Alright, 1 Thessalonians 1. We're
looking at the first five verses this morning, and the title of
my message is, The Necessity of Union. The necessity of union
with Christ. Let's read this together. 1 Thessalonians
1, in verse 1, Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church
of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. I've got four points, and I want
to give these points to you, and then we'll go through them
and see them in this text, the Lord willing. First of all, I
want you to see that there is no salvation, no grace to you,
no peace to you apart from union with Jesus Christ. Secondly,
we're going to see that there is no union, there is no experimental
union apart from faith in Christ. And there is no faith without
the preaching of the gospel. The necessity of preaching is
the means that God has chosen by which to put us in union. And fourthly, there is no union
apart from the power of the Holy Ghost, the necessity of the Spirit
of God. Now, let's go through these things
together. Now, I want you to see that Paul
declares his audience. audience is not all men he's
writing this to the church of the Thessalonians he said to
the church of the Thessalonians now if he had stopped there we
might have doubt that this has relevance to us you write a letter
to your wife or to your brother or to your sister that well it's
not to me it's to someone else but we have a hope that this
letter is not just written to the church of the Thessalonians,
but to listen, all who are in God the Father and in the Lord
Jesus Christ, all those who are in union with Him. This letter
and all the grace and all of the blessings and all of the
encouragement and the things contained in this book is yours
and mine if you are in Christ, if you're in Christ. And so then
I want you to see our first point is this. There are no blessings.
There are no graces or benefits, no salvation, no peace with God
apart from union with Jesus Christ. The necessity of being in union
with Christ. Now you may be joined to a church.
You may be affiliated with some denomination. You may espouse
some system of theology, but unless you are in union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, a living, vital union with Jesus Christ,
without this, there are no blessings upon you, only cursings. There is no grace, there is no
mercy, to those who are outside of Christ. You have no benefits
of God. This union, our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself described it. Go with me, we're going to be
flipping to quite a few passages. Go to John chapter 15. John chapter
15, and look at verse 5. John chapter 15 and verse 5,
Jesus said this, I am the vine, and you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same shall bring forth much fruit, for without
me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, He is cast forth as a branch
and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned. Jesus here speaks of Himself
as the vine. What is the vine? It is the source
of life to all the branches. It is the source of nourishment
to all the branches. Without the vine, the branches
are nothing. They can bear no fruit of themselves. They can do nothing except They
abide in the vine. They abide in the vine. Jesus
is the vine. And His church, His people, are
the branches. They are in a vital living union
with Him. And the result of that union
is always this, fruit, because of themselves. but they bear
fruit because of the vine in which they are in union. And so this vine and branch union
is a picture the Lord gives of all who are His people, all those
who receive the blessings and graces of God. In that text He
said, Grace and peace be unto you who are in God the Father,
the Lord Jesus Christ and to no one else isn't that something
that's amazing another place you know Paul he
said this he is the head and we're the body you see how tight
that union is how vital that union is without that you can
do nothing And so then, if you are not in Christ, I want to
ask you this question. Is this your relationship with
Christ? This is personal, friends. Don't worry about somebody else.
This is a question we should be asking ourselves. Am I in
Christ? Are you in Christ Jesus? If you
are not in Christ Jesus, you shall be cast forth as a branch
and withered. You take a branch off of the
vine and what is it? Dead. It's dead. It can do nothing of itself. It is only sufficient to burn. Look out at the race of man and
see that they are withered, aren't they? Man by himself is as a
branch cast forth, he is withered. He cannot bear fruit unto God,
he cannot be accepted of God by and of himself. These people
are withered branches. Isn't that a good description
of a man's life without Christ? Withered. He has no real life,
no joy, no peace with God. And the things of this life, they come to an end and he has
nothing. Isn't that something? You have
a man that has everything in this world and if he has not
Christ, he has nothing. That's you without Christ. That's me. If I was without Christ,
that's me. That's who we are by nature without
Christ. There's no peace, no joy, and
no standing before God. But all who are in union with
Christ, you are living branches, and you, you, here's the evidence,
you bring forth fruit. He said, You shall bring forth
much fruit, much fruit. What is this? The fruit of the
Spirit, love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance, faith. If you're
in Christ, you have these fruits. You have these fruits. We are
in union with Christ. We love God. That's a miracle. It's a miracle to love God. That's
against every ounce of your nature to love God, and yet we do. because
we are in union with Him. This nourishment of life comes
through us by Him, and we love God. We love His Son. We love His gospel. We love His
people. We who are in Him have joy, not
always in this body, but we always have joy in Him.
We always have joy in Him who loved us and gave Himself for
us. For He is all our salvation.
Is that not joy? Is that not what you rejoice
in? It is if you're in union with
Him. You rejoice in His salvation. You have peace with God. I like
that. You have peace with God. Not
you're going to get peace with God. You have peace with God.
I don't feel the peace. You didn't make it. So it doesn't
matter how you feel. Christ made peace with God for
us if we are in union with Him. And God's given us meekness.
That's against nature, isn't it? He's given us a meekness
by which we confess our sins and bow before His sovereign
feet. He's given us temperance, moderation. In other words, we
set Christ first. We set Christ above all our family,
all of our careers. We set Christ above everything
because Christ is all to those who are in union with Him. He's
all. And we know this, He's given
us faith. Faith in Christ is a fruit of being in union with
Him. Now listen, we have this hope
of eternal life. because of our union with Him.
If you're in Christ, you have this. That word hope don't mean
wish. Please don't think that. It means confidence. You have
a rock-solid assurance of this. Heaven. If you're in Him, you
have this assurance of Him. Go to Colossians 1. Colossians
1. And see this, what Paul says about this union here? Colossians chapter 1 and verse
26. He said, Even the mystery which
hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest. To who? His saints. To whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery
among the Gentiles, which is what? Christ in you. The hope of glory. Union with
Christ. You listen. This is a mystery.
It's a mystery. Don't you know the gospel is
not plainly revealed to everyone? Otherwise, this place would be
packed. If the gospel was revealed to everyone, they'd want to hear
it just like you. You're here because it's revealed to you.
You desire to hear it again and again and again. This gospel is plainly, not plainly
real to everyone, but it is a mystery. It is hidden. And you know what? It's hidden by God. Isaiah said it. He had blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart so that they should not
see with their eyes or hear with their ears and believe. God. But to all who are in union with
Christ, I'll tell you this, the gospel of Jesus Christ is plain. plain. It's revealed to us in
the same way. Make known the riches of His
glory, the mystery of His gospel, and this is the mystery? How
can this be? Christ in you. You in Christ,
and Christ in you. What is the hope of our glory?
receiving glory what is our hope of receiving heaven it is our
union with Christ that is the only hope we have is to be in
union with him Paul said in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
17 if any man be what in Christ is a new creation Do you now see the importance
of being in Christ? Without this, there is no hope
of glory. If you're not in Christ, the
gospel's a mystery. But if you're in Christ, it's
revealed. And I know this, if I have not
Him, I have nothing. If I have Him, I have everything. You see, that's the glory, it's
a mystery. And the mystery is, why in the
world would God ever give this to me? Is that not a mystery? Oh, what glory, what grace that
God has bestowed upon us that we should be one with his Son. Does it matter your church union? It doesn't matter what religious
organizations you believe in, but this, are you in Christ?
Without Him, we are dead. Your religion is dead. Your works
are dead. Your hope is dead. You have no hope of eternal life,
but in Christ. Something, a sure, Scripture
says, a sure foundation. You have something to stand on.
You have something not just to stand on, but to fall on. Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, His high priestly prayer in John
17, He prayed, "...not for the world, but those which were given
to Him of the Father." He said this, "...I prayed not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given Me." You see, He prayed
for them because as our brother mentioned, of a better covenant. You see,
He prays for them because they are one with Him. We praise for
them because they were put in union with Him according to the
covenant of grace. And in verse 21 of John 17, He
says that they all may be one. This is what I'm praying. I pray
for them. I pray for my elect people, and
this is my prayer, that they may be one, as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee. that they also may be one in
us." Cue on that. His people are going to be one
with God, one with us, in union with us. that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou hast given me I have
given to them." Amazing. "...that they may be
one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one." He's speaking of himself. Look
and see how these elect should be made perfect even in Jesus
Christ. In Jesus Christ who is the hope
of glory. All my confidence this morning,
all my assurance, all my merit of eternal glory and eternal
life, you listen, is in Jesus Christ. All of it. I leave nothing for myself. but
all my hope is that I am in union with Him." And what is the result
of this union? When Jesus Christ came into the
world, we who were given to Him by the Father, put in union with
Him by the Father, we were in Him. And He, as a man, was walking upon
the earth, fulfilling the law of God in perfect obedience You
and I were in Him being made perfect. Perfect. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Now, how could that be? He was
in Him when He was crucified. You are in Christ today in Him
when He was crucified. You are in union. How close? You were one with Him. It's a
mystery. I can't wrap my mind around that.
But that's just the Word of God. That's the Word of God. I was
crucified. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I was crucified with Him. He
was my federal head, my representative. And as such, when God laid on
Him the iniquity of us all, and He suffered in our stead, when
He died, I died in union with Him. And seeing He put away my sins,
I'm also risen with Him. Paul said, Nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me. We live because He lives. I live in this body, but my life
is not this body. This body, this mortal frame
will have an end. But my life, my life is hid with
Christ, listen, in God. See, I'm in union with Him. I'm
in union with Him. And this life is mine because
of one thing, Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. This is my hope of glory. You
see, what men and women are doing are substituting union with religion
and church with union with Christ. There's no substitution. You
have no union with Christ, you have no salvation. You're as
a branch that's cast forth and withered dead, dead. But I, if I am in Christ, if
Christ and I are one, then I know this, I have acceptance with
God. I have acceptance with God. Why?
He has acceptance with God. Listen to these words. This is
my beloved Son. What are the next words? In whom, not with whom. whom
I am well pleased and listen if you are in him God is well
pleased with you because of him because of him go to Ephesians
chapter 1 go to Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 you know
this very well this is going to sum up what I've been saying. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with what?
All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And where are they? In
Christ Jesus. In Christ. That's where all spiritual
blessings dwell, in Christ. And listen, how did we receive
any spiritual blessings except we be in Christ? And this is
how we got there. This is how we got there. Listen,
"...according as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation
of the world, and purposed this, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him, His motivation, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children." Here's how, "...by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted..." Where? "...in the Beloved." You see,
all acceptance is in the Beloved. All blessings are in the Beloved.
And they are only given to those who are put in the Beloved, in
Christ. You see, the elect are accepted
of God because we were put into union with Him and made holy
by Him. And all who are one with Him
will bear the fruit of the Spirit, for we are heirs and joint heirs
with Christ. We are one with Christ. We are
seated on His throne. Therefore, all Christ is, all
Christ has, and wherever He is, so am I, because I am one with
Him. What's the result of this? The
result of this is simple. If I am in Him, nothing can separate
me from Him. I told a man this the other day,
if you put yourself in Christ, you sure can take yourself out.
You see, the difference between me and you is this, God put me
in Christ. And because I am in union with
Christ and Christ actually accomplished my redemption and salvation, no one can take me out. My sheep
hear my voice and I know them, they follow me. I've given them
eternal life and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. No
man is going to take them out of union with me. So now then
you see the necessity of union, don't you? Without union there's
no blessings, there are no benefits. Now then the second thing is
this, there can be no union without faith. You cannot say you have union
with Christ except you believe in Christ. Now listen, I want
you to understand this, faith doesn't put you in union. Faith
is the evidence of your union. Your faith doesn't cause the
union. Listen, your faith is a result
of the union. And it's the only evidence of
your union. So you can't say you are in union
except you believe. Faith is necessary. A person
may know all of the doctrine of union, election, Christ's
representation upon the cross, how he obtained righteousness
by his obedience, how he obtained eternal redemption for his elect,
you may know all of these things, you may have full knowledge of
these things, but unless you personally believe on Christ,
you have no union and no rights to the benefits. You, listen
to me, you must believe. You must. You cannot be in Christ without
faith. So here's the message of our
gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. I know this truth that only the
elect will believe, because the Father chose them, the Son redeemed
them. They shall be called and quickened
by the Holy Spirit to spiritual life and faith in Christ. But
I'm not given to know who they are. I look at this crowd and you say
you are? Okay. I can't see in your heart. I don't know. I'm not given to know this, except
only by evidence. And the evidence is what? Faith.
Belief in Christ. Faith in Christ. Love for Christ. Love for His brethren. Hope of
eternal life and glory. John said that, didn't he? He
said, look, if you don't love the brethren, you ain't a believer. Don't tell
me you believe in gods you can't see, that if you don't love your
brethren, you see. You see, there's evidence. There's
fruit. Isn't that what Christ said? If I'm the vine, you're
the branches, you shall what? Bear this fruit. And the fruit
is faith, love, obeying His commandments. And His commandments are not
grievous to us, are they? No. Therefore, Paul says this. Go
back to your text now. I want you to see it in the text.
Go back to your text. Paul says this in the text. Look at this
in verse 4. He said, Brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Listen, how'd he know that? How'd
he know that? Well, look back at verse 3, and
he tells you how he knew of their election. Remember, election
is union with Christ. It's eternal. How do you know
someone's in Christ? How do you know you're in Christ?
He said this, remembering without ceasing your work of what? Faith. Labor of what? Love. And patience
of? Hope. in the Lord Jesus Christ. For our gospel came not in word
only, but also in power of the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as you know what manner of men we were among you. Three graces
here are easily seen. Three graces always follow the
quickening of the Spirit, and the first one is faith. Our Lord
Jesus Christ. The Apostle John said this in
John chapter 1. many as received him." To them,
only to them, he has given the right to be called the sons of
God. Received him. I love our brother
Don, he had such a way of explaining things, very clear to me. He
said, receiving is like a thirsty man receiving a glass of water. He said, I'm thirsty. I received the water. That's
what the word means. It is to receive Christ. How
do we receive him? We receive him by faith, by trusting
him. As many as received him, to them
gave he the right to be called the sons of God, to them that
believe on his name. Those that believe on him are
receiving him. Now we know this, anyone who
receives them, it is not by the blood of man, nor by the will
of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but of God. It is God's
will, it is God's power that makes a man receive, but he receives
him nonetheless. He receives him. And so then this morning, do
you believe on Christ? Do you believe on the Son of
God alone? So many trusts are deceived to trust
in Christ plus something else. That's a fatal, fatal disease
of religion, is to trust Christ plus something else. To receive
Christ is to receive Him alone. And once we receive Him, we abandon
everything else. Paul said, Doubtless I count
all things loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ. And what? Be found
in Him. Faith desires only to be found
in union with Christ, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but the righteousness which is of the faith of Christ.
You see, my righteousness comes by the faith of Christ, not by
my faith. My faith yields no righteousness. His faith does. My faith simply
receives. And that faith is a gift of God. It's a gift of God. That I may know Him. You know
to receive Him is to know Him. To believe Him is to know Him.
How can you believe somebody you don't know? I know Him. Do you know Him? You know why?
You're in union with Him. You're one with Him. And listen,
how does this faith come? We know this, that faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So there's a necessity
of union, there's a necessity of faith, but how does this faith
come? It comes by preaching. Preaching the gospel is the means
that God has chosen, the means that God has chosen by which
to vitally put us into union with Christ. Now, I know this.
I was in union long before I received it, but I'll tell you this, I
wasn't in union experimentally until I did, until God gave me
such faith, and you too. But how did this faith come?
We know it came through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul said, I came not to baptize. Why? Christ sent me to preach
the gospel. Now, in this world, preaching
is foolishness, it's useless. But to us who are saved, who
are in union, we know this. It is the power of God unto salvation. Look at your text. Look back
at your text. He said, Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God for our gospel. It came not in word only,
not in the wisdom of man's preaching, not in the skill of the preacher,
but it came by preaching. It was necessary that preaching
come. But what makes preaching effectual? Without the Spirit of God, preaching
falls flat to the floor. It doesn't do anything without
the Spirit of God. And so, yes, we must believe. Yes, we must preach. But all
of it is ineffectual without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look at that. Our gospel came not in word only,
but in power. and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance." This Word of God is the seed
of all spiritual life. Peter said that this Word is
incorruptible. The incorruptible Word of God
that liveth and abideth forever. And this word is the word that
God uses to call his people to himself, the preaching of the
gospel. And the power is all of the Spirit
of God. If the Holy Ghost does not apply
a message to your heart, it will be no benefit. Our Lord even
preached. Didn't he? Is there any greater
preacher? And yet, how many would not hear him? Why? They were not his. But I have this hope that all
who are put in union with Christ, all who were in union when he
lived, all who were in union when he died, all who were in
union when he rose from the dead, The Spirit of God will come through
the preaching of the gospel, and he will apply life to the
dead sinner. He will give life, and then there
is a vital and living union with the Son of God. And this is your comfort. If
you are in union with Christ, all the blessings of God are
yours. Do you not realize that you have
a Savior that is seated on the throne of glory and working all
things after the counsel of His own will? And you're one with Him. Who then can separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? I'm persuaded that nothing
in life or death or angels or principalities or powers or things
present or things to come shall be ever able to separate us from
the love of God that is what? In Christ Jesus. In union. Let this be your hope and comfort.
You believe. You're not there by accident.
You're in union with Christ by design. On purpose. On purpose. And I pray that God the Holy
Spirit, if you are If you were outside of Christ this morning,
we who were in Christ, we understand what it is to be dead. We don't know what it was in life, and
yet God in grace came and gave us life. What we sing, He is
able to deliver thee. I'm an example of that. If He
can deliver me, He can deliver any of you. He's capable. And all who come for mercy, I
know this, they'll find it. And if you come for merit, you
won't find anything. You come for mercy. Why? Because
that's the work of the Spirit of God. The man comes for mercy.
It's all God. I'm so thankful that He's put
us in union with Christ. And you know what? I'm in union
with you, too. Isn't that something? We're in
union with each other. We're one body, one fold, and
we have one shepherd, one head, one vine. I pray God will bless
us.