1 Thessalonians chapter 1. We'll read the first five verses together. The title of the message this
morning is, Knowing Our Union with Christ. Our union with Christ. 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 all, 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 sakes. Now, I have four points regarding
these words before us. This matter in verse 1. declares
to whom he is writing this message. To the Thessalonians, the church
of the Thessalonians. And he defines who the church
of the Thessalonians are. They are, listen, in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This has to do with union. Union. If this message was preached
only to the Thessalonians, we might have doubt that the Word
is speaking to us. If it just said the church of
Thessalonica, we might have doubt that it is speaking to this church
here, in our place. But this solidifies the truth
that this message is for us. For who? Those who are in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are in union
with God with Christ. And I have four points concerning
this union. This union. First of all, this. Without union with Christ, there is no salvation. The second There is no union
with Christ without faith. The third is there is no faith
without preaching. And there is no union apart from
the Holy Spirit applying the preaching of the gospel. Those
are the four points concerning this message. And these things
are revealed in this text. First of all, there is no salvation. apart from union with Christ.
There is no blessing, there is no benefits, there is no grace
of God, there is no peace with God, there is no spiritual life
apart from union with Christ. Now listen, you may be joined
to a church, You may be claimed to be affiliated with some religious
denomination. You may claim to espouse union
with some system of theology. That is not salvation. None of those unions will save
your soul. None of them. But this union with Jesus Christ,
the union that this text is speaking of, the union the Word of God
testifies of, is a living and a vital union and relationship
with Christ Jesus Himself. You remember what Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. To be in union with Christ is
to be in union with the person of the Son of God. Without this
union, it doesn't matter who you are.
If you don't have this union, you are without life and without
hope. You're without hope. Without
this union in Christ, this intimate, vital union, this living union,
without it is no spiritual blessings, no salvation, no mercy from God. This union of Jesus Christ is described by our Lord. Just
before He left this earth, before He went to the cross, He was
preaching to His disciples. And you remember, He said this,
I am the vine, and you are the branches." Now how tight is the
union between the vine and a branch? They're inseparable. I am the
vine. I am the source of life. I am
the source of nourishment. I am the source of all your fruit.
I am the vine. And you are in union with me
are the branches. The branches. These branches are the elect
of God, and they have union. This union of ours is a vine
branch union. A vine branch union. In another place, the Apostle
said that you are His body, and He is our head. How much
in union is your head with the rest of your body? Your body
could not survive without the head. It is the source of all
of our movement, come from the head. The body is nothing without
the head. The head is everything. Christ
is everything to the body, to the believer in Christ. Christ
is all. He is the branch. He is the vine. We are the branches. He is the
head. We are the body. We are in union
with Him. Now I ask you, is this your relationship
with Christ? Without it, you can't have life.
No life. No life. He said that in John 15. He said,
look, if a man abide not in me, he is as a branch that is cast
forth and withered. Can you not see that's how the
world is outside of Christ? Is that not how the world withered?
That's a good description of the world without Christ. Withered. withered. No life. The whole
race of man is withered and dried up. They long to find life but
can't. They long to find peace and joy
and happiness, but where they seek it, they won't find it.
They're not looking for it in the vine. They're not looking
for it in Christ. They're looking for it in the
world. And look at their life. It's withered. They put on a
face. They put on a front. You want
to see fronts? Look at your Facebook. You've
got a whole bunch of front people just smiling, looking happy.
All the while, they're withered. Life is ruined, and yet they
just put on the best face they can. They have nothing. Why? Vanity of vanities, all
is vanity, sayeth the preacher, and vexation of spirit. The things
of this world cannot give life. Union with the things of this
world cannot give life. But all who are in union with
Christ are living branches. Jesus said, if you abide in Me,
you shall bring forth much fruit. What's the evidence of our union?
Faith. Joy. Peace. Meekness. Temperance. Fruits of the Spirit. You shall
bring forth much fruit. Much fruit. The fruits of the
Spirit. We who are in union with Christ,
we love. We love Christ and His Word. We love God and His service. We are in union with Him. We
love His gospel. We love His people. We have joy,
not in the flesh, not in the body, but in the spirit we have
union with Christ and we have joy, real joy, lasting joy. Jesus said, My joy, My peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. He gives it eternally. We have peace
with God, not with the world. We have meekness in our hearts,
confessing our sins. This is someone who has union
with Christ. One who confesses his sins. One who understands
who he is by nature. One who knows his need of union
with Christ. Do you know your need of union
with Christ? Yes, we know. We know I can do
nothing without Him. I cannot satisfy God. I cannot
provide righteousness. I cannot provide any of the fruits
of the Spirit outside of Him. I have to be in Him. Who knows that? The branches.
Those who abide in Him. Those who are withered don't
know that. But we know that. We know that. Because we're alive. We're born of the Spirit of God. We bow before the Sovereign Lord. We're moderate. We're temperate.
That's a fruit of the Spirit. Temperance. What is that? Moderation. Moderation. You see, we set Christ
first. We enjoy things in this life,
but they're nothing in comparison to Christ. Christ is first. Christ
is all. And therefore, those who are
in Christ, We set Him first in our hearts, in our lives, in
our relationships, in our pocketbooks, and in everything. Christ is
all. Christ is all. Christ is all. And faith alone
in Christ, that's the fruit of the Spirit. And listen, we have
hope in Christ. If you're in union with Christ,
you've got hope. You've got hope. Go to Colossians. Flip over to
Colossians chapter 1, just a few pages. Colossians chapter 1 and
verse 26. Paul says, "...even the mystery,
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now
is made manifest to his saints, To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do you not know this,
that the gospel to those who are outside of Christ is a mystery? A hidden mystery. Who's hiding
it? God is. God is. But to His saints, to His saints
He has made known. You who are in union with Christ. This gospel is mysterious in
this. I don't understand why. I don't
understand why He would do such a thing as love me and save me.
There's just no reason. How or why? I was just saying
that. How or why? I cannot tell. I cannot tell. It's amazing. It's a mystery
in this. It's amazing! But we understand
it. We understand it. What's the
mystery? Here's the gospel. Christ in
you. The hope of glory. What is our hope of glory? You
who are saints of God, if you have union with Christ, you know
this. My hope of glory is to be in union with Him. Another way of saying union is
representative. We're in union by representation. That's what it means to be in
union with Christ. You see, we were in union with Adam by nature
when he died, sinned. We all sinned and died in union
with Adam. We did. But we, who God has chosen,
we have been put, before that, we were put in union with someone
else, with Jesus Christ, our Savior. And so then, our hope of glory
rests only completely in that representative, in our union
with that representative, Jesus Christ. He is our hope of glory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5,
17, if any man be, listen, in Christ, he is a new creature,
new creation. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. Do you now see the importance
of union with Christ? Don't tell me of your church
union. That doesn't matter. Don't tell me of your religious
organizations or even your system of theology. Are you in union
with Christ? In John 17, Jesus in that high
priestly prayer, He makes it very clear. He said, I pray not
for the world. You get that. He's not praying
for the world. Who is He praying for? but for
them which thou hast given Me." Listen, they are thine. They belong to you. And they
were given to Christ. They were given to Him in a union. They were put in union with Christ. And so then in verse 20 of John
17, he says this, I pray not for them, I pray for them. This
is what I pray, that they may be one. That they may be in union. Isn't that right? Aren't we in
union? You who are in union with Christ, aren't you in union with
me? Yes. Why? He prayed that way. He asked
for it. God gave it to him and we're
in union. Listen, as thou, Father, are in me and thy and thee, that
they may be one, listen, in us. In us. that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent me, and the glory which Thou gavest me, I have
given them, 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."
Christ! In Him are we made perfect, isn't
that right? We're put into union with Christ.
And who made us perfect? Christ made us perfect. If you're
in Christ, you're perfect. perfect before God you're perfect
if you're in Christ look and see that the elect were
made perfect only in the representative Jesus Christ All my confidence,
then, of my hope and glory is this. All my assurance, all my
merit of eternal life and glory is in Christ Jesus. The Apostle confesses all of
his hope of life. He said, I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live. But not I, it's not, yet not
I, but Christ liveth, listen, 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. All who are in Christ are
crucified with Christ, our federal head and representative. As God
laid on Him the iniquity of us all, He suffered and died for
our sins and put them away forever. Nevertheless, I live. But the life I live is not real
life. This life you live now in the
body, it's passing, isn't it? It's fleeting. This is not my
life. This is not our life. Why are
we so anxious? Is it because we still have in
that flesh that this is our life? It's not our life. It's not our
life. The life I live now in the body,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. But my life is really hidden in God, in Christ. That's where my life is. You see, I haven't really started
living. Experimentally, I just really haven't lived. I'm living,
but man, I'm looking forward to living. We should be looking
forward to living. Because our life is hid with
God and Christ, the hope of glory. And this is my hope while I live
in this body. Because we've got to live in
this body. This is my hope while I live in this body. Christ liveth
in me. If I'm to have any comfort at
all right now, it's got to be this. Is Christ living in me? If He is living in me, then I
have hope of glory. I have hope is not a wish. What
is hope? Hope is confidence, isn't it?
Hope is assurance, steadfastness. I am living if I have Christ
living in me. I am living. It's a vital necessity. You must have Christ. If I am
in Christ, then Christ is in me and we are one. And everyone who is one with
Christ God has accepted. Didn't he say that to Jesus as
He walked? This is my beloved Son. In whom? I am well pleased. Not with whom. He was well pleased with Him,
no doubt. But this is my hope. He was well pleased in Him. Because
that's where I'm at. I'm in Him. And if He is well-pleased
in Him, He is well-pleased with those who are in Him. See the
necessity of this vital union with Christ. And this union was
given to those before the foundation of the world. The Scripture says
that all spiritual blessings in heavenly places were in Christ
according as God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That we should be made holy without
blame by Jesus Christ. And that we are made accepted
in the Beloved. Made accepted in the Beloved. Are you in Christ? Without being in Christ, there
is no salvation. Second, there can be no union
with Christ without faith. Faith is necessary. A person, you may know the doctrine
of eternal union of all the elect of Christ. You may understand
the representative nature and union of Christ with all that
the Father gave Him. You may have obtained You may understand the righteousness
that He has obtained by His obedience. You may obtain some knowledge
of eternal redemption. But listen, unless you believe
in Christ, you are not in union with Christ. Faith is necessary. Without faith, there is no union.
You cannot be in Christ without faith. 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. Only those chosen of the Father,
redeemed of the Son, and called and quickened by the Spirit,
only they will believe because they are in union eternally with
Christ. But I am not given to know who
they are. Therefore, I preach to everyone. And the message is just as true.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Faith in Christ, love for Christ
and his brethren, hope of eternal glory, is based solely on our union
with Christ, but without faith you cannot be in union with Christ. Now the Apostle, back in your
text, go back and look at this in your text. The Apostle says
something about these Thessalonians, look at that in verse 4. He said,
"...knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God." Now wait
a second, how did Paul know their election? I just told you I can't
really tell who the elect are. No, but I have an inkling who
they are, and I can tell you who they are. They are those
that this..." Look. Look back at verse 3. He tells
them why he had this understanding. He said, "...remember without
ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope."
In other words, there were graces. There were evidences that they
were in union with Christ. And Paul said, without union
you can't be saved, but you can't be in union without faith. And
he looks out over them and he says, look, I've seen your faith.
You've professed, you've given faith in Christ, love and hope
in Christ. These three graces are in everyone
who is in union with Christ. Now then I'll ask you, do you
believe on Christ? Do you believe on Christ alone? So many are
devoted, deceived to trust in Christ plus something. You see,
if you're in union with Christ, you trust Christ only. Simply. Trusting Christ. That's what it is to be in union
with Christ. It is by faith to simply trust the Son of God for
everything. It is to come to Him with nothing
but your sin, confess it, and believe and embrace Him as all
your hope. And everyone who does, you listen,
you become one with Him at that moment. Now listen, you were
one with Him from eternity, but listen, you were not experimentally
one until you believed. Faith is necessary. Without faith
it is impossible to do what? Please God. Please God. You believe on Christ alone.
True faith abandons all self-righteousness
and vain dreams and hopes of meriting and receives only Christ. Paul says, I count all things
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my
Lord whom I suffer the loss of all things and do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Now that's true faith, isn't
it? True faith abandons all self-righteousness
and believes solely on Christ, and without faith it is impossible. I don't care what you know, where
you belong in church, what your positions are, without faith
in Christ, impossible. You will not, you cannot have
union with Christ without faith. Let any sinner come. Let anyone
who has a need of union with Christ, let him come and believe
Christ now, and immediately he has union with Him. He has union
with Him. Come as he is, come with nothing,
come to Christ by faith, and believe on Him. And I'll tell
you this, knowing your election of God. I know your election
of God. Why? Because you have union with
Christ. How do I know that? You believed
on the Son of God. That's the evidence of our union
with Christ. These are the ones Christ prayed
for. These are the ones that are in Him, in union with Him. Now listen, if you will not come,
I want you to understand this, that will be your fault. If you will not come, it's because
you desire something other than union with Christ. You cannot lay hold of Christ
and the world. You can't do it. You cannot lay
hold of Christ and your works. You cannot lay hold of Christ
and your goodness, your will, your anything. You must let go
of everything and cling to Christ, and the moment that happens,
there's union. There's union there. with you
and the Savior. Come now to Christ. He is all the righteousness of
God, all the redemption for sins, all the hope of eternal life
and glory. Now thirdly, how then shall sinners
come? How shall sinners come to faith
in Christ? Listen. There's only one means
God has chosen to save sinners. Through the preaching of the
gospel. Look what Paul says in your text.
Knowing, brethren, your election of God, for our gospel came not
in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the
Apostle says this, in verse 13, We are bound always to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you, union with Christ, eternal union,
to salvation. Here's the experimental union
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
But how this happened? Whereunto He called you by our
gospel. By our gospel. Union of the Saints
with Christ comes by only one means, preaching. Preaching. These Saints who believe
in Christ, they believe only through the preaching of the
Gospel. Our Gospel, the Gospel of Christ, the Word of God. And it comes not in word only. This morning I'm speaking to
you in words. I want to make it as plain as I possibly can.
I want to make it as simple as I possibly can for you. But it's
not by wisdom of words or my order of my abilities. That's not how people are in
union with Christ. They believe on Christ by the
power of God. But this is the means that God
has chosen. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says,
this is what the world calls foolishness. He says, I came
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel of Christ. Not with
the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none
effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but unto us to save. It is the power of God. Why?
Because we know this. Our faith came by the power of
God. Not just by wisdom of words. Power. Effectual. You know what the
word effectual means? Effectual means it gets the job
done. You see, preaching always gets
the job done. Regardless of the ineptness of the person preaching. I like that. That's very helpful
to me. Because I know my failures as
a preacher. I understand that. But I know
this, it doesn't depend on me. Therefore, I'm to just preach,
to declare to you the Word of God. And those who are born again,
listen, we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God. What would the churches be like
today if men would just preach the Word of God? They'd stop
preaching man up, and start exalting the Savior. Start exalting the
sovereign God of the universe. What do you think would happen?
Oh, that would be a wonderful thing. Paul said, I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ. Why? This
is the message. The message is Christ. Always
Christ. Every time Christ. Believe on
Christ. That's the message. Always. Why? Because this is the means God's
chosen. Well, that's just foolishness. That's because you're perishing
and you've never experienced it. You experience it, you'll
say this, it is the power of God. I know that. I've experienced
that and I'm in union with Christ. This is why we give to support
the ministry. This is why we give everything
to support the Word, because God has a people. And we know
this, that this only by this means that God is going to save
them. Therefore, we give everything
to it. Everything. Toward this work. So we might be used of God to call His people. That's how
you were called, right? Didn't somebody have to commit
to preaching the gospel to call you? Isn't that what Paul said? He said, in Romans chapter 10,
verse 13, he says, Whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him in whom they
have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. For faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing, how? By the word of God. See how union
comes? Without union there is no salvation.
Without faith there is no union. Without preaching there is no
faith. It must be through the preaching of the gospel. But
listen to this, no matter how effectual or fervent a man preaches,
no matter how well he is able to preach, listen, no one will
ever be saved and put into union apart from the power of the Holy
Spirit of God. He said, my word came. Because
I was commanded to preach, I preached. But I know this, it won't affect
anybody unless the Spirit of God does it. I am always helpless to make
this effectual to your hearts. I cannot do it. And let me fill you in, there's
no way you can make it effectual to your heart. And so listen to me very carefully,
if this word's not effectual to you right now, then you should
pray God that he should make it effectual. You should pray that He by the
Spirit would come in power and pour out His Word to you. It only comes by the power of
the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Ghost will not apply
this message in your heart, it will not benefit you at all.
Our Lord preached, I am the bread of life and yet what happened?
No man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Now if Christ preached and a man couldn't come without
the Father drawing, I know this, no matter how well we preach,
no man's going to come without the Father. And so what then does this union
of Christ teach us? It teaches us this, salvation, is of the Lord. My union is of Him. He put me
in union with Christ. My representative saved me. The Spirit of God called me through
the preaching of the gospel. And I am now in union experimentally
with Him. And one day, I'll know the fullness
of that union. Right now, I just see it by faith.
I'm not seeing it when I look in the mirror. Most of the time, I don't even
feel it. Oh God, help us to know our election
of God. Our union with Christ. Why? It's
vital. Without it, there's no salvation. Without faith, there's
no union. Without preaching, there's no
faith. And without the Spirit of God, you'll never have faith. You'll never believe. Therefore,
we who are believers, praise God for it. Thank God. Every day, thank Him for that union. I pray God bless
this to your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.