I want you to open your Bibles
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The title of the message
this morning is Our Living Union with Christ. And of course I'm
talking about believers here who know by the power of the
spirit through the preaching of the word, the gospel, that
we are united to Christ in such a way that can never be broken.
And it's a living union, it's not a dead union. And what I
want to start, I'm going to begin in verse 12, where he talks about,
listen to this. He says, now, if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, and that's what we preach, the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, but not just those historical
facts. We preach that message as identified
and described and defined in the scriptures. It says, how
say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Now there were people in this church who claimed that in the
end, the dead will not rise. Well, Paul was saying here by
the power of the Spirit, if we preach that Christ rose from
the dead, then how can you say that the dead rise not? The dead
in Christ, that's who he's talking about here. Now we know that
in the end, both those who are saved by God's grace will rise,
and those who will die in their sins, they'll be brought forth
too to the judgment, but to be declared condemned. But here
he's specifically talking about those whom Christ saved by His
grace. And he says, how in the world,
if we preach that Christ rose from the dead, how can you say
that they won't rise? Why? Because there's a living
union here that can't be broken. You can't have one without the
other. And he says in verse 13, but if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. You can't have it one
way or the other, say. And he goes on, he says, and
if Christ be not risen, then our preaching's in vain, and
your faith also is in vain. Now, I'm gonna stop there. I'm
gonna go a little bit further on into the message, but hopefully,
I was thinking about this as I was preparing. I may have to
divide this up into two parts, because I don't want to go too
long and wear you out. But let's begin this way. Now,
what I'm talking about is union with Christ. Well, several years
ago, I wrote a book called What Is Salvation? And in that book,
I tried to look at the word salvation in every facet that the scriptures
speak of it, and what I found is I divided salvation into four
realms. The eternal realm of salvation,
the Bible speaks of an eternal aspect. And then the legal realm,
there's a legal aspect. When you talk about justification,
or being declared not guilty, being declared right, that's
a legal matter. And then the spiritual aspect
of salvation, the spiritual realm, that's when we're raised from
the dead spiritually in the new birth. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins, and we fell an atom into a state of death, Spiritual
death and depravity. And that's why Christ said you
must be born again. So in order to be saved, we must
be raised from the dead spiritually, given life from the dead. And
that's the spiritual realm of salvation. And then I went to
this passage right here in 1 Corinthians 15 and talked about the fourth
realm, which is the glorified realm. At some point in time,
when Christ comes again, His people are all gonna be raised
from the dead and gathered unto Himself and will enter glory
in a new body, a glorified body. He says that on over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 when he talks about verse 53, well verse 52, in a
moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the
trumpet shall sound The dead shall be raised incorruptible
and we shall be changed. Incorruptible, and for this corruptible
must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. That's the glorified realm. And
we'll be totally without the flesh, without sin. We won't
have that struggle of the flesh and the spirit at that time.
We'll be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, not only
legally, which we already are because we're justified, washed
clean from all of our sins in the blood of Christ, forgiven.
God will not impute sin to us, and declared righteous in his
sight, and then as a result of that, we're born again by the
spirit, we're preserved under glory, here in the end will be
raised from the dead. Well, here's what Paul's saying
back here in our text. If we say that the dead will
not rise in Christ and be glorified, then how can you preach that
Christ rose? And you know why? Because there is such an unbreakable
union between Christ and his people that you cannot have one
without the other. Now think about it this way.
Let's go back to the very, you know, we talked about how Paul
wrote in verse three, 1 Corinthians 15, for I delivered unto you
first of all how that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scripture, his death, that he
was buried and he rose again in the third day according to
the, that's the gospel facts. So the death, the burial, the
resurrection of Christ. And he didn't do all that for
himself, he did it for his people whom he represented. who he was
in union with, so to speak. All right? And that's the historical
facts of the gospel, but the gospel is not just the historical
fact that he died and he was buried and he arose. It's according
to the scriptures. It's what do those mean? And
that's what I preached on last week. That means that our sins
are put away. God will not charge his people
with sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? We cannot be condemned. If we're
in Christ, united to Him, we cannot be condemned. No, sir,
because our sins have been put away and we are righteous in
God's sight. Christ died and He's now seated
at the right hand of the Father. So think about it in terms of
that. Salvation. is being saved from our sin and
its consequences by the free sovereign grace and love of God
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. How many times you go through
that passage in Ephesians 1, in Christ, by Christ, in Christ,
in Christ, you remove Christ from the picture it's all a lie.
That's right. If you remove Christ from any
facet of those realms and put it on the center, it's a failure.
It's a failure. Christ is my surety. means my
sins were imputed to Him. My debt was put upon Him. He's
my substitute. He took my place under the law. He was made under the law, made
of a woman, made under the law and He's my substitute, my Redeemer
to redeem them that were under the law. He paid the price. He
saved my soul and I have no other boast I can't boast of what I,
somebody said, well, I made the decision. The only reason you
made the decision is because you were united to Christ eternally
and legally, and then God united you to Him spiritually, gave
you a new heart, a new mind, a new will. Because left to your
own in that dead state, spiritually dead, you wouldn't have made
that right decision. You wouldn't have decided for
Christ. He's my intercessor. He's my preserver. And He'll
bring me to glory. And this is all of a people whom
God the Father chose and gave to Him before the world began,
conditioning, now this is important, conditioning their whole salvation
on Him. On Him alone. And He, by Himself,
for His people specifically, His sheep, His church, God's
elect fulfilled all those conditions and secured their salvation all
the way to final glory. Wow. That's a wow. I'm telling you. Now the conditions
of our salvation was and is perfect satisfaction to God's holy law
and inflexible justice. That's the condition. God requires
perfect righteousness. And man has no righteousness.
See, that's the problem. God is holy and we're not. God
is righteous and we're not. And the Bible tells us plainly,
we cannot be made so by our best efforts to keep the law, to obey
God. Our sincerity won't do it. Should
we be sincere in what we do? If it's truth, yes. Sincerity
without the truth. You know what sincerity without
the truth is? Devotion to an idol. Think about that. Isn't that what it is? Sincerity without the truth.
Listen, Muslims can be sincere. Buddhists can be sincere. Any
religion can have their hypocrites and their sincere ones. But if
it's not in the truth of God revealing himself in the personal
work of Christ, it's idolatry. And I know that makes a lot of
people mad, but I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. If I said
otherwise, that wouldn't change it, would it? Man has no righteousness and
he cannot work one. He cannot provide one. We fail
in Adam into a state of sin and death and depravity. We can't
get ourselves out of it. We cannot will ourselves out
of it. Somebody say, well, if you just
make the right decision, You won't make the right decision.
I wouldn't make the right decision, except God intervene in power
by the Spirit convicting us of the truth. So when Christ fulfilled
all those conditions for the salvation of his people, what
did he do? He fulfilled all righteousness for his people. You know, that's
what he said at the very beginning of his earthly ministry, his
public ministry. when he was baptized. He told
John, he said, suffer it to be so now. In other words, do this,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And what was
he talking about there? He wasn't talking about water
baptism being the fulfillment of all righteousness. He was
talking about water baptism, being immersed into the water
and being brought up out of the water, being a symbol of his
death, his burial, his resurrection, to do what? To accomplish righteousness
for his people. That was prophesied in the Old
Testament by men like Daniel. Listen to this, this is Daniel
9.24. He's talking about the Messiah coming. And he said,
he's coming to finish the transgression, Remember Christ said on the cross,
it is finished. That's what he's finished. Make
an end of sins. Sin didn't make an end of him.
He made an end of sins. He satisfied justice. And to
make reconciliation for iniquity. What does that mean? Where we
fall short, Christ made reconciliation between God the Father and His
people based upon what He accomplished in His death, His obedience unto
death, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up
the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. And
there's a couple of scriptures in Jeremiah. Now we're talking
about our living union with Christ. Sometimes it's represented in
the Bible as a marriage union. Christ being the husband, the
bridegroom, and his church being his bride, his wife. And they're
married together. Well listen to this, Jeremiah
23 verses five through six, mark that down sometime if you don't
have it already marked. But Jeremiah is prophesying of
the Messiah to come. And listen to what he says, this
is Jeremiah 23, five through six. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. Remember
Christ, according to the flesh, he came of the seed of David.
And a king shall reign and prosper, that's Christ, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth, that's his death on the cross,
his obedience unto death, to satisfy justice. In his days,
Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. That's spiritual
Israel, spiritual Judah, all God's elect Jew and Gentile.
And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. That's one of the many names
for Christ. Now, if you jump over to Jeremiah 33, verses 15
through 16, you'll have virtually the same prophecy but there's
a specific difference that tells us something. Listen to this. Jeremiah 33, 15 through 16. In
those days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness
to grow up unto David. See, much like the other one.
And he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell
safely. That's the heavenly Jerusalem.
And this is the name wherewith she shall be called. Remember back in Jeremiah 23,
it was this is the name which he shall be called. Well here
it says this is the name by which she shall be called, a feminine
pronoun. And she shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. What does that mean? Does that
mean that we're our own Savior? No. It means that being united
to Christ Just like a husband and a wife, we take his name. The bride takes the name of the
husband. We're so united to Christ, that married union, Christ the
husband, his church, his bride, Romans 7.4 speaks of that. Wherefore,
my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. Isn't that something? This is the righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just, the justified shall live by faith. This is
the righteousness by which all people are going to be judged.
Acts 1731, Paul on Mars Hill. Remember what he said? God has
commanded all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath, what? Raised him from the dead. How do we know that when we stand
before God, if we're his people, Saved by grace. How do we know
that it's going to be declared that we are righteous, not because
we've done so well here on earth, and I hope we do well, but because
we stand before Him in Christ, in Christ, united to Christ. See what I'm saying? How can
I have this righteousness? It's by that living union with
Christ. How do I have this living union
with Christ? It's by God's free and sovereign
grace in and by Christ, and it works out for God's people in
four ways. Let me just give this to you.
Number one, there's an eternal union with Christ. Just like
the eternal realm of salvation, there's an eternal union with
Christ. And that refers to God's election of grace. United to
Christ as he is my representative and surety, that's the source
and cause of all salvation right there. And that's what we read
about in Ephesians 1, blessed with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we might be
holy and without blame before him in love. That's that eternal
union. There's an eternal union. Here's
what he's saying to us, folks. If God brings us to faith in
Christ, we are part and parcel of a salvation which we did not
earn and did not deserve, by grace, if we believe in Christ,
been given the gift of faith, not based upon our, quote, free
will decision, that's not even in the Bible, But by God's sovereign
grace, if we're in Christ, we've been in him before eternity. We're part and parcel of a salvation
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
even before the world was created, even before Adam fell, even before
we were born dead in trespasses and sins. That's something, isn't
it? Christ was made our surety before
this world began in the covenant of grace. That's right, our sins were imputed
to him. Here's the second thing, a legal union with Christ, just
like that legal realm. And that's God's redeeming grace.
Eternal realm is God's electing grace. Legal union, the legal
realm, is God's redeeming grace, united to Christ as he is my
substitute and redeemer. That's the ground of salvation.
That refers to the death, the obedience and the death of Christ
on the cross. Our sins were imputed to him
before the world began. He took my debt, and in time
he came and became a man, God-man, obeyed the law, went to the cross,
and you know what he did on that cross? He paid that debt in full.
Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson
stain. He washed it white as snow. And
that's what Ephesians 1, 6, and 7 says. Listen to this. It's
to the praise of the glory of his grace, as made us accepted
in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. It's
all grace. Third, there is a spiritual union
with Christ. That's the spiritual realm. That's
God's regenerating grace. That's the new birth. United
to Christ spiritually by God-given faith. That's the fruit of salvation.
The eternal realm is the source and cause. The legal realm is
the ground. The spiritual union is the fruit.
The living tree, which is Christ. And listen, if he didn't rise
from the dead, he wouldn't be a living tree. You understand? If he was still in a grave somewhere
rotting, he'd be a dead tree. Christ is not a dead tree. He's
a living tree, and He bears fruit. And if you're a believer, if
you know the Lord by the power of His grace, sovereign power
of His grace, you're one of those fruits. That's right. That's why in John 6, 37, Christ
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that cometh me I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him, and I'll raise him up from the dead. All of that
at the last day. I'll raise him up at the last
day. How can he do that? Because he has the power of resurrection. He rose from the dead. You doubt? I know we're human, and we fear
the unknown, what we call the unknown. I don't know. I'm 71
years old. I don't know how I'm going to
die. I'll often say I'd like to preach
my last sermon and go back here and sit down and just go to sleep
and y'all haul me out with the coroner or whatever. But I don't
know if that's going to happen. I'd like to die in my sleep.
I certainly don't want to have a traumatic end, but I don't
know. I mean, the apostles, they had traumatic endings, didn't
they? Most of them, well, except John. But here's the thing. The reason we don't have to fear
death that much is because we know it's not the end. And this
new birth that he's given us, you know what that is? That's
like a down payment. It's like a, what is it called
in Ephesians 1? Somebody tell me. The earnest. The earnest, like earnest money. The Holy Spirit's work in us
to bring us to faith in Christ is like a guarantee that once
we leave this world, we're gonna be raised again unto glory. Isn't that something? And then
lastly, here's what 1 Corinthians 15 is talking about. There's
the glorified, resurrected union with Christ. The glorified realm. And that's God's glorifying grace,
the resurrection of our bodies unto glory. That again is another
fruit of salvation, a fruit of the realm. And this union is
so real. Now understand, this union is
so real, his death for us, his righteousness imputed to us is
so real that he himself was raised from the dead and his resurrection
ensures our resurrection from the dead. that's what Paul's
talking about. Look at it again, verse 12. If
Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among
you that there is no resurrection of the dead? How can you say
that? Don't you believe that our Lord rose from the dead? How could, if he didn't rise
from the dead, there's no righteousness for us, there's no forgiveness,
there's no faith. He says, if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen, verse 13. And if Christ
be not risen, then our preaching's vain. What I'm telling you is
nothing but worthless if he didn't rise from the dead. And your
faith is also vain. If you claim to believe what
the Bible says, it's nothing if he didn't rise from the dead. Sin demanded his death. But it was only sin imputed to
him. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Now Christ did not sin, but we did, his people did, his
bride did. And the demerit of our sins is
charged to him. And he said, put it on my account,
I'll pay it. And he did with his death. But
righteousness demands life. God could not condemn a righteous
person. He'd be unjust to do so. Well,
how in the world am I righteous? It's not in myself. In my daily
walk, I do nothing. Now, listen to me. I've talked
about this with other preachers, and maybe it's hard to kind of
state sometimes. But here's what I'm telling you.
In my daily walk, there is nothing I do that I can say measures
up to the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ.
Now we as believers, we do good works, but that's the fruit of
God's power and grace in us, and it's only good and accepted
because of Christ, our standing in Him. We're washed by the blood
of Christ. We're righteous in Him. But listen,
how in the world can I be right? Only by God, the Judge of all,
and the Father of all grace, imputing, charging, accounting
the merits of Christ's obedience unto death, His righteousness,
to my account. But that's not fake. You know,
a lot of people look at that and they say, well, that's just
a legal fiction, or that's just fake. No, no, no. No, no. It's so real. And that His resurrection
from the dead and His righteousness imputed demands that we be raised
from the dead. It demands that we be born again
by the Spirit. Paul wrote that in Romans 8.10.
He said the body is dead because of sin, this physical body, but
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness. It demands it. I can tell you
right now, if you're an unbeliever right now, if God chose you and
Christ died for you, at some point in time, the Holy Spirit's
gonna bring you to where you hear the gospel and you believe
it. He's gonna give you the gift of faith and repentance. I know it. May not be today,
but it'll be sometime before you die and leave this world. Well, look at verse 14. Or verse 13, but if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, your faith
is vain, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God. If we're
telling a lie, that's what a false witness is. Because we have testified
of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. See, this union is so real, you
can't separate them. And that's why it is so blasphemous
for people, preachers, to tell people that Christ died for everybody
without exception, even for those who perish in hell. It's not
only just false, it's blasphemy. If Christ died for us and raised
from the dead, we're going to be raised from the dead and live
forever with him. That's what this means. So he
says in verse 16, for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is in vain, and you're yet in your sins. That means
your sins are still imputed to you. And you'll be responsible
for them, accountable for them, and you'll die forever. You'll
be condemned to hell. Remember what Christ said, I
mentioned earlier, John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast down. That's the new birth by which Christ through the Holy
Spirit gives spiritual life and faith to spiritually dead sinners.
That's the guarantee. And I love that passage, I quote
it all the time, when he says in John 6, 38, I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me." And he says, "'This is the Father's will, which has sent
me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing,
no one, but raise Him up at the last day. And this is the will
of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the
last day.'" Well, let me read these last verses. If in this
life, verse 19, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable. If this doesn't last on into
eternity, we're just a miserable people. But now is Christ risen
from the dead. Make no mistake about it, Paul
says. He is risen. And he's become the firstfruits
of them that slept. You know what those firstfruits
are? When the firstfruits of the crop came in, they were the
first to be reaped, and they were dedicated unto the Lord.
And they were pretty much the guarantee that if they were good
firstfruits, they guaranteed the whole crop would be good.
And that's the way it is with Christ. He's the guarantee that
all for whom he died was buried in a rose again, that they'll
all come to Him and they'll all be glorified together. He's the
first fruits of them that slept, that is, who've already died.
And he says in verse 21, for since by man came death, that's
Adam, in Adam we all fell into a state of death and depravity
and sin. By man also came the resurrection
of the dead, that's Christ. By Him comes life. In verse 22,
he says, for as in Adam all died, In other words, all whom Adam
represented, and who are those? That's the whole human race who
fell into a state of sin and death and depravity through Adam's
sin, Romans 5, 12, you can look that up. So in Christ, all whom
Christ represented, all for whom he stood surety and substituted
and redeemer, shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, what does he mean by that? Christ, the first fruit, it's
all conditioned on Christ. That's the order of things. It's
not conditioned on you. You don't determine the outcome
here. Christ does, that's the order.
And afterward, they that are Christ at His coming, when He
comes again, if you belong to Him, it's a guarantee. There's no other possibility.
Look unto Him and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. He
says, for I'm God and there's none else. Live your life looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Okay, let's turn to hymn number
489. We'll sing a couple of verses
of glory to his name. Let's stand, 489.