. Verse 13 of Ephesians 1, In whom
ye also having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom having also believed ye were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise, You see, it is careful to emphasize
that when the gospel came, you believed and you were sealed.
All of this was within the framework of union with Christ. In Him
you were sealed. I am not sealed to be brought
into Him. I am sealed because I have been
joined to Him. And the great blessings that
come to me in the sealing of the Spirit and all the gifts
and graces of the Spirit are those blessings procured in my
head, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Now what about the place of union
with Christ in the continuance of the Christian life and experience?
We've seen its place in election, its place in the once-for-all
accomplishment of redemption in the work of Christ, its place
in effectual calling when God begins to apply with power the
redemption purchased. Now, what is the place of union
with Christ in the continuance of the Christian life? We may
state it this way. The power to walk in newness
of life is rooted in the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. A virtue in which we share because
we are joined to Him. Turn to Romans chapter 6 and
verse 4. Romans chapter 6 and verse 4. We were buried therefore with
Him through baptism into death. that like as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also
might walk in newness of life. Our walk in newness of life derives
its power and virtue from that which Christ did when He died
and rose, and we share in that virtue because we died with Him
and we were raised with Him. How can I have the enjoyment
of a pacified conscience? How can I know that I am dead
to the law in its condemning power? We hinted at this in another
connection, but look at Romans 7 and verse 4. Therefore, my
brethren, ye also were made dead to the law. How? Through the
body of Christ. My death to the condemning power
of the law rests not upon something in me, but upon that which He
did in His own death upon the cross. And I was in Him, and
when He died, I died with Him. I have been released from the
last iota of the law's condemning power." This is the teaching
of this portion of the Word of God. And so if you as a Christian
are to know newness of life, if you are to know a truly pacified
conscience, it's because you've come to some understanding of
the nature of your union with Christ. Or we can turn to a passage
such as John 15. What place does union with Christ
have in the continuing process of sanctification? Well, it's
interesting, is it not, that in chapter 14 of John, our Lord
has disclosed to the disciples that He's going to leave them.
And He says, this truth has filled your heart with sadness. And
then He begins to tell them they should not be sad, because though
He is going as to His person, as the theanthropic mediator,
the God-man there before them in human form, He said, I'm leaving
you. But I'm going to send the Comforter,
and as the Comforter comes, I and my Father come to you as well." The most natural thing to the
human mind would be to say, all right, if Jesus is leaving and
the Spirit is coming, then we as disciples must completely
reshift our whole thinking about what it means to be disciples
of Christ, attached to Him in loving bonds of faith and obedience. And our Lord corrects all such
notions, because having told them He's going away and He's
going to send the Spirit, what does He tell them in chapter
15, verses 1 to 8? The great theme is, Abide in
Me. Though I am going as to my person,
the God-man before you, and the Spirit is coming to heavenly
paraclete, His coming is not to make up for my distance. His coming shall bring you into
an intimacy of relationship that you do not even know now." And
so the whole thrust of those first eight verses is, As the
branch cannot bear fruit except it abides in the vine, and the
life principle, the sap, the juice that flows through the
vine courses through the branches and is the source of its life
and its fruit bearing, so Jesus said, My relationship to you
and yours to mine, when I leave, is a relationship as intimate,
as vital as that of vine and branches. sharing a common life. And so, dear child of God, in
the outworking of Christian responsibility, there can be no fruit-bearing,
no reproduction of the graces of the Spirit, no usefulness
in the Kingdom of Christ apart from the recognition of union
with Christ and the demands upon us to maintain that union in
its vigor. and in its experimental awareness
in our own hearts. Well then, what about the place
of union with Christ when our redemption is completed? We've
moved from eternity to time when He died, to time when He applies
His salvation with power throughout the course of the Christian life,
and I've just been almost arbitrarily selected. There's such a mass
of material. What about the consummation of
redemption. What about our glorification? Well, for the vast majority of
us, our glorification will come in two stages. The first stage
will be when body and spirit are wrenched loose one from another
and our spirits join, in the words of Hebrews, the spirits
of just men made perfect. When our spirits will be purged
from every last taint of sin, And then the second stage will
come at the coming of Christ and the resurrection, which of
course is the Christian's hope. Death is not his hope. It is
the coming again of our Lord, the rejoining of the spirit made
perfect to a resurrected body, and together we shall be with
the Lord. Now, what does union with Christ
have to do with this aspect in the process of salvation? Well,
the Scripture says that believers die in union with Jesus Christ. Turn to 1 Thessalonians, if you
will, and chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse
13. But we would not have you ignorant
brethren concerning them that fall asleep, that ye sorrow not
even as the rest who have no hope, Or if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep
in Jesus will God bring with him? How does he describe the
death of a believer? He says it is a falling asleep in a union with Christ that is
not severed by that sleep. They fall asleep in Jesus. That's why we read in Revelation
14, 13, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. who die in union with Christ. Over such, the second death hath
no power, because they are joined to Christ, the virtue of His
death and resurrection, and all that He purchased for His people
as they were in Him and with Him. The second death hath no
power. Over such, we die in Christ in
a way that we cannot understand. It is a union with Christ now
in the totality of our redeemed humanity, body and spirit. That's
why Paul says, don't you know that your members, your bodies,
are members of Christ? He's talking about what I am
as a physical creature. Not only my spirit, but my body. I, as a person, am united to
Christ. And though death is real, and
that abnormal wrenching of the spirit from the body is real,
It cannot wrench me from the bonds that unite me to my Savior. I shall die in Christ. You say, what about that carcass
that goes in the grave? It's still united to Christ.
You say, where do you find that in Scripture? Well, read further
in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians. Verse 16, For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ. And that never refers to the
Spirit. No, no. As to our spiritual element,
We fall asleep in Jesus. We awake looking upon His face. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Those that are dead in Christ
shall rise. It's speaking of the resurrection
of the body. And that body is in a way that
I cannot describe and I wouldn't attempt to. It is still indissolubly
united to Jesus Christ. Therefore, our glorification
will be the manifestation of the virtue of that union. 1 Corinthians
15, 22, As in Adam all die, all who are in union with him come
under the power of death. So in Christ all who are in union
with him shall be made alive. And so our glorification is said
to be in Christ and with Christ, Romans 8, 17 and Colossians 3,
4. Now do you see, child of God,
having given this very brief, overarching view of the doctrine
of union with Christ, do you see why I was bold enough to
assert that when Professor Murray stated that this doctrine was,
and I shall quote his words again, central doctrine concerning the
whole doctrine of salvation, that this was no overstatement.
Union with Christ holds a place in the plan of salvation that
is central, that is fundamental to the whole and to every single
part. So I want to close the exposition
before bringing a final word of application by quoting from
Professor Murray who having gone over some of the territory that
I have gone over with you, said these words, it is union with
Christ now in the virtue of His resurrection that certifies to
Him, that is the believer, the reality of His election in Christ. He is blessed by the Father with
all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, just as
He was chosen in Christ from eternal ages. We have the seal
of an eternal inheritance, etc. And he goes on to give a panoramic
view of this in summary. And then he says, apart from
union with Christ, we cannot view past, present, or future
with anything but dismay and Christless dread. By union with
Christ, the whole complexion of time and eternity is changed,
and the people of God may rejoice with joy unspeakable. and full
of glory. Having established the place
of union with Christ in the plan of salvation, let me close now
with an exhortation that flows along two lines. I'm conscious
that in a group this size, I'm addressing myself to some who
make absolutely no profession of being a Christian. I'm speaking
to boys, girls, young men and women, fathers, mothers, adults.
husbands of Christian wives, wives of Christian husbands,
cousins of Christians, nephews and nieces of Christians. May I address myself to you tonight
earnestly and pointedly? And please don't turn me off. In the light of what we've studied
tonight, do you not see that if God has seen fit to indicate
with such clarity his great esteem of his son, how he must regard
those who disregard, so blessed a person. If God has said, I
put such estimation upon my son, the perfection of his person
and of his work, that I shall not even conceive of blessing
for rebel sinners apart from constituting a union with my
Son in eternity and unto eternity? Do you not see if God has placed
such an estimation upon His Son? How He must regard those who
put so low a value upon the Son of God that they despise and
reject and respond with indifference to the overtures of mercy in
the free offers of the gospel. Oh, dear unsaved man, woman,
boy, or girl, that which we set before you in the name of God
tonight is not an abstract set of doctrines telling you to absorb
them into your noggins and then parrot them. We do not set before
you a bunch of rules and regulations and say, bend to them or else.
In the name of the God of heaven who has put such estimation upon
His Son, we set before you the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the
well-beloved of the Father, the One in whom His people were chosen
in eternity, the One in whom they died, were buried, and rose
again. the One in whom they are created
anew, the One in whom they abide and therefore receive strength
and virtue to walk in newness of life, the One in whom they
shall die, and the One in whom they shall be raised to life.
It is that Person that we set before you and ask you soberly
to consider if you are prepared to meet Almighty God. and face
the full, unleashed fury of His anger upon all who despise so
blessed a person. No wonder God says, Kiss the
Son, lest he be angry and ye perish in the way. You find yourself
quite content to live Christless now, You find yourself quite
at peace to be devoid of any saving union with Christ now. But, my friend, will you be in
such peace when you meet God, with no mediator to interpose? Will you be so sure of your own
sufficiency when you face the God of the universe? O despisers
of Christ! Everyone indifferent to the blessed
Son of God, I entreat you in His name, reconsider your carelessness. You're not trifling with preachers
and their dogmas. You're trifling with the Son
of God. Oh, you say, if Jesus came here
and I saw His miracles and He walked before me, then I might
consider, my friend, Jesus Christ is really present in the preaching
of His Word, as if He stood here in His flesh. And to despise Him as He is coming
to us in the overtures of mercy in the preached Word is to despise
Him. just as though he stood here
tonight and you stopped your ears and spat upon him. I therefore entreat every unconverted
man, woman, boy, or girl who makes no profession of saving
union with Christ, reconsider, reconsider, come now, let us
reason together. And then I address myself, perhaps
even to a larger group who makes some profession of being a Christian? You bear the name of Christ.
You wear the badge of discipleship. You've been baptized and identified
with a visible church. Oh, my friend, may I press upon
your conscience a simple question? Are you in saving union with
the Son of God? Now, you see, I haven't asked
you if you believe the doctrines of grace. There'll be enough
people in hell who believe the doctrines of grace to compose
a very accurate confession of faith, including one or two catechisms. My question is, are you in saving
union with Jesus Christ? And as we shall see in the subsequent
study, the only way you can certify the reality of saving union with
Christ is not to look back and pry into the counsels of eternity,
nor to look ahead and entertain sweet hopes of what will happen
then. The reality of your election union with Christ and your glorification
union with Christ is certified by the evidence of a present
union with Christ that will always be manifested in a transformed
For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old
is past, the new has come. And if the new has not come,
you are not in Christ. May God be pleased to use the
word of exhortation brought by our brother Ernie Resinger last
night to bear down upon our consciences. We take heed to ourselves to
examine ourselves whether indeed we be in the faith. And then
my final word of exhortation is addressed to those of you
who can say, in spite of all of the awareness of your failure,
in spite of all the consciousness of sin, you dare to say yes. I am in saving union with Christ. I'm a mystery to myself. What
has happened to me in the deepest recesses of my affections as
well as in the external conduct of my life bears no explanation
but that somehow, I say it reverently, I've been hooked in to the virtue
that flows from the Son of God. Oh, dear child of God, with such
a central truth as union with Christ staring at us from so
many pages of the New Testament, must we not confess with shame
the sin of our laziness and our neglect that we have thought
so little and contemplated so seldom this grand and glorious
truth? It has been a long time since
I have confessed so much sin preparing a series of messages.
And my sin that I've had to confess is the sin of spiritual laziness,
of careless neglect, that so great a heritage has been left
me in the Word of God for my own privilege, for my own stability,
and ultimately for God's glory, that I should praise Him according
to the multitude of His tender mercies. Oh, may God smite our
hearts with an awareness of the sin of sinful neglect, And let
us then, having confessed our sin and having fled anew to that
fountain open for sin and uncleanness, let us plead that we may in the
days ahead be caught up in new dimensions of faith and of love
and obedience to Christ, that we may be more fully aware of
what it means to abide in Him, what it means to commune with
Him, what it means to be strong in the faith that being joined
to Him we may even face what for many of us will be that last
and ultimate experience of this life, face death in all of its
horror, and know that dying in Christ we shall be glorified
with Him. May the Lord be pleased to teach
us by His Word and His Spirit and lead us all to a new appreciation
of what it is to be in Him. Amen.