1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
9. I've entitled this message, The Fellowship of Christ. The
Fellowship of Christ. Verse 9 says, God is faithful. By whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, Lord. At the beginning of this
book, the apostle, we remember, first of all established his
authority in writing this book. He said that he was an apostle
by the will of God. By the will of God. Apostle of Jesus Christ through
the will of God. And he establishes this letter.
He writes this letter to a very specific group of people. He says in verse 2, "...unto
the church of God which is at Corinth." The church of God. This letter is not for all men. It is for the church of God which
is at Corinth. And notice he doesn't just limit
it there. He says, "...and to all in every place that call
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours."
So this letter is to the church of God which is at Corinth, surely. But it is also to every church,
every church of God, which is every believer in Jesus Christ. Are you a believer in Jesus Christ?
I think this is how we should approach these books. Is this
for you? Are you a believer in Christ?
Surely this is for you. This is written for you. Now, I'm not saying, do you believe
Jesus exists? That's not the question. I'm
not asking, do you believe He lived and died on a Roman cross
2,000 years ago? I'm not asking, do you believe
that He rose from the dead in a literal sense? You see, to believe on Christ
is not just to give a mental assent to the truths of facts. No one can refute Jesus' existence. You know that? No one can refute
He died. No one can refute the fact that
He rose again from the dead. And you remember in Jesus' day,
many people believed on Him that were not saved. That were not
saved. In other words, they had a mental
assent. They mentally assented to the
truth that He was the Christ. One of those places in John 8,
I'll read it to you, The Scripture says, and as he spake these words,
many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall set you free. You see, when they heard the
gospel of their bondage, when they heard the gospel of their
need of deliverance, it was that gospel that offended them. They
believed on Him so long as the gospel He preached did not offend
them. Isn't that what happened the
first time Jesus preached? He preached in that synagogue
and they loved His words until He said, no, you're the sinner. And then they wanted to throw
Him off the cliff. Man will believe this, the ascent to the historical
facts of the gospel, but when the gospel is preached, it is
then men rebel and hate the gospel. Christ's gospel is a message
of sovereign mercy and free grace. Does this offend anyone? It only offends those who do
not believe on Jesus Christ. It offends those who only have
a mental assent to the things of Christ. But to us who believe
on Christ, this is not offensive. It is joyful to be set free. It is joyful to understand my
bondage and need of Christ, and to find in Christ all I need. So all who believe on Jesus Christ,
you are the church of God. And don't you know this? Paul
said you are sanctified in Jesus Christ. You were sanctified by
God the Father in election. Sanctified in Jesus Christ before
the world began. Sanctified when He died. Sanctified
in Him when He lived a righteous life. Sanctified in Him when
He rose again from the dead. You are His sanctified people
and you were called by the Holy Spirit to life and faith. And so now then, you, like the
church of Corinth, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of the living God. We confess that we are sinners
and only saved by His grace. Now then, to you, this message
is for you. concerning the fellowship of
Jesus Christ. Paul writes that in our text,
God is faithful by whom you are called to the fellowship of his
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what does the apostle mean
by fellowship of Jesus Christ? What is his intent and purpose
toward the Church of God in calling our minds to the fellowship of
Jesus Christ. I have two points this morning
concerning the meaning of that phrase, fellowship of Jesus Christ. My first point is this, the union
with Christ. Every believer in Christ is in
union with Christ in fellowship with Christ by
union with Him. And second of all, we are partakers. Partakers with Christ. That's what it means to be in
fellowship with Him. First of all, let's see the union
that is in Christ. I'm going to tell you to turn
to several places. Go to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. And look at verse 4. I want you to see first of all
that Jesus Christ, that all believers know this, that Jesus Christ
is the life. He is the life. In other words, all life springs
from Him. He is the source and fountain
of all life. That's what John tells us, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. He is the life, and especially
this matter of spiritual life. He is the source and spring of
life. See then, our union with Jesus
Christ is the only way anyone has spiritual life. No one has
any spiritual life apart from their union with Jesus Christ. Look what Christ says in verse
4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit in it of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye except you abide in me. He said, abide in me and I in
you. Jesus is stating here a spiritual truth. You who are believers,
you abide in Him. You are in Him. And He is in
you. This is a fact. This is a truth.
Abiding in Christ. We are one with Christ. So that
all who believe in Him, He abides in them and they abide in Him.
And then He gives that illustration. as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine." Isn't that just simple? I love the way the Lord gives
simple truths, simple things that no man can misunderstand.
You take a branch and you cut it off from a vine and you throw
it over there to the side and you watch it a couple of days
and it'll show you it's dead. It cannot exist. It cannot bear
fruit. It cannot do anything by itself
except it abide in union with the vine. And so Jesus said, except you
abide in Me, except you have union with Me, you cannot have
life. For your life is derived from
your union with Me. And so then, all who are in Christ,
if we are outside of Christ, outside of union, we can have
no righteousness, no sanctification, redemption, faith, love, or any
other grace outside of Him. Jesus tells us plainly, then,
He is the vine. He said, I am the vine. This
illustration I just gave you, I'm talking about me. And I'm
talking about you. I'm the vine. You're the branches. Religion has it backwards. Men
think they're the vine. And all they need to do is attach
Christ to themselves that He's a branch. That He can't exist
without them. No. He's the vine. We're the branches. He is the root and source of
spiritual life and spiritual fruit. And what does this mean,
believer? It means we are absolutely, totally,
completely dependent upon Him for everything. Everything. And you take that everything
as far as you want to. Just take it out there. And everything
simply means everything. especially the spiritual things. We derive everything from Him. So we who believe on Him, we
confess, without Him, I can do nothing. We confess that we believe That by His will and sovereign
grace and power, we live solely by His will and grace. And if
we continue to have spiritual life, it will be solely by His
will and His grace. I go to Romans chapter 11. Paul
uses this same analogy in Romans chapter 11. I don't know if you've
noticed, but the Scriptures are very repetitive, aren't they? That's good for us. Maybe I pray the Lord will cause
it to sink in. Verse 17 of Romans chapter 11.
He said, If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being
a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, And with them
partakers, partakest of the root, and the fatness of the olive
tree." You remember many of those Jews who were only Jews by blood. He said those branches were cut
off. Those branches were left outside of Christ. They had no
union with Him. There are some plants that have
these little sprouts on them that they don't grow anything.
They don't have any nutrients going to them. They don't have
anything. They're attached, but they don't have anything going
to them. That's what these Jews were, who were His only by name
and blood. He said, but you, you weren't
in this tree at all. You had no union with this tree.
You had no right to this tree. But God, in grace, grafted you
wild olive trees into the root, into the true olive tree. And
from Him, you now receive the fatness, the nourishment, the
strength from the root, which is Christ. He is the root, and
we are partakers of this root. He is the root, the olive tree,
and the vine, and all our union, we are made partakers of the
sap and fatness that is in Christ. So what right do you have to
boast? What right does the church, believers, have to boast? Paul
says in verse 18, boasts not against the branches Don't you
boast against them that were cut off. Don't you exalt yourself
as though you had anything to do with this. But if thou boast,
thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Don't you know
that the root bears you? Don't you know that Christ carries
you? That Christ sustained you? That
Christ grafted you in? You didn't do this for yourself.
Boast not against them. Isn't this wonderful? We don't
bear Christ. All false gods have to be carried,
don't they? You remember he mentioned old
Baal and Nebo. He said Baal and Nebo, those
gods were so several stories high, and they had to be carried
around on carts, and these oxen would pull these carts, and pretty
soon they'd be so heavy the ox would fall down, and they couldn't
be borne by them. God says, look, you don't bear
Me, I bear you. You don't sustain Me, I sustain
you. This is what it is to have fellowship
with Christ. It is to be sustained by Him. It is to receive all
the blessings and fruits and benefits that are in Him. We receive it from Him. Go to
Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 and look
at verse 20. Paul says this, for I am crucified
with Christ. Don't you see the union there?
He said, when Christ is crucified, so is I. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
where? In me. Union. Union. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me." Here it is a fellowship and our union.
We were so in union that when he died, we died. Now literally,
I wasn't there in the body. But I was there in my representative. I was there in my federal head.
I was there in my high priest. I was in union because of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto you wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Don't you see
the blessedness of this union? That God put you in Christ long
before you ever experienced it. You were in Christ when He died.
Nevertheless, I live. We were made alive by the Spirit
of God and the life that we now live in the flesh. When God gave us that new nature,
that new heart, You know that He did not eradicate the old
nature. The old man still abides in all
believers. And the constant struggle between
that and the new nature is ever present among us. But this does
not disrupt your union with Christ. Don't you know that? It has no
effect on your union with Christ. The life I now live in the flesh. How do I live? I live by the
faith of the Son of God. Now, you notice he didn't say
live by faith in the Son of God. He lives by the faith of the
Son of God. Remember, it was the faith of
the Son of God that provided righteousness, that made righteousness
for us. Romans 3 and verse 22. The righteousness of God, which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ. You know how I'm living? Because
of His righteousness. By the faithfulness of Christ,
I live. I live by this truth that He
loved me and gave Himself for me. I'm so thankful it doesn't
say I live in the flesh by my faith and my love for Him. Does
anyone want to take your love and measure it? Do you want to hold and stand
on your faith in Him? How long will it last? It's nothing. Oh, but I stand
on His love for me. I stand on His offering for me. Don't you see now how the branch
receives from the vine the fruit of righteousness? And all of
this is constantly flowing to you. It's ever-present union
with you. Why do you live at all? Why do you have spiritual life?
Why do you continue to believe? How often have you even felt
as though you have slipped and gone away? And yet you're still
here. Why? Because you are being born
by the vine. You don't bear the vine, the
vine bears you. You are in union and fellowship
with Christ is the reason you'll never go away. Shall you go away also? And immediately the word comes
to our mouth, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life, and we are sure that Thou art the Christ, the
Son of God. So not only is this, but go to
1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, look
at verse 12. This fellowship, this union, is likened not only
to a branch, not only to a vine or an olive tree, but it's likened
to the human body. Look at verse 12. For as the
body is one, I'm so glad our bodies are one,
aren't you? How often would you forget your
arm or your head if you left? If you got in a hurry, you'd
forget something. It's one! Wherever you go, you
don't leave it behind. It's one! And it hath many members,
and all members of that one body being many are one body. So also
is Christ. For by one Spirit you are baptized
into one body. Whether it be Jew or Gentile,
bond or free, we are all made to drink into one spirit. May
God please let us see the blessed union that we have in Christ. This union that began before
the world was but is now manifest by our baptism into this body. What is our baptism into this
body? It's not the water baptism. It's the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, the giving of a new heart, a new life, a new nature. And
faith in Christ is the manifest evidence of that new nature. And so now we are manifestly
one with Christ. All the church is one body, being
many members. Would anybody say their finger
is not a part of their body? Their toes? Their eyes? No, it's all part of our body.
And so the church of God is made up of many members but all one
body. The true church of God is everyone
in every place that calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we may have different offices, different functions in the church,
but yet one body. This is why believers love one
another, isn't it? Does anyone hate any part of
their body or wish to separate from any part of their body?
We do not willingly want to because our body is precious to us. How much more precious then is
the church to us? This is how, when we are become
one with Christ, the church becomes very precious to us. The body
of believers. Every believer. And so then we love one another.
When one member of the church hurts, the other feels the hurt. The sorrow. Weep with those who
weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. This is what we do. I remember
when I was I was weed eating a while back. I don't do it much
anymore. Andrew does it all now. So I was weed eating and I remember
just this rock. It hit this rock and this rock
started coming fast. It was coming. I don't think
I even consciously knew it was coming until it was over. But
all of a sudden it was coming to my eye and my whole body reacted. It was a natural instinct to
protect my eye. And every part of my body did
that. So it is with the church. When one of us suffer, the other
suffers. Because we are one body and in
union with Him. But where does this love and
union come from? The head, isn't it? Christ the
head unites the whole body together. I would have never known to defend
my eye had not my head instructed every part of my body to move
to defend it. So it is with Christ. Our union
is so vital with Christ that our every movement is directed
by Him. Guided by Him, every providence,
every circumstance is moved. Now, when I reach and grab something,
my hand has no eyes. It cannot see what it's doing.
It doesn't know what it's doing except the head tell it. That's
the same with us. How often do you know where you're
going? What you're doing? How this is all going to work
together? You don't need to. The head does. All we do is,
in obedience, do what the head tells us. Why? We are in union. Do you not trust
your head? My hand trusts my head implicitly. I tell you. I tell it to reach
and grab something, it looks, it reaches, it grabs. It trusts
the head. So do we trust Christ. Why? You are in union with Him. That's
what it is to have fellowship with Christ. Now my last part
about this union is John 17. Look at this union, then we'll
go to being partakers. Look at this in John chapter
17. I want you to know how close. Now, head and the body is pretty
close, isn't it? It's very close. It's very intimate. But there
is a greater picture of our union than just the body, the head,
the vine, and the branches. And here it is in John chapter
17, verse 21. our lord jesus christ praying
here says that they all may be one now what do you mean what
is that entail as thou father art in me and i in the that they
may also be one in us How close is the union between
the Father and the Son? It is an eternal union. It is an everlasting union. Listen to this. It's an inseparable
union. As thou art in me, Father. I will that they be one in us you would more readily separate
the father and the son from their union and deity than you would
one of his believers for me Now what does this mean for you?
That you are in union with Him. That you are in this vital union,
inseparable union, immutable union with Christ. Is that not
the most amazing thing? Now listen, I'm not asking if
you feel in union with Him. What is your feeling? Have I
read anything about how you feel? Believer, am I reading about
your feelings? No. I'm reading about something God
has done. Not something you feel has done,
but what God has done. This is it. This is what you
are. You are in fellowship with Christ,
in a vital union with Him, an inseparable union from Him, that
nothing that happens in time or eternity can ever remove you
from that union. Now that's fellowship. That's
fellowship with Christ. The second thing is this, the
partakers with Christ. To be in fellowship with Christ
not only means that we are in union with Christ, but that we
are partakers with Him. Partakers. What do we partake
of being in union with Him? I told you that the sap flows
from the vine to the branches and the fruit and all of that.
What is that? What is this sap? What is this
nourishment? What is this fruit that comes
out? Well, first of all, I want you to see that you are a partaker
of His nature. Go to 2 Peter chapter 1. If you are in union with Christ,
you are a partaker of His divine nature. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3.
Now this is how it takes place. According to His divine power.
That does away with all free will works religion, doesn't
it? I'm going to have His divine nature according to what? According
to His divine power, not according to my will or works. But His
divine power, which was given us all things that pertain to
life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who hath called
us to glory and virtue. whereby are given to us exceeding
great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." When we were given spiritual
life, you were given godliness through knowledge of Him. How did you come by this knowledge?
Well, we know that it was through the preaching of the gospel that
God, by the means of preaching, called you and gave you such
godliness and knowledge by His divine power. And what is the
sum of this work? The sum of this work is that
you be made a partaker of the divine nature. The divine nature. Now, we know, as I've said before,
that does not mean that we had the old man of sin eradicated
by no means. The old man of sin is just as
vile and corrupt as he ever was. Matter of fact, I discover new
corruptions every day. The old man is still vitally
with us. But by an act of sovereign grace,
we are made partakers of the divine nature and have forever
escaped The condemnation of God. Escaped. Through the divine nature we
have escaped the corruption. The corruption that is in the
world through lust. We've escaped this. I like that scripture that says,
there is therefore now no condemnation. I like that it doesn't say there
is no condemnation. That's good. But I like the word
now. Don't you? There is therefore
now. And now. And now. And now. No condemnation. Now how can
that be? Because I have a nature that
is uncondemnable. I have a nature now that is holy
as God Himself. This is what it is to be in fellowship
with Christ. It is to be partakers of His very nature. It is that part that is created
in us. That workmanship of God created
in us by Christ Jesus. You see, God made that holy nature
by the death and righteousness and resurrection of His Son. Other than me being in Him as
a representative, I was nowhere to be found, but yet that's how
God made it. And then in time He gave it to me. You remember
when Adam broke the law? When Adam broke the law, you
were in Adam. You were in Adam. When he broke
the law, all of us became unrighteous, ungodly. All of us. But listen, I was not yet a partaker
of that until when? Until I was born. Now, I was
unrighteous in Adam, but I did not yet partake of his unrighteousness
until I was conceived. And at that moment of my birth,
I was made a partaker of His nature. For by the disobedience of one
were many made sinners. Even so, when I was born in this
world, I was without the nature of God. I was without that divine
nature, even though Christ had already obtained that for me
as my representative. Yet I was not a partaker until
when? When were you made a partaker
of this divine nature? When you were born again of the
Spirit of God. It was only then we were made partakers of what
was ours before. Now we are made partakers of
it. Born again of the Spirit of God This fellowship into which
we are called testifies that we are partakers then of Christ's
righteousness, of Christ's blood, to cleanse us from our sins.
We are partakers of His glory. And listen to this, don't you
know you are partakers of His throne? Whosoever overcometh, to him
will I give the me in my throne so all that is Christ's what
it means to be in fellowship with Christ means this that you
are now a partaker of all that is Christ's all he has his nature
His righteousness, His blood offering, His resurrection, His
glory, His throne is all yours. You are an heir and a joint heir
with Christ. That's what it means to be in
fellowship with Him. And lastly, we are partakers
of His love and faith, His Spirit, which produces in us love and
faith. If any man hath not the Spirit
of Christ, he is what? None of his. We are made partakers
of the Spirit of God. We have fellowship with Christ.
John says here in his love, not that we love God. Isn't that
right? He didn't love God, but that He loved us. And here's
the manifestation. He sent His own Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we should love one another. No man has seen God at any time,
for if we love one another, God dwelleth in us. And His love
is perfected in us. Hereby we know that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us, what? His Spirit. And so what does this Spirit
of God produce? It produces love. Love for God
and the brethren. That's fellowship with Christ.
It's to be partakers of His love. Don't you know God's love is
very particular? Very peculiar? He loves all who
are in His Son. And all who are in His Son love
all who are in His Son. We do. Why? Because we are one. We are in
fellowship with Christ. And we know this, that our fellowship
is around this Gospel, isn't it? When we fellowship, this
is the glue and ligaments that hold the church together, is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's what binds us. It's what
we feed on. That's sap. How are you going
to receive any of this except by the gospel? Paul says in Philippians
1-5, he praises them for your fellowship in the gospel. We
who are in Christ, we have fellowship with Christ, we have fellowship
around this gospel of Jesus Christ. We love this gospel, we support
this gospel, we believe this gospel. And we have cast off
all the works of darkness. What are the works of darkness?
That's not just your sin, is it? That's all false religion. false religion. That's the works
of darkness that we cast off. We all had it. We all at one
time served a God of our own making. We all at one time were
religious and self-righteous, but God, rich in mercy, called
us into fellowship, a vital union with His Son. We are called into this fellowship
And our union, our love, is with Christ and with the brethren.
Now look back in your text. Now what should this do for the
church? The understanding of your union
with Christ and your being partakers of everything that is in Christ,
what should this cause us to do? Look at verse 10. Now, I
beseech you, you who have fellowship with Christ, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, That you speak, all speak the
same thing. What is that? The same gospel.
We should be declaring the same gospel. If we have fellowship
with Him, we will declare the same gospel. We will. And that
there be no divisions among you. I tell you, if we fully understand
what it is to be in fellowship with Christ, there would be no
pride. There would be no boasting. And
friends, there would be no division. The only reason division rises
in the Church of Christ is pride, self-promotion, self-righteousness. And what is the opposite of all
of those things? Listen, being in fellowship with
Jesus Christ. That is the opposite. And that's
the remedy for pride, isn't it? Paul is telling them the remedy
for all their troubles in this church is the gospel. And what
have I done? I've preached to you the gospel.
You who are the church, sanctified of God, you have fellowship with
Christ. Union with Christ and partakers
of all that is Christ Why By grace You're saved Through faith
and that not of yourselves Faith is a gift of God and not of works
lest any man should boast Pray God blesses to you