So I'd like for you now to turn
to John chapter six for a message today. One of the reasons I read
second Thessalonians chapter one is because the frequent use
of those words in, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus
Christ and God's glory being revealed in his people because
of his power and of his glory and of his purpose. All right,
John chapter six. Now, in John chapter 6, we have
been studying this a lot. And I've come to verse 56, one
of my favorite verses in this entire chapter. And that's what
I want to focus on today is verse 56, just this one verse. I want
to read this to you. He says, he that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Now I heard somebody, I can't
remember if it was this weekend or some other time, if you have
a cup and it's in the ocean, the cup is in the ocean and the
ocean is in the cup. So if you understand that, that
little word in carries a very big punch. And I've entitled
today's message, Union with Christ, Union with Christ. And this union
with Christ means that we have been joined to him. And scripture gives us many ways,
scripture testifies of this union with Christ in many ways. And
I wanna look at those with you briefly. And then I wanna show
us from those scriptures how God has made this union with
us. that in the first case, it is an eternal union. And that's
something I didn't know until not very long ago in my life,
that the union, first of all, this fact that there is a union
between God's people and Christ is an amazing, amazing mystery. and God has revealed it to us,
but that it was an eternal union follows from the nature of this
union and the nature of God and how he has revealed this to us
in many ways in scripture. And we want to look at this very
carefully. There's two implications here, two major implications
of this. First of all, as this verse tells
us, Jesus himself, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood,
you dwell in me. You are in me, and I am in you. That's the union. So here he
describes this union as belonging to those who by faith, spiritual
activity, not a work, not by something we add to more than
what Christ has done, but simply believing what God has said that
He has done for our life. And so the major benefit of this,
of course, is that all that God is in Christ is ours in Him.
And the second part that we want to consider here in this is that
what we are in Christ, we are all In other words, all believers
are this in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something that only
some are part of, but we are all in him and God gives us this
mystery unfolded to us in this way that we're all part of the
same body. And since we are part of Christ,
by our union with Him and part of the same body. Therefore,
Scripture says that we're members one of another. So that's generally
what I want to go through with you is how Scripture tells us
about this union, how Scripture describes this union in these
different cases, that it is an eternal union. that it is a living
union, and that it is a union whereby we receive everything
that Christ is and has done, and that this union means that
every believer is so connected to one another that we are part
of the same body. OK. First of all, let's consider
that this union of God that he has given to us really is the
central theme and the basis for all of salvation. And that's
a huge statement right there, that our union with Christ is
the central theme and the basis of all of our salvation. If it's
so prominent, then you would expect it to be talked about
throughout scripture then. Therefore, why are we only thinking
about this now? It seems like I hadn't thought
about it for at least a day or so, maybe a week, maybe a month.
Maybe this is the first time I've really considered it. But
this is the fact, and I want to show this to you in a wonderful
way, that scripture does in a wonderful way. First of all, turn to Genesis,
the book of Genesis in chapter 1, and I want you to see how
scripture is incredibly deep and precise, and that God builds
his truth on things we never would have seen until God reveals
it. And then when he reveals it,
we're amazed that he had already anticipated this throughout scripture,
as if he had been talking about something that we just now got
in tune with, never heard before. In Genesis chapter one, it says
in verse 27, talking about God creating Adam. He says, so God
created man in his own image. Now, this was after God had created
light and separated the land from the sea. The oceans had
created the heavens above and the waters below. and all these
things, the sun, moon, and stars, the herbs of the field, the flying
birds, the fish in the sea, the animals on the land, and he finally
comes to the end, his most, the highest of his creations, man. He says, so God created man in
his own image, but notice, in the image of God created he him,
male and female created he them. Well, we know that God created
Adam and he created Eve, but at this time, he had only created
Adam. But in creating Adam, he also
created Eve, even though she was not yet actually created. And this shows here that God
was anticipating the union between Adam and Eve, and that union
was expressed when God said, when he created Adam, he also
created Eve. Now this was in the very beginning.
This establishes a truth that's going to be developed and built
up throughout scripture until the very end. Look at chapter
two of Genesis, and it says here, In verse 19, out of the ground,
the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of
the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them.
And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the
name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
to the fowl of the air, to every beast of the field, but for Adam
there was not found and help meet for him. No one was found
in all of creation that was suitable to meet Adam's needs to help
him in the work God gave him to do until God created the woman. It says in verse 21, and the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And God took one of his ribs
and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her to
the man. This is the gospel. God caused
the Lord Jesus Christ to come under the sentence and judgment
of death. And because he died, what did
we learn in John 6? He says, I give my life for the
life of the world. And that world he's talking about
are all those given to him. Here, God caused a deep sleep
to fall on Adam. We understand what sleep is.
But while he was asleep, God took one of his ribs, And notice,
he closed up the flesh. As the Lord Jesus Christ died,
he went to the cross. Obviously, his flesh was opened
up in his hands, his feet, and his side where the spear was
thrust. And the rib, verse 22, which
the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman and brought
her to the man. So now, God created the woman
out of the man, part of him, in his sleep. Out of Christ's
death, God created the church. And it says in verse 23, and
Adam said, now this is a prophecy. This is scripture. This is God's
truth revealed. This is now, notice, bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. I remember the name woman because
I think of womb and man, and I don't know if woman is made
up of those two words, but that's the way I do it. But notice in
verse 24, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.
So much in this. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
sent by his father. He came into the world and he
came into the world to receive the wife God gave to him, which
is his people. And he cleaves unto her in love. And they were one flesh. In other
words, they were united. In one, God brought them together. All right? All right, now let's
turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Remember, we're talking about
how God has expressed our union with Christ from his own word. In Ephesians chapter 5, he says
this in verse 25, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church. So you can see, as the husband
loves his wife because of, and is supposed to love her as Christ
loved the church. Do you see the parallel? The
husband is Christ, the church is the wife. Or you could say it this way,
Christ is the husband and the church is the bride and the wife.
How did this wife come to be the wife of the husband? Well,
remember from John 6, Jesus said, all that the Father giveth me. Now it's true in Abraham's case,
he sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. So God the
Father sends his spirit to find a wife for his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you remember in the Gospels
of Matthew, for example, that God made a marriage feast for
his son and invited or actually called, didn't invite, as Free
Will Works religion says, but he called those who were invited
to the wedding. They were bidden to come. But
here the Lord Jesus Christ loved his people, the church. And what
did he do? He says, husbands, love your
wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. How did he give himself? Well,
he gave himself in death. He gave himself in life. He gave
himself in death and in his resurrection and in his ascension to glory,
he is now still giving himself. But specifically here, he's talking
about his death. He gave himself for the church. He gave himself for his wife,
his bride. the one God the Father had given
to him. And he gave himself for her because
of his love, because of his love. So we see now God's collecting
these things throughout scripture, the revelation is expanding.
First God created the woman in the man, then God created the
woman from the man out of the sleep. God brought the woman
to the man, and the man cleaves or loves his wife, and they two
are one flesh. And Adam prophesied and said,
this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And then notice
here in Ephesians chapter 6. I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter
five. He says in verse 28, so ought men to love, this is verse
28, so ought men to love their wives, notice, as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves
himself. Do you see how powerful those
words are? We think, well, it's as he loves himself. No, he loves
his wife, He that loves his wife loves himself. They're one. There's no separation. When God
speaks of the man, he speaks of the man and the woman as the
same. They're one. Now, in the case
of a husband and wife, they're one in flesh. He goes on, look
at verse 30. For we are members of his body. of his flesh and of his bones. His body, his flesh. We, all
those believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, all those are the church,
the gathered congregation of the Lord, the one that God says
is Christ's own portion, his inheritance. They are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. That is a union. Notice. And then he goes, verse
31, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And notice what he says here,
for this is a great mystery. If it hadn't been revealed, we
wouldn't know it. But God is revealing it. A mystery is something
that God knows. And it's wonderful, but it's
so deep and mysterious that until he makes it known, we can't know
it. It's spiritual. We can't see
it. He says, this is a mystery. I speak concerning Christ and
the church. Do you see that? This union,
this oneness of body, flesh, and bones, that Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it, that when he loves his church,
he loves himself because she is one with him. This is a great
mystery, and God gave it in the beginning. This is why he created
man and woman, was in order to teach us, in order to fulfill
that type, that picture in the church, in the salvation of God's
people. That's amazing, isn't it? That
is amazing. Now, let's also go at another
way that God has shown this picture or this union. Look at Hebrews
chapter 9. In Hebrews chapter 9, he talks
about something called a testament. Now, there's two words God uses
for the covenant in scripture. One is covenant, the other one
is testament. When God uses the word, I'm not
gonna substantiate this from scripture today. I'm just gonna
tell you and you can look it up and we can talk about it later
if you want to. When God makes a covenant, he's
talking about an agreement between two parties. There was an old
covenant and there is a new covenant. In the old covenant, the agreement
God made was between himself and people. But in the new covenant,
God made an agreement between himself and his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, on behalf of his people. That's why it's new.
That's why it's glorious. That's why it's certain. Any
covenant that depends on us will fail. That's why in Romans 8,
he says that the law was weak through the flesh because it
had us in the dependency. And the strength of the chain
is only as strong as the weakest link, and we are the weakest
link. So the old covenant couldn't do anything because it depended
upon us. But the new covenant, because
it depends on Christ, absolutely, in every way, cannot fail. And because we were joined to
the Lord Jesus Christ, when God made a covenant with Him, He
was making that covenant with us in Him. All right, let's look
at Hebrews chapter 9. This covenant is also called
a testament. And we understand testament because
when we make a last will and testament, we're saying, now,
I have some things I'm going to give to someone else as an
inheritance. And in order for this inheritance
to be given to them, I've got to put it down in a solemn, a
well-documented way that's legally accepted, and also specifies
who is the beneficiary and what is going to be given to them.
And you know that from a will. And so that's why God calls the
new covenant a testament, because the Lord Jesus is the testator. He's the one who made the will,
and his death is required for the blessings promised in this
covenant to flow to his people. Notice he says here in Hebrews
chapter nine, in verse 12, he says, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood, Christ entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. The Lord Jesus Christ laid his life down, and when he died,
by his spirit, went into the presence of God, offered his
blood, and he obtained the purchased possession, which was our liberty
and us. We are purchased at the price
of Christ's own blood. And it's eternal, it will never
end, and he has already obtained it. So we don't do anything,
Christ did everything. All right, verse 13. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh, ceremonially
the people were purified in the law, but not actually before
God. Verse 14, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? And for this cause, because he
did this, he laid his life down in this way in order to secure
our eternal redemption. For this cause, he is, notice,
the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, his death,
for the redemption of the transgressions, our transgressions, that were
under the First Testament, the Old Covenant, They which are
called, in other words, chosen by God, called by his spirit,
given to Christ, might receive what? The promise of eternal
inheritance. Now that's a lot said in one
verse, but it's simply unfolding to us the mystery that all of
God's blessings that he promised to us, he promised to Christ
and to his people with him, his bride, his wife. his people that
he redeemed. In order for that covenant to
go into effect as a testament, Christ the testator, the willmaker,
had to die. And then he goes on and says
that in verse 16, for where a testament is, there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. A testament is of force after
men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator live it. All right, do you understand?
The Lord Jesus Christ entered into an agreement with God. In
that agreement, he engaged as a surety for his people. He obligated
himself for them for everything, just as a husband does for his
wife, obligates himself for everything for the wife. He pledges to provide
for her. He takes her debt. And he fulfills
every requirement that she has for her. That's what a husband
does. And that's the wonderful thing about the Lord Jesus Christ
being the husband of his people. He does everything, all right? All right, so that's the second
way in which God shows us our union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is first of all in marriage, secondly in the covenant. Christ
is the one who is the covenant. He says in Isaiah 42 verse 6
and in 49 verse 8, God had made him a covenant. As he said, I
have given thee as a covenant for the people. In other words,
Christ alone stood before God. We didn't, not in our own person,
but we did in him, all right? So that's the second way. You
see those two things? Marriage and the covenant. And
now look also at Romans chapter 5. The third way is in our relationship
to Adam. the one through whom all people
on the earth came into the world. They didn't come, they were born
into the world through Adam. No one has ever been born that
was not a descendant of Adam. Trace your lineage, if you go
to what is it called, ancestry.com, you trace it back, you're all
gonna come to the same father, Adam. He's not on Ancestry.com, I just
made that up. But look at Romans chapter 5
and verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin. So this is one man is
Adam. We know that when Adam sinned,
sin entered into the world. It was his sin. And what God
said is, in the day you eat of that tree of knowledge of good
and evil, which represented the law, a covenant of works, you'll
die. If you try to live by the law,
you will die. Adam did. Adam died. But he didn't
die alone. He wasn't there taking of that
fruit and eating that fruit alone, as if it was only going to affect
him. All that he did in eating that
fruit broke the covenant, but we also broke the covenant when
he ate that fruit. So that when he ate it and sinned
against God, because we were in the loins of our father Adam,
in other words, we were going to be born through him, God said,
you're in him. Therefore, when he did it, we
did it. We became guilty. We were condemned. We were judged. We died. And
the covenant was broken. And after that, Adam lived the
rest of his life. He was no longer in a relationship
to us of a covenant. But we had sinned in Adam. Therefore,
we were under the sentence of death. He says, as by one man's
sin, By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and
so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." We
know this is what this is teaching because he goes on, he says in
verse 14, death reigned from Adam to Moses. You see that?
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression. He's a figure of him that was
to come. Adam was set up as a picture
of Christ, a type, a figure, representative, signifying Christ,
everything that he did in that garden when the rib was taken
from his side. when God spoke of the woman being
created in him, in prophesying of how the man would leave his
father and mother and cleave to his wife, and when he fell
in transgression, all that applies to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one actually being spoken of. He's the true, the second
and the last Adam. He says in verse 15 of Romans,
not as by the offense, So also the free gift, if through the
offense of one many be dead. You see that? In verse 16, it
is not as by one that sinned. Okay? And then he goes in verse
17, if by one man's offense, in verse 18, therefore as by
the offense of one. All right, so you get it in verse
19, for by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So you
see that this is a relationship God established because we were
in Adam. In 1 Corinthians 15, it says,
as in Adam all die. We're subject to death because
of Adam. because of our sin in Adam. That's the way God did
it. I can't change it. You can't change it. We might
not like it, or we might like it. It doesn't make a difference.
It's the way it is. But the good news is, as Adam
was set up As a signification, a type, a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's not like in Adam when we fell because in
Christ he never fell, he never sinned, he only obeyed. He took
as a husband takes his wife's obligation, the Lord Jesus Christ
as our redeemer, our near kinsman. He took the debt of our sin. He took the guilt of our sin. He bore the punishment of our
sin. God says in Scripture, He lifted our transgressions from
us and they were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer
on us, but on Him alone, even though we were in Him. And then
He suffered for them. And he died under that curse,
that wrath of God against us for our sins, which he bore.
He bore our sins in his own body up to the tree. And then, having
lived a perfect life as a perfect man in all righteousness, and
then taking in love, remember, He loved the church and gave
himself. He took our sins and he bore them up to the tree.
So that all of our sins were put on him and judgment fell
on him and God's wrath was expended and it was extinguished in him.
And the punishment brought satisfaction to God's justice, a propitiation
for our sins. So our sins were removed from
us. We were washed from our sins in his own blood. That's what
that means. It doesn't mean that God took
us and dunked us in his blood physically. No, he's talking
about the judicial action that occurs, because the law had to
be satisfied in its justice and fulfilled in its righteousness,
and payment had to be made, which Christ did, and that payment
was the price of his own blood. So this is the third way, in
Adam. We are one with Adam in his transgression,
so we are one with Christ in his righteousness. Look at Hebrews
chapter seven. Come with me, Hebrews seven.
He says this in verse 10. I'm sorry, not verse 10. He said
this in verse, I'll give you the background. Let me read verse
eight and nine and 10. He says, On this earth, men that
die receive tithes. In other words, there are priests
who are given a part of whatever people have,
a tithe, and that tithe is given to the priest, they receive it,
but they die. But there, back in Genesis 14,
Melchizedek received tithes of him of whom Abraham, it was witnessed
that he liveth. I'm sorry. But there he receiveth them,
meaning Melchizedek, of whom it is witnessed. It was witnessed
of Melchizedek that he liveth. So men that die receive tithes
from men now under the old covenant. But in the new covenant, Christ
received tithes, pictured by Melchizedek, who received them
from Abraham, and he liveth, he doesn't die. But look at verse
nine, this is what I'm getting to. And as I may so say, Levi
also, the great grandson of Abraham, It was Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob and Levi. As I may so say, Levi also who
receiveth tithes, these are the priests who die and receive tithes,
actually paid tithes in Abraham. You see that relationship, that
little word in? In Abraham he paid tithes. How did he do that?
He wasn't even born. Verse 10, for he was yet in the
loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Melchizedek met Abraham. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek.
Levi wasn't born. He's his great-grandson, hadn't
been born yet. In fact, Abraham would be dead
when Levi was born. But because Levi would come from
Abraham, as a great-grandson, then God says, when Abraham gave
tithes to Melchizedek, Levi gave tithes to Melchizedek. He did
it. He did it. And therefore, the entire Levitical
priesthood acknowledged in that, that Melchizedek was a greater
priesthood than theirs was. Okay, so you see the union now?
Union in the relationship between a husband and wife, union in
a covenant God made with Christ and then with his people in him.
It speaks of that covenant in Galatians chapter 3, confirmed
in Christ 430 years before the law was given. And then also in Adam, we have
this relationship, which pictures our union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's the concluding statement I wanna make to this,
is that in this union, because of this union that God made with
Christ, his people with Christ, it is because of this union,
this is the basis of our debt, our sins being charged to Christ. our debt being borne by Him,
the punishment for our sins that came upon Him being counted as
satisfaction for us, and His obedience in all of that and
keeping the law throughout His life is given to us as our own
righteousness. Just as a wife bears the name
of her husband, it says in Jeremiah 23, verses five and six, this
is the name whereby he shall be called. Notice, this is the
name whereby he, Christ, should be called the Lord, our righteousness. You see the relationship? He's the Lord, it's his righteousness,
but he's our righteousness. And then in Jeremiah 33, verses
15 and 16, it's repeated, only it changes the word. Instead
of the name that he shall be called, it says she shall be
called. And it uses the same name, the
Lord, our righteousness. So the name of Christ is the
name given to his people, just like when a wife is married to
her husband, she assumes his name. They're one. And the whole
pattern by where wives in our modern day take their own name
or identify themselves by their own name is just not biblical. It's just not the way God designed
it. And it shows some kind of an independence. All the modern way that marriage
is done, a lot of it just shows a complete contradiction and
opposition to what God has set up, trying to break the picture.
But you can't break reality. And so the news here is that
everything in our salvation, the imputation of our sins to
Christ and the imputation of his righteousness to us is because
of an underlying relationship God established called our union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our husband, we as his
wife. He is our covenant, we as those. He made that covenant
with God for us and therefore all the blessings are in it.
In Him, all these things are given. All the promises of God
are yes and amen, true in Him. And so they're given to us. Through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, the blood of Christ,
all these blessings come to us. And then our relationship to
Adam, because of all that Adam did, we did in him. So all that Christ did, we did
in him. What amazing grace this is. Isn't
this amazing grace? This is grace beyond measure.
I stand before God, accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. I stand
not in my own sin, but in His righteousness. And the justification
that God declares because of the work of His Son when He raised
Him from the dead, that is my justification because I am in
Him. His holiness is counted mine
in Him. God has made Him unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, or holiness, and redemption.
It's all in Christ, you see. In Colossians chapter 2, the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and you are what? Complete, perfect, in Him. You can't say that about yourself,
can you? I hope we see that this is God's relationship that he
established. Now, let me say this briefly
here before we close, that this relationship is eternal. In Ephesians
chapter 1, he says it this way. According as he has chosen us,
God the Father has chosen us in him. So how early was this? How long ago? He says, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. And he goes on talking about
our adoption. And then in verse six, that we were made accepted
in him, the beloved. And then we were redeemed in
him, and we have the forgiveness of sins in him. You see, everything
in salvation. Not just salvation, but our life
is because of this union with Christ. And God says here in
verse four that this was established by God when he chose us in him. Now we know God doesn't do anything
in time that he didn't know before time. Known unto God are all
his works from the foundation of the world, from eternity.
And if God does something, we know he had a will and a purpose
to do it before he did it. Like Larry Chris said Friday
night, he says, can God do anything that he doesn't do on purpose?
Is it possible for God to do something without it being on
purpose? It's a very good statement. God doesn't do anything unless
he determined to do it before time, and God doesn't do anything
except he does according to his own will. He does it on purpose.
And this is what He did when He chose us in Christ at that
time, before time, in eternity in God, God the Father. He looked
upon His people and ever since then He has never seen them outside
of Christ. He chose us in Him that we should
be holy, and without blame before him in love. So we see then,
therefore, that the love of God is in Christ Jesus. Where is
God's love? It's in Christ. God loves his
son, and he loves all those who are in his son. Did Christ die
for the non-church? No, he didn't give his life for
those who were not given to him by his father. He didn't die
for those who are not part of the church. He died for the church. God gave the church to him to
be his bride. Jesus is not an adulterous husband. He doesn't love those who are
not his wife. He doesn't give his life for
someone who's not his own bride. And he doesn't redeem those who
are not his brethren. He laid down his life for the
church. He loved the church and gave himself for it. He laid
his life down for the sheep, not for the goats, for these
people. And we emphasize this because
not only is it true, but because this assures us that whatever
Christ did, he was successful and he actually did it. And He
alone did it all by Himself, and we are the recipients of
the blessings of it. So God's joining us to Christ,
as we've discussed here in marriage, in covenant, in our relationship
to Him as Adam, was an eternal relationship. It was done before
time. But here's the thing. All those
with whom God, all those joined to Christ before time, in an
eternal union by election, by God's doing. He says, of Him
are you in Christ Jesus, of God the Father. So it's God's doing,
and it's eternal. All those are given to Christ
also, and in time, they have a living union with Him. How
do we know that we were joined to Christ in an eternal union?
Because we have a living union with Him. And that's what John
6, 56 is saying. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me and I in him. There's that union. And
eating the flesh and drinking the blood doesn't mean actually
eating and drinking. But it refers to his death, his
sacrifice, that we would take by faith all that he did as what
makes us clean before God and gives us a perfect standing before
God, allows us to come to God in him, you see. And faith in
Christ is living upon him who did all of this for our life.
And so faith is the evidence that we have this living union.
Not only is it a living union, and we know that by faith, but
because of this living union now, we have eternal life. We are taking from Christ and
we're taking from him by faith his death for us, his resurrection,
our resurrection, his ascension to glory, his seating at the
right hand of God. We are there in him. Everything
that he did, we did in him, and we are where he is. When he did
it, we did it. What he did, we did. Where he
is now, we are now with him, in him. That's a union. It can't be broken. That's an
eternal union. It goes on for everlasting, and
it is a union of love. That's the cementing bond of
this union, love. In Solomon chapter 8, he says,
love is stronger than death. Many waters can't quench it.
It doesn't matter how many floods of whatever judgment and persecutions
come against God's people, nothing can drown the love of Christ
for them. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we
live upon Christ by faith because we have a living union with him.
Look at 1 Corinthians 6. In 1 Corinthians 6, it shows
us how this living union is established and what it consists of. In 1
Corinthians 6, in verse 7, he says, a very important verse,
he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. You see that? How do we get joined to the Lord?
God did it. Of him are you in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 6, verse 17. What did I say? I'm sorry. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 17. He that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit. You see that? Not two, one spirit. Our spirit and the Holy Spirit
of God, the spirit of Christ, the eternal spirit, The infinite
spirit, the omnipresent spirit, the omnipotent spirit of God,
God himself. The spirit of God is God. He
is joined to us in our spirit. Can you understand that? I cannot.
But that's what it says. That's what it means. We're joined
to him. That means that in our spirit,
we cannot die. Jesus said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth
on me shall never die. We can die. Our spirit is joined
to Christ's eternal life. And then he goes on, he says,
what? Verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 6,
verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? which you have
of God, and you are not your own." And he shows us how this
occurred, for you're not, you're bought. You're bought with a
price. You're God's. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. Your body, it's His.
Your spirit, it's His. That's why we treat our bodies.
We ought to treat our bodies respectfully. It's not ours. Christ bought it. It's his. And
it's meant, it's purchased by Christ that, as we read in 2
Thessalonians 1 and verse 12, that God might be glorified in
our bodies. In the last day, that will be
abundantly obvious, evident. What a union, a living union. This union of our spirit wasn't
until we had a spirit, and that was in our lifetime. And the
evidence of this, what does the Spirit of God cause us to do?
Notice this in Galatians chapter two. This work of the Spirit
of God in us, this life that is ours by our union with the
Holy Spirit. Notice this in Galatians chapter
two, in verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. There's
our union with him in his death. Do you see it? I am crucified
with him. I wasn't even alive, yet I was
crucified with him. How? Because God joined me to
him from eternity. What he did, I did. What he suffered,
I suffered. Why he died, his death was my
death. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. See that? I do live now because
I've been raised with Christ, but the life that I have now
is not my own life. It doesn't come from my own source
or energy or strength or anything. It's Christ himself, his life,
he says. But this life which I now live
in the flesh, in this body, his body's his, spirit's his, I live,
notice, what is this life of Christ in me? How does it live? I live by the faith of the Son
of God, notice, who loved me and gave himself for me. You
see how specific this is? Me, me, an individual believer,
joined to Christ in spirit because in eternity we were joined to
him. This is not, you know, in Hebrews
chapter two, it says, he that sanctifyeth and they who are
sanctified are all of one. And someone came up to me years
ago and argued with me after hearing that message. No, it
just means that we're joined to him because we have the same
nature. No, it doesn't. Birds have the same nature, but
they're not you, they're not one. You know, I have the same
nature as an unbeliever, but the unbeliever is not joined
to Christ. They're not part of his body. We're joined to Him,
not as a species, as some kind of nature joining, because we
have the same nature, human nature, soul, body, and spirit. We're
joined, actually joined to Him in body and in spirit. Amazing
grace. And it's because of that that
our life is His life, and the life of Christ in us lives by
faith on Christ for us. Amazing. Isn't that amazing?
It's the gospel. It's wonderful. And then I have
to say this in closing, because we're completely out of time.
But look at this in Romans chapter 12. This should be another message,
but I'm going to give this to you so that you can think about
this and ponder this. He says this in verse 4, Romans
chapter 12 and verse 4. As we have many members in one
body, I got fingers, I got a nose and ears and toes. We have many
members. in one body, and all members
have not the same office. Notice verse five, so we, we
people, being many, there's Mary, there's Denise, there's Brad,
there's Phil and Judy and everybody, for we being many are one body
in Christ and every one members of one another. So that what
we're doing right here This is the body of Christ. We're one
with one another. The same spirit of Christ that
we're joined to, we're all one in spirit. And he lives in our
bodies. So our fellowship with one another
is a fellowship with Christ himself. So what we do, Christ told the
apostle Paul when he was Saul before he was converted, he says,
Paul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He wasn't actually
persecuting Christ physically, but he was persecuting the people
of Christ. And Jesus said in Matthew 25,
if you've done it to the least of these, my brethren, you've
done it to me. But if you haven't done it to
them, then you haven't done it to me. If you fail to do it,
you fail to do it to me. But if you did it to them, you
did it to me. That's the union. That's why
he says over and over, love one another. Because we're joined
in one body as receive one another for Christ's sake. You and I
both profess the same Savior, don't we? The same Lord. Therefore,
as I come to God and pray for myself that he would receive
me for Christ's sake, so I also pray for you that he would receive
you for Christ's sake and I believe that he has and treat you accordingly. That's what he means. Love one
another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us, as Christ has
loved us, all these things. It's all spoken because we're
joined to him in eternal election and by the Spirit of God, and
we all eat and drink of the same crucified Savior, risen, reigning,
interceding for us, joined to Him. We can't be separated. That's
why when He comes, He'll bring all of His saints with Him all
at the same time. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for an amazing mystery. We would never have comprehended,
even when we hear it, is beyond belief, unless you cause us to
rest on your word. Give us the joy and peace in
believing. Lord, we pray you'd be with everyone
here today, concerned with the affairs of this life. We especially
pray for Lisa's mom. And we pray, Lord, you'd be gracious.
We know that you're all compassion and merciful, almighty. Your
will is always done. And we trust, Lord, that because
you are on the throne, we can rest at peace and look to you
to do all things and to give us even the comfort that we receive
from you out of your grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.