Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles now again and turn with me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. And we'll be looking at verse
30. Verse 30 this morning. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 30. The Scripture says, Him. We know that this is speaking
of God, that God had chosen the base things of the world, the
things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which
are not to bring to naught, the things that are, that no flesh
should glory in His presence, in God's presence, but of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." It's very important,
those words, and. He didn't run them together.
Sometimes we do that in quoting this Scripture. He made it wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. No, it's wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification. These are individual things that
He has made Christ to be for us, and they should be separated.
Each one of them are vital to the salvation of his people, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, I want this
morning, by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, I want
to take these two words the apostle penned here. But of him are you
in Christ. In Christ. If I had a title,
it would be, In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. What does it mean
to be in Christ? And I desire that the power of
the Holy Spirit would express these words to show you who are
in Christ. I want you to see this this morning,
that by the sovereign power the sovereign will and the sovereign
grace of God, you that believe in Christ, you are in union with
Christ. That's what those two words mean.
In Christ, it has to do with our union with Christ. Our union with Christ. Every believer in Christ, everyone
that is born of the Holy Spirit, and has come to Christ this morning,
you are in Christ. But of God, you are in Christ,
in union with Christ. Now, I want us to see this, this
morning, that this union, I've got three points of this message,
but I'm going to get through one today. And it's this, our
union is of God. If you are in Christ Jesus this
morning, I want you to understand your union with Him is solely
based on the sovereign will, the sovereign power, and the
sovereign grace of God. That is the only reason you are
in Christ Jesus this morning. Listen to the text, but of God. It is an act of divine will and
power that you are in Christ Jesus. Go to Galatians. Go over
a couple of pages to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter
6. Read verse 15 with me. The Scripture says, "...for in
Christ..." In Christ neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Paul says neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision. You know what that means? It
means this, that none of our works, none of our merits, none
of our obedience to the law has anything to do with our union
with Christ. Paul said, I don't care if you're
a Jew and you've tried to obey that law all your life. That
has nothing to do with your union with Christ. Listen to this,
neither uncircumcision. Conversely, listen, we must see that none of our
law-breaking, none of our law-breaking, none of our sins or crimes against
God bar us from this union. but that our union with Christ
Jesus was only an act of God, but what? A new creation. Who alone can make a new creation
but God? You are in Christ Jesus, what? Because of a new creation. It is by the sovereign will of
God. I tell you, the sovereignty of
God is a profound subject. It's one that men hate by nature. It's men who are unwilling and
unable to comprehend. They deny the sovereignty of
God. They strive in vain to remove the scepter from the hand of
God and place it into the hand of man. But you know what God says? He says,
I declare the end from the beginning. From ancient times the things
were not yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. It is this vain religious world
and countless millions set themselves against the doctrine of God's
sovereignty. They were rejected over their
favorite doctrine, the sovereignty of man's will. They hate it because it cuts
to the root of their false religion. This matter of God's sovereignty
cuts to the root of all false religion. Instead of God sovereignly
ruling all things, instead of God having sovereignly determined
all things after the counsel of His will, they would rather
you have blind faith, chance and luck to rule over them. Just so they can have a part,
in their salvation, just so they can do what Paul said is not
possible, that no man should glory in the presence of God.
Salvation is completely of God. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. Why? That no flesh should glory
in His presence. Why are you in Christ Jesus?
Why are you in Christ Jesus? So let's consider this matter
of God's sovereignty and our union with Christ. In this verse,
though the word sovereignty is not penned there, it is stamped
all over it. It's stamped all over the text.
But of God are you in Christ. Look, believer, see the foundation
and source of all spiritual blessings is where? Where are all spiritual
blessings found? Where is wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption? Where is all of that found? It
is found in Christ Jesus. Anyone outside of this union
with Christ has no right to any of those things. And so let's trace the source
of our being in Christ. Trace the source and see where
it began. How it came to be that sinners
are made one with the Son of God. What's the source? How is this possible? What's
the root? The root is the sovereignty of
God. That is the root of our union
with Christ. You want to know why you're in
union with Christ? It is because God willed it. There is no other
reason. You won't find it in you. You
won't find it in any other man. You will find it only because
God willed it to be so. God determined it. We were of
God put into union by the purpose of God. If you're in Galatians,
look over one more page there. If you're seeing Ephesians 1,
you'll see this very clearly. We say Paul blesses God the Father. He blessed Him. He bows to Him. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why such blessing, Paul? Because
He has blessed us. Hath. I like that. He's already
starting out in the past tense. Hath. He has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. Where are these blessings found?
In heavenly places, only in Christ. Where is pardon found? Where
is forgiveness found? Where is the love of God found? Where is peace with God found?
It's in Christ Jesus. That's the only place it is. According. According. By divine purpose and will. According as He hath chosen us.
What? In Christ. He chose us and put
us in union with Christ before the foundation of the world.
And this is the reason that we should be holy. We who by nature
are not holy, yet God from eternity purposed this, that you and I
who believe in Christ, in union with Christ, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him. That's the purpose and will
of God. the sovereign will of God. In love. Now, you can use that,
in love. You could say that He purposed
us to be holy and without blame, and that we should love Him.
And we do. That we should adore Him. And
we do. But I believe it best describes
the next verse, in love having predestinated us. This is the
me, the motivation of God for doing this. Love. is the motivation
of God choosing, the motivation of putting you in Christ was
this, God loved you in love. And in love, He predestinated
what? Everything. Predestination is
the will of God being executed in time. Everything that's executed
in time had been predestinated. And what is this predestination
working for? In love predestinating us unto
the adoption of children. See, we, by nature, we're children
of wrath, haters of God. And yet God purposed an adoption. And this adoption should come
by one means, Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ. That's the only
way you're gonna be holy. That's the only way you're gonna
be without blame. That's the only way you'll ever love God.
That's the only way you'll ever experience the adoption that
God purposed for you is by the work of another. By the work
of Jesus Christ. Now get this, all of this was
being purposed before there was anything. God purposed this in sovereignty. It was a sovereign will of the
Father. Who then can oppose such a sovereign
will? Who in heaven or earth could
say to omnipotence, what doest thou? Who? There was nobody to
object. It was just God. There was nobody
even there to object. We just sang that. Who? Who shall
in thy presence stand and match omnipotence? So you can't go
above omnipotence, can you? Omnipotence, it's all power. So you just got to match it in
order to overcome it. Who's going to match it, much
less overcome it? Who shall unfold the grasp of
thy right hand and pluck these sinners? There's no one. And
then secondly, we see that this is of God's purpose to put us
in Christ. This union of God's people is
not just an act of will, but an act of love, in love. He did
this in love. In love predestinates the adoption
of children. He put you in Christ because
of His sovereign love. Now, you who are in Christ, I
want you this morning, you can feast on this all you want to,
how much does God love you? Now, do not meditate on how much
you deserve this love, because then you won't receive any comfort. You don't. Just put it out there. We don't deserve this love. Not
in ourselves. But because of our union with
Christ, we do. How much does He love you? In
John 17, our Lord praying, He said the glory, this is John
17, 22, and He said, The glory which thou gavest Me, I give
to them. So everything I'm doing, I'm doing for them. Everything
I'm meriting, I'm giving to them. I'm meriting righteousness, I'm
giving it to them. I'm meriting atonement and redemption,
I'm giving it to them. I'm meriting the glory and favor
of God, and I'm giving it to them. I'm giving it to them. Why that they may be one? You
know how much we are one. Look at this hand and look at
this one. Now, you can put them together, you can hold them together,
but they're a part of this body. You and I are one. who believe in Christ, we are
one church, one body. We are one. Why? He willed that.
He willed that, that we be one. Even as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. Who did that? Who made us perfect?
It was Christ. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, listen, as thou hast loved
me." How much does God love His Son?
And then you can see how much God loves you. Now, why is it
that God loves you so much? Because you are in His Son. You are one with His Son. And you are one because God in
love put you in union with His Son. How then can we measure this
love? Can you measure it? How infinite
and immutable is the love of God for His Son? You suppose
there'll ever be He won't love His Son. Do you suppose His love varies
for His Son? That He loves Him a little less
other days than others? Then don't think for one minute
that His love varies for you. It is however high the love of
God is, it is always that high. It is always that broad. It is
always that deep. Herein is love, John said. You
want to know what love is? Herein is love. Not that we love
God. Stop looking at your love to
measure God's love for you. Your love is useless. It's fickle. It doesn't even come up off the
ground. Stop trying to measure His love
by your love, and see what He says of you who are in Christ. Of God you are in Christ. This
is an act of love. It is immutable love, unchangeable
love. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but consider, He hath loved us. And the measure of that love
is this, He sent His Son. Not just as a messenger, He was
the messenger of God, but not just as a messenger, He sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sin. A sacrifice for
our sin. Who would you sacrifice in your
family for me? Now you love me, I know you do.
Pick someone. And yet our family relations
are nothing in comparison to the value You want to see love, you look
at the cross, and you see love. God so loved the world, His elect,
that He sent His only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. Behold the love that drew
salvation's plan. Behold the grace that brought
it down to man. Mighty gulf that God did span
at Calvary. God so loved us from eternity
that He willed Jesus Christ to accomplish our salvation. And He did. This is the wonderful
thing about being in union with Christ, is that He was our representative. So that when He is loved of God,
we are loved of God. When He fulfilled the righteousness
of God, we fulfill the righteousness of God. When He suffered and
died for sins, we died in Him. When He rose again from the dead,
we rose with Him. Because we are in Him. One with
Him. One with Him. Thirdly, this sovereign
union willed of God from eternity, accomplished by Christ and sovereign
love, will be manifest by an effectual calling. Everyone who
is in union with Christ from eternity, everyone who was in
union with Christ when He died and for sin, every one of them
will effectually be called of the Spirit of God. In other words,
we're going to experience this union. Every one of the elect
will experience the union. Though we were in union from
eternity, though we were loved of God, though Christ accomplished
our salvation, yet this was not our standing by nature. This is not our birth by nature. In 2 Ephesians chapter 2, it
says that in time past you were without Christ. You were without Christ. Aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In another
place, Paul said, you are darkness. You were darkness. Not you were
in darkness, you were darkness. That's who we were by nature,
darkness. We were children of wrath, Ephesians
2 tells us, even as others. Not children under wrath, children
of wrath. We were haters of God, even as
others. But notice the divine will of
God, but God, divine intervention. Those two words are very common
in Scripture and they are precious. Usually something very negative
about us. And then you have this, but God.
Without that, without this divine conjunction, there would be no
hope for us. But God, Paul says, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, that love from eternity,
that immutable love that chose us and put us in Christ. When did He love us? Even when
we were dead in sin. Yet He what? Quickened us together
with Christ. He's talking about union, friends. Your union with Christ. He quickened
us together. Whatever Christ did, you did
in Him. That righteousness that He merited,
He said, I'm going to give it to them. And He can do that because
you were in Him when He did it. He quickened us together with
Christ and made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ for
this purpose, that in the ages to come, at the appointed time,
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us, how? Through Jesus Christ. He might
show this to us. How does He show this to us?
quickening power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, in the
new birth, in the new creation. Paul says it's not of circumcision.
It's not of uncircumcision that you're in Christ. But what? A
new creation? That's the only evidence you're in Christ. Is
this? A new creation. A new birth. For by grace you
are saved through faith. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you trust in Him alone? Have you seen your worthlessness
and His infinite value? Have you seen your sin and His
atonement? Have you seen the perfection
of His atonement? Have you fled to Christ for refuge? Where did that faith come from? Religion tells you it came from
man's will. That's not what scripture tells
me. For by grace, you are saved. Unmerited favor, you are saved
through faith. Never apart from faith. And are
you not willing to believe? They would say, well, you don't
mean that man's will's not involved. Will's involved, it's just not
free will. I'm willing. I just know this, my will wasn't
free. Saved by grace through faith
and that. What faith? I was reading an article. That's
why I don't get on blogs very much. They're just a lesson in
futility if you ever try to talk to these people. I know one guy,
he said, I get so frustrated when every Calvinist mentions
Ephesians 2, verse 8, that the word that indicates faith. He hated it. He said, well, that's
what it means. The antecedent is what? Faith. For by grace you are saved through
faith and that. Faith is the antecedent of that. That, not of yourselves. Faith is not of yourselves. If
you want to go back to salvation, salvation is not of yourself
either. All of it. None of it is of you. Faith not
of yourselves. What? It is a gift of God. Anybody
believe this morning? What is that? A gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Have you experienced faith in Christ Jesus? Everyone that God put in Christ
was loved from eternity, and all of them that were in union
with Christ were saved by His work, and it will be manifest
by the sovereign will and the giving of spiritual life and
faith. And now that he has quickened
us to spiritual life, we who were in union with Christ have
now, by the grace and power of God, experienced union with Christ. For our text tells us, Are you in Christ Jesus? Who can claim to be in Christ
Jesus without faith in Christ? No one. To believe on Jesus Christ is
an act of sovereign power. Jesus said, this is the work.
This is the work of God that you believe. on Him whom He has
sent. It is of God we are in Christ
Jesus, and now we are experimentally in union. Paul says in Romans 8 and verse
9, But you are not of the flesh, but have the Spirit, if so be
that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You have the Spirit of
Christ in you. You must. If you are in union
with Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ in union with you. And the Spirit of Christ testifies
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And what is the evidence of that?
It is simply faith. That the Spirit is testifying
with our spirit is simply this, do you believe? Do you trust
in Christ alone? That's the only evidence that
we have of our union. Stop looking in the mirror and
trying to find evidence. Stop looking at what you did
and what you're doing to find evidence. Do you believe on the
Son of God? What's the evidence that your
faith is real? Love? Do you love God? Do you love His Son? Do you love
His gospel? Do you love His people? Don't
tell me you have faith and you don't love His people. I hear
this all the time. Well, I believe in Christ. I
hear men talk as though they were Calvin themselves. Calvinist
to the core. And yet they have no desire to
attend the worship of God with the people of God. Don't tell
me about your faith. You have no love for God's people. I want you to know that you actually
being here is a manifestation of your love to me. It's encouraging
to me. And I hope that me being here
is an encouragement to you. This is how we encourage one
another, isn't it? That's what Paul said. He said, forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some
is. It's for the love of the saints. I don't want to misquote
that. It's in Hebrews. My mind's not working right. Hebrews 10. He said, let us consider one
another to provoke one another to love and good works. Now how
do you do that? Not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together. You provoke love by just showing
up. Just be sitting there. You provoke
me to love and you provoke the others around you to love. This
is the evidence of our faith. It's our love for Christ. Our
love for this Gospel. I need it. I need it. Are you in union with Christ? In closing, I've got just a few
minutes. I'm going to give you four illustrations
of union in Scriptures. Four illustrations to show you
your union with Christ. This is of the sovereignty of
God. It was accomplished by the work of Christ. It is effectually
wrought in the hearts by the new creation and faith in Christ. If you believe in Christ this
morning, If you love Christ this morning and His brethren, listen
to this, simply you are in union with Him. And who did that? God
did that. God did that. Now the first illustration
is this, the vine and the branches. Jesus tells His disciples before
He leaves, He said, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth in Me shall bring
forth much fruit. Take a little seed. You put that
in the ground. Every bit of that vine, every
branch, every ounce of fruit is already registered in the
DNA of the seed before it comes up. Isn't that a wonderful picture
of election and the sovereign grace of God and the power of
God all before it ever happens? You plant that seed in there
and all of a sudden a stem pops up at the appointed time. A stem
will come up. A vine will come up out of the
ground. It's singular. It's by itself.
But again, everything is programmed into the vine. Every branch is
going to start coming out of the vine. It springs up and you
look closer and you see the buds growing out of the stem, the
sap flowing from the vine to the branches, the branches extending
out, leaves growing on the branches, fruit growing on the branches. And so no matter how thick, how
long, or how much fruit, or how little fruit, or how thin the
branch is, it doesn't matter. Every one of them receives their
source from where? The vine. This shows us by this
picture the necessity of union with Christ. Without me, you
can do what? Nothing. You take that branch,
no matter how big it is, no matter how fruitful it is, and you break
it off of the vine and you set it over there by itself, what
is going to happen? It'll die. All of its fruit will be rotted
and worthless. Why? It's separate from the vine. We see then by this analogy The
necessity of our union. Without being in Christ, there
is no life. There is no fruit. Why ain't He said, abide? I need to abide. Everything I
have has to flow from Him. If I'm to live, and stand before
God, I must of necessity be in Him and receive all my righteousness
and redemption from Him. Everything from Him. The second
analogy is the fact of a building. Paul says this in Ephesians 2,
he says, "...and are built on the foundation of the apostle
and prophet Jesus Christ Himself, being the chief cornerstone,
in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth to a
holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also built together for
habitation of God through the Spirit." This shows us the stability
of our union. Buildings back then, they had
a cornerstone and this cornerstone supported the whole weight of
the building. If the cornerstone was cracked
or it was broken, the whole building would not stand. The whole weight
of the building rested on that stone. Therefore, all of the
foundation and all of the walls and all of the structure were
in union with that cornerstone. And if that cornerstone was good,
if it was strong and sturdy, the building could withstand
the test of time. Consider our cornerstone, Jesus
Christ. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,
a tried stone. Was he tried? What did they say
about him? I find no fault in this man.
He was tried by everyone. They couldn't find one ounce
of sin in him. Tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
the Son of God. Listen to this, a sure foundation. It is upon this stone, that all
the church is built. All the church of all time is
in union together, and the weight of our salvation rests completely
on Christ. If I'm going to heaven, it will
be totally dependent on His success. If He was cracked in any way,
I'll go to hell and deserve it. What does the Scripture tell
us about Him? Scripture says, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. So you see the sureness of this?
Matter of fact, when Jesus is the surety, He said this in that
type of Judah being surety for Benjamin. Judah said, if I bring
not the lad, Let me bear the blame. Christ, our surety, took
responsibility for our salvation. And if one of His children does
not make glory, He will bear the blame. That's why He, in confidence,
said, Of all that the Father giveth me, I should lose nothing.
Upon this rock I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." What a firm building. Are you built on Christ? How sure is your salvation? It's
as sure as His salvation, as His blood and His righteousness.
The third one is the head and the body. The head and the body. In Colossians 2, verse 19, he
says, "...not holding the head from which The body, by joints
and bands having nourishment ministered, knit together, increaseth
with the increase of God. Christ is as our head to the
body. Now then, what controls the body? See, this is a union of lordship. This is a picture of our union
with Christ and His lordship over His church. The head controls
everything. If the head is absent-minded,
so is the body. You found that out? Isn't it? Isn't it right? If you've lost
your mind, what does your body do? Your body's gone. You can't control it. Christ
is our head. In Him we live and move. and have our being. Is he your head? Is he your Lord? If you are in
union with him, he is. And the last one is the picture
of union in marriage. Over in Hosea, over in Hosea,
you know, you got the picture of Gomer. That great whore. Her name means wasted. Because
that's all she was, was a wasted human being. And he went and
bought her. And what did she do? She went
back to her lovers. Yet every day he put wine and
oil and food and clothes at her door. And she thought my lovers had
done this. And one day she was so wasted
that no one wanted her. And she said this, I'll return
to my husband. And you remember, he took away
all that stuff. He took it away. And then she began to really
see the value of her husband. And you know what he said he's
going to do? He said, I'm going to lure her into a wilderness so that
she has no one else to go to but me. And then when she comes
to me, I'm going to give her everything. The valley of Acre
for a door of hope. Why would he do that? He tells
us in chapter 2 of Hosea, he said this, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. Marriage is a picture of our
union and marriage has to do with love. In that story, we
see the great love of God toward his people who were wasted, useless,
used up, discarded, and yet he still pursued us with love. Marriage is a picture of a loving
union and you are in Christ, you are married to Him. He is your husband. Thou shalt no longer call me
Malalee, but you shall call me Isha, beloved husband. Don't call me master. Call me
husband. Are you in union with Christ? Is He the vine and you the branches? Is that how vital it is for you
to be in Christ? Are you the building and He the
cornerstone? You see how sure our union is
with Him? How sure our salvation is? Is
He your King, your Head? Is He your Husband, your Lord? How did that happen? But of God. Are you eternally, inseparably,
immutably in Christ Jesus? Oh, that God would just let us
fall out and rest on that. Just lay down. It's done. No more work. It's done. He made
him to be everything for you. Why? He that glorious, let him
glory in the Lord. Who are you glorying in? I hope I've given you no cause
to glory in yourself this morning. But I hope I've given you every
cause to glory in God. Our gracious Father, what good
is a message if you don't apply it? by grace and power, apply it to the hearts of your
people that we might find comfort in the midst of our trials, in
the midst of our troubles, in this sea of turmoil, in this
world that despises the gospel of Christ, that you would let
us rest for a moment in considering what you have done in putting
us in Christ. Thank you. I pray this in Jesus'
name.