I invite your attention to Colossians
chapter 3, verse 9. Colossians chapter 3, verse 9. And when you have found that
reference, locate Galatians chapter 3, verse 27. So you're going
to have your finger in two places. Colossians 3, verse 9. In Galatians
3 verse 27, God willing, we will consider today the subject of
undivided union in Christ Jesus. Not just union in Christ Jesus,
undivided union in Christ Jesus. As we shall see, not all unions
are undivided. This one is. This one is. Because
God's grace joins all his saints in the union with Jesus Christ.
And God's grace eradicates every barrier that once separated them
and divided them. And now all God's saints are
one with Jesus Christ. All God's saints consider themselves
equals with one another, and we esteem Jesus Christ as all
that matters to us. Now that is undivided union in
Christ Jesus. In Galatians 3, verse 27, Galatians
3, verse 27, Paul has written these words, For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus now in Colossians
chapter 3 in verse number 9 drop down to about the middle part
of the verse where Paul writes ye have put off the old man with
his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all." Now we're going to look
at those two texts in this study of this undivided union in Christ
Jesus. Four points I want you to see.
First, all believers are baptized into Christ. Second, all believers
have put on Christ. Third, all believers are all
one in Christ. And fourth, no divisions are
in Christ. That is undivided union in Christ
Jesus. Consider the first point. All
believers are baptized into Christ Jesus. Now, it stands to reason
that this is not a physical act. It is not taking one person and
baptizing this person into another person. That's physically impossible. Rather, it is a spiritual truth
that is here being taught. To be baptized into Christ is
a symbolical act, and it is associated with Christian baptism, which
is the immersion of a believer in water, and it is the Christian's
profession of faith. That point is important. Baptism
is our confession of faith. It is our public confession of
faith. Yes, we confess with our mouth
what we have believed in our heart, but if you study the New
Testament, you'll find there is no such thing as an unbaptized
believer. As soon as one believed, he was
baptized. That's his confession of faith.
That is his profession of faith. And in his baptism, he shows
his identity with Jesus Christ in at least a threefold manner.
Paul speaks of this in Romans chapter 6, verses 3 through 6.
And he there again uses that expression, have been baptized
into Christ Jesus. Now what happens when we are
baptized into Christ Jesus? Paul says, we have been baptized
into his death. When he died, we died. He was our representative and
our surety. When he died, we died. Now, what
do you do to one who has died? Gotta be buried, folks. Sooner
the better. Gotta be buried. We're buried. In baptism, we walk into the
water with the administrator of the sacred ordinance and we
confess, I have died with Christ. I need to be buried. That's what
we do in baptism. It is a burial. It's a short
burial. Jesus was buried for just a short
time and this one who has been buried with Christ in baptism
and in water, is brought back up, walks out of the water, thenceforth
to walk with Jesus Christ in newness of life, in a resurrected
life, and no longer as a slave to sin. Now, that's what it is
to be baptized into Christ. It is our confession and our
profession of faith. I have died with Christ. I have
been buried with Christ. I have been raised with Christ,
I now walk with Christ. Baptized into Christ. That's what our baptism shows.
Furthermore, we read about being baptized into one body by the
Holy Spirit. For by one Spirit we've all been
baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free." Now, notice that Paul repeatedly speaks of the equality
of believers. In baptism, there is no distinction
between bond or free, male or female. circumcised or uncircumcised,
it matters not. Paul, it repeatedly makes the
point that in Christ we're just all a bunch of equals. We have
to realize that Calvary, the cross, is on a hill but the ground
is leveled at the cross and all God's people are on equal footing
with Jesus Christ. Paul says by one spirit we've
been baptized into one body. This one body is the body of
Christ, but it is the church. Paul speaks of his body which
is the church. When he speaks of the church,
he's speaking about that one church that is comprised of all
members of Jesus Christ. It is not just this local visible
assembly. It is that body of Christ that
encompasses all God's elect, all God's regenerated people,
all of them. It's Christ's body. And in this
body, He's the head. And some of us, well, let's see,
we are like the mouth we preach. Others are like the eyes, and
others are like the ears, and we all have our function in this
body, but we've all been baptized into one body. Jesus Christ does
not have many bodies. His spiritual body, His church,
is but one, and everybody in it is an equal. Second point. All believers have
put on Christ. Now, note the terminology that
is being used. We're not speaking so much of
a physical act. It is not physically one person
being baptized into another person. And it is not a physical act
of walking into your closet and, you know, grabbing Christ off
of a hanger and putting Him on. It's not the physical act. It
is a spiritual act. It is a symbolical act. And all
who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and done it
two ways. Done it two ways. In both justification
and in sanctification. In justification we are declared
to be righteous. And God put Christ on us when
he justified us, declared us to be righteous. He's our robe
of righteousness. We wear Him. He is our robe of
righteousness. We stand before God, sometimes
said to be clothed in Christ and sometimes said to be clothed
in His righteousness. They both are one and the same.
He is our righteousness. God put Him on us when He justified
us. But then in sanctification, we
are told to put on Christ ourselves. Put Him on! How do we put Christ
on? How do we don Christ as our clothing? Well, let's see. You ought to
act like Him, shouldn't you? You ought to walk like Him. You
ought to speak like Him. You ought to be like Christ.
It should be that when you walk through this world or when you
speak with others in this world, they say, you walk and talk like
a Christian. Well, I hope so. I put Christ
on. That's what it is to put Him
on. It is to walk in the holy way. It's done in sanctification. And it's done every day. Every
day. When you don your clothes in
the morning, bear this in mind. It's not just what you're putting
on your body. It's also what you're putting
on yourself and on your person. You walk out that door, bear
this in mind. There should be something of
Christ seen in you. It should be seen that you are
clothed in Him. Put Him on. Wear Him as your
garment. Then furthermore, there's something
else we need to consider here. Paul says, all who put on Christ
are also told, note this, you have put off the old man with
his deeds. and hath put on the new man who
is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created
him." Colossians 3 verses 9 and 10. Put off the old man, put
on the new man. You were told to put on Christ,
now you're told to put on the new man. Now what is the old
man? That's that old nature you were
born with. It gets worse and worse. The psalmist says, I departed
my mother's womb speaking lies. And we know from experience,
we spend the rest of our lives getting better at it. We were
born liars, but we're going to die a whole lot better liars.
Well, maybe worse liar, whichever you want to call it. You know
what I'm talking, we try to perfect the lie. Some of us can tell
lies with a straight face, as though it were the truth. And
people cannot discern the difference. They think, hey, he's got a straight
face. He must be telling the truth.
Yeah, he's only a very good liar. He's practiced at it. My mother
could catch me lying when I was a young boy. But when I got to
be a little bit older, it was harder for her to catch me in
a lie. Well, That's your old man. And he ain't going to get no
better. He is depraved. He is sinful. He is corrupt. And he's getting worse and worse
and worse. The sooner you put him off, the better you will
be. Put on the new man. What is the new man? It is the
new nature that God gave to you in regeneration. It is new in
the sense, not so much of being in time, but new in the sense
of being completely different from the old man. This new nature,
the one God gives to His people. Best commentary may be in Ephesians
4, verses 22 through 25. I'll read it to you. concerning your former conduct,
the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the
new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness
and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying,
let each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members
one of another." And that's what we do when we put on the new
man. We take the old man, put him
off. Now listen, folks, he's always
going to be with you. All right? This old nature you
were born with, it's always going to be with you. And this new
nature that you have, it also is going to be with you. And
these two are going to have fights every day. They're going to struggle
back and forth. And the old man's going to say,
Go ahead and tell that lie, you can get away with it. And the
new man says, you better not. You better speak truth with your
neighbor, for you were members one of another. You don't want
your brother lying to you, do you? No. And the old man says,
well, who you going to listen to? I give you a whole lot more
fun than he does. And the new man says, God's going
to judge you for what you say. Yep, I think I'll put off the
old van and put the new one on. This is what Paul is speaking
about here. Now, he says we are members one
of another. We're all members one of another.
What does that mean? Well, that brings us now to our
third point. All believers are one in Christ. One in Christ. We are in union
with Christ and with Him we comprise, I can show you five things. Five
ones. One house, one flesh, one vine,
one body, one new man. Now one house. God has only one
house. Only one house. Jesus Christ is the foundation.
This house is not going to move. You know what it is when you
build a foundation. You have to build your house
on a rock. The best rock to have is one that you made yourself. You have dug a trench down into
the ground. You have put your rebar in the
spaces and put it in there. You're going to make a foundation.
You're going to build a house on a rock, and the rock is going
to be comprised of cement, sand, water, and rebar. And it ain't moving. It's going
to stay right there. Well, God gave a better rock
than that. No man made it. No man had anything
to do with putting this rock together. This rock is Jesus
Christ. God laid Jesus Christ on His
holy hill of Zion to be the foundation of His house. Then God goes over
and starts cutting stones out of a mountain, old dead pieces
of rock. And then He regenerates them.
They become living stones. And He lays them course by course. All the way around that foundation. Building it up. He's been doing
it now for some centuries. This house is getting bigger
and bigger all the time. Course by course. Living stone
by living stone. Bonded together by God's grace. It's never going to fall. And
then, God is so pleased with this house, he says, it's my
house. I built it. I'm going to live
in it." And he does. He does. He lives in this house.
What house? It's us! We are these building
stones that are built upon the foundation. And God has only
one house. Furthermore, one flesh. The union of husband and wife.
It is said that marriage is the only time in which the arithmetic
formula can be said to be 1 plus 1 equals 1. 2 shall become 1. 1 plus 1 equals 1. It's not always that way, but
it should be. It should be. 1 plus 1 sometimes
equals 3 and 4 and 5. But not in this kind of marriage.
Not in the true marriage. One flesh. One flesh. Christ is the husband, we are
the wife. One flesh. He has only one wife
and we have only one husband. One flesh. And we're all equals
in here. Number three, one vine and branches. Jesus taught this in John chapter
15. One vine. Now there's only one vine, but
many are the branches. And Jesus says I abide in the
branches, and the branches abide in me. Only one bind, and everybody
in it is an equal. And then one new man, or one
body comprised of head and members. One body. I have only one body. So does Jesus Christ. He has
only one body. He's the head, and all the various
members, and there's a unity in them. Did you ever notice
that when you take a hammer and unintentionally
miss the nail and hit your finger, your whole body feels it? I mean,
why is it that, you know, you can't say, hey, finger, keep
the pain all to yourself, would you please? Won't happen, folks. Feels bad all over. Stub your
toe on the furniture at night. Yep, the whole body feels it. That's the way it should be in
the body of Christ. We suffer with one another. We
rejoice with one another. We have good news. One tells
good news and everybody rejoices. I heard that last week from you.
You had good news. Everybody rejoiced with you.
I do not even know who we're talking about. But you see, that's
the way it is with children of God. One suffers. They all suffer. We are all one body. And then,
one new man. Jews and Gentiles. There never has been a greater division, a division
with more animosity than that of Jew and Gentile. This animosity
is not four or five hundred years old. It has gone back for centuries
and centuries and millennia. Jews and Gentiles hate one another. Two people, two sorts of people
that will never come together, except in Christ. Except in Christ. He takes these two and makes
them one new man and they all consider themselves brothers
and sisters, equals in Christ. Alright, all are one in Christ.
Now, fourth and final point. No division in Christ. No division. We are citizens of the United
States of America. The United States of America. Is it a union? Yes, it is. A union of 50 states. Is it an undivided union? Not
on your life. Not on your life. Someone told me one time that
the United States of America is like a melting pot. And people
of all different sorts from all different parts of the world
come to America and they're all just melted together. I said,
no, it's not like a melting pot. It's more like a stew pot. Now
in a melting pot, You can take three, four, five metals and
put them all in together and put them, you know, melt them,
and you have complete union. There's one piece of metal made
from all the different metals you put in it. Now, in a stew
pot, it's not that way. You put carrots and onion and
corn and all these different ingredients. Is it a melting
pot? No, it gets hot enough to melt,
but the potatoes will say, we're over here and we are separate
from the corn. And the onion says, and we're
over here and we're separate from the beans. And that's just
about the way that this country is. It's not so much a melting
pot as it is a stew pot. And the ingredients oftentimes
do not care for one another. Not so in Christ. Not so in Christ. We have a union of 50 states. Is it undivided? No. We're divided
red and blue, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian,
conservative, liberal. We're divided racially, ethnically,
We're divided class-wise. Folks, we've got just about every
kind of division in this country you want to think of. And it's
not just division, there's hatred there. Not a whole lot of union
in this union, is there? Whole lot of division in this
union, but not in Christ. Not in Christ. Why? Because when
you come to Christ, He breaks down every barrier. breaks down
every barrier. There is no national division
in Christ, neither Jew nor Greek. Now, Greek here represents Gentiles. Jews had no dealings with Gentiles. Peter is told to go up to the
house of Cornelius, a Roman Gentile centurion, Lord, I have never been in the
Gentile's house. It's unclean, you know. No, you're
going now. I have removed the barrier. That's
what all was being taught in that sheet being lowered down
from heaven with clean and unclean animals. Peter goes up to the
house of Cornelius and Cornelius just may have wondered if Peter's
going to come in because Cornelius knew about this hatred that Jews
have, and Peter says, I'm coming in because God has shown me that
the barrier has been removed. Jew and Gentile, in the world you find them hating
one another. In Christ, that wall has been
broken down that divided them. Even in Jewry, the religion of
the Jews, It was a Jewish religion, but a Gentile could become a
Jew. He could become a proselyte to
the Jewish faith, but he did not have all the privileges.
For example, when he went to the temple in Jerusalem, the
Jew and the Gentile, both of them are of the Jewish religion,
They walk through the same front gate and into a big portico or
courtyard. And then they get ready to walk
further up toward the temple and they come to a wall and the
Jew looks over to the Gentile and he says, sorry, you got to
stay back here, you can't go any further. What do you mean? Well, read that sign! And there
was a sign that read, anyone, any Gentile Passing this balustrade
will do so under pain of death. You're a Gentile. You have converted
to the Jewish faith. You cannot even go into your
own temple. So Jesus Christ came along and
said, that wall ain't standing no more. And he tore it down.
Come on, Gentile. But I'm unclean. Not now. Not
now! In Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile
considered alike. No unclean children in God's
house, folks, either Jew or Gentile. We do not divide this among racial
lines. Then there is no social division
in Christ. Paul says there is neither slave
nor free. neither slave nor free, not in
Christ. Now bear this in mind, that in
the early church, particularly in the first century, a good
many of the members of the church, particularly in Rome and Corinth,
were slaves. They were slaves. And yet, when they attended the
Lord's Day service, They were equals with the free men, equals
with the free women. That's not always done in religion,
folks. I lived in the West Indies, and
as you probably know, plantation life was the way of life there
for some centuries, a few centuries ago. White plantation owners wanted
their slaves to be Christians. So they brought preachers in
to preach to them. And, you know, hey, if they're
Christians, they won't steal from me. They'll work honestly
or whatever. And so many slaves from Africa became Christians. Oh, that's good. I'm a Christian
now, just like my master. Well, not exactly. Because on
the Lord's Day, when you go to the house of worship, the white
people sit in the pews down here and they put a gallery up there
for the black people. Now that ain't right, is it?
No, but that's the way the world worships. Not in Christ. Not in Christ. In Jesus Christ
there is neither slave nor free. Every slave has the rights in
Christ of a free man, and nothing that a free man in Christ has
is deprived to the slave. Men may enslave them, Jesus Christ
does not. When they who are physically
free men or slaves come to worship in Christ, they walk through
the same door. They sit in the same pews, they
sing the same hymns from the same hymnals, they hear the same
message, and they rejoice together side by side. In Christ neither
slave nor free. Number three, no sexual division
exists in Christ, for there is neither male nor female in this
world, in most societies at least. Males dominate females often
times to the point of having them mischanneled. Not so in
Christ. Will not be permitted, folks.
In Christ, the woman is elevated to the level of Eve in the Garden
of Eden before her husband fell. There's an elevation there. They're
equals! They're equals! In Christ, No
ritual division exists. There is neither circumcised
nor uncircumcised. Circumcision was the sign of
the covenant for Jewish males administered when they were eight
years old and Jews considered it a point of boasting. I'm not one of those uncircumcised
Gentiles, which means, you know, they're unclean and dirty and
whatever. And Paul is saying, your circumcision
avails you nothing. Your uncircumcision is no detriment
to you, except in the circumcision of
the heart. And in the circumcision of the
heart, all filth is removed from it. And the circumcision of the
heart is for both males and females. All filth is removed. And then,
number five, final point, no cultural division exists in Christ. There is neither barbarian or
Scythian. Now, you may wonder, okay, now
how did that get in there? No barbarian or no Scythian. Well, let me explain. Look at
that word barbarian. The Greek word is barbaros. Barbaros. It was used to speak
of one who could not speak Greek very well, because everybody
in that day where Paul was writing, everybody spoke Greek. They were
good at it. I mean, you may have been born
a Jew, but you spoke Greek. Everybody spoke Greek. Here comes
a man and he says, me no speak the Greek stuff,
you know. He's not from around here, is
he? He's a barbarian. He cannot even
speak Greek. And it's used of people who cannot
express themselves well. Maybe they have a lisp. Maybe
they stutter. Maybe they stammer. And the world
looks at such people as a little bit different from us, ain't
he? Not so in Christ. It matters not how you speak,
folks. Matters not how you speak. Someone asked me one time, how many languages do you speak? I said, I speak only English. But I speak it correctly. Now,
there's going to be some debate on that. There's going to be
some debate. No, you sound like a barbarian
to me here in Montana. But you see, the point is, it
matters not how you speak it. Folks, if you cannot speak man's
language very well, you can speak his language. You can speak God's
language. He'll hear you. He'll hear you.
Your prayer may stutter and stammer trying to find the proper words,
but He'll hear you. He'll hear you. Matters not if
you're even a barbarian or a Scythian. Now, what was a Scythian? A Scythian,
of course, was from Scythia, modern-day Russia. Modern-day Russia. Back then,
anybody from Scythia He's a heathen, uncivilized, uncouth. Some may say some things never
change. Whatever the case may be, there
are some people who just are not well-mannered. Folks, it
is not necessary to be perfectly mannered to be a Christian. And you may be. rough and maybe
a little uncivilized and, I mean, you know, not mean, not impolite,
but it may be that you do not know which fork to use when you're
eating your salad and, you know, what is that special knife for
that's over there. You may not know all these things.
It doesn't matter. You can be a Scythian and we
will accept you. Christ has accepted you. There's
union. Now you see the point that I'm
making? In Christ, no division. What does Paul say? You are all
one in Christ Jesus. We're all one. And then he says,
and Christ is all and in all. That should be our testimony. We're all equals. We have been joined together
in Christ. We are in union one with another. We are members of Christ and
members of one another. And Christ is all that matters
to us. We are not the ones who are important. He is. And I would hope that before
you leave this building today, before you walk out that door,
you could say, Christ is all I want. Christ is all I need. I want to be baptized in Him.
immersed in Him. I want to put Him on. I want
to be one with all His people. And I'll put no division, no
barrier between us. Christ is all. O God, our Father,
to the glory of Your name and to the honor of Your Son, Jesus
Christ, make Him to be all that matters to us. We pray in His
name.