If you take your Bibles and turn
them into Galatians. Annie, would you check on Audrey? I don't
know where she is. Thank you. Galatians, our text will be found
in verse 15. Verse 15. The scripture says,
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision
but a new creation. Now this last Wednesday we went
over this message, what it is to be in Christ. The Apostle says for in Christ. Our work circumcision doesn't
avail anything, obedience to the law doesn't avail anything,
nor does our Disobedience to the law bar us from our salvation,
but rather only this, in Christ are we made new creations. And we saw this, that being in
Christ is not by the power of will or by the power of man,
but only by the grace and power of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? Are you a believer this morning?
You are in Christ Jesus. And we went over this. Who put
you in Christ Jesus? Well, we went over to 1 Corinthians.
Hold your place there, but go to 1 Corinthians. And this expounds
it very greatly, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. It expounds this concept very plainly. So that Paul said, so that no
flesh should glory in his presence. This is the reason why it's done
this way, so that all the glory belonged to God. He says in verse
30, but of God are you in Christ Jesus. It is by the power and grace
of God that we are in Christ Jesus, who of God, of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So then, our union with Christ,
that's what it means when he says in Christ, speaking about
union, union. And we went over this, that we're
in union because of the purpose of God, because God purposed
it. Go to Ephesians chapter 1, I'm
just going to recap with just this one passage of scripture.
And if you've not heard that first message, please go back
and listen to it. There's much there. But look
at Ephesians 1. The apostle blesses God the Father
because he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Verse
3, in heavenly places, where? Where are all these blessings?
They're in Christ. That's where all the blessings
are. They're in Christ. And how did he do that? According,
this is how he did it. According as he had chosen us,
where? In Christ. The root cause of our salvation
is election. Now listen, believing election
doesn't save you. Believing election doesn't save
you. But no one is saved without it. Of God are we in Christ. According
as God had chosen us, in Christ when? Before the foundation of
the world. That's when he did it. Now what is his purpose? That,
here's his reason, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. Who? Everyone he chose. Everyone he chose, he purposed
that they should be holy and without blame before him. Motivation in love, in love having predestinated
us, that is, predestinated us to this union because when we
were born, we were born without this union. We had no vitalness
in this new union. We were outside of Christ. We
were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We were strangers
to the covenant of promise, enemies of God in our minds. You could
not separate us from anyone else when we were born in this world.
Same, the exact same. But God predestinated all things
so that you and I should experience this union. Everything was predestinated. No accidents here. Nothing. Everything's
designed by sovereignty. Everything. How many hairs you
got on your head? Things accidental? Of course not. You and I don't number
them, He does. And one doesn't fall out of your
head without a purpose. God purposed it. I don't know
what to tell you, that's just so. Sovereignty over everything. And His sovereign will is this,
that everything that takes place is designed to save His people. That's it. Everything that's
taking place. He predestinated us unto, what? The adoption of sons. Nobody
can claim to be a son of God without the new birth. And I know this, he has sons
who have not yet been born. You see, election is unto salvation.
Adoption of sons. And listen to manner, how they're
going to be saved. By Jesus Christ. That's it. Isn't this simple? Isn't this plain? It's by Jesus
Christ. That's how they're going to be
saved. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision of anything or uncircumcision
doesn't matter. It's by Jesus Christ. That's
how they're saved. They're saved by Him. By His
perfect offering. By their union with Him. By God
putting them in Christ Jesus. When Christ Jesus came into the
world, He came as their representative man. That's what it means to
be in Christ. Representation. Did you realize you were an Adam
when Adam sinned? You had a representative. You
and I had a representative. So did all men. And he failed. He sinned. And what did that
sin do? It transferred to us all. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and what's the result?
Death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Why? All have sinned. When did they sin? They sinned
when Adam sinned. Listen to this, they died when
Adam died. That's what a representative
is. Even so, this is how God designed
to save the elect, by representative. So when Christ came into the
world, we were in Him. When He lived a righteous life,
He, so did we. When He died on Calvary, so did
we. When he rose again, and he's
seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so did we. You see our representative. He
is our savior. He is all our salvation. Look at verse 5, to himself.
Oh, the affection of this, the love of this. Boy, anybody believe
election is a cold doctrine really don't understand it. Is it so cold to bring one who
doesn't deserve salvation, give him salvation so that you can
bring, God said, I'm gonna do it so I can bring you to me.
You can't come to me the way you are. I have to make you different. I have to make you holy. And
when he makes us holy, he does this so he would draw us into
himself. And what are we gonna do when
we get there? We're gonna praise him. to the praise of the glory
of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
Where are you accepted? I'm accepted in the beloved.
I'm accepted in him. And so this is an act of sovereign
will, an act of sovereign love. And when God came to us, it was
an act of sovereign power, wasn't it? We were without Christ, and
now by the grace and power of God, we've been born of the Spirit
of God, and now then we've experienced something. I read this morning
an article about this lady wanting to give her conversion experience,
the Rothbard. And he said, no, no, I don't
want it. I don't want you to do it. And
he did this for this because many people can have an experience
without salvation. They can be converted from one
thing to another. But rather this, Christ is all
our salvation, not our experience of it. We all have one, but I'll
tell you this, what does that matter? Christ is all. Christ is all. And so, You that
believe in Jesus Christ, you who were dead in trespasses and
sins, hath he quickened who were dead? And what does Paul say
in our text? What avails? How do you know
you're in Christ? Well, circumcision is not going
to tell you, neither uncircumcision, but what? A new creation. A new
creation. Now, this morning, I want us
to look closer at this union. I want to see how much we are
in union with Christ, how important this is. And the scripture gives
us four pictures, four things which
we can see that represent our union with Christ. And so as
we look at these things the scripture has given us, four pictures that
show us our vital union with Christ. The first picture I'm
going to give you is the vine and the branches. Our Lord gave
this. Go to John chapter 15. Look at
this picture of our union with Christ. Now please keep this
in mind. I'm talking about being in Christ.
You that are in Christ. How vital is this union? Christ said this in verse 4. He said, Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can
you except you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in
him the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me you can
do what? Nothing. What a beautiful picture
the Lord, the Prince of Preachers, has given us a vivid picture
of our union with Him. I'm the vine and you're the branches. Picture now a vine as it grows
up out of the earth. You plant the seed and when it
comes out of the earth it comes as a stem. It's one. It's one. Come springtime what happens?
the buds begin to bloom on the sides of the vine and out come
what? Branches. Out come branches. And as that vine grows along
the wall, keep in mind the source of its life, the source of the
life of every branch is what? The vine. What happens if you
cut a branch off the vine? Throw it over there for a little
while. What's going to happen? It'll die. So then all the source
of life and nourishment come from where? The vine. And I like
this. Do you know that every branch
in the vine has been programmed in it? When it comes out as a
single branch, every branch has already been programmed into
that DNA of the vine. You're not going to sprout any
branches that's not in his programming, in his DNA. Just not going to
do it. This is the same with Christ.
Christ has all of his elect within him. And guess what? Everyone
that is in him is going to spring forth. They're going to come
out. They're going to live. There's
that Ethiopian unit. Went all the way from Ethiopia
to Jerusalem. You know what he found in Jerusalem?
Nothing. Dead religion. That's all he
found. Had the book of God in his hand.
Riches. He had everything, everything
a man can want. And he's coming back defeated. And where does God find him?
Does he find him in the palace? Does he find him in the temple?
He finds him in the middle of the desert. Well, to show the
sovereignty of God, He's going to find His people. He's going
to meet them where they are, and He's going to give them life.
Why? Because they're in the vine. They're in the vine. And so we know that the branches,
no matter how, and listen to this, no matter how big the branch
gets, you got one of those branches, he's blossomed out and he's a
big branch, full of fruit. Grapes all over the place. Remember
those grapes that they had to carry from Canaan on their shoulders. I don't care how big the branch
gets, don't care how much fruit he produces. Outside the vine, he cannot do
anything. It's a simple picture, isn't
it? Even so, it is with our union
with Christ. How vital is my union with Christ? It's as vital as the branches
abiding in the vine. If I do not abide in him, I have
no life. If I do not abide in him, I will
have no fruit. But know this, that everyone
that abides in him, he swears this, they shall bring forth
fruit. Now, where does it come from?
You have faith this morning, you believe this morning, where
does that come from? The measure of your faith. Maybe you have
small faith, maybe you have large faith. The measure of your faith,
where does that come from? You? Joy? Any joy? Any peace? Any long-suffering gentleness?
Where does that come from? It comes from divine. You see, all of our life and
fruit and growth is totally, 100% dependent upon this union. That's why Paul says, I count
all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
that I may be found where? in Him. That's the only thing
to me that matters. Being in Christ is all that matters. He is my life. This is the truth that every
believer feels in his soul that Christ is our life and all we
do in service for him flows from his strength, his power and his
grace. And we know this that any man
outside of him will die. That's just so. Any man outside of him will die.
I know he is the source and strength of my life, my faith, my love,
all the grace of God that flows from him to us branches is because
of this spiritual union. Isn't that a vivid picture? Are you in Christ? And we are
totally dependent upon him for everything. And I like that promise. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth what? Much fruit. Much fruit. Secondly, a second
illustration of this picture is the spiritual temple, building,
a building. This is another picture. Go to
Ephesians chapter 2. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2 and look
at verse 20. The apostle says, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, through
the Spirit. The elect of God are set here
to be built upon the foundation. You that have been quickened
by the power of the Spirit, you that have been given life and
faith, you have been built upon a foundation, a foundation You
have a foundation upon which your soul rests. What is the
foundation of your salvation? What is the ground and standing
that you have any hope whatsoever to be accepted of God? When you
pray, what is the grounds by which you come to God and expect
to be heard? You got to have some kind of
reasoning as to why you expect God to hear you or you expect
God to accept you. What is a foundation? The scripture says this, that
God has laid a foundation. God has laid a cornerstone. He says all the building is built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being what? The chief cornerstone. Jesus is said to be the cornerstone. Now the cornerstone in this day
that this was written means this, that they had to pick out a stone
that was unbreakable. It had to be square. It had to
be perfect. Why? Because this cornerstone
held the weight of all the foundation and the building. All of the
weight was distributed toward that cornerstone. And so as you
built the building, the building and its weight were pressing
down on the cornerstone. And if the cornerstone was weak,
if the cornerstone was corrupt, the building would collapse.
The whole thing, the whole structure would be unsafe. And so in this picture, we see
this, that there's a foundation. And the foundation is what? The apostles and prophets. Why
do I have any hope at all of being accepted with God? Because
in the word of God, God tells me how. How I can be accepted,
how I am made acceptable before God. But listen to this. If you
take Christ out of this book, the whole thing collapses. What
do you think they spend so much time now? They don't mind reading
the Bible. People don't mind the Bible. It's a good book.
There's nothing wrong in the world's estimates. Pretty good.
I mean, nothing wrong with the Bible except Jesus Christ. They
don't mind it as long as you take him out. As long as they
preach you from this book, men love it. What's wrong with that
building? The cornerstone is faulting.
If you're the cornerstone of your salvation, it'll collapse.
If there is anything in you that you are expecting God to accept,
anything at all, your whole world will collapse in the day of judgment. But see, everything the apostles
wrote, everything the prophets wrote was totally dependent on
Jesus Christ. Think about this. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son. What was that dependent on? It's
dependent on that Jesus Christ come and be born of a virgin.
Had he not been born of a virgin, the whole thing would collapse.
You see, the weight of his prophecy was dependent upon the Lord Jesus
Christ being born of a virgin. Behold, his hand shall pierce
They didn't have crucifixion in David's day when he wrote
that. You see, the weight of that prophecy was dependent upon
Christ to fulfill it. The whole thing is about Christ.
You remember when he rose again from the dead, he met those disciples
on the road to Emmaus. And they were all sad. And he
said, why are you so sad? He didn't reveal himself. He
just sat and walked along. He said, why are you so sad? He said,
don't you know? This is the one we thought was going to be the
Christ. And now he's dead. And he said,
all fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered and entered
into his glory. Isn't that what they wrote? And then beginning
where? At Moses, Genesis. And all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things,
what? Concerning himself. Boy, that is the model for every
preacher, right there. to expound in all the scriptures
what the things concerning himself. Why? Because he bears the weight
of all scripture. If he fails in one part this
whole book, you can throw it away. Listen to me. If Christ died for every man
without exception, you might as well throw that away. He failed. He failed. They're in hell. They
failed. But I know that's not true. He
did not fail. He died for everyone the Father
gave him. Whatever that number is, that's
the one he died for. Someone once said, we do believe
in whosoever will. I believe that Jesus Christ died
for whosoever will. I don't believe he died for whosoever
won't. He did. He died for it. Why?
Because faith is a gift of God and not of works. It's a grace
of God. And so you that have been given
the grace of God, notice this. The apostle says you were built. You didn't put yourself there.
You didn't put yourself on that foundation. God puts you on that
foundation. And listen, go to Go to Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter 28. Let's read about this foundation,
this ground on which our souls are built. The building is united
to the foundation and the foundation rests upon its cornerstone. And
what does God say about this cornerstone? Well, if I get the
right book, that'd be better. Isaiah 28. And look at verse 16. And God's talked about previously,
He's talking about those who made a, have a faulty foundation. Those who, who's built their
foundation on their works or their obedience, He said to them,
they, they say, well, we made a covenant with death and hell
and the overflowing scourge shall not come unto us. While we made
lies our refuge and falsehood, we have hid ourselves. That's
their, their hope. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a stone, a tried stone. Was he not tried? I'll tell you this, he was tried
more than any man. He was tested more than any man.
You know what he said to them? He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? You say that? Anybody here say that? He's the only one who could say
that. The prince of this world hath found nothing in me. I can't say that. Only one man
say that, Jesus Christ could say that. Why? Because he is
a tried stone, a precious corner stone. I like this. A sure foundation. Upon whom do we rest our souls? What is the foundation that you
rest in? If there's anything in you, your
foundation is faulty. It'll collapse. But believers
rest the weight of our souls on Jesus Christ because God laid
Him as a cornerstone, a sure foundation, and I like this.
He that believeth shall not make haste. You want to go anywhere
else? You that are built on this stone,
is there any other stone you want to be built on? You want to get off? I don't want to go anywhere else.
I like what Peter said. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life. You have the words
of eternal life. We are sure that thou art the
son of the living God. He is our foundation. He is all our salvation. I'll
have you look at one more place. Go to Matthew 16 concerning Him
being our foundation and our union with this rock. Matthew chapter 16. Our Lord
Jesus said this of Himself. Peter made a good confession
here. Peter said in verse 16, he said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, why flesh and blood hath not
revealed this to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Who
revealed that to you? You say Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
the living God. Who revealed that to you? Well,
the Father did on purpose. And notice this, here's our surety,
our hope. He said, I say unto thee, Pebble. Peter is what it means. Little
bitty rock. Little rock. That's who you are. I say thou art Peter. And the word and there should
be translated but. But on this rock. Mass of rock. He said, Peter, you're blessed.
God revealed this to you and you are blessed. But let me tell
you something, you're just a little rock. But listen to me, on this rock,
as though the Lord Jesus Christ took his finger and pointed to
himself. Why? Because all of the scripture
before this testifies that he's the rock. Doesn't it? Doesn't the whole of the Old
Testament testify He's the Rock? What about the rock that followed
them in the wilderness, Paul said? You remember that rock? Moses struck the rock and out
poured water. Who is that? Is that Peter? It's Christ. And the second time
that rock, same rock. I like that. Did you realize
what Paul said about that? He said that rock followed them. He didn't say they went to the
rock, they went in a circle, and then they went back to the
rock. The scripture says the rock followed them. And you remember that next time
he wasn't supposed to strike it, he was supposed to speak
to it. Now Moses marred the type when
he hit the rock the second time. Why? Because Christ should only
die once. Who's the rock? Who's the massive rock upon which
the church of God is built? Is it Peter? Only a fool would
think that. I just read you in Isaiah that
he is the foundation stone. He's the rock. Jesus said upon
this rock, I will build my church. Any question about that? When
he's building this building, Terrence, I mean, I thought for
sometimes, boy, I didn't think we was gonna ever finish this
thing. I didn't think it was ever gonna
get done. I didn't think we was ever gonna be in here. I thought it'd just
go by the wayside or whatever. Why? I have no power over anything.
But listen to what the Lord Jesus said about his building. He said,
I will build my church. of hell shall not prevail against
thee." I thought about that. Gates. Gates. What does a gate do? It keeps
people out or it keeps people in. Do you see what he did? We were
sons of hell. And he said, the gates of hell
shall not prevail Did he not tear down the bars of iron that
kept us dead? Gates of hell could not keep
his children, and neither will the gates and
bars of death keep his children. They won't prevail. Now, with that in mind, remember,
he's talking to Peter about this. Now, if you want to hear Peter's
commentary on this, go to 1 Peter. Go to 1 Peter chapter 2. Listen
to Peter's commentary on it. I like it. It's amazing. Peter,
no doubt, is thinking of this text when he writes this. Go
to 1 Peter. Look at chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter
2 and verse 4. He says, to whom coming as unto a living stone. All right,
who's the rock? What's Peter's commentary on
it? Who's the rock? Jesus. He said, coming unto him
as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God. And what to Peter? What was this
rock to Peter? Precious. What's this rock to
you? Precious. You also are living stones. Now
he's referring to himself. Remember what Christ called him?
Little stone? Yeah, you're a living stone.
But you're not the foundation, are you? No. You're living stones are built
up a spiritual house on holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God. How? This morning you're worshiping
God. How is it acceptable? Do you
think your worship is acceptable? I think it's good enough. It
is. It is. It's acceptable by Jesus Christ. That's how it's acceptable. By
your union with Him. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Unto you therefore which believe, listen to this, He is precious.
He is precious. See Peter's commentary on that
verse? Who's the foundation on which your soul is built? It's
Christ. All right. A couple more I know. Go to the third illustration
of this is Colossians. Go to Colossians chapter two.
Colossians chapter two. So in the vine we see that all
of our life is dependent upon Him. All of our fruit is dependent
upon Him. The necessity, the vitalness
of that union. Secondly, we see the foundation
of this union is Christ. The foundation of our souls is
Christ. Now then, Colossians chapter
2 and look at verse 19. The apostle gives another illustration
of our union by the head and the body. He said in verse 19,
and not holding the head. There are some people who will
not submit to Jesus Christ as head. They have not submitted, not holding
the head. What are they doing? They're
holding their works. They're holding themselves to be the head. He said, "...not holding the
head, from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment,
ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase
of God." The Lord Jesus Christ here is represented as the head
and the church, His body. Can you be more intimate than
that? Your head and body. Is there
any more unity there? What does the head do? It animates
the body, doesn't it? It controls the members of the
body, the head. This is Christ. Because of our
union with Christ, every member of the church is controlled by
Him. Moves according to His will.
That's why the scripture says, in Him we live and move and have
our being. Without the head, what is the
body? Nothing. It's lifeless. And listen, not all the body
has the same function, does it? So it is in the church. God gives
grace, God gives mercy to give us the things that He wants us
to do. He gives us the abilities, He
gives us the desire, He gives us the motivation, He gives us
the opportunity, and He makes it to flourish. So, man, I'm thirsty. Who told me to go get this water?
My mouth's dry, but he didn't tell me to get the water. My
head did. Head said, you're thirsty. Would I give praise to my hand?
My hand did only what my mind commanded. And so it is with
us in our union with Christ. Everything that is done in the
church is according to the will of Christ, our head. Our head. And I'll tell you this, may God
give us grace to submit to whatever God has given us to do in it.
I knew a man one time, he wanted to preach. Man, he wanted to
preach so bad. And he had all the gifts. I mean, I thought
he was a great preacher. I thought he had all the talent.
Man, I didn't have any. And I tell you, when God chose
me to pastor, God put me in the ministry. I think he kind of
went off a little bit in his mind. He was very upset. Why? He didn't like being the part
of the body that he was supposed to be. A lot of times we do that.
Why? Whatever we have, whatsoever your hands find to do, do with
all thy might, what? As unto the Lord. And then when
you do it, guess what? Who gets the praise for it? May
God understand that He is the head and we bow to Him. Every member of His body bows
to Him. He is the head. Do you believe on Him? Have you
come to Him? Have you bowed to Him? Because
to believe on Him is to bow. And the last thing is marriage.
Marriage. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians
chapter 5, look at verse 31. He says, And for this cause shall
the man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to
his wife, and these two shall be one flesh. The vine and the branches show
the necessity and vitalness of our life flowing from Christ. The picture of the foundation
shows that our ground in standing before God is only Jesus Christ. The message of the body and the
head show the supremacy of Christ in the church, in this union. But the union of marriage shows
the love. You can't see love in a vine
and a branch, can you? You can't see love in a building
and a stone, can you? You can't see love even in the
head and the body, although I do love my body. God has designed marriage for
this specific purpose to picture the union between Christ and
His church. People will want to know why
you get married. Because it's a picture. Why do we baptize?
Baptism doesn't save. Why do we do it? Well, first
of all, we were commanded to do it. Well, we were commanded
to do it for a specific reason. It has a picture. God loves his
pictures. He loves his pictures. Remember
what happened to Moses when he defiled the picture. Marriage
is a picture of the love union between Christ and his church. Now, Rylan, you picked that young
bride. She's pretty, and she loves you, and she cares for
you, and you said, man, that'd be a good wife to have. And you
got her. Be thankful. That's not exactly how it happened
with Christ and His church. You see, God the Father chose
the bride of Christ. And she was not lovely. She was not beautiful. She was not loving or caring. In fact, she was a prostitute. And not a meek and humbled prostitute
either. One full of rage and hate. One that shook her fist in the
face of God and said, I will not have this man to rule over
me. You read the book of Hosea, you
see that picture? Old Gomer. You know what her name means?
Wasted. You want a picture of the bride
of Christ? Here it is. Wasted our lives, sold ourselves
for the pleasures of this life. Haters God. Vile. And used up. That Gomer was not a, at this
point when Hosea gets her back, she is not beautiful. Matter of fact, nobody would
even buy her. But you remember the prophet
was commanded to marry a woman of whoredoms. And there she is in the slave
market of sin, naked and all used up. And you know what Hosea
does? In love he comes and buys her. That's exactly the picture of
our marriage to Christ. You read this in Hosea 2, she's
all lovers giving her everything, really not giving her anything. Her husband daily laying her
food at the door, providing for her daily And what does she think? My lovers have given these things
to me. And he said, now's the time of
love. And he begins to take those things
away. Does this sound familiar? You enjoy the things of the world,
all the pleasures of the world, and all of a sudden the Lord
takes the pleasure of them away. You begin to see the guilt and
expose the true nature of yourself to the loathing of your own soul. And Hosea chapter 2, when she's
got nothing left, this is what he says, I will allure her into
the wilderness. And that what he did to you,
brought you to a place where no one could help. A wilderness. You saw the barrenness of your
own righteousness. And then what'd he say? I'm gonna
beat her. You know what he said? No. He
said, then I will speak comfortably to her. And this is what I'm
gonna do. I'm going to give her her inheritance. This is the picture of our marriage
union with Christ. It was one of love. Did he come into this world just
out of necessity? It was necessary for him to come
into the world. Was that the motive? It was love. When he found us, we were wasted.
And listen to this, in love, he joined us to himself. And because he is our husband,
we have this hope. He will soon come and receive
us to himself. You read that parable, the ten
virgins, the five foolish and the five wise, the five foolish
virgins, they waited for the husband, but they didn't have
any oil. They didn't have anything in themselves. They didn't have
no light in themselves. But the five wise virgins, you
see, they had oil. What is that? That's the spirit
of God that keeps our faith burning. Until when? Until our bridegroom
comes. And he will come. Why? Because he is our husband. He will receive us to himself.
You see the vitalness of our union? The vine and the branches. Without me, you could do nothing.
I see that. I know that's true. He's the
vine, I'm the branch, and everything comes from him. He's the foundation
of my soul, and I am built upon Him, and nothing will move me
from Him. He is my head, and I am His body. He is Lord, and He is my husband. Pictures of our union with Christ. Are you in Christ? Then all these
things are true about you. If you're in Christ, if you believe,
and that's what it is, faith is the grace of our union. Then you are in Christ and all
of these blessings are yours. And we're going to talk about
that next time. What are the blessings of being in Christ? I pray God
will help us and give us grace to hear that come this next Wednesday. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Parents, dismiss in prayer, please.